The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1864-06-24
An English View of Men and Things
in America.
Co,resDoadpce Of the Loadoa Times

newsboys. The word victory" in large type
! stands at the head OF the faring columns of
the second third, fourth, fifth aud tenth editions
! Of the newspapers and in still larger letters,
! that be who runs may read, at the corners of
streets, where the bulletins of battles are exhib-
| tied to the crowd but victory nevertheless is
not achieved, and seems as distant as ever
/ Hitherto the march of Grant-though, if it be
ultimately successful, it will be considered her.
| oic-is the advance of a piece of mechanism
| He sees no obstacle, and goes bindly and ruth
| Iessly on. He trusts to nothing but superior
numbers and hard fighting. The lives Of his
| men are Of 10 value. He throws them away
, by thousands to gain half a mile OF Jungle. lie
| has pushed on for five leagues, and pald about
| 5000 lives for each At every step ne fights
at disadvantage, on the ground OF the enemys
/ choosing. But he fights. His men are picked
off by unerring sharpshooters from behind every
tree, but his order is still to push forward. His
| Generals fall as if they were of no more account
than private soldiers. Up to Tuesday evening,
| the seventh day of the conflict, he had lost l3
of them in killed, wounded, and prisoners, and
at least 45 900 men. This loss IS admitted by
! friends and admirers, while others are inclined
| to add fifteen thousand to that enormous esti-
| mate But still he holds his way uudaunted
seeing nothing, caring for nothing, bat Rich
mond. which, if he ever reach upon the terms
! Of these seven days, he viii reach without so
much as u body guard-a solitary prisoner
| The havoc committed on his ranks Is sickening
to reflect upon. Une New York regiment, the
pride of the city, which long since marched
| down Bro oadway amid Haunting banners, wav-
inc kerchitf'S, loud huzzas, and the music Of
drum and Fl fe, suffered so terribly that out of
its full complement but four officers and fifteen
men were left after half days fighting. Whole
| brigades have lost their officers and twO-thirds
of their rank and ifle, and, having none to lead
them, have been incorporated with other bri-
pades, only less cruelty decimated than them
selves in having brig&dier left to recognize their
shattered remnants And all this time the des-
perate struggle has only been waged on the out
skirts of the Confederate works, and IN such
positions as General Lee would peTter to see an
enemy in whom he wished to annihilate.
But it is all one to General Grant. With the
subEmitv of genius, or of madness (the fortune
Of war mnst determine which) he has declared
to Mr.. Stanton, who has communicated the
news to the public, ''That he will 90 to Rich
mond bv that Jine, If it takes him all the sum-
mer to do it, ImpuIsive, and easily led, as
the people are, and apt 10 be astonished at moth
ing they are astonshed at this audacity. They
do not know how TO account for it on any other
supposition than that G rant is the greatest as
well as most daring Generals whom the world
ever saw, and are content to wait a little longer
for the results before they change their opinion.
But the voice of waling and lamentation is heard
in too many thousand of households in this and
all the cities of the North to permit unqualified
] | appreciation of a system OF war so costly as
this or to silence the buzz of adverse criticism.
If Grants army, instead OF throbbing, think
ING mass of human begins, were but an aggiom-
erahor of steel and Iron-a monster steam en-
CINE cunningly put together for the purposes of
destruction, It's driver could not more deliberate
ly urge it forward in its pitiless career. People
begin to ask themselves what will happen, if,
after all, the machine shall be dashed TO pieces
by the obstruction that It viii have to butt a.
5 gainst if It continue to advance. They ask in
vain. No one can answer, or no one will, eX-
cept by a shrug of the shoulders and look of
resignation.
Amid all the terrible excitement of the war
news it is easy to perceive there is an under
current of deep feeling. The people are not so
vaingIorious as formerly. They are not so GER
tain of victory as they have been on previous
d occasions and the brilliant strategy of Lee and
: the uncomfortable heroism of the Southern army
; extort admiration on every side. The fact is
that the North, even in this day of extremity,
is proud of the noble qualities exhibited by the
Southern army and people, and feels, possibly
not for the first time, mlsglving that the war
was a mistake, and that if 1t were possible for
the North and South to shake hands, and to be
to each other as once they were, 1t would be a
= glorious privilege and blessing TO both Of them.
Never before did the Peace party speak cut 50
boldly, and SO many agree with them. Even
Mr.. Wendell Philips, as blatant war trumpc-
ter as the land ever produced, iuclines his heart
to better impulses. No living American orator
is so eloqent as this gentleman. He Is as direct
as Mr. Bright as calm as Mr.. Cobder, as per-
d suasive as Mr. Gladstone, elegant as Lord
5 Carie, and when occasion demands can be as
fiery as Lord Derby.
His language is the purest English, without
the slightest faint of the Yankee idiom or accent
y or the least approach TO American slang. He
never 'tspeaks 10 Buncombe," or INDUCES in the
rhodomontade which his countrymen call "spread
- eaglesm." His satire cuts like the polished
razor, and draws blood with the scarcely per-
ceptible touch that shows the thorough master
of the instrument. If he seldom condescends
to be passionate, and loses in this respect some
of the power which he might otherwise WELD
over miscellaneous multitude, he makes amends
for the defect, if it be one, by a wealth of illus
tration and a cogency of argument that show
the full mind and the trained intellect, and COM
pei admiration, if they do not carry conviction.
He has, as IS well known, been among the most
rabid Of the supporters of the war, though he
r. has never been much of friend to the Govern
ment by whose agencies it has been conducted