The New York herald., 1862-09-05
The Situation OF Affairs.

The appointment of Mcclellan to the CON-
mand Of the Army Of Virginia, which now occu-
pies the fortifcations around Washington. gives
great satisfaction and confidence to the pub
lilo at large. as it does to the army itself. In
consequences of.recent events in Virginia. great
despondency and anxiety filed the public
mind. These feelings are now dissipated.
Washington is known to be safe; and the army
is safe within its impregnable chain Of forts,
where it can be reorganized and its recent
losses repaired, so as to fit it for another onward
movement in very brief time.
The appointment of Mcclellan, under existing
circumstances, is death blow to the meddling
radicals, and is entirely due to the frmness Of
the President, who had sufficient sagacity to
comprehend the situation OF the republic and
to make choice of the best man to prepare the
army for the great work which is still before
it. His moral courage in resisting the entrea-
ties and defying the threats of fanatical fac
ton in this hour of the nations peril is worthy
of all praise. He has put down his foot at the
right moment, and, if the Navy Department will
not do its duty in cooperating with the army,
we have no doubt that he will soon put his foot
down again, and exhibit the same vigor
which he did in ordering the capture Of Nor
folk, which resulted in the destruction Of the
Merrimac and the retreat of the rebel army up
tho peninsula. 1t is expected that by the lst
Of October five or six iron-clad gunboats will
be ready to act in concert with the army, and
that fifty such vessels will be actively engaged
by the lst of January. These will be ample to
retake all the federal forts and places on the
seacoast, including Charleston, Savannah and
Mobile, while the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio
and other Western waters will be under the
complete dominion of the Star Spangled Banner.
The radicals are industriously circulating
stories that the army will go into winter quar-
ters at Washington, and do nothing till the
spring except to throw up earthworks. There
is no such intention. The war will be prose-
cuted with promptitude and vigor. The
army will soon be ready to take the
field again. Were it not necessary to dis
tribute the new troops among the DID, and to
appoint new officers from among the men who
have earned. on the bloody field the right to
lead their fellow soldiers, operations would not
be suspended for Q moment. To reorganze
the army it will take the whole of the present
hundred thousand men will sweep over the
plains of Virginia with irresistible energy, and
then woe to the rebels who will wait for their
onset. Meantime, within their fortified camp,
they are able to resist any force which can be
brought against them; nor can the rebels cross
into Maryland, as they calculated. The game
is therefore up with them, their last card
having been played
The West is also aroused, and the greatest
activity prevails beyond the Ohio. In the
Western States five hundred thousand men will
be raised. who will sweep the rebels back to
the Gulf. In short, million of mea will take
the field before the frst frost and before the
new year the restoration OF all the rebellious
States to the Union will be an accomplished
fact.
1t is mistake to suppose that no progress
has been made in putting down the rebellion
during the last twelve months The capture
of Forts Walker and Beauregard, at Port Royal;
the taking Of Forts Henry and Donelson; the
works at Columbus, KY; Island No. 10, Fort
Pulaski, the forts at New Orleans, New Or
leans itself, Pensacola, Memphis, Nashville,
Norfolk, Newbern, Beaufort, and many other
destruction of the formidable rams Merri
mac and Arkansas, nearly all the rebel gun
boats on the Western waters, and all the
privateers on the ocean, surely indicate some
progress within the course oi the last year.
But these successes have been achieved for the
most part by our gunboats; and it is quite true,
on the other hand, that we have lost some OF
the ground that we had gained by our land
forces; and TO recover that, and all that belongs
to the United States government, will hence
forth be the task of our army, reorganized
under General Mcclellan. But, meantime, .et
rapidly, and let them be drilled by sections and
by compsnies as soon as they are sworn into
the service. Numerous drillmasters can be
had from the militia regiments in this
city and the other large cities of the
North. Let the volunteers be sent for
ward without delay. Every hour is pre-
cious, and none can tell what day may
bring forth When the French republic, after
the Revolution, was assailed by the kings Of all
Europe, it raised 200, 900 men in three months,
which swept back the wave Of invasion and
carried tho war into the heart of the enemy s
country. What is to prevent us, with far
larger population, and far greater wealth and
resources, doing the same things The days OF
the rebellion are therefore numbered and in
two years from the time il uniurled the pal
metto aag at Charleston, as the symbol of re-
volt, will the serpent have been utterly crushed
under tue heels Of million OF men in arms.
The PUBLIC BaRoxETER-The public feeling
in this city has been completely revolutionized
-