The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-02-09
Poverty sf the Csufederates.

The Yankee journals are excessively jocu
lar over the straits to which the Confede
rates are put for food, clothing, and various
innumerable articles Of household and per
sonal use and comfort. It does their excel
len: hearts good to imagine us all ragged
and starving. They have no higher idea OF
human happiness than to possess the belly
Of hog and the fleece Of sheep. They
have no faith In anything which composes
the inside Of man except his inteetines'
and il these arc daily crammed with goldfish
aud chowder they permit the soul to take
care Of itself Most Of them have little be
lief In soul Of any kind, nationally refusing
to recognize the existence OF that which
they have no evidence Of In their own con-
seriousness.
If IL gives these refined and benevolent
people any satisfaction to know that we
have not as much to eat and drink rs them
selves, we will not withhold from them the
admission that 1t is even 50; that, though nc.
starving, We are living on Spartan diet; that
though not naked, We are far from wearing
purple and fine linen. We are almost in as
doleful plight for food and raimcnt as the
Americans Of the first Revolution. But if
We have laid aside every weight, it is that VIC
may be prepared for the race; If we arc
stripped OF raiment. We are more ready for
the fight; and all our privations are only the
rigid training that the pugilist undergoes to
prepare him for the decisive struggle.
When one of the most celebrated of Brit
ish actors was exhibiting to DR.. johnson his
magnificent house and gardens, the sage only
observed "Ah, my good friend, these are
the things that make death bed terrible"
To keep under the body and bring it into
.ubiection is one of the most efIectual modes
of sarming death of lis terrors and exalt-
ing to its true dignity the soul of man.
A people stepped to the eyclids in
sensual indulgence could never achieve
success in contest like that which
now shakes this continent. The bravest of
all the Generals were those who lived on as
short commons as the Southern Confederacy.
The Army of Italy was such ragged and
doleful looking set of ragamuflins that Ma
poleon, when he took command, was only
less nstonished at their gaunt appearance
than they were at the slight and half ted look
Of the STRIPPING who commanded them. But
no other French army ever achieved such
prodigies as that famished crew, and the
shadow of Napoleon's glory grew smaller as
his body waxed fat. Our own army, never
surpass ed In its valor by Greeks or French
men, seems to lose its vim when 1t crosses
to Maryland and Pennsylvania, and forages
luxuriously in the rich larders of the enemy
They fight their best when they have little
to eat or wear, whilst the Yankees, who come
over here to invade us with fine clothes OF
their backs, and their carcases reeking with
the fat Of the land, fall an easy prey to the
gaunt and fierce warriors whose souls are
uncloggcd by physical indulgencies, and who
have nothing Of that aversion to death
which is engtndered by sensual enjoyment
Let the Yankees beware of the half starved
wolf Let them realize that, if they Lave
loOsened for US most of the tics which make
men cling to life, they have only made us
more dangerous enemies We owe them a
long and heavy account. We shall endeavor
TO pay it up in full. The day Of reckoning
ia coming, and they will then discover that
the moderation which we have hitherto ey.
hbited under such wrongs as humanity Las
rarely been called upon to endure was the
result OF anything but fear