Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-08-06
THE REPULsE AT EPETERsBURs.
From the New York Post.l
The disappointment of the public at th.

lFrom the New York Post.
The disappointment of the public at th.
untoward result of the asssrli
burg on SatHRSsst6 LID - = ,.5fsioh with
the great an esiger expectations excited
by the reports of the morning Journals.
These reports magnifed very greatly, as it
appears, both the Importance Of the opera
tiOn and the value of the success, If sue.
cess had been Obtained: so that, even Il
Ourmen, had held what they seized in the
first rush Of the conflict there would still
we now see, have been a disappointment in
store for the public, which had been per
saaded to expect too much.
The result Of Saturdays battle is ano-
ther test of our endurance. There aEe
] doubtless some who viii claim with the
/ World this morning We cannot take
RichmOnd-P A few, perhaps, viii be
ready to give up the struggle and let the
rebels have their way There are such
weak Creatures in our natioa-there are
men in England, after the failure of each
Of the three great assaults on Sebastopol.
who cried out "We are whipped. we
have failed, our soldiers cannot sfggt, our
generals cannot plan, our engineers cannot
sap, as can the Russians But our great
British nation confessed nothing Of the
ktnd-it vIrly 5rist--sl - trcrtr s1rJf -zriyI
eve can do this thing, and though it is
unpleasant we are committed 10 it now.
In the face of the world, and cannot for
Our honor retreat Soa give up"
The siege Of Sebastopol, ,OfwhichWe have !
spoken, in several points closely resembles |
the siege which General Grant is now con-
ducting- Like Grant the British and |
French were never able to entirely invest |
the city-oF rather intrenched camp
viii they had besieged. TIE Rus<ens
secure line Ofsupplyiromt their
arsenals at Moscow, BY way Of The in4ren-
ched camp on the north side of the harbor
The allied forces before Sebastopol. like
our own before Petersburg and Richmond
endeavoured to advance their positions by
three separate assaults and bumbardment.
They made three separate assaults, each
of which failed-the fourth succeeded.
They subjected the place to seven different
and terrible bOmbardments; three of these
were entirely abortive, and only developed
the weakness of the English guns and the
faults OF their system of engineering.
They exploded a number of mines at DIFF
ferent times, but with no advantage. They
brought one hundred and Gtty guns To
bear against the MalakOff and knocked It
entirely out Of shape; yet the next morn
ng, when they expected to assault it, they |
ound the work restored to shape, and the
guns in position again.
Meanwhile the Russians were constant
v making sorties, in which the French
Marshal Neil said, "We lost our bravest
md best men Besides these sorties there
we're pitched battles, such as the battle of Z
rchernya, in which the Russians. with fiftv
thousand infantry and sixty thousand ca
AIRY, attacked the allies. This is as though
zee should fall upon Grants flank with g
lightly nine thousand men, and endeavour
0 break his aggressive force. But he has
ot dared to attempt this.
Lee, on the other hand, makes demon
tratons upon our territory, BY the exne-
itions be sends to the Potomac These
e will continue TO make, no doubt; sand '
Mess we are wiling TO embarrass Grant
'e must prepare to resist these with a Sc d
arate army, otherwiseit it may happen that
ieneral Grant will have to stop a raid in
,eOasglVania or MaJV1kDd ~ ,o.l-;,o. h
lch a deHlonstraton against Petersburg n
hat Of Saturday. No doubt the man9u- u
ers of Grant during thel last week caused .,
zee to call back the greater part of the ,
,ree which he had sent down the valley 81
the Shenandoah. fl
AT the same time, it remains to be said
nat Grant probably could not have gained r.
Ae information concerning the nature of
be enemys works which he needed, in al
ny other way than By an assault. .s
What we have endeavoured TO make P
lain to the readders is, that the failure Of n
n assault ON works of the strength of
hose at Petersburg is not an uncommon I,
lcident in a siege, that it is not decisive G
gainst Grant at all; that he maintains p
yer the enemy the same moral and ply
cal superiority which he acquired over :,
lem at Spottsylvahia Courthouse; and =
nat, as Lee has neversince thatday dared
, sssume the offensive against Grant so
e Is in no better position to do this now
nan be was before the assault.