Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-07-07

NAsHtNGTOSs July =, lcO4.
There is reason to fear that the recent dash of
Col. Mosby on ihe Baltimore aud Ohio railroad,
near Harper's Ferry, i the precursor OF an expe-
ditiOn in that direction on a much larger scale.
No damage whatever was done 10 the road or
track on this occa son and all the trains ere run
ninga usual. 4 large force of militia under
Gen. Slge i employed in guarding the road.
This force is amply adequate a. long as the Con-
federates make no attempt TO damage the road,
but they would be utterly pOwerless 10 prevent
the destruction or dozen miles OF the track,
three four of the most important points on the
line, II Gen Lee should order that to be done
The fact il. defend this road against all posi-
bility of damage. requires the presence, on line
Of ten miles south OF IT, of veil disciplined force
OF 30 900 Troops, under a skiiful general
This affair WIS reconnOisance; simply that
and nothing more. Col. MOsby. with abou; FIVE
thousand men, has beeuin the Shenandoah val
ley ever since Sigel's defeat near New Market on
the 18th of Nav Gen. Lees plans require that
he be kept correctly Informed in regard TO the
actual state of affairs in that part OF Virginia,
, and this is Mosby's business The dash on the
road in this instance was made by about 200
men with battery Of light feld pieces They
were prepared to encounter force of 600 or 500
men, but they only met about sixty of our men.
These they gobbed up and retired, the object of
the reconnaissance having been effected
twill not have escaped your notice that great
many of the Republican newspapers are attack
ing General Grant, in underhand. covert,
sneaking kind OF a way, il is true. for that very
prominent trait in bis military character, to which
| have frequently alluded, namely, his utter dis
regard of the lives of his soldiers. When Grant
began this campaign against Richmond, il was in
his power To have brought the whole army to
Bermuda Hundred, and to have commenced the
campaign against Richmond from that point
without the loss of "A man That indeed was his
plan. He abandoned his own plan aud adopted
that OF Mr. Lincoln of an overland campaign.
and caused thereby loss to the army of 10000
men before he~gOt TO his present position, and
all solely to crafty the President. And now,
to show the workings of the little mind of
Abraham Lincoln he is causing his owns news
papers to attack Gen Grant in the manner
have indicated For ] have ascertained that
these attacks on Grant, although they first ap-
pear In papers distant from the capital owe their
/ origin to letters that written here by the
Presidents most intimate friends, either with
their own hands, or at their dictation. Their
aninius is inspired by the President himself The
secret Of the matter is this:
The campaign against Richmond is hopeless.
/ Gen. Grant has never before been confronted
with General OF real genius. In Gen Lee he
/ finds soldier far superior to himself in all the
qualities that 60 to make up great General. In
this campaign. with an army far inferior in
number TO ours, Gen. Lee has out Unanswered
and out-generaled Grant in every flank move
ment, and in every change of base that the latter
/ has made In the present instance, the ReDub
can papers alluded to, taking their cue from the
White House, are abusing General Grant. be
cause he does not make Lee come out of his
| Entertainments and fight in the open field. Ii Is
Just here that Gen. Lee has the advantage over
our armies. We cannot compel him to fight
where he does not choose to, and we never
have been able 10 compel him to do so This is
the secret of the great dsproportion of our
losses TO those of the Confederates; a dispro-
portion admitted both bv Gen Grant and Gen.
Sherman in their dispatches. Our men, com
/ PEELED to advance towards strong Notifications.
are moved down by the long range guns of the
Confederates like grass before the scythe. The
! latter. secure behind their works suffer scarcely
| any loss Gen. Grant is not to be blamed pri-
marily for this. 1t is the inevitable result of
such a war as that into which the people have
been nveigled; a of invasion; war in
! which all the advantages are on the side of the
Confederates, and all the disadvantages on our
| side
Mr. Lincoln has been made at last to compre
bend this. The paramount consideration with
him in his reelection The defeat of our army
before Richmond will sadly compromise his
pros poets of success unless il can be made to
appear that that defeat is not owing to him, but
4 to Grant alone Hence his eager disclaimer at
the beginning of the campaign, of having any
personal responsibility for it; hence his prOfessed
anxiety for Grants success, expressed in his
stump speech at the Philadelphia fair; hence his
personal efforts to secure the repeal OF the $500
commLtation, in order that he may have the
means to raise instantly fresh army of a million
of men after the one now in the field has been
sacrificed; and hence these attacks of the Repub-
lican press upon Grant l. not the game deep
one? MALCOLM