New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-01-25
HOPE AND DESPAIR.
season,

HOPE AND DESPAIR.
Good news is the best of social tones. Vic
tory has two values-the first and most import
ant the acquisition of territory and stand-poin
which it brings with it, and next its moral effect
in difTusing energy and hope throughout tho
land. The capture of Fort Fisher, the extreme
importance Of which everybody is quick to
appreciate, has been such severe blow to the
croakers that il has extorted from them several
most unnatural smiles, leaving us to suppose
that nothing is impossible, and that by proper
| hydraulic pressure a turnip may be made TO
bleed A Copperhead, driven by Union sue
cesses to an agonizing afiectation of joviality,
and clumsily joining, like an involuntary ST..
ytus in the dance of victory. is much more an
object of pity than if he were n corpse respond
ing spasmodicaly TO the influence OF a galyanic
battery. We know his grief and we commits.
crate his gambols; but it would be too much
for him to expect Us to wish him that relief
which only Union disasters can bring, aud 70 VIC
are obliged to leave him TO get through his cruel
tarGn,cHc a. best he may. 1t is pleasantcr 10
mark, IN the honest faces of our citizens who
have never despaircd of the Republic, The signs
of hope and Of exutation. If ever, since the
world was created, a people has earned the
right by steady fortiiude and unshrinking deyo-
ton, TO the consultations Of success, We are that
people. We have been tried and not found
wanting; We have trusted in the justice of our
cause and it has not failed US; we have known
the bitterness Of disappointment and can nppre-
ciate the rapture Of success. The nation has
taken new lease Of its life, and is just begin
ming to appreciate the vital forces which sustain
and guard ii.
| Upon The other hand, the uniform tenor Of
all our adyces from Rebel quarters is one Of
rage or Of dependency. As Is usual, the insur-
gents, as their visions Of victory grow fainter
and fainter, rain their wrath upon their civil and
military leaders. This is especially true in
Charleston city which led the way in the Re-
bcllion, but which has suffered the evils Of the
contest in a comparatively mitigated form. II
| is NOT for rs 10 defend Jefferson Davis but il Is
really hard, when he has such an account to
settle with the civilized world, that the barba-
rians about him who have forced him into an
untenabe position should now mock at tho
Imaddcning embarrassments which cluster so
thicMy around him. It is shameful! for The
Charleston Mercury to talk about jeff Davis
foolery." 1t is a sublimity Of insul. to speak Of
him as being "without an atom or a spark
of nerve" The article in which these ferocious
phrases occur is really masterpiece Of vapor
and gasconade. South Carolina is to do the
most wonderful things. She is TO fight the
United States singlc-handed, and the rest Of the
Confederacy into the bargain. "South Caro-
lima don't intend 70 be conquered She in
tends to fight She don't intend to be ham
pered or turned over TO the enemy" Such is
the bold language of single brave editor, sit
ting in the security Of his sanctum, aud as fan
as he il unreasonable, wrathful and disc0ur-
aged, dismal and down in the mouth, he I'M
doubtedly speaks the sentiments Of proportion
Of his fellow traitors. Ere this the fine news
from Fort Fisher has reached him, and we leave
our readers to estimate its eleyating influence
upon his spirits and his English style.
1t fine words are proverbially impotent even r
so simple an operation as the buttering of pars
nips, we are sure that they will repel no as
saults and will not, however volubly and vol
canically emitted, prevent the capture ofCharlcs
ton. When the allied armies Of Europe were
marching upon Paris, the elOcution Of the rhetc
rical gentlemen who came to the rescuewas be-
yond conception impressive and beautiful, but
it did not, as we well know, prevent the ad
vance Of Wellington. 1t is all very well tC
talk of dying in the last ditch, but the men who
are equal to that style Of dissolution do not tall
much about it beforehand. There always
comes a time when the Classical Dictionaries
are of no manner Of use. Charleston Is moi
Thermopyle. Its citizens are not Spartans
Jefferson Davis Of we may believe the word o.
his associates) is not Leonidas. We arc no,
therefore in the least frightened, We are rather
than otherwise encouraged by these fierce
, Threats which reach us. Our opinion Is thai
when their time comes, Charleston and Rich
mond will surrender Just as New-Orleans and
Mobile and Savannah surrendered, and just as {
great many other cities have surrendered and
!, will surrender until the end Of time. The On