Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-09-19
How to Deal with RebeIs-How TO
Make Generals.

How to Deal with RebeIs-How 10
Make Generals
MoNoEGALIA Co., Va, Sept, Is, 1862.
Editors InteILigeneer:-
! wish you would publish in your paper
the paragraph which Issnd you. 1t shows
how the French government, in times past,
made good generals and eiicientarmies. ]
think If our government would adopt the
same kind of policy the present cursed
rebellion would be put down in r very
short time. 1t is horrible to think how
many of our soldiers have been killed and
crippled by the hall. starved niger trail
tors, caused by the imbecility OF Generals
and other officers commanding them.
think our President wishes to do right,
but fear he has taken too much bad adj
vice in relation to the appointment of ma
ny officers, The policy of keeping men in
| Office who are not fit to discharge the du.
ties pertaining to his Office won't do; nor
will it do to divide our army into small
parcels, with view of holding all the
! towns in the rebel States. Bitter expert
ence has taught us what this policy has
/ done here in Virginia.
! Now, Messrs. Editors, hope the govern.
ment will adopt more stringent and coer-
! Give measures against the traitors. hope
the farce of swearing traitors and letting
them run will be stopped. Whatgood has
resulted from ii? You might ms wellswear
u copper.snake not to bite. What honor
has a traitor2 The man who is a traitor
to his country will not regard the obliga-
tions Of his oath Aud, further, I hope
the government will adopt the policy of ta-
king and combining every man and woman
who is known to have aided, abetted or
advocated the rebel cause, and make them
pay all the expenses they cause the govern
ment in keeping them. Does the Govern
ment expect to sustain itself and allow
thousands and tens of thousands of trail
tors to run at large, as spies, when it has
the power to confine them?
In conclusion hope and pray that our
Government and all military officers will
use a little more common sense hereafter
in trying to put down this rebellfon. They
should remember the old axiom, that il
they fight the devil they must fight with
fire. Respectfully Yours,
The paragraph enclosed by our cores
pendent is the following:
HOW TO ORGANIZE VICTORY.
The Philadelphia North Ameriean recalls
a period in French history in the tue fol-
lowing extract that is worth coming over
First-elass talent in the field is very rare.
It is only in the wars of the French Repub-
lie that we find the determined pursuit oil
it reduced to a system. When the French
after long continued and wearisome defeats
at length grew desperate. they resorted to
oxPedients which seemed outrageous, but
which in the end proved successful. They
were all invented by civilians in the gov
eminent at Paris, and we mention them
now only as curiOsities. First, they, al
l fhRuorh Of ,F I'll,
their numerous armies were beaten 10 de.
tail through the superior strategy of the
enemy, and hence they ordered that the
armies of the Republic should move only
in great bodies and attack en- mdsse. The
effects of this rude but wonderful de.
cree was of course an immediate cham &c
for the better, as no opposing force
could resist furious onset made en- mass,
by great army. Second, they took
to trying and Furnishing their Generals for
i'll success. Some were banished, some
imprisoned, and some executed. This fear,
full pressure induced every General to fight
for his life, aud quicke led his wits in the
most remarkable style. Savage as was
the devise, it succeeded. Third, they or
dered their Generals to achieve fixed re.
! suits by given times, aud tried them fol-
their lives If they failed. In this too they
met with much success. 1t overcome the
proverdial tardiness of Generals. Fourth
they sent civil agents to accompany each
army in the field, and sec that the orders
from Pariswere promptly eaForced. These
agents were members of the Government
i mostly; and, although they did much dam
age by their intermeddling, in cases where
bad agents were chosen, yet in others they
accelerated good results, and on the who'll
kept such watch on the Generals as to
compel them to be on the alert in all thei
movements.
We submit these facts for the considera
tion of the public. They were undoubted
ly very severe and arbitrary. Neverthe
less they regenerated the French mIlitar,
service and brought glory to it in tue mids
of long continued profusiou of disaster
Something will undoubtedly have to b,
done to effect \ change in our Generals it
the field.
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