The New York herald., 1863-12-14

to the shipping mas occuiIcu- iue rear Poi"on Va
the new ferry house at the South ferry, now in
| process of construction, was blown down, and
| the iron OF which it is composed was broken into
| fragments
| The PROSTATE Condition OF tho Rebel.
lion and tho Way to End as.
IT, after the disastrous repulso of Bragg
from Chattanooga, and the expulsion OF Long
street from East Tennessee, any further evil
dence were needed to prove that the rebellion
is nearly demolished, the dolefui message Of
JEFF. Davis to his rebel Congress, and the
opening proceedings Of that dismal body, ought
to be sufficient to convince the most nCredu-
lous Northern copperbead or British sympa-
thizer in his hopeless cause.
The lamentations. of jeremiah fall short Of
these lamentations of Davis. lie begins his
message by deploring the grave reverses"
which have befalien his armies during the year
or Bragg's late crushing defeat he says--'It is
believed that if the troops who yielded to the
assault had fought with the valor which they
had displayed on previous occasions, and which
was manifested in this battle on the other parts
Of the lines, the enemy would have been re-
pulsed with very great slaughter" Here we
have the confession that the rank and file of the
rebel armies are becoming demoralized, and
that they have no longer any heart to persist in
their hopeless struggle. Next, the rebel
ruler pleads the collapse OF all his schemes
and all his hopes of foreign interven-
ton, and, without stint. he scolds away
at England and France for their cruel per-
idy. Next, he fairly howls over the hOrrid
depreciation of his rebel scrip. about
ninety per cent below par, and says that some
remedy is al once ''necsssary for the successful
performance of the functions of the govern
mcnt." In fact, tho conspiiators in the outset
of this rebellion had no conception OF their tre-
mcndous undertaking, and 80 foreign interven-
ton, King Cotton, Southern vslor and rebel
scrip have all failed them against the re-
morseless Lincoln. whose military forces and
resources and successes still multiply ~ the
war goes on.
But, though2Davis coniesscs much, he con-
ceals and attempts to cover up much Of the
| distress of bis Southern Utopia. He speaks of
| its ample resources, when its hopes Of subsist-
ence till next summer depend upon the Indian
| corn crop Of Alabama and Georgia. lie speaks
Of thirteen Independent States, when toe new
Union State of West Virginia, carved out of
! old Virginia, is in successful operation, and
! when another portion of the Old Dominion,
sufficiently large for good sized State is occu-
pied by our armies, including all the outlets of
Virginia to the sea. He includes Kentucky,
Tennessee, Missouri Arkansas Louisiana and
Texas in his list of thirteen States, when it is
only by stealth that his representatives from
those States can get to Richmond. He speaks
of paper blockade after having confessed
at Wilmington that that was the only port
chance Of ingress or escape. He speaks Of
| the splendid condition OF his armies. while in
| the next breath he calls for those men who
have furnished substitutes, exempted men, old
men, invalids and negroes. He cannot avoid
the confession. however, of his inability to COM
muncate with the ives. side of the Mississippi
and so he proposes a sort of quasi independent
government for that department until the river
shall have rolled by.
| The simple truth is that such is now the dis
! mantled and shattered condition of the Davis
| confcderacy that but for the rains and mud Of
| the wintry season in the South the whole con-
ccrn might be utterly demolished within the
! next thirty days by the advance OF General
Grant upon Atlanta, and to those railroads
which command the scanty supplies Of Bragg
Beauregard and Lee. 1t is probable that the
programme Of Davis now will be to gather up
all the militia forces and conscripts he can
scrapc together from Mississippi, Alabama and
Georgia, and to put them in some strongly for
| tilted positions in the heart of Georgia to check
the advance OF Grant in the spring: and that
next. concentrating the remains of Bragg's veto
ran columns and Longstreet's and the North
Carolina reserves and all the guerillas Of West
, ern Virginia in the army Of Lee another des-
peratc and final effort will be made to crush
our Army of the Potomac.
| This is the last chance remaining to Davis,
I'D we dare say that he will adopt it. In this
view it becomes the policy Of the administra-
| ton to provide for the defence of Washington
| independently Of the Army of the Potomac,
and so strengthen that army that it may be at
| liberty to march ION to Richmond" by way Of
! Gordonsvillc or fredericksburg or the PENN
sula, or even by way of the Shenandoah val
ley secure against the contingency OF recall
to protect Washington or to head of another
invasion Of Maryland. We are glad to hear
that some such policy is to be adopted. If 50,
we have only to demand in behalf OF the coun
try, that the administration shall not stop al
any half way measure.
Loos Or FOR JEFF. DAvis.-Mr. Secretary
Wcllcs, to save what little reputation he
has, ought to be more active than ever
in keeping watch on the harbor of VIII
miugton, as it is exceedingly probable that one
of the most interesting of the blockade runners
in the person of Mr.. Jefferson Davis, may be