ping chances of war and their results; but the great rush of free
labor will come, and that rapidly, and Virginia, disenthralled, become,
in all probability, once more the first among the States.

We have spoken of the desperation of the rebels, and of the idleness of
expecting from them any peaceable compromise. Those who, in the South,
will take the oath of allegiance, and who have probably acted only under
compulsion, should be spared. But there is a vast number who are as yet
under the dominion of a madness, for which nothing but the most vigorous
measures can be of any avail. It is evident that at present, every where
except in Halleck's department, government is too indulgent. Traitors
flaunt and boast openly in the border States, and publicly scheme with
their doughface allies, to defeat the Union cause in every possible way,
too often with signal success. The more mercy they receive, the more
insolent do they become, and yet every effort has been made, and is
making, 'to conciliate.' Let Government be vigorous, and rely only on
its strong hand, so far as the management of avowed traitors is
concerned; such men hold to no faith, and keep no oaths. With such, a
threat of confiscation will be found of more avail than all the lenity
in the world.

We may quote, in this connection, from a letter to the Salem _Register_,
from Captain Driver, who hoisted 'Old Glory' at Nashville, when our
troops took possession of that city. After speaking of the immense
amount of property being destroyed through the State, he asks:

'Is there one man North, who now expects to make peace, based on
compromise with such men as lead here? Is there one who expects a
lasting peace in this land, until the armed heel of freedom's
soldiers marks every inch of slave soil? If there is, he knows
little of the South or Southern men and women. One defeat of the
Federal forces, and madness would be rampant here. In the hour of
victory, they would destroy every Union family in the South. We
live on a volcanic mass, which at any moment may upheave and blow
us to glory without the benefit of the clergy, the most of whom are
in the army of Dixie.

'Our enemy is as bitter as death, as implacable as the savage of
the forest; he will do any thing to gain his end. Twice has the
'Black Flag' been flaunted in our faces, and cheered by a portion
of our citizens. Our women are more bitter