The New York herald., 1863-02-18


market yessssdsy -four advaaced loc.. wheat &C. D.,
and corn le, with good busness, particularly In dour
The sales kinds provisions wsre large atSsng
prices and there doing groceries and most
kinds foreign merchandise at former The cotton
market was extremely dull and prices were nominal
whiskey loss active At dropping figures The freight
engagements heavier with depression In rates
In American vessels
The Calm Before the Storm-The G6tAer-
ing Elements or the Final Struggle.
Never, since the bonbardment Of Fort Sum-
ter, has there been such general and remark
able suspension Of active hostilities as that
which now prevails, by land and water, around
the entire circle Of the rebellion. Under an
armistice, authoritatively proclaimed, this sus-
pension of battles and skirmishes, raids and
surprises, could hardly be more complete. We
hear no more Of daring and successful rebel
forays in the rear Of the Army Of the
Potomac; no more of dashing guerilla
enterprises in Kentucky and Missouri; no
more of damaging rebel depredstions upon
the trains and transports Of General Rosecrans,
since the late disastrous repulse of Forrest,
Wheeler, Morgan i Company from Fort Donel-
son. Nor, from our widely distributed land
and naval forces, from the Rappahannock west.
ward to the Mississippi, and thence down that
| great river to the sea, and thence around the
coast to Chesapeake Bay, have we heard for
several days Of any assault upon the enemy
beyond that of the chance collision Of scout
ing party.
What is the meaning Of this extraordinary
state Of things2 Are the hostile forces in this
war wesried Of their work Of slaughter and are
they falling to pieces from sheer exhaustion?--
| or are they voluntarily pausing in expectation
Of some interposing agencies Of peaceable
| accommodation Tor are the Unionists and the
rebels, here and there, quietly concentrating
their available forces for deadly and decisive
struggle? Let the enormous Union fleets and
| armies in South Carolina and in front Of Vicls-
burg, and the Army Of the Potomac, and our
army Of Tennessee, and let the Notifications
and forces opposed to them, be tho answer.
| The leaders of the rebellion have concentrated
their strength at four points: 1st, on the
heights of the Rappahannock in front Of Gene
| raj Hooker; I'd, at Charleston; Sd, at vicks-
burg; 4th, in Tennessee, in front of the army
Of General Rosecrans; and upon the repulse or
the successful defence of the enemy at these
four points depends the important question
whether this war will be ended by the present
or be transmitted as the legacy of Abraham
Lincoln to our next administration.
The rebel army of Virginia is charged with
the defence Of the capital of the so-called "Con-
federate States" General Lee remains behind
his intrenchments, watching and waiting, to re-.
sist any attempt on the part Of General Hooker
to move ION to Richmond" But General
Hooker has found his most serious impediment
to an advance in the "sacred soil Of Virginia" !"
which for two months has been, and still
continues, almost as boggy and impossible as
the Dismal Swamp We must have few sue
cessive days of dry winds on the Rappahannock
before even Fighting Joe Hooker" can move
in any direction. In the meantime, as the in
land railroad line from Washington to Rich
mond was abandoned by General Burnside to
avoid the danger Of having his transportation
cut off by rebel forays, why is it that the sixty
miles Of railroad between General Lees army
and Richmond should remain unbroken and un-
disturbed? Have we no cavalry connected
with the Army Of the Potomac equal to some
such undertaking as that so handsomely carried
out by General Carter and his troop of horse
men in East Tennessee? The capture OF Rich
mond would be blow to "the heart OF the re-
bellion." The readest way 70 reach it is to dis
lodge the intrenched army Of Lee, and the
readiest way to dislodge him is to cut him off
from the base of his scanty supplies.
The forces Of the Port Royal expedition of No
vember, 1861, might have taken Richmond by way
of Norfolk while the rebel army was at Manassas;
or, had the whole strength Of that expedition
been directed against Charleston Immediately
after the capture Of Port Royal, we have no
doubt that 1t would have been completely sue
| cessful But the Charleston of February, 1868,
| is not the Charleston of November, 1861. The
intervening time has been appropriated by the
| rebels in the erection Of . system Of defensive
works around the city which it will probably
require protracted siege, by land and water, to
reduce. Two months hence the pestilence Of
the surrounding swamps begins to poison the
air, SO that General Hunter must proceed to
business against Charleston or Savannah with
ont further delay, or he may be compelled to
leave his work half finished, to be commenced
again at the beginning, with the return Of cold
| weather.
We may, however, hear of the opening Of the
ball at Vicksburg or Port Hudson before we shall
have any news Of the bombardment of Charles
ton; and we confidently expect that, between
General Grant and Admiral Porter from above,
and General Banks and Admiral Farragut
from below, tho Mississippi river will soon
be entirely reclaimed. But with the dis
persion Of the rebels from that "inand sea" in
advance Of any decisive operations elsewhere,
it is to be, hoped that the enemy will not again
be permitted, as at Corinth. to abandon one
position in order to strengthen another, but