The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-12-21
Leading Editorials from the New Yerk
Papers This Morning.
THE NEW DIsCOURAGEMENTs OF THE
REHEITION

From ne Tsus'.
The Rebellion, from the beginning. has lived
only on delusons. The deusion that the
Northern people had not the courage to fight
tho delusion that the Government would be
fettered by the Democratic party so that Il
could not fight, If IL would-the delusion that
even If there were fighting foreign powers,
constrained by their necessities for cotton,
would speedily interfere to put stop to it
the delusion that the spirit Of volunteering
would quickly die out in the North, and that
there would be no other practicable means Of
keeping up the national armics-the dcusion
that the accumulofing debt of the Government
must soon break down its financial system, and
plunge the North into helpless ruin-the dtu,ion
that the North COud he successfully invaded and
frightened into pcaCc-were what sustained the
Rebellion all through s first period Of existence.
Thee de.usions were gradually dispelied, one
after another.
Tic last one that Welded was that which
counted on NOr'h divided and uaralvzad But
this most potent dgu,ion had finally to share
the fate of the rest The reelection Of President
Lincoln by the Overwhelming voice of the
people in all parts Of the North, and the prompt
and universal acquie-Cence Of the Democratic
party in hat great popular act, made 10 impossible
Tor the Rebels 70 reckon any longer upon any
elective aid from Northern mll-CJnteuts.
That result verified, so that nobody could
mistake, the substantial unity of the North in
the determination never to give up the Union.
a All Of these disapppintmcnts we're calculated
greatly to abate the original spirit of the Rebels
But new and peculiar disappointment now
weighs upon them. They have always imagined
that, whatever injury we might infiiJt upon their
borders, and on the shores OF the MissssIppi, and
other navigable waters, the heart of the Confcde-
racy was beyond our reach. They have nattared
themselves that they could hold out for any
length of time, because they held the interior lines
into which we could not penetrate, whereby they
a throat.
oned point, in force enough to repel rs. There
was good deal 70 sustain this !dca.
;. 1t was fact up to within the last few months
that we had never succeeded in putting q single
army in permanent position in Rebel territory
twenty miles away from nayigabe water. We
had made successful raids, but every one OF our
attempted incursions in force had failed. twas
not until sherman struck out from the Tennessee
river for Atlanta last May, and had successfully
made his way far beyond Lookout Mountain,
that the Rebels began 10 consider such an inland
march at all formidable.
1t was not until he was actually inside of
Atlanta that they could firmly believe It's capture
possible. Even when he had fully established
himself there, they were confident that II would
prove his M0sCOw-that be could not mlintaiu
his communications with the rear, and would be
hemmcd in and compelled to surrender. jeff.
Davis, who had n regular military education,
assured them Of this, and it was generally be-
lieved. The delusiOn was so complete that the
possibility Of Sherman continuing his movement
to the Gulf or the Ocean was not even dreamed
OF; and he was far on his way thither bafOre the
Southern mind could recO 5nize at all its actual
object.
When the object was apprehended, there were
attempts TO thwart it, but they proved ridicu-
lousy futile. Sherman took his army through
without check or even serious mOlestatiOn. Even
guerillas did not annoy him. IL was not so much
n march as a free and easy promenade. He tells
us that he cid not lose even single wagon on
"the trip" The whole country in his chosen
track was at his mercy, and he destroyed the
boasted internal lines Of communication as efec-
tually and with as little trouble as If there had
not been Rebel within thousand miles. The
demonstration has been complete that the whole
interior of the COniederacy is utterly destitute of
military strength, and that any of our spare
armies have but to march there to do their own
will and pleasure.
This new exposure of all the interior popuIa-
ton ofthe COnfedgracy to the horrors Of war, of
which heretofore they have known nothing, can
not but have a most discOuragng effect. There
are always in every war individuals who are reck-
less and desperate, but It is not possible that an
entire people should voluntarily court ruin. 1t
Is possible that people should be ever 80 defiant
when danger is hundreds Of miles away, but
change is sure to come over their spirit when de
struction is at their very doors.
The moral effect of the successful march Of
Sherman upon the Southern disposition, we
believe will be greater than that of any military
event since the beginning of the war. Nothing
that could have happened could have been better
calculated to prepare the Southern people for
submission TO constitutional authority. Their
territorial inacCessibility was their last and
greatest delusiOn That once dissipated no other
delusion that could beguile them for a day is
possible. Every other one has already had its
time and can never be revived. It's last delusiOn
at an end, the Rebel heart must soon grow faint;
and when a rebellion is once faint-hearted, its
end il nigh