Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1864-02-05
From the Richmond Wing, Jan. 1st.I
Anew Facts.

/ 81.
The cry is. for great armies Every body
/ is to be put in the ranks, except such as are
detailed. Pcs .-.-
Very good, if by 50 doing we. can end the
war next year aud be done with it. Rat lei
US look at few facts
An army correspondent, writing from
/ Longstreet's corps, says there are 5000 bare
footed men in that corps alone. From John
sons tlate Braggs) army, comes a piteous ap-
/ peal for blankets and clothing, Lees army is
also in need Of blankets, and not a week ago
la paper, reputed TO be Government organ,
in this city, called upon the ladies to- devote
their energies to knitting socks for Lees sol
diers. For some weeks past the Y oung
! Mems Christian. Association has been furnish
ing cotton yarn to be knit into socks for these
same soldiers. Woolen yarn was not to be had.
Day by day, the clothes made for the soldiers
exhibit less wool and more cotton.
What is the prospect for clothing next
year. The blockade at Wilmington is now so
rgidly enforced that supplies from abroad
cannot be counted on. An intercepted letter
from Nassau printed in the Yankee papers
which came By the last flag of truce, states
g that nothing has entered Wilmington for
mon nlh." We must then depend on The home
markets for clothing meterials. What do we
fnd ? Any one who buys beef has discovered
that the quaters and sides are rapidly dimin-
shing in size. Younger cattle are being
slaughtered every year. 1t is now thought
we will have to fall back upon milch cows
As cattle diminish mutton must be substitut-
ed, aud hence the sources both of leather and
wool may be expected to decrease every
month. Thus the prospect at home does not
encourage the belief that we are able to clothe
armies larger than those which are now shiv-
erng in nakedness.
An army must be fed as well as clothed
The facts just stated in regard to the supply
of beef apply with even more force to the
question OF subsistence, than to that of cloth
ing. Very little bacon is left, beef is going
and mutton will hardly feed great armies even
if the supply were double what it is
It is said that General Lee, during bis late
visit to this city, exclaimed that the citizens
had no right to indulge Themselves while the
soldiers were living on quarter Of a pound Of
meat per day. The hue and cry against Yam
kee prisoners has scarcely subsded, apd the
excuse that three of our largest hospitals were
forced to do without meat for a day or two
at the time has not been forgotten. Fast
Tennessee on which we relied mainly for sup
plies, has fallen into the hands of the enemy
Fhe clamur about mpresslnents and the stop
page Of supplies on their way to market, still
rings in the ears of the Government. The
standing crops in entire counties have been
impressed at one fell swoop, under the plea
that in no other manner could sufficient sup
ply for the army be certainly secured. In
der this system, and because Of real scarcity
as well, flour of u low grade is selling this
day in the Confederate capital at $l20 per
barrel. It'appears, therefore, that the pros
pect OF feeding the army already in the field,
much less one twice or thrice it's size, is not
encouraging. a.
Without labor there can be no production.
Our labor is that of the African Slave, who
requires the supervision of the white man at
times, and never more than when an unusual
quantity of work is demanded of him. Wo-
men, lads, sexagenarians, cannot make the me-
gro do his duty fully and faithfully; man in
the Vigor of life is needed Already the fears
of insurreetion, occasioned by the absence of
the greater portion OF the aFms-bearing white
population, has produced leniency aud indul.
gence among the farmers, which has encOur-
aged the natural laziness of the slave, and re.
suited in n rapid and yearly increasing dimin-
ution Of the crop. Take away oil, OR nearly
all the vigorous whites, and leave the negro
to the control of women, children and old
men, and the danger is that famiHe viii be su-
peradded to insurrection. II the negroes,
still remaining within our lines, were made to
work as hard as the white hirelings Of the
North and of Europe, they could scarcely pro-
duee more than enough TO supply the wants
Of the army, it now stands, at prices not
ruinous to the Government. Conscribe the
entire white population within the ages of
eigteen and fifty, constitute reserved corps
of lads between fifteen and eighteen, and the