Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-09-12
Practical Thoughts for the nay.
Prom the Commercial Aayertlser


1t is always best to look misfortune
frankly and boldly in the face. Let it
therefore be admitted that our Generals
have been baffied and our armies defeated
in their great effort to crush the front of
this rebellion and to capture the capital OF
the insurgent States. A year has been
spent in preparation; millions of money
aud tens of thousands of human lives have
been sacrificed for this one object, but sac
rificed in vain. Gloss it over and apollo
gize for 1t as we may, on the peninsula and
at Manassas our army has been whipped
1t has been driven from Richmond; it has
been hurled back from Manassas. In
other words, the rebels have proved them
selves to be, for one reason or another,
stronger in the field than we are. The fact
must be confessed, however men may diff
fer as to the cause. They may have better
Generals, they may outnumter us, they
may be better fighters, (Which, however,
we deny,) the advantage of fighting SUR
rounded by q sympathizing population may
have, and doubtless has, largely Contribu-
ted TO their success, or feeling of desper-
alton may have made chem irresistible.
Or all these causes combined may have
brought victory to their arms. On these
points there may be different opinions. We
must sll recognize the palpable, unpalata-
bic fact that disaster and defeat have attend
ed the whole campaign ofthe Union forces in
Virginia. Though we deem 1t right to put
this truth plainly before the reader, we
have no desire to parade our misfortunes
or dwell upon its painful details. With
the defeat in Virginia naturally came other
misfortunes, in the way of evacuation of
captured places and retreats from untena-
BILE positions. But these are minor calam-
ities, to bo easily recovered from when
the grand army has retrieved its misfor-
tunes.
And yet, with all this to mourn over,
neither the Government nor the loyal peo-
pie of the North are dismayed. There is a
strong, deep, inner feeling in the public
mind that the Abandonment of the penin-
suia and the retreat from Bull Run and
Oentreville, do not in the least degree peril
our final victory over this wicked rebellion.
We may not have gone the best way to
work-possibly neither the Government,
nor the people nor our generals, may
have risen to tine magnitude of the occa
sion-but no one doubts that the cause of
the Union can and will finally triumph,
and all stand ready To. correct past errors,
ana to make fresh start with the advan-
tage that bitter experience gives us. Look
ing at the resources of the loyal States,
and the readiness of the people to place
those resources at the disposal of the
Government, not thinking man can doubt
of our ultimate success. In sober truth,
tho loyal States have scarcely begun to
put forth their giant strength, while the
rebels have little, II any, remaining re-
sources upon which to draw against the
continual drain which :heir immense army
must make upon their treasury and upon
their population. We are not to be under
stood as Understanding their capabilities
in either respect. But neither do we de-
sire to fall into the opposite error. What
they have accomplished in the furnishing
of men aud money has been done by fifteen
months of sacrifice aud self-deniRl which
we of the North have not begun to make
or even seriously TO think of. But these
sacrifices are in their very nature exhaust
ing and cannot be repeated.
The resources of tho North have suffered
no such depletion. The people stand
ready to meet every demand that the
government may deem it necessary to
make upon them. in the way either Of
men or money. We are in fact constan.
tly accommodating strength, while their
strength has eliminated and must in the
nature of the case decrease Our forces,
uotn ny AAhua anu sets HEe COuSlbultS
increasing. The might as well as the
right is with us, and when we have lear
ned how to exercise it skillfully and
energetically, the result cannot be doubt
full. The Northern heart does not quail
at the work before it Allthat is needed
is for the people tosee, and not simply be
required to believe, that the government
and our generals are determined that the
war shall from this day be waged with all
the vigor and decisiveness that the urgen-
oy of the case demands, and they viii, in
countless hosts march up to the work Of
utterly ,oveFthrowing the, serried hosts
whOlarein arms against their country and
its Institutions s-4 1885,,
OFFICIAL.