The New York herald., 1862-09-02

The Smoke Cassring Awsy-rhs y<es
pect BsttSr and Better.
The very interesting details which We pub
lish this morning Of the stirring military event.
in Virginia last week, eliminating in the ter
riac battles Of Friday and Saturday on the
memorable field of Bull run will satisfy the
intelligent reader that q the smoke clears
away the results appear better and better, and
the prospect becomes brighter for the Union
cause.
With their desperate efforts Of Saturday to
crush the army of General Pope before
his approaching reinforcements could reach
him, the enemy appear to have fallen
back on the defensive. General Pope, In
full view on the heights Of Centreville,
heavily reinforced and in . strong and COM
msnding position, invites an attack. The rebels
undoubtedly knew that the advantages of .
single days delay in following up their partial
success Of Saturday would bs all ON enc side,
and that two days Of inaction would probably
be fatal to their enterprise; and yet they have
allowed Sunday and Monday to pass without
an effort to dislodge or disturb our army. They
have probably discovered that any such effort
would be madness without large reinforce
medts, and these must be brought up from
Richmond, one hundred miles away, over
broken railroads and over streams, tho bridges
Of which have been destroyed.
What, then, will most probably be tho
next movement Of the rebel army The answer
to this question depends very much on the
important item of subsistencs. If the results
Of these late battles have added any considera-
BILE amount Of bread, beef and pork to the
rebels from our railroad and wagon trains,
Jackson may be prepared for desperate dash
with heavy column into Maryland, by way
of some ford on the Potomac, near Leesburg,
or down the Shenandoah valley, while the main
body of the rebel forces is retained at Manas-
sas to hold General Pope in that neighborhood
But if these late battles have rather diminished
than added to the scanty provisions Of the
rebels, they must fight Pope again without loss
of time or fall back towards Richmond
The entire section Of country between the Po-
tomac and Richmond Il literally exhausted
Its inhabitants are threatened with starvation
A rebel army of one hundred and fifty thou
sand men, half starved though it may be, con-
sumes and wastes as much food az would sub
sist comfortably community Of half million
Of people in state of peace. Subsistence,
therefore, is the all important question.
Believing that this rebel army in front of
General Pope is not provided with provisions
sufficient for more than . few days, we may
expect that it will very soon attempt again to
flank him or fall back. We believe, too,
that General Pope is now strong enough
to act upon either alternative-to repel
an attack or to follow up the enemy should
they attempt to steal away. But in the ex-
tremity of their desperation we know not what
desperate expedients they may adopt. We
should be prepared for them, and against any
possible surprise at every point essential to
the protection of Washington and the peace of
Maryland. Within the last two days General
Pope has been reinforced to the extent of sixty
thousand men, nearly all veteran troops, and
our new volunteers are pouring every day into
Washington by thousands But still, the faster
we send them forward the better will be our
prospects Of cutting of this rebel army from
Richmond, while it is in the most convenient
position for our purposes.
All our late disasters and reverses, from
Richmond to Bull run, are simply chargeable
to deficiency in the numbers of our troops as
compared with those of the rebels engaged. Our
men are as brave as theirs, and more enduring.
They are better armed, equipped, fed and
clothed and doctored, and better prepared for
the fatigues of an active or inactive campaign
in every way. Our officers, in skill and re-
sources, are fully equal to those of the rebels.
But while we have the population equal to FIVE
times that Of the rebellious States from which
to draw our soldiers, they have in every i'm
portant battle since Corinth outnumbcred us.
The responsibility is with the government, and
our reverses began with the suspension Of en-
listments, under the dictation of the abolition
faction of Congress-, at the very time when re-
Inducements were most needed to Oil up the
wasted ranks Of our army, East and West.
1t required the seven days bloody battles in
front Of Richmond to correct this disastrous