Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-09-11

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WASHINGTON, September 3.-If ever wash
ington was in danger Of being captured by ths
rebels, It is in danger now. There IS but ons
thing indeed that can now save Washington.
AID that is, for Mcclellan to be placed IN com
mand Of sli the troops nov ma5sed here and n
this vicinity. This has not been done vet
And it is because It has not been done that
I Washington is IN such peril to day. The in
capacity Of Pope was demonstrated Es long ago
as August Dist, on which day General Lee, with
the bulk Of the rebel army, crossed the Rsppa-
hammock at fords which Pope knew nothing
about and preeipitated himself on Popes rear
while Pope was calmly telegraphIng % Haleck
that +" be was holding the f0rd5" sud that it
/ was impossible for ne enemy TO cross l From
7 that day to this, he has been Out-gener8led and
/ whipped by Lee at every step. Every day a
battle has been fought, every day We have been
I defeated or OutmaneUVeTed and every day the
ensmy has approached nearer and nearer 20 The
! capital And during al this tirHe Mr. Lincoln
/ and Mr. Seward have been calm and serene, and
/ the President, as was telegTaphed al over the
{ country week ago, declared that Washington
was safe, all that the dead point Of danger vas
I past, and that we could Whip thu rebels every
/ time. So little does he comprehend The sit1a-
I tion.
During all this time. too, Burnside, Pope and
Mcclellan, have all had separate and indepsnd-
ent commands, and the necessary result has fol-
lowed. There never has been, there never can
be- success IN military operations without DIS
head IA te field. The President, with bis &C.
e1stomed hesitancy aEd fear Of offending the
% oisss' h@s- 1atsst au the step which
hope he viii yet take, for, alter AL Honest era
ABE Is always right al last. He viii, eventually.
appoint Mcclellan TO the command Of the forces
IN Virginia but / fear it vii be when IS is t0o
late TO save the capital He is now engaged in
personally experimenting the formation Of
company OF the clerks Of the departments for tho
detsnse OF the city He comforts himself with
the belief that General Halieck is giving his per-
sonal supervision TO the military operations IN
Virginia. That may be. Bat the generGl-iu-
chief has other duties 70 per1orm besides attend
ing TO matters in Virginia. During the last few
days he has had 70 organize a eampsign zEainsf
the Indians in the West he has had 10 arrange
the details Of the campaign in Kentueky, so as
% prevent the rebels from invading Ohio, Iudi-
ana and Illinois and he has had % arrange Che
details OF matters relating 10 military sfTlIs In
South Carolina. All these things he has had 20
do as generslin-chief; aud, while he has been
attending 70 them, General Lee has stolen a
march upon him, has defeated Pope in hall a
dozen battles, has taken possession Of Manassas,
has seized aud now holds, and wiz held, the
nights OF CenteTville. aud has advanced in force
@ tairiax Court House, only eighteen miles
5s0m heTe
~ g-- aacA INV lc las Dr-l auAc 70 al Llla
L IS simply because he is a bstter soldier than
Pope or, rather, because he is a general and
Pope Is not, and never can be- 1t is not in him.
Is Is not because his army is more numerous than
that which Pope had under his Command for it
was not so. Lees forces ever since the battle Of
August y-h, have been numerically weaker than
Pope's. But they have been msnsged with such
sdmira6le geneEslshIp that be has always been
able 10 mass at any given point, t0-ces greatly
superior to those which Pope had At that point,
thus has always been victorious.
During the last three days, however, General
Lee has been very strongly reinforced. All the
troops recently at Richmond have joined him
and $4,000 Of the troops rscsnt'y In Eastern
Tennessee have also arrived At Manassas june
ion Il Is, indeed, owing to ths railroads tha.
the South is able 10 c0ncantrata s1leh vast AM
so rspidly There is no doubt, therefore, that
General Lee now holds CenterVille and the Gown
Try around It, wiki force ct 2gJ.000 10 100000
troops These troops too, are not green isvies
or raw recruits, but they are the veteran sol
diers Of the COnfederacy, the men Of Manassas
and Shlo
There are now two courses for Cen. Lee To- pur-
sue, and one of the two he viii certainly sdopt
lie viii not retreat from Cen.srvilis st present.
He Is able at present to Hlaintail that position.
lie viii, therefore, either remain there, and seek
so to strengthen himself as 10 be able 30 remsin
there during tbe whole Of the coming winter, or
else be viii move on and attack Washington.
Which Of these two courses he viii ad0pt, de-
pens a good deal on his own force. But it de-
pends chiefly On cur administration on the
measures which we adopt for the defense Of the
capital
General Lse has now 250O0O troops but hs
has only to say the word, and, IN q week, be VIII
have 100000, and in two weeks, $50, ,0o0 troops.
The men are ready.
Ga our side, it becomes ne not 10 say what
forces are here. Our losses have been terrible
I viii not say how many in killed and wounded
viii cover then. General Kearney, killed Colo
mel Fletcher Webster, killed General Stevens,
and hosts of others Of our very best 0ficsrs,
killed The new recruits are pouring IN, ana
are being sent out to the battle field. They
have never been in action. and they are not
even well drilled in company movements OF
movements in bTigadss and divisions they know
nothing. General Mitchell, VINO is n0W here,
but who has been detailed to suDerceie General
Hunter, in South Carolina, said that, notwith-
standing these facts, he could, BY speech Of
fifteen minutes, make veteran soldiers Of them
all. IL lis hoped, indeed, that the enthusiasm
with which they viii fight viii supply .he place
Of discipline.
But there is after ell, but ore path Of safety.
General Mcclellan must be placed ia ohiet com
msnd here. He, snd he alone, can now save
the capital II it IS saved, Il VIII be BY him
March, after the pEOmulgstion Of the Presidents
war orders, are on record LET the sword
be nov taken from ncClellan's hands, and the
general conduct Of the war attempted By any
one else, and IN less than SIX months the tide of
victory viii change disaster viii take the pisce
Of victory; We shall have lost al that we nave
now gained, and We shall be then further than
ever from the successful termination Of the war
The sword ras taken from his hands, aud Mr.
III fa.I rf
Disaster has taken the place OF victory, and We
have lost, n0t only sH, but more than we had
gained and we are at this moment turEher than
ever from the sceessful termination of TINS war.
Il was a very grave blunder In Haleck, zoo.
to withdraw Mcclellan from the Peninsula
Mcclellan protested earnestly against it, 5us
Halleck insisted As long as he was there, the
rebels would not have dared TO pursue Pope be-
yOnd the Rsppahsnnock, because they knew
that, if they did so, Mcclellan would march on
Richmond and take it. But, as soon as ever
they knew ne was evacusting the Peninsula,
their generals OWNED how great blunder Hal
ieck had committed, and in what manner they
could take advantage Of it and they have don5
50. Halleck is a good general Of division, szd
an excellent theoretical soldier, but he has not
half Of McClellsn's military capacity, and the
fact viii soon be made manifest.
The absurd stories which are now being cir
culated about Mcclellan originate with the ab0-
htonists here, bis old enemies, VINO fear that the
President Is inclined 70 restore him 70 bis old
post of ganeral-ln-chief, and who take this
means to excite a popular prejudice against hlHs.
The stories are all as false as Luciiar, and the
President knows it. If he can emaneipats him
self from the trammels Of abolition pressure,
all may yet be well.
q An inquiTing citizen acquaintance Of
ours. who has persmbulated the city Of Natchsz
freely since the bombardment, says be has
counted only sixty different buildings that were
hit by shells and solid shot. Some Of the
-n-rr,d .Iot raachal trzn and q half Lrias In ~