The New York herald., 1862-02-10


of Bowling Green and Columbus, compelling
the rebels to come out and fight to be whipped.
or to be starved into surrender. A movement
down to the Mississippi from Fort henry, be-
; low Columbus, would cut off supplies in that
direction, and the seizure of the railroad " III
prevent them coming from the only othen
available sources.
1t is evident, therefore, that Columbus, the
stronghold of the rebels on the Mississippi, il
in danger. Both it and Bowling Green are al
ready turned. 1t is admitted by the Southern
papers that Columbus is the key to the whole
of the lower Mississippi to it's very mouths in
Guiding the important city of New Orleans
"Should Columbus fall" says the Delta.
"what is to prevent the enemy from sweeping
down the river with the immense fleet of'gun,
boats and floating batteries which he has been
SO long preparing at ST. Louis and Cairo, and
with hundred thousand men under Halleck.
to attack us on one side, while an expedition,
striking up from the sea, would attack US on
the other Who can answer? Do efectual de.
fences answer? Do preparations for defence 10
rapid progress answer? Who're are the de-
fences? Who is engaged in the preparations!
These questions admit Of no satisfactory an
swer. Our dependence at present for the safety
Of the city from the approach of formidable ex-
pedition down the river is upon Columbus. That
is the northern key to the Mississippi delta.
That in possession of the enemy, the foOdgates
of invasion will be opened" Hence, as we ara
informed by the same journal, General Polk, in
alarm for the safety of the position, has sent to
Governor Moore, of Louisiana, for reinforce
ments and hence Beauregard has been des.
patched to take the command at the Sebastopol
of the Mississippi which is soon destined to fall
like the great Russian fortress in the Crimea
These facts show the sagacity of McClellana
generalship and the stupid folly or treason Of
the abolition press, which would force him, be-
fore the proper time, against the now impreg-
nable batteries and forts of Manassas. It is
worthy of remark that, so far from the viru-
lence of these journals against General
Mcclellan abating in consequence of the
success of our arms, the victories he has
planned and won have only impaired new
venom to their poisoned arrows. Now, when
they see that the game is in his hands, and that
peace will soon be restored by the complete
subjugation of the rebels and the restoration
to the Union of the revolted States, on the same
basis which they occupied before the war,
they redouble their furious onsets against him.
What is the solution to this apparently Ink
plicable conduct? It is this: General McClel-
Ian will not become the tool of the fanatics to
subvert the Union from its foundations. His pur-
pose is not to meddle with the institutions Of
the South, but simply to crush the rebellion in
the best way he can. Of the mode Of doing it be
is much better judge than Marshal Greeley or
any of the philosophers of the Tribune, who de-
sire to get rid of him in order to make room for
fanatical emancipation general after their
own hearts, whose policy would either prevent
the South from being ever restored to the
Union, or render it solitude, depopulated and
devastated by fire and sword, and not worth
the expense Of the conquest. 1t is plain that
they do not desire to see the Union restored.
What they want, as they plainly avow, is the
abolition of slavery or the final and permanent
separation of the slaveholding States from the
Northern half of the republic. The restoration
of the Union and the authority Of the constitu-
tion together would seal their doom forever a.
party.