(Ct Vrtzs. TUESDAY, MAY 31, 1884 'Age - Wq can take no notice of anonymous comma niCationS. We do not return rejected manuscripts. Jar Voluntary correspondence is solicited from all parts of the world, and especially from our different military and naval departments. When used, it will be paid for. The Strategy of General Grant. For three long years the Army waited for a leader. It has not waited in vain. Ge neral GRAN'i stands head and shoulders above all other commanders who have dis tinguished themselves in the War, and,. judged not only by his successes, but by the means he has used to obtain them, must unquestionably be recognized as one of the great soldiers - of the age: The country is astonished, and it has good reason to be, at the Masterly develcip ment of the campaign in - Virginia. EVery day brings new proof of the somkelness and brilliancy of the plan, and the energy of its execution. No American general has ever thano3uvred an immense.. army with the ease and skill with which GRANT • has handled the forces in Virginia, It has; been-well said that lie controls the Arinly • , of the Potomac almost as easily as if it . were a brigade. The history of. the carn. paign, thus far, conclusively shows GRANT to be not only the hardest fighter; but- the finest strategist of the war. On the 4th of May General GRANT Placed Ins whole army on the south bank of the 1 Rapidan, sixty miles on a direct line - . froin Richmond, and in the same week hurled his entire forces against the enemy. This was a terrible .reconnoissance in force, which settled at once the questionof vela= live strength; tested the spirit of the army, and justified Ga.4.lT in moving with the rapidity, daring, and confidence - .which have marked - his subsequent - operations. A campaign that does not begin with s. great battle is not likely to end With a victory, and GRI.NT displayed the genius of a gi•eat soldier in taking the Offensive at once. The enemy, after these fierce battles, were compelled to retire to the strOnger . position 'at Spottsylvania. It waS there that General GRANT began those brilliant and sound combinations which have given us more confidence in his milittu - y skill than all his other victories combined. He re fused to hurl his troops upon the' strong works at Spottsylvania, but by a sudden movenient forced LEE to choose between the surrender of 'his lines of comiuunica lion or retreat. LEE fell back - to the South Anna, and GRANT again declined to attack the enemy in his chosen . position, and fortifications upon which the best engineer ing ability of the South has - spent two years, at least, of labor. While the enemy spread-their lines, liken, vast fan, between him and Richmond, and Vainly awaited an . attack, GRANT, on Thursday night, re crossed the North Anna, moved southerly on LEE'S right:fiank, with his own. right se' curely protected by the river,: crossed the - PainunkeY at Hanovertown ; and is now again confronted by LEE, - who was forced to' leave ids- chosen position -. and throw hiffself between our army and Richmond, upon the line of the Chickahominy. All this was done by GRANT without wasting either men or time. It is the result of pure strategy. What then is done? Three weeks ago he was sixty miles from Richmond, with three rivers to cross, and the best army, of the rebellion before him, resolved to dis pute every foot of ground. Now, without losing a wagon, without once severing his communication with Washington or leaving it unprotected, without any loss Which is not exceeded by the lciss of the enemy, he stands, or rather moves, - within fifteen miles of the rebel capital, and has driven LEE to a position which he would gladly have fought a hard battle every day of the month to avoid. Such a campaign is > unprecedented in Virginia. When General MCCLELLAN advanced up the Peninsula he 4itet with little opposition. Beyond the Rapidan no commander has ever led the A.rmy of the Potomac ten ,milemi Our fighting has been clone in what we may call the front of Washington. Even in offensive movements the necessity of caution has been so extreme that the army seemed actually always on the defensive. GRANT, by a less expensive and tedious route than the Peninsula, has placed the war directly before Richmond, and relieved all Northern Virginia of every thing but the annoyance of the guerillas. Ms movement is absolutely and effi ciently offensive, and when we remember that he controls the Peninsular advance, and consider the important part which General BUTLER Will take in - move- mentsr which will now be strictly co operative, it is almost impossible to - con gratulate the country too much upon the glorious progress of the greatest of all our campaigns. The two great armies of MEADE arid BUTLER are virtually under one practical direction; Richmond is at tacked, as it'never was before, from two sides, and General LEE'S forces are, in effect, no longer an army, but a garrison. The severest battles are, yet to be fought, but We are positive that GRANT will not at tempt to take Richmond by storm,. nor by a whole summer's siege. If his future progress is to be proportionate to his past, that city should certainly be our own be fore July. • General 'Butler. That the charges against General Bon,En were untrue is admitted by the journal in which they first appeared. The Evening Post, of yesterday, in reference to its state ments that BUTLER had lost thesrouncl he had gained by refusing to entrench, against the urgent advice of GILMORE, editorially says General Butler addressed a letter on' this mat ter to General Gilmore, asking : ' Did you -or do you authorize the statement that Gilmore advised Butler to make his (my) position secure by en trenchments against sorties or any movements of the enemy to oust Us from them when before Fort Darling, and that 1 answered that I would not pause for defensive preparation V To which the reply of General Gilmore, acopy of which lies be fore us, is, ' I never advised you as stated. I sent a staff officer to you in regard to certain changes in the line, but there was not time to make those changes, even if they had been ordered' The Evening Post may have had excellent reasons- for believing its correspondent to be well informed, but the .public reasons for presuming him to be in error were so many that General BUTLER Scarcely needed a defence: General GuaronE,..however, has settled the .question. TICE SECRETARY OF WAR has hacl many defenders; even if he has been "the best abused man of the war." But the only defence he needs is a plain statement of the work he has done and is doing. FroM the New York Times we quote the follow ing suggestive paragraphs : "Secretary Stanton has been the best abused man of the war. Many of the disasters have been fathered upon him, and very few of the victories have been put to his credit by the public estimation. Withoulikdiscussing the exact value of his services to the country, it is worth while to consider occa sionally one grand fact which is almost forgotten by the public, and yet which must redound In his tory especially to the credit of his administration. We mean the wonderful organization by which our immense armies aro kept constantly supplied with food, clothing, ammunition, and weapons. "We had in the Secretary's despatch, received on Tuesday, a brief record of a single week's adminis tration under the War Department. Within eight days after the great brittle of Spottsylvanis. Court House several thousand—probably some twenty-five thousand—veteran troops were forwarded to Gen. Grant, and during -the same time rations sufficient for his whole immense army were supplied him. Twenty— thousand sick and wounded were trans ported from the field of battle to the Washington hospitals and placed under surgical care. Over eight thousand prisoners were conveyed from the field to prison depots, and a vast amount of artillery and weapons, won 'from the enemy, were brought away. Several thousand fresh cavalry horses were forwarded to the Army of the Potomac ; and many thousands of reinforcements, with arms and ample supplies, were sent to the other armies in the field. During the same week a fresh army of thirty thou sand volunteers was mustered into service, clothed, armed, equipped, and transported to their respective positions. "We submit that no military department, not even Napoleon's, when lie commanded the resources of most of Europel ever showed a better week's work. "Now, wherever individually the credit of this masterly organization may lie, historically it will be ascribed to the War Department. ' History will show that during a great war millions of men were armed, equipped, fed, and transported with a silent regularity and promptness to which only the longest experience in military organifiation can usually at tain ; and for this the nation has reason to be devout ly . . A.VY articles intended for thc.grcat Sanitary Fair may ho sent to Mrs. J. W. Forney, the chairman of the Committee on Labor, Revenue; and'lndime, at the residence 618 Washiagton Square. The Conventions at Cleveland. A number of our fellow-citizens will as semble to-clay in the city of - Cleveland, Ohio. They propose to discuss the ques tion of the Presidency. We arc somewhat at a loss for a general term to express our idea of this Convention ; but perhaps we can find none more felicitous than a line displayed in large type by the World " Grand Rally of the Radicals against LiN COLN !" These gentlemen should thank the editorial Copperhead for giving them a phrase that has the merit of adaptability, and, we should think, acceptability. Our own misfortune is, that we cannot see which of these Conventions can be called " The _Grand Rally." We have before us no %Os than three distilibt calls, which may be hurriedly summed up call signed by "The People's Pro . visional Committee," which declares that "the one-term principle should be inflexi bly adhered to in the approaching elec lions, and that Baltimore is too near Wash ington to be a proper place for holding a Convention." Therefore, in Older that people may be away from the evil influ ences of Washington, these gentlemen pro pose assembling in the purer atmosphere of Cleveland. Senator BROWN, of Allisouri, heads tins call. Ex-Governor IVILLTA - Ar F. JOYINSTON and WILLIAM MORMS DAVIS, formerly a member of Congress from this State, are the only names of note from Pennsylvania. 11. A call addressed "To the Radical Men of the Nation," demanding the imme diate extinction of slavery negro suffrage, and a division of the lands of the rebels among the slaves.' This call concludes "Men of God ! men of humanity ! lovers of justice ! patriots and freemen ! one and all, rally !" It is hardly necessary to say after this quotation that Rev. GEORGE B. CHEEVER is the principal signer. Mr. FREDERICK DouGLAss will be a prominent member. Pennsylvania, has not the honor of being represented. 111. A third call is addressed "To the People," and is quite brief and " con servative." It speaks about violating State andindividual rights, and favors an amend ment to: the Constitution abolishing slavery, It is presumed this Convention will place General GRANT in nomination. Mr. Jorrx CocnitAKE,, formerly a brigadier general, we believe, is the principal' signer to titis can. Pennsylvania is again denied the merit of a representative. These are the three "Conventions" that meet to-day in Cleveland. The four or five names we recognize are the names of good men, and we trust they may have pleasant quarters at Cleveland and a safe return home. We do not know how many ladies will be admitted, but we should not be surprised if the,re was a large delegation in attendance. Mrs. E. CADY