The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1862-06-10

nowhere, while Mcdowell was fitting backward
and forward between the Rappahannock and
Washington doing nothing. The panic created
was equal to that of Bull run, and was greatly
enhanced by the alarming dispatches from the
War Department about the danger of Washing
ton. 1t is scarcely necessary to say that these
events were not very well calculated to
avert foreign intervention Meantime MeClel-
Ian, who was certainly not responsible
for the disaster of the Shenandoah, did
all the fighting, but was left to fight his
battles alone against superior odds. Yet
amidst these difficulties he has advanced to the
very suburbs of Richmond. Where are the
other three Union armies which were to CO.
operate with him? In consequence OF his losses
from sickness and from battle he wants rein
forcements, and unless he speedily receives
them there may be serious difficulty. Owing to
the original interference with the general plan
of the campaign he will now probably have to
fight considerable portion of Beauregards
army as well as Johnston's. The very journals
who most strongly urged his premature ad-
vance, and said his troops numbered two or
three to one of the foe, now unite in the most
dismal strains, and sound the note of alarm
The New York Times says there is an "ominous
pause" in the advance of Mcclellan to Rich
mond, and the reason is that he finds
there q far greater force than his own-a
force of some 100000 men. The World says
he ought to be reinforced by every disciplined
regiment in the country. The Tribune, which
formerly said he had only Quaker guns and a
handful of men to contend with at Manassas,
and centre" be promptly sent forward to his
relief There can be no clearer confession of
its own guilty conduct than this. II any terri
BILE disaster should befall the Army of the Po-
tomac, there is at least one man who is free
from any participation in the responsibility,
and that man is General Mcclellan How the
responsibility is to be shared by others, from
''the special military adviser of the Cabinet"
@the Caesar of our army" down to the lowest
subordinate officer, may hereafter became the
subject of searching inquiry Meantime, suff-
Gent unto the day is the evil thereof Let
Mcclellan be reinforced promptly and all will
yet be we'll.
Defeat OF the French and the tr Flight
from the Interior.
The news from Mexico. via Havana, which
we recently published, and which was subse-
quently confirmed by later advices, by way of
Key West, makes it appear highly probable
that the French have been signally defeated in
the interior of the Mexican republic. The in
telligence may be thus briefly recapitulated-
On the 4th Of May last, the French, to the num-
Der Of some four thousand men. made deter
mined attack upon the city of Puebla, but were
repulsed by the Mexicans at all points, with
loss of one thousand killed and wounded and
some two hundred Zouaves taken prisoners.
Failing in their first attempt, they made second
attack, but were again driven off with loss
of several pieces of artillery. In the mean
time, Marquee, the traitor. who had deserted
the national cause to aid the invaders, was met
by General Carvajal and summarily put to
fight Disconnected and defeated on every
side, the French had no other resource but to
fall back on their reserves at Orizaba; but the
latest accounts state that the victorious Next
cans were holly pursuing them, and that there
were great fears that their whole army would
be either captured or annihilated.
So much for the Mexican version of the story.
The French organs in this city and elsewhere
discredit it altogether, upon what appear to us
to be very insufficient grounds. They say that
the French army in Mexico consisted originally
Of but ten thousand men. Of these three thou
sand were left at Vera Cruz, three thousand ad-
vanced as q reserve to Orizaba, and the rest Of
their forces, numbering four thousand men, were
sent forward to the attack on Puebla, which
was to precede their expected grand entry into
the capital. When they arrived at the gates of
Puebla, however, they found there twenty
thousand sturdy Mexicans with arms in their
hands, ready to dispute the entrance of the in
vaders into their city. On perceiving this inc
quality of forces, the French, it is said decided
not to fight but to fall back on their reserves
81 Orizaba. Now this version of the story is
far moro humiliating to French pride than the
apparently truthful Mexican theory; for if the
French did not fight, then they ran away: they
could pursue no middle course. II they adj
vanced to Puebla to attack the city and did not
attempt to do so, then it is plain that they must
have fed before the enraged hosts of the Next
can army.
All the proceedings of the French since their
invasion Of Mexico have been marked by
these wild and inconsderate enterprises. Their
alliance with Almonte, and their connivance at
his usurpation Of nominal power, by means Of a
bogus election, were not marked by anything
like common sense or discretion. Nor does it
reflect much credit on the wisdom of the EN-
peror Napoleon-who has always been con-
sidered . shrewd and far-seeing ruler-to pre-
sumo to attempt the conquest of so vast coun-
try "A Mexico with q beggarly army of ten
thousand men. When the United States were
at war with that republic they first sent an
army of $4,000 men to assert their rights and