New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1862-02-24
AN ADVANCE ON THE POTOMAC.

The Country and its brave defenders will
hear with Joy that an advance of the Grand
Army of the Potomac is morally certain to be
made forthwith. The considerations which
impe this movement are so obvious and
pressing that our Military leaders could not
have disregarded them but in Difference to oo'
stacles more unyiedng than mud and moro ter
ribe than the remains of Virginia Johnston's
wasted and disheartened forces at Cenfrevllle
and Manassas. The vigorous reconnaissance
of Saturday ia the prelude to stirring events
We shall be sorely disappointed If there Is
Rebel flag flying north of Richmond at the end
of March.
But, though il is clear that our Grand Army
is about to assume vigorous offensive, IL by
no means follows that the chief Rebel strong
hold is to be directly assaed. The first blow
may be directed against his left wing, cutting
1t of from his main body, rolling it up against
Lander's corps of observation and demolishlng
IT, Or it may be aimed at the communications
between Manassas and Richmond, cutting OF
the former from its resources and compelling
the Rebels to come out OF their fastness ana
fight battle on fair, open ground, such as
they have hitherto taken good care to avoid.
1t may be made from Fortress Monroe by
dash at Norfolk or Richmond--a strong column
from the Potomac and the Chesapeake being
rapidly and quietly dispatched to Hampton
Roads. Or it may be made-as that OF last
O.. "A have hpan--from
some point on the Potomac below Washington,
avoiding the ridges, ravines, and rivers which
must impede any movement westward from
Washington, and prOferiDg level and facile
country to Richmond and beyond it. 1t is
quite possible that the frat movement We shall
be enabled to chronicle will be but felnt TO
distract and mislead the enemy while the adj
vance in force and in earnest 10 made from
another base and in different direction. All
will be made clear in good time: suffice it for
tho present that the Grand Army is about to
mOvo.
For, 10 fact, this advance is indispensable to
the safety and success of every other. TorPor
on the Potomac exposes the commands OF Gems
Burnside, Sherman, and Butler, to successive
attacks in overwhelming force, and precludes
their ACHE, ~ further and more decisive sue
cesses. Tor i a corps of ten or fifteen thou
sand men If the heart Of Rebel Atlantic
State where ty to a hundred thousand may
speedily be assed against il by foe COM
manding an unbroken line Of railroad from
Manassas t. New Orleans, would be- madness,
not war. Nor can the late glorious triumph.
in the West be rapidly improved to the utmost
while the Rebels are at liberty TO dispatch
regiment after regiment, general alter general
from Virginia to Tennessee. We are decidedly
stronger than they are; but . let them face
third Of our forces with three 'ur;hs Of theirs
is to repeat folly Of which ..nIl Kun ought
to have cured us forever
Let not then. our Western hero,' nourlsh
and dilate on the fond Illusion that their section
possesses a monopoly Of Military genius and
prowcs.-thnt the Union Is to DO saved by
Western yaor alone. II fault at all, II surel!
has not been the fault OF our Eastern soldiers
that the Rebels have been allowed to hold two
thirds of Virginia 10 quiet throughout the last
three months, ana uh'hohbito W Urn" VII 'Hc'i
forces to other sections until it is quite proba-
bic that, when We do advance on their late
stronRholds, we shall find them US empty and
harmless a. Bowling Green. The Army OF the
Potomac was stronger, more eager, more
effective. on the Ist of December. when the
weather and roads were perfect. than it is to-
day; and there has not been day since then
when il would not have hailed with wild en-
thusiasm IN order to advance. That order
they are about to receive, and their response
to it will be worthy the grandsons OF the gray
coated farmers who stood to their arms ut
Bunker Hill and conquered at bennington and
Saratoga.
THE RN(IUSH PARIUAMENT ON