The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-08-01
impatIknCa q Had G.nnrnI.

cannot ourselves ans vsr their Undergraduates
impa,itacs a had 6 .n.rnI.
The very worst counseliors for Generals II.
tie field sre an impatient populace. Ifwoare
t. believe General Scorr, the calamity that
has recently overwhelmed the grand Yankee
army was caused by SURROUNDING his own
opinions Of policy and obeying the orders Of
the Yankee mob, headed by GREELEY, BLAIR,
and WILSON. The mob, under these doughty
commando, drove him into battle which
was little better than slaughter aud ruin.
like imps hence prevails among the South
srn people tor forward movement upon
Washington city. This movement is doubt
less in preparation but we had better leave it
10 our Generals to choose the lime and man
ner Of making it. 1t is the highest wisdom to
profit by an enemys experience, and il would
be as criminal as unheard Of, if, alter witness
ing SO signal IN instance Of ruin from fighting
before being ready for it, we Should COMM,
the same llunder anu run the hazard Of tie
same disc ,lnhture.
What though il might have been possible
tor our Generals TO have entered Washingt
city upon the heels of the fas.ives the other
day; docs the fact that feat apparently so
improbable and certainly So hazardous might
have been performed, condemn the general
ship which refused 20 embark in such :. ven
ture We think not. The army at Manas-
sas is nov well ascer,ained to have numbered
less than forty thousand men. OF these, ten
to twelve thousand had made a forced march
from Wmchcs;er and was almost too ex-
hausted to 60 into the engagement on the 2lst.
They fought the battle all that day until night,
and came out of it absolutely exhausted and
broken down. We're these men physically ca
pablo, in that condition, of pursuing a flying
enemy twenty-seven miles, and of stornin &
works OF the Potomac brlsting with artillery
and matLed by thirty to forty thousand fresh
troops We cannot imagine an enterprise
more unpromising, hazardous and chimerical
than the attempt Of less than forty thousand
faded men to STERN works Of the formidable
character of those about Arlington and the
Long bridge, having seventy thousand men
behind them on this side and the other Of tho
Potomac RIVER.
If our Generals had been gifted with pre-
science superhuman if they had known the
utter confusion and pahic with which the enc
my were fleeing away. and if they had been
able to detect at the distance Of twenty
tive miles, through the darkness Of the
night, the m0mentary deencelessness of the
works Oh the Potomac, they would doubtless
no bal ri heir hi,,r
thousand available men, sto-m.d tho forti-
cations Of the enemy, and confronted double
their number Of panic stricken regilneuts.--
But they did not possess faculties of percep-
ton thus penetrating, and Of course, not ar
ragating the part OF demi gods, they took the
part Of Generals Nothing is more easy than
criticism after the eyent--uothing more diff
oGlt than choosing the precise moment for the
occasion before the event. If NAPOLEON had
fOresoen the remissnesS of uEUt CHE before the
fact, nothing would have been more easy
than to provide against H. and nothing more
certain than a victory for the French at
WaterioJ, Bat even the genius Of BONA
FATE could not penetrate twelve hours into
the flu ,ure. or twelve miles into the distance,
and, in consequence, the greatest battle in
history was lost by the greatest General the
world ever saw.
1t il very doubtful whether JOHNSTON and
BEA, REGARD would have pursued the enemy
10 the precincts of Washington on the night of
the battle, If they could have known in ad-
vance. and at that distance Off, of the scenes
that were about to transpire on the Potomac
for their little army constituted the sole bar
rier for Virginia again At the invaders; it was
undisc iplined and unu al to rapid movement,
and was as Liable to fall iu:o utter confusion in
the pursuit rs the enemy was in the flight
Rapid movements very practicable for
thoroughly disciplined regulars, like the ar
mics { NAPOLEON, and are attended with lit
lie =, disorder or hazard. But rapid move
mems over long distances, amid moments Of
great excitement, invariably produce great
disorder among new and unframed regiments
So far therefore, from our Generals being liza
BILE to unfayorable criticism for failing to push
On to Washington on Sunday night, leaving
all the outfit of their men behind in the camps,
", think they really deserve the laudation Of
the country.
1t plain, however, that our true policy now
is rapid and vigorous movement upon Wash
ipgton. Strong reinforcements have been for
varied 10 Manassas, and our army before that
place must now be very strong. We doubt not
that our Generals see and appreciate the i'm
portauce Of alacrity aud energy even more full
ly than the public and as they have done
their whole duty heretofore, we have unbound-
cd confidence in their doing it in the present
emergency.
That most important movements are going
an in the country before Manassas is clear,
from the profound secrecy in which our Gene
rails take care to veil them. We shall rest az
sured that when the denonement comes, the
country will have reason TO applaud and TO re-
joice
Lance Bayanet for the SHOTGUN.
pr Fsssor A. PREoT, Of Buckingham, has
invented lance bayo net, to be attached to