Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1863-07-30
n DEFENSIVE POLICY ADVOCATED IN
VIRGINIA.


bsen put forth" The "loyal and rebel armies"
says, have neither Of them, up to this time,
lade . foot Of progress They have been fight
Y each other for two whole years, and yet nothing
; been accomplished except sundry defeats and
acoessfnl escapes on either side"
III such has been the unsatisfactory result Of all
bur g military operations" in the quarter " where
hemost gigantic efforts have been put forth" for the
psce Of two years. the reader might suspect that the
prnal which takes this discouraging view Of the
ilitary situation would be naturally inclined to
sccmmend the adoption of defensive rather than
IH aggressive policy 10 Virginia. II in two years
bf aggressive war we have made "not foot OF
progresg' towards the capture" Ct Richmond or
the conquest Of Eastern Virgins, why not resign
prmation," the Chronicle says, fits it for long
Id stubborn Defence" to the policy Of inaction,
tand still where we are, and leave the task of put
lng down the rebellion to be ccomplshed by more
fortunate armies operating en- other fields farther
from Washington? And 0s was to be expected,
HE Chronicle Of Friday last draws this useful
deduction in the following terms:
~ between
hons in the East and in the West gives plausbility to
80 theory which we ventued TO advance in tho Chronicle
home six months ago. that if the army Of The Potomac
should ners Joo but could succeed in tding in
rksck equally large force Of the rebels il ,coHid
Lite UHehsr ICON any ricfories or not that the sue
cesses Of our the Southwest would crush the
on and drive the r. bel armies i0t0 pen Omewhere
III te borders Of Virginia and North Carolina where they
would easily be starved out Events seem to be fulfilling
hs prediction Rosecrans has finally succeeded in cut
ino f the communication between the eastern and west
snff he
ards fo0, aud all the munitions Of war that have been
drawn for two years from Texas and the other Gulf States
has now been stepped forever
From the peaceful and unopposed entrance of Rose
crans into Chattanooga may fairly conclude that Bragg
has reinforced Lee. What, them rem ns for the rebel
armies but to be oped up and starved7 One eat OBJ
4ect Of Lees invasion Of Pennsylvania to obtain sup
niles for his starving army and transfer the to
" that would subsst him. Ho failed and he will be
3ucky If he gets home with whole skin All the rein
Of which the Conf.deracy is capable will do
him no good He can never again set foot on Northern
soi and to stay ia Virginia is to be doomed We shall.
xhsyefore pert ely content If Meade succeeds simply
odng Lee check End keeping large rebe force inacoe
Tor the doom Of the rebellion wtten in the black cloud
That comes up from the Southwest"
AS the Morning Chronicle argues in favor Of
defensive policy in Virginia because Of the de nom
Srated failure of past operations in that quar-
Iter, and will be perfectly content if Meade sue
cseds in simply holding Lee in check and keeping
tsn be !" driven into pen somewhere on the bor-
|ders of Virginia or North Carolina" and there
q starved out,,) SO the National Republican Of
ahis city advises a similar policy for additional
reasons, of great cogency and conc!usveness in its
|vpinion. Having arrived at the conviction that
Ahe Confederate military authorities are likely to
concentrate all their available fsrce in the neigh
borhood Of the Potomac for the purpose Of destroy
inr Meade's army and investing Washington" it
has no doubt that "our Government is capable of
.ppreciating the circumstances, and that it will,
with wise forecast, prepare for any such movement
an the part of the rebel chieftains." The policy
dictated by wise forecast" it propounds fol-
lows:
Durpu tie month Of July the rebel armies have bel
by the lose Of least IS 900 The conscrp
ion if eAectuA will not add more than an quail number
"a the conscripts will not be fit for service ia the fell
in September or October Their present iorce cannot
ivisssippi and thus separated from the Richmond
s3oyernment On this ride Of The river there may be
$4,000 troops or these % GOO Will be required IN Inc
a concentrate $50 Geo veterans 10 Virginia Such an
rrmy il nat be despised after the oss Of Vicks
ure and Port Hudson, the rereat from Tennessee and
he disaster at Gettysburg In the presencs Of tnch
army what should be our policy We answer, without
heaitaon that it the part of wtdom for to act
the defensive
This advice may he disagresa le 10 those who imagine
4hat the rebel power is quite nearly annhilaed by the
Ys and Of the last thirty days There losses
a raverses will be destructive to the OF the rebels
81 pa be given for the full results to appear but should
lkiaeIy risk engagement against ofds under
favorable to enemer and thereby incur
= efeat their Disasters would disappear 10 the cloud II
srr more recent misfortune Had followed up the ad
gained a. Gettysburg the re- nt would have been
G.vorsb. to us had not achieved decisive vic
rnrv Every contest il Pennsylvania, followed by the
rest Of Lee would have tnured to our advantage rem
sr;rc Il more evident that be could not manai bmst f
sver the Potomac. But Lee has escaped 1t will prove
an the end that when he ecrssed the Potomac he had the
roer 70 70 to Richmond whatever disposition IN The
Sreunises might be- Henc., If fght ia Virginia 60
1II select the and place for the contest Such
sutest 10 likely prove rep tiiion Of thoe 10 which we
have been often engaged July 1861 IT. en- the
sher hand we take the line OF the Potomac the Rap
shaunock, upon the defensive, OF two things
I'LL happen Lce will attack be will Distribute his
amy 70 TIM rebel chiefnns in the South and the South
$500 Should he adopt the latter improve
~ opuor,uaity for mt upon Richmond 1t is
mac however that be will hold s main army in hand
srJ that he will he again compelled to The Potomac
sTh;s m,y appear Improbable but it should be borne ia
fhnt alter the loss Df the country west Of the Msss
n and after the loss o Tennessee and Kentucky that
erase growing region Ct the Coneeeracy 10 limited to
Trsn;a and the mounlan Districts of North Caro- ina
.nsss;s and Alabama Tn re distrcts will be speedily
~hsnaed ~ the sustenance ot $50 600 and 10000
r.s ard horses Indeed il is not easy t. whether
az no cess,iy for animals the difficulty Of feeding then
;l h. source of greater dstress to the bel Govern
ment Upon ths view is it not PLAIN wise Tor US t.
Snnel them 10 vast force III virginia ID