Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1862-1865, 1863-12-30
rHECONsFITUFION-sTAFR RIGHTS
RICHMOND WHIG.
WEDNESDAY MORNING, DEC. 80, 1858.
The War.


az am fully aware OF the great anxiety in the public
mind that something should be DONE am IN receipt OF
many ettsrs from per ons in high positions, tell
.ng me had better have my army destroyed and the
country filed up with the bodies OF the soldiers than TO
remain inactive.
The above Is an extract from letter Of General
Meade TO friend 10 Newark New Jersey, written just
before the last movement of the Army Of the POtouso.
We regard these sentences as having peculiar sgnA.
cancy. The Yankees q restless, mereurisl people
who eagerly and devOur the most extravagant and
exaggerated accounts which alone are allowed TO be
published, of their military successes. Their highest
NIL aIy officer, hs Major. General Of Liars announced
a. the beginning Of the war the policy of claiming
through their press victory, whatever the result, in
every engagement He understood thoroughly the
people he was dealing with and the policy he announced
aas been fully and successfully adhered TO. Papable
aad undeniable have been satisfactorily smooth
d over as strategic movements chaDgs o. base, or
ne timely securing of a stronger posi- ion from which
70 advance more effectively. But acion is requisite to
lppease their morbid craving for exciting incident
Oae Of their highest generals is notified from per-
ons in high positions that the publ, mind is anxioui
hat something should be DONE that it would be b't.er
. have an army destroyed than TO remain inactive.
Whatever may have been policy a. earlier stages
o. the war it is now Incumbent upon US to assume
purely defensive attitude. We should guard all vital
points of the cluntry protect as far as We can all mel
ac1i terrtory mu py obstacles and retard the enc
my at every delensble position his ine of advance
Active datachments lowering about his camp watching
hiu with unrelA1ing vigilance could cut OF his straggers
nd forsgers and weaken him by firing him in useless
marches and countermarcaes. He has already lost
yearly all the advantages moral and political OfoHensVe
warfare. Our people, If any ever Uavered, are now
thoroughly united against him. We have enlisted and
raiued for war armies equal in efficiency il no; in
numbers, to his. Though wagng our sol it does
ot augmen. his resources bus he has to draw all his
uppl es from his own soil Nor own resources
diminished by loss of territory commemorate with their
ievelopemens by ths war. In deepening the lines Of
is A.Ousi country, his position only becomes
a. every step more hazardous His armies have in
every case exasperated the inhabitants even where IA
voraby inclined 10 him, when they have advanced on
oar SOIL and the spirit of hostility, which they expCc ed
20 promptly TO conciliae orcrush, has settled 10 desp
rooted rancor. Even the negroes, for whose svoWed
benefit the war is prosecuted, shun them and in
some instances have brokea into open hosites.
The progress of this war has illustrated Wba. military
his Ory teaches elsewhere that the lines Of hostile
operations and the principal battle field, have been
asay the same in successive oampaigns This results
from the natural features Of the ground and is subj
no sud len change It is upon these lines and points
hat we should place such obstacles may retard aud
st.er, and also enleebls and dquet the enemy. But
in addition we should be always awake and in motion;
We should be never unprepared for either attack de-
W. m him
md lose none where we might ioaota telling blow upon
aim Defensive war does not preclude attack
ing There occur favorable moments, when enfeebled
~ deachments and losses by.prva tons and fatigue,
% assume the OH.nsve may shake by its vigor and
address the moral as well as the PHYSICAL force Of the
Invader.