Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1865-02-03
; DavI.' auioldaI POLICY.
From the RlchmOnd Examiner, Jan. IS

DaVtB' suicidal Policy,
@ From the Richmond Examiner, Jan. 2s.
Nations are never murdered but they
sometimes commit suicide. This Just OBJ
serVatiou of great political philosopher
merits remembrance and consideration in
this land and at this juncture oEour affairs.
There was time when there was danger
that the Southern confederacy would be
oyerpowered and destroyed by the violence
and superior power of its enemy. That
time is passed. The force Of the enemy is
spent. He can never make smother effort
commensurate, in any sense, with gigantic
intention of bjugating half continent,
inhabited by awarlike and highly civilized
race. The whole military power of the
enemy has rested, and now still rests, and
must Of necessity continue to rest, upon
the volunteer basis. No people will sup
port the load Of universal conscription
without the motive of self preservation from
| actual death and practical robbery. The
people of the United States have not, nor
will they ever1feel the impulse of that all
compelling motive. Their homes, their
property, their lives are in no DANGER
They fight from the motives of cupidity
and of national ambition, and these peinci-
pies of human nature, however powerful,
will never put the masses under arms, nor
render them patient of a government and a
law which forces them into such position.
By volunteers was the Army of the Uni
ted States composed during the1'first two
I,yeara of the war; by substitutes, bounty
men, hireltngs, the otfal pnaliity is it
inoW made up; and oil such material must
it consist through the future stages of the
war. Even this has been growing more
land more scarce. The best machinery
(which produced it has worn out The
lbest Informed observers of the Northern
Estates concur in the opinion that they can
pot raise fifty thousand men to replenish
the exhaustion by battle, aud disease, and
1esertiou of the last terrible year. ,Ou the
other hand, the society in the South is now
lorRanized for war. War has become the
natural condition Of the country. Every
arrangement in lie-domeatic, CONNER
cial, agricultural and politicsl-has been
settled with direct reference TO a eontinu.
alton of the state of,war. Conscription is
lreRardsd as thing not more to beievaded
than the heat of summer and the cold OF
winter. Few hope to contend against it,
| or make the least questions of its propriety
| in their own csse II has come to be rec.
4 ogniZed as the ordinary course and method
/ of existences With it the supply of the
| army will never fail; and if there ia either
energy or sense in the military administra.
tion of the country, the force with which
1 the confederacy will confront the enemy
in May will be equal, even in numbers, tc
his own. p" s'3l a9.e
i We have at last the hope and prospect
4 of good military administration, and be
lieve that the opening campaign will AGAR
find our hest Generals-Lee, Johnston anC
Beauregard-in position them as 10 las
May, to render service TO their country
They will fnd the country in far bettel
u condition for defence than it was a yea
ago. With base on the sea, Sherman Il
much less formidable than. with his bast
on Chattanooga and Nashville. An i'm
, mense tract of country in iair' possession
of the enemy year ago,ais now subjec
to Confederate authority. A year ago ttl
enemy held the whole Of Arkansas, thu
best part of Louisiana, part. of Texas, ant
large proportion Of Georgia. and Alabama
Il All this territory-an empire-they hav
> entirely lost, aud an army of three hundred
} Thousand men would be less than the fore
! required to recover it, The attempt viii
l scarcely be made. The dimishsd armie
of the United States, not less than the pro
gress of military events, render uecessar,
limitation of the campaign to the Allan
} tic States; and it has become evident tha
: the enemy will never agsiu be, if he eve
was, Rbleto cover all Patts s.OEStnls Gountr'
at one time with his army, aud hold botl
East and West in cotemporaneous subin
, gation.. To compass the invasion of Viz
ginia aud the Carolinas, hemust relinquisI
his grasp on Georgia and Mississippi; ant
|. while the Confederacy retains Virginia, i
can always recoveriIhe Western territor!
lof the republic, however often worstet
there. South of Chattanooga it contain
no place of depotiiu the countrY's heart
no lock and key like Richmond and th
James, by which an invader may shut uI
his conquest when made, leaving it ssuur,
, behind, while he presses on to future IN
dertakings. 's -
, The question of supply has always beel
bugbear, but never q real difficulty, ant
zlis less SO now than at any previous periot
: of the war, for there never was a time Whel
! SO much food in proportion,to the popula
ton was raised in the Southern States
Cotton and tobacco no longer supplsnt tn
naLuralproduction efthe soil-indian corn
wheat and hogs. The. whole force 5of tn
country, not employer IN war, is deyotet
4 to the creation of these things, aud ha
been so employed for year past lTh
: next crop will surpsss ail It's predecessors
The value, Of food in specie is now les
( than 1t ever was in this country, even il
} The localities where it isdearest; aud If tn
} idistribUtiop 4 little better than it is
ithis would. at this moment, be the cheap.