The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-05-27

mind SIMPLY on lie WCSk 70 ne uohts
and tte means WhereWith 10 do IL II
s BOT wise to undelate ones enemy
But putting the EXTREMIST estimate on
the enemy strength as he lies in Vir-
ginia and Georgia, we to-day are strong
er-enough stronger to conquer. That
is the best General for us who can best
put our superiority to effective.use. On
the other hand, the work is. in brief,
the expulsion Of the enemy from
stronghold TO stronghold, from one Line
81 defence to another, down into his
last ditch" If indeed be is 50 resolved
to terminate the contest There Is
nothing here impossible to accomplish
Be he never so skillfully entrenehed,
the enemy's position can be ultimately
carried Our people thought It sui-
Gcent excuse for the first repulse al
Bull Run that the enemy used mask
ed batteries They declared those
wooded crossroads at Manassas
another Sebaslorpol and that one need
not hope to contend with masked bat
teries. Chattanooga and its environs,
q stronghold IN truth, We're pronounced
the Gibraltar Of America; but they
found a Rosecrans and Grant to storm
them. Experience in war inclines one
10 think there are no GibraltaTs; no
forResses so impregnable they may not
/ be entered, no positions so finely
+ entrenched they may not be turned
and carried.
The present leader of the Americas
i Armies seems sternly urgent to try the
virtue Of fighting, and to trust TO weight
Of metal and of numbers. Such dis
! position viii commend itself to al those
who have never stOmached the silly
I and insolent affectation Of undertaking
the intrepidity of Northern soldiers
/ II, indeed, we must double our num-
bers to get an equivalent in prowess for
the enemy. then the Generals mathe-
mates are fatally wrong; but he is not
Of that mind.
Our primary aim should not seem to
i be the capture Of Richmond. Certain
I " we should not hope to capture it,
f without first, after much strenuous ex-
ertion, dealing at length the coup de
4 grace to the army of General Lee. There
/ need be no hattering hope to eozen the
l rebels out Of their capital by some
bloodless game of strategy, such as
might be devised in a library chair,
with maps and pins for soil and men.
The true plan contemplates such work
as he dreams of who sleeps in biyouac
+ The disposition of the enemy was not
long since as aggressive as our own.
+ He ehafed at being on the defensive,
regarding the new Union leader as only
( another candidate for repulse and dis
comfture. 1t was once all Mcdowell,
il was Mcclellan, it was Pope, it was
Burnside, it was Hooker, it was Grant
II ,cas Grant, indeed strong man.
Lees intent 10 attack did not discomfort
an opponent disposed for an extreme
trial of arms General Grant did not
hunt long for his objective He found
it the day after crossing the RapIdan
1t was a movable one; and, whether it
90 to Richmond or Southwestern Vir-
GINA, it will find the Union leader on
It's trail
Remembering, therefore, the thor
oughness proposed in this latest and
most comprehensive campaign against
the Rebellion, let us not exhibit undue
impotence at its continuance Gen.
Grant has sufficiently established his
military character for rapidity of exc
cution It was already established in
deed at Chickamauga But Gen. Grant
strikes not only at Richmond, but at
the Rebellion. His moInentous game
this military chess champion plays by
exchanging man for man, confident
that with the surplus of pawnI and
pieces, he may give pawn for pawn,
piece for piece, till the adverse player
4 is reduced to sinking weakness. Then,
indeed, we may look for loss to fall on
the weaker sidei but not till then. Is
there any doubt which of the two
armies viii find its resources soonest
drained?
1t will be well, therefore, to dispose
! ourselves to a longer and q harder cam
paign this summer than the popular
! desire would wish. The farther we adj
vance into Virginia, the more difficult
! will operations become, and the longer
our line of communications provided
Z the enemy falls back in full strength
I Some annoying reverses mast be con-
7 templated,-some weak link in the
chain, ike Sigel s,-some temporary
severing OF communications some
doubtful days of battle, like those in
the Wilderness
II, Also the suspicion should steal
over the enemy, that fierce attack wea-
lsens him in disastrous proportion to
the injury he infiicts on US, his aim will
be to protract our conquest, though he
/ yield its necessity lie will seek to
gain time, hoping that some new shift
( in the wheel of fortune may be more
( favorable He viii at least exchange
Richmond, if il must be yielded up, for
/ the delay Of long and hard summers
] campaign While, therefore, the enemy
may at any time break suddenly down
from apparent vigor to exhaustion, the
true temper for the North is to act as If
there were many days and weeks of la
Dor yet before us. Our confidence does
not rest on the issue of any brilliant
day, but on that of many days con-
ioined.-Army and Nary Manual