The New York herald., 1862-12-25

insured the fulhlment OF this ch0er1ui 0n0
spiritually inspired promise.
OuR Great VtctOvy at Freds rick sb bur9~-A
Napoleon Pound Mt Last.
1t is undoubtedly true that country does
not recognize its greatest men until some urrex
pected circumstance reveals them to. the graft
tude and admiration Of their fellow citizens.
There, for example, 10 the famous chirepodist,
DIR. Zacherie, who has for several years bicshed
aud cut corns unseen, and whose real worth
might never have been known bo the world had
he not taken an accidental hint, changed his
base from this city to Washington, operated
upon the toenails and bunions Of President Lin
coin and Secretary Stanton, aud received from;
these great personagss the gloriozs certificates
| OF his superhumarr skill. So, to take another
example, none Of us poor, ignorant mortals
knew shat we had won great vCtsrs ut Frede-
sicksburg, and had at last found our Napoleon
in General Burnside, until we were favored
with ths certificates 70 that effect from the
President, the Secretary ef War, the General
in.Ghief and the radical Senators and journal
ists., TIE benighted people understood that
the rebels had repu.sed our army with very
heavy loss, and that ~ la the celebrated King
of France, we had maecAeo aeyosss the Rappa-
hammock only to march back again with
ten Thousand Of esn saldiors killed and
wounded General Burnside himself has
been labBirg under the curious ides shat
he was responsible fOr some DIRE, ,dfuh thing
which ne calls "the ta5are Of the att ack." The
rebels ars-.even now rejoicing and er tbe-very
silly. but doubtless agreeable deuslDn th At they
have again beaten back o,sr forces. Bun we
have been most grossly deceived, and 80. have
General Burnside and this rebels. vs., have
poor Grseley's word fGx it that the battle at
Frederi oksburg was gratifying" victory. We
have President Lincoln's eerticate taat oar
appare at repulse was only ian accident We
have t,1 report Of the Senatorial War Commit
| tee that nobody is to blame and that there is
nothing to blame anybody about. ysGily, rs
the poet saith,
AL things are noe what they
| AT this Christmas time, when good gairies I'LL
the air, we can hardly wonder at tha, sudden
| miracle which has shown us the fredericksburg
affair in its true light and given w. occasion
| for national JOY insssad Of national SORROW. II
| any Of us had previously thought Of that battle
as a victory, we certainly regarded it as one of
| those victories which, if repeated would be our
utter ruin. If il hss occurred to us.tc compare
Burnside with Napoleon it was because Water
loo suggested itself to our minds. II is true
| that Burnside ca xassed and recrossad the Kappa
hammock, al Napoleon crossed and rscrossed
the Danube; bat, then, our Wagram is still
to come. In the midst of the general
regret and dependency, therefore, we cannot
be teO grateful for the delightful intelligence
that we hare won brilliant victory and foand,
our true military leader. What the radical
| Senators and editors do not know about tho art
Of war is Of course not worth knowing, and,
4 since they announce our ssiumph and the Presi-
dent publicly thanks cur army, there Is na
longer room for doubt about the matter. II
may perhaps be objected that victorions army
does not retire frorr. the enemy; but that is n
mere matter of miasary taste, and it is a strong
proofof our triumph that we were able to come
back and occupy the most salubrious bank OF
the river. None but conquerors can take thei1
choice as we did 1t may be urged that Gene.
raj Burnside oonfesses his failure and his ins
competency to command large army, and i
not, therefore, Napoleon; but, then, the Prcsi
|
know Burnside's capabilities great deal bet
ter than he himself does, and if they say that
he is Napoleon il is perfectly absurd for him
to deny It, II may be argued that the soldiers
ought to know who il and who il not good
general, and that, as the veteran Sumner says
the army is demoralized, .'there is great deal
too much croaking," and .there is not suficien
confidence but, then the soldiers are such
blockheads that they thought Mcclellan was q
good general, and do not admire Stanton
and Halleck, aud consequently they have
! NO right to an opinion on the subject, and
should be ccptent to be killed of, ten thousand
| at q lime without croaking or losing conf
dencc in these who lead them to the slaughter.
As for the rebels, the bare fact that they claim
+ victory assures US that they must have been
defeated, and renders the conclusion doubly
sure that we are really the conquerors
1t is matter Of great surprise and regret 70
us, under these circumstances, that the indigna-
ton OF the people is as foolishly obstinate as
Banquo's ghost aud will not down al the
bidding Of the administration. We gricve ex.
ceedngly to record that the splendid efforts
Of the Senatorial War Committee to whitewash
over that ''damned spot of bloodshcd at Free
ricksburg are not as successful a. we could wish.
We are painfully aware that the people cannot
understand that sending brave army to do an
impossible thing, and thus subjecting il to q
terrible, hcllish, enillsding fire, was ''not an
error,r but only ian accident" With bitter
sorrow we find that the country will not accept
Burnside as a Napoleon, but prefers 20 take
him st his own word, as incompetent 70 com.
msnd such q large army and demands that,
il the administration has any regard Tor Burn
sides judgment hc shall he reinststcd IN his