_Gazette_, but wholly in line with the opinion to
which the _Times_ was now desperately clinging that Grant had failed and
that Sherman, adventuring on his spectacular "march to the sea" from
Atlanta, was courting annihilation. Yet even Northern friends were
appalled at Sherman's boldness and discouraged by Grant's slowness. The
son of the American Minister could write, "Grant moves like the iron
wall in Poe's story. You expect something tremendous, and it's only a
step after all[1252]."

The _Times_ was at least consistent in prophecies until the event
falsified them; the _Gazette_ less so. Some six weeks after having
acclaimed Sherman's generalship in the capture of Atlanta[1253], the
_Gazette's_ summary of the military situation was that:

"... if the winter sees Grant still before Petersburg, and
Sherman unable to hold what he has gained in Georgia, the
South may be nearer its dawning day of independence than
could have been expected a few weeks ago, even though
Wilmington be captured and Charleston be ground away
piecemeal under a distant cannonade. The position of the
Democrats would urge them to desperate measures, and the
wedge of discord will be driven into the ill-compacted body
which now represents the Federal States of North
America[1254]."

But on December 17, W.H. Russell again changed his view and foretold
with accuracy Sherman's movements toward Savannah. Not so the _Times_,
privately very anxious as to what Sherman's campaign portended, while
publicly belittling it. December 2, it was noted that Sherman had not
been heard from for weeks, having left Atlanta with 50,000 men. December
5, his objective was stated to be Savannah, and while the difficulties
to be encountered were enumerated, no prophecy was indulged in. But on
December 22, Sherman's move was called a "desperate" one, forced by his
inability to retreat _northward_ from Atlanta:

"If we turn to military affairs, we are informed that the
great feature of the year is Sherman's expedition into
Georgia. We are not yet able to say whether Sherman will
succeed in escaping the fate of Burgoyne; but we know that
his apparent rashness is excused by the fact that Sherman was
unable to return on the way by which he came; so that the
most remarkable feature of the war, according to the
President, is the wild and desperate effort of an
out-manoeuvred Genera