Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-07-29
Where Is tho vital Point OF the RE-

late Richmond papers this morning that
will be read with u good deal of interest
especially that one giving an outline OF
Alex. Stephens Vice President of the Con-
federacy,) speech at Charlotte, y. C., on
his way South. He differs with JEFF. Davis
IL would seem, for when jeff was at Vicks-
burg last winter he made speech in which
he said that Vicksburg must be defended
at every hazard and TO the last extremity,
for, said he, sit is our vital point" Web
ster's dictionary defines "vita" to mean
contributing to life-necessary to life"
Hence 10 animal life or national life the "yi-
tai point' ia the fatal point if Destroyed
When JEFF. Davis pronounced Vicks6urg to
he the "vitaI point" he of course spoke
nfter long deliberatiou aud after, doubtle
many an xious Cabinet consultations, and
he no doubt delivered the opinion of the
court, aa they say in legal parlance. The
Richmond papers aud other rebel organs
in the South took no issae with JEFF opin-
ion as expressed at that time: neither did
Stephens. On the contrary one aud all of
them, so far as they spoke, re-echoed Ia
yi4' opinion that Yicksbnrg was, indeed,
the "vital point" of the Confederacy. Now,
however, Stephens makes speech and in
doing SO he affects to make light OF the
fall of vicksburg; and, iu addition,
he says if the rebels were ito lose Mo-
bile, Charleston and Richmond, it would
not affect the heart of the COME deraey.A---
The question naturally arises, what would
affect tho heart of the Confederacy2 And,
also. where is the heart of the confedsracy?
Vicksburg stood in about the same relA
rive position to the heart of the, cOnfedera-
cy Gas one would suppose) that the human
heart does to the humsp body. Still it is
not the heart according to Stephens; Meth
er is Richmond, Mobile or Charleston
Where then is the heart :? Is it at Atlanta?
towards which place RoseCrans' army ia
slowly approaching. Where ia The heart of
the Southern CoufederaoyT Our armies
are we'll advanced into the heart eff the
South, according to the maps, and yet ac-
cording to Stephens the heart is still safe,
and we have not even ''broken the she'll of
the confederacy." Where is the shell
Does the she'll cover the hearth These are
grave questions in view of the shifting ma
turs of the vital regions of the South. The
heart of the South will come 20 be in time
AS fabulous and as eyanescent as the foun-
tain of life in search of which one Juan
Ponce de Leon sailed from the shores of
Spain to the coasts of Florida in the 18th
century.
IL is strange what AN tnfatuHtiou for
credulity aud unscrupuious misstatemeul
takes possession of a man once infected
with the virus OF secession. If our read.
ers noticed at the time, the address OF Val,
iandigham to the copperhesds of Ohio was
dated in Canada on the 18th of this month.
At that time We had repulsed the rebels AT
Gettysburg and driven them to Williams.
port and over the Potomac. We had also
taken Yicksburg and Port Hudson. Bragg
had retreated acrOss the Tennessee river.
JOhuston was fleeing towards Mobile. We
had taken some go pieces of cannon aud
countless thousands of small arms, and
had killed, wounded and captured SOME
10000 rebels within few weeks. The
Mississippi river was open from its head
waters to its mouth. Geld had fallen to
20 cents. Morgan was being chased from
post to piller by the citizens of Indiana
and Ohio, and all these things were in the
newspapers and we'll known to the coun-
try. And yet Yallaudighsu,, on that day,
on the 18th of this month, announced III
public letter that the rebels "were better
prepared now Ton the 18TH to make good
their iuexorable purpose than at any Pc
riod since the beginning of the struggle" "
We submit that such arithmetic Is as
strange rs the logic of Stephens. The
question would be this, stated as problem
of ratios sit the Southern rebellion is
stronger after such losses would L have been
weaker If We had been defeated aud sustain
cd the losses ourselvess In other words,
does the strength of the rebellion increase
inYersely with the square of its mistor-
tunes2 According to the arithmetic OF
Vallaudigham and the logic of Stephens
it does, and, therefore, it would be good
= policy for ms. to court defeat aud fritter
away orr armies and munitions of war as
fast as possible. In this way We should
soon, no doubt, touch the heart of the
eonfsderaey-eyen.i if We did not reach it,
and thus We would be saved on the VAL
landighsm platform.
Another thing about stephens speech: He
tells his deluded auditors that we have cal
ready appropriated (speuthe meapsl nearly
twenty-ssyen hundred millions of dollars"
for their su6iugation.7 The ofieiat- figures
as given few days ago. make our. natio1Si |
debt. Including the old debt before the.war. |