SLAVERY AND THE WAR.
Everyone in anywise interested, practically or theoretically, in the
Great War, is just now prophesying of the future, simply because it
looks vaguer and dimmer than ever. So I will hazard my guess at truth
before all is done.
I am no more capable of giving a valid opinion as to the chances or
resources of the South than if I had never left these English shores.
Proximity that is not positive presence, rather embarrasses one's
judgment, for the nearer you approach the frontier-line, the more you
become bewildered in the maze of exaggerated reports, direct
contradictions, and conflicting statistics. Judging from individual
cases, and from the spirit animating the "sympathizers" on the hither
side of the border, I feel sure that the bitter determination of the
South to hold out to the last man and the last ounce of corn-bread, has
not been in the least overstated; but as to the aspect of chances, or as
to the actual loss or gain achieved by either side up to this moment, I
am no more qualified to speak, than any careful student of the
war-chronicles. It is from consideration of the present and probable
strength or weakness of Federaldom, that I should draw the grounds of
any opinion that I might hazard.
I think _both_ are generally under-estimated.
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