Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-01-21
Ghe Rutlana Asrala.
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THURSDAY, JANUARY q, 1864.
The Rebel Difficulties.

inst, have reached the north. They
contain some of the most remarkable ar
tcles that have emanated from that
quarter. They show the rebel authori-
Ties in the saddest and most inextri-
cable dilemmas that ever puzzled SHINING
mortals. To maintain their stand
against the fresh and well proSid-
ed armies of the Union, through the APP
preaching campaign, they must largely
Augment their present forces. But II
they augment their forces they cannot
feed, clad or equip them. They have
not even the means of properly providing
for their soldiers now in the field An
increased army requires am increased
supply of food and clothing. But in
creasing the army will soon stop this
supply altogether Says the Richmond
Wing of the lst inst:
what is the prospect for clothing
next year, The blockade at Whining
ton is now so rigidly enforced that sup
plies from abroad cannot be counted
upon. An intercepted letter from Nassau,
printed in the Yankee papers which
came by the last flag of truce, states
that nothing has entered Wilmington
for a month We must then depend on
the home markets for clothing materials.
What do we find Any one who buys
beef has discovered that the quarters
and sides are rapidly diminishing i'll
x-su ~ Ia a hainD SlnnUh-
tered every year 1t is now thought we
will have to fall back upon mich cows.
As cattle diminish, mutton must be sub
stituted, and hence the sources both OF
leather and wool may be expected to
decrease every month. Thus the pros
pect at home does not encourage the be-
lief that we will be able to clothe al
mics larger than those which are now
shivering 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 clothing. Very little
bacon Is left, and beef is going, and NUT
ton will hardly feed great armies, even
IL the supply We're double what it is.
1t appears, therefore, that the
prospect of feeding the army already in
the field, much less one twice or thrice
its size, is not encouraging,
Without labor there can be no pro-
duction. Our labor is that of the Afri-
can slave, who requires the supervision
of white man at all times, and never
more than when an unusual quantity of
work is demanded of him. Women, lads,
Sexegenarians, cannot make the negro
do his duty fully and faithfully; n man
in the prime and yigor of life is needed.
Already the fear of instruction, occa-
stoned blythe absence of the greater por-
ton of the arms bearing white popula-
tion, has produced a leniency and in
diligence amongthe farmers, which has
encouraged the natural laziness of the
slave, and resulted i'm a rapid and year
Nv increasing diminution of the crop.
Take away all, OF nearly all the vigor-
Gus whites, and leave the negro to the
feeble control of women, children and
old men, and the danger is that famine
will be superadded to instruction"
Again, the Wing says that an increas-
ed army must have an increased number
OF horses. With very great difficulty
horses sufficient to serve the purposes
of the existing army are obtained, or
forage for these horses, Yet it is pro-
posed to double the army, and of course
10 increase the trains proportionately.
Further, I'VE have never" it says, had
a superabundance of ammunition, and
since the port of Charleston has been
closed, Wilmington almost Theoretically
sealed, and the inter beds of Tennessee
have been wrested from us, it is not like
Nv that we ever will have more than a
. full supply for the army on its present
footing" And the Wing sums mp in
the following style: s..1s.
"Thus, in the last analysis, we find we
have an army poorly clad, scantily fed,
indinerently equipped, badly mounted,
with insufficient trains, and with barely
enough ammunition. To remedy the
evil, we are going to double, and if pos
sible, quadruple the number of men and
horses, taking away every efficient mas
ter from the agricultural districts, and
leave the laborers on whom both men
and horses depend for existence q prey
to natural idleness, and with every in
ducement to revolt. If this be not judi
eial madness, the history of desperate
measures adopted by feeble and alright
ed councils does not present an ex-
ample"
1t is proposed to increase the rebel
army by a wholesale CONSUMPTION. 1t
can be done in no other way. But here
is another dilemma. It,cannot be done
in tot way. Says the Wing of January
4th, commenting upon the proposition
In the rebel Senate to draft the whole
population of the South into the army:
ts" We must, if we subtract all the most
profitable producers from farming, make
our calculations to finish the war this
campaign--for there will be nothing to
feed an army on another year. However
hattering the prospect may be of such a
contamination, is it wise to stake our
all on single cast OF the die ? 1sia
q But, wo:tid the proposed s,eetping eo,ssc'ip-
ron really augment our force ia the field 1t
Is very doubtful Under the present
law, it requires about ten officers to each
A 4