Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-07-11
urvey of the Rebel Situation

~ inst luLO tne 'Oyal StaL1sI ouN INAS Ice
had crossed the Potomac to lead his army
into the fat country of Pennsylyania, there
to meet an imbecile foe and conquer in
this summers campaign an easy indePen-
denee for the confedsracy. Alas how the
hopes of the Enquirer and the caustic Ez
aminer, and the reVengeful and bitter little
DispGteh have been dashed, and in how
short a time.
"Lke the leaves of hs forest when Is green
1hU host with their banners at sunset were seen,
Like the leaves OF the forest Ehen Autumn ha h
blown
That host on the morrow lay wIthsred and strewn."
Magnificent and e1travagaut hopes were
raised by those papers. What letting
down to the very gates Of death and despair
there will be in the rebel mind all over the
South. We can judge it by our own feel
logs last summer, when the army of the
Peninsula was driven from within four
miles of Richmond from within the sight
of the spires and sound of the bells of the
rebel capital-close down to Harrison's
landing, and there only saved from ami
hilation by the gunboats. We all felt as
If an unrelenting fate was pursuing us.
And yet what was that misfortune in COM
psrison with what the rebels have suffered
wi thin the past few days7 We had an
army left. We had killed and wounded
more of the enemy than they had of us.
Our country was unin vaded. Our illimit-
able resources were still at the command
of the government We held many thou
sand square miles of territory claimed by
them. Still TOR all, call to mind how our
hearts sank within US. Imagine then
what to-day must be the feelings of
the rebels in Richmond and all over the
South. Vicksburg-their "vital point"
according to JEFF. Davis own declaration,
has fallen, and with it 10000 men-to-
Eether with the finest cannon in the rebel
service, and thousands of small arms.
II Vicksburg was all in all to them-their
vital point, indeed-what must the loss of
1t be when to it is added the destruction
aud capture of 80, 900 more men from Lees
army, and the probable annihiation of the
whole of it. Where can the rebels turn
their eyes for one glimmer of hope? AL
ready an enemy is very near them again at
Richmond, and is at work cutting off the
remotest possibility of any succor or help
being sent to Lee. The prospect is that
the place will be beleaguered as Yicksburg
lately was. If they turn southwark they
see Fosters forces at work cutting up the
railroads of North Carolina, with the
speedy prospect of reducing that State to a
more than semi.wiIling condition of allie
glance to the Government. They see in
the West that Bragg is again on the re-
treat, burning bridges behind him, and
leaving practically the whole State of
Tennessee in the hands of General
Rosecrans. They know, too, full we'll that
ere long East Tennessee will rise behind
their fleeing army, and that never again
will there be a probability of the rebel
sceptre extending over that loyal section.
The victorious legions of the Union will
be swelled by thousands of men, hitherto
bowed down, now anxious to take part
In the grand closing in at the death of the
deepoIism that has been over them.
What q prospect Is all this for rebel eyes
at Richmond. With what composure the
editors of the Richmond papers must sit
down to ink their pens. We fancy that
they begin to contemplate vision very
unlike their late excited auticipations. 1t
is more than probable that Yankee soldiers
will be issuing extras from the Offices of
the Enquirer, Examiner aud Dispatch with
in the next thirty days. Think of that
What disgust it must breed in the minds
of the "rightfuI rulers OF this continent"
aud the natural masters of the Yankee
to see even in prospect. those graceless
and uugainly "mudsills" aud 'greasy me-
ehanics" thus sacrilegiously perverting
their devoted types.
Aud yet all this is what they will soon
see, unless all the indications fail. And it
is but a small part of what they will see.
The grand crumbling and crashing of the
Southern Confederacy will then commence
in good earnest. Where will JEFF. Davis
and his Cabinet and his Congress be when
We get Richmond Where will they betake
themselves to, aud where will they next
hold forth2 Will it be at Montgomery
again2 the place of beginning; or will it be
behind the entrenchments at Mobile7 As
we close in from the West and the East,
and by sea and by land, and contract their
lines, where are the remnants of the rebel
war establishment to concentrate, and
from whence be supplied
These are thoughts now for the minds of
the rebel leaders. No doubt they are bu-
" coming them over. The days of the
last ditch are coming very fast, and it be-
hooves those of the chivalry who proposed
then aud there to die, to be setting their
houses in order.