St. Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1845-1863, 1862-03-20

II appears from, tic following criticism,
whicl. i tsksn FINN The 1ser FRI EreD-
ing III. ahst ilr ev acuafion Of Manassas
~ far from inslfessi,g lie speedy essr-
,Lrow'of tic l.ehxaIian aal lhe sriumph II
the Fs.lrrs.l arms md poifey. il really cal
culated 70 prolp~g the Struggle between
the sections and to p~ipone The snljags-
ton Of the soath. 1t least until the dog
days. One thing i very clear. il has nc
cessi::.scd an entire chang. in the present
Federal programme. nor would j. mucll sur
prise Us if. when the government il ready
with ano,her move and the h,agl..s have
sounded the onward march. tie Internal
reb-ls should refuse to he outfanked and
commence another retreat. unless indeed
they should have s!ie temrrity to hazard
fight and the aulacity to win il. in which
case, consia ,ring the distance the Federal
forces would have to traverse before reach
ing place Of safety. and the condition Of
the roads Mt this season. .'hung be the
Heavens with black" The evacuation
If "a .le1 sfs.aral e.liis 9 laais
Of the Confederate forces. 60 to show, that
the Sou,h has evidently revised and great
" modified its original policy. which ar-
pears to have been, to defend every little
island AMI inlet on the sea-coast and cve-
~ river and mouniai', pass of its immense
Northern aud Westcrn border. Nor has
this been done 100 early. The South has
been tanght by series of important re-
verses the impracticabiliiy of this policy,
and has now had the good sense and saga
city to abandon lis worthless and danger
Gus ontposts and to aggregate its strength
at importan, s.rategctic points. Here the
rebellion will make desperate stand. nor
is it ut all unlikely that the ir.t fight
at these posisions will teach the Federal
power that The task of sul.jngation IL utter
ly beyond its capacity and resources. Blu,
to the article Of the i',s. :
"Jomini, the greatest writer on the art
II war. says: "Rrtrcat> are certainly the
most difficult operations in war. This re-
mark il so trae that the celebrated Prince
tic Ligue said, in his usual piIuant style,
that he could not conceive how an army
ever succeeded in rctreating-' Let us.
then, be just to the enemy who has at
three different times effected his retreat
from untenublc positions without the loss
of a man or gun.
THE evacuation of B,wling Green
could not he counted victory for us.
Buckncr, or whoever commanded there,
took away with him every great gun, eve
rs small arm every bushrl of grain and
ration of provisions h. possessed. and left
only bcggarsy account Of empty st"re-
houses and dismantlrd walls FIR Gen
Mitchell, to whom these were not # the
slightest use; and it il now know that if
Pillow had held out little longer in
Douclsun, the army which was suffered to
leave Bowling Green. with all its material
Again the retreat from Columbus to
Island No. 10 was conducted in master
ly manner, without severe loss. although
our gunboats command the river and our
armies the railroad; and Braurey: ri is to-
day in better POSITION to maintain him
self than he was at Columbus.
lastly. comes the evacuation of Ma
nassas. which must figure in history as !,
most remarkable military achievement
\ gentleman Of thorough military cduca-
ton, aud who has seen service in Europe,
calls it. in letter which lies before u.s.
AN unhrard-"f event in the whole history
of warfare, that an army Of two hundred
thousand mcn should suffer an enemy of
comparatively small numbers. encamped
only thirty miles off, to slip through its
fingers The writer continues You
should know that if this rebel force had
been caught or destroyed, that was an
end to your rchellion-bccause, Though
your rebels might get more men. they
could not replace the cannon and arms
which they ough, to have lost. and which
they have now carried off with them.
This is the verdict Of an impartial and
competent observer II should secure the
promotion Of the rebel General who had
the tact to get away from our grasp, with
all the cannon. the supplies. the immense
resources gathered at Manassas TO equip
the largest and most important army of
the rebels. and to lose which would have
been a fatal blvx TO their hopes.
ITO fall upon and destroy the confsde-
rate army at Manassas would certainly
have made the war short but severe
The escape, which hecamc known only
yesterday, prvl"ngs the struggle perhaps
for months"
yVar and other News.