Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-01-20
The Imnnnding Collapse.

The experiment Of Federal Government based
on an extreme Interpretation Of the doctrine Of
State rights, which the rebels are making il like
" to come speedily 20 a disastrous close The
mutt rings of serious approaching conflict be-
tween the authorities of several Of the seeded
States and those at Richmond are becoming very
distinct and portentous and it requires no special
gift of prescence to forsee that when the contest
once fairly begins in earnest it inevitably must
sooner or later, the central power must 60 down,
and the fimsy fabric of the Confederacy be broken
to pieces, and dissolved into nonentity.
The result Of the experiment, however, when
ever it arrives, win be Of inestimable value to the
whole nation in the impressive warning it will give
against the fatal political heresy that any federal
system can possibly endure, of which the several
constituent members are allowed to have, or are
recognised as having jurisdiction superior to, or
even equal with that of the General Government
intended to unite them all, and therefore to be-
necessarily sovereign over them all
1t is well, perhaps, that the ultra State-iights
politicians of the South have had an opportunity
to test their favorite and cherished theory under
circumstances flied to try it severely though the
Southern people viii have paid most dearly for
the overthrow Of the absurd dogmas by which
set of insane and wicked demago2ues in that sec
zion have led them almost to the verge of utter
ruin. Even Jefferson Davis himself whose Off
cial authority is now being openly de6ed by the
Governors of certain States, must begin to have
his eyes opened to the frai and prccarious founda
ton on which his power rests and to deplore the
evil hour in which he gave himself over to the
maddest enterprise in which intelligent men ever
ENGAGED. He must see that even if it were pos
sible for the military forces of the rebellion to
succeed finally in conquering the independence OF
the Confederate States, their peace would soon be
disturbed not only by conflicts between the States
themselves, but between the States and the Fed
era Government, and that the certainissue would
be in the end total failure of the one great OBJ
ject for which the war was undertaken.
It is morally impossible that number of States
which respectively claim to be intergral and soy
ereien, and which are controlled by a centrifugal
tendency stronger than any which operates tohold
them in steady and orde.ly revolution around a
common General Government, cannot long hold
together and hence all that the leaders and par
tisaus of the war for Southern Confederacy will
achieve must alternately be found to be but
dead Sea fruits, which turn 10 ashes on lips
The Governors of Mississippi and Alabama are
denying Davis authority over the militia of their
respective Commonwealths and the Alabama
Legislature has Adjourned without having so a
mended the militia law as TO meet the acquisitions
of the War Department at Richmond Another
1 q bo
shall be exempted from military seryice-Gtover-
nor Watts, Of Alabama, asserting that the whole
mat5er is wiihin his discretion, and positively re-
/ fusing to give up the point. Moreover, we per-
cieye that while the citizens Of Savannah are re-
joicing in their deliyerance by Sherman, and Gag
erly engaging to renew their allegiance to the u
nited States the press of Georgia are already dis
eussing the question whether it will be treason to
| the rebel Government to secede from it. On the
heels Of all this the rebel Congress, in debating 9
plan for the consolidation of the regiments in the
insurgent army, are disputing whether the ap
pointment of the officers shall be given to the meI
or to General Lee and Mr. Miles, of South Car
olina, is sreported to have favored proposition tC
make General Lee an all-powerful dictator, by en-
trusting him absolutely with all military authority
over the rebel forces.
We confess that these and ike events in the
South seem to us to be unmistakabe indications o.
rapidly approaching collapse of the Rebellion
and the re- establishment of peace and union will
the cheerful consent rnd cooperation of large
majority of the Southern people. This consuma
tion, of course may be delayed by various unfore
seen contingencies, but it cannot be postponed fol
any great length of time. Even if dissensiOni
were not brewing in the Confederate States which
promise to destroy both the civil and military
power of the Richmond Government, it is quite
certain that the rebels cannot much longer prose
cute the war, in view of the rapid exhaustion o
their resources. On the whole, therefore, tht
prospect is encouraging to the Union cause
Ptila. Eceniag Telegraph
PENNSYLVANIA QUoTA TO BE REDUCED. .-Th,
r IL