The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-11-26

reasonable to expect that this hour ofgloom
through which the Confederates are now
passlng-the darkest and profoundest II
have ever witnessed-is the herald of a (lav
about to arise.
REBEL POSSESSIONS, &C.
The same correspondent, writing on the
18th ult., says:
Imay remark that the true greatness and
goodness Of Gen. Lees character is in no
way more apparent than by stating the fact
that the army over which he has SO long
presided has, comparatively speaking, no
whereas the Western army reveals q tissue
ofintriguee, quarre!s, self.seekines and re-
examinations which are enough 10 sicken
the heart of any patriotic man. It is nv
belief las have often said before) that the
Confederate Army of the West was oripi-
na!iy composed Of vastly inferior mate
rate Of the East. Moreover, in regard to
the Federal armies precisely the re-
verse of this statement 10 the truth. The
best Confederate army THAT Of Vir0inlal
was opposed to the worst Federal armv
(the "Grand Army Of The Pot0mac.") the
best troops. on the other hand, that the
Feder.ls have sent to the field, was OPP
posed to the Confederate army which has
successfully obeyed Sidney johnson.
Beauregard, Bragg. Johnston and Hood.
and which, falling from its original low
standard, seems TO have deterioFr ted stem
BY step as 1t was tossed successfully from
one commander to another.
The writer proceeds to show that John.
ston could not have saved Atlanta had he
continued In command, and that the delay
Of six weeks Hood gained by his desperate
fighting was worth all the lives It cost,
SEE.
1t must be krH wn to your readers before
the arrival Of this letter that President
Davis has just returned TO Richmond, after
visit to Georgia. The result of his visit
Is that General BeaEregard is nut in COM
mand of the whole of the southwest of the
Confederacy on this side of the Mississippi.
just as General Lee is in command of Virgil
mia and North Carolina. 1t must he owned
| that the ardnOus task assigned to General
Reauregard is "pericui0sR plenun opus
cleG - but my belief is, that, of all men in
the Confederacy, he is, sitter General Lee.
the fittest for the place. It is no secret that
the contest into which Beauregard has late
| " been thrown with Lee, has contributed
to elevate him greatly in Lees estimation.
Perhaps the brightest attribute of Beaure-
CARDS military genius is that his views OF
campaign. of strategy and Of large sys-
| TENS Of defense are wide, far-reaching and
comprehensive. He has benefited by this
war iE experience and practical knowledge,
as much as any distinguished officer who
has been engaged in it, aud there is in him
no disposition to intringue, to work secret
" and indirectly by inspiration, of news.
papers, or to sin against any of the axioms
prescribed by the code for the guidance of
great soldiers in all ages.''
Beauregard's personal characteristics are
still further sketched, and the writer says
4 have the best authority for saying
that the bOldest move which has vet been
attempted in this war-the move by which
Hood threw his army from the south to the
north of Atlanta, and fixed his claws upon
the line Of SEerman's communicatiOns-is
Of Hoods sole origination. It. remains to
| be seen whether, in the event of Sherman
adopting. almost the only course which
seems open to him-I mean, in the event
of his attacking Hood behind his intrench-
OF the West will strike blow which, If
successful, will do more to end the war than
dozens of such battles as were fought in
1861 and 1862. It il my belief that Hood 8
army, inspirited by the manifest sagacity
which il disclosed in the move which it has
just made, will prove itself worthy of its
vigorous young commander, and will gain
for itself and for him reputation which
will eclipse the comparative failures ofthree
and half years. If fever there was war in
which roudace, raMdncc touj0urs rduduce
! should be the motto of Southern Generals,
it is the war in which we are here engaged.
The two most successful Generals of this
| war-Ssonewall jackson and Lee-are the
rashest and the present promising and
mistaken, before October has closed that it
is only by rasnness that telling and stag
gering blows can be dealt.
i" II may be that hereafter Sherman will
disclose as much strategic ability as he
has heretofore displayed pertinacity while
| advancing on Atlanta; but it must be con-
fessed that appearances are that he showed
blind and arrogant depreciation of his en-
envy, and culpable inactivity about watch
| ing that enemy after Federals got possess
sion Of Atlanta. 1t SCENE to me hardly
conceivable that succor to Sherman can
come from the North before his supplies
are SO reduced as TO compel him to issue
forth from his stronghold Of Atlanta.
| I'VE have all read with what shouts and
acclsmations, with what pealings Of bells
and what discharges of cannon &herman's
| ssgreat Union victory and the s'capture of
Atlanta were celebrated in the Northern
States yet there is reason to believe that
the Confederates are justified in thinking
that out Of this capture Of Atlanta will
has not been hitherto paralleled III the
course of this war. The disparity besVe@n
the armies of Sherman and Hood is, if {An
rightly informed, by no means considetA.
BILE. From this passage Of the war Fsder-
ais will learn what they have been told a
thousand times by all dispassionate spec-
tators--that to take towns in the interi0be0I
vast hostile territories like these Southern
States is one thing, to hold them is an
other. M ,
Observation-Disclosures THE NEGROES.
I have reason for thinking that there IS
gross exaggeration about the numbers
which are ordinarily assigned as estimates
Of Grants strength; nor can the material of
which his army is composed compare with
the material OF that army which advanced
on Richmond under Mcclellan, or even OF
that army which fought the battles of May
last. There never was moment when
more deserters came into the Confederate
lines, and it is observed that these desert
ers are not, As of yore, chiefly Irishmen,
Enelishmen, or Germans, but they mum.
Der among them many Northerners of
American birth. Two nights ago one hum
ired deserters escaped from Grants mesh
a. and surrendered themselves to Lee. of