The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1864-05-19

The FrsoabIs asnswal o6 Hossalitiss By
General Grant-Butler-Sigei.
Everything that relates to the operations Of
our armies has the most favorable appearance.
As the roads were rapidly improving at the
last accounts from General Grant it is proba-
BILE that he has before this recommended active
hostlities against Lee. His necessary suspen
sion OF operations has had the most excellent
effect upon our men, and upon the condition of
our army. The soldiers are rested and ready,
and when they move again II will be with the
multiplied vigor and high morale that give the
greatest possible momentum to an army Lees
forces will not much longer be an obstruction
in their path.
We give today full and particular account
of the battle on the James river, in which
General Butler suffered some loss. This battle
was simply desperate sortie Of the rebel gar
rison to break our lines. It was made under
cover Of heavy fog. and was as nearly as
possible q parallel to the battle of Inkerman.
In that battle the Russians attacked the
English lines In the same way and for the same
purpose that the rebels attacked General
Smiths lines and were in the same way re-
pulsed after o hard fight General Smiths
lines were temporarily broken; but at the close
of the fight they were drawn exactly the same
as they had been before.
We have had a small reverse in Western vir-
GINA aud the defeat of the troops under General
Sigel. This ought not to have happened, and
would not have happenedif all the Instructions
FOR tho IN ont boN hoop vrorarl ~ rr;o5 o,,<
Yet it is mere feather in the scale. It cannot
in any way affect or turn aside the great opera
'tions that are to accomplish Grants plans. AS
a victory General Sigel's movement would
ba We contributed 10 the great result; but as a
defeat it must stand alone, and can have no
wei ght at all in the determination of the grand
quo'tion that General Grant is, we hope, 80
soon to settle.
Pie FOCUS Call for rour Hundred Thou
sand Men.
Night before last an attempt was made to
: sam npon the public, through the daily papers
of yesterday, bogus proclamation, pretending
10, be the Presidents call for four hundred
thousand men. The real nature of this docu-
nent soon became apparent in our office, and
t therefore did not appear in our paper II
was also rejected as a counterfeit by the larger
lumber Of the city papers; and only the World
nd'the journal Of Commerce. printed it.
This adds one more to the number Of our
historical hoaxes. We hsd some time ago
'ogus- report from the rebel Secretary of
be Navy, which hoaxed our public
nd government and the. British govern
nCnt, and We bad another Of the same
h' sraceer pretending to be correspondence
,e ween JEFF Davis and Lord Lyons These
we're harmless affairs, gotten up by some in
zen ioas fellow, who had no honest way In
Thi Oh to employ his time. II 10 doubtful
1he thsr the amount of laughter excited BY
ac,;essfui hoax is adequate to the trouble |
lktn i1getting it up. Il is, at least, very
oor Class Of joke; yet, If hoax may pass for |
10 Ike al sill, these were tolerable ones. We |
re in the receipt Of hoaxcs OF another class
'on, the Southern confederacy all the time
Ind er that gigantic hoax, hoaxes thrive. But |
hes are ell put forward with an official char |
ster. Davis the other day hoaxed the South |
I'm people with an announcement that the
sloi ida had sunk two federal gunboats; and
Lee and the other generals are in the constant
,abit CT hoaxing sll who believe them by the
mn ou1cements Of their successes In battles
which they have lost
b ut this bogus proclamation Yves hoax OF |
no Their character. 1t was planned to get il in
ie city papers that were to 60 to Europe by |
40 steamer yesterday, and was doubtless the |
,ven.ion Of some enemy Of the government 1
tho hoped TO inJure our cause In Europe by |
bus sending out what would be. accepted as i
n acknowledgment Of our defeat In the late |
'attles in Virginia II may have been also
x peeted to affect the gold market; but its |
g al object was to affect European opinion, and
g further some rebel scheme there that the |
,evs Of Grants victories is likely to upset.
Last evening the military authorities took
possession Of the establishments OF tho two
papers that were the only ones to publish this |
vT.ianous counterfeit. From this IL may he 4
Judged that the government is determined to
adopt extreme measures in those premises, and 4
to put stop to The publication of seoh boaxes ).
IL possible. Its summary punishment OF the !,
oenstructively guilty may gtSe an idea of how 4
il will punish the real culprts II they can b..
caught. Besides what the government is de-
termined to do in this mater the Associated
Press oiers thousand dollars reward for evil
dence shat will convict the author of the hoax,
and the World and Journal of Commerce, the
two victims, offer five hundred dollars more.
AS several boys were employed in the delivery
OF the manuscript at tho various Offices, Il is
reasonable 10 suppose that the sum OF fifteen
hundred dollars will tempt at least one % the