The Contest And The Relative Strength Of The Parties To It

From the progresa of the inventive arts, the chances of war among nations possessing an equal ainount oí courage and endurance are ajmost exaotly moasurod by the auaount of money a belligerent can coiumand. Money is equivalent to numerical supuriority in men, in ships, in ineana of locomotion and subsistcnce, and in the perfoction and completcnesa of instrumento ol destruction. Success is na longer an attributo of a particular nationuliiy, or the fortune of a particular General, or a matter of accident, but dependa upon malt, and tho skill with which this is wielded. The combatant excelling in theso two conditions must in the end win, no matter what reverse it may at first suffer from want oí preparution, or training, or habitude. This premise, which is universally conceded, should relieve us of any concern as to tho result oí the contest in which we are now engaging, no matter how wide may be it range, or the extent to which it may be pushod. Wü concedo personal courage ta our opponents, í uil y equal to our own, and still leave thein in hopeless ir.funority as to their abil'ny to maintain anything like an equal fight. The (Confedérate States contaiu a white population of 2,500,000, or about one-oighlh of the population of the Northern Status. - Tha latter can, il neeessury, bring a forcé egií times gr eattr ir.ia the field. All of the Slavö States together have a white population of only 8,000,000, tgaiiibt 10,000,000 in tbe_ Nurth.- Measured by numbers, the North is ,wice and a half as powerful, assumug all the Southern States to be i unit in sentiment and purpose. Itit tliis is irrpossible. Miwouri in no contingency will join the Guif Confederacy, neither will Deluware, nor Maryand, nor Western Virginia, nor Eastern Kentueky, nor Tennerèee. In case of hostililies, the proper surveillance iver tho negro would cornpel at least one-half of the whole males to rem ai n it home as a local pólice, increasing he disparity to such a degree as to ■ender it the height ol fool-hardiness br the South to venturo upon tho conest. How is it in regard to the munitions )f wur ? In heavy ordnanee and tha ike the South may be pretty ve!l supiliud, from the forts they have seized ind plundered. But in the secodinStates there is neither a powder-mill ior a íoundry for the casting of cannon,nor an establishment for tho manu'actnre of arrns. Bid any such estabishment exist, they oou'ld nover turn out material or anus tliat could match thoso manu'actured at the North. - The seceding States today are being suppüed irum ouraalvfcs with pverything they use. Eut for this source they could not put a regiment in the field. Disarm thein, and they must remain so until they can as'ain supply themselves jy purchase. The Southern States iré u propia without artisans. Labor 8 held in disgrace. The great portion of tho white population are ignorant To say that such a peogje can supply the very firat cqnditions ' upon which success depends, a propar arnoameut, and compete with the trained skill of ;he North, is an absurdity that carries ts'own rofutation. Tako away the arras that the fjderal GovRrnrr.ent uive distributed through the South, or ïave been stolen, and they would bc mpotent for any military exploit whatover, They are oqually wenk in their comnisgariat, Tha gepoding States canïot mnuíucvurü a yard of uiütliing fit br soldier's wear, nor raise foud lor his rations. Tliese must be Bupplied from the Nórtb, ii at ail. They are still woaker in the grand sitie qna non - Cash. This the seceding States are iterally without, and wilh tho exception of ono or two points never had any. It is the law there, that the erop is rcalized and spent long before it is gathered. Gh-irleslon was looked upon as the richeat c;ty South, in porportion to its population. Yet Gharleston is alrnost corapletely extuuisted. The State is so pres.sed that it cunnot curry on the work necessary to complete its Gapitol. All its banká aro luokuii,. wi'tlj hardly a dollar of co;n in Iheir vaults. lts contributions to secession are forced loans. Thero is no other city South that had auy money except Ñew Orleans, and this can be luid only by forced loans from the banks. This resource will soon be exhausted, and than th(-re rpust be an end both ot borrowing and forced ióans. Witb all the bluster d:splayed, 15,OOÜ,OQO oau cannot be sold to yoluntuiy purchasüra. Nor can a lecond loan be put off, sho'd this one be wrung from unwilling victims. The moment a State secedes its credit is ruinod. The conviction is tjniversal that secossion will end u repudtation. A peoplo that so roadily trample under toot the most sacred obliga'ionp, wil! not be long in throvving ofi a dtíbt the mouiont it is regarded as a burdeu. ISoininally, Virginia is still a loyal State ; but the fear that ehe will;secedc, has caused her bonds ti i'all to 57 - the samo bonds that a fewye-.irs ago woro sought alter at 115, and but lor secossion would to-day be selling at a hahdsome, premium ! Secediug States, .;i,ivi.!ua'lly, cannot borrow, because tliey dány all k'ga rewponsibilities. The Con fedérate States cannot, beear.se tlioy allaw :..oy (jne to [eeoede from thein at will, and lv ute they embrace two black heep among them, Mississippi and Florida. No o.ne witl trust a firm whcre these twa are leadiug memberri, neither at hom nor abroad, nor among themselve1. Iu whatever direct'107 the Confedérate Stiltes may look, they can get no money, except by spoliation, which soon oxhausts what t feeds on. The peoplu liave none, and thoy can show thoif facesiu no fureign market. The South i.s entirely at the mercy ♦f the Norlh in their innumerabla points vulnerable to attaek. They want 200,000 men as a defense ngiiinal 10,000 on board a well-uppointed fleet. ono day Uiis force could threaten Norfolk ; the ncxt Wilmingtcn ; the nexc Savannah ; tben Florida, Mobile, Now Orleans and Galveston. No ono could teil where tho blow was to be utruck., and consequontly every menaced poins would have to be well guarded. Such a fleet and iorce would in six mwtha put the whole South in porfect frenjy by eonstantly hovoring upon their coast with hostile düinonstrations. They could not touch it, and could only rugard it from their sborcs with impotent rage. W'hat is the contrast Uie North presents to thia p!otur ? Vast wealth. proffered to Government witli n generous hand - hundrods oí nnllkms, il necessary, and witli it a half iiiillion of men,suppliei by a homogcnous, united and enthusiastic poople. Each Stato can placo and maintain a respeotablo force in tho field, and severa! of thwA armies. Every une of them can raiso any required amountoi monoy at tho 1 - .' ; : 1 1 , and many of them at ranch lowor ratee of inte tisí. Tha credit of all U without Klain. Theva'ueof the'ir seouritics is unafleoted by the civil war. Contrast the bonds of the State of New York with those of Virginia, the farmer selling sXdouble the pnce of tha kitten The new war loan of New Ywl; wüï Uc eagerly sought for ; while, if Virginia secodes, sho cannot borrow a dollar. S'jppose these two States be pitted against each other, does any ono doubt the issuo ? On the land, the Northern States alono constitute a first-class mli,taïv power, in their wealth and oif men they can arrn and maintain io tho field. The skill of their artisana is the admiration of the world. In food they can supply a continent. Tosaythat rtuch a people cannot overmatch nnu ruda to the last degree in all its industries, capable of producing neither fooc. nor clothing, nor arms, nor meana of lücornotion - a poople, the greater portion of whom are unskilliul and unIrasnod, and impatieut oí all disciplino or restraint - is to atlinn that ignomacüi is etronger than intelligence, poverty than wealth, and wild insubordination thau training and culture. The North have an itnmeasnrable ad-. vantage in its cotnniaud of the sea. - All the Southern produce must tfoat upon it to market. We consequentfy hold in our hand the very element of their esistence. We coüld reduce then to beggary withoutrnovingor equippiuff a soldier. A few ships stationed off their ports would do all this. With tho rnercahtilü marine in our harbor vhc cou'd be got ready for sea at a week'u notico, we could alinost instan tly throw 10O,0U0 meu upon any point to be attacked. We inight threaten a dozeiï points at tho sanie moment, and so divido and distract the enemy, that reistanco at tho point where the blow was tj be struck would be impossiblu, With the cornmand ot tha sea in our :ianls, the South, with ten timos their present mcans, could not deiend theinselves. They have more than fiH thousand miles of frontier to protect, requiring ihrice the number of rnen they could bring into the field. With such a frontior toguard, how supremely silly arü all thö threa,ts of invadinjjf the North. In this contest the governmoiit haa only steadlily, but tirmly, to pursua tha course it bas marked out, and ultímate sucoess must follovv with as much cartainty as mat er ob ys its 'aws.