The daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1863-1864, 1864-01-12
The Situation.

1O-udy ttOScS uN ytOUWtoSt SeT " OW
struggle. No sangulne hope of Intervention
buoys up the spirits OF the Confederate
public as at the end of 1861. No brilliant
victory like that of Fredericksburg encsur
ages US to look forward 10 speedy and sue
cessful termination of the war, as in the
last weeks of 1862. Meade has been foiled
and Longstreet has had partial success in
Tennessee; but Meade's advance was hardly
meant in earnest, aud Beams station is q
poor set-of to the loss Of the gallant men
who fell in the murderous assault on Knox
vile. Another daring Yankee raid has
been carried out with comparative impunity
to the invaders, aud timorous capitalists
may well pause before they nibble at eligl
BILE investments in real estate situated far
in the interior. That interior has been
fearfuly narrowed by the federal march
through Tennessee, and, owing to the def
ciencies of our cavalry service, L,ncoln's
squadrons of horse threaten to be as uni
versal terror, as persuasive nuisance, as
his squadrons of guuboats were some
months since. The advantages gained at
Chsncellorsville and Chickamauga have had
heavy counterpoises. The one victory led
to the fall of jackson and the deposition OF
Hooker, the other led first to nothing and
then to the indellble disgrace of Lookout
mountain. The Confederacy has been cut
in twain along the line of the Mississippi,
and our enemies are steadily pushing for4
ward their plans for bise,ting the eastern
moiety. No wonder, then, that the annual
advent Of the reign of mud is hailed by all
classes with sense of reief-by those who
think and feel Alright, as precious season
to prepare for trying another fall with our
potent adversely. Meanwhile the financial
chaos is becoming wilder and wilder
Hoarders keep more resolute grasp
than ever on the necessaries Of life
Non-producsrs, who are at the same
time non-speculators, are suffering more
and more. What was once compe.
tence bas become poverty, poverty has be
come penury, penury is lapsing into pauper,
ism. Amy mechanical occupation is more
profitable than the most intellectual pro,
fession; the most accomplished scholars in
the confederacy would be glad to barter
their services for food and raiment; and in
the complete upturning of our social rela
tions, the only happy people are those who
have black hearts or black skins. The cry
of scarcity resounds through the the land,
raised by producers in their greed 70" gain,
re-echoed by the consumers in their pre-
mature dread of starvation and nakedness
We are all in the dark, and men are more
or less towards in the dark. We do not
know what our resources are, ,and no one can
tell us whether we shall have pound of
beef to eat at the end of 1864, or square
inch of leather to patch the last shoe in the
confederacy. Unreasoning confidence has
been succeeded by depression as unreason.
ing, and the Yankees are coDgratulating
on the result, which they hawk
about as the beginning of the end " Theo-
logans will tell US the disasters of the clos
ing year are the punishment of our Sins
This is true enough; but cheap penitence
will not save US from the evil consequences
There is no forgiveness for political sins,
and the reults will as certainly follow as if
there had been no repentance. AS all sins
are, in higher sense, intellectual blunders,
we must strain every fibre of the brain and
every sinew of the will if we wish to re-
pair the terrible mischief which our
folly and our corruption have wrought. The
recognition of this Imperative
duty is more certain earnest of our sue
cess than the high spirits of our men in the
field, or the indomitable patriotism of our
women at home, from which newspaper cor
derive so much comfort. The
and unfaithfulness of govern
ment officials have had much to do with the
present aud sad state of aff airs, but the re-
sponsiblity does not end there: the guilt
does not rest there alone. Every man who
has suffered himself to be tainted with the
scab of speculation has done something to
injure the credit of Confederate securities;
every man who has withheld any necessary
of life has done his worst To ruin the coun.
try; every one, man or woman, who has
petite, and refused to submit to any priva-
ton, however slight, which an expenditure,
however great, could prevent has Contrib
uted to the general decentralization. 1t may
be said that, with the resent plethora of
paper money, such virtue as we demand is
not to Re ypected of any people made up
of merely human beings. But some such
virtucis necessary for any people whose duty
it has become to wage such contest as ours,
and if the virtue is not spontaneous, it must
be ingrafted by the painful process through
which we are now passing. We cannot 60
through this fiery furnace without the
smell of fire on our garments. We can no
more avoid the loss of property than we
can the shedding of blood There is no