The New York herald., 1864-07-09


or the profoundess and most Formidable stra-
tegio military movement Of modern times.
Summing up all the reports concerning 1t Of
the last twenty-four hours. II is an invasion BY
few struggling squads Of horse thieves, intent
only upon plunder; and Il is, on the other
hand, bold dash Of two-thirds Of tho rebel
army from Richmond. under the command Of
Genera. Lee himself, resolved upon the cap
ture OF Washington. including Old Abe and hs
Cabinet, BY flank movement BY way Of Bal
timors.
A AChambersburg paper says that, Ia summing
up the information gathered from various
border sources by large corps Of reporters,
"the rebels had crossed the Potomac at no
less than twenty-four different places the pre-
vious afternoon, In columns from Ave to ton
thousand strong, and that tho main body had
not yet reached the river;" that, according to
oil these reports, ''not less than million rebels
were about to enter Pennsylvania" that they
had maintained line Of battle twenty miles
long all day Sunday on the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad;;" that they bad hrsd at the rate
of fifteen cannon shots every second, and that,
judging from the distance they were heard,
some Of the rebel guns "could not have been
less than fifteen hundred-pounders."
All that we can undertake to vouch for con-
corning this mysterious rebel invasion 10, that
General Sigel, by body Of rebels supposed to
be several thousand strong. was frightened
away from Martinsburg to Harper's Ferry, and
from that place across the Potomac to the
Maryland Heights, overlooking the town, whore
he was supposed to be secure; that q small
rebel squad has been demonstrating for ten or
fifteen miles below, along the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal and the railroad; that another squad,
pushing forward for the city Of Frederick, has
been checked and repulsed by General WAL
lace; that other detaehments Of these terrible
raiders, alleged to have been there, have dis
appeared from Hagsrstown and Chambers
burg; that General Lee 10 still In the vicinity Of
Rchmond that General Hunter is somewhere
up the Shenandoah valley, industriously search
ing for the enemy; but whether all the rebel
forces concerned in this movement against
Washington amount TO fifty thousand men or
fifteen hundred we cannot, from tho abundant
information before u.s. determine, nor tell tho
reader where they are, where they have been
all this time, what they have accomplished or
whittier bound.
II is painfully evident, however, that the
good people Of the Maryland and Pennsylvania
border counties have been frightened out Of
their wits by the oock-and-bull stories OF re-
liable gentlemen, and that general stampede
has followed, and that some Of our military
chieftains within range Of this remarkable emil
grafton of a whole skedaddliag community,
have been humhugged aud seized with tho
prevailing panic, until General Wallace, risk
ing fight for the defence Of Frederick, has
proved to what extent Q senseless panic may
be carried.
We congratulate the administration that
Washington may be considered out of danger,
aud we entertain the hope that this invisible
invading rebel army Of forty or City Thousand
men, or less. as the uay be, will fail to
gobble up the column OF General Hunter in its
retreat. We hope that Secretary Stanton will
soon be sufficiently recovered to resume his
war bulletins to General Dix, including some
reliable account OF this terrible rebel raid.
LNcoEN's PRESIDENTIAL poLcY.-It is said
that when Old Abe's friends aek him to change
his Cabinet oC MAKE some movement to insure
his election the funny joker replies as fol-
lows" In 1860 / trusted to the opposition to
Gdence that the opposition will elect me in
1854 il they think me worthy. Opposition,
gentlemen, is the soul of business. rely upon
the opposition" This is pretty shrewd OF Old
Abe. We should not wonder If the opposition
decided TO elect him for two or three terms at
once, an tie Romans did when they chose
Augustus for ten yesrs.
COMING EvEsTs.-It is generally expected
that We shall soon hsve great fighting in Vir-
gtnia and Georgia and that the rebellion will
culninate in defeat or triumph before the
November election. Before the battle Of
Waterloo decided the fate of Europe, gold,
stocks and mercantile business were in confu-
sion. Even in England, where the finances
were well managed, gold suddenly rose to
high premium. Now we stand at just such .
decisive crisis. III the administration had any
ability we might feel somc confidence in them;
but they have none. Such soldiers as Grant
and Sherman may be wasted through Lincoln's
incompetency; but wo hope that they will pull
US through.
One EFFICIENT AAN.-One Representative
from this city showed some activity in the last
Congress- Our honorable friend Mr.. James
Brooks is that man. He nosed out oil the dirty
linen in the Treasury Department, and is now
hanging Il up to dry in the columns Of the
Express. And oh, what splendid reading II 10
for the fashionable society Of Fifth avenusl
THE ErFEcr OF THE REBEL ADVANCE ON NoRrH-
rns PoILrrcs.-Ths eopperhead journals exult
over the rebel raid down the Shenandoah val
ley, and magnify IL into great invasion, like