Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-09-18

friends of the Union approve bis entire
course. Justice towards the gentlemen
named, as we'll as the desire topEeserve
the Union organisation of our county pure,
demands the re election of john 81. Atkin-
son as Senator, and Col. Crawford Repre-.
sentative in the House of Delegates Of
West Virginia. Then, Union men, let us
move together, To neither Of these gen.
tlemen has there appeared any Opposition,
nor in this critical junct1re of affairs do
we think it would be wise to hazard the
Union cause by eight over 80 important
| matter. HANCOCK.
The Decline and FAN OF the Great
| V, i'- Rebellion.
From the'New York Times.
The time has now come when even the
most cautious and critical can safely look
forward to a speedy termination of the
war. We have ourselves in our treatment
of military affairs, continually judged it
best to take due note of the strength Of the
rebels aud their cause. Snd We have on q
thousand occasions felt Il 70 be our duty
to moderate the ardor or undo the illusions
Of the public by consideration of the vast
ness of the task involved IN the subiuga-
ton of the revolted States. Bnt.we rejoice
to believe that the worst of the business
is now over. Without losing sightof what
/ yet remains to be done, We can still see
our sOgy out Of il. 1t is Of course vain at
tempting TO anticipate the exact duration
of the war; but everything justifies the
belief that the end Of the year will see its
close, and it is certainly fair to believe
that the expiration of the three years
term of service for which our army Of
volunteers enlisted, will witness the task
for which they took the field glotiously
finished by the complete crushing of the
Great Rebellion.
A double process Of exhaustion aud
hard bloWs-the force-pump and what ME,,
Lincoln, in homely. phrase, called Npegs
giug away at the rebelliohn-is the means
by which this result will DE brought about,
as we see it to have been The means by
which all the preparatory results thus efaE
have been brought about. Neither ot ithesel
perhaps, is sufficient of ITSELF both
combined are fast reducing the tebel llioa
to nonentity. fAt the comtheneetnent ri
the war, it-#as common belief that wi
out striking blow, We sho d be abs TO
stdrvs out the rebellion. This was 4 mis-
take. But, after discovering that It was q
mistake, people we're disposed.tc go to the
other extreme of throwing it sGnt of the
calculation altogether. We first oVerrated
and then moderated this element Of the
problem. But no man can look at the
present territory of the so-called "Confed-
eracy," without seeing that its steady re-
duetion by the advance of our arms has
by diminishing the means of supplying
their armies, been striking at the very vi.
tails of their cause.
The brilliant victories of the summer
campaign of 1868 have twice bisected the
rebel territory-frst, in the severance of
the region west of the Mississippi from that
east Of 1t; and, secondly, by the capture,
by Gen; Rosecrans, of the great mountain
system of Tennessee, which runs like q
wedge into the very heart of the Coufed-
eracy. It can now be said of the Confed-
eracy that it is ''out of joint"-a phrase
applicable not less materially than moral
". From this condition spring results of
the vastest Importance. There are animals
Of the simpler structures which admit of
being divided and still preserve the vttali-
" of their individual parts; but societies,
like the higher forms of life, depend for
their vitality on strict cohesion and cor.
relation Of the members. And especially
is this the case with society in state of
war. While the integrity;of their territory
and the continuity Of their lines of COM
mpnication were'still preserved, the rebels,
by the facilities of interior lines, were
able with great rapidity to throw their
forces from one theatre ofwar to another
and, by the master secret Of concentration,
do great Thugs. But concentration 10 now
out of the question. except by forever SUR
rendering everything bat the spot on
which they stand, The possession by the
Union army of the salient angle of the
great line of rebel Communications at
Chattanooga, renders hepcefoFth imPossi-,
BILE those feats OF military missing, East or
West, which have gained them some of
their most decided victories. The sever
auce of the trans Mississippi region cuts
them off from those running fountains Of
beef they possessed in the herds of Texas.
1t is not too much to say that five shOnld
sinply content ourselves with. holding the
territory and lines we now hold, we have
a tourniquet round the throat of the rebel
lion under whose construction II must sink
down exhausted and dead. .rJai &
But we shall not content ourselves with
this means alone. We shall deal moro and
harder blows At. the armed force Ia the
field. Weshall destroy, wound and cap
ture their men; we shall demOraliEe their ar
by defeats. The task before US in this re-
spect is perfectly well defined. The rebel
Chiefs, by their double conscriptiOn, have
swept into the army every man capable Of
bearing arms. Il Is utterly impossible for
them to raise another army. We have,
therefore, simply TO destroy the force now
in the field, The progress IN this respect
is, thus far, ,most gratifying. Three emonths
ago there were three great rebel armies in
tie ield-the army in Virginia under Lee,
the army in Tenuesse under Bragg, the
army in Mississippi under Johnston and
Pembertou. The two latter may be said
now not to exist. + Johnston is to-day
eonfessedly unable to raise ten ttoltsand
armed men ID the whole department be
commands. Bragg s,fotce is q routed and
tidemoraIized mob, which has for the past
three mo6thS been aeseftipg at the rate Of