Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1862-07-24
OPINION IN THE ARMY.

The following extract is from the private
letter of one of the most energetic officers of
the army, who has performed distinguished
service on the Peninsula, and whose opinions
are derived from his actual experience. 1t
viii be seen that he concurs entirely with
Gen. Wallace to whose speech We referred
yesterday. Our troops must be allowed to
avail themselves of the acelimated labors of
negroes, to be able TO discharge their militia
ry duties as effectively as they should. This
officer writes;
:" The severe contests of the past ten days
have wonderfully decimated our ranks, and
the army which left the Potomac numbering
one hundred thousand CT more could not mus.
ter fifty thousand for action. Few, II any,
of the regiments can muster more than half
their original strength, and very many are
reduced to mere skeletons This defamation
has been the work of weeks, but has all been
on the Peninsula. The climate, the hard
work and the fighting have done it-hard
work as much as any thing else. This army
has dug and fought Its way to witUin six
miles of Richmond, and, to the shame of our
government be it said, was obliged to re-
tire.
"This grand army, which all creation
thought invincible, has been forced to act on
the defensive (when the campaign was in
tended as an offensive one), and to fall back
before overwhelming numbers. Forced back,
but not in the least dispirited, this army will
yet render good account of ITSELF if you will
only fill up your thinned ranks. We want,
| first of all, our own regiments filled to the
maximum number, and then an additional
force, as auxiliary, to support and strengthen
u.s. The officers and men now alive have
had experience, worth everything in the con-
test yet to be prosecuted. Hence the impor-
! lance Of mixing in the new recruits with those
now in the field.
"Not moment should be lost in bringing
about this extremely desirable object. Ii
volunteers are not at hand the President
should at once draft a sufficient number for
this purpose. For the success of the rebel
cause depends so much upon their ability to
crush this army that nothing should be left
undone to prevent so dire calamity Lose
this army and our cause is down. The great
West will hold you (excuse me,)-the mon
eyed men of New York and New England
responsible for it.
The western army is fast becoming abol-
itionized, as it Is called that is, it is coming
to the conclusion that the duty is imperative
to use every means in our power, slavery or
no slavery, TO crush out this rebellion. That
every negro to be found should be used as
much as we should use gun or case Of
ammunition captured of the enemy. Both
are elements of power in their hands, and
one no less than the other must be destroyed
before the struggle is ended
The - and its sympathizers NAV talk
as they please about letting slavery alone.
But it must be acknowledged that to effec-
tually remove an effect, the cause must be
removed. The very life and substance of
this war on the rebel side is slavery. Have
not the slaves dug all their trenches, from
whlch their masters slaughter the norrhman
Have they not felled all the trees and built
all the Notifications, from behind which their
masters belch forth their hail of lead and iron
upon the heads of sthe freemen marching up
to defend the constitution and laws of the
country, under whose fortunes, care and pro
lection they have been nurtured? Are not
the slaves to-day cultivating the lands, while
they are to man using every means in theil
power to overthrow our government? And
what are we doing? What are zoe doinq
One halt Of US doing our utmost to uphold ht
very institutions Which to them are the CHEZ
siae,os of toor. To crush rebellion slavery
must be crushed. Every man within oul
reach should be invited to our lines,rif for nc
other reason to help our poor over-worked
army IN the enormous labor they have to per-
form in building works Of defence and offence
1t has been extremely humiliating to us to
have the rebel prisoners say, to our faces, thai
they often have stood in their own lines and
watched our men dig and labor in the trench
es, while all their work was done by mig
gers" 100 i..ts .a...la@falA1
What can be palmer, what more sensible
and just, than these observations To fight
battles well your troops must be in good
condition of health. They must not be worn
out by excessive labors in the trenches
They must come fresh to their work and il
there is class Of men capable of dischargino
the duties which exhaust their bodies and
weigh upon their spitits,i is the insanity Of
folly not to use that class. But how much
more urgent the necessity when that class is
the representative of the institution which
began the war, which still upholds the war,
and which, with its own destruction, would
close the war
.. "a. aEt
SETTLED AT LAST. - The policy of the
administration is at last settled, and precisely