Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-04-20
Progeess of the War---The way the
AdmtnistratiPn sSUakes a Sure
vEhinr nf.HfN

Progress of the Wharf.-The way the
AdminissraiiPn sSnakes "A Sure
OF what avail is the bow of Archilles II. hands
too feeble to bend it I Fhe. sbortive attempt 10
take Charleston after many months of elaborate
preparation is of a piece with the. whole conduct
OF the war. Ii is still the old story of enormous
expenditure and feeble results. Here wers.con.
centrated the flower of cur navy. our proudly
heralded feet of Monitors, and all the appliances
which money science, and inventiveness could
bring together, The result is a fat failure. The
idea that Charleston is 10 be again within any
reasonable time assaulted by Admiral Dupontfis
preposterous. The professed purpose. in the as
sault that has miscarried, was to make the arma-
ment so powerful and the preparations so com.
plete as to render success absolutely certain when
the job was undertaken. IL is obvious that the
fleet of iron clads cannot this summer be assisted
by hand forces SO AS TO give a better assurance Of
success than was entertained on the first attack
OF the nine iron cladS on which we placed our
main reliance four were temporarily disabled and
one totally. bestowed.
Nobody suppOses that the gallant Dupont and
his brave officers are to blame. but the admins.
tration that compelled him to incur a hazard
wholly disprOportiOned both to the chances of
success and to the value OF success had it been a.
TONED. The attack on Charleston was an enter
prise undertaken more for prestige than for solid
military reasons. IL has Shared the fate which
commonly attends difficult undertakings at a dis
proportionatv risk not sanctioned by sound iudg
ment. A twentieth part of the expense lavished
on it would have so strengthened the blockade as
to render it as efficient as a blockade can .prac-
tically be made. But except for the purpose the
blockade is intended to accomplish. to-wit, the
extinction Of rebel the present possess
sion OF Charleston would be of comparatively
little value. Until the rebellion is subdued else
where, no cotton would be furnished for exporta-
ton. and the Importance of Charleston depends
mainly on the fact that it Is the chief cotton port
on the Atlantic. The possession of its forts is
indeed highly desirable; but they we're built for
protection against hostile approaches from the
sea, and the rebel forces lie il. the other direction.
As a means of aPproaching terra frma and land
ing troops TO operate in the interior, Charleston
was not worth this great expenditure and risk. as
we had abundant access to the coast elsewhere.
Unless. therefore, the probabilities had been so
greatly in our favor as TO have made success the
same as certain, the capture OF Charleston should
not have been attempted till a later stage of the
war. whenit might have been taken from the land
side with comparatively little resistance
The country has had quite enough of Secre-
tary StantonS famous strategy Of knowing
straight upon the enemy's works, expecting them
TO fall by the exhibition of an uncalculating cour-
age. as, in the DAYS of Joshua the walls Of Jericho
fell by blowing trumpets oframs' horns. To say
nothing of Big Bethel, Balls Bluff. and James
Island, the more recent examples of Fredericks.
burg, Vicksburg, and Charleston .afford demon
STATIONS that were not needed Of the falsity OF
Stanton's dictum that courage and a bold attack
is I" n military combination that never failed"
In Gods name how much longer are the re-
sources and prestige of the country to he thus
squandered 7 Never did a patriotic people SO
ungrudgingly pour out men and treasure, and
never. since the DAYS of Xerxes. have the vigor
and success of the war been in such mortifying
dispropsrtion to the mighty magnitude OF the pre-
paratious. IL is related by Herodotus that among
the portents by which Xerxes was warned against
the ill-fated expedition into Greece, was that of a
mare, the natural mother of war steeds, bringing
forth a hare. This fabulous incident talleS "a
well with the history of Mr.. Lincoln as with that
of his satrap making prototype. The seizure of
the rebel envovs was the mother of war horses,
their surrender the birth sof the timid hare; the
same figure applies to the vapOring beginning of
the Pope campaign, and Interpolation in Wash
ington at its close; to the sounding promises and
slender performances at licksburg to the mighty
results promised aud the no results realized from
the emancipation proclamation. and. in tatt, to
ihe whole operations of the war, both in their en-
sembIe and in their details.
The administrator has constantly held out
that it was about to make n sure thing OF sue
cess. When. in an early stage of the war. an
enormous army, halfa million strong. was called
for. the argument in its favor was one of ecOnO-
nv. 1t was better, so the authorities told us. to
incur "a great expense and crush the rebellion al
once. than TO operate with a smaller force, and
allow the war 10 spread oyertwO or three years
The ideIwas to call out a force so Overp0wering
that nothing. could stand it. The rebellion. forsa
long time after this enormous levy, was always
within ninety DAYS of it, extinction. Finally. one
wear ago, "A promise of this kind was made by
Secretary Stewards agents IN Europe TO the i'm
patient foreign powers; but when the time was
up. the Government suddenly discovered that il
needed more than twice the soldiers il had al
ready in the field. A vast levy of three hundred
thousand men was ordered, and, to make the sue
cess DeTfectLg sure, there was an immediate add
tional call for another three hundred thousand by
draft for nine months, within which time this re-
bellion would. beyond all peradventure, be crush
ed out. The reason for these vast leyieS was the
same as at first: IL was better to exert the whole
strength of the nation ut once, than to permit the
war TO be protracted for another year. The time
for about half this. great lew is about TO expire,
and no progress whatever has been made since it
was called for We have had the wholesale
butehery at Fredericks burg repeated r~epulses
and utter failure at Vicksburg and now the NOR
tifying repulse at Charleston. We hold no more
of the Rebel territory than we did on the day the
first three hundred thousand were called for, at
the pretended instance of tie Governors OF the
loyaI States The Governors urged (in obedi-
ance to an animation FROM Washington that
these mep should be raised to speedily crush
the rebellion" The President. in his reply, said:
81 entrnst thew may be enrolled without delay.
so as to bring this unnecessary and injurious civil
war TO a speedy conclusion Today the speedy
conclusion. so often heralded from Washington,
seems further off than everIN. Y. World.