Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-01-23
A Rebel View OF the ,sltuatien-.Nev Years
Reflections i'm Dixie.


| No sanguine hope of intervention buoys up
the spirits of the Confederate public as at
| the end of 1851. No brilliant victory like
that of Fredericksburg encourages US to look
| forward TO speedy and successful Terminal
| ton of the war, as in the last weeks of 1882
Meade has been foiled, and Longstreet has
! had a partial success in Tennessee but
| Meade's advance was hardly meant in earnest,
and Beans Station is a poor set-off to the
| loss of the gallant men who fell in the muir
derous assault on Knoxville Another daring
Yankee raid has been carried out with COM
parative impunity TO the invaders, and timor-
| Gus capitalists may well pause before they
| nibble at eligible investments in real estate
| situated far in the interior. That interior
has been fearfully narrowed blythe federal
/ march through Tennessee, and owing to the
/ deficiencies of our cavalry service, Lincoln's
4 squadrons of horse threaten to be as univer-
l sal terror, as pervasive nuisance, as his
squadrons of gunboats. were some months
since. The advantages gained at Chancel-
| louisville 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
| indelible disgrace of Lookout Mountain. The
| Confederacy has been cut in twain along the
line of the,Mississippi, and our enemies.are
steadily pushing forward their plans for BIZ
secting the Eastern moiety. No wonder,
| then. that the annual advent of the reign of
mud is hailed by all classes with a sense of
| relief-by those who think and feel Alright, as
precious season to prepare for trying an
other fall with our potent adversely.
Meanwhile the financial chaos ia becoming
wilder and wilder. Boarders keepa more
resolute grasp than ever on the necessities of
| life Non-producers, who are at the same
time non-speculators, are suffering more and
more. What was once competence has be-
come poverty, poverty has become penury,
penury is lapsing into pauperism. Any me-
chanical occupation is more profitable than
the most intellectual profession; the most
accomplished scholars in the confederacy
would be glad to barter their services for
food and raiment; and in the complete up
turning of our social relations the only happy
people are those who have black hearts or
black skins. The cry of scarcity resounds
through the land, raised by. the producers in
their greed for gain, echoed by the con.
sumers in their premature dread of starvation
and nakedness. We are all in the dark, and
men are more or Tess towards in the dark.
We do not know what our resources are-apd
no one can tell us whether we shall have a
pound of beef to eat at the end of 1864, or
a square inch of leather to patch the last shoe
in the confederacy. Unreasoning confidence
has been succeeded by depression as unreas-
oning, and the Yankees are congratulating
themselves on the result, which they hawk
about as the beginning of the end.'
Theologians tell us that the disasters of
the closing year are the punishment of our
sins. This is true enough; but cheap peni
tence will not save us from the evil conse-
quences. There is no forgiveness for polite
al SINS and the results will as certainly fol-
low as if there had been no repentance. AS
all sins are, in q higher sense, intellectual
blunders we must strain every fibre of the
brain and every sinew of the will if we wish
to repair the mischief which our folly and
our corruption have wrought. The univers-
al recognition of this imperative duty is
more certain earnest of our success than the
high spirits of our men in the field, or the in
domitable patriotism of our women at home,
from which newspaper correspondents derive
so much comfort. The incompetence and un-
faithfulness of government officials have had
much to do with the present sad state of at
fairs, but the responsibility 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 country; every one, man or woman, who
has yielded to the solicitations of vanity or
appetite, and refused to submit to any priva-
ton, however slight, which an expenditure,
however great, could prevent, has contribut-
| ed to the general generalization. 1t may be
said that, with the present plethora of paper
| money, such virtue as we demand is not to
be expected of any people made up of mere
| ly human beings. But some such virtue is
necessary for any people whose duty it has
become to wage such a contest as ours and
| if the virtue is not spontaneous, it must be
engrafted by the painful process through
which we are now passing. We cannot go
| 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 family in the
| confederacy that has not to mourn the fault of
some member or some connection, and there
| is no family in the confederacy which ought
| to expect TO escape scatheless in estate. The
attempt is as useless, in most cases, as it is
| ignoble in ALL A few, and but few, in COM
| parison with the whole number, may come
out of the war richer than when they went in
| but even they must make up their minds to
| sacrifice part, and large part, in order to
| preserve the whole. The saying of the stole
philosopher, "You can't have something for
| nothing" though it sounds like a truism, in
| fact, conveys a moral lesson of great signifi-
canoe. Men must pay for privileges. II they
do not pay voluntarily, their neighbors will
make them pay, and that heavily. Had those
| who employed substitutes to take their places
in the army refrained, as a class, from specu.
lation and extortion, they would not now be
lamenting the prospect of a speedy further
ance to the camp of instruction. However
Just their cause, the manner in which too
many of them abused the immunity acquired
by money has deprived them all of active
sympathy
We all have heavy score to pay off, and
we know it.. This may depress us, but our
enemies need not be jubilant at our depres-
| sion, for we are determined to meet our liza
| bilities. Whatever number of men, or what
ever amount of money shall be really want
| ing, will be Forthcoming. Whatever economy
| the straitening of our resources may require
| we shall learn to exercise. We could only
| wish that Congress was not in such fever
ish mood, and that the government would do
something towards the establishment of sta
tistical bureau, or some other agency, by
! which we could approximately ascertain what
| we have to contribute, and to what extent
we must husband our resources. Wise, cool,
| decided, prompt action would put US in good
condition for the spring campaign of 1864,
| and the close of next year would furnish a
more agreeable retrospect than the danus
| naira5ais of blunders which we now eonsign
to the dead past.
| CuRIosITIEs OF FAsHIoN-It is a question /