Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-04-06
Special Correspondents Of the Chicago Times.I

The President, il seems, has at last found a Fry
ing pan for General Burnside. IL is now stated
that he has been sent West with his old army
corps, to take charge OF matters in Kentucky and
Tennessee, and either TO supersede Rosecrans, or
to command jointly with him Ii this statement
should prove correct, / predict the failure of the
whole campaign in those. two States, the defeat
Of our armies there, the expulsion of all the
Union forces from Tennessee and Kentucky, and
the repossession of both of those States by the
Confederates. / have not much faith in Rose
Grams as n General. But, for q command like
that, Burnside has literally no capacity at all. He
will fail, and fail miserably. / know the man,
and / know it will be so.
General Joseph E. Johnston, who is in COM
mand of the whole Confederate military depart
ment of the West, is a General who stands in the
first rank as a brilliant scientific strategist. He
has so arranged the defenses OF Vicksburg and
Port Hudson that those places will be found i'm
pregnable TO the forces we have sent against them;
and the Mississippi. therefore, will remain closed.
Having done this. General Johnston, with his
staff, has now gone to Tullahoma. in Tennessee,
about seventy miles southwest of Nashville, from
which point, in a few days. he will commence the
spring campaign against RosecraDs. He has,
according to the most reliable accounts, a force
of us 900 troops. Rosecrans. il left alone and
properly supported, may succeed in battling his
designs. If Burnside interferes with him, all is
lost.
The reconnoisaHces of the Confederate army
near this city continue, and are executed with the
utmost GOODNESS and system. In the afternoon of
the 23d inst. quite a large accommodating party,
composed of cavalry, approached our outposts
near Chantilly, twenty miles westof Washington;
and, not content with accomplishing their recon-
noisance, they also drew our forces there into a
skirmish of some magnitude. Our men were first
led into an ambuscade, and, while there, they re-
ceived an enflading FIRE from a part of the enc
my's troops in ambush. The Union troops of
course had to retreat; but. before this movement
could be executed, we had lost ten or twelve men
killed, twenty wounded, and a Lieutenant aud
seven men taken prisoners. The enemy pursued
our retreating force for a distance of two and a
half miles. By this time, however, intelligence
of the affair had reached some General, ard a
brigade of troops was put in motion for the scene
of action. The enemy seeing the strong force
approaching, stopped their pursuit and rejoined
their maiu body. who are probably at Warrenton
or Aide. The official account says that our
brigade " pursued the enemy for eight miles,
when (the enemy being more numerous than we
were, and the horses of our force being exhaust
ed ri the column returned to Chantilly." The
official account also states that "our loss was one
man killed, one wounded, and one taken prisoner.
while the loss of the enemy was much grerter- "
/ appeal to your readers, whether we have ever
been engaged with the enemy in a skirmish of
this kind, that the official account did not state
TIN 'our loss was one man killed, one wounded.
and one prisoner, while the loss of the enemy was
much greater"
Thus Is the National Capital daily insulted by
the presence of Confederate troops in its envi-
rons. Mr.. Lincoln purposely declared; on the LIST
of January last, that ''he was going to conduct
the management OF the war himself now" and
this is one specimen of the way he manages it.
He cannot even protect his troors from capture
within twenty miles of his own domicil- Nor is
this all. He has such a superabundance Of troops
here that he has begun to send them away to dis
tant points. The National Intelligencer, of yes
terday. good authority always, states officially
that the whole of the 9th Army Corps. General
Burnside's old corps, have been detached from
the Army OF the Potomac, brought up to the
city, IN Il have been sent to the West. and that
they passed through Baltimore on the oath, on
their wav to their destination. | do not know
this fact on my own knowledge. | state it on
the authority | have named, which is good
enough authority for any one. What a spectacle
is here presented The Army of the Potomac
being broken up, and its fragments being sepa-
rated to distant points. True, this particular
corps does not properly constitute a part of the
regular army of the Potomac which gained such
deathless Iaurels in the Peninsular campaign.
i ne ftDSeuCt u tue u OOIpc VII 10 Dt ltil Dl
the army. But how unwise it j. thus to send
away troops from Washington. when there are
not enough here to preventsuch disgraceful raids
as the one above described.
/, Gen. Lee is extending his reconnaissance to all
parts of our lines. On the Pad inst. Gen. Stuart,
with a large body of cavalry and light artillery,
marched on the west side OF the Kittocktan Noun
tains, from Aide to Leesburg, a distance of %
miles, and from Leesburg fifteen miles further,
-. l. - - - IL e.
miles east at Harper's Ferry, and about thirty
miles northwest of this city. Having effected the
object of the reconnaissance the Confederate
troops quietly returned TO AldIe, a distance of
thirty FIVE miles, unmolested by our forces. In
telligence of the exploit, however, was tele
graphed by the commandant at Harper's Ferry to
Mr. Lincoln. The official organs account of the
affair states that Measures were instituted tc
capture any Rebel force that may be in that po-
sition." ! need scarcely add that none of the
Rebel forces have been captured. Mr.. Lincoln's
measures to lock the stable door are always in
stituted after the horse has been stolen. and they
never amount to anything.
Apropos of Mr.. Lincoln, it is admitted here on
all hands that the portrait drawn of him by Hon.
Mr.. Conway, the Republican member from Kan
sas, duplicates his character to the life. 'In'
forming a judgment of the probable result of the
was" says this very eloquent Representative,
our ml>take was III not giving atteitiOu 10 the
character of our Chief Executive Magistrate.
Mr. Lincoln is evidently not the man for the oc-
casipn. He cannot help himself. His system is
deficient. The revolution which he i required to
conduct is contrary To the laws which govern
him to his whole organization. his physical and
moral constitution. his training, ls process of
thought, his temperament. He cannot compre-
henl or appreciate it The idea of Il Northern
nationality is hateful to him. He is "a politician
of a past age. But we are now in "A new world,
and all such politicians as he are a hindrance and
a calamity. This is the reason he war is a fail
ure. The President has perverted the war to de
feat it."
These were bold words to be spoken in this day
Of bastiles and arbitrary arrests. Yet let me aGd
a few words more from Edmund Burke. in order
to make the picture complete:
Heaven in the depths OF its wisdom. folerates
all sor : Of things. But | cannot conceive any
existence under heaven that is more truly odious
than an imDutent, helpless creature, without civil
wisdom or military skill. without "A Consciousness
of any qualification for power. calling for battles
which he is not to fight. calling for a violent
domination which he can never exercise, and sat
isied to be himself miserable in order to render
Others wretched."
Thus wrote Edmund Burke in l777. Was he
a prophet that he could thus foresee the character
of the mau who gravely enunciated the PROPOSE
ton that it is easier to pay nothing than to pay
something? x.
ssrhe Affair at Bloomington"
We see an article under the a owe caption,