Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1864-08-12
THE EVENING STAR.
CHANCES OFPEACE IN AMERICA

1HE CHANCES OF PEACE IN AMERICA- 4
trrom The London Spe ctator, July 1J
The public mind is swinging arouad ax am.
After ssAe wing for nearly two monIhs ths. tue
eoush would be ultimately deisaso. saa. sae
oAantless persktency OF the MOTH wou,a YEA $50
Numbers and will would prevau ahke over
skill and spatriotism," II mas suooeniy arrived
st the con yiction tnst the cause Of the North u
Loaf ImmsdiateIy after Gen. Grants first
battle even the Times wrote respectfully OF
me chances OF the invasion, bat the check SUI
fered In the direct advance on Richmond, .ae
long pauee before Petersburg the excessive
riee In gold, the dismissl or resignation OF Ar.
OAoae, the m nors Of the .in vasion OF mary:
aaticipations, have once more depressed the
balance; the Confederate loan Aas gone u p 20
~, the conservative papers once more speak OF
sthe victorious South" and the widest RI.
mors If only they tell to the disad vantage OF
the North, are received with instant credit
All this while the facts of the case either re-
main exactly where they were year ago, or
when they have altered, with one con-
splcuous exception, to the advantage OF the
Federals. The military change has been
eonspicuously In their favor. Last year they
were eontending in the West for the M,ssis-
sippi, apprehended the loss of New Orleans,
were doubtful Of the fidelity of Missouri and
wayered in policy for fear lest they should az
front irretrieyably the "nentrar' politicians Of
the State of Kentucky. This year the Army
Of the Mississippi has Quilted the banks OF that
TO the very heart of the Confederacy, has ira
y,rsed such a section OF Georgia that military
critics already iscuss the possibility OF Gen.
Virginia con test This great result has, more
ever, been accomplished in the teeth OF the
strongest resistance, OF battles so severe that
southerners estimate Gen. Sherman's losses at
90 GO men, OF efforts so great that the South is
obliged to explain defeat by the northern de-
vice Of calling every fresh rstreat q new stra-
tegical movement.
Missouri Is either repentant or SO completely
controlled that the Cover q ment can rely upon
the action of the State Legislature, and Louis
lana has established government which, how
ever little 1t represents opinion, still prohibits
the State from exerting any organized force on
the Confed erate side. Kentucky, which ruled
the situation, has Just b. en- placed under mar
speak OF the campaign in the Far West. In
Virgins, where the case seems SO much worse
for the Federals, 1t Is IN reality even better.
Those seventy miles between Washington and
Richmond which were pronounced so impass-
able have been traversed-traversed in spite OF
. resistance rising into the heroic-,raversed
with such loss to the defendants that Gen. Lee,
b0ldess OF all southern generals, is reduced to
policy of com parative inaction. suffers Gen.
Grant 10 march past him without attacking his
exposed line, and leaves his ad versary south
OF Richmond rather than risk another general
action
That this advantage has been obtained at an
immense sacrifice of life Is true, but the very
HIST datum OF the struggle is that the North
car afford this loss, and that the South cannot.
The supply of men In the North il almost in
e1haustible, owing to immigration; that OF men
In the south strictly limited quantity. Then
the Southerners, we are told, are in yading
Mary land and going to capture Baltimore. So
they were last year, although they did not
leave vast army in sight of their own CAPT.
tai, they had one hundred and twenty thous.
md men instead of twenty thousand, and they
were commanded by Lee instead OF Ewell.
That was a true in vasion, this ia only raid:
that army might have captured Baltimore, this
sotd not take Fort M Henry, which commands
the city, or the gunboats, which could lay the
Port In ashes; that required the sudden return
OF the whole Army of the Potomac, this can be
met and defeated by calling out the local and
neighboring militia. The struggle is hot
enough, no doubt, for these Soulherners are
good soldiers, they are fighting from the inside,
ers, but, taking the campaign as q whole,
which is as yet the victor
Then take the political situation. In what
In IL worse than 1t was last yearl Three more
States have been reduced, If not into hea rty
obedience to Washington, at least into q sulien
acquiescence, which is comparatively almost
rs favorable. Two more have altered their
constitutions, SO as to abolish slavery forever,
and so establish q comm unity Of Interest," be-
tween themselves and the tree States which
allows of immigration. The President has
given mp his last lingering hope OF compro-
mise, and accepts a platform which, as re-
CARDS slavery, is in effect though not in theory,
abolitonist His rev Congress, which was to
have been so democratic, and to have con-
trolled m in the direction Of peace, turns out
on all questions connected with war or slavery
An ultra republican body. The coalition OF
terms to the President, has disappeared. and if
Ohio is violent now, Illinois last year openly
rer isted the troops sent to enforce the draft.
The Times has q story that Governor Seymour
has refused TO send the militia to Washington.
This ie one OF the In ventions Of the Times cor
responder
But the rise in the value Of goldl Is no doubt
the very worst symptom in the whole as pect OF
northern politics, for it signifies that the war Is
with the fan in the currency, until, If the pro-
GEES contin Ges, a soldiers ration may cost next
year as much as turtle soup and champagne
cost last. But what Is the premium on gold
throughout the great cities Of the South! There
il no fact better ascertained in modern politics
than that when a people is once determined
Rnance will not stop war. The Convention
had 100000 men in the field when assignats
were at GOO per cent, and Russia drove out
Napoleon and raised new army to traverse
Germany when they were almost valueless.
The only effect OF the rise on the war IL to com.
pei the Government to take the taxes in kind,
and in the end to substitute acquisitions for
taxation. For the few articles required from
abroad, such, for instance, as saltpetre, the
north can always pay, just as the South can
pay for ii can use its store Of corn as the South
nses its store OF cotton. The rise in wages may
derange labor, or even suspend it, but then the
effect Of suspension may be, as In France, to
hurl the laboring class into the ranks, where
alone they are secure of food. The North, if
reduced to q state Of barter, with its industry
suspended and its commerce paralyZed, Its
finances non-exlstant and its private fortunes
disappearing, can still, il II Will, while seed
produces harvest, fight on to the end. The
single question for politicians is now, as 1t was
a year ago, the Willingness OF the northern
people TO endure all rather than see the South
depart
II they are unwilling the question ends, but
where are the signs Of the unwillingness (!
But for the hundredth time we re-
peat the one fact of American politics which
our conntrymen will never perceive-thatsub-
stantial power in the United States rests with
the country freeholders; that they are when
combined and excited, more absolutely mast.
ers OF the policy OF their country han the mid
die classes are Of the policy of ours. The
electors Ia England could not defy the non.