Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-12-29
The state of the NatIon-Is ft TO be
saved or Lost!

The state of the Natron-Is IL Tn he
saved or Lost!
The frghtful aud unavailing sacrifice of the
ten thousand heroic Union soldiers cut down in
front of the rebel reloubts, masked batteries.
intrenchmeEts, stone walls and rifle pits along the
nights OF Fredericksburg is universally regarded
AS the most dreadful and ominous disaster of the
war. 1t has shocked the public mind of the
North to state of disappointment, anguish, de.
spair and indignation which will not be satisfied
with explanations apologies. It looks to
President Lincoln for redress, in a sweeping work
OF reform and reconstruction. A great crime has
been committed in this Fredericksburg butchery,
and great blunder worse than the crime, for
which ygilant and intelligent people cannot be
mistaken in fixing the responsibility
This deplorable disaster, however, seems to be
but the principal item of series of misad-
ventures attending this new anaconda" cam
paign of the War Office. On the very day on
which our gallant troops were repused from the
rebel works on the hills of fredericksburg Fed.
eral column (according to a dispatch from the
rebel General Evans TO Richmond which we pub
lished yesterday Of 10000 men, under General
Foster. was repulsed at Kingston. North Caro-.
lima, and driven back To the shelter of the nine
supporting eunboats. To the northward Fed.
eral column from Suffolk few days ago,
moving toward Petersburg l0,0 900 strong, was
tons were intended TO cut certain important rebel
railroad arteries in connection with Gen. Burn
sides advance. and, like it, they appear TO have
been arrested in the very first encounter with the
enemy.
To make the matter still worse, il appears that
the promise of JEFF Davis, on his recent visit to
Tennessee-that he intended TO recover that
State-was no idle bit of bravado, but a promise
to make bold effort TO redeem. His plan, rs we
understand it. is frst to ascertain if fifty thou.
sand men can be spared for month or two from
the rebel army of Virginia; ana, il they can be
so spared, his purpose is 10 send them 10 Gen. Jo.
Johnston. to advance upon Nashville. with the
hope of defeating the army of Gen. Rosecrans
and OF capturing the important city he is guard
ing and its immense stores of munitions of war
and other army supplies Let Gen. Burnside go
into winter quarters, and we may next hear of
the loss of Nashville; let him continue in front
OF Fredericksburg, and Lee may still consider
himself, behind his protecting intrenchments,
strong enough to spare ifty thousand men for
Tannassoo--
What, then, is the obvious line of policy sug-
gested TO the Government? Is it the policy of
sending little two-penny exploring expeditions
here and there by way of military diversions,
which only excite the contempt of the enemy,
while we are attempting the very thing which
they most desire IN advancing upon Richmond
by way of Fredericksburgl Evidently this pro-
gramme will not do. Is Gen. Burnside, then, to
go into winter quarters and allow the rebels to
appropriate Two or three months in strengthening
their barricades along every line of approach
We hope not. What, then, are we to do? Ad
vance upon Richmond by way of the James
river. Suppose it is fortified on both banks. for
the whole twenty FIVE miles from the city down
to Harrison's Landing. We command the river
to that point by our gunboats, and against rebel
forts we can throw up Union earthworks, and
bring twenty pieces of artillery to bear against
every gun of the enemy in our 'front.' Have the
rebels an inexhaustible supply of gunpowderl
Has that question never been suggested to the
wise heads of the War Office?
We think it has become abundantly manifest,
however, that we have nothing to expect from the
present radical and bundering managers of this
war in the Cabinet and in Congress: nothing bet
ter than great disasters and exhaustng defeats in
exchange for small successes in unimportant 10
caties. A concentration of the forces of Basks,
Foster and Dix on the James river, with ac-
companying feet of gunboats as diversion in
support of Gen. Burnside, would surely have pre-
vented this late terrible disaster TO the finest army
ever mustered OIL this continent. As it is, the
country has lost all hope of successful issue to
this war under the disorganizing and demoral-
zng influences which have brought only disaster
and disgrace upon every effort made to reach the
rebel capital
| Is the nation to be saved or lost? That is the
question which is now thrust upon President Lin
coin from every side. If he would revive the
hopes of the people in the success of their great
cause, and their confidence in his Administration,
he has only one course to pursue. He must re-
construct his Cabinet, reorganize the whole sys-
tenn of military operations. discard the destruct
i've Abolition malignants that surround him, and,
abandoning its unimportant extremties for a sea
son, strike at "the heart of the rebellion. IN.
Y Herald.
.