The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1862-05-20
Richmond and Corinth-Thc Two Great
Impending Battles.

Impending Battles.
The rebellion has become very much sim
plfed. In the outset its programme compre-
hended the seizure of Washington, united
South and divided North, the breaking OF Lin
coins blockade, the recognition of the "Confe-
derate States" and the armed Intervention OF
England and France, through the imperative
and all-powerful demands of liking Cotton"
and the triumphant establishment of Southern
confederacy, embracing the District of Columbia
and all the slave States, excepting little Della
ware, and stretching out through the Territories
of New Mexico and Arizona to the Gulf OF Cali
fornia and the Pacific Ocean
This was formidable programme, and con-
sistent one, and plausible withal, from the con-
dition and appearances of things one short
year ago; but mark how it has been broken into
pieces. The battle of Bull run, if it decided
nothing else, caused the abandonment by the
rebels of that original bold revolutionary coup
d'etat, the seizure Of Washington. The Trent az
fair resulted in definite understanding with
England against Intervention in behalf of jeff.
Davis, and against any offensive intermeddling
with our Southern blockade. cotton or no cot
ton. The rebellion. moreover, has united the
Nothern States as one man, and has divided the
South. In rescuing Maryland, Kentucky and
Missouri from the very jaws of the secession
monster, and in bringing Tennessee, Arkansas,
Virginia, North Carolina and Louisiana within
the door of their deliverance, we have shorn
this magnifcently projected empire of JEFF
Davis Of more than half its fair proportions.
We have still further weakened this chap
fallen rebellion by the recapture of Norfolk,
Fort Macon Beaufort IN. c., Port Royal, Fort
Pulaski, Pensacola and New Orleans and be-
fore the expiration Of twenty days we expect
Savannah and Mobile will be reoccupied by
the I" old flag" Driven hundreds of miles back
from their original northern defensive line, and
back from their seaports into the interior, and
back from the Mississippi, from Cairo to the
Gulf, as we may say JEFF. Davis and his rebel
lious confederates are reduced to the last alter
native of stalking everything left them upon "a
single cast of the die" in the East and in the
West ~
In the East they have mustered great army,
and have exhausted their military resources in
that quarter for desperate struggle for their
Confederate capital of Richmond In the West,
at Corinth, they have mustered another great
army for q deperate struggle to maintain their
footing in those cotton States which rest upon
the Gulf of Mexico, and to recover, if possible,
the lower Mississippi river. But such are the
desperate extremities Of Davis and his confede-
rates that if they are decisiyely defeated At
Richmond victory for them at Corinth will
avail them nothing and vice versa; but If they
should win at both Corinth and Richmond these
successes would only serve to protract the war
and to exasperate the North, to the sure destruc-
ton of Southern institutions, including their
very corner stone of African slavery. But
while victory to the rebels, East and West,
would only prolong the war and aggravate the
disasters to our rebellious Southern people of
their inevitable humiliation, Union victory at
Richmond and at Corinth will be like cutting
both the carotid artery and the jugular vein of
the rebellion, when the opening of either will
answer the purpose of the execusioner.
We have the fullest confidence in our brave
and superbly appointed armies, East and West,
and in the leader Of each We believe that
Mcclellan and Halleck are each standing upon
tho threshold of = victory which will rank in
history among those decisive battles of ancient
and modern times that have changed the for
tunes Of empires, their people and their Ian
guages, the advances Of civilization the condi-
tons Of society and the currents and channels
Of commerce. The destinies of this country
of this continent, and of Europe to great
extent, are now in the hands Of Mcclellan and
Halleck; and at Richmond and At Corinth we
anticipate victory which, in its overwhelming
and farreaching consequences, will 60 down to
the future as surprising that Of Arbela, which
ended the great Persian empire; or that Of
Pharsalia, which finished the republic and
created the empire of Rome; or that of Tours,
ip which Charles Martsl destroyed the advanc-
ing Saracens in Western Europe; or that Of
Vienna, from which Sobieski drove back the
Turks to the borders Of Asia; or that of Hast
ings, which put an end to the Saxon monarchy
Of England; or that Of Waterloo, which effect
ed reconstruction of the political map Of
Europe; or that Of Yorktown, 1881, which
secured the independence Of these United
States. "..
Society, government, politics, parties every
thing, in fact, of the present and the future, so
far as this country is concerned, depends now
upon the army Of General Mcclellan and the
army Of General Hslleck. How stupid, puerile
and contemplate, in this view, appear all the
petty political party schemes and intrigues Of
our Cabling small beer politicians Of Congress,
from the Praise Tod Barebones of puritanical
abolitionism to the Anacharsis Cloots Of the
rump of the old dead and rotten democratic
party. We turn them all of in disgust and
await the reconstruction Of things which is to
follow the battles of Richmond and Corinth.
MAssA GREELEY DEFENDING GEN. HUNTER.-
If there is any one who introduces any new