Delaware State journal and statesman., 1864-11-08
GRANTS STEADY PROGRESS.

Persons OF diemal turn of mind are daily
heard indulging in vaticinations of disaster to
General Grant, IN his advance upon RiehnnnI
and tue pestllent fellows to whom the defeat of
our armies would be joyful news, londly proclaim
lhe campaign failure, echoing with silly alec
the falsehoods of the Chicago platform. Il lay
pens, for the comfort of one OF these parties mud
the perturbation Of tho other, that the mails Of
to-lay bring to us, from three different drec-
tons, concurrent testimony of the good proapeots
for Grant's SUCCESS.
First. DR., }. W. Ross, o loyal clergyman from
North Carolina, WhOarriVed at Washington yes-
terday from North Carolina, says, "it il now an
parent 70 the Rebel authorities TINT General
Grant has been aifording facilities to General
Lee to receive his reinfHroements when Graut
by sudden spring of his hoop, will close up tue
last gap and obllge Lee to captulate. This,
Governor Vance says, is Grants plan, which has
gwen Jeh Davis 80 much concern, who is in
favor Of evacuaiing Virginia altogether, having
repeatedly importuned General Lee to do 70,
Dnd not incur the risk Of capitulaiion OF bis
army This was told to Dr. Ross, just before
ieAElhg Raleigh, by an aid on Governor Vancee
stat.
Second. The well informed Fortress Monroe
correspondent Of the Norfolk IVA } Oid Domin-
ion says; "rhe army after Its Reconnaissance
s resting from its labors II il esuerallv nm
derstood that the effect of the great scare which
we inflicted upon the Rebels il that of intense
Tear. There is no doubt but that Richmond IN
At the mercy Of General Grant whenever he secs
ut TO surround and take ii. 1 do not think il
VIII Dc done by any direct attack, but by q series
Oh stiateg'es that will develop ves in time
w. w ios. put lew men in the tight Of Thurslay.-
Not neAr AZ many as were represented at mt "
1hlrd. a letter from Butler's camn on the
james hiVer, TO the Boston Adeertiser nnnOuDc
60 the steady progress sc our engineering opera
tlons before Richmond, aOd llits corner If the
curtain thus -
The country around here is an intrenobed
camp IN all direelions, completely honey.combel
with rifle pits. The amount of i1bor performed
by ,he Army Of the James is truiJ wonderful
anu Inc works now going on ara enough to keen
'AeA employed for n considerable time If IL
wers asked what Is the necessity of all tlfa. /
suppose tho answer would be, thut il is inteniel
10 make the taking of Richmond sure thing,
anu u IL does not thunder all round before long,
all signs will fail. At any rAte IL NAV safely lie
| affirmed that il ia impossible for the enemy IN
! advance In any direction Where the territory il
now held by us, and when all the arrangements
are completed the doomed city must fall, unless
ueleuued by an army vastly superior to any the
enemy have yot had. 1t may be said that thew
can maintain defensive policy, and inasmuch
as the city is we'll fOIt fed, they can hold it a.
well as we con hold our own lines But the
! 80 ehae ny tuo pOlcy OF our present
commanders, the posture of affairs in regard 10
transportation is entirely changed, for while we
can carry everything by water to within very
lew miles Of the necessary ponts, their line Of
transportation must be more than hundred
miles and when some further advance il made
in the strong, steady and dangerous approaches
We are now making in all directions, ii is impos-
aible to doubt that the city must flli.
Nor should it be forgotten that Grant tonlk
nearly year to reduce Vicksburg-whereas he
has lain less than six months before Richmtnd
But he took the Mississippi stronghold, and with
it thirty thousand men, and Rebel general
officers and munitions of war by the dozen and
the thousand. Steadily and surely be is draw
ing his lines tightly around the stronger posi-
iisn at Richmond, and be can do there what he
did at Vicksburg by strategy, without Hinging
thousands of men upon Rebel bayonets, and the
mnzzles Of countless Rebel cannon. Richmond
is harder to take than Vioksburg, aud If he has
not completed the labor in the last case in one
half the time required to finish it in the first one.
Il is because he knows his own business better
than bis critics do.-Re'O York EVeaing PoH.
y The weather yesterday was quite rainy and