The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1864-01-08
important Confessions from the
South.


sent Mr.. Russell TO this county as its special
and most of our readers were
made acquainted of the scurrilous, one
sided and untruthful letters which appeared
in the Times from his pen. But MIR. Russell
was possessed of ordinary sagacity, and as
he became more acquainted with the CHAR
acter of the present struggle and the men
who instigated this rebellion, his eyes were
opened, and his subsequent letters home did
not satisfy his employers. He was recalled.
and Charles Mackay took his place. 1t would
seem as though the INSCRIPTIONS letters OF
this man we're all that the Times could de-
sire. But the thunderer" has changed
once or twice since with very little improve
ment, we should judge.
In the Times of Nov IA, which We have
before US, their Richmond special correspon
dent opens his communication with the fol-
lowing considering the place of writing and
the medium of publcation) important state
ment:
THE Confederate States are evidently ap-
preaching stage in this war which will test
more than ever the stubbornEess and tenacity
of their temper and patience, and can only
be successfully encountered by a national
spirit as systematic as it is resolute. Their
enemy, with as much pertinacty, and far
more sagacily than heretofore, hens in the
edges of the rebellion " on every side avoids
the frequent recurrence of pitched battles
and general engagements, pounces with
hawk, like suoop upon isolated and made
qua'ely supported bodies of men, evinces
possession of admirable secret information,
keeps the Confederate Generals constantly
on the rack, and, harassed by irruptions OF
cavalry, makes his superiority of numbers,
and still more his abundance of supplies for
horse and man, more and more elt,and final
ly is investing the ports of Secessia with a
Gordon of vessels so numerous as for the
frs: time in 80 months to make access to the
Confederate coast really dangerous and diff
cult. On the other hand, in rebeldom Itself
the Federals have powerful ally in circum-
O+n- ,rh;ch. Wy ,h;-L;-c. h"-" T-~~>,
the beginning quadrup led the magnitude Of
the Confederate task. No one who has been
conversant with the Northern States during
the last % years can have failed to notice
with establishment the faith stronger than
death which the Northerners have exhibited
in their "star," their manifest destiny,
their "relgion," their Alpha and Omega,
: III &C 1,.oir;op
and Ito quote Mr.. Everetl's worlds "fron
the icy Pole to the flaming belt of the Equa-
tor" No parallel faith has ever been exhi-
bited by the Confederate States in their iu-
ture. Six great Southern victories in the
/ field and three drawn battles, exhausting the
/ nine principal collisions of the War, the en-
tire absence OF any such panic routs as Bull
Run or Chickamauga, the tried inetficacy Of
the Federal blockade, the unmolested preda
tory flight of Alahamas and Floridas at sea
have altogether failed to inspire the masse,
Of the South with a tithe of that confidence
in themselves which neither defeat, nor dis
aster,nor hope deferred, nor illusions dispelIeC
have ever shaken out of the Northerners.-
Deny it who may, there is something sublime
in this shadowy earnestness and misty mag.
uificence Of Northern faith and self-reliance
Would that | could see promise of future anl
final Southern triumph in any corresponding
quality of the Southern mind! In many
fashions Southern unfaith crops up and re
coils upon the Confederate Government
making, for Instance, MIR. Menminyer's task
though he takes his stand upon ray materia
worth 60 or 20 millions of pounds sterling
Herculanean as compared with Mr.. Chase's
who issues vastly larger promises to pay OF
a security of breadstuF exports worth onl
60 or 20 millions Of dollars. There are, 0
course, other reasons to account for the fac
that three dollars in greenbacks will bu
two dollars in gold, while it requires 80 pa
per dollars Of the Confederacy 10 buy lk
sum but the fundamental explanation O
the discrepancy in value of the irredeemabl
paper issues of the two sections lies in tn
vastly superior faith in themselves of tn
Northern people"
Our readers can have the above for wha
it is worth. Its main significance in GU
view is the fact that it was written at tn
rebel capital for paper VIGOROUSLY hostil
to our government, consequently the write
has means of information and receives i'm
pressons from the rebel leaders who SUI
round him, which few men who are above
to speak can have. And in that view
shows the fast waning star of the slave cor
federacy. The New York correspondent
the Times, in later number, talks much
the same vein, though we do not place tn
b. utmost reliance on his prophecy:
y THAT the prolongation of the strugg1
e may within five or six months wear out tn
South |, canddly speaking, believe by n
means impossible. Heroes of the Lee an
Davis stamp may choose to break rather tina
to bend, and for them death or exile will
the more bearable lot but if resistance i
. the held is overcome, do really incline
= believe that men will be found in the Sout
willing to put forward or to accept propose
;, either OF submission or compromise; and
the two fractions of these disunited State
can ever come to terms, and the implacab
. leaders OF the secession movement are prov
dential!y removed, the pacifcation and col
: citation Of the rebel districts may turn o,
n less difficult task than people are now fai
to imagine. The States of Georgia, Alabam
South Carolina and especially North Car,
lima, may eventually come under the manag
y ment OF the Washington Government wit
4 no greater trouble than Maryland or Mi
:. souri, IT 1t SO be that the government finds
4 plausible solution to the slavery question