The Portland daily press., 1863-12-23
Wednesday Morning, December %. 1868.
Rebel Compliment TO Federal GencraIship.

HcUch compliment W Geueidt Oeucrdishlvs
The Richmond Whig of Dec. Sd, has a few
plain words touching the energy and general
ship Of the federal armies, which, even from
such source, is In refreshing contrast to that
carping, fault-fnding, croaking strain which
characterizes too many copperhcad journals
which continue to burn candies over McClcl-
Ian and Fitz John Porter, and insist that only
with such leaders Is there any hope Of saliva
tion. The Wing says:
''Sallust,' the well-informed and Trustworthy
war correspondent of the Dispatch telegraph
ing from Resaca, under date OF Nov. 20, states
in substance, that the wagon roads are In
horrible condition, that the enemy cannot ad-
vance without the railroad, that they hare no
cars, and that the probabilities are that no
movement in force upon Dalton aud Atlanta
will be made until next spring. With great
general confidence In the accuracy of state
nent and correctness Of judgment of this cor
respondent, we should, nevertheless, be ex-
ceedingly sorry to learn that his opinions are
derived from the general now commanding the
remnant OF Bragg's army, and that they are
shared by the President and the War Depart-
mcnt at Richmond.
Tocount upon the tardiness OF Grants move
inents, la consequence of the condition of the
tutnYtnIc Va tuS khiltbuQss hOulu tt sulcludl.
Grant has proved that he can do what SO few
oi our Generals have been able 10 accomplish
follow up victory in spite of natural obstacles :
and 1t Is certain that he will not permit him
self now to be stopped, either by mud or BY
want OF cars. These difficulties are by no
means insurmountable.
Every one remembers the sanguinc prcdic-
tlons OF the impossibiity OF carrying on the
Siege of VGksburg. Gentlemen owning plan
faft
before Vicksburg, declared that his soldiers
would perish for the lack OF water, or die like
sheep with the rot, from drinking such as they
could obtain. Moreover, We were told that
the malarious diseases of the climate would
decimate his army and compel him to raise
the siege. Further, 1t was stated by the same
reliable operator who is now at work In At
lanta, cheering US with the assurance that the
Yankees lost at least twenty thousand men In
the assault Of Lookout Mountain, that Grant
had lost quite fifty thousand OF the flower Of
his army in the various attempts to storm the
intrenchments at Vicksburg. How utterly
1allacious all these predictions and assertions
proved! The siege Of Yieksburs progressed
steadily 10 Its conclusion, without, SO far as
we have learned, aly serious impeachment
whatever. In spite of water, climate, diseases
and repeated rcpulses, Grant compelled Penn
berton to surrender In less than three months
from the day the siege began.
Shall we again be the dupes Of our ll-lonnd-
ed hopes? Shall we rely for safety upon mud
and not upon men? Shall we trust to cars
and not to energy? Heaven forbid. The
railroad from Chattanooga Is, doubtless, now
open, and the trains running all the way
through. On this railroad any quantity oil
cars and engines necessary to stock the road
irom Chattanooga to Atlanta may be brought
through IN less than weeks tima. Two
weeks more will be all that Yankee activity
and ingenuity will demand to complete the
rebuilding Of burned bridges. But we
doubt II Grant will await the arrival of
cars and the completion of bridges. He has
plenty Of transportation, aud the whole North
behind him to supply horses and wagons as
fast as they break down. He has ten thousand
men already mounted.
He has cannon without limit and inexhaus-
tible ammunition. In front OF him is an army,
routed, dcmoralized, half destroyed by cap
lures and by Struggling, poorly provided with
clothing, very many of its small arms aban.
doned, and most OF its artillery missing. Is
1t 10 be supposed that he viii wait whole
winter long In idleness and not avail him
self OF the splendid opportunity TO complete
the dispersion OF dispirited and weakened
foes, and TO Insure the capture Of Atlanta
'Twerc madness to think so.
In proof of false hopes and erroneous con-
lectures which lured Bragg to bis destruc-
ton, we need only recall a statement made in
letter of 'Sallust to the Dispatch, written
Just before the defeat at Lookout Mountain, In
regard to Shermans corps. Although the
passage Of the Tennessee by this corps had
been announced in the Richmond papers a
week or ten days before the battle of Look
out was fought, 'Sallust states that 1t was
expected that Sherman would not be able to
effect junction with Grant until February.
\. And while the people OF Alabama and Mis-
sissippl were boasting that Gen. Lees cavalry
had driven Sherman back and compelled him
TO abandon the route he was taking to Chat
tanooga, II turned out that Sherman, under
cover of feint made by Osterha,is' division,
was marching to join Grant with great swift
ness and without molestation. In view OF
these facts we should be slow to build hopes
upon the enemy's incapacity to overcome bad
roads and conceal his movements from the
not too piercing vision of our commanders.