, 1864-04-27

FROM IEe I1CuHQnu " ultS,, april !.
The movements Of Gen. Banks since he as
enmcd command In the Southwest are Of
character to justify the idea that be has been
guided more by political or economical than
ly military motives. There ia nothing IN bis
history, from the time when he Aed ingsosi~
oueIv before jackson to the time when he os-
tentatiously occupied the deserted town Of
Brownsville, to show thnt he possesses the
ability of soldier; but, both in his previous
life aud In his army career, there Is much to
prove that hc has the kind Of talent out Of
rhish Yankees manufacture politicians and
statesmen In d military point Of view he
Las hitherto accomplished nothing, In a
political point OF view hc hns done as much
or more than any other man to =a1as carrying
out the Yankee programme Of commercial
and agricultural Acknowledgement. He has
not, during his fifteen months Of command
In the Southwest, enlarged the area Of Yankee
military occupation by 3 thousand square
miles; but he has succeeded, wherever his
roHer extends, in ostensibly oyertuEnings the
whole s. stem on which Southern society WAS
founded, and in undermining the industrial
Institutions which previously existed. lie
has utilized the Yankee theory Of free labor
in Lower Louisiana by mcrging it into sys-
TEN Of forced: apprenticeship; thus E!atify-
Ing tie philome1anthropists by aholishing
slavery in name, willie he attempts to rcap
ite material benefits BY preserving it in fact-
Keeping In view these characteristics of the
man, ne can account for much of that inter-
uittent energy, followed By vacillatilg weak
uese, which has marked bis military lif: in
Louisiana.
Regarded in the light OF strictly military
principles, the Rio Grande expedition WIS d
etnstltss 'blunder. 1t simply divided the
Yankee forces, removing large portion
from tic great strategfcal centres, aud placing
them where they could effect nothing more
towards the conquest of the COnfederacy, or
even Of the State Of Texas, than If they hAd
been scnt to Patagonia. or Greenland. In
decd. The Mississippi is far better than the
Rio 'Graude, as base Of operations against
| Texas. But 1t probably never occurred to
| Banks. or any one else, that the interior Of
| Texas could be successfully assailel from the
| Rio G1ande. The object Of the expedition
| was, in The first place, to cut of the Confed-
| crate trade which was carried on through
| the Mexican port Of Matamoras; end, in tue
amount Of cotton, yariously estimated 6T
the Yankees at from 81, goo to go, ,0H bales,
| supposed to be in depot at Brownsville and
/ in the vicinity Of that place. But the trade,
so far from being cut OF, tlourishes as actively
as ever, cotton being crossed into Mexico at
| ADORE Brownsville, and thence taken over
| lcnd, via Monterey, to katamoras where it
| is shipped in foreign bottoms and goods re-
ceiyed in return being transported into
| Texas by the same route.
In regard TO- cotton in depot, Yankee
+! hopes have been equally disappointed. In
! stead Of finding 25o, 600, or even $1,000, their
he covered by ], 900 bales. Hence, both Oh.
ircts ire Of the expedition having failed, It Is not
| astonishing that Banks is Wlthtlra wing his
] tronns from Te1as, in order to give them
| cmnioy ment In region which, he seems to
tlnnk. promises richer spoi1s.