DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY.

129

have, from infancy, been accustomed to the use of arms, and to live a great deal in the open air; habituated to govern their slaves, they have learnt the importance of subordination, and therefore subject themselves with the greatest ease and willingness to the severe discipline of the army. Mutiny and everything approaching to it are unknown in the Southern army; whereas it is notorious that, in repeated instances, entire regiments in the Northern army have been disarmed and disbanded on this account; and the Northern press, fettered as it is, still gives frequent information of instances in which soldiers or officers have shot their superiors. Cases of this kind are unheard of in the South.

Although the want of a train has been felt in the South, still the necessity for it is not so great as in the North. The want has partially been supplied; to this the stores captured from the enemy have contributed no inconsiderable part. Unfortunately, the seat of war is on Southern soil, but this obviates the pressing necessity for a train adapted to the wants of an invading army; moreover, the network of railroads which form the internal means of communication and transportation, supply to a considerable degree the ordinary demand for a train.

In connexion with the enthusiasm of the Southern army, there exists on the part of the troops unlimited confidence in the capacity of their leaders, as well as

K

in their own superiority over the Northern soldiers. Nor have the results of the two campaigns now ended, in which the North has accomplished nothing of importance, failed to establish an immense superiority for the South. The capacity of both armies will, however, be judged by their performances; and from this point of view the Southern army has no reason to envy the army of the North.

V. Duration of the War.

From the foregoing considerations, it may be assumed, we think, that, although the South must necessarily suffer many disadvantages from a war of such magnitude, yet it possesses the capacity and the means for conducting a war of defence for an almost unlimited time. The North, on the other hand, is forced to terminate the war in a decided manner within a short period, for its finances will soon be exhausted.

Signs of future troubles already manifest themselves unmistakably between the 'Democratic' and 'Republican' parties; and the best interpreters of public opinion in America declare that the late triumph of the former party seals the doom of Lincoln and his political associates.

There is no unity of counsel and of purpose in the cabinet of President Lincoln, the members of which

WHY THE WAR MUST SOON TERMINATE.

131

are in open opposition to each other as regards the object of the war and the means to be employed in conducting it. Generals are promoted and, when 'defeated, are degraded, perhaps to be promoted and degraded again.

Socialism has raised its head in New England, and among the foreign population of the North.

The depressing moral influence of repeated reverses in the field and of constantly increasing poverty offers a good occasion for the developement of discord, and incites the parties against each other, causing the one to attribute their misfortunes to the other. These raging domestic dissensions indicate already clearly enough the growth, and not remote outbreak, of a revolution in the North.

Long campaigns in the South are impossible, on account of the climate; because during the excessive heats of summer warlike operations are attended by the most fearful mortality; whereas, in the more northern parts, the roads are rendered impassable for artillery and baggage almost in the beginning of winter. On the other hand, the extent of the country is so great, and its population comparatively so thin, that a short war is absolutely necessary for the invader, if anything at all is to be accomplished.

From this examination it becomes evident why the Federal Government, in fault of an inspiring idea for the war, as exists in the South, resorts to all kinds

of false pretexts to excite the popular passions, and produce an enthusiasm for the war. So we find that on the one hand the Minister for War proposes to arm the slaves, and turn them loose against their masters; on the other, the demagogues proclaim to the people that nothing can be accomplished by the war without the emancipation of the entire African race in America. This is a very open confession, but has no importance except for exciting the popular feeling. And now that the emancipation of the slaves has, in reality, been decided upon by the Republican President, the act can only be regarded as the expression of a spirit of diabolical revenge, and as an indication of unpardonable puerility, since its execution is impossible. Finally, it was for the same reason that the Washington Government spared no pains to produce the false impression among the Northern people, that the majority of the people in every Southern State, South Carolina probably excepted, were devoted to the Union, but were overpowered by an armed faction, and would welcome the approach of a Federal army. Without resort to such means of exciting the popular feeling, or without speedy victory, Lincoln will before long be compelled by the conservative party in the North to conclude a peace,

The South is aware of these facts, and knows that it has nothing to fear from a long war, because its enemy will be utterly ruined by it.

133

CHAPTER V.

ISSUE OF THE WAR.

FEW indeed will have the hardihood now to assert that the causes of the antipathy between the North and the South can be removed by the present war. On the contrary, the war has aroused all the just indignation of the Southerners, and excited their passions to the highest point; and not only has the former limited confidence in the North been destroyed, but, in the place of their former antipathy for the Yankees, a deadly and inextinguishable hate has sprung up.

Should the South be re-incorporated into the Union by force, it cannot be expected that the people that have waged such a ruthless war against the Southerners would ever allow them the exercise of their former constitutional rights; or that those who are now designated as traitors would ever be permitted, if so disposed, to sit in Congress, and take part in the councils of the Union with those whose loyalty has never been impeached. With the triumph of the North would vanish the former constitutional