The Philadelphia
Inquirer, of the 4th inst., is received:
The Northern people profess to be still elated with
Grant's successes, and claim that his march up to the latest advices, had been an uninterrupted series of triumphs.
The
inquirer states that the
Government has at last resolved to concentrate its forces, and collect around
Richmond such an overwhelming force as to physically impossible for the rebels to defend it successfully.
Pope is en route to
Grant with 6,000 veteran troops.--
Hunter is also moving in the same direction through the
Valley of Virginia, and other aid, of which the particulars are not given, will soon quite with the great Army of the Potomac.
A vindication of
Butler's campaign appears in the
Inquirer, which has been evidently prepared with
Butler's knowledge and approval.
It is claimed that
Butler has accomplished all that was expected of him, and that the failure to capture
Richmond, rests with
Grant, and not
Butler.
Butler secured a base on
James river, immediately threw out a large force, destroyed the Richmond and Petersburg railroad so effectually that it was rendered entirely useless to the rebels for twenty-one days, and at the same time seriously threatened
Richmond and
Petersburg.
This, it is alleged, was more than
Butler agreed to accomplish.
Grant only desired him to keep the railroad inoperative for seven days, for then
Richmond would be in his possession, but at the time the writer penned his communication, twenty-seven days had elapsed, but
Grant had not come to time.
The writer also states that
Butler had strongly fortified his position after falling back from the front of
Drewry's Bluff, manned his fortifications, and built pontoon bridges across the
Appomattox.
That he had mobilized his army, and intended on the very night of the day upon which a peremptory order came for him to reinforce
Grant, to throw 20,000 troops across the river, and march upon
Petersburg.
The writer knows that the movement must have proved successful, but the much needed reinforcements for
Grant billed the whole scheme.
Butler telegraphs that 30 deserters from
Beauregard's army had reached him in one batch, and that others were arriving every night, from which it is argued that the rebel army a greatly demoralized condition.
The Trans Mississippi department has been virtually abandoned, and
A. J. Smith's Army Corps, which was with
Banks, has reached
Chattanooga en route for
Sherman.
Sherman is said to be progressing admirably, and his prospects for the capture of
Atlanta are said to be all that the
Lincoln Government could expect.
The Convention which met in
Baltimore yesterday, it is stated, would certainly nominate
Lincoln for the Presidency — in fact it is asserted that no other name was thought of. Several prominent men were spoken of in connection with the
Vice Presidency — among others that of
Daniel S. Dickinson.
Gold was quoted on the 31 at $1.90
The official and other dispatches are not worth copying with the exception of two, which are lies of such unusual magnitudes that they are really interesting.
Here is one:
--2:30 P. M.--To
Major Gen. Dix.
A. dispatch from
Gen. Grant, dated this morning, June 2d, at Bethesda Church, 7 o'clock A. M., has just been received.
It states that "yesterday afternoon an attack was ordered to be made on our left at Cold Harbour by the sixth corps, and the troops under
Smith;
Warren,
Burnside, and Harcock being held in readiness to advance in their respective fronts.
The attack was made with spirit about 5 P. M., continuing until after dark, and resulting in our carrying the enemy's works on the right of the sixth corps, where we still hold them, and also the first line in front of
Smith.
"The latter, however, were commanded in the rear, which made those carried untenable.
The enemy made repeated assaults on each of the corps not engaged in the main assault, but were repulsed with loss in every instance.
Several hundred prisoners were taken, but I cannot say what number, nor estimate either our or the enemy's casualties.
During the night the enemy made several assaults to regain what they had lost, but failed."
No dispatches from any other quarter have reached the department to day.
And this is the other, dated at
Fortress Monroe on the 3d instant:
The steamer
George Washington, from
White House at 7 o'clock this morning, has arrived.
It is reported that
General Fitzhugh Lee and five hundred of his cavalry were captured last night while attempting to make a raid in the direction of the
White House.
General Smith made the capture.
There is no later news from
General Grant's army.
Three weeks ago.
The New York
Herald, of May 18th, (gold 178,) had an editorial in which the following paragraphs occur.
They read rather strangely June 9th (gold 192):
Averill has been making sad havoc of his depots and bridges in
Southwestern Virginia, on the railroad leading to
Lynchburg, and
Sigel, no doubt, is disposing of the scanty surplus stores remaining in the Shenandoah Valley.
General Butler's army has stepped in, and holds the road leading south from
Richmond through
Petersburg, and
Kautz's cavalry are this have cut off the
Danville line.
Under all these embarrassments, touching this vital matter of subsistence, how long can
Lee maintain the unequal contest with
Gen. Grant, and how long can
Richmond hold out. No longer, in either case, than his commissary department can supply his soldiers with at least one scanty meal per day; but other rebel drawbacks considered, not quite so long.
Gen. Lee is not only cut off from his supplies outside of exhausted
Virginia, but from his reinforcements.
He cannot even draw upon
Richmond without risking the immediate capture of the city.
His army of one hundred thousand effective men ten days ago cannot now much exceed sixty thousand, while the army of
Gen. Grant, by reinforcements from
Washington, as we are informed, has already repaired its losses in the late battles.
The recent heavy rains, while temporarily arresting the advance of
Gen. Grant upon the enemy's works, have been highly advantageous to him in other respects.
The gaps in his ranks have been filled up, and his wearied soldiers have been refreshed by a little rest and abundant supplies of provisions, while the army of
Lee, without reinforcements, and upon its daily reduced rations, becomes weaker even while standing still.
At this season, in
Eastern Virginia, a single day of sunshine will sufficiently dry up the sandy soil for military operations, even after a week of soaking rains.
We may expect, therefore from
General Grant's extraordinary activity, that with the reappearance of the sun he will resume the work before him, and that, should he find the enemy to strongly entrenched for a direct assault, he will hit upon a way, by flanking, to bring him out. Meantime, let the
Government send forward its reinforcements and supplies without stint, so that the campaign may not languish for lack of either.--The men and the means are at the command of the Administration for short and decisive work.
Let them be brought into requisition, and let
President Lincoln bear in mind that this golden opportunity for a crowning campaign of victories, if flittered away on his part, will surely be his last.
The extraordinary energy of
Gen. Grant requires something more from the Administration than the extraordinary slowness which has hitherto marked its support of our
Generals in
Virginia.
Secretary Stanton is now doing well; but to "make assurance doubly sure." now, while the iron is hot, let
President Lincoln push on his reinforcements, not forgetting that we have fifty thousand disciplined militia in the
Central States that can be made ready to march to
Washington upon ten days notice.
Forebodings at the North.
We find the
Northern press, Republican, and Democratic, filled, at the commencement of a campaign, with forebodings of disaster:
‘
"It seems to us easier," says the New York
World, "to state reasons for fearing that the country is on the verge of a terrible catastrophe, than for believing that the hour of its redemption draweth nigh.
If
Gen. Grant's campaign should result in disaster, who does not see that the country would be at once overtaken by a financial tornado, prostrating everything in its path?"
’
The Springfield
Republican, a Government paper, makes, if possible, a more gloomy record.
It says:
‘
"Things begin to look squally.
A Government dollar is worth but 55½ cents; speculation is running up the prices of the necessaries of life even faster than the
Government paper runs down; the wealth of the country is passing from the many to the few, and the laboring classes are becoming dispirited and sullen." The nation is spoken of as "passing through terrible struggles."
’
The New York
Times, the organ of
Mr. Seward and advocate for the re- election of
Mr. Lincoln, storms at
Congress, and asks if the state of the country is caused by their "imbecility or treachery."
The New York
Journal of Commerce, one of the most conservative of Yankee journals, says:
‘
Ruin is before us as a people, a nation, a Union, if we go on under present guidance, with the principles which now prevail in the hails of Congress and the
President's house.
All the promises and prophecies of the men who lead the radical party are but a repetition of just what such men promised and prophesied for other nations in other times, and the end always was, us it will now be — destruction.
’
It is useless to speculate on what a few weeks may decide — the results of the campaign to
Virginia — but it may be doubted if any possible success of
Gen. Grant can save the
North from repudiation, bankruptcy and ruin.
