The new South. [volume] (Port Royal, S.C.) 1862-1867, 1863-04-25
%. n. Sears, Editor and Proprietor.
oRT ROYAL, SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 1868.
Their Last Legs.

lul IN the storm OF &cIual WaF.. Wien ootu SiuSS
are nerving themselves for struggle more ardu-
GUS than any preceding one, it may be well to
glance for moment at the position of the iasur-
gents, and the chances of success which the
present aspect of affairs suggests.
The rebels, having abandoned all hope of carry
ing out the magnificent programme with which
they began the war, which included, as Mr. Walker
their Secretary Of War, stated, the capture of
Washington, the liberation Of the border States
and winter Of revelrt in the cities of the North,
with the material gains to be derived from the
sack of Philad ,lphia and the loot Of Wall Street,
have at last been driven from line to line, success
sively taken and lost, on the coast and in the
Middle States, and have rallied for final struggle
q. few decisive points. The remnant Of their
ragged cohorts now stand on the defensive merely
at Port Hudson, vicksburg, Chattanooga, Freder-
icsburg and Charleston. The scattered detach-
ments in other quarters are not specially worth
considering. These points are their last hope.
They must all be held or their cause is lost. If
Hooker defeats their army ON the Rappahannock,
no earthly power can stay the food of rout and
ruin that viii sweep irresistby down over Virginia
and North Carolina. IfPoft Hudson falls, vicks-
burg must fall at once, and If Vicksburg surrender,
the loss of Port Hudson must inevitably follow
The loss of the Mississippi viii finish the rebellion
in the West For besides the vast moral effect of
an advantage so immense this will at once relieve
tTo armies for further service. Any weakening of
their force in Tennessee would leave them at the
mercy of Rosecrans, who has proved himself
equal to every emergency in which he has been
placed. They are compelled to act on the defen-
sive for the loss of any one of these points would
be full of succession of fdisasters. ATlaggressve
efforts which they have lately made, have been
miserable failures. Van Dorm recently attacked
Resecrans right wing at Franklin under General
Granger, and was whipped back in six hours with
bloody slaughter. Their necessities hamper all
their operations to the narrowest limits.
Meanwhile, the odds are growing fearfuly against
them. Time, which in the beginning was their
friend and ally has turned and become their deadi
est enemy. They must fight and finish the war or
they are ruined. They cannot abandon their de-
fensive attitude and initiate an aggressive move
ment now, without exposing themselves to almost
certain destruction. And they cannot much longer
remain as they are, without incurring the slower
but equally sure and more dreadful fate of starva-
ton and exhaustion. Their currency has become
nearly worthless The Charleston Courier of the
9th instant speaks with impotent rage of the con.
duct of clothing merchant of that city who pays
in his trade premium of 700 per cent for gold,
and strives to array the passions of the mob against
the irresistible facts of finance.
Their armies have reached their limit. Their
merciless conscription has forced into the ranks
every man capable of bearing arms and no reserve
is left throughout their territory. The blockade
becoming every day more efficient, is closing with
its iron fingers every avenue of resource from
Europe, and every ounce of ammunition they fire