Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1862-09-17
Position Of the UNION Cause.-Plain Talk for
a Northern Latitude.

Northern Latitude.
The Few York Times of Friday last, has mel
anc.oly, but very truthful editorial on the present
aspect of Yankee affairs. We bespeak for it an at
tentive perusal:
"The summer campaign which was to have given
us the rebel capital, has come to disastrous end.
Richmond is relieved, and Washington is besieged.
That magnificent army, organized and drilled with
so much by Mcclellan year ago, repulsed first
on the Peninsula has been again repused in its ad-
vance upon Richmond from the North, and now
seeks safety for itself behind the forts which line the
Potomac Disguise it as We may, the Union arms
have been repeatedly, dsgracefuly and dccslvely
beaten. The whole campaign against Richmond mas
proved failure. The rebels have resumed the Of
fensive and have driven troops back to the pre-
else position they held after the battle of Bull Run,
more than one year ago. Our Generals do not seem
to be aware whether they intend to attack US there,
or push forward some other line Of operations.
One thing may be deemed certain-they will not sit
down in front of Washington and attempt to reduce
it by siege. They will either attempta flank move
ment upon it. or what seems to US still more ikeiy,
| they will push powerful column Directly INTO
| PENNSYLVANIA and strike blow at the Union cause
| on loyal soil.
| There is class of public men who think 1t high
y unwise to admit that we nave Jus
! reverses. They have copious explanations OF the
checks our forces have sustained and abun-
dnt orsnr,nces that they all to be redeemed in
| the immediate future. We regret that we cannot
share their credulous confidence. All their expa-
nations cannot change this fact, that wherever we
have met the rebels-whether behind an earthwork,
as in front of Richmond, or in the open field, as IN
front of nston-they have beaten US. Some
times they have out1ankcd US; sometimes they have
got completely in the Of our forces; sometimes
thcv have thrown their whole force upon single
weak point of our line and so overborne US 6y num-
bers; sometimes they have drawn us into an am
buscade; but it matters not how-the TACT remains
that they have beaten US. And all that these va
rious explanations amount to is that their Generals
are holder ard more skillful and Their armies more
effective than ours This is all that anybody can
ask in war. And it is worse than idle-it is child
sh and idiotic to attempt to shut our eyes to the
claring and repusive fact that thus far in the war
the rebels have the best Of the lighting The soon
err we realize our actual condition, the sooner shall
| we find remedy for it.
| What is the cause of these awful disasters? Not
in any lack of men, for armies outnumhered the
| rebels two to one Not in lack of arms, of NUM-
tons, of suppies-of all the means and appliances
| of successful WARRIOR army on the face of the
earth has ever been so lavishy supplied with all
these as ours. Not in the goodness of the cause
nor in the spirit Of the people-nor IN the vaor and
patience of our soldiers for in all these respects we
may challenge the world to surpass us. We are
driven to the conclusion that the rebel Generals have
been superior to ours that the rebel government
has been better able to WELD sklfully and success
fully the weapons placed in its hands. Results az
ford the only test of military capacity. The army
that conquers, is always the best Large or small,
ragged or well clad, hungry or full, armed or un.
armed, the army that drives its enemy off the field
is always the better of the two. Our forces have
been splenddly drilled admirably clothed and ARM
| ed, and always supplied with abundant food; but
locn al hat ,Ot co11
the others, and brands them as inferior.
We all hope that all this is to be changed but
50 We have been hoping for the whole year past
The very next step was always to turn the tide We
| were to have " no more Bull Runs" when McClel-
Ian took command. The enemy to be driven
| to the wall after he had evacuated Yorktown
The army o: the Potomac, it was declared. shall en-
ter Richmond after it had suffered defeat behind its
own Notifications. And there were to be no more
retreats on our side, after Pope took the lead to-
ward the rebel capital Yet, in spite Of all these as
surances, made with confidence, and eagerly well
coined by the credulous country, our armies are
bes,eged. but all "safe" in the Potomac forts. Who
can say that the tide of disaster has yet been stayed
What is there to turn it? We have fresh men in
my cannot take the forts-and possibly knowing
that fact they will not try. But if we can judge
the future from the past they will be very likely to
attempt something which they can accomplish, and
the first we shall know of it will &C. that it has been
done.
We see no ground for predicting better results
so long as zee employ tie same means. We have
the same Generals. the same policy, the same gov
ernment, the same President, and the same Cabinet
as We have had hitherto. We enter upon the fu-
lure under the same auspices precisely which have
presided over past disasters. What possible
reason, then, have we to expect change? The
entire responsibility for all these calamities rests
upon the Government-smply because all the poo.
er is in its hands. Grant that many of our com,
nanding Generals are incompetent-tha they waste
in personal wrangngs, energy that should be given
to the cause-that they are weak, irresoute, inca
pablo and, therefore, unsuccessful-the government
is responsible for their failures, because it has the
power to dsplacc them. /. General may fail once
through his own fault if he fails second time the
fault rests with those who kept him there. War is
no time for elaborate experiments, or for patching
up shattered regulations.
The President needs to reinforce his Cabinet with
new vigor and new ability. Without any impeach'
ment of his own capacity, the President must have
a strong Cabinet, or he will have weak govern
ment. The ablest of our Presidents have been the
ones who have surrounded themselves with the
ablest men. The theory that Cabinet officers are
mere secretaries and therefore not responsible does
not avail each Secretary carries not only into his
own department, but into the whole policy Of the
Administration, the spirit the vigor, the energy o.
his OVID nature and if the Cabinet is made up Of
weak men, they will inevitably give the country a
weak government. We need now the strongest
government the country has seer. And it
needs no prophet to predict that without more
strength, more vigorous power, larger grasp and
more energetic mastery of the resources which the
country is pouring into the hands of the adminisra
ton, than we have had hitherto, the Union cause
is doomed to speedy and disastrous overthrow"
GOV. VANCE.
Some of the anti-Vance Editors in their issues
before his Inaugural were generous enough to say,
if he would declare his determination to prosecute