Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-07-03


We have reports from the peninsula, and
also from Richmond, that General Dix is
about to attack the rebel capital. 1t is said
that the position at Suffolk has been given up,
and that all the troops in Gen. Dix's depart
ment have been concentrated in the vicinity
of Richmond. In the rebel capital there is
great excitement and busy preparation for the
battle. Meanwhile, at the north there is
doubt and speculation in regard to these
movements, some thinking it questionable
policy to employ large force against Rich
mond at the present time, while there is so
much use for federal troops in Maryland and
Pennsylvania, and others saying it NAV
be well to scare the rebels at Richmond
aud prevent their sending more men to Lee
even if the place be not captured. We have
nothing to explain the real intentions of Gen.
Dix; nor have we been told everything that
has taken place in that quarter. There GER
tainly has been the show of an active, reso-
lutte and threatening movement towards Rich
mond; but who in this part of the country can
tell precisely what it means, or knows how
many men are now engaged in it?
Few who give attention to what is going on
in Maryland and Pennsylvania would not re-
sble be spared from South Carolina, North
Carolina, and General Dix's department,
have been sent to the aid of General
Meade's army. 1t is felt that the most impor-
for tbinr 70 no 1ana ct tba mt irnn is fn
defeat, and not only defeat but annihilate, the
rebel army under Gen. Lee, and that every
man that can be spared in the departments we
have named should be summoned to that
work. The men who direct our military af-
fairs must feel this ; and do we know that
they have not done what seems so important ?
The movements Of our troops have not been
reported We have not been told what has
been done to strengthen the forces that are
operating against Lee, nor can any of us say
how large or how small, to-day, is the force
with which Gen. Dix is soaring Richmond out
of its wits. But while we know little or moth
ing about these matters, we are at liberty to
hope that the wisest and best policy has been
adopted, and that the force now operating
against Lee is as strong as it is possible to
make it,
1t must be plain enough to everybody, and
therefore, cannot escape attention at Wash
ington, that the most direct method of cap
turing and holding Richmond is to destroy the
army with which Lee has invaded Pennsylva-
mia. Destroy that army, and all Virginia, as
well as North and South Carolina, will imme-
be no power to prevent it. The rebellion
would be substantially crushed by such
blow. The destruction of that army is so i'm
portant, and with the proper force so sure,
under present circumstances, that we
cannot believe that the government has
failed TO employ against it all the force
that could be so readily brought to the work
from the peninsula and the Carolinas. We
have seen one faint intimation that troops
have been sent northward from South Caro-
lima, and we know that some troops from
North Carolina have gone to Maryland. We
have been in motion, going somewhere,-to
Richmond, public report says, and this may
or may not be true to the full extent of the
representation. If a portion of that force has
not been sent to Maryland or Pennsylvania,
we think it has not been employed as the &C.
casion requires. We are told that all the
troops OH the upper Potomac have gone tc
General Meade's army, leaving Maryland
Heights dismantled; and it is unreas enable to
suppose that any other possible reinforcement
of his army has been omitted.
Therefore we expect good news from the
present campaign against the rebels under
Gen. Lee. There will undoubtedly be some
desperate fighting; but Lee has ventured
so far away from his supplies of ammunition
and SO exposed his army to attack, that such a
force as the government can employ against
him will secure his destruction.