Year: 1865

| StS country 70 tive In on the race OF the
globe. But the distribution is not good,


because the roads are unrepaired. aud are
often destroyed by the enemy. Neverthe-


less, there is no considerable region that
1s not able both to support its population
and the army employed in it's defence
some weak people are nightly afraid that
Sherman will cut the road at Branehville;
must not Lees army starve when its sup
Plies from Georgia is impossible2 Imbecile
questont . Virginia alone, if it should
ever become necessary to turn the screw
hard down on her-nay, half of Virginia
"a third of Yirginia-Without the help
of the Csrolinas, will feed Lees army
for six months if it was doubled tO.mor.
row. Corn and wheat is here, as every
where In the south, somewhat difficult Of
access because bad currency is paid
for 1t; because rude, and stupid, aud ig-
norapt young men under the namea of
quartermasters aud commissaries are dis
PeTTsed over the land to get it who. insult
mis- people, make them lsurly aud unpRtri-
otto for the while, give them for their
1000 piece of paper which is nearly al
ways found to be irregular and worth
nothing when gent to Richmond. If they
offered and gave nothing; if they took
what the necessities of the army required
without pretending to pay, it would be
given more willingly and be received more
easily; for all our people hold that the
country must be defended, and the fighting
men must eat, no matter who starves. But
there is no one of the three quarters of the.
compass commanded by the roads in our
power leading from Richmond which would,
not supply Lees whole army till the new
crop came, without going off Virgiuia's,
territory to get it, if we had an energetic!
and we'll 0FhaFa6
could pay in specie or its equivalent; laid
sufficient and imperial tax in kind, aud
had the resolution and sense to collect it.
The Yankees collect it wherever they go
without difficulty. They not only 6nd
enough to eat in the land, but more than
they destroy with FIRE.


The time is past when this nations life
is in danger from violence. 1t cannot be
murdered now by the enemy. But the Pc
rtod is come when it may be induced to
commit suicide. The enemy is aware of
both facts, and now rests all bis hope of
success on blunders of the Confederate
government and the dependency of the
people. The road over which we have trav-
elled is long; and the fall of Atlanta open
ed new and dreary vista to the eye when
the Journey seemed to be nearly over The
road has been rough, the hills in front are
steep and the shades of evening fall over
them. Many are foot. t.sore aud weary; some
faint by the way; some sink and lie down
in the mtre of desertioD, disgrace, eternal
scorn and misery. But the great column
of brave men will always rally if their lea
ders will let them. The instinct of the
people, which told them that their liberty
was in danger when the abolitionist gov.
ernment came into existence, and which
impelled them to resistance four years
ago, is not less powerful now than
then, and will pepetuate that resist
auces, whatever the suffering, rather than
submit to the certainty of utter degrade.
tion, which now replaces the sntlcipations
of those days. etthem see the least CLEAN
of hope, that their forces will be tolerably
well handled-thGt their. feet I0iH not dZtv aus
be guided By Jefferson Davis, over precipi
ces and into quicksands, and the endur.
auce of the people and the courage of the
army will be found inexhaustible. Moth
ing but utter hopelessness will ever induce
them to commit the suicide of a uation-
Fits of popular dependency will some
times occur in trials like ours, but they
are less dangerous than the panics of
government like ours. The greatest peril
of the Southern Confederacy lies in the
possibility of some enormous blunder in
council; a senseless attempt to do what we
cannot; or a frantic abandonment of the
solitary vital position in this country's
defense; or an idiotic effort to compro-
mise quarrel which can only be conclud.
ed by the destruction or complete inde-
pendence of the whole population now
living in these Confederate States.