Year: 1863

NEW YORK HERALD,


the Capt.re Dispersion or Lees


Army-Ihe Opportunity or the Admin.
| tstration.


The recent heavy and crippling blows inAict-


ed upon the rebellion, East and West, render it


morally certain that eli that Is wanted to put


an end to the spurious Southern oonfederacy Of


JeG Davis ia another meeting between the vic-


torious and enthusiastic army Of General


Meade and the defeated, terribly cut up, re-


treating and demoralized army Of General Lee
Without knowing anything Of tho exact move


ments Of either army for some days past, we


think 1t may be safely said that Lee, in the


Shenandoah valley, Is man@uvrlng to get out
Of it and back again to Richmond without an
other battle, If possible, while General Meade,
with q due regard 10 the great object Of .
browning success, Is vigilantly watching the


movements Of his adversary. and moving to


cut him up or cut him OF as the opportunity


may offer.


We presume that the militia forces OF Gene


raj Couch, forming Of themselves very con-
siderable army, may now be considered as
withdrawn from further active operations.
Otherwise those troops might now be exceed
| ingly useful to General Meade in protecting his


communications while employing the Army Of


the Potomac en- nasse in direct pursuit Of the
| enemy's columns, in order to bring them to
stand or piecemeal to destroy them. We are


satisfied, however, that with the regular rein
forcements which have been added to General
Meade's army since the great battle Of Gettys-
burg be will soon effect final settlement with
Lee, if the willy rebel leader can only be
brought to the test Of another engagement. But
the half dozen passes over the Blue Ridge be-


tween Harper's Ferry and Staunton cover
hundred miles) afford 80 many doors OF retreat
to Lee by which he may escape unless vigi-
lantly watched on both sides Of the mountain
at the same time. This, then, is the task which
the situation Of Lees army in the Shenandoah


valley enjoins upon General Meade--the task


Of overhauling the enepy's forces in direct
pursuit or Of intercepting them at or near some


one Of the Blue Ridge passes, with the main
body of his army in good supporting distance.


General Meade's great opportunity for the
capture or destruction Of Lees army was unfor-
tunately lost at Williamsport. That army is
now at large; but even at Winchester it is
nearly two hundred miles from Richmond; and
Meade has only to keep vigilant eye upon the
movements Of Lee in order to intercept him by
any route he may take. In fact, we believe
that General Meade, dropping all these nice ex-
periments Of the strategy Of hide and seek, has
only to push directly up the Shenandoah valley
after Lee to secure the overthrow and final dis
persion Of his army. Can any one imagine that
his officers and soldiers from Mississippi, or Lou
isiana, OF Alabama care any longer to be fight
ing on the soil of Virginia after the loss Of
vicksburg and Port Hudsoni or that his Ten
nessee regiments have any further interest in
Richmond, with the expulsion Of Bragg by
General Rosecrans from Tennessee into Geor-
giai or that the chivalry Of South Carolina are
ambitious to await the issue Of another battle
Of Gettysburg, when Charleston is In danger
and Beauregard is clsmorous for the return Of
his soldiers from Vlrginiai
Il IL not possible, considering these late dis
asters to their armies and their cause every
where, that the soldiers Of Lee, even those
from Virginia and North Carolina, still cherish
any confidence in their sinking cause. They
must see that the situation Of JeG Davis is
hopeless enc; that nothing can save him; that
IL has at length become foolish and useless to
continue the war for Southern confederacy;
and that the glory to the Southern soldier Of
sacrificing his life for this Southern Utopia has
departed, and that he has been grievously de-
frauded In the heavy sacrifices he has already
made. II was understood throughout the re-
bellious States and by Lees army that with his
invasion Of Pennsylvania would begin an ag-


ressive campaign which would surely culmi-
nate in the dictation Of q treaty Of peace by Lee
from the White House at Washington. Thus
for all their losses and all their disasters in
other quarters the suffering people Of the re-
bellious States would be thousand times over
indemnifed In the crowning achievement Of
Southern confsderacy, with Its boundaries es-
tablished according to the win Of Gen. Lee.
How great, then, must be the dependency and


the despair Of Lees soldiers, in view Of the


fact that in this hopeful campaign IL was only
| by the luckiest Of accidents that his whole ar
my escaped capture or destruotionl


| We are satisfied that Gen. Meade has the
forces with which this demoralized army Of Lee
| may still be captured or cut to pieces and dis
perscd on its way to Richmond, and we trust


that Lee will not be again allowed to get be-


hind the Chickahominy. But, iu any event,


even II siege may yet be required to secure


Richmond, and reinforcements by many thou
sands may be needed to fill up the wasted ranks
| Of the Army Of the Potomac, we cannot think
that there Is or will be any necessity for en-


forcing the conscripton. From the readiness
with which twenty thousand Of our State militia
were sent forward to the defence Of Pennsyl-


vania, It is manifest that the militia reserves in
the several loyal States and the volunteering


system will be quite sufficient to supply all de-


flciencies and requirements in our armies 70 the