Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1862-11-01
From the ". Y. independent
The Condition of our Country.
BY HORACE GREELEY.

N--'-'
Two or three months ago, the Rebel
hosts, flushed with victory aud reveling
in the delights of season which enabled
them to dispense with magazines Of forage
and almost Of food, and to march and fight
ragged and shoelesS, were advancing upon
or WenOcing lie Union forces in every
quarter They had wOrsted Gen. McClel
Ian on the Peninsula; they threatened
Washington and Baltimore, which were
notorouSly exposed 10 a successful raid by
their Grand Army; they were pressing
back the outnumbercd Unionsts in West
crn Virginia they had paralyzed Buell. on
the upper Tennessee, and were capturing
his posts and mcnacng his communications;
their gucrrillas Overran two.thirds of Mis-
souri, and ventured within few miles of
Louisville; they had an Indian diversion
just ready TO be launched in the Northwest,
while Memphis and New Orleans seemed
10 lie at their mercy, and our forces on the
Sea Islands to be parallzcd 10y their disas
trous failure in an assault on the fort OBJ.
slructing their approach to Charlesio on =
Iu short, our cause seemed palpably doom
ed, aud the despoic press OF Europe shout
ed over our downfall as already accom-
| plished.
They were entirely too fast, as events
have already proved.
Since that time, the loyal States, in ad.
diton 10 the heavy drafts previously made
upon them, have raised by volunteering
alone more than Fonr Hundred Thousand
Men, forming the noblest freewilI Offering
ever yet laid on the altar Of Freedom and
Patriotism. Composed mainly of young
farmers and mechanics, the graduates o.
our Northern Common Schools, these vol
unteers may well challenge comparison, in
intelligence, morality and patriotism, with
any force Of equal pumberS ever yet sent
into the field. The presumption is strong
moreover, that their efficiency in combat
has seldom or never been exceeded, man for
man, by that Of any other force.
Although these new levies have not yet
been completed, while q large portion o
the men composing them are still awaiting
weapOn', camp cqnipage, or arms, they
have already made themselves felt The
Rebel Grand Army has been worStcd il
It's turn aud run out Of Maryland by Gen
Mcclellan. 1t now stands ON the defensive
driven back some miles from the Potomac
Their army of Mississippi, numbering 81, ,
600 men, has been thoroughly defeated with
great slaughter by Gen. Rosocrans at Cor.
inth. Their armies under Bragg and Kirby
Smith, which so lately clutched at Cincin
natl and Louisville, are now making theil
way out of Kentucky to escape the annihi
lation which should have been their portion
at Perryville, and should be allowed tC
reach Tennessee only as fugilives and strag
glers. West Virginia is reported evacuat
ed by the Rebel force which so lately CHASED
the Unionists down the Kanawha. IL
Southwestern Missouri, they recede before
the advances of SchoGeld, while in Arkau
sas they tremble at the prospect of IA move
mcnt on Little Rock by Gen. Curtis
Memphis is assured against recapure
while New Orleans is held as firmly 10y Gen
Butler as though it were Gibraltar. Ii
short, the Rebels, outnumbered on ever
side, are now recoiling at every point wher
confronted, and in most quarters are il
full retreat Our iron.clads. now nearl
ready for service. will soon begin to repea
the achievements which gave US Port Royal
Albemare Sound, aud New Orleans
For the frOsts and cold raiuS of Octobe
are already telling upon the gaunt an,
weary frames Of the ragged, tenlless, shoe
less masses composing the Rebel armies
especially in Virginia and Kentucky
hard march over stony or miry roads, ter
minating in blankeless biyouuc at night
disables ten times as many of them as
5 did two or three monlhs ago Food au,
= fornge grow scarce in the regions hithert
subject 10 lhe!T raYages, aud retreatinI
through regions they have devastated i
very different from advancing through dis
tricts covered with corn and cattle Throw
ing them back Oh the already seanly re
sources of their interior is exposing them {
uakedness and starvation.
BE it remembered that Rebellion wa
( all but severed last Spring by our aotilla
! on the Mississippi. Yicksburg alone remain
ing an obstacle to the opening of that rive
from st. Louis to its mouth The heat an
the malaria which compelled the abandon
ment of the siege of Vcksburgh have nov
3 passed away The rivers Of the West an
! Southwest will soon be full. banked and nav
igable TO their utmost extent. We sha
have ten times the Naval force adapted t
operations in the heart of the Rebelio
that We had last Winter. May We &c
D reasonably hope that its efficiency will b
: pr0poTtioned TO its strength
The glorious Proclamation OF Freaaaa
1 al a.I.t ell A. Z.