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(Previous
Page) But if, by any chance, the fate of the rebellion should be left
to
LEE, he would contemplate the situation as a
soldier and not as a fire eating braggart. Confronted by irresistible
combinations and overpowering force he would hardly chatter about the last
ditch, but would surrender to save useless suffering. Even should he do
otherwise, if the rebel army retreat to the mountains, the apathy of the sea
board and interior population will gradually succumb to the necessity of the
case. Men must live : and to live they must work. As industry revives under a
new order, those who have accepted failure may retain a romantic sympathy with
those who still contend ; but it will be only romance, like the feeling and the
toasts of comfortable London Jacobites to the Pretender skirmishing in the
Scotch Highlands, The end of the rebellion will be gradual. There will be no day
when " peace is declared." The embers will long smoulder after the flames are
extinguished. But even those who welcomed the fire, when they have rebuilt their
houses and begun to plant again, will not wish it to be kindled anew.
TRADE WITH REBELS.
THE order of
General GRANT prohibiting all commercial
transactions with the rebels is an act of the plainest common sense. Nothing
certainly could well be more absurd for a General in earnest than to suffer
SHERMAN and
SHERIDAN to destroy property and resources in
Virginia and Carolina, while he supplied the enemy with money in Louisiana or
Georgia. It is a subject upon which faithful Union men have differed. It has
been the opinion of some that for every million of dollars the rebels received
in exchange for cotton, the Union cause gained five millions of advantage. But a
million to the rebels is more valuable than twenty millions to us ; and even if
it were theoretically probable that those who received the greenbacks would
hoard them or invest them beyond the control of the rebellion, it was still
practically true that we could never be sure of such a disposition, and that we
know how unsparing the rebel scrutiny and impressment is.
Nor is the necessary
demoralization of such a course to be overlooked. Surely it was a ludicrous
illustration of Yankee enterprise to forbid the world to supply rebels against
the Government with food and arms, in order that we might monopolize the profits
of such a trade. Why should we be angry that we were not believed to be in
earnest when we insisted upon trifling ? Or why should we expect fidelity or
bravery in an army before the enemy, when the soldiers knew that we had supplied
the means to procure the arms with which the enemy was to destroy them? The most
shameful and humiliating event in the whole war was the Red River expedition. Is
there any body in the country so dull as not to know that it was a trading and
not a military expedition?
General GRANT is willing and able
to fight the enemy, but not to feed him and furnish him with arms and
ammunition. The expedition to
Fredericksburg and the seizure and destruction
of the tobacco was as legitimate a military operation as the battle of
Chancellorville. But in the latter case the rebels won a victory ; in the former
we prevented their winning one. And General BANKS declares that the
misrepresentations of his career in Louisiana sprang originally from traders,
whose transactions he would not tolerate. The deadly injury that this trade has
already done, by the aid it has rendered to the rebellion, is incalculable, and
General GRANT adds to his claims to national gratitude by peremptorily stopping
it.
A
DANIEL COME TO JUDGMENT.
ON the 11th of March, 1861, the
Constitution of " the Confederate States of America"
was adopted at
Montgomery. It began by setting forth the
doctrine of State sovereignty as the foundation of the Confederacy. " We, the
people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and
independent character," etc., etc. Here was a deliberate renunciation of the
principle of national union of which our Government is the first example in
history. It was a recurrence to that modified union, that ghost of nationality,
that hopeless shift of divided sovereignty against which our old confederation
and the universal experience of man kind protested. But supreme State
sovereignty the rebel chiefs would have, and they gravely began to build their
fire upon the back of the whale. " That is no island," cried history; " we have
tried it, and it is only a fish's back." "Pooh !" retorted the gallant
gentlemen, " do you pretend to teach us who have had CALHOUN for our master !"
And they made the fire hot-ter and hotter. Suddenly the whale dived, and they
are left wallowing.
They have learned by their own
experience what they refused to learn from that of the world, that fire burns,
that when each State acts in its sovereign and independent character there is no
nation, and the league is just as strong as the weakest State, and no stronger.
This is the unpleasant but
unhesitating confession made by the Richmond Enquirer, the chief rebel paper,
just four years after the sol
emn proclamation of the absurdity
at Montgomery : " Has not State sovereignty been the weakness of the cause ? If,
during the life and death struggle, with the compress of a common danger to bind
and hold together these States, this principle of State sovereignty was
continually obtruding itself, delaying and preventing the legislation necessary
to the common defense, impairing that authority intrusted with the general
welfare, and impeding the execution of laws necessary and proper to the success
of the cause, is it to be supposed that, when peace returns, this principle of
State sovereignty will permit the Confederacy to exist one year ? The conduct
of certain States, in their opposition to the laws passed for the organization
of the army and the preservation of discipline, has caused many men to
reconsider their long cherished doctrine of State sovereignty, and to come to
the conclusion that, while in theory it is beautiful and true, in fact and
practice it is utterly defective."
This was exactly what WASHINGTON
and HAMILTON said eighty years ago, and the American people, believing them,
utterly and forever renounced the insane whim of State sovereignty, and
established National sovereignty. If our fathers had not been a great deal wiser
than their recreant children at the South, this Government could never have
mastered a rebellion which would have conquered any other Government in the
world. We have proved the inestimable value and the triumphant strength of
union. The rebels have illustrated the weakness and folly of federation. State
sovereignty is nearly as dead as slavery.
JOHN McLENAN.
THE name of JOHN McLENAN, who
recently died at the age of thirty nine, was familiar to all lovers of American
humorous and characteristic illustration, and especially so to the readers of
Harper's Weekly, in which many of the most amusing and satiric cuts were from
his pencil. With great facility of fancy and a shrewd eye for comedy, Mr.
McLENAN united a sincere love of his art and a generous ambition to excel. Many
of his illustrations in WILKIE COLLINS'S "Woman in White" were full of character
and spirit, that of Count Fosco, especially, accurately reproducing the
intention of the author. His humor was well shown in " Sam Dale" and " Fisher's
River Sketches," and it is in the multitude of such works that his name will be
pleasantly remembered.
AN ERROR CORRECTED.
THE London Review, in a recent
notice of ARTEMUS WARD'S book, gravely remarks : " At the present time he is
lecturing at New York; and
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, the poet, writes of him
in the New York Evening Post : ARTEMUS has a style of his own, which no lecturer has
yet discovered. He says so many funny things that the audience some-times let a
" goak" [joke] slip by unnoticed, and then ARTEMUS will pause for a moment with
a down cast expression, till a sudden guffaw tells him that somebody has seen
the point.' This is a mode of enforcing witticisms which is certainly new to
us." We do not know how it may be in London, but in this country an entire
journal is not written by one hand. It may be interesting to the London Review
to know that Mr. BRYANT does not write all the advertisements, nor commercial
articles, nor theatrical and musical and literary and scientific reviews, nor
all reports of lectures, speeches, and sermons, which appear in the Evening
Post. We understand that many of the faithful readers of the Tribune in the
rural districts suppose that the caustic criticisms upon pictures which
occasionally appear in that journal are written by Mr. GREELEY. The ground of
the supposition is that the Tribune is " GREELEY'S paper." But we assure our
British and rural friends who cherish this idea, that every leading journal has
a full and well appointed " staff" of writers, and that Mr. BRYANT does not
write all the " letters from the people" which appear in the Post, nor Mr.
GREELEY the novels of CHARLES READE and
THACKERAY which have been published in
the Weekly Tribune.
JULIUS CAESAR.
THE London papers are full of
Louis NAPOLEON'S " History of Julius Caesar," which, from many circumstances,
will be one of the most notable books of the time. The HARPERS have bought the
early sheets, and it is now passing rapidly through the press, and will be
issued immediately in a handsome form. The English notices treat the work as a
significant political manifesto. It is in fact, as the preface already published
here shows, a defense of imperialism by an Emperor. Caesarism is identical with
the Napoleonic idea, and the Napoleonic idea is that might is right. The
historical value of the book is undoubtedly great, for it has unquestionably had
the scrutiny and approval of the most accomplished scholars in France. Even the
Emperor could not dare to be an inaccurate author. The work has had in the
preparation all the advantages that unlimited expense could secure, and is
issued with corresponding pomp of typography.
DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.
REPORT OF SECRETARY STANTON.
SECRETARY STANTON has at length
submitted his report. He has been waiting, he says, for the Lieutenant-General's
report, which has not been received for the simple reason that that officer has
too much work to do to make reports. We make the following extracts :
" The military events of the past
year have been officially published by this department from time to time as they
transpired, and are fully known in every branch of this Government and
throughout the civilized world.
They constitute a series of
successful marches, sieges, and battles, attesting the endurance and courage of
the soldiers of the United States, and the gallantry and military skill of their
commanders, unrivaled in the history of nations.
" The campaign of the Army of the
Potomac, and the operations on the
James River, the Appomattox, and around
Richmond and Petersburg; the masterly operations of our army in Georgia,
resulting in the
capture of Atlanta, Savannah, and other important military
posts in that State; the reduction of the forts in the harbor of Mobile ; the
hard fought
battles at Franklin and around
Nashville, resulting in the rout of
the rebel army in Tennessee; the succession of brilliant victories won by the
Army of the Shenandoah ; the successful storming of
Fort Fisher; the capture of
Wilmington, Columbia, and
Charleston, and other achievements of less note, all
contributing to the triumph of the Union cause and the suppression of the
rebellion, will be more appropriately detailed upon the coming in of the report
of the Lieutenant-General.
"Over two hundred flags, captured
from the rebels, have been received, properly labeled, and deposited for safe
keeping.
The work of preparing official
reports of battles, etc., for printing, in compliance with the resolution of
Congress of May 19, 1864, is progressing as rapidly as possible, and all
officers from whom such reports are due have been called upon for them.
" The ordnance supplies furnished
to the military service during the fiscal year include 1141 pieces of ordnance,
1896 artillery carriages and caissons, 455,910 small-arms, 502,044 sets of
accoutrements and harness, 1,913,753 projectiles for cannon, 7,624,685 pounds of
bullets and lead, 464,549 rounds of artillery ammunition, 152,061 sets of horse
equipments, 112,087,553 cartridges for small-arms, 7,544,044 pounds of
gunpowder. These supplies were in addition to large quantities of parts provided
for repairs in the field.
"The Commissary-General of
Subsistence reports that the supplies of subsistence stores have been mostly
purchased in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Cincinnati,
Louisville, Chicago, and St. Louis. Beef cattle were furnished by contracts of
short duration at most convenient places, and driven from the places of purchase
to the field. Most of the stores were purchased by advertising, accepting the
lowest bids offered for suitable articles at cash prices. Attempts have in some
cases been made by individuals and associations to monopolize and control the
prices of articles required by the Subsistence Bureau, thereby creating much
difficulty.
The armies have been supplied
with good and whole-some food, and large numbers of prisoners and suffering
Union families have been furnished with subsistence. Generally the contractors
and others have faithfully complied with their obligations. Officers employed in
this branch of the service, with but few exceptions, have per-,formed their
duties with promptness in the field and at depots. During the year ending June
30, 1864, fifty-two thousand four hundred and eighty-two quarterly or monthly
accounts have been examined and referred to the Treasury Department.
" The mobility of the armies has
increased. The opinion, held by some officers of rank in the earlier history of
the rebellion, that an army could not be maintained except within reach of a
navigable river or railroad has been dispersed by such marches as those of
General Sherman from Vicksburg, east of Meridian, and back to Vicksburg, from
Memphis to Knoxville, and back to Decatur, at a time when the railroads were not
in operation; that of General Burnside from Cincinnati and Louisville, through
Southeast Kentucky, to Knoxville ; that of Lieutenant-General Grant from
Washington to Petersburg, and the march of General Sherman from Atlanta toward
the coast."
THE BATTLE OF KINSTON.
On the 25th of February
General
Palmer, in command of the district of Newbern, left Wilmington with orders from
General Schofield for an advance on Kinston, North Carolina. Kinston is on the
Neuse, about 20 miles below Goldsborough. Between Kinston and Newborn the road
passes through difficult morasses. The enemy was disposed to make a stubborn
defense at Kinston, and for that purpose had dispatched Bragg's command with a
corps from Lee's army to that point. This force is estimated as about 15,000.
General Cox arrived on the 6th and took command of the Federal column advancing
from Newbern.
The next day was occupied in
skirmishing, chiefly with artillery. On the 8th the enemy succeeded in flanking
lox's advance line, and taking over a thousand prisoners from the Fifteenth
Connecticut and Twenty - seventh Massachusetts. Three guns also were captured.
This occurred about four miles from Kinston. Later in the day the rebels
attacked and were repulsed with heavy loss. The attack was repeated with a like
result on the 10th, and Kinston was abandoned, the enemy falling back on
Goldsborough. The loss on both sides in these battles was nearly equal. General
Schofield occupied Kinston on the 13th.
NEWS ITEMS.
General Sheridan, after his
extensive raid up the Valley and along the James, not being able to cross that
river, continued his destruction of the roads north of Richmond, and at last
accounts had nearly succeeded in joining Grant's right by way of the White
House.
The rebel Congress, on the 18th
inst., among its very last acts passed the bill empowering Jeff Davis to seize
the gold in the banks for the purchase of supplies. This uses up every thing in
the State of Virginia, and will put into Davis's hands about two millions of
gold equivalent to one hundred and fifty millions of rebel currency.
The rebel Congress also passed
the act suspending the writ of habeas corpus, the Senate having reconsidered its
previous action, by which the bill was defeated. Thus, nearly all of Jeff
Davis's requirements, as set forth in his last message, have been complied with.
An important general order from
General Pope is published, which is the first step toward giving practical
effect to the views of his recent letter to the Governor of Missouri. It directs
that as soon as information shall be received from Governor Fletcher of the
re-establishment of the courts and civil authority in any county or district,
the promiscuous exercise of martial law there shall cease; Provost Marshals will
be immediately released from all duties except those strictly military.
M. De Montholon has been
appointed French Minister at Washington, and M. Dane Minister at Mexico. The
Pall Mall Gazette says that, in conformity with public opinion in France, the
Emperor Napoleon will leave Mexico to her destiny as soon as the French troops
have returned. -
A new ministry has been formed in
Portugal, with the Duke de Soule as President of the Council and Minister of
Foreign Affairs, and the Marquis de Sa Da Bandiera as Minister of War.
HUMORS OF THE DAY.
ONE FOR THE EMPEROR.
(Quotation from a certain
Shakspearian Play, Act I. Scene 2., "Who is it in the Press?"—Julius Caesar.
THE AMERICAN FLAG
RE-QUARTERED.—Whether the South be recognized or not, as a consequence of the
War, it is clear that the Negro will. When the Stars shine again, the Stripes
will have disappeared.
An eloquent "reverend" gentleman,
who says eccentric things in his sermons, recently pointed out to his "audience"
that efforts at respectability made people extravagant and worldly, forgetting
religion, and he therefore concluded by a prayer that his audience might never
become respectable.
The Gas Companies' Lawyer—COKE.
COLLECTING THE RENTS.—A. Roman
Catholic clergyman residing near Limerick has the benevolent fancy of carrying
about needles and thread with him, and either getting the tattered to sew up
their clothes, or in cases of obstinacy doing it himself:
THE GOWN OF MANHOOD—His wife's.
A HISTORICAL PARALLEL.--Some
people object to the parallel which the Imperial author of the Life of Julius
evidently intends to draw between biographer and subject. The likeness will be
more clearly seen, if the name be written as it should be—" Seizer."
ON THE WORD PARLIAMENT.
"This long word comes only from
parler, to speak, As best etymologists trace;
So you see all is parle, and
nothing is meant; Too often the truth of the case."
A THOUGHT IN THE PARK.--What an
aggravating reminder to meet your most pressing creditor driving a pair of dun
ponies.
HISTORY EPITOMIZED (by LOUIS
NAPOLEON).—" Caesar and Boney very much alike : specially Boney !"
The difference between the
married and divorced is exceedingly slight, consisting merely of the exchange of
a couple of letters, the married being united, and the di vorced untied.
WRIT& OF ERROR—Marriage
contracts.
A DRAMATIC QUESTION.—Why is a
short-hand writer like the husband of Imogen ?--Because he's a-symbolin'
(Cymbeline).
At an auction at Cork, recently,
a lady and gentleman, who were so placed that they could not see each other,
kept up the bidding for an article after all the other competitors had given in.
What was his surprise when the gentleman discovered he was bidding against his
wife !
MODEL FOR A PAINTER—A man of
color.
WHAT RELIGION Is A MUTE ?—He is a
Sadducee (sad-you-see).
HOW TO KEEP ON GOOD TERMS WITH
CREDITORS.—Pay them.
POST-OFFICE QUERY.—How many
letters would a fellow have to put into the post before he may be said to have
"put in a word?"
"Dennis, my boy," said an English
schoolmaster to his Hibernian pupil, "I fear I shall make nothing of you; you've
no application." "An', sure enough, Sir," said the quick-witted lad, " isn't it
myself that's always being tould there's no occasion for it ? Don't I see every
day in the newspapers that no Irish need apply,' at all, at all ?"
OUTRAGEOUS.—An old bachelor being
asked by a pert young miss if he could account for the application of the term
belle to handsome young ladies, promptly replied that it was owing to the goodly
proportion of brass in their composition.
" William, what part of speech is
the word 'egg?' " " It is a Noun, Sir." " What is its gender?" "Can't tell,
Sir." "Is it masculine, feminine, or neuter?" "Can't say, Sir, till it's
hatched." "Well, then, my lad, you can tell me the case ?" '' Oh yes, the shell,
Sir."
LOVE.
Love is a comical thing,
And gives itself numerous airs;
'Twill make a man whistle and
sing
When he ought to be saying his
prayers,
Love is a comical thing,
The root of all evil, I'm told ;
Gray hairs it will frequently bring Prematurely, before we are old.
Love is a comical thing,
It induces a fellow to spoon;
And oft silly verses to sing,
When he can't get one cadence in
tune,
Love is a comical thing,
And it comes on one all unawares;
From the laboring man to the king All rest and repose it impairs.
Love is a comical thing,
And so frequently ends in a knot,
That I jollily, carelessly sing,
If I marry just yet I'll be shot!
ART ANECDOTE.—One of those
intimates whose secure footing allows them to mention the foibles of friends,
remarked one day to Frith that " he didn't shine in convert sation. "No," said
the prosperous painter, "I'm like Addison in that respect ; I've little ready
cash in my pocket, but I can draw for thousands."
WHAT IS MATRIMONY?—A long
engagement in which two persons often fight for the mastery the woman being
generally the ring leader.
MOTTO FOR BANTING.—Cut it Fat!
A RENT IN THE CLOUDS.—Two dollars
per week for lodgings in a top garret with a sky light.
SWIFT DESTRUCTION.—The rapidity
with which firemen " go to blazes !"
A CHROMATIC CONUNDRUM.—What is
the color of a scream ?—Yell-ho, of course !
DEAR STALKERS.—Those ladies who
will come out in the fashion.
An elderly maiden, meeting a
newly married man, who had once been her servant, carrying home a cradle,
exclaimed, "Ali, John, these are the fruits of marriage!" "No, madam," replied
John, "this be only the fruit basket."
LAY ON.—A retired actor, with a
fondness for poultry, was asked why he named it favorite lien "Macduff ?" He
replied that it was because he wanted her to " lay on."
What tune would a person whistle
who had been stealing milk? "Robin Adair," eh? (Robbin' a dairy!!!)
LIGHT INFANTRY
MOVEMENT.—Agitating a cradle with a baby in it. This kind of movement is
principally practiced in the rock-it brigade.
"THE GENTLEMEN OF THE LONG
ROBE."—Baby-boys before they are shortened.
The public lecturer who dwelt
upon a topic has changed his residence.
Wanted for chemical purposes-a
lady "dissolved in tears."
The climax of human indifference
has arrived when a woman does not care how she looks. -
A bird that always faces the
storm—The weather-cock.
AN IRISHMAN'S TELESCOPE. A
gentleman remarked one day to an Irishman that the science of optics was now
brought to such perfection that by the aid of a telescope, which he had just
purchased, he could discern objects at an incredible distance. "My dear fellow,"
replied the Irishman, " I have one at my house in the County of Wexford that
will be a match for it ; it brought the Church of Enniscorthy so near to my view
that I could hear the whole congregation singing psalms."
"Heaven bless the wives they fill
our hives With little bees and honey!
They ease life's shocks, they
mend our socks, But—don't they spend the money ?"
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