New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-06-18
THE WAR FOR THE union.
FROM WASHINGTON.
President.
The Bethel Dcfeat-Dusy of the Eresiae"''
From Our Own Correspondent ..,o.


,r endowed with Geneva band and surpllce at
Trinity College, would preach sermon, solemn
IN the subject and the occasion. If not under
the Bethel flag, with its buoyant chapel moored |
AZ dock, and addressed to the ears of old |
salts and young sailors, it should be the same
warning and the like entreaty, that is laid upon
chem, except that it should not undergo the sea
change of metaphor nor borrow the figures and
illustrations of wooden walls and floating for
tresses.
The action at Bethel is over-more than that
II is well nigh forgotten In some houses there
In woe. and the darkness of a grief which shall
remain to the entering gloom OF the valley Of
.hadows. In the minds Of the country, TO which ii
rs not fastened by the bleeding wounds of bereave
ment, it is now forty-eght hours old and out of
thought or care. Immortality can be counted
now by calendar months, and eternity, in modern
readings, is not much beyond a Presidential
term.
Who blundered here is Of no consequence now
10 the event. To those who are dead, Courts of
Inquiry can bring no return to life To the sur
wing mourner, punishment. if deserved, cannot
assuage a single pang But go beyond. There
are now or will soon be, 100000 of our men in
the field. Worthless as many are to themselves and
to society," the question of their use and value Is
not for our determination Each is a single human
life, and has his appointment and fills his place in
the mechanism of society and the State. 1t is
not to be thrown away in rash experiments OF
danger, nor left to fill the maws of kites, in a
reckless and wicked attempt to accomplish sue
cess with no knowledge of the undertaking and
no estimate of the requisite means. 1t may
have been tie fault of Gen. Butler, or Gen.
Rlank--GeD. Somebody or Gen. Nobody. Whether
q military fiction, or fact--a body or an 'unsub
stantial ghost--it does not change the character,
nor should it the conduct. Shooting the enemy
is not the highest grade of employment according
to the Sermon on the Mount; but sending balls
and bay onet- thrusts into loyal hearts, in late
midnight, comes still less under it's approval.
Must men be sent out in darkness to grOpe after
masked batteries, and be moved down By grape
without knowledge of positions There have
been commanders who Supposed that recon-
uoisance of fortified post was not altogether an
idle ceremony which might be observed or more
honored in the breach, according to the humors
of the captain.
But perhaps this lacks the appropriate direct
ness, aud let me come to that. Does the War
Department intend to have any examination OF
the causes Of this slaughterl Or are our Gener-
els to strike spurs to horse in nocturnal foray,
and ride back to their quarters at the head OF
retreating line leaving the dead and dying
samples of their progress in serving an appren-
ticeship 10 the art of var With most perfect
and profound respect to the War-ofice, from the
General in-Chief down to the last Matched lieu
tenant who yesterday got his uniform at Loudons
on the pledge Of four months Of pay-rol-but
my desire for information makes me lmportunate
and perhaps troublesome. The query can he
answered at leisure, but unless curiosity is graft
fed at some time, shall ask again. Do Lot be
afraid of losing General If you are appre-
hensive 10 that regard, l will contract to give
you ten thousand as good as some you have
hcted. l could not get any worse, if were
emulous Of furnishing incompetency. You can
order the court martial, and send the
BOBBY Major or the blockhead Briga-
dierGeDeral on bis travels whenever he
makes hecatOmb of human bodies at Bethel or
ct another BadajOs. We are already under SEN
teuce 70 be hung, because we have sense enough
TO know when We see q regiment marching up
the Avenue, that they are going to Virginia, and
military knowledge to suspect that they are in
tending to fight somebody, and that most Likely
they will 60 where there is somebody to fght
60 the forty shlings which follows the dangle at
ropes end may as well be charge TO be pro-
bated on our estate. Will you, then, Oblige an
adniring constituency and confdiug people, by
letting us know whether stupidity is to demand
its cOuscrip,ion Of victims and offer up its pro-
pitatOry sacrifices to the ambition of place and
position, and huse no rebukel
And now being on the War Establishment,
and with something Of the fraDkness of some
soldiers, may we offer very bumbly, some refec-
tions, not unworthy, hope, of some meditation
This is a war Of the people, and to be shaped
and directed by the people They have elected
President, and he has selected his Cabinet. If
they fulfill the demands made upon them, they
will have cordial support success, and resulting
gratitude. If instead of rising to the great
grasp and comprehension of what they have to
work out, they fail or falter, retirement and re-
hrement without respect will be the demand Of
universal voices. No President ever had o
clearer field for fair fame and an illustrious
memory. and no one, am willing and glad to
testify, ever had more sincere aud single pur-
pose of doing his duty. But there are other
qualities which enter into Administration than |
goodness or honesty. Faults of the Judgment |
.< ha.1 Lam xrifb 10.