THE POSITION OF GENERAL HOOKER.
VITEN in these days of telegraphs great events are seldom LI/ dramatic in their continuity or their speed. Loudon has for a week been filled with rumours of the destruction of General Hooker, and the delay of the steamers caused by the prevalence of east winds created a feeling of almost feverish excitement. The extra mail, however, which arrived on Thureday night, brought no decisive news. General Hooker, after four days of battle, was still on the 5th of May face to face with the Confederates, unable to renew the attack on account of the rain, and not liable to attack for the same reason. His general plan, in spite of telegraphic blunders and ill-informed newspaper correspondents, is atlast becom- ing clear ; it was well conceived, and, up to a certain pint, vig wously executed. During the first five days of the week ending May 2 he marched in succession the larger part of his army over the Rappahannock and the Rapidan, VITEN in these days of telegraphs great events are seldom LI/ dramatic in their continuity or their speed. Loudon has for a week been filled with rumours of the destruction of General Hooker, and the delay of the steamers caused by the prevalence of east winds created a feeling of almost feverish excitement. The extra mail, however, which arrived on Thureday night, brought no decisive news. General Hooker, after four days of battle, was still on the 5th of May face to face with the Confederates, unable to renew the attack on account of the rain, and not liable to attack for the same reason. His general plan, in spite of telegraphic blunders and ill-informed newspaper correspondents, is atlast becom- ing clear ; it was well conceived, and, up to a certain pint, vig wously executed. During the first five days of the week ending May 2 he marched in succession the larger part of his army over the Rappahannock and the Rapidan, find on the 1st he had concentrated his corps near Chancel- lorsville, in rear of Lee's position at Fredericksburg. The lesser portion of his army was one division in Frede- ricksburg, nod one corps, under General Sedgwick, over the river, ready to attack the famous heights. General Lee, as soon as he saw the intention of his foe, left a smell force before Fredericksburg. and marched his army towards Chaneellorsville. He fund II Hiker established with his centre at this country house, his right towards the Rapidan, and his left on the Rappahannock. Amusing Hooker with skirmishes on the afternoon of the 1st, he sent Jackson with 40,000 men to turn the Federal right, and thus cut hooker off from the f As. The Federal. General thus lost the initiative. While his centre was deeply engaged • in an offensive movement, Jackson drove in upon the right, and the German corps fled, from cowardice the Americans say, but more probably because it was attacked in flank in some fertnatioa which prevented the men from fighting. Hooker was, however, equal to the occasion. He sent his own old ilivision to meet Jackson's headlong onslaught with the bayonet, and the well-formed line issuing from the cloud of dust and smoke speedily wrested from the too eager pursuers of the Germans the advantage they had acquired. Hooker restored his line of battle, preserved his communications with All the fords, and kept Lee off the Gordonsville road. But on the 3rd Lee renewed the attack, and after a six hours' conflict freed Hooker backwards into an angle formed by the Rapidan and Rappahannock, deprived him of all the fords save one, and compelled him to entrench for safety. In the meantime General Sedgwick stormed the heights of Trededeksburg, the scene of Burnside's winter defeat, and showed columns in rear of Lee. But no good resulted from the stroke. For Longstreet, coming up from Rich- pond, and attacking from the eastward, and Lee turn- mg upon Sedgwick's front, that officer, between the two forces, was driven back upon the liver above Fal- mouth, and forced to cross it before daylight on the 5th, 'under a destructive fire and incessant attacks. Thus the result of four days' fighting was this :—Lee recovered the -advantage won by Hooker up to the 1st of May, recovered the -Gordonsville road, and firmly re-established his communi- eatious, and, moreover, held in his hands the points of passage over the rivers kading to Hooker's communications. The .Federal General had done well, but not well enough, and his ,own strategy was on the point of being turned against him. .lhe enemy menaced lines of retreat. This position con- tinued unbroken up to the night of the 6th, save that Sedg• . wick rejoined his chief with his shattered corps, and General Henitzelman was marching from Washington with 30,000
cided ; but though General Hooker was in considerable danger, the possibilities of escape, and even victory for the Federals, were still unexhausted.
It is vain to speculate when a few hours will set specu- lation at rest ; but we would warn the friends of the South that in considering even the destruction cf Hooker equivalent to final success they are premature. The North may yield to despair, and consider that enough has been done even to secure national existence, may surrender the South front Charleston to the Pacific, may accept the division of their great continent into small, ill-defined, and hostile states; but they, like their rivals, have English blood in their veins. Blows only make iron harder, and they may see in so great a stroke a justification for the couscription which they ale now inclined to resist. If they do order a levee en masse, call General Fremont to the command, and Wendell Phillips to the Cabinet, cast the idea of compromise to the winds, and recognize for the first time the necessity of Revolutionary action, the South will have a harder battle to fight than any site has yet won. The North, when all is said, is far less near ruin than France when Dumoutiez stood with the last army of raw Parisians in the passes of the Argonne.
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