The Placer herald., 1864-10-01
The News.

falsehoods, since the commencement of the
war, in regard to military affairs that its
statements are generally received with many
grains of allowance, by both the friends and
opponents of the Administration. AS Mr..
Lincoln has all along, depended upon the
successes of the army to render his admins.
tration popular; and at the present, more
than any previous time requires brilliant
feats of arms to sustain his waning political
fortunes; it is part of the programme to con,
tinue to trhe with the feelings of the people
by claiming anything less than defeats as
victories, and magnifyng partial successes
into great triumphs.
A careful examination Of the field, gives
no hatterng picture. The fall and winter
months are drawing on apace, when active
field operations must in a great measure be
suspended, and yet the results Of the cam
paign are undecisive, and the vertebra col
umn Of the great rebellion remains unbro,
ken.
Grant is tetore Richmond with the finest
army of the war, and vet all bis strategy is
at fault. Sherman has occupied Atlanta,
and his campaign is over for the season, and
his antagonist Hood is unconquered and un'
subdued. The campaign in Louisiana and
Arkansas has ended disgracefully to the Fed
eral arms, and the country held firmly by
them year ago, has relapsed into rebel pos
session. Last spring there was not rebel
command in Arkansas north of the town Of
Camden, in the extreme southern portion of
the State. They have since re>occupied the
whole State with the exception of a few for
tilted towns. And to. day, the ragged SOL
diers of Price, who two years ago were driv-
en- out of Missouri. are in possession of one
half of that great State, and even threaten
ming St. Louis, a city never before endanger'
ed since the war commenced
After three years and half of war, on a
scale Of unexampled magnitude. After buiJi
ing up a national debt Of untold millions,
and the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of
| ives-and after being so often assured that
the war was rapidly coming to a close, this
is far from a satisfactory condition of affairs.
1t was perhaps, this gloomy appearance
of the situation" that made sudden and
brilliant victory necessary to relieve the
Administration from the odium that was fast
settling down upon it, on account of the
failure of the present campaign in Virginia,
and hence the country is suddenly electrified
by kilograms of an unexampled victory in
the Valley of Virginia, obtained by Sheridan,
in which Early and Breckenridge were cap.
tured, ten thousand soldiers taken prison =
ers, numerous cannon and flags secured as
trophies of victory, and the rebel host utter
~ routed and demoraized. This would
certainly have ranked, as it was claimed, as
one of the most signal successes of the war,
if the glowing accounts had been corroborat'
ed. But it seems Early was not captured;
Breckenridge was on distant service; and the
rebel army, instead of being demoralized,
seems to have retired in good order, with all
its wagon trains and showing constantly
a defiant front to our army. And, as if still
further to detract from this victory, we are
now told that the guerlas have interrupted
Sheridan's communications, and we have to
rely upon rebel authority, as to his present
whereabouts. And the feeling of exultation
of few DAYS ago, is now changed to anxiety
lest the rebels have cut him off from assist
ance, and placed his gallant army in extreme
jeopardy. 1t will be recoected how, bu,
few months back, Gen. Hunter took the
same route, and pleased the country by his
tlattering dispatches Of continued victory
and how suddenly and dsastrously his expe-
diton ended, by forced retreat to the
mountains of West Virginia.
Sheridan may prove more skillful gen
eral than Hunter, and escape the snare that
be has been forced into by an Adminstra
ton that will run the desperate risk of losing
fine army in order to make political capt.
tai for the elections soon to take place.
| Has FAILED.-1he National Intelligencer
one of the most careful and moderate jour.
mails in the country, after carefully reviewing
| iha hstnru of Can l1rant's nraSanf am.