Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-08-27
The fhantes Of Pea,s In America.
Iron the London Spectator, July %.

| the South would be ultimately defeated, that
the dauntless persistency of the North would
| wear out the fiery courage of Its opponents,
| that numbers and will would prevail alike
| over skill and patriotism" it has suddenly
arrived at the conviction that the cause of
| the North is lost. Immediately after Gen.
| Grants first battle even the Times wrote re-
spectfully of the chances of the invasion, but
| the check suffered in the direct advance on
Richmond, the long pause before Petersburg,
the excessive rise in gold, the dismissal or
resignation of Mr.. Chase, the rumor of an
"invasion of Maryland" and the natural re-
| coil of over-excited anticipation, have once
| more depressed the balance; the Confeder-
ate loan has gone up to seventy-six, the con-
| sentative papers once more speak of 1.-THE
victorious South" and the widest rumors,
if only they tell to the disadvantage of the
| North, are received with instant credit. All
| this while the facts of the case either remain
exactly where they were year ago, or when
they have altered, have altered, with one con-
| spicuous exception, to the advantage of the
Federals. The military change has been
conspicuously in their favor. Last year they
were contending in the West for the Missis-
| sippi, apprehended the loss of New Orleans,
were doubtful of the fidelity of Missouri, and
wavered in policy for fear lest they should
| affront irretrevably the neutral politicians
of the State of Kentucky. This year the Ar
my of the Mississippi has quilted the banks
of that river, and fought its way steadily and
| surely to the very heart of the Confederacy,
| has traversed such a section of Georgia that
military critics already discuss the possibility
of Gen. Sherman intervening with decisive
effect in the Virginian contest. This great
result has, moreover, been accomplished in
| the teeth of the strongest resistance, OF bat
| ties so severe that sOutherners estimate Gen.
| Sherman's losses at thirty thousand men, of
| efforts so great that the South is obliged to
| explain defeat by the northern device OF call
ing every fresh retreat new strategical
movement. $3.50 a--A
Missouri is either repentant or so COM
pletely controlled that the Government can
RELY upon the action of the State Legislature,
and Louisiana has established Government
which, however little 1t represents opinion,
still prohibits the State from exerting any
organized force on the Confederate side
/ Kentucky, which ruled the situation, has just
been placed under martial law, and even
| Southerners have ceased to speak of the cam
| paign in the Far West. In Virginia, where
| the case seems so much worse for the FEEDER
| ais, it is in reality even better. Those sew
| enty miles between Washington and Rich
mond which were pronounced so impossible
have been traversed-traversed in spite of
resistance rising into the heroic--traversed
with such loss to the defendants that General
Lee, boldest of all Southern Generals, is re-
duced to a policy of comparative inaction,
suffers General Grant to march past him
without attacking his exposed line, and leaves
his adversary 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
Gccf dot Of tho cfruooia ic that 10
North can afford this loss, and that the South
cannot. The supply of men in the North is
almost inexhaustible, owing to immigration;
that of men in the South a strictly limited
quantity. Then the Southerners, we are
told, are invading Maryland and going to
capture Baltimore. So they were last year,
only they did not leave a.vast army in sight
of their own Capital. They had one hundred
| and twenty thousand men instead of twenty
thousand, and they were commanded by Lee
instead of Ewell. That was true invasion,
this is only raid; that army might have
captured Baltimore, this could not take Fort
McHenry, 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 PotNmac, this can be met and
defeated by calling out the local and neigh
boring militia. The struggle is hot enough,
no doubt for these Southerners are good
soldiers, they are fighting from the inside,
and they have most audacious and able lead
ers, but, taking the campaign as a whole,
which is as yet the victor!
Then take the political situation. In what
is it worse than it was last year? Three
more States have been reduced, if not into
hearty obedience to Washington, at least into
a sullen acquiescence, which is comparative
ly almost as favorable. Two more have al
Al.A... l. IL
slavery forever, and so establish communi-
ty of interests between themselves and the
free states which allows of immigration
The President has given up his last lingering
hope of compromise, and accepts a platform
which, as regards slavery. is in effect though
not in theory, abolitionist. His new Con-
gress which was to have been so democrat
ic, ard have controlled him in the direction
of peace, turns out on all questions connect
ed win war or slavery an ultra-republican
body. The coalition of Governors which
tried last year to dictate terms to the Presi-
dent has disappeared, and if Ohio is violent
now, Illinois last year openly resisted the
troops sent to enforce the draft. The Times
has a story that Governor Seymour has re-
fused to send the militia to Washington.
This is one of the inventions of the Times
correspondent
no doubt the very worst symptom in the
whole aspect of northern politics, for it sig
nities that the war is becoming crushingly
expensive. Prices rise with the fall in the
currency, until, if the process continues, a
soldiers ration tmay cost next year as much
as turtle soup and CHAMPAIGN cost last. But
what is the premium on gold throughout the
great cities of the South? There is no fact
better ascertained in modern politics than
that when people is once determined finance
will not stop war. The Convention had
l ,200,0 900 men in the field when assignBts
were at 200 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 is to
compel the government to take the taxes in
kind, and in the end to substitute requisi-
tions for taxation. For the few articles re-
quired from abroad, such, for instance as
saltpetre, the. North can always pay, just as
the South can pay, for it can use its store of
corn as the South uses 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 a
state of barter, with its industry suspended
and its commerce paralyzed, its finances nom
existent and its private fortunes disappear
ing, can still if it will, while seed produces
harvest, fight on to the end. The single
question for politicians is now, as it was a
year ago, the willingness of the northern
people to endure all rather than see the