The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1863-07-30
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
The Present Position of IN
Rebellion.

N"l
OF the Union are in the ascendant. The month
Of July, 1868, will ever be memorable in Ameri-
can history, and marks a new stage in the
progress of the war. The glorious old Fourth
was ushered in by two of the greatest Union
victories OF the war, the results of which 1t IS
difficult to Over-estimate. At daylight that
morning the hardy veterans of the Vest were
marching into the rebel Sebastopol, the key OF
the Mississippi Valley, while a thousand miles
eastward, at the other extremity OF the line OF
battle. the most formidable army of the slave
Confederacy, under the ablest general, were
fleeing for the Potomac, leaving one-third of
their number on the red field Of Gettysburg.
While that terrible conflict was raging on the
eastern flank, Gen. ROsecrans in the centre was
driving before him the demOralized army Of
Bragg, and occupying the strong positions of
TullahOma and Winchester, which they had
spent months in Certifying. Thus, for once,
there is a simultaneous advance along the whole
Of a line as long as from Paris TO Moscow The
capture OF Vicksburg is one more illustration of
the : slow but sure progress won by the indom-
table perseverance and vast resources of the free
States, and is in itself a type of the whole war
The sturdy sons of the Northwest are fulfilling
Gen. LOgan's prediction, in the House Of Repre-
scntatives, that they would : hew the way to the
Gulf of Mexico with their swords"
The capture OF Vicksburg is, in almost every
point Of view, more important than the capture
of Richmond would have been, Followed, as it
will doubtless be. in a few days by that of Port
Hudson, it clears the whole Mississippi. 1t
opens an outlet for the immense products of the
West. 1t cuts the rebel Confederacy in two. 1t
=, .Io-C-a tba ka,-,aSe bI,yu tho rahalI5nn hos
received since the taking of New Orleans. JEFF.
Davis, himself, in a speech before the Legislature
of Mississippi, last fall, declared that the fate of
the Confederacy depended on their holding
Vicksburg. Besides, it forms an impregnable
basis of operations into the heart of the Cotton
States, especially as it is the terminus OF one of
the principal railroads of the South. Admiral
POrter's Iron-clad fleet can now re-enforce Farra-
gut and Banks in twenty-four hours. Gen.
Grant had been reinforced by the army of
West Missouri, under Gen. Heron, comprising
ten or fifteen thousand picked troops, and by the
ninth army corps, which entered Kentucky with
Burnside, twenty-six thousand strong, as highly
disciplined and efficient Il corps as any in the
service. His army cannot fall short of eighty
thousand effective troops, with which to rein
force Banks. demolish Joe Johnston, and Coop
crate with Rosecrans in carrying the " old flag
through the Cotton States.
Rosecrans is regarded by many as the ablest
general in the service of the United States.
Having held an immense force of rebels ut bay
for six months, and prevented them from rein
forcing Vioksburg, ne is now VIGOROUSLY advan-
cling. His van IS within 4 days march of
Stevenson, a point on the Memphis and Charles
ton Rail Road, which is but a short distance
from Chattanooga, the key of the Southern rail.
road system
1t is to be hoped that in conjunction with
Burnside, he will soon deliver the suffering
patriots of East Tennessee and North Carolina
Let them seize and occupy that mountain region,
which is like a wedge driven in the South from
Maryland to Alabama, where the Union element
of the South is chiefly found, and make it their
base of operations in the next campaign. Such
Il course was clearly pointed out both by military
and political reasons at the o pening of the war.
Gen. Lees invasion of the North was regarded
by all rejecting men as more like the throw of 4
gambler than the scientific move of a
great chess-player. Had he first crushed and dis
organized HoOker's army, he might have VEN
tured on this daring movement with some chance
OF success; but, ON the contrary, he left in his
TEAR Illt dTIuy vi lut IOIDLlit, July equal I IL
own, as Gettys5urg proved. besides Heintzel-
mans splendid corps around Washington, and
the troops which its unlimited command OF rail
roads and steamers enables the L. 5. Government
To concentrate from every part of the North.
The plan OF the rebels was known at Wash
ingtDn, from intercepted dispatches as early as
Nav 2Oth. 50 that the Federal Government had
ample warming. No better opportunity could
have been desired, and if Lees army is allowed
to get back 10 Richmond, it will be a disgrace to
the Government.
The battle at Gettysburg was probably the
most desperate and sanguinary during the war.
In particular. the struggle on Friday, in the
centre, where HancOck's corps beat back the des-
perLte attack Of Hill and LOngstreet's veterans,
supported by the fire of $50 pieces of artillery,
was no doubt one of the most terrible combats
ever witnessed. The Eleventh Corps also dis
the most heroic bravery in this battle,
and effectually wiped out the disgrace of chan
cellOrsyiIle- Both armies were impelled by the
strongest possible motives the one fighting Oh
their own soil for their homes and fresides, as
well ~ for the existence of their country, while
the other knew we'll that defeat would be certain
destruction to themselves and their cause.
The loss on both sides was greater than ut An
tietam. The latest account gives the Union loss
at IL 900, which probably includes two or three
thousand prisoners paroled by Lee. On the
hand the most reliable account gives the
numLer of rebel prisoners as twelve thousand.
u - their loss in killed and wounded will not fall
short of eighteen thousand, making a total of
thirty thousand. They lost over two hundred
stand of cOlOrs, besides a great number of can
non. miles" of baggage wagons, and thousands
of stragglers.
They still remain, however. a great and dis
host, fifty or sixty thousand strong. 1t