The Ohio Democrat. [volume] (Canal Dover, Ohio) 1840-1900, 1863-04-10
The War--What IS the Adminis-
frnfiOm AhOutl

fact may be embarrassing to Mr.. Chase;
but it hardly needs an explanation The
..'great expectations" of the country some
weeks ago of substantial victories close
at hand over the armed forces of the re-
bellion have come to nothing. The ops
erations against Vicksburg and Port
Hudson thus far have resulted only in
failures, losses and disappointment
Our land and naval forces assigned p
the work Of reducing Charleston and Sa-
vannah appear to be waiting for some,
thing to turn upn in their favor in some
other quarter, and General Hooker still
remains fast in the mud on the Kappa
hannCck ~. t..H4
East and West our fleets and armies
remain stationary, or are bafled in all
their aggressive movements. We are
supposed to have an army Of seven huu-
dred thousand men in the field, andfrom
four to Eve hundred vessels Of war of all
sorts. How are these tremendous forces
bestowed 2 For while itappears that the
army of Gen. Banks may be too weak to
make deliberate assault upon the rear
of Port Hudson, and while General
Grant, in the absence of an overwhelm.
ing pressure of troops, is compelled to
resort to all sorts of tedious experiments
of strategy against Vicksburg, it also ap-
pears that General RoSecrans, so far
from being able to advance, is really in
some danger from the possibility of an
attack by rebel army vastly superior in
numbers to his own. We infer that
President Lincoln is satisfied that in the
aggregate he has soldiers enough, from
the fact that he has not taken single
step to. strengthen his armies through the
Conscription act; but still the unsatis-
factory reports from the South Of the
last few days are beginning to create the
impression in the public mind that the
campaign Of this spring and summer
willfall lamentably short of the promises
of the government and. the late reason,
able expectations of the country,
We were amused fer some time with
the idea that the rebels were about to
evacuate Vicksburg; buttbat conjecture
is at length set ut rest. Next we are
told that it is the opinion of General
Dix, at Fortress Monroe, that the rebels
at Richmond are actually engaged in the
preliminary business which indicates
their evacuation of their Confederate
capital. Deserters from the rebel army
are reported as bringing some positive
intelligence to this effect. Gen. Hooker,
however, it is said, has no faith in these
wonderful reports; and he is in posi-
tion to know whether there is or is not a
rebel army Of some magnitude on the
opposite hills of the Rappahannock. =
The simple truth is that Richmond, in
the East, and Vicksburg and Port Hud
son, in the West, are the most important
Of the strongholds Of the rebellion, and
that they will not be evacuated without
stubborn resistance. ....' 80.
Had General Mcclellan last fall been
allowed to remain even a week longer at
the head of the ARMY of the Potomac
be would, in oil probability, have cleared
the way to Richmond; for while he was
close upon the rear Of Lee, on the east
erD flank of the Blue Ridge, he had
Jackson on the western side cut off, with
the occupation by our troops of the
mountain passes through which only he
could come to the timely support Of Lee.
That golden opportunity, however, hav-
I ing been lost, it may be useless to dwell
upon it. We are called upon to deal
with the matter as it now stands Why
does not General Hooker advance? We
remember the outcry that was raised last
spring against. the inactivity of McClel-
Ian. What are the causes, then, which
still detain General Hooker on the Rap.
pahannock, ,swhen he eboasts himself that
he has "the finest army on the planel?"
We think it likely that he is detained by
the superior powers at Washington, and
they are'pursuing military policy which
it is vain for ordinary mortals to attempt
to comprehend. 't
We can not discard the suspicion that
the railing powers of the Cabinet have
been devoting too much of their atten.
tion Of late to the petty spring elections
of Rhode Island and Connecticut, and
too little to the active business Of the
war, for the accomplishment of any i'm.
portant.results. But as little Rhode Is.
land has atlength disposed of her elec-
tion difficulty, and as Connecticut will
shortly do 80, may we not hope that an
active prosecution Of the war, including
q Monitor or two in the Mississippi riv.
er, will then be undertaken We would
respectfully ask of President Lincoln
himself, is not this reasonable demandl
N Y Herald, April l.. .,.