The New York herald., 1864-12-24

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A Dictator An Ilis Piaee.
Mr.. Henry g. Foote, Of Tennessee, in his
retirement from the rebel Senate, seems on
the surface to be only the nrst Of the large rats
that stand ready to leave . very leaky ship.
But his withdrawal from that body has q
deeper import. 1t is, In fact, en- .'extreme
junction." u is substantially . declaration
that no more legislation Is necessary for the
rebel States, and that the supreme power of
the so-called Confederate government must
now pass into hands whose actions cannot be
questioned or influenced by deliberativs or
legislative bodies. It is the announcement of
the dictatorship that the rebel Congress Is
about to bring down like an avalanche on the
shoulders of Robert E. Lee. Foote's oocupa-
ton and the occupation of all the tribe Of
factious plotters is gone; In few days there
will be no rebel Senate aud no rebel House,
and the late "members' will be members no
more; they will be common men, not clothed
with any of the immunitios Of high oflce, and
some greasy butternut may march them into
the trenches where they will be required to
face the fire they have so long been eager to
eat, Under these circumstances Foote would
rather be in Mississippi, whore corn meal is
more plentiful, and butternut 'sergeants less
so. He is q freeman and the representative Of
freemen, and cannot "legslate in ohains," and
will not be responsible for the horrible acts
that may be passed In ''secret session." and
away goes Foote.
How many days Is Foote ahead of Daviss
Not many. Foote imprecates the miserable
wretch who stands In the chief place, and cries
out that all the trouble of the Southern people
is Davis. So do all the Southern journals, OK.
cept those that Davis entirely controls, and
thus the whole pandemonium yells at the bogus
President chorus of shouts quite as terrible as
that which, on q memorable occasion, store
Hell's conclave." And all this Is because
Davis has carried out their own principles. He
has, in his acts, put in practice the real South
ern ideas, and has represented Southern men
not wisely, but too well. He believed, with
the Southern democrats who left the Charleston
Convention, and with the Southern Senators
and Representatives who left Congress when Mr..
Lincoln was elected, that the minority ought
to rule; and he has pursued this idea until he
has got it down to very nice point. He has
got his minority almost to the last extremity to
which minority can be brought-one man!
He has carried the power Of the minority almost
as far as it will 60; but, unfortunately, the one
man in whom he has endeavored to conc ncentrate
all the power of the people, il JEFF. Davis, q
very small man, a vain and empty politician,
who cannot turn the streams of human destiny
at his own will, who cannot fight Grant, Sher-
man, Sheridan aud Thomas on land or Farragut
and Porter on the sea. Therefore the edi6ce
that the rebels have endeavorsd to build up
totters to its base. Grant has battered It ter
ribly through the past summer; Thomas has
just now, like multiplied Samson, taken out
twenty thousand Of its supports; Sherman has
sacked two or three Of the towns, and now But
ler, Porter, Sherman, Thomas, Candy, Stone
man and Grant are all engaged ON . mine that
will blow the whole establishment to the moon
IL not intorfsred with.
Some desperate remedy b necessary, and the
discussion of that desperate remedy In the
secret sessions Of the rebel Congress 10 what
has given the last alarm to Foote, and hurries
him away to Mississippi That projected 70
medy is the deposition OF Dayis-the relin.
qushment Of even the last forms and pretsnces
or free government, and the substitution Of
dictatorship under Lee. By this it ID apparent
that the Southern Congress does not disap-
prove Of the principles of Davis, but only of
his practices. They agree with him that
Southern government can only be carried on
by the despotic one man power; but they differ
as to the choice Of the man. They believe
still that the minority must and ought to rule,
and they are willing that the minority should
even be one man; but they suppose that he
ought to be the ablest one they have, and so
they throw or kick over Davis as proven inca
psble, and take up Lee who has hitherto been
successful in that limited sphere, the command
Of . single army. Davis will be deposed or will
abdcate quietly, and the people may not even
be permitted to know the fact. He will leave
Richmond, but the rebel papers will speak Of
his departure when he goes now, as they did
when he went to visit Bragg's army and Hoods
army.
Ii such change as this seriously intended
to improve the capacity Of the Southern
States for resistance, II so 1t will fail
Generals, unless animated by the spirit
of personal ambition and thirst for glory,
IS Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon were,
are peace men. General Lee 10 most un-
questionably peace man. He appreciates
fully that let tho politicians and alarmists say
what they will about Northern tyranny, no
thing can cause so much misery to the South
as this war does. Therefore he will end
tho war. The dictatorship Is q short
road to peace. More than that, 1t is intended
as such. BY this means the so-callsd Confsde-
rate government gets out Of false position.
1t Is committed never to make peace; but It
brings into existence power that will make