Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1879-07-15
The Failure of the Confederacy.

An Atlanta letter in the Philadelphia
Times, giving an account of an interview
with General Robert Toombs, contains
the following:
"What, in your opinion, was the cause
OF the failure of the Confederacy 2"
eff I had to name one thing that was
most fatal l should say the COnscript
Act. That demoralized the troops and
the country. There was no necessity
for 1t, and it sprung from Mr.. Davis's
desire to have the appointment of off,
GERS. He was crazy over his West Point
martinets, and when he could not ap-
point the officers of the volunteers, he
| went to Congress and demanded the
Conscript law. ard got it. I said at the
time: The cause is lost, and this should
be its epitaph KILLED by West Point.'
In general terms the absolute ineff1-
cheney at Richmond was the cause of
our failure. Davis is remarkable
character. He is good writer and that
is all. He was slow man and always
acted rashly at last. His delay was not
caused by deliberation, but was q COM
bination of variety and refusal to
think: He is very small military man.
His idea of war was based upon the ex-
perience in the Breckenridge campaign,
told him that ninety per cent. Of war
was business-that we must organize
a victory rather than trust to fighting
entirely. l urged him to send to Eng
land to buy all the arms there. He or
dered 5000 rifles. Joe Brown, of Geor-
gia, had more arms for long time than
the Confederacy. Under pretence of
giving the UniOnists time to leave the !
Snnfh L kant tho Cos ~; -
days. No new government ever started |
with such unlimited credit as we had.
We had any amount of cotton offered
US. urged Mr.. Davis to send this to
Europe as fast as it could be carried. and |
buy ships and arms with it. We could
have borrowed any amount we wanted.
The first loan made was 900 when it
should have been $5,OOO,OOO. But it
seemed to be impossible to get the gov
to look at the matter in a seri-
GUS lig ut. Iadvanced some SIS, 900 N.Y.
self for office rent, etc. Semmes was
there, begging for cotton and pledging
himself to bring back ships and arms
for every bale he took. He finally got, I
shink, three hundred bales. The finan-
cial record of the Confederacy was a
failure that would have been ludicrous
had 1t not been so serious. With unlim.
tied credit, backed by rich and patri.
otic people and controlling the leading
staple of the world, our bills were soon
20 low down that 1t was said the govern
'nent ran the presses all day, and the
niggers ran them all night. Had the first
sixty days of the Confederate govern
nent been properly improved we could
aave so organized that defeat would
have been impossible. At one time it
was announced that there was an error
of $500, 600, 900 in the amount of bills
out and the amount on the books of the
government. There waa never q mo-
ment during the war when Davis actu-
ally appreciated the situation. WHY.
after the march of the Confederates
from Rappahannock to Sharpsburg and
back again, when they had swel t every
hing before them, numbers not avail
ng anything against them, Davis
thought the war was over, and actually :
began to quarrel about who had whipped {
t. He was as jealous as a Barbary hen,
and once started to have me arrested for
r1dicvlng him. am thoroughly satis-
led that the establishment of q govern
nent under Mr.. Davis was an impossi-
oility. Indeed, the fight was hapbazard
rom beginning to end, without method ,
II statesmanship, and sustained only by
valor as long as it was. The
constitution was good one, but there
ora1se Ct the Confederate government ,
and It's works must end"