The English press on the battle of Gettysburg.
The latest American news received in
England was up to the 6th of July.
Their accounts did not include the falling back of
Gen. Meade and of
Gen. Lee, both of which events had occurred, but were not there known.
We give some highly interesting extracts from the comments of the
English papers on the great battle:
[from the London Times.]
The whole result appears to be that the
Federals in the second engagement did not recover the ground they had lost in the first.
But the conflict must have been, as
Gen. Meade describes it, severe.
He more than once mentions the heavy losses his troops have sustained, and infers that the
Confederates must have suffered equally.
The proportion of officers is again unusually large.
Three Federal
Generals have fallen, and four are returned as wounded.
In fact, though the
Government has seen enough of "promise" in the conflict of the second day to justify the
President in issuing an address to the public on the event, his words seem saddened by a sense of a loss among the troops too heavy for the slight result their courage has purchased.
A retreat, a drawn battle, and another, probably a greater engagement, inevitable, there was scarcely enough of success in the achievement of the army to enable the
President to rise to the full tone of congratulation.
The few sentences be addresses to the country on this Fourth of July must have read but sadly, compared with the fervid orations that were wont to fill the public ear on the same anniversary.
The "promise of a great success" has been so often made before, and been so often belied by events, that the bloodshed, which is a certainty, must have cast a lurid shadow on the day. Surely, never was the over weening pride of a nation so awfully rebuked, Well may the
President claim the "condolence of all for the many gallant fallen," and
prepare the public for the worst by a sentence that breathes much more despondency then triumph.
[from the London Herald]
It is curious that after an interval of twenty-four hours no later news had been received from
Gen. Meade, although the Fourth of July demanded an effort from the
Federal Government.
It is reasonable to infer, therefore, either that no success had been achieved, or that no fresh engagement had taken place, or that some great disaster had be fallen the
Federal arms.
The next mail will be a waited with fearful anxiety, and we dare not venture to anticipate its news. * * In the meantime, if
Lee has attained no other object,
he has succeeded as provisioning, his army for six months of the enemy's cost, and has taught the
North somewhat of the losses and scurrilous policy has sufficed on the
Southern States.
[from the London news]
Whether the Confederate army was in a position to renew the attack, it is of course impossible to say. But after being repulsed at every point for two days, there would seem to be little chance of their doing so with any prospect of success.
If another item of news can be retied on — that
Gen. Sedgwick's corps had pushed through
York and got to the rear of the Confederate army--
Gen Lee would in any case have been compelled to retreat at once.
Gen. Meade has already fulfilled the high opinion of his military knowledge and ability his brother officers were said to entertain, and vindicated an appointment which at first seemed, even in
America, to have filled almost every one with surprise.
[from the London Globe]
So far
Gen. Meade made up for the losses occasioned by the impetuosity of
Gen. Rey He had kept his ground and fought defensive action with steadfastness and skill.
And here the narrative ends abruptly.
The issues we have yet to learn.
It will be hard for either side to claim a victory.
That victory had yet to be won. Whether there was more fighting, depended upon
Gen Lee's calculations, not only of the chances of success, but of obtaining afterwards the rewards of success.
If it were true that
Gen Couch was showing men in the
Cumberland Valley and
Gen. Sedgwick on the road from
York — although these bodies were only militiamen — and that French was hurrying his men up to
Gettysburg from
Harper's Ferry,
Lee, unless he made one more, and that a decisively successful onslaught upon the
Federals, probably fell back over the
Blue Ridge, or sought upon its slopes a strong defensive position.
On the other hand, the calling up of French and the rumor that an order had been sent to
Gen. Dix to abandon the
Peninsula and hasten to
Washington — these are signs of weakness in the
Federal camp, and imply that
Meade had suffered great losses, and with difficulty held his own. But conjecture, though attractive, is profitless, and we must await the arrival of the next mail for knowledge.
[from the Manchester Guardian
There is a special difficulty in using our past experience of official bulletin to assist us in estimating the true significance of the scanty intelligence which we possess respecting this eventful struggle.
Gen. Meade in new to us in the chief command, and we have no means of knowing how far his notions of policy and propriety in the preparation of documents intended for publication coincide with those of some of his predecessors.
Judging from the precedents afforded by the reports of such men as
Pope and
Hooker, we should be justified in expecting that the next mail would bring us news of a crushing Federal disaster.
Giving
Gen. Meade, on the other hand, the credit one to an untried man, of being fairly modest, truthful and temperate, it may be interred that he has succeeded beyond expectation in bringing the triumphant career of the
Confederates to a pause, and possibly in providing them with good reason to rue their temerity.
Each is in a position in which complete defeat may be attended with very great misfortune, and there is more than ever reason to be on our guard against drawing hasty conclusions from incomplete operations in the field.
The
London Morning Post discovers some parallels between the battle near
Gettysburg and that at
Antietam Creek, and says:
‘
"For aught we know to the contrary, both may have at the same time marked the commencement and termination of a Southern invasion.
The Northern soldiers certainly fight best on their own soil, for, except on the present occasion and at
Antietam, they have never held their ground with such steadiness when coping with their Southern antagonists."
’
The
Army and Navy Gazette says most probably the course of events would be determined by the result of the battle of July 3d, and on it would depend whether
Washington fell or
Lee retired into
Virginia with the loss of many men, but with a prodigious quantity of valuable stores and plunder.
Lee cannot afford to stand still, and if he found
Meade too strong for his army to attack again, he would get away from the sword of the
Federal militia and volunteers which were gathering around him.
