Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1874-04-09

| peClaClOnS Vi feiici holu w. o - !.
:netlt, which cannot be realized, may
defeat that which is. yet practicable.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
@. G. MEMMINeER,
Secretary Of the Treasury. :
The Confederate Collapse.
A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE
FACTS CITED BY GEN. JOHNSTON,
Is IN SUPPORT OF HIS Views OF THE
CAUSE OF THE FAILURE OF THE
SOUTH.
To the Editor Of The Neps d Courier {
The Msws & Courier, quoting from
the Forthcoming. workaof Geng John:
ston, gives us the views Of the au-
thor as to the cause Of our failure,
Those who ascribed 1t a. to the snpe-
rior population and greater resources
of the Northern States and those
who attributed our defeat to "a want
of perseverance. unanimity and even
of loyalty onour own part, : are, in
my view, says the general, both /" far
wrong. We are inclined to believe,
there is now a third party wrong.
The Confederate Government, the
general thinks, had the means2of fiflS..
ing its treasury, but the government
rejected those means "The neces-
sitty Of actual money in the treasury,
| and the mode of raising it, were gen,
orally understood in the country. 1t
was that the government should take
the cotton from the owners and send
it to Europe as fast as possible, to be
sold there. This was easily practl-
cable, for the owners were ready to
accept any terms the government
might fix, and sending to Europe was.
easy in all the first year Of the Con.
federacy 'sexistence. Itsgoyernment,
went into operation early inFebru .
ry. The blockade of the Southern
ports was proclaimed in May but
was not at all effective until the end
of the following winter, 50 that there
was a period OF abont- twelve months.
for the operation of converting fodri
million or. five mAlionibalessof cotton;
Into money. The sum raiseds',t tina
way would have enabled the w;tr de
0 ,rtment to procure at once arms
enough for, FIVE hundred thousand
men and after that the ederate
treasury would have been much srlchsI
er than that OF the United States. Y'as
Let us examine the iactsi hpon
which this theory rests, and witho'sti
The support of which it must 'recesss':-s
rily fall to.:sthe ground. The Scropt
of cottnn available Tor this scheme J,
must necessarily, have been tRat Of
186g6I. It could not have beeh the
crop of which the seed was not yet
put in theaground When the govern.
ment was formed at Montgomery
What was then the crop Of 1860 d 2
Was it 4,OOo,i Oo9to {, 100000 bales
and was it accessible for Immediate
expectation? ee -7a
The crop of lssO-sl was officially sta
ted at a,s49,G00 bales.
OF this quantity the consump: 3
ton of the Southern States 100
took OF $4,000 bales.
49, 80 - 81
Leaving for expectation s.s56,Ooo bales.
Let US now see what proportion
Of this quantity was available in the
way described by Gen. Johnston.
Up to the 28th of February. the
month that gave birth to the infant
government, 100000 bales had been
received at the seaports, and the
great bulk OF it had been exported !
to Europe or been sold TO the New
England spinners.- By the lst OF
May $4,000 bales more had ibeen
received and sold. England and the
Continent took 9zs rss4E3 8, 1877, ,oOOlbales
TSa'lsi The New England s spinners S5a OOO bales.
It will thus be seen that before the
new government was fairly organized
the entire crop was already beyond
its reach. /, Another cropaicllowed, 1T
is true, but no part of. it was ready
for market before the month of Sep
tember ensuing. This all will agree
in and they, will also agree that the Inc.
expectation in any quantity was an
absolute impossibility. There were
no vessels in the ports of the GonfedF
eracy; !; the last had left before the
expiration of the sixty days allowed
to foreign tonnage under the block s,
ade proclamation. The only vessels
that took out cotton after that time Sll,s
we're the foreign steamers that ran
the-blockade s,towprocurezearg goes aoI
cotton for the owners.si They came
in small numbers and one orstwo at
a time: Had the government seized
one Of them for its own use, or pre-
vented them from leaving with cots
ton, they would have ceased to come g,