Memphis Daily Appeal

RICHMOND, December 19.—The Washington Chronicle of the 17th, Lincoln's organ, has the following article, based on Burnside's dispatch, that he had crossed the Rappahannock: "At this writing we have nothing but the simple announcement yesterday morning from Fairfax C. H. that our troops are all this side of the river, and that the pontoons are up. If they recede back to Fairfax without loss of men and material in operations, as it is reported they did, it indicates skill and good fortune on the part of our generals, or inattention or over caution on the part of the rebels, or all these together. Our army being unable to force the enemy's works was in a most dangerous position on the south side of the Rappahannock, and the rebels, in permitting their escape, have lost an opportunity such as they have not had since they neglected to take Washington after the first battle of Bull Run. The failure at Fredericksburg has taken the public, especially our military authorities, so much by surprise that opinions are hardly yet formed as to what ought to be done, or what is likely to be done. For ourselves, we hope that as few weeks will terminate the winter of this latitude, the army designated for the defense of Washington will go at once into winter quarters."

The Star says the failure to bag the rebels has stricken the whole country with feelings of painful surprise. It adds, sarcastically, that perhaps the army was not gotten up, after all, to annihilate the rebels but to guard Washington, and advised that it go into winter quarters for the few remaining winter months.