Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1861-11-15
Trom the y. Y. Post.
Two to Ono.

The art and science OF meeting your enemy
always With two men to his one seems to tn,
general public much better understood by th,
insurgents than by the Government troops
! We have already lost some valuable officers ant
much prestige by the manner in which tht
rebels have overreachel our COMMANDERS and
the death of Col. Baker, must, VIZ
suppose, be counted another of these cases.
There is a disposition with the public to
blame our officers for this, and il is commonly
said that the Rebels constantly outgeneraled
US. But the public itsclfis to blame for almost
every disaster of this kind which h.s happened
to our forces. II is but right that we should
be impatient Of the progress of the rebellion;
the pres ence Of an insurgeut in any part oil
the Union is an insult to national dignity =
But this impatience leads US into many errors
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 Missouririver, Immediately abandon his
prize and retreat the whole length of the
State without once Offering battle to bis pur~
surers
The luckless commander who should make
such retreat would receive even more persis-
tent abuse than General Fremont; 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 mnment-as we hope Ere
mont will not be. And yet, the retreat Of Price
IS a mastery movement. Every mile brings him
nearer 10 his TeiIiforccments, aud takes Ere
mont further from his basr
So in Kentucky. Zollicoffcr, having gained
stores Of salt and bcefcattlc by raid into Clay
and Laurel Counties at once retircs southward
to the Cumberland Gap, though he has very
respectable force with which to face our troops
lie prefers 10 retreat to-day in order to deal
stronger bow tosmorrow. He and Price
are both preparing to play the usual game Of
two to one.
But, suppose Fremont shoad not follow
Price? Suppose Sherman should retreat
through Kentucky before Zollicofar or Lee?-
Suppose General Polk were to advance into
Eastern Missouri, and our troops there should
retreat before him? We should hear a storm
of Indignation at once, "imbecile' would be
the mildest word, and the loudest voices in the
crowd would demand the removal of com.
mander who dared TO have an opinion of bis
own, and who cared to meet the enemy not
where the enemy and the public desired, but
on grouEd Of his own choosing.
What the nation has a right to demand Of
a General is that he shall beat the enemy
But it must also give him time, men and dis.
cretion.
We shall perceive more and more, as the
campaign fairly opers, that this war is very
much like other wars and that to distract
General in the field by newspaper advice or by
public impatience, or by official restrictions, il
to disable him, and perhaps obligc him to give
battle when be would not othcrwise-to take
the odds Of two to one, rather than face the ig-
noraut 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.
The battle of Bull Run showed most OF the
journals that they would do well TO refrain
from criticisms on military affairs, which can.
not possibly be understood ut distance from
the field OF operations, and bywriters neeessa.
riy ignorant of the means and circumstances
Of the opposing commanders. The newspa-
pers have, therefore, very discretly avoided all
criticisms on Generals Mcclellan, Wool, An
derson, or Sherman; but, very singularly, FIRE.
mont has been made an exception to this mos
wholesome rule. He, who alone has been ac-
lively engaged in the field so far, is the butt Of
every fault-fnder, while those Generals who
have spent months instead Of weeks in prepar.
tion, and who have done really nothing but
prepare, are treated with that civility and for.
bcarance which surely a General in the field
deserves and reeds as much as his brother
officer who stands on the brink Of activs operas
tions.