Signs of flagging,
--All the Yankee papers which we receive are filled with braggadocio — speaking, always, of the crushing out of the rebellion, as though it were already an accomplished fact, and constantly threatening France, England, and Spain, with the vengeance of the all-powerful Yankee nation. If we look a little below the surface, however, it is not difficult to discover that this is all talk and nothing else, designed to delude the multitude and encourage them to persevere in the prosecution of this war. The signs of exhaustion are so palpable that they cannot be mistaken by the least experienced eye.In the first place, the New York World tells us, what we had previously heard from a source entitled to credit, that the draft has proved a complete failure, not having secured the services of 60,000 men, all told, throughout the whole Yankee States. Now these 60,000 men will go but a very short way to fill up the gap made in the Yankee ranks by the campaign of 1863, at Chancellorsville, at Gettysburg, at Chickamauga, at Vicksburg, and by sickness and desertion which have prevailed to a most unusual extent throughout the Yankee armies every-where.
Secondly, the New York Times, a short time since, in the course of an editorial designed to spur up the flagging energies of its Government, stated that the greater part of its army would go out of service next May; that the winter and the mud would prove most powerful auxiliaries to our troops, as they did last year and the year before; that the rebellion must, therefore, be crushed before November, and that if not crushed before that time it could not be until next fall. It stated that the only troops it would have on hand for the grand crushing operation next May--the earliest day at which it would be possible to open the campaign — would be the new conscripts. It rated their strength at three hundred thousand, but the estimate of the World, we have reason to know, is much nearer the mark.
Thirdly. In commenting upon the failure of Rosecrans's Georgia campaign, the New York Herald revealed the fact that it was undertaken for the purpose of seizing several hundred thousand bales of cotton known to exist in that State, which it deemed essential to support the credit of the Yankee finances.--This is a most important revelation.--It was hoped by the Yankees that this cotton would be sold, in Europe for specie, and that, by means of the money thus acquired, the credit of their Government would be sustained. But the enterprise has failed and the relief is not afforded. The indebtedness of Yankeedom to Europe certainly does not fall short of one thousand million. Europe is growing impatient, and must have principal or interest in specie. Yankee dom, its piratical inroad into Georgia having failed, can pay neither principal not interest. There are lively hopes of a general crash, and when her financial bubble shall have exploded, what is Yankeedom to do.?
Fourth and lastly. In order to reinforce Rosecrans, the Yankees are compelled to take heavy detachments from the army of Meade at the very time when that officer is expected to make a fresh "on to Richmond," and when, according to the New York Herald, there can be no doubt of his success. If the Yankees have the overwhelming force of which they boast, why is it necessary to deplete one army in order to strengthen another? In order to reinforce Rosecrans, also, they are stripping the whole lower country of troops, thereby exposing it to reoccupation by our troops. Why all this, if they have the hosts they pretend to have? The fact is their mighty armies are, for the most part, "men in buckram." They exist nowhere but in the imagination of Seward and their editors. Their real strength is not greatly superior to ours.
Our people, when they feel a disposition to despond, should think on these things. They should reflect that if they are straitened, the Yankees are They should observe that they strengthen one army without
weakening another, or overrun one part of the country without abandoning its equivalent somewhere else. When the first Cabinet of Gen. Jackson exploded, a caricature was published well known at the time as the Rat Caricature. The members of the Cabinet were represented as rats, and the General as endeavoring to put his foot on their tails to prevent their scampering. But as he had but two feet, and the Cabinet were five or six in number, he was compelled to take his foot off the tail of one while he tried to put it on the tail of another. The condition of Lincoln with regard to the Confederate States is very similar. As fast as he puts his great splay foot on one, another gets from under. Let us be of good cheer. We think the signs of land are more unmistakable than they ever have been.
