The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1863-11-16

Monday Morning, November Is, 1863.


A friend has loaned us copy of the Rich
mond Examiner of the 9th inst, from which
we gather the following straws, indicative of
the set of the vital current in some Of its as
poets, in the heart Of the rebellion. One
item reads as follows:
Large quantities Of prime mountain beef
were sold yesterday at the central depot, for
serenity cents q pound. At the same time
vastly inferior article was sold in the mar kets
at dollar and half a pound
One item chronicles the counterfeiting of
$40 Confederate Treasury note, and not only
charges the offence upon the Yankees, but al
so charges that a paroed Yankee deserter put
1t in circulation. A Yankee who would run
the risk of his neck by counterfeting so
worthless a thing, deserves capital punish
ment for his stupidity.
Here is an extract from leading editorial
which needs no comments to show that the
rebels themselves are profoundly ignorant of
the fertility and resources of much of their
own territory until informed by the Yankees,
after the latter have captured it from them:
Especially strange does it seem that we are
never aware of the wealth of the abandoned
sections until they are abandoned and then
We suddenly wake up to the fact that the Yam
KEGS are foraging with ease and comfort in a
country which, it was supposed, we had de-
serted because 1t could not sustain life. Who
knew, for instance, of the immense resources
Of Loudon county before the retreat from Ma
nassas? Who thought that Eastern North
Carolina was the Egypt OF the Confederacy
before the taking OF Roanoke Island? Who
estimated the millions OF pounds of bacon
stored away between Petersburg and Suffolk
before the country was virtually given up to
the Yankees? Who appreciated the fertility
of the Northern Neck until the Lincoln raid
ers commenced running to and fro" through
that rich peninsula, and increasing their
knowledge of its wide fields of corn and
mammoth stacks of wheat? Who thought of
East Tennessee as other than rugged, noun
famous country, which could feed neither
friend nor foe? Who, even now, justly prizes
the Importance of the salnes and lead mines
of Southwestern Virginia? Who sees the
necessity Of drawing in the supplies Of the
Southside in case the Yankees should try, as
they doubtless will, that last untried line to
Richmond? Everybody-no, not everybody
certainly not the Commissary-Genera =
"Cleon is Mr.. Foresight-after sight," says
comic poet Of antiquity; and sensible meA ev-
erywhere in the Confederacy are weary of
sober second thought" and disguised with
fertile after-thought on the part of those whose
business 1t is to be acquainted not only with
the resources of the country, but also with
the manner in which those resources are dis
tributed.
We shall bind up this bundle of "straws" by
referring to an advertisement in the Exam
iner, headed ,.5s. .H
"Wanted. By the GOVERNMENT, DEA d ANIMALS
af erery Sort -f..
What in the world, thought we, when the
eye rested on this singular caption, can jeff
Davis want of all sorts of dead animals 2
Does he propose to 60 into the manufacture
Of cheap sausages for his army, or does he
propose to getup cheap food for the thousands
Richmond and its environs !? -
The doubt was removed on reading the no.
tice Of which the above is the literal heading.
persons having such animals upon their
premises" are informed that they "can have
them promptly removed by leaving notice at
the Government NITRE BEDS" and that by
so doing they twill not only benefit the Gov
ernment but receive the highest price for the
animals"
This is one of the most significant facts yet
brought to light, that such means have to be
resorted to in order 10 procure the ''raw ma
terial' from which TO manufacture gunpow-
der. 1t would seem that all the usual sources
Of supply are cut off, and they have to draw
upon their ingenuity to ward off an absolute
gunpowder famine.