Vermont Phœnix

The Rebels Discouraged by Inaction, and Expect a Long War.

From the Richmond Whig

All the indications point to a long war. At one time we had hoped that the dash—the elan—of our volunteers, unrestrained, but simply guided by able Generals, would have planted our banners, before frost, in the heart of the enemy's country, and conquered an honorable peace. But a different policy has obtained.

We of the South, who were to attack, have adopted a system of defence, and, so far, have uniformly awaited the advance of the foe. This may be the safer policy; but we have never been able to appreciate it. Our conviction is, that a victorious advance into the enemy's country is the only road to a lasting and honorable peace. We must fight, and we must conquer, before we can make a treaty. If we cannot do this, we must submit to the fate of the weaker party. The enemy have dominion of the sea! he can assail us at almost innumerable points: he can plunder our coasts and penetrate our rivers. He is supreme in the Chesapeake Bay; he commands the Potomac; he has possession of Maryland, of Northwestern Virginia, and is contending for Missouri and Kentucky. While he threatens our whole coast, he may assail us at any point of our extended frontier. This whole situation must be altered before we can have peace on any terms compatible with honor and safety.

We have never heard of any plan suggested for effecting this desirable alteration short of carrying the war into the enemy's country. While we stand on the defensive, and the enemy is entrenched on this side of the Potomac, it is impossible for us to destroy his supremacy at sea, or prevent his predatory incursions on our coast. We are subject to all the disadvantages of a defensive war of indefinite duration or to peace dictated by the enemy. The possibility of our success is not within the range of accident. To prevent our subjugation or extermination is all we can hope for.

We have no skill in strategy, and know nothing of the means at the command of our Generals; but if this is all that is left to us, we had as well be looking out for terms of submission, and the sooner the better. An endless war which affords no opportunity for either victory or revenge is a bootless undertaking.

The Southern people who have offered themselves and their all for the prosecution of this war, and who have reposed implicit confidence in the men entrusted with its conduct, have looked for something better. It is not to be disguised that a sense of uneasiness and distrust is gradually supplanting that generous confidence. A suspicion is gaining ground, that all the advantages of our position have not been profited by, as they might have been; that the war has not been prosecuted with the vigor and energy demanded by the emergency. We hear mutterings and complaints, apart from those connected with the Quartermaster, Commissary, and Medical Department, growing out of the appointment of so many civilians to high commands. Many of these appointments have filled the country with apprehensions of some great disaster.