The Portland daily press., 1864-10-11
"What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the uncomfortable will,
And study of revenge immortal hate,
And courage uever TO submit or Weld -


And courage never to submit or yield"
In the same malignant mood our arch-rebel
exclaims that, in spite of reverses in the field,
In spite of the losses of cities aud states, in
spite of forced retreats of hundreds of miles
10 length and ~ months OF duration, in spite
of the dispersion or destruction of his armies,
all was not lost, hatred of the Yankees was
as virulent as ever, will to rule or ruin as I'M
cohquerable, the study how to revenge disas-
ter aud defeat as vivid and immortal
Bot if the arrogance of Davis speech was
characteristic, the dependency that never
theless pervades it, the air Of extreme and re-
NEEDLESS despair which 5reathes around it, Is
remarkable. We do not wonder that the
Charleston Mercury should regret the publ
cation Of such utterances, or that the Rich
mond Wing should advise the President to
take with him, when he travels, the more oily
and rhetorical Benjamin, who has the repute
of preparing all Davis messages and procla-
nations. This speech at Macon was one huge
confession of weakness, a bitter outbreak of
bsfasd malice, a cry of despair sent up from
the very depths Of an agonized mind.
The extraordinary part of this speech, how
ever, is that in which Davis describes the con-
dition and prospects of the army. "Two-
thirds of our men are absent, he says, "some
sick, some wounded, but most of them absent
without leave" 1. e., the greater part of two
thirds have voluntarily deserted. They have
either gone home, where their friends keep
them hidden from the conseripting agents, or
they have crossed over into our lines, where
they will undoubtedly remain until the close
of the war. Davis pidful appeals to come
back viii reach the ears of few, for whom
they will possess no charms, if they do not in
deed have the effect of driving that few deep
er into the caves and Businesses Of the noun
tains. ae NA
Davis defence Of himself against the charge
Of not having sent reinforcments to Hood is
admirablel 1t meets every point of the ac-
cusation; 1t disposes of every cavil; for he
says frankly that he did not have the men to
send. He could not, like Cadmus, reap armed
men from the hundred thousand dragons
teeth that be had sowed; he could not raise
them from the ground by stamping upon it
with his foot; he could not spare them from
the Virginia forces, because those forces were
more outnumbered than the forces in Georgia
and he could not take them from The Shen-
andoah, because the moment he withdrew
Early from the valley, that very moment
Sheridan would pounce upon Lynehburg, and
"put complete Gordon of men around Rich
mond." 1t win probably be said by the rebel
sympathizers of the North that this speech,
like Mallory's navy report, is forgery; but
apart from the fact that it has been already
commented upon in serious manner by the
Charleston and Richmond papers, we have the
testimony of our correspondent at Atlanta,
going to show that it is, if an imperfect re-
port at least authentic The Macon paper
from which it is taken is, if we are not mis-
informed, In possession of the War Depart
ment at Washington. -