Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-03-15
a1AsTnRLY RErRnArs.

From the N. Y. Post.
While we praise tue generalship and ge-
MUS of Foote, Grant, Dupont, Burnside,
Curtis and Sigel, and rejoice over the VIC
tories their tact and energy have gaiued
for sour cause, we are little apt to forget,
or even to disparage the ability displayed
by the rebel generals. To force your enc.
my to fight and then defeat him is one
things to elude the trap he has set for
you, and to escape with all your material
from superior Numbers, is another. JONI
mi, tue great writer on the art of war,
says: "Retreats are certainly the most
difficult operations in war;" This remark
is so true that the celebrated Prince de
Ligne said, in his usual piquant style, that
he could not conceive how nm army ever
succeeded in retreating. Let us then be
just to the enemy who has at three differ
ent times effected his retreat from unten.
able positions, without the loss of a man
or a gun. sps as lau
We pointed out at the time that the eyac-
uation of Bowling Green could not be
counted victory tor us. Buckner, or
whoever commanded there, took away with
him every great gun, every small arm, ey-
cry bushel of grain and ration of.provisions
he possessed, and left only Ibeggarly ac-
count of empty storehouses and dismantled
walls for General Mitchell, to whom these
were not of the slightest use; and it Is now
known that If Pillow had held out little
longer in Donelson, the army which was
suffered to leave Bowling Green with all
its material, could have decided the battle
against US. Again, the retreat ftom CO.
lumbus to Island No. 10 was conducted in
mastery manner without serious loss,
although our gunboats command the river
and our armies the railroad; and ;Beaure-
gard is to-day in a better position to main
tain himself than he was at Columbus.
Lastly comes the evacuation of Manas-
sas, which must figure in history as most
remarkable military achievement--even if
it is not made more memorable to us by
the destruction of the gallant Burnside
and his little army. A gentleman of thor
ough military education, and who has seen
service in Europe, calls it, in a letter
which lies before us, .sani unheard of event
in the whole history of warfare, that dn ar
my of two hundred thousand men should
suffer an army of comparatively small
numbers, encamped only thirty miles of,
to slip through its fingers. You should
know that if this rebel force had been
caught or destroyed, that was an end, to
Your rebellion-becaGse though your reb-
els might get more men they cannot re-.
ought to have lost, and which they have
now carried of with themp -
This is the verdict Of an impartial and
competent observer. II should secure tho
promotion of the rebel General who had
the tactic get away from our grasp, with
all the cannon, the supplies, the immedi-
ate resources gathered ut Manassas to equip
the largest and most important army of
the rebels, and to lose which would have
been d a fatal blow to their hopes. soak
To fall upon and destroy the Confeder-
ate army at Manassas would certainly have
made the war "short but severe" The es-
cape which became known only yesterday
prolongs the struggle perhaps for months.
Manassas was admirable as an offensive
position, but useless for defence, because
its communications and rear were aecessi-
BILE, and because the army attacking it
would be but thirty miles from its base of
operations. In an enemy's country rail-
roads are useless to us and the problem
nov before US is 70 advance With a great
army, not thirty, but probably sixty, per-
haps hundred miles from our base, to
the point where the shreWd enemy NAV
choose to wait for US. - ~
Meantime, we think it right to say to
our readers thhs the fear for Burnsfde's
safety which is so oppressively felt here,
equally weighs upon the minds of high
officers In Washington. It Is thought by
many, that a large detachment of the army
Of MANASSAS may, il it pleases, fall upon
Burnside and crush him, before reinforce
ments can get to bin. We have only to