New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-02-25
RED sHNeCRNCE.

| When Abraham Lincoln started in February,
1861. from Springfield Cor Washington, South
ern journals freely and openly predicted that be
would never live to be inauguraied there as
/ President. For Jefferson Davis had lett that
city o month or 50 before, after giving nnmis-
taxable limitations that he claimed II a. the
prospective capital ofthe Southern Coniederacy.
To Yale College student, who asked him what
would become Of Washington in case OF Dis
/ union. no replied in substance that the city
would reyerl to Maryland, aud Maryland would
90 with her daTeholding sisters. Accordingly,
he held on 10 his pew in the aristocradc Epaco-
palian Cylurlh, becau. he expected very soon
/ 10 need i, again.
Actual war might have been infinitely
postponed II the Confederate would as~ con.
seu.ed 90 lot Fort sumter be supplied with pro-
visions, cilhc. b. ous Government directly, or by
/ buying them in Charleston market. Il i pref
I ty well established that Dir. hiucon would even
! hayew.thlraDn the eariHon If the Copisderates
would have agreed 30 leave the lot empty
iwhen al pretext Of apprehension from il by
South Carolina vould have been brushed away.
/ But uo---the CoElederates would accept nothing
( less than r. unconditional surrender into Their
hands, with liberty 70 arm aid garrison 1t as
they should 500 NJ; and, this being declined
Bequmgard opened tire upon ii April l2thi i-ol)'
under express orders 10 "reduca" it from JEFF. s
War Department al Montgomery. Those or
ders sent thrill Of rapturc through the entire
= Ccnfederaey. News that Ere hnd been
opened having been received at Montgomery,
Ia great cpen-air meeting wa hed In
hat oityiu tho evening to exit over tboSacti
Ia1d Leroy Pope Walker, Jelf's ,sedpsa.G o;
War. being called out, predicted that tie Con-
\ fsdcT4'e far ,oo1id float IN framPh orer
Easlingion ,-ihip moni. tiOm that date.
And Tie seizure OF Norfolk Navy Yard, TIE
victorious rush On tho Federal aEeual at
! Ha7peg'5 Feuy, the rapid pushing forward Of
/ Confederate troops from Charleston, Mobile
aGd Montgomery to the banks Of the Potomac
which began within q week after the fall Of
Sum'cr-the murderous Seces ion riots in Bolti-
more, tho imp1leut demand of her Mayor and
/ Young Christians that no more Federal troops
.hould be marched or trans ported cross 10 ter
ritory of Aiaryland--all pointed 70 one result
The Richmond Iraminer OF April % called
for an instant Confederate advance upon
and capture Of Washington, so that the
"Illinois Ape" and "tho arch-tsaitor Scott
might DO caught before they could run away
North. And, more than two months earlier,
jeff. himself speaking at Jackson, Miss, while
on bis way 70 DO inaugurstel at Montgomery,
said he hoped there would be no war; but, If
there were any, it slonld be fought not on
Southern but On Northern soil. The Confederate
journals reiterated this threat ia every conceiy-
able form and with every variety Of insulting
concOnitant.
Three years have not yet passed since such
/ talk was universal in Rebeliom and meantime
the Loyal States have been repeatedly and for
midably inyaded-always with disastrous re-
sults. Lees first advance into Maryland.
checked at South Mountoin aud dcfnitively
stopped at Acknowledgement blow at
shiloh, ending in his retreat TO Corinth, followed
| by his flight southwark from that stronghold
Bragg's bold dash across Tennessee and Ken
t1cky, followed by his precptate retreat after
the fight at Perryyille-Lee's formidable inva-
sion Of Pennsylvania, resulting Ia bis defeat ut
Gettysburg and consequent retreat across the
Potomac minus one-third of The force be brought
over from Virgnia--these, ond many minor dis
asters, have proved the futity of The Rebel boast
that they would dictate peace from Philadel-
phia or New-York. They do not at this hour
hold an acre that they did not on the
LIST Of July, 1861; while zee hold nearly lalf
the area which was theirs before the battle Of
Bull Run. New-0rleans, Memphis, Nashville,
Knoxville, Baton Rouge, vicksbUrg Natchez
Kewbern, Chattanooga, Brownsville, aud humid
reds of places of minor consequence, attest the
steady progress Of the National arms. Save
the region Of the Chickahomny, there is
scarcely o battlefield Of the entire struggle
which is not this day under the flag of the
Union.
Such are the circumstances under which the
Confederate Congress puts forth long-winded
whine against tho Unionists for making az
gressire and unprorOked ,Oar upon them They
say:
oumstances bad right 10 expect that we would DO
permitted without m9lestailon " cultivate tho s Of