were deprived of those supplies, both domestic and foreign, which they had drawn in so large quantities from the trans-Mississippi territory.  Through Texas, which had contrived to keep up a great commerce, the supplies of foreign materiel had been very large; and from the same rich and extensive State came thousands of beeves, sheep, and hogs, that were consumed by Southern soldiers in Virginia and the Carolinas.  Generals Grant and Banks put an end to this mode of supplying the Rebels with food and other articles; and at a later period the success of General Banks near the Rio Grande was hardly less useful in putting an end to much of the Texan foreign trade, whereby the Rebels beyond the Mississippi must find their powers to do mischief very materially lessened.

In the mean time, Charleston, whence rebellion had spread over the South, had been assailed by a large force, military and naval, commanded by General Gillmore and Rear-Admiral Dahlgren.  General Gillmore had become famous as the captor of Fort Pulaski, under circumstances that had seemed to render success impossible; and hence it was expected that he would quickly take Charleston.  It is not believed that that very able and modest officer ever said a word to give rise to the popular expectation.  He knew the gravity of the task he had undertaken, and we believe, that, if all the facts connected therewith could be published, it would be found that he has accomplished all that he ever promised to do or expected to do.  He has done much, and done it admirably; and not the least of the effects of his deeds is this,—­that the report of his guns reached to Europe, and caused the intelligent military men of that dominating quarter of the world to doubt whether their respective countries were militarily prepared to support intervention, even if to intervention there existed no moral or political objections.  He has demolished Sumter, and that fortress which was the scene of our first failure has ceased to exist.  He has completed the blockade of Charleston, which was almost daily violated before he brought his batteries into play.  We have the high authority of no less a personage than Mr. Jefferson Davis himself,—­a gentleman who never “speaks out” when anything is to be made by reticence,—­that Wilmington is now the only port left to the Confederacy; and this is the highest possible compliment that could be paid to the excellence of General Gillmore’s operations, and to the value of his services.  Since he arrived near Charleston, that port has been as hermetically sealed as Cronstadt in December; whereas, until he began his scientific and most useful labors, Charleston was one of the most flourishing seaports in the whole circle of commerce.  As to the taking of Charleston, our opinion is, and has been from the first, that the history of the War of the American Revolution demonstrates that the Carolina city can be had only as the result of extensive land-operations, carried on by a power which has command of the sea.