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From General Lee's army.
[correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.]

Outpost Army Northern Va., November 2d, 1863.
Meade still lingers in Fauquier, while Gen. Lee halts on the Rappahannock, and, Macawher like, is "waiting for something to turn up."

Meade has disclosed to the world the startling fact that he can conduct a retreat better than he can an advance. The little fame he won at Gettysburg is like foliage of the forest in autumn, descending rapidly to rise no more. He soon will have to walk the road that has already been trodden by McClellan, Hooker, Burnside, and others. It is evident that he is not equal to the work before him.

Gen. Warren has already been spoken of as his successor, and before the chill winds of December sweep over the earth he will be numbered among the things that were.

The destruction of the Orange and Alexandria railroad is to complete that the Yankees have been actively engaged in repairing it for ten days or more, and make but little progress in its reconstruction.

The country now occupied by Meade, once fertile, prosperous and happy, is now a vast territory of ruin and desolation. Dwellings prior to the war inhabited by happy souls with an abundance to subsist on, have been ruthlessly torn down to make quarters for a mean and insolent foe. There is not a house standing on the railroad from Manassas Junction to Rappahannock river, a distance of more than thirty miles. All enclosures upon the farms have been pulled down and destroyed; extensive fields, once yielding rich harvests, are cut to pieces by military roads. In lieu of valuable crops of corn may be seen bramble and high weeds waving triumphantly over the land. A lone caviller rides in vain in pursuit of a few ears of corn for his faithful and jaded steed, and returns in despair to his bivouac to brood over the evils of war.

This is the condition of the country now occupied by Meade. How long he will continue to make the Upper Rappahannock his line for military operations I am not prepared to say. Should he remain where he is during the winter, he will receive some hard blows from Gen. Stuart, who never falls to harass the enemy when an opportunity presents itself.

John Minor Botts, a miserable traitor, has been endeavoring to arouse the sympathy of some of the army in his behalf by telling them how much he has suffered by some of our troops stopping only one night on his farm. This individual, during the occupation of Culpeper by the enemy, gave entertainments, and invited the most prominent officers to his house; and from what I have heard I have not the slightest doubt that he communicated all he knew concerning our army and Government. John Minor Botts should be imprisoned during the war by our authorities or banished. He is an enemy, and too dangerous a one to remain longer on the outpost.

Among the slaves captured by Major Mosby a few days since, there was one belonging to Gen. Wms. C. Wickham, of Hanover. He was stolen during Stoneman's raid and carried to Washington. He seemed to be highly gratified at the idea of getting home.

Dyke.

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