Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1865-03-20
"The 0oalederaey s ; noIow sheIl.,

me O0nleueraey IS q HOLLOW smell"
1.-THE OOnfsaeraey is hollow shell, and
Sherman viii prove it to you said Lieut..
General Grant three months ago. View
ed in the light of subsequent events, this
declaration reads like inspired prophecy.
1t has been 30 fully confirmed by the his
tory of the winter campaign in the South
that We can find no better words to de-
scribe the state of affairs which that cam
paign has developed, than that very ex-
preston Of the gallant Lieutenant General
The Confederacy Is hollow shell, and the
march Of Sherman from Atlanta to Savsn-
nah, from Savannah 70 Columbia and
from Colambia to Fayetteville, has proved
it beyond dispute. Our armies come and
go through the COnfederacy as freely as
they would march through the North, and
the boasted might Of the rebel forces fades
attheir approsch as the nists before the sun.
Since Sherman left Atlanta he has, in.
all his marches hither aud thither, going,
like the wind, where he listeth, been unable
to find an enemy except, indeed, those
phantom hersemen, of Wheeler and Wade
Hampton, who whip Fitzpatrick three
times: day, on an average, and And
him the next day as sound and hearty as
ever, and ready for another thrsshing.
Sheridan rides where he pleases, and, even
within sight of the fOrtifcstions of
Richmond, seeks in vain for a foe to oppose
his destructive progress. Thomas and
Candy are even new moving through Mis-
issippi and Louisiana, unoppOsed as yet,
and probably, when they reach Mobile, will
find nobody but the decrepit Mayor and
q corporsPs guard of disabled soldiers to
surrender the town to them. The Confed-
eracy is not only hollow shell, but the
ahell is broken, and its only life resides in
the army of Lee at Richmond, and the
army of johnson which failed SO misersbly
in its recent attempt to crush Schofeld at
Kinston.
The army of Johnston Is so weak that
in that attempt, even when opposed to a
fraction of Schofelds army, it was defeated
and routed. The army Of Lee, vAriously
estimated at from sixty TO one hundred
thousand, meantime hugs closely to the
entrenchments of Richmond. This very
fact-that when Johnston's decimated
legions were making last and desperate
attempt to defeat one fraction Of our armies
at Kinston, Lee spared pone of his forces
to make that assault sure of success-that,
when Sheridan burns bridges and destroys
canals under his very nose, he allows not
man TO go out from his entertainments to
oppose our cavalry leader-furnishes most
indisputsble proof of the utter weakness
of the helpless Confederscy. Lee is held SO
tightly in Richmond by the grim grip
of General Grant, that, not even for such
enterprises as these, can he spare his SOL
diers- BE hiss already sent away every
man he can spare and should he despatch
another man to Euccor Johnston or oppose
Sheridan, Grant will ct once establish him
self on his flank.
But even should he send every man of
his army to re-enforce Johnston, the COM
bined rebel forces would not be match
for the resistless columns of Sherman
Even in numbers, Sherman would equal
them, while the prestige Of continued vic
tory would make each of his soldiers in
invincible, and the very hOpelessness of
their cause would paralyze each rebel arm.
This hopelessness and dissatisfaction is al
ready shown in the vast numbers Of deser-
tions which are daily made from Lees
armies to our own. Should Lee venture
from his trenches, the number of these de-
serters would be quintupled They see
not only defeat, but starvation before them,
and whenever they take the open field,
and are relieved from the restrictions of
guard lines, they viii scatter to their
homes.
The 0onfederscy is a hollow shell, and
$Ie shell is crushed.