The New York herald., 1862-02-24

1 OoCuluSs cuucus
1t being Sunday. skating was allowed on the
Central Park yesterday. although the ice was in
anything but good condition for the sport. About
twenty-five thousand persons visited the ice dur
ing the day. up to Eve o'clock, at which hour the
ice was cleared. because it was not considered
safe to allow skating ct that hour There has been
altogether forty days of skating on the Contra
Park, twenty Of which have been during the pre-
sent month. 1t is expected that the pond will moi
be opened to-day at all.
The United States frigate st. Lawrence was yes
terday towed from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. and
is now at anchor off the Battery.
Nine steamboats, left st. Louis on the 10th inst
for Cape Girardeau. Cairo and Paducah all loaded
with government troops. stores and munitions OF
war.
Thirty-one Of the crew Of the ship Great Repub
lie, now lying in Portland harbor under govern
ment charter. deserted On the 10th inst Nineteen
Of the number were afterwards arrested.
Manassas and Nashville-The Loss OF
Both or Either the Essd Of the Rebel
Hon.
Manassas and Nashville have now become the
two great vital points Of the rebellion. They
are both indispensable to the cause Of JEFF
Davis, for the loss of either will involve theloss
Of the other. Are the rebels sufficiently strong
to hold these two positions against the shock OF
our beleaguering forces? No. Manassas and
Nashville, with or without sanguinary strug-
gle, are both destined, and soOn to fall into our
possession. Considering, too, the crippling and
demoralizing effect of great defeat either at
Manassas or Nashville, we shall not be surprised
to hear, before the lapse of many days, that both
these places have been abandoned, and that the
rebel government is moving down its military
forces to the defensive line of the seven original
seeding States
This programme of course, involves the
abandonment of Virginia, North Carolina, Ten
nessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and Missouri to the
''old Union" but still, consulting the military
dangers aud difficulties of their present posi-
ton, it is the best system of defence which the
rebels can pursue, ii they desire to try the
chances Of prolonged resistance. Hence we
think it highly probable that, if they can do it
without being caught in the act, they will aban-
don Virginia and Tennessee. and fall back upon
the defensive line of their original cotton States
confederacy, to save their army and their cause
from that overwhelming demoralizatiop and
Southern popular reaction which will Inevitably
follow great defeat at Nashville or Manassas.
And why should Davis and his colleagues in
the rebel government any longer adhere to
their grand imposture Of Southern confsde-
racy, embracing all the Southern States-Mary.
land and the city Of Washington included
when it has become a. clear to them as the
MONDAY sun that they have lost Maryland,
Kentucky and Missouri, beyond redemption ;
that Arkansas is defsnceless against our ad-
vsncing forces that Virginia has ceased to be
tenable that Tennessee will have to be re-
linquished, and that, with the Burnside expedi-
ton fastened upon the eastern shores and in
land seas Of North Carolina, no stand by any
rebel army can be made in that State without
the hazard of being crushed between Burn
side from the East Mcclellan from the
North and the advanced columns of Gene
rails Buell. and Halleok's divisions from
the West, to say nothing of fire in the
rear" from the Union citizens of the Com
monwealth? We believe that the border slave
States were dragged pto this rebellion more
for the purposes Of feeding it and supporting it,
aud making those States the battle field, than
from any hope or wish to secure them within
the limits of recognized Southern confederacy.
We believe that the rebel government was
moved up to Richmond, and that the main body
of the rebel army was advanced to the line of
the Potomac, not so much for the purpose of
seizing Washington to hold It, or with the hope
of holding Virginia. as for the purpose of i'm
pressing upon European nations favor
able idea Of the strength Of this rebellion, and
for extorting from Tue government of the United
State the recognition of the original seeding
cotton States as on independent nation.
In this view, the border slave. States having
been used and abused as far as possible to feed
the rebellion. and to bear the brunt of the war,
without securing European Intervention, and
the chances of holding any one of them having
become exceedingly desperate, we conclude
that they will be recovered to the Union with
out much further trouble. Bull run, the rebel
army and The rebel blockade of the Potomac,
from July last down to the settlement of the
Trent affair, were operating most prejudicially
agains! US and in favor of Davis in England and
throughout the European continent. All our
facts and statistics of the overwhelming military
forces and resources of the Union were more
than neutralized over the water by those other
facts, that rebel army, after a great victory,
was besieging Washington, and that the great
outlet of our national capital to the sea was
for many miles at the mercy Of a succession
of blockading rebel batteries.
If the rebel leaders have resolved upon q
single hazard Of the die in a great battle at
Manassas, then, in the inevitable result,
the rebellion will at once be broken to
pieces, and we shall have nothing to do but
gather them up; but if Davis and his colleagues
have determined upon fighting to the last
extremity, they will adopt the policy Of short
ening their lines and concentrating their forces