"
"Good heaven! so soon!"
"Yes."
"In three months?"
Mr. X----- nodded.
"General Lee may lengthen the term a little by his skill and courage,
but it is not in _his_ power, even, to resist beyond the month of
April."
"The army of Northern Virginia, driven by the enemy!"
"Forced to surrender, or annihilated; and in Virginia--it will never
join Johnston. Its numbers are too small to cut a path through the
enemy. Grant will be at the Southside road before the first of April;
Lee will evacuate his lines, which he will be compelled to hold to the
last moment; he will retreat; be intercepted; be hunted down toward
Lynchburg, and either surrender, or be butchered. Cheerful, isn't it?"
"It is frightful!"
"Yes, Lee's men are starving now. The country is tired of the war, and
disgusted with the manner in which we manage things. No recruits are
arriving. The troops are not _deserting_, but they are leaving the army
without permission, to succor their starving families. Lee's last hours
are approaching, and we are playing the comedy here in Richmond with an
immense appearance of reality; dancing, and fiddling, and laughing on
the surface of the volcano. I play my part among the rest. I risk my
head more even, perhaps, than the military leaders. I take a
philosophic view, however, of the present and future.
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