The New York herald., 1863-01-13

poses urSt ABOVE stated" These are tne uoc-
| trines which we have inculcated again and
again. Tho duty Of Mr.. Lincoln is plain.
In obedience to the voice Of tho coun
try and the desire Of twothirds OF
the Senate, representing the republican party
he ought TO get rid Of the imbeciles of
the administration who have so misnanaged
their departm ents as to bring the republic 70
the brink Of ruin and to fll their places gith
men like &f. Seward, who has 80 admirably
managed his department as to stave of the
danger Of foreign war, and conine the condiot
to Ito legitimate area. Il IL In vain that
he has performed his part in the programme.
when the Secretaries Of War, the Navy and the
Treasury so blunder in their departments that
disaster follows disaster, and failure folloyS
failure, the land and on the sea, while fnan-
cisl ruin stares the nation in the face. Time
flies. Before the lst Of May the Union must
dred thousand Of the troops will DO muster.
ed out of tho servise-both the nine months
men and the two years men-veterans whose
loss cannot be soon replaced. EoY ia the time
for exertion. There is scarcely Eve months in
which to gloriously succeed or disgracefully
fail. A war Of such magnitude cannot be car
ried ON forever. TO insure success the Cabinet
must be conservative unit of the same stamp
as Mr.. Seward, and its principal departments
must be presided over by men like him Of de-
cided ability, wise to plan and bold and prompt
to execute. Will Mr.. Lincoln decide!
he Ga
OF the War.
From all the facts before us, the late de-
plorable disaster of the recapture Of Galveston,
Texas, by tho rebels, appears as one of the
most complete surprises Of the war. Eut if our
commanding officer late in charge OF that i'm
portant position was not sufficiently vigilant,
and was too incrsdulous of danger, we can
overlook the fault, in view of his glorious
death and of the heroic resistance of his officers
aud men, on ship and shore, to the unexpected,
deadly and overwhelming assault Of the rebel
forces. This sad affair, however, is very sug
gcstive; and in recalling various other disas.
trous surprises of the war it is to be hoped that
they will serve as useful warnings hereafter to
our land and naval forces in every quarter, and
to tho government.
In the autumn of 1861 our blockading squad
ron at the head of the delta Of the Mississippi
was surprised by Captain Hollins with his
nondescript turtle and mosquito feet, and,
although in that disgracefnl affair the rebels
were beaten off without any material loss
on our side, it was a narrow escape. 1t
was by sort of surprise that the rebel steamer
Nashville slipped into Beaufort, N. c., and then
slipped out again.. Then again, after repeated
warnings, running through several months, the
rebel iron-clad Merrimac not only surprised
and partially destroyed our blockading feet in
Hampton Roads, but completely surprised the
"Ancient Mariner" at the head of the Navy
Department, and would probably have next
surprised all hands at Washington but for the
timely appearance at the scene Of action Of
Captain Ericsson's experimental "cheesebox
on . raft"
But while, upon the whole, our naval forces
have suffered from comparatively few surprises,
the surprises Of the army, from the beginning
Of the war, have been too numerous to mention
Those which stand out in tie boldest relief are
resulting in that terrible slaughter Of the do
tachment Of Union troops sent over the river at
that point; the surprise OF Gsnsral Banks in
the Shenandoah valley, and resulting in his
mastery retreat; the surprise created at Wash
ington by the appearance on the right wing
Of General McClellan's army before Richmond
Of the whole army Of Stonewall Jackson from
the Shenandoah valley, while sixty thousand
Union troops were scattered about from Frcds-
ricksburg to various places in said valley to
watch him; the surprise of the Unisn army at
Shiloh the disastrous surprise at Harpcr's
Ferry, which can hardly be called surprise;
the disgraceful surprise and surrender at Num-
fordsvlie, Kentucky; the surprise of the rebel
Stuart's cavalry raid into Maryland and Penn
sylvania; the surprises of the rebel Morgan's
foray and Of Bragg's invasion Of Kentucky; the
expensive surprise at Holly Springs, Mississippi,
with its losses of cotton and army supplies; and
the surprise of the right wing of the army Of
| General Rosecrans at Murfreesboro, which, Hn-
der any other than o akilful, courageous, self
| possessed aud able general, would have result
cd in terrible defeat.
The rebels, too, have occasionally surprised
us with their mysterious evacuations of places
which we're getting too hot to hold them. such rs
the excavations Of Manassas, Corinth, Norfolk
and Yorktown. They, too, however, have suf-
fered from surprises, particularly from General
Mcclellan, among the mountains of Western
Virginia; from General Mitchell in Northern
Alabama and Mississippi, and from General
Curtis and others in Missouri and Arkansas
But the rebels have never been taken by sur
prise in any great engagement, and in every
way we have sufered'mo and lost immensely
more from surprises than the enemy.
These advantages On the side Of the rebellion
are chargcable partly to bad management in
the dispositions of our forces, partly to the in
competency or negligence Of our commanders
at exposed positions, partly to the temptations