relentless rigor, we have seen every now and then, in different
parts of the confederacy, the vivid flashes of a still living sentiment
of love for the Union. As the hopes of the conspiracy become gradually
less bright, this sentiment of affection for the old and honored
Government of our fathers will grow stronger and more outspoken, and
will not be confined to mere individual expressions. When the people
begin to open their eyes and see the strength of the rebellion rapidly
wasting away, with the repetition of its fruitless endeavors; when
victories no longer compensate for the privations and horrible disasters
which follow in their track; when, finally, they understand, as they
soon must, that the whole movement is destined to end in utter failure,
and that this failure is to be only the more overwhelming the longer the
unhappy contest shall be continued, a complete revulsion of feeling may
well be expected to take place. Many things in the course of the
struggle have combined to delay the advent of this inevitable change.
The progress of our arms has been extremely slow, with many checks and
defeats in those campaigns and at those points which seemed to be the
most important. If we have been successful in the West, it has not been
without protracted efforts and immense expenditure of life and means--a
long and bloody struggle, the uncertainty of which has not tended to
strengthen us during its pendency. On the other hand, the brilliant
successes of the rebels on the Rappahannock and at Charleston have not
been fully counteracted by their actual and definitive discomfiture in
other quarters. When Vicksburg and Port Hudson fall, as fall they must,
the emptiness of all their triumphs will be felt and appreciated. Bull
Run, twice famous, Fredericksburg, Charleston, Chancellorsville--all
will then appear in their true light as magnificent phantoms of delusive
success, alluring the proud victors to further fruitless efforts and
barren victories, only to overwhelm them with more tremendous ruin, in
the end which is slowly but certainly approaching.

Thus the continuance of the war, with its exhausting expenditures and
its bloody sacrifices of life, is destined to be not altogether without
its advantages in other respects besides its influence on the great
question of slavery. It is preparing the public mind of the South for a
most vehement reaction against all the false ideas which have been the
animating spirit of the reb