The climate may be a fatal enemy to the Federal Armies.

The Northern people may be unable or unwilling to continue the enormous expenditure.

They may prefer Separation to protracting the War indefinitely.

I confess, however, that I fear that a protraction of the War during another year or longer, is a not less probable result of the present posture of affairs, than either the immediate subjugation of the South or the immediate recognition of its independence[590]." This itemization of Southern methods of resistance was in line with Confederate threats at a moment when the sky looked black.

There was indeed much Southern talk of "retiring" into a hypothetical defensible interior which impressed Englishmen, but had no foundation in geographical fact.