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 General to extricate himself from a position which, whatever effect it may have had on the election, should never, on mere military grounds, have been occupied at all[1255]." This was followed up four days later by a long and careful review of Sherman's whole western campaign, concluding with the dictum that his sole object now was to escape to some undefended point on the coast where he could be rescued by the Northern navy.

The war had taken a definite turn in favour of the South; it was impossible to conceive that Sherman would venture to attack Savannah: "For the escape or safety of Sherman and his army it is essential he should reach Beaufort, or some neighbouring point on the sea-coast as rapidly as possible.

Delay would be equivalent to ruin, and he will do nothing to create it[1256]." Rarely, if ever, did the _Times_, in its now eager and avowed championship so definitely commit itself in an effort to preserve British confidence in the Southern cause[1257].