, 1864-06-18
jQbtea9o Wrlbnne.
SATURDAY, JUNE is, 1851
THE NEW BASE.


To person looking only upon the map
the James River would present itself -as the
most natural base Of an attack upon Rich
mond provided the attacking power be pos
sessed of the means Of holding the etrrs1n-
While other riTcrs only approach the city'
theJames runs Immediately by it; and pro-
yidel vessels be not. hindered, they may
steam directly into the town. That base mas
now been taken by Gen. Grant Why he has
mt assumed It before, It Is not now ncces-
sarv to discuss. He has had his own reasons
far marching in the course by which he has
reached the place for which he set out,
among which, mos.. likely, were his iuten-
ton to SO cripple his enemy, If he could not
utterly defeat him, as to disable him from
any but defensive warfare and to so devas-
tate the country north Of Richmond, and to
so break up and destroy its means Of COM
munication Us to render its occupancy by
the foe thing only to be chosen upon mr.
gent nccsssity. Having accomplished theae
aims, he now puts hrnseH upon the other
eide Of the city, with certain other ends in
view. One Of these is that the James is
present, ready, easy support to bis army
to give him snpplles-to assist him IN hh
military opcrAtiops-and in case Of need to at-
ford safo exit-a need which we trust and be-
Neys will not be ofpractical use in this cam
paien. He wishes further TO he out Of the
swampy grounds which adjoin Richmond
on the north; and the more II the hot season
has now set in. If he is to dig, he chooses
to dix In tolerably dry ground. And further
stIu. he is inclined to be impartial to tho diff
fcreat sides of the city. He would do as well
we'll for the south side as has been done for
the north. He wishes to pull up Its rail-
roads, bum the ties, bend the ra4ls, sink
them in the miro, blow up the cu1verts,
burn tho bridges, and 60 to utterly ruin all
The railroads that enter Richmond from the
other rarts Of Dixie lying to the south. Pos
sibly he may extend his attentions
to the James River Canal, md do
% well for that as he does for the
roads. Then Ae would devaatate the region,
SO far as It's ability to support tho war is
concerned. Hc would In fact isolate the
cap,tal Of the Confederacy from the body
which suttains II, and thus greatly raise the
Drice Of johnny cake in Richmond. Thegood
neonla Of that city, according TO the -Et-
nminer, are not aware Of the presence or
proximity of Grants army, and are inclined
to think It q myth. he would convince
them that 1t is not myth, nor even pnr-
aAe: but an absolute fact, and tact Of q
yery inconvenient kind.
These being ID We suppose the designs of
Gen, Grant, and his facilities for realizing his
designs, what will Gen. Les do? Not being
in the councils of that parsonage, We can
only guess that he will feel obliged to do one
of two or three things. It would seem that
he would feel obliged to fight Grant pretty
soon, and before he gets cntEenched In the
vicinity Of the city. This is probably what
Gtant wishes. But despairing Of the sueceas
ofsuch IN act, he may put himself into the
works abeut The clsy-without at all skut-
tinr himself in 1t, and oppose him upon the
south ss be has lately done upon the north
side Of the town. As he has the inside line,
a,c can choose his ground, and will be upon
II before Grant can take choice OF his posi-
tion. And this is what We expect him to do.
To attack Grant in open field Is to put him
sell in mortal hug where one or the other
party will fall. Lee will avoid such risk
from necessity; but VIII entrench and pro-
tract, md watch for advantage to fight, and
will try to save the city US well rs his army.
In the event Of disaster he still has the
southwest to retire upon-say to Lynchburg
and into Southern Virginia or North Caro-
lima But that will only be u movement Of
necessity and may depend upon the amount
of damage which Grant Is able to work to
his supplies. Unless We misunderstood ths
relative torce of the two armies, Grant vii
be able to do prodigieus amount of damage
to the enemy, operating upon that side o
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