Maryland free press., 1862-12-19
[From the Richmond Examiner, Nov. 24.1
Southern af the Proposed Attack
on Richmond.

Appearances have boon so far strengthened
by the development Of new facts, that we are
justified in regarding the nsoseincnt of the
Northern army on Frcdcrickburg as indicative
Of serious intention to direct the campaign
against Richmond from that quarter. Nope
but the abolitiohist generals now in command;
ignorant of the country. and spnrrcd forward
by their repeated promise to take Richmond
out of hand in Ten days. could have imagined
such plan. They have determined to enter
Richmond by the airline railroad from Wash
ington, The route by Aqua Creek and Fred
erickburg Is certainly the shortest way between
the two cities. 1t is, in fact, the mail route.
It is even shorter than the Manassas traeRt
and at is far shorter, at least in miles. than
McClellan's course down the Potomac, into tho
bay and up the York. But, short as It ap-
pears on the map and by the surveyors taps
it may be safely assumed that it will be a moro
painful pilgrimage than the longest of all the
ways around. Before Bdfnsidc gets very far
he will find that there are lions in his paten.
path. There is no point on that road where
our troops cannot concentrate more rapidly
than he can advance. The Federal COVERT
nnent and generals seem to have supposed that
they would meet with no opposition till they
reached Hanover Junction, and have felt some
confusion bf mind at finding Lee before them
at Fredericksburg. They have stopped a week
near that helpless and defenseless village; and:
if they get into it, they will find it harder to
leave than to enter. They have arranged in
the Cabinet that there would be no battle till
their army reached Hanover; but they may
find the plains around fredericksburg, the
highlands IN front and the river in their back,
the prctticst place to bc drubbed in that Yam
KEGS ever saw. The whole scheme, as now
freely displayed by their journals, in the con-
idance of success, is cminently characteristic
Of the smartest nation in all creation.
Neither Scott nor Mcclellan, nor any other
Competent military leader, would over counsel
undertake march on Richmond by tho
lines of the railroads. These were highly fa-
vorablc to the drummers of the great manufac-
turing powers, but are less so to those who
walk at the head ofhcaviy armed regiments.
The vulnerable side tf Richmond is still what
military intelligence and experience for hum
dred years have pointed out, her river The
British got here that way without much diff
Guilty. Mcclellan attempted to follow their
track with one hundred and fifty thousand
men, and would have got here, too, but for
"Chickahominy!" ......... .....'
1t appears, indeed. that they have deter
mined to give the mail line trial; and wc
should not really credit their boldncss, but for
the great capacity they possess at this time to
fill the field. Their new levy, even if it has
not actually reacbn' .,-- stA nundrcd thousane
Irinanded in July, has certainly brought u
prodigious number of men under arms
Massod with their old troops, the United States
cannot have less than eight hundred thousand
men in their army at this moment. Abstrac-
ting from this huge host oil that the most ex-
travagant calculation can pretend for the ar
mics of the West, and guard of Washington,
the Northern government to throw at Rich.
mond; and however much the superior vafos Of
men who fight for aris ct focis may do, when
guided by the ADLER generals of the South,
while holding the vantage ground of position
there are limits beyond which the weight Of
numbers will tell. 1t is on their overwhel-
ming numbers that the North are now deter:
mined to rely. Believing that all depends on
the immediate destruction of the Confederate
organization, which might be effected by the
capture of Richmond and the conquest of Vir-.
sinia, they have determined to rush straight
forward to thcir prize will all their force. But
should facts place this view beyond doubt, let
us hope that the government is prepared to
concentrate, in defense of the capital, numbers
equal to any army of Yankees likoly to rcaclf
this ncighborhood after the depletion of tho
battles and the'march which they must first
accomplish. .l--
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