Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-07-16

PHILADELPHIA, July IL.
INDI0NATIoS AGAINST THE ADMINISTRATION.
As the cause and character of the rebel raid in
/ MARYLAND becomes better understood. the senti-
ment Of indignation against the administration,
I suppressed at first by the surprise produced by
I that ev ent becomes more and more intense. IL
/ i now clear TO all that this movement could have
/ been easily prevented, and the humiliation con
sequent upon il avoided, had the men who hold
the rens Of power been endowed with the least
/ amount Of sagacity and foresight. single
4 glance at the facts which preceded AID afforded
/ this audaeious excursion Of the rebels will sat
| sfy any one that | do not advance here anything
! am not fully prepared to demonstrate.
CAUSES or LEEs INAcrIoN HERETOFORE.
To understand the last rebel incursion fully, il
( il necessary for one 10 revert 10 the series of op
erations by which General Grant, leaving the
bloody fields of Spottsylvania Court House. cut
his way through Virginia, and after a short but
\ sapguinary conflict the banks OF the Chicka-
/ homny, finally succeeded in crossing the James,
and in establishing himself strongly on the south
side of that river During this perous march
across a hostile country, il was thought pretty
generally that the enemy would impede pro-
| gress southwark, and prevent General Grant from
reaChing the point he had set down in his plan as
| his objective. But to our great surprise nothing
OF the kind occurred The roads 20 the James
/
rebels to attack Us there. General Lee, far
from emerging from his retreat. as good strategy
would seem to indicate he should. kept closely
within his intrenchments, never giving sign of
life except when we came within few hundred
yards OF them. made demonstration against
the rebel capital.
The cause Of that inaction which then 80
surprising to all, was. | have been informed,
produced by desire Is attract the Union army
/ tho
northern frontier which. by this means, was TO
be left accessible To an inroad Of the rebel forces
In the estimation of Gen Lee, the concentration
of all the available forces of the north or the
] south side OF James river, far from being dan
gerous TO the rebel cause was one Of the luckiest
events of the war 1t compelled Gen. Grant to
4 lose IN series of siege operations time which
might have been usefully employed in active
campaigning, gave to the exhausted forces of the
rebels an opportunity for re uniting behind the
walls OF their fortresses, and opened 10 the for
| Torn columns of the rebellion a considerable por-
! ton of the border States Such the eOnse.
| quence OF the strategy adopted in this instance.
! \ on are now going TO with what rapdity of
execution Gen Lee awaited himself OF our mis-
take. and with what incapacity the administia-
ton, which might have corrected il, acted in the
premises
Gen. Lee having ascertained that our inten-
ton was to remaiA before Petersburg i'm front of
! which he can keep Us six months il he chooses,
his first object was to ieel our forces in the She
nandoah valley and to try to penetrate into Ma
ryland. This was done Immediately after our
| first assault on Petersburg an attempt which
had Tor result to convince the Coniederates of
the strength of their position, and of their power
| to employ their troops upon another battle field,
| should the thing be deemed advisable. The re
pulse experienced by our forces along the Ten
| nessee and Virginia Central railroads had already
Il
| such an undertaking He soon understood that
by hurting back all the columns We had scattered
| along that line beyord the Potomac lie would
| complete our defeat, open TO his exhausted SOL
diers the fertile fields of the border States, re-
mount his cavalry and replenish his granaries
In pursuance of that plan. Gen Early, yho
had for some time occupied the Shenandoah;
| Breckenridge. who watching the southwest
ern part of Virginia; Roster, who had been act
ing in conjunction with Early; and the two guer-
rilla leaders, Mosby and Imboden recev ed the
order to march forward TO Harpers Ferry, and
| to occupy Maryland Nights Some people think
that, in order to make the expedition sure
thing, General Lee has added to these forces
+, few divisions Of his army under command
of Gen. Ewell. The thing is not, however,
probable.
| Ewel is not likely to leave the command OF
his corps for the inglorious occupation of lead
ing a raid. BE this as it may, the whole expedi-
| ton was carried Oh with an activity and secfecy
truly admirable. Gems. Hunter Sigel aud Wal
lace either defeated or compelled to fall
back Martinsburg. WilIiamsport Boonsboro,
Hsgerstown. Middle own. Harper's Ferry. Boil
var Nights and Frederick fell into the hands of
| the rebels without even struggle.
| During all the time the administration, instead
Of coming to the assistance of troops in that
region. lost a precious opportunity in providing
for the defenses of Washington and Baltimore.
which were in way threatened. and let the
rebels, who might have been easily checked,
have their own way in Maryland.
Immense lines of railroad and telegraph are
| cut, bridges are blown up, houses are burned,
crops are destroyed, contributions are levied,
| large amount Of cattle, horses and grain
ried away. But what does il matter? Mr. Lin
| cou must be saved. and 70 that great object the
whole force, the whole talent. the whole energy
| of the country mnst be applied, and that at the
expense of everything else Is there any in
stance in history where sel6shnesS and incaplei-
ty are more strikingly unioldedl
Some people will say, perhaps, why is il that
| Gen. Lee. having for sometime past contemplated
an invasion of the North had not given to the
present expedition the proportions of regular
campaign? The objection may be answered by
| the observation, that in great war like this
| everything Is subordinate TO the operations of
your opponent, aud that when your opponent
keeps all your forces busy. it is difficult detach
frcm them army of invasion. Gen. Lee
has done in this instance all he could do, and
his success proves that he knows what Mr. Lin
coin gnores-how TO obtain great results with
little means
Had our Administration been gifted with
particle of the talent which graces the rebel
leader it would have known from the start that
| concentrating all ia available force a single
point, far from its original base. was to invite the
enemy to an invasion OF our frontier; and the
only way to counteract the effect of that strategy
was 10 occupy all the avenues leading to the
North with force sufficient to repel any attempt
| OF the enemy lines. Having failed in
that, we are now exposed to the inconvenences
of depredaiory incursion. aud to the humilia-
ton of seeing the rebels on our SOIL two things
which. hope. will be remembered in the cleo
| ton of November next, when the verdict of the
people upon the acts of Mr. Lincoln and his
Cabinet will be given