The New York herald., 1863-08-23

such shabby trick would be ventured upon.
Ii the Department persists in refusing to pay
these bounties, under the pretence that the law
is against them, we trust that Congress on Its
reassembling will take steps to do away with
the technical difficulty by amending the act
under which they were granted. A great gov
ernment like this should not shelter itself be-
hind legal bubble from doing justice to those
who have fought and bled in its service.
The Great City Gridiron.
People who walk the streets of New
York have not failed to notice numbers
of workmen here, there and everywhere,
busily employed laying down iron rails
throughout the city. They begin one patch
here then leave it to start another-always
commencing, but never completing, anything.
In this way they have succeeded in completely
mystifying the public as to their intentions
These railroad men, for the most part, are a
class of creatures that have no souls, and there.
fore they stand in no dread Of future punish
ment. Last Sunday they employed some two
or three hundred laborers with souls, to push
on this work Of laying their rails--a consum-
nation to which they seem determined to bend
all their energies. So as to give the public
some idea Of their operations, we give map in
another part of to-day's paper of the city of
New York below our magnificent Park, which
shows what will be the appearance of the
metropolis after all these rails shall have been
laid. The sites through which the street rail.
roads pass or are to pass are indicated by black
lines on the map. The names Of the roads are
in nearly all cases derived from those Of the
streets they traverse. These railroad lines are
gradually being pushed throughout New York
Fifth and Lexington avenues are perhaps the
only ones as yet exempt from this innovation.
These in the end will doubtless share the same
fate, and then New York will be nothing more
nor less than one immense gridircn. five could
only roast few of these railroad spectators
on their own spit-regulating the punishment
according to the Procrustean system-we would
set an excellent example to similar cormorants
and confer lasting benefit on the city revenue.
RELATIVE MERITS OF FEDERAL AND REBEL CAV
ALRY.-When the rebellion broke out we recol-
lect reading an article from the Richmond
for its being out of the power of the North to
ever again recover the revolted States, it gave
that of its inferiority in the qualities necessary
to turn out good cavalry. Southern men were
born in the saddle, and must therefore ever
prove our superiors in this arm of the military
service. How have the events Of the war borne
out this pretensions When General Scott was
at the head Of the army he seemed infected with
similar notion, and discouraged the idea Of
making any considerable additions to our caval-
ry force Il was not until extensive damage
was inflicted upon US by that Of the enemy that
attention was paid to the recommendations Of
General Mcclellan, and the formation Of addi-
tional cavalry regiments resolved upon. What
has been the result? The ignorance and doubt
in regard to the enemy's movements which had
been productive Of SO many mischiefs to us be.
| gan gradually to give place to better informa-
| ton and more confidence, and from the exten
| sive cavalry raids made into the eneWy's terri
tory we obtained q clearer conception Of the
poverty of their resources, as we'll as OF the mos
| advantageous points to strike at But this fur
| ther fact has been demonstrated, that the
| boasted superiority of the chivalry as horsemer
was mere bombast. Wherever our cavalry
have encountered them in anything like equal
force they have whipped them handsomely
So great in fact, is the apprehension inspired
among them by such leaders as Fitzpatrick
Pleasanton, Grierson, Stoneman, Gregg, Wynd
ham and Buford, that they will always
| avoid conflict with their commands if posi-
BILE. The cavalry element Of the rebel armies
| on which so much reliance was placed, has thus
been completely neutralized, whilst ours il
daily increasing in strength and efficiency. BY
and by it will be sufficiently numerous mol
| only to perform more important part in the
field, but to act as repressive force against the
guerillas who continue to disturb the tranquilli
| ty of the newly recovered districts.
| COMMON SENSE AT THE HEAD OF THE ARMY
| When General Hooker was in command Of the
| Army Of the Potomac the greater part of his
| time was spent in the regulation of newsboys