Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1864-02-19

While it i certainly true that much re
lance can seldom be placed on individual
statements by refugees from the south,
yet taken as a whole they show plainly the
straits TO which the rebel, are reduced The
following statement is made on the authori-
y, correspondent of the HraH says. Of
very well known former citizen Of Balti-
more, who has been in Rebellion for three
years past. and arrived at Baltimore the
other day direct from Richmond. lie is
none Of your common refugees. be isa man Of
wealth and culture, and be has lcft the south
simply on the same principle that rats leave
a sinking ship"
This gentleman SAYS that the DAYS q the re-
bellion are numbered. and that the bubble will
soon burst. The people Of the South are sick
and Disguised with the war. and Of their self
constituted leaders. Against the latter they are
ripe for revolt, and they only await leader
and a favorable moment, 90 throw of the yoke
Of JET Davis Co, 20 run up the Stars and
Stripes. and 10 return 20 their former lleriance
The finances Of the c0nfeieracy are horeles.lv
derauged, and their currency Is So Deprecated
as TO be nearly worthless The CONSUMPTION has
been so sweeping and has been so rigidly enforced
on nine-tenths Of the population throughout the
South that there Is noboay left 10 direct the IA
bors Of the negroes. and the latter left 90 them
selves, are incapable Of conducting the simplest
agricultural operations The consequence Is
that there will be no crops TO speak q raised in
the South this year. Last year there was toll
cradle crop Of wheat and corn raised; hut the
limited means Of transportation AZ the South
render il almost unavailable.
80 tired are the people OF the war and Of the
discomiorts and misery that It entails that they
are willing to accept any terms Of reconstruction /
whatever, if they could only be delivered from
the military domination under which they are I
groaning
This will be the great obstacle in the way Of
crushing out the rebellion; but when it is out Of
the way the rest will be easy Ny informant
assures me that the South Will have in the field .
in the spring fully five hundred thousand troops.
and that It is understood 20 be the intention Of .
the rebels TO invade Pennsylvania again early
in the spring All the boys in the South who
were fifteen and sixteen years Oh when the war
began, and who are now from sixteen TO eight
zen years Of age, have been forced into the ar
my, and thus the numerical strength Of the
South in the spring will be really formidable
In thus strengthening their armies, however.
il Is thought by the most intelligent men in the
South that the rebel government have really
weakened their cause, and that thus fatal blow
has been struck at the permanency Of the con-
federacy. The armies already in the field are
now actually suffering, for the first time during
the war, from the want Of clothing, shoes. stock
ngs and blankets, and the stock Of ammunition
n the confederacy has been fearfully short
This Is the consequence of the effectiveness Of the
blockade, which Is now such that scarcely any
hing Of the kind Is received frc,a Europe, as it
was formerly 1t is therefore pertinentiy asked
~ the most intelligent men in the South, why
put still larger armies in the field, when We can
lot either feed or clothe the armies that we have
II present ?'
A still more serious deficiency that will stare
he South in the face during the year 1864 will
'e the want Of muskets, cannon, sabres and
lorses for the cavalry. Of small arms so many
ave been lost and destroyed that there is now
rarely enough to arm the men that are already
mbraced in the Southern armies They de
'end on the blockade, but this hope has proved
elusive. So many vessels with cargoes Of arms
N board have been sunk or captured that pru-
ence restraints the shipment Of arms IN that
manner. There are some muskets made at the
'outh, but not near as many as are lost or des-
royed OF horses the country is nearly drain
d, and II the war were to continue two years
lore the equine race would be about extinct.