From the article which we republish this morning from the New York
Herald it is evident that a serious attempt is about to be made to wrest this portion of the
Confederacy from our grasp.
It is, meanwhile, a most important possession for us in more respects than one.--It is more productive of the necessaries of life than almost any other district under our command.
It commands some of our most important communications, which cannot be abandoned to the enemy without subjecting us to extreme inconvenience.
It is one of the strongest countries in the world; so strong, indeed that it was called by
Gen. Scott, who surveyed it many years ago, the
Switzerland of
America.
If taken from us we shall find it extremely difficult to recover it. On the other hand, its remarkable adaptation to defensive operations induces us to hope that it cannot be taken from us.
Napoleon tells us that the assailant, in mountain warfare, always labors under a disadvantage, and that a General who conducts a campaign against an army having possession of such a country ought always to manœuvre so as to make the enemy attack
him, and never if he can avoid it, to attack the enemy.--So great an advantage does the possession of such a country offer that he believed it, in the sands of a skillful General, capable of counterbalancing almost any deficiency in numbers.
The history of
Switzerland abundantly sustains this opinion, if, indeed, the opinion of
Napoleon upon a military subject requires any support.
That people, although quarrelling among themselves, for centuries maintained their independence against the great powers that lay on the
North and. West of their mountains.
Neither
France nor
Germany was ever able to subdue them, and Charles the Bold, though the most warlike prince of his day, was overthrown on the bloody field of
Morat with more than two-thirds of his army.
The
English tried for several centrueis to conquer
Scotland, and they often drove the whole population from the plain to the mountains; but beyond that point they could not penetrate.
The wave of English invasion broke and scattered against the sterile rocks of the
Scottish Highlands.
Now, we are very strongly of the opinion that
Burnside is not the man to conduct a mountain campaign, or indeed any other sort of campaign.
He owes his present situation to the mean-spirited confessions which he made after the
battle of Fredericksburg, when he sought to relieve
Lincoln of all blame for the catastrophe, and took it upon himself.--
Buckner is a man of courage and talent, as he has abundantly shown in this war, and being in possession of the country he can, and doubtless will, make use of its capabilities to the greatest advantage.
He will compel
Burnside to attack him, and he will not receive his attack, unless in such a position as to render victory absolutely certain.
Notwithstanding the bluster of the
Herald, therefore, we entertain no fears that the
Yankees will be able to subdue
East Tennessee, assisted though they may be by the traitors who swarm throughout that region.
There is a short and sure way to deal with them, and with that way
Gen. Buckner is no doubt well acquainted.
The idea of preventing reinforcements from going to
Johnston is preposterous.
The reinforcements will have gone before
Burnside gets there, and enough will have been left to take care of him.
