The New York herald., 1863-10-02
The Army OF the Potomac and the Move
ments OF Lee.

The rebel authorities at Richmond are evi-
| IDENTIFY very anxious and very vigilant in refe-
| renee to the movements Of the army Of General
Meade. For example, the Richmond Examiner
| informs us that report had been officially
communicated to the War Department by Gen.
| Lee, that Howard's and Slocum's corps had
been withdrawn from Meade to strengthen
Roseorans, and that "a Yankee corps consists
of twelve or fifteen thousand men" Then we
are told that, in view Of this movement, "Geu.
Lee will act as his military judgment best die
tates."
Now, assuming this official report from Lee
to be true, we are naturally led to inquire
what line of action he will most probably
adopt. Selling the occasion of the absence o!
twenty five or thirty thousand soldiers in New
York and elsewhere from General Meade's
army, that of Lee Gncluding large portion Of
Longstreet's corps Of all arms, and we be-
| lievc, the whole Of D. H. Hills corps
from Richmond) was depleted to the extent
of at least twenty-five thousand men,
to arrest the descent of Rosecrans into Geor-
gia, to demolish him and to recapture East
Tennessee. Had Bragg succeeded in this
| grand enterprise, il must be confessed that the
army Of General Meade, instead Of being
| diminished would have needed reinforcements
| in order to hold its present position. But with
| the army Of Rosecrans still confronting him,
supported by Burnside's column, and daily re-
ceiving reinforcements, Bragg is not in con-
dition to send back even his Virginia divisions
to the support Of Lee. Thus, even with the
loss Of two corps, or three, for that matter, the
army Of General Meade is still superior to that
Of his adversary, and has nothing to fear from
him, except that he may steal of to the forti6-
cations Of Richmond, and there, depending
upon twenty or thirty thousand men, send
away to Bragg another instament of twenty
odd thousand.
We cannot imagine, however, that Meade is
in danger of being humbugged as was General
Patterson in the Shenandoah valley; but on
the contrary, we rely upon him to detect and
profit by any attempt of Lee to give him the
slip The three vital points remaining to the
rebellion occupy the three points of tran.
gle, the hypothenuse and the perpendcu
lar lines intersecting at Richmond, while the
base line extends from Charleston to Atlanta
Each OF these three points is Of vital import
arce to the rebellion; for, while the loss o
either Charleston or Atlanta cuts the commun
cations between Richmond and Georgia the
loss of Richmond with the dispersion Of the
rebel government and the instantaneous col
lapse of its fimsy, moonshine paper money
fabric disso.ves the "confederacyn at once.
Thus II is manifest that, with proper degree
OF vigilance and activity on the part Of the ad
ministraton, and on the part OF General Rose
Grams in front of Atlanta, and General Gilmore
of Charleston, and General Meade in Virginia
neither Bragg nor Beauregard, nor Lee, car
risk the experiment OF weakening himself u
strengthen either Of his colleagues The vita
forces of the rebellion are compressed to th,
narrow described triangle Of an area Of nbou
one hundred thousand square miles. All tht
military operations at any point beyond th
triangle are now mere desultory or incidental
skirmishings, always excepting Mobile, which
in manufactures and military supplies Of al
kinds, is only second to Richmond as q depo
Of the rebel armies
Let the Army Of the Potomac be kept In
front Of Lee, and while our troops on the
peninsula, with supporting gupboat acet, arc