New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-04-22
REBEL RHAPsODIEs.

REBEL RHAPsODIEs.
We think the MarchionesS is gone to Dixie;
and as we know Of no place where her peculiar
talents will find so large a market, the Rebels
NAV be congratulated on her appearance in the
columns of The Richmond Enquirer The Mar.
chioness-no one can have forgotten-had q
recipe for making punch. Brandy or rum had
she none, but to her enterprising spirit the de-
fciency was not appalling " If you put in a
good deal of lcmon-peel," said the Marchioness
we think ii was to the eminent Mr. Richard
Swiveller she impaired the secret" and make
believe very hard, it is almost as good As real
punch" Quoting from memory we may fail TO
do justice to the ethereal decacy of the words
in which the Marchioness clothed her cOncep-
ton. but we are confident that We reproduce
the substance Of her spiritual sentiment.
The draught winch The Esquir1 commends
to the lips Of its Rebel readers on the 18th inst
is concocted with n skill which. if it he not the
Warehouses; own, proves that kindred talent
has been struck out by the force Of circum-
stances similarly distressful. The Enquirer is
commanded to offer potion which shall cheer
the souls Of desparing traitors. Distilled liquors
were wanting. but the abundance Of lemon-pcel
! is ine1haustible. Or, TO abandon the metaphor,
The Enquirer had no facts, or few facts, with
which 10 enhance the courage Of those whom il
addresses: but, taking with large hand Of fan
cies. and making believe very hard that they
are facts, il summons lis friends TO be insprited;
and, by way Of encouraging example, does itself
counterfeit ghastly checrfulness, and hides lis
wan despair by something showing more
swelling port than IFS faint means will grant
continuance.
Tn, Enquirer starts with q sentence which
makes ono halt suddenly 10 take breath. The
efforts made by the enemy during the past three
years of the war have been successfully ioled;
and the fourth year Of the conflict finds both
belliecrents in very nearly the same position
that they were at the opening Of the contcs, ~
Missouri. Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia.
the Indian Territory, most Of Arkansas, half
Louisiana, Mississippi laid waste and made I'M
passable the opening of the long blockaded
Mississippi River Maryland forever severed
from the South by an adopted policy of i'm
mediate emancipation - all these 20 for
nothing, and we are nearly in the same POI
stion, territorially, says the MarchionesS,
as when We started. The Enquirer admits that
the loss of the Mississippi River and New
Orleans were material injuries 10 the Rebel
cause, but AYERS that they are not irreparablc.
Perhaps not; but is it not about time they began
TO try to repair them Tennessee, We are a.
sured, has been " Of no practical importance 10
the enemy" Yet the desperate efforts OF the
Rebels TO keep foothold in the Businesses OF
East Tennessee ceased only with tho sullen
withdrawal OF LongStreet, hardly yet complete,
when summoned by his old general to the de-
Tense Of the banks Of the Rapidan and of Rich
mOnd.
But The Enqsiro seems fearful lest the
historical Justification be too transparent even
for its readers who long 10 believe 1t; and II
hurries from the lie clrcumstantiaI concerning
the past, to the lie direct concerning the present
Grants Army Of the Potomac numbers at best
not more IMAM nifty thousand 0i all arils! INC
two corps, the 18th and 18th, recently
brought from Tennessee, numbered togetae'
but eight thousand men. Burnsides corps, the
9th, never very large, has been recruited with
negroes and new men, and the more Of these he
has collected the less formidable will they
prove" &c, &c. We trust we shall not be
held amenable to discipline for giving further
publicity TO this painful revelation of our weak
ness. Only, when the next battle is fought in
Virginia, The Enquirer will spare us the mortii-
cation Of hearing that the "victorious-or de-
,ieated-Rebel army was outnumbered more
than two to one by the enemy" Indeed, it now
distinctly asserts that the forces in the field on
either side are equal, and takes courage to find