Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-08-01
FRIDAY. AUGUST L. 1869.
" CES Err:


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The reports from Richmond and James
river indicate that the rebels have on 1901
some attacking movement which they are
very anxious to conceal. They have done
what they could to have it believed that they
have in view some point on the south side Of
James river and with this end in view they
have talked and Unanswered with our return
ing prisoners, and with federal officers sent
to CITY Point with flags of truce. OF course
they mean and propose just the opposite of
what they say and will by no means attempt
10 10 what they endeavor so deliberately to
have our army expect.
Some of our men who have recently re-
turned from Richmond were told that the, reb-
ell army there numbers 100000 men. The
rebel officers said so, and it was made to ap-
pear credible to some of them; but one of the
released federal officers states that ''while he
has no doubt that the rebels are in very
strong force in Virginia, yet he could detect
a disposition to exaggerate their strength
when in the presence of Union soldiers, and
state the number of the rebels at a round fig
ure on every appropriate occasion" We
may be sure, however, that they are strong
enough to do mischief, and that they will sue
coed in doing it to some extent, unless our
armies are strengthened and used against
them with proper skill.
The latest reports from Gen. Mcclellan
say that he was fully awake to the rebels
movements, and ready for battle if they
choose to offer it. The rumors from that
quarter have so excited expectation that in
New York, yesterday, stories of a battle in
progress were circulated on the streets and
believed by many, although there was no dis
patch or other communication from any quarter
to warrant such a belief. 1t is probable, howev-
er, that the lack of explicit intelligence
served only to stimulate anxiety, for it would
naturally be remembered that news of the late
battles was kept back for some days after the
fighting commenced We are an impression
able people, subject to rapid impulses, and
usually found in some extreme Of hope or de
preston, or in the midst of passionate endeav-
ors to transform some exciting rumor into re-
ality. A little success raises us to dizzy
heights of hope, and a little disaster brings us
down to the lowest depths of depression. Of
course the New Workers cannot reason calmly
when such rumors are set afioat among them.
But we may all learn to comprehend and ap-
preciate our peculiarly in this respect, and
cultivate more steadiness of feeling.
A TRAITOR UNPUNIsHED.-Gen. Patterson,
the Grouchy of Bull Run, through whose ex-
ecrable mismanagement that battle was lost,
recently presided at banquet given in honor
of Gen. Shields at Philadelphia, and said in
the course of his speech:-
''There were only twenty-three wooly
heads in the army, with the rank Of general,
out of two hundred and thirty. This differ
ence must exist no longer. Pray, who brought
on the war? The woolly heads. Who pro-
long it by their interference with the army?
The woolly heads. Who expects to be benc-
fitted by its continuance? The woolly heads
Why, we might ask, did they not make more
generals of that stripe? They would if they
could but they hadn't them."
This Patterson commanded an army corps
of three months volunteers. He was a trail
tor at heart, having given the best evidence
of it by refusing to hang out the American
flag till he was compelled by an indignant
people. Yet the government trusted him to
its heavy cost, his treachery eliminating at
Winchester. 1t is one of the evidences of
the gentleness of republican government that
such a man has his liberty, and is suffered to
make such a speech as we have quoted above,
without being summarily punished.
GEN. MIrcHEIL.-The Washington cor
respondent of the New York Evening Post,
speaking of Gen. Mitchell, says Tile is too
dashing general to suit Buell., or even Hal
leck, and it is now generally understood
that he will not be given COM
mand." We are unwilling to believe this
without considerable qualification. Some
of the officers under Buell., through jeal-