Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1861-10-30
TWO TO ONE.

The art and science OF meeting your en-
emy always with two men to his one seems
to the general public much better under
stood by the Insurgents than by the Gov
ernment troops. We have already lost
some valuable officers and much prestige by
the manner in which the Rebels have
overreached our commanders and the
death of Colonel Baker, yesterday, must,
we suppose, be counted another of these
cases.
There is a disposition with the public to
blame our officers Iur this, and it is com
monty said that the helcls constantly out
general us But the public is itself 10
. blame for almost every disaster OF tins
kind which has happened to our forces
1t is but right that we should be impatient
OF the progress Of the rebellion the pres
cnce OF an inSurgent in amy part Of the
Union is an insult to our national dignity.
But this impatience leads US into many er-
rors Of Judgment. What would the North
say, for instance, Of general who should,
having, like the Rebel Price, advanced as
far as Lexington, on the Missouri River,
Immediately abandon his prize anG retreat
the whole length of the State without
once offering battle to his pursuers?
The luckless commander who should
make such a retreat would receive even
more persistent abuse than General Ere
mont and, unless he deliberately shut his
eyes and ears against the newspapers and
pursued his own plans in silence he would
inevitably be forced into a battle at the
wrong moment-as we hope Fremont will
not be- And yet the retreat of Price is a
mastery movement. Every mile brings
him nearer to his reiniorcements, and takes
| Fremont further from his base.
So in Kentucky, ZollicofIer, having gain
ed stores o salt and beef cattle by raid
into Clay and Laurel counties, at once re
| tires southwa d to the Cumberland Gap,
though he has a very respectable force with
which to face our troops. He prefers to
retreat to day in order to cal strong blow
tomorrow lie and Price are both pre-
pairing to play the usual game of tgo to
| one.
But, suppose Fremont should not follow
Price Suppose Sherman should retreat
/ through Kentucky before ZollicOfer or Lee:
! Suppose General Polk were to advance in
to Eastern Missouri, and our troops there
should retreat before him? We should
hear storm of Indignation 1t once, 'imbe-
cile,' would be the mildest word, and the
| loudest voices in the crowd would demand
1 the removal of commander who dared to
have an opinion of his own, and who cared
to meet the enemy, not where the enemy and
the public desired, but on the ground oi
/ his own choosing.
What the nation has right to demand
of General is that he shall beat the enc
my. But it must also give him time, men
and discretion.
We shall perceive more and more, as the
campaign fairly opens, that this war is We
ry much like other wars, and that to dis
tract a General in the field by newspaper
advice or by public impatience, or by Off
cial restrictions, is to disable him, and per
haps oblge him to give battle when he
would not otherw ise-to take the odds ot
two to one, rather than face the ignorant
rage of the newspapers, and to perish as
Lyon did, as Baker did, and as Fremont
may, rather than, by prudent delays, anger
! the public and save the cause.