The New York herald., 1865-05-29
Kirby Smiths surFsnder-The Last o
~ the Rebslli0n-What Ncxtt ss,e'


u the Rsbsllion-What Nextt 1s,,'
The war is over the rebellion is crushed.
The surrender to General Candy Of Kirby
Smith. the rebel general in command of their
Trans Mississippi Department, with all his forces,
including the men and n,atfrid Of the rebel
army and navy on that side the river, closes
the contest and gives us peace. Never has
there been a more formidable rebellion than
this in the history Of mankind never such
fanaticism and such tenacious and desperate
fighting in SO bad a cause never such threat
enings of continued war to the issue of inde-
pendence or extermination, and never such
comprehensive, overwhelming and complete
collapse. rr ,,st J
This unprecedented collapse, however, is
just what we have predicted q hundred times
over since the beginning of the war as the
event which would surely follow the capture Of
Richmond. This was not q bapbazard prophe-
cy but logical conclusion drawn from the
situation, the necessities, and the inherent
weaknesses, military, financial, moral and po-
litoal, of the rebel government II was thus
apparent from the beginning that with the ex-
pulson of JEFF Davis and his Confederate
rebel establishment from Richmond, there was
no abiding city for him, no place of refuge
this side of Mexico. We have always con-
tended, too, that the overthrow of Lees army
would carry with II all the subordinate armies
Of Davis, nd that, with their surrender or dis
persion, those hordes Of gucrillas which, ac-
ccrdng TO Davis and the London Times, were
10 continue the war twenty years longer would
in reality vanish, like Macbeths witches, @into
thin air." In all these things, as in the great
soldier who has done the work, our foreshad-
owings, from the simple deductions Of con-
mon sense, have become facts of history.
But still there appears TO be something really
miraculous in this sudden aud complete col
lapse of rebelious organization covering five
hundred thousand square miles of territory,
and with three hundred thousand fighting vete-
rams still in the field two short months ago.
Where are they nowf Surrendered, disbsnded
and dispersed-regulars, irregulars, armies and
guerillas, they are no longer to be found.
General Canby's despatch from New Orleans
Of the 26th, announcing the conclusion of ar
engagements for the surrender of Kirby Smith,
was received in Washington on the 27tb, which
shows that right through from New Orleans to
Washington, the telegraph is in operation, and
that not even struggling rebel guerilla rc-
mains in the field to cut the wires over all this
line Of over thirteen hundred miles through the
heart OF the late confedcracy. Never in all tho
world has q rebellion 80 powerful and defiant
been so thoroughly beaten or 80 decisively put
down. a..
What next, President johnson, In bis work
OF reconstruction, has the labors of Hercules
upon his hands; but from the graceful submis-
sl5n Of the masses Of the people of the late
reoe'I'ois States, it is apparent that these la
bors will bc materially ligbtened. The bulk
OF our soldiers and sailors withdrawn from The
war will be quietly blended again with the
masses oil The people in The arts Of peace. So