The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1863-01-19

Of JEFF. Davis to the Congress Of the so-called
Confederate States. This message will no
doubt produce great effect in Europe, and
Its style aud scmblance Of quiet determi-
nation and mistaken resolution will there
find most enthusiastic admirers The recent
successes of the rebels at Fredericksburg, vicks
burg and Galveston give FEASIBILITY to many
OF JEFF Davis statements; and, although we
hope before long to balance these repulscs by
a succession of brilliant victories like those OF
Murfreesboro and Arkansas Post, at different
points, still we must prepare ourselves for
strong and perhaps successful movement in Eu-
rope in favor Of the confederacy. JEFF. Davis in
dictment Of the European Powers will be eagerly
pressed by the secession agents. Our counter
charges that neutrality has been prostituted into
sympathy for the rebellion will hardly supply
Earl Russell with sufficient defence, while the
exposition which we published yesterday Of the
French designs upon Texas gives JEFF. Davis the
whip hand Of Louis Napoleon As for the eman-
cipation proclamation, it has proved, as we pre-
dicted, not only brraem falnen against the re-
bells, but a powerful weapon against ourselves.
JEFF. Davis handles il with consummate skill. lie
uses it, frst to assure the Southern people that
secession was justifable, and that the sasacity OF
the rebel leaders was not at fault when they an
ticipated that the election of Mr.. Lincoln would
result in an abolition despotism. He then en-
ploys the proclamation to induce Europe to
relnquish its horror Of the cruelties OF slavery
by exhibiting the greater cruelties of immediate
emancipation. And, finally, he attempts to
prove TO the people of the North that President
Lincoln has violated all his pledges and made
reunion an impossbility by adopting measure
which "cannot coexist with Union" or all
these results we warned the President before
the proclamation was issued We ask him TO
compare our predictions with those Of the radi-
calls, and decide whose advice deserves to be
regarded.
The policy Of JEFF. Davis, as expressed in
this message, may be summed up in
few words. 1t is simply to do as he has
been doing. He asks no foreign inter-
vention, he proposes nothing new, he
merely advises perseverance and fortitudes and
assures his followers that this will be the clos
ing year of the war. We shall find, therefore,
in the acts and declarations Of JEFF Davis imme-
diately preceding the issue of this message the
details of his policy for the future All his
anxieties, his plans, his hopes, have recently
seemed to centre upon one point, and that point
is Vicksburg. In other words, the grand
scheme of the rebels ut present is to retain the
practical possession Of the Mississippi. This
they believe to be only the moro essential be-
cause they imagine that the war is nearly over.
1t were useless to demonstrate how pre-emi-
nently important it is for the rebels to control
the Mississippi during the continuance of the
war; But if the war should suddenly cease and
the contederacy be recognized, either by an ar
mistice or through foreign Intervention, how
much more important would the control of the
Mississippi be then? The West would be at the
mercy of the South, and would have its choice
or the two alternatives-to submit TO or to
unite with the confederacy Those who have
carefully considered the signs Of the times can
have but little doubt that il the confederacy
were recognized Power, and held the Father
of Waters in its possession, the Western States
would unite with the South, perhaps en- masse,
but probably one by one, under the Confede-
rate constitution, which permits any state to
join or to leave the conledcracy at pleasure.
But, say General Banks and others Of like opin-
IONS the East and the West are linked to-
gethcr by great railroads, and this connection
cannot be broken, because the West must have
access to the Atlantic and the East must have
access TO the products Of the West. All this is
true; but the question is whether the Central
States would not go with the Western States, if
the latter refused to remain out Of the conlede-
racy and without the Mississippi. New Eng
land would thus be left solitary and desolate,
and the Southern, Western and Central States
would form new union under the Montgo-
mery constitution. Stranger things than such
reconstruction have occurred within the last
two years.
II must be understood, however, that the
probability OF these events rests upon the by
poihesis OF the ability of the rebels to retaiu
the control Of the Mississippi. Encouraged by
the recent rebel victory at yicksburg, ,Jel.
Davis regards this as certain, and we are as
sured that his programme Is not essentially dit
ferent from that we have indicated. When tie
rebel leader urged the defence of vicksburg
to the last extremity, because OF its importance,
both in a military and political point Of view,
lie meant that by holding vcksburg he could
force the West either to continue to struggle
against him or to submit to him. Thus he ex-
poets TO divide public sentiment in the West
now and TO secure that section for the confede-
racy when the rebels are recognized as nation
Tbaddeus Stevens has already declared that the
confederacy is another nation and we are told
that Greeley is now at Washington, working.
with other radicals, for some sort Of peace. DO
these men know what they are doing? Are
they completely and insanely mad! II they
were JEFF. Davis paid agents they could not
better advance his interests. They think, per-
haps, that by now reviving their old plan of
allowing the South TO leave the Union, they can
count upon permanent lease Of power in the