The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-03-19

Nhe Closing Scenes OF the Rebellion
FinanciaI Reaction.
Tho .>ecial message of JEFF Davis, OF Monday
last. 10 I'm bswildered Congress, preparing L
AZ but de,a,ue>s to hear him, enorrts to a rro
clsmaaon that lis cause is losk Hs ssys .hsi
his late sweeping disasters in the Geld :" havo
had the effect Of encourc siSg our foes and lis
piriting many Of our peoples" .h& "the capital
Of the Confederate Stsies is now threatened
and in greater danger than II has hefstofoFs
boon during the war;" and that "tas fact Is
stated without reserve or concealmentn a. due
to the exigenoies Of the crisis and all parties
concerned.
His case Is desperate, and he therefore pro-
poses desperate remedies. His paper money,
in tho first place, has become utterly worthless.
He frankly says that nobody believes that his
government can ever redeem in coin the obli-
CATION to pay fifty dollars bushel for corn, or
seven hundred dollars barrel for four" To
avoid his impressments even at these rates bis
ungrateful subjects within reach Of Lees army
are hiding away their supplies, and, to bring
them out, Davis proposes the seizure Of the
gold in the banks that can be reached a. the
only chance, according to the old plan Of rob-
bling Peter to pay Paul. Besides this, Davis
calls Justify for more taxes and more soldiers.
The bill for employing negroes a. soldiers has
not reached him, and It ought to have been
passed three months earlier. In addition to the
negroes he wants . strong militia law, SO that
every fellow, young or old, capable Of shout
dering gun, exempt or not exempt, State
rights or no State rights, can be raked into tho
army. Lastly, he wants the writ Of habeas
corpus suspended, for If this thing is not de-
manded now he IL "at q loss to imagine any
contingency in which this clause Of the consti-
tuition will not remain dead letter."
Here Is sufficient employment for the mem
bers Of the rebel Congress for several weeks,
when they have not moment to spare II they
would save their own bacon. Legislation will
not now avail them. We suspect, however, that
the real business upon which Davis has de-
tanned the two houses Of his useless Congress is
the question Of leaving Richmond, and where
they are next to set up their tabernacle. An
army Of fifty thousand men and two cities,
numbering together forty thousand people, con-
sumo, even on short rations, large quantity
Of provisions every day. Lee has been short
since his Georgia supplies were cut off in De-
cember. He is now reduced to the southwest
ern end of Virginia for, between the Union
and the rebel forces In North Carolina, that
State will have little or nothing to spare for
Richmond. Sheridan's late destructive raid on
the north side Of the James, Including the canal,
that "great feeder" from Lynchburg down, has
exhausted tho country In that direction and
broken up its lines Of transportation. Now
the stin greater disaster menaees Lee Of the
destruction BY Sheridan Of the only two lines
Of supply left to Richmond-the Southside road
to Lynchburg and that to Danville. Against
this danger from body Of fifteen thousand
cavalry Lee has NO resource, Hampton having
carried Of his best cavalry to operate against
Sherman.
We look, therefore, for the evacuation Of
Richmond and the collapse Of tho rebellion
without another great battle. The best that
JQe Johnston con DO is 70 keep out Of tho way
Of Sherman; and, with the approach Of the lat
ter to junction with Grant, there Will be no
escape for Lee, Should he still be found in Rich
mond. But from the more immediate dangers
threatened by Sheridan we look for the
evacuation Of that city and q general
break up Of the whole rebel establishment.
And what then! Tho run down in the price
of gold to one hundred and sixty admonishes
us of what is coming. The ebb tide In the
matter of prices, from real estate to dry goods
and groceries, will set in full and strong. The
danger is that unless held in check by the
Treasury Department, the reaction will be SO
great as TO precipitate upon the country finan-
cial collapse. In this view 1t becomes the tree
policy Of the Secretary of the Treasury not to
bring about too speedy return to specie pay
ments, but to let tho business affairs Of the
country gradually down to the specie standard
With the overthrow of Napoleon in 1914 there
was o financial crisis In England, and another
after his final overthrow Of 1916, and still
another in the interval to 1921, the evil conse
quences of which, however, were materially
checked by Withholding the Bank Of England
from resumption Of cash payments. In whaJ
we propose it will be simply applying the RENE
dy for q revulsion as preventive.
I! Is to be hoped that, considering our meal
cuhble resources, the Secretary Of the Treasury
will not lose sight of the dangers Of a financial
revulsion in his efforts to bring greenbacks to
the value Of gold. The Treasury has passed
the peril Of shipwrock from an excessive paper
circulation and Mr. McCulloch should now SO
administer ts affairs as to save the country from
general crash in letting us down to the specie
platform from which we started In January
1862
A LIVE NEwsrAPER--In full and early reports
Of all the great military events which have
recently given new aspect to the war--Sher-
mans march through Georgia, the capture Of
- khn Gall - ~, H. II