The New York herald., 1862-12-17

burg-Thc Blunders OF tho War Once.
Early yesterday forenoon we received the
Information, dated sFalmouth, 8:45 A. NJ"
that ''it is raining very fast, and the river is
rising very rapidly that "our troops are oil
on this side the river" and that 1.-The pontoons
are up"
Here we had whole volume Of matter in
nutshell, nor did it need the inspiration of
Daniel to translate it. We accepted it as signi-
flying that General Burnside, with the loss Of
ten thousand men, killed, wounded and miss
ing, having failed on Saturday last to carry by
storm the enemy's works on the range of hills
q mile or so to the south of fredericksburg,
and finding his army in an untenable position
on the narrow and exposed plain between the
river and the commanding semicirole of rebel
batteries in 'front.' and finding that those batteries
were beyond the effective range Of his heavy
guns on the hills on this side the river, with
drew all his forces from Fredericksburg and
the south bank of the stream under cover Of the
night, and took up his pontoon bridges because
they will not be wanted any more in that To-
cality. Briefly, an advance towards Richmond
from Fredericksburg has been tried, to the ex-
tent of q sacrifice of ten thousand men, and has
failed, and has been, at least temporarily, aban-
doned.
1t is needless TO say that this intelligence of
the falling back of General Burnside produced
in this community profound and fearful inn
preston. But the manifestations of public
opinion touching the responsibility for this new
chapter to the heavy catalogue Of our army
disasters in Virginia are we'll worthy the spe-
cial attention Of President Lincoln. Public
opinion fixes this responsibility upon the War
| Office, and upon Its glering blunders in the
matter Of this Virginia campaign, beginning
with the removal of General Mcclellan. OF all
these blunders, however, resulting from the
dictation Of the abolition radicals, the most
foolish costly and fatal one, has been per-
sistent underestimate of the number and
strength of the rebel forces in Virginia.
| Thus, upon the conclusion that the rebel
General Lee would not muster over hundred
thousand men to dispute the road to Richmond
it was determined at Washington that an op-
posing force exceeding his by one half, and
with corps d'ormee or two in the way of re-
serves here and there, would be amply suff
cient to remove the rebel capital out of vir
ginia. Accordingly thousands of Union troops
have been sent away in expeditions around the
outer borders Of the rebellious States, while
the rebels from every point as in May and June
last, have been pushing up their thousands to
protect Richmond, "the heart Of the rebellion.
Thus we venture the opinion that this day the
rebel forces in Virginia directly under Genera
Lee amount to not less than quarter Of mil
lion Of men.
We must urge upon President Lincoln not
only the duty but the imperious necessity de-
volving upon him to change this policy o.
the War Department of frittsring and
dribbling our overwhelming wsrlike forces
and resources away in secondary enter.
prises around the edges Of the rebellion
while JEFF Davis still laughs at the follics Of
our military directors, defies their power and
menaces our natiQpal capital. A column oi
fifty thousand men moving down upon the left
flank Of the rebel forces al Fredericksburg.
while General Burnside assaied their works
from the front and upon the other flank, would
undoubtedly have given us a browning victory
OF the movement Of a cooperating army OF
hundred thousand men and a feet of sllnboat.
up the James river, with the advance Of Burn
side upon Fredericksburg, would have certain
ly cleared our way to Richmond from the cas
or the north.
AS il is, the federal diversions in progress by
way of Suffolk, Petersburg Yorktown &c, ar,
small affairs which will probably make no more
impression upon the main army of Lee than
was made by the capture Of Port Royal upor
the rebel army then encamped at Manassas
With a million Of men in the field, and a naval
force equal TO the addition Of half Of {
million Of men 10 this stupendous army, the
country expects OF President Lincoln the cap
ture OF Richmond without further seriou.
checks. reverses or disasters. The patience Of
the people with regard TO the disorganizins
abolition faction Of Congress. and its blunder
ing tools in the Cabinet, is nearly exhausted