The New York herald., 1864-07-25
The General Campaign-The Prospect-.
How 20 End the War.

/
situation Of our armies, East and West! and
what Is the prospect? We are admonished by
the financial difficulties of Mr.. Secretary Fes-
sender, the disordered condition Of the money
market and the increasing uncertainties in all
our business affairs that unless we achieve
| some decisive military victories over the re.
bellion during the present campaign we shall
need the exercise of wisdom, prudence and
patriotism in the highest degree to escape
the shock of financial revulsion and q poll
tical revolution which may sweep away all the
remaining landmarks and signal stations of
"the Union as 1t was and the constitution as it
is" What is the prospect!
With capable, harmonious and energetic
administration we should say that the pros
pect is cheering-that the speedy demolition of
the two enfeebled armies upon which the for
tunes Of JEFF. Davis and his confederacy now
depend may be considered inevitable; that the
Treasury has passed its severest ordeal, and
that brighter days and better times will soon
dawn upon us with the crowning triumph of
the Union. We are assured that, though the
grand army Immediately under the eye of Gen.
Grant is apparently inactive, its jealous
and untiring leader is steadily working out his
great designs, and that the fruits of his labors
are already ripening; that, having relieved the
| administration Of the danger of rebel raid
| into the national capital, he will lose no time
in resuming active operations against Peters
burg and Richmond. The communications Of
Lee with Georgia are as essential to his safety
as his triple lines of intrenchments; and, to
maintain thoso Communications ar rooovor
them, he must, when the alternative is present
ed, come out and give battle or abandon Rich
mond to save his army. He will be compelled
to assail the intrenchments which threaten his
complete isolation from the South, instead of
awaiting an assault or the tedious approaches
OF regular siege. The single thread of the
Danyile railroad is now the only military line
OF connection left between Richmond and the
States below. This will be shortly cut off, and
then we may look for the solution of the cam
paign in Virginia
The lately gathered wheat harvest in that
State will doubtless enable General Lee to
draw supplies for a month or two from LYNCH
burg and the Shenandoah valley though not,
perhaps, beyond month or two, in conse-
quence Of the recent destructive Union raids
over all the country between Lynchburg and
Staunton, and thence down the Shenandoah
valley to the Potomac But, with
General Sherman's army at Atlanta, the
question of an open railroad or two to Georgia
becomes one Of greater moment to General
Lee than the immediate subsistence Of his
troops. He must soon reopen his communica-
tions southwark by another movement upon
- ~,
the lines Of General Grant, or be Will be too
late. The close reconnaissance Of Washington
made by Early and Breckinridge has disclosed
a tempting prize to a larger movement in the
same direction. BY the railroads to Fredercks-
burg and Culpepper Court House, and thence
by forced marches, by way Of the Potomac
fords near Leesburg, the whole OF Lees army
proper might possibly even now be moved to
the rear of Washington in time to carry the
city before General Grant could send up "a
body Of bis veterans sufficient to relieve it.
Here, then, at Washington, as from the be-
ginning OF the war; is the weak pcint 10 our
military situation: and this weakness Of the
national capital lies in the weakness of tie
Cabinet aud in tie loose and disjointed mill
tary system, or want OF system, there existn
How many departments and how many con-
fcting or independent generals we have
| between Washington aud Baltimore, and
thence to the Shenandoah valley, we
cannot tell. What we want we have
already indicated; what course Mr.. Lin
| coin will pursue remains to be seen. II
| has been demonstrated that il General Grant is
| still TO be charged with the double duty of
/ ID hal
| raiders from the back door OF Washington at
| the same time, he will get on slowly. We have
| pointed out the soldier in whose name power
| full army Of volunteers, including a host oil
veterans. could be promptly raised for the
Washington Department, and we have indi-
| Gated the immense advantages that would thus
| be secured in view Of the safety Of Washington,
| the capture of Richmond, aud the glorious ter.
| minaton to the war.
Why this effective and simple plan Of opera.
tions should be disregarded we cannot com
prchend II MIR. Lincoln has anything better
in contemplation we hope that it will soon
be made apparent, not through Horace Gree
ley or Edmund Kirke, as peace makers,
but in great events. A glance over the whole
feld of the war, we believe, will satisfy the
intelligent reader that If the administration,
without drawing upon General Grant, will
properly take care OF the back door Of WASH
ington to the end OF August there will be no
necessity for an cxbausting draft in September.
THE LOYAL MEs IN FLoRIpA.-A memorial
to President Lincoln, signed by many OF
the most prominent loyal citizens of Florida,
has just been presented to bin. The
mcmorialists acknowledge tho kindly In
terest manifested by the President in the
facilities rendered In organizing the State
government, but express their regret that the