The Conquest of the South.
--The Army and Navy Gazette, an English military and naval periodical, expresses the opinion that the military preparations now making by the North will end in the overthrow of the heroic South.It is rational to conclude that this journal derives most of its intelligence from Northern sources. It never sees the full Southern side of the question.--An eminent Spanish General visited McClellan's camp during the siege of Richmond, and was clear in the conviction that Richmond was a dead cock in the pit. We suggested at the time that it would be well for this Spanish Generalissimo to visit the Confederate as well as Federal camps before coming to so decisive a conclusion. The result proved that the highest military authority outside of the Confederacy may blunder egregiously, and is in great danger of blundering simply because it hears only one side of the story; and whilst it sees the preparations for assault, knows nothing of the resources for defence.
If the British Army and Navy Gazette had been published during the war of the Revolution, it would, at a certain gloomy period of that struggle, have pronounced the defeat of the Americans inevitable, and with much better reason than it now prophecies the downfall of the South. Even Gen. Washington was very much of the same opinion, for he declared that, if the army were not recruited, the game was nearly up. Even the Army and Navy Gazette admits that we have one chance — if Gen. Lee is now able to rout the Army of the Potomac, "another year will be gained, and with it, who knows what gain may be obtained for the Confederates?" The Gazette must be sadly ignorant of "the situation," and of the capacities of the South when it treats as problematical the existence of the Confederacy for another year. We are stronger now than we were a year ago; glorious harvests; the currency improving; the tax bill bidding fair to yield an enormous revenue; our armies increasing every day in numbers and efficiency; our whole population, independent of the army, about to be organized into an embattled host. When therefore the Gazette speaks of Richmond as a caput mortum, it is as much out of its reckoning as the Spanish General who confidently predicted its capture by McClellan, and, even if it were taken, nothing but the brick and mortal it is built of would be lost to the Southern Confederacy. "Another year gained" may help the Confederacy through! If that is all that is necessary, we are safe enough. The Southern Confederacy will outlive the Army and Navy Gazette, and exist as long as Great Britain itself.
