The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1864-01-26

1 uSo6t0 tJciH Ot NEWS ITOuf EfuSt 1cu-
nessee we are informed that General Long
street. has been heavily reinforced, aud is
driving the Union forces before him in an ad-
vance toward Knoxville Some weeks since
facts were made public which tended to show
that troops had even then been moved from
Virginia to the position held by Longstreet in
| Tennessee, and it is probable that whatever
reinforcement he may have received has all
| been from the same source. Troops that were
kept in Virginia for the protection of Rich
mond may now be sent to Tennessee with i'm
purity for the season, with its rains and SHOWS,
and especially its mud, sufficiently protects the
rebel capital from any operations Of the army
under Meade, Indeed, except by peninsuiar
route, no operation against Richmond could be
carried on in winter, though for peninsular
route that would, perhaps prove to be the best
season. But it is winter in Tennessee az we'll
az in Virginia, and il the season is to hold us
still in one place it will doubtless as effectively
hold the enemy still in the other; and the very
! fact that enables the rebels to send their Viz
gna army into Tennessee renders it impossible
1 for them to use it when there Y.a' ,.5t
We do not think, therefore. that the rein
| forcement Of Gen Longstreet is of special mo-
ment just at present; but it is Of some import
! ancc as an indication Of what the rebels have
in preparation for the spring. We shall. in all
probability, have an early and terribly hard
| campaign in East Tennessee; for there the re-
bellion is likely to strike its last blow. Some
grand offensive operation is necessary to it; for
| if it stands etill it must inev tably die, and
Eastern Tennessee is the theatre that promises
better result to them than any other Opera
| lions against Chattanooga, even if successful,
| while they would greatly njare US, would not
| positively benefit the enemy, and advances
through Virginia are evidently hopeless; but
| great Southern victory near Knoxville, and
the advance thence through Tennessee, and
perhaps into Kentucky, Of victorious army,
would restore the Southern heart somewhat
and would set The struggle back to the position
it Was in before the present awful gloom set
tied on the fortunes of the confederacy For
such stake Longstreet, or probably Lee. is
now making ready to fight. AS the stake is an
immense one. the enemy will work immense
ly in preparation for it, and will fight despe-
rately when the time comes
Do our preparations for this great struggle
keep pace with those Of the enemy! Far from
it The administration is busy with politics,
and cannot attend to filling up our armies- Sat
isfied with the general fact that our prospects
were never 80 hopeful~as they are now, and
not even desrous to end the war, it has turned
the greater part of its attention to other mat
ters, and is maneuvering In the State Legisla-
lures and Lincoln leagues, Neanw bile Gene
raj Grant is busy and will, Of course, do all
in tbe way Of preparation that lies in his power
But the administration begins to fear General
Grant! Genera. Grant is'taiked Of for the Pro
sdency, and The Washington authorities end
that to be great crime in Q general. So the
country must expect to see the administration
attempt to kill General Grant in this great
campaign, as it killed General Mcclellan. We
may expect to see we'll planned movements
fail through want of men, or be brought to
naught by some War Department order, and
the whole spirit of unity destroyed by the mi
nor rritations and annoyances that the Wash
ington authorities can 80 skilfuliy put in
generals way. AL these means will be tried,
even at the expense Of great failure in Ten
nessee; but they will fail; for General Grant
already stands too high with the people to be
killed in that way,
MARETzEK, CouNT JOHANNES AND THE BosroN
AnSrocRAcY,-Th arstocracy Of Boston, like
that Of the old Faubourg ST. German in Paris,
must ever be exclusive, although 1t feels the
necessity of marking its existence by some
overt display. There have been lately two vio-
lent agitations for the Boston ton-the one the
exploits Of George Jones, formerly q fire boy
in the Club OF the Universe" and Maretzeks
grand operate season Over both OF these the
Boston aristocracy have gone insane. They
have rcsuscitated law OF the fifteenth century,
applicable to witches. whom they burned in
those days, and applied it to the case Of
Johannes, whom they have convicted as "bar-
rator," or nuisance, to make the matter plain
to people Of this century. The object OF the
Boston aristocracy was to show to the world
that this Count Of new parchment is no mem
Der Of the time-honored institution. We would
advise Johannes az a means OF retaliation, to
come to this city and give lectures upon the
origin of that aristocrscy of which he
is victim. If properly applied to,
Barnum would herald the Count-not
at his Museum, however That is too old
and dirty for Johannes, who would do better to
choose some more fashionable and cleaner
place for his lectures
Having crushed the Count, the aristocracy OF
Boston have gone mad over the Opera Maret-
eek has given performances on every night OF
the week. and turned away thousands each
night. He comes back here this week to pre-
pare for tho season Of sixteen nights he 10 70
commence at our Academy Of Music. II Is ru-
mored that he was in town yesterday to make
arrangements for special trains to transport
hither his treasure-all gained from the Boston