The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1864-05-07
The Advance or Our Armies-Tne Great
Struggle.

The Advance OF Our Armies-The Great
ssruggis.
Our news to-day is from al parts Of the i'm :
mense theatre Of active operations, and is full
Of interest. We have stimuli q neously the ad
vance towards Rome OF our grand army in the
Southwest, uoder General Sherman, and a COM
binei movement of all our forces In Virginia,
respectively commanded by Generals Meade,
Butler, Burnside and Sigel.
Though the number of columns that our
armies move in gives the appearance Of COM
plexity to our operations, the great game that
General Grant Is engaged upon is still essen
TALLY simple. His main operation is, Of course,
the one In Virginia, by which he expects to
crush Lee and seize the rebel capital. He ad-
vances boldly to the accomplishment of these
objeotsr Already across tho, Rsptian. he can
apparently, n kday's march, compel Lee to
evacuase his siatreuched position and fight
Lee mussAght or lose Ai.1ines Of supply and
be compelled to retreat BY GordousviHe and
Lynchburg, leaving Richmond to Grants
mercy, unless, indeed, he can move
towards Richmond, on . direct line
with sufficient celebrity to get there before
Grant does Though 1t is favorite plan with
General Lee to assume the offensive under cir
cumstances like those in which the armies at
present are, it is barely possible that he will
do 30 in this case, as his chance of success would
be so infinitely little. If he should strike at
Grants communications his blow will be lost;
for Grants Communications are of no conse-
quence at ALL Indeed it may be assumed that
an army like that under Grant, in such a
country as it is now in, is its own base. 1t can
open a new line at any time with the abun-
dant supplies represented by gunboats and
transportation by water. And if Lee should
strike directly at Grant, or If he should be
brought TO battle, we have full faith that the
result will inevitably be victory for our army.
Sherman's movement. though an important
one in itself, is more important in its relations
to the movement In Virginia. twill effectually
prevent any further reinforcement of Lee from
Johnston's army, and thus, perhaps, compel .
battle in both fields, with the numbers in our
favor.
We are assured from our experienced COR
respondents in the respective armies that the
morale Of our troops was never so high as 1t Is
now, and that their discipline was never better.
The country has ample reason TO have faith
in the abilities Of General Grant, aud thus we
may confidently await the result Of the great
movements now In progress.
A BREAK Down IN THE CITIZENS REFORM AS
socIATIoN.-E Every now and then number of
bald-headed gray -beardr, with gold spectacles
and gold-headed canes, and with great bags Of
gold which they use for depreciating the gov
eminent currency and for speculative purposes
in Wall street. and with scrip illimitable, rep
resenting stubtsil and bobtail gold mines in
bugaho and elsewhere among the Rocky Noun
tains, are stricken with virtuous spasm, and
undertake, by hard cash organization, to insti-
tute reforms in the management of our mu-
nicipal affairs to settle the rates Of taxation, to
arrange the election of officers and the distri-
button Of public offices, to examine the cre-
dentials Of applicants for office, as horse jockeys
do the teeth Of horses to ascertain their age,
and to assume the general control Of affairs in
which they have no more legal right to inter-
fere than If they were society of Laplanders.
This Citizens Association was very busy during
the late session Of the Legislature in lobbying
about some proposed reformatory measures,
They gave great deal Of money to broken
down lawyers to advocate this or that applica-
ton. The tax levy was q great lever with
these used up disciples Of Blackstone. And
what did they accomplish! Precisely nothing,
or alittle less. Instead Of o reduction Of the
tax levy, which this Citizens Association, Il
seems, has had the credit Of securing, the levy
was augmented, and all that was done by the a.
ISOLATION was to offer premium for bribery and
corruption in the Common Council by cutting
Off the appropriation for the pay Of the men,
bers. The fact is this Citizens Association is a
gross absurdity. It is Of no use whatever for
the purposes aimed at. II cannot be counted
upon to effect any measure Of city reform, and
is only reliable for the amount Of psblic plum
der 1t can secure for its favored members. We
are getting at the bottom Of things as fast as
any reasonable people should desire; but II
the Citizens Association can be made useful
for Surthng it may he to help along the final
and inevitable catastrophe. The sooner II
comes the better.
The WALL STREET BULLETINS. Of the
copperhead journals issued extras yesterday