gljt Vrtss. NONpAY, AUGUST 1, 1864 Ws HAVE . to o announce that on and after the first day of August the rates of THE FEEse will be as follows : . 'To City gubserlbere $lO per ann u m, payable In ad vance ; or Twenty Cents per week, payable to the Oltreer. 131elled to Subscribers out of the city $9 per annum ; who for ME months., $2.25 for three months—in variably in advanoe for the time ordered. THE TRI-WEEKLY PRESS Walled to Subscribers 15' per annum ; $2.50 for gra months ; $1.25 for three months. We - aie compelled to make this change for reasons that it will be hardly necessary in this time of unusual and universal em barrassment to explain to the reader. In Trew York the great daily n ewspapers, as well as the leading papers of the West, have all advanced their prices to rates higher than those now asked for TIM. PREsi. White paper alone now costs us over two hundred per cent. more than at the beginning of the war, and other materials that necessarily enter into the composition of a newspaper command a higher rate. We can no longer publish Try. PitEss at former rates without a loss, and with the present advance the margin of profit will be exceedingly small. We are willing, however, to share this em barrassment in common with oar fellow citizens, as a part of our contribution to the great cense: We assure them that as soon as we can return to our former prices we shall do so. Tim Parss will always be kept up to its present high standard, arid - *sin to the reader at the very lowest rate. TILE SITUATION. GEN. GRANT is now making good the • promise, not so much of his words, as of his character. Few attentive observers of the man and the situation have failed to suspect, underlying the apparent inactivity of the army, one of those explosive events for which the modest hero of Vicksburg and the terrible campaign to Richmond is 'characteristically noted. The Lieutenant ^General has never for a•moment lost con fidence in his object, and this - confidence has been reflected in the opinions of all in telligent persons who have visited the army, and in the tone of the Government. 31camillile, the rebels liave even dared to :menace Washington and Baltimore, and have again threatened the border. Still, this sublime business man, whose stubborn inevitableness claims our trust inexorably, in spite of all contradictory appearances, has been calm and consistent. Some one has remarked that the `hero of Chattanooga - is hardest at work when he seems most idle. Apparently everything has been quiescent in the Army of the Potomac for a month. To , skeptics who came to him to resolve their doubts, Gen. GIANT has given the same , unvarying plain assurance. The weather, as has been manifest, has delayed demonstrative ope rations for a time. The necessary fixture of a siege bearing on the plans of the enemy has also made a state of quiet part of militarY policy. Perhaps the seeming inactivity of the Government will ere long be fully explained in the developed pur pose of GRANT. All this seems optimistic, but there are many who cherish a profound +conviction, rooted in the character as well as the victories of General GrtAxT, that he will make good all that he has.been too vise to promise in so many wordi, but which has been abundantly promised in deeds which have not their equal' in , the history of -the war.. • To-day we chronicle the first patent act of the regular siege of Petersblirg. We 1 1 may rather term it,: justified by the natures , of its success, the beginning of the 'capture of Petersburg. This act has been de livered with a shock which must shake Richmond as it. shakes Petersburg. At daylight, on the morning of the 30th, General GRANT must have exploded the enemy's plans, and given to, his own a revelation which is thunder—most ap propriate as a doxology to the slow song of the siege, the rhythmic mur mur of the military hive near Peters hurg. Whatever the rebel journalists may have to say of this (and we suppose " GRANT'S clogged obstinacy" will form a part of their speculations), certainly the gentleman who wrote some time ago to the Petersburg Express to announce the under mining of the place, will have his opinions verified. The whole great success has been the work of a moment, and if Petersburg is now rocking to its fall, who will wonder ? The mine in front of the 9th Corps had not ceased its awful exorcism of one of the enemy's principal batteries, when the im mense mass of our artillery thundered along the whole rebel line, and into the city, and hot upon the success of the first few mo ments our troops carried three tiers of the enemy's earthworks. The smoke and sound of this event should have reached some of the more discerning portion of our pub lic ; for, while the crater of the mili tary VeStivius was throwing up its un sightly geyser of heated dirt, one hun dred and twenty guns of unimpeach able calibre were delivered upon the town. Resting upon this fact, which we fear will not permit the enemy to slumber, we may well believe in the possibility of the capture of Petersburg. Sixteen guns :are reported as destroyed in the exploded battery, along with a number of rebels, even less fortunate than their daring breth xen who, have met death so often at the cannon's mouth. Hundreds of prisoners have been taken. The rumored counter mine of the rebels has been gallantly an ticipated. A severe charge has been made . along the rebel lines - and at seven in the morning of the 30th GRANT had possession of the entire first line of the rebel works. This is but the chronicle of a few hours of the opening day. The good work was still in progress, and we have reason to wait for what the day will bring forth. We need not attempt to measure the value of the capture of so strong an acqui sition as that of Petersburg. Its import ance is sufficiently understood, and, in its fall, those Who believe that Richmond is impregnable will surrender a precarious skepticism. The assault on Petersburg, according to observation of the growth , of events, seems most happily and glori -ously timed, and follows the investment of Atlanta •with, a blow which will help to decide the situation in that quarter as well as determine the fate of Richmond. The situation furnishes interesting mate alai for speculation, but, necessarily, judg ment must yet be held in suspense, whether happens that our operations wear the color of success or failure. Is it to our 'tiiSadVantage that a part of tite rebel forces has come North ? Shrewd militery ob servers