The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1864-09-30

prolonSatlon, what substantial ground the,
have for the repinirg? 1t is true the cours,
of the war has not been an UNINTERRUPTED
succession of victories; it has presented III,
checquered aspect of successes and reverse.
which all wars present. But we ask any
dispassionate observer, looking at the wa,
by the map, and in the fiery characters in
which it is written all over the continent
contrasting the rebellion at the start with
the rebellion where it now stands-survey.
ing this great struggle for the Union in its
solid and substantial reSults-we ask such
an observer TO point out in the annals of war
where more has been done in the same Pc
riod. He will find it hard to point out where
as much has been done, 1t is the common
practice, We know, in the wars of popular
Governments for men TO belittle what has
been done, TO criticise and complain but We
ask In all seriousness is it the part of dig
nifty or of patriotism, in this crisis of our
nations struggle, to depreciate its grand and
providential achievements
This war is really near its close. The
present front of the rebellion, menacing
though it be, is really nothing more than a
mask, concealing the hollowness and rotten
ness within. The South is literally exhaust
ed-exhausted of that without which it is
Impossible to carry on war-exhausted of
men. As Gen. Grant the other day pun
gently said, the rebels have robbed the era
die and the grave to reinforce their armies"
Out of an available fighting population of
upwards of three-quarters of million with
which the war was inaugurated, they have
saved an effective force of one hundred or
one hundred and fifty thousand men. The
rest are in their graves, in the hospitals, dis
abled, or prisoners in our nands. These are
the iorlorn hope of the rebellion.
Our territorial cohquests have reclaimed
three-fourths of the area originally claimed
in the limits of the Confederacy. The Con-
federacy stands ssnow!thrice oisected-its great
lines of communication cut or in our hands.
Besides, its resources of all kinds are all but
exhausted. The desperate men at Its head
may continue the struggle for some time
longer-they may for awhile oppose a for
midable front TO our blows-but the rebellion
is doomed. Its struggles will be the frantic
final efforts of the gladiator before he falls
down exhausted and exanimate.
The leaders of the rebellion have ceased
10 see any hope for their cause in the arena
of war. They are nor looking TO the arena
Of politics. A party ha. been set up whose
creed and aims have their entire sympathy
ana moral support. The platform of that
pait, lia> uuuilug but expressions Vf
tumely for the sacred war, the recital OF
which has been made for JEFF. Davis and
his crew it has nothing but expressions of
sympathy and respect. The people of the
North have now before them the momehtous
question of determining, by their actions,
whether they will justify all the precious
blood shed in this war by carrying il trium-
phantly through and crowning il with a glo-
rious and honorable peace, or whether BY a
base surrender they will project il into his
tory as a monument Of nations folly.
WILLIAM SwINToN.