Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-01-20
Rebel View Of the Situation-New Years
Reflections i'm Dixie,
From the Richmond Examiner, Dec 81

| the spirits Of the Confederate public as Al
! the end OF 1861. 40 brilliant victory like
! that Vi Fredericksburg encourages US TO look
| forward to aspeedy and successful termina-
| ton OF the war, as lathe last weeks of 1852
| Meade has been foiled and Longstreet has
had partial success in Tennessee; but
| Meade's advance was hardly meant in earnest
| ana Beans Station Is poor set-off to the
| loss of the gallant men who fell in the muir
derous assault on Knoxville. Another daring
| Yankee raid has been carried out with com
| parative IMMUNITY TO the invaders, and timor-
| Gus capitalists may well pause before they
| nibble at eligible inyestment in real estate
situated far in the Interior That interior
| has been tearfully narrowed by the federal
march through Tennessee and owing to the
| deficiencies of our cavalry service Iincoln's
| squadrons of horse threaten to be as univer-
| sal a terror, as pervaSlye nuisance, as his
| squadrons of gunboats were some months
| since. The advantages gained at Chancel-
| louisville and Chickamauga have had heavy
| counterpoises. The one victory led TO the
fall of Jackson and the deposition of Hooker,
| the other led first to nothing and then TO the
| indelible disgrace of Lookout Mountain. The
| Contederacy has been cut n twain along the
line of the Mississippi and our enemies are
steadily pushing forward their plans for BIZ
secting the Eastern moiety. NJ wonder
| then, that the annual advent of the reign of
relief-by those who think and feel Alright, as
| a precious season to prepare for trying an
| other fall with our potent adversely.
| Meanwhile the financial chaos is becoming
| wilder and wilder. Boarders keep a more
resolute grasp than ever on the necessities of
| life. Non-producers, who at the same
| time non-speculatorS, are suffering more and
more. What was once competence has be
come poverty, poverty has become penurv
penury is lapsing into pauperism. Any me-
| chanical occupation is more profitable than
the most intellectual profession; the most
| accomplished scholars in the confederacv
would be glad to barter their services for
| food and raiment; and in the complete up
turning of our social relations, the only happy
people are those who have black hearts or
black skins The cry of scarcity resounds
through the land, raised by the producers in
their greed for gain, re-echoed by the CON
| sumers in their premature dread of starvation
| and nakedness. We are all in the dark and
| men are more or less towards in the dark
| We do not know what our resources are-and
no one can tell US whether we shall have a
| pound of beef to eat at the end of 1864 or
a square inch of leather to patch the last shoe
in the contederacy. Unreasoning confidence
has been succeeded by depression as unreas-
oning, and the Yankees are congratulating
| themselves on the result, which they hawk
| about as the " ginning of the end"
| Theologians tell US that the disasters of
| the closing year are the punishment of our
sins. This is true enough; but a cheap peni-
| tence Will not save Us from the evil conse-
| quences. There is no forgiveness for polite
| al sins, and the results will as certainly fol-
| low as if there had been no repentance. As
| all sins are, in Il higher sense, Intellectual
| blunGers, we must strain every fibre of the
| brain and every sinew of the viii if we wish
to repair the mischief which our folly and
our corruption have wrought. The univers-
al recognition of this imperative duty IS a
more certain earnest of our success than the
| high spirits of our men in the field, or the in
| domitable patriotism of our women at home
from which newspaper correspondents derive
so much comfort. The incompetence and un-
faithfulness of government officials have had
much to do with the present sad state of af-
fairs, but the responsibility does not end
there: the guilt does not rest there alone
| Every man who has suffered himself to be
tainted with the scab of speculation has done
something to injure the credit of Confederate
securities every man who has withheld any
necessary of life has done his worst to ruin
the country; every one, man or woman, who
has yielded to the solicitations of vanitv or
| appetite, and refused to submit to any priva-
ton, however slight, which an expenditure,
however great, could prevent, has contribut-
ed to the general Generalization. 1t may be
said that, with the present plethora of paper
money, such virtue as we demand is not to
be expected of any people made up of mere
" human beings But some such virtue is
! necessary for any people whose duty it has
become to wage such contest as ours: and
If the virtue Is not spontaneous, it must be
engrafted by the painful process through
which we are now passing We cannot go
through this fiery furnace without the smell
of fire on our garments. We can no more
/ 4 g,A, Il,
shedding of blood. There is no family in the
confederacy that has not to mourn ,ie fault of
some member or some connection, and there
is no family in the cOntederacy which ought
| to expect to escape scatheless in estate. The
attempt is as useless, in most cases, as it is
ignOble in all. 4 few, and but few, in com
parison with the whole number, may come
out of the war richer than when they went in /;
but even they must make up their minds to
sacrifice part, and a large part in order to
preserve the whole. The saying of the stole
philosopher, " You can't have something for
nothing" though it sounds like truism, in
fact conveys a moral lesson of great signif-
canoe. Men must pay for privileges. If they
do not pay voluntarily, their neighbors viii
make them pay, and that heavily. Had those
who employed substitutes to take their places
in the army RETAINED, as a class, from specu,
lation and extortion, they would not now be
lamenting the prospect of a speedy further
ance to the camp of instruction. However
just their cause, the manner III which too
many of them abused the immunity acquired
by money has deprived them all of active
sympathy
| We all have a heavy score TO pay off, and
we know it. This may depress Us, but our
enemies need not be jubilant at depres-
son for we are determined to meet our la
bilities. Whatever number of men, or what
ever amount of money shall be really want
ing, viii be forthcoming. Whatever economy
the straitening of our resources may require
we shall learn to exercise. We could only
wish that Congress was not in such fever
ish mood, and that the government would do
something towards the establishment OF Il sta
r tistical bureau, some other agency, by
which We could approximately asceI tain what
we have TO contribute, and to what extent
| we must husband our resources. Wise, cool,
decided, prompt action would put in good
condition for the spring campaign of 1864,
and the close of next year would furnish a
more agreeable retrospect than the aJst,us
nliraJjitS of plumbers which We now cousign
to the dead past.
| CCRIosITIEs or FAsHIoN.-It Is a question, |