The New York herald., 1864-06-18

Sschmona-tns Pressos csm~an ndsas
Position or Ge.ersl Grant The Ena
Near at Ssaad.
The removal of the Army OF the Po!omae
from tie north side Of The Chickahominy to the
south side of the james river places Geoe1e'
Grant in most admirable position for decisive
work against Les's shattered aud diminished
army and the rebel capital.
The capture OF Petersburg Of Itself Is sn i'm
portant step towards the reduction Of Rich
mond; tnt 1t is only Jan item among the many
from tho north to the south side Of the city
First, the transfer Of his srmy from the deadly
swamps aud jungles of the Chickahominy to the
dry. rolling, healthy country between Peters-
burg ard Richmond is . matter for general
congratulation. Secondly, the entire army Of
General Butler. powerful reinforcement. has
TINS been added to the Army OF the Potomac,
together with the iron-cIads and guuboats Of
Admiral Lee-anotheY tremendous reinforce
ment, Thirdly, In transferring his base OF
supplies to the James river, General Grants
active army is again practically reinforced to
the extent OF the fifteen or twenty thousand
men relieved from the duty Of guarding the
railroads and common highways used on the
Chickahominy for transportation purposes
But, most important Of all, in . strategical
view, General Grant. with tho magnificent
army which ho has now concentrated imme-
diate'y under his eye on the south side Of the
James river, at once cuts of Richmond from all
the Southern railroad lines through which the
city and Lees army are fed from day to day.
Lee must. then, make up his mind very
soon either to give battle, in order
to reopen his communications with his
sources of subsistence, or to abandon
Richmond undar cover Of the night. in order to
save bis army; for If he attempts the expert
ment Of shutting himself up behind his foreG
cations, like Pemberton, hs will inevitably SUI
fer the fate Of Pemberton. We think 1t highly
probable that Lee will repeat his old trick o!
Antietam, Gettysburg and Wi,liainsport-a
basty evacuation between two days-carryiag,
this time, JEFF. Davis and his Cabinet along
with him (the rebel Congress, taking time by
the forelock, have already cleared out), and
that he will move off up the James river, on
the north side, along the canal, towards Lynch.
burg, which is the only route Of escape likely to
furnish subsistence for his army.
General Lee would have now the opportu-
nifty for stealing march upon Washington, if
he only had the means and facilities for moving
in tha. direction. But all tho railroads to the
north and northwest from Richmond have been
so seriously broken up By Generals Grant and
Mosby that Il will take thousands of men
and months Of labor to repair them; and
+ they were not broken up they would
be useless to Lee with the whole intervening
country between Richmond and Waahi ngton
exhausted OF its provisions Take for instance,
the Shenandoah valley. In 1868, In advance Of
hin Northern aggressive movement from the
Rspidan, General Lee established convenient
depots Of provisions, from point to point, down
thousand men, on limited rations, was enabled
to reach the bountiful supplies Of the loyal
States OF Maryland and Pennsylvania But
how Is It nowi From Harper's Ferry up to
Staunton, distance Of one hundred and thirty
miles, the Shenandoah valley has been thor
oughiy secured and cleaned out by General
Hunter, while the country beyond Staunton,
towards Lyuchburg aud the Southwest, has
been as thoroughly harvested by Generals Ave
rill and Crook.
The rebel army In Richmond, therefore, can
not move northwArd, because the roads and all
tho facilities in that direction for army trans
porta;ion are destroyed and because the couu-
try Ia exhausted OF its cattle aud corn pigs
and sheep, bacon and poultry, everything. On
the other hand, the army of General Grant
stands now across the roads on the south side
OF Richmond. To give him battle there Lee
will be utterly defeated; to staad stiil IN Rich
mond is, on his part 60 prepare for surrender
a "a Pemberton; and what, then, can be do but
steal or in the night up the James river, aad
next, by roundabout way, move down upon
the desperate enterprise OF junction with
Joe JohustonY
In any event. the fall OF the rebel capital ia not
for off, and then, as with the lose OF Richmond
and the retreat or decisive defeat OF Lee, Old
Virginia will have no further interest in yenl.
Davis, the seventy-fve thousand veteran Vir-
gna soldiers now 10 hs service will leave IL
in disgust che people OF North Carolina will
thea revolt against him, his kingdom will fall
to pieces, and Nassau or Mexico will be bis only
chance Of escape.
MACMILLAN AND THE MExIcASs--we pub
lisbed in yesterdays edition an interesting ac-
count, from our special correspondent In Eexi-
CO. OF tire arrival OF the new Emperor and Ea,