The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-11-02

thAt b with The means q ~ 6Ispoeal hes mo-
rsnd6ssd efficient soevIos in putting down tie
rebellion In Missouri AZ the end Of your arb.
ole you ssem 70 wan ~ Administration Of bic
growing popularity. Your course hitherto has
bssn Straightforward and impartial, and he
lieve that The ego Of ths Hawk viii not stop At
he custom house, bat look ~ before over the
Aeld, and not cry out until he has seen chick.
en-. Relying on that superstition, request you
70 Listen 70 few observations
Gen. Fremont reached 81 Louis on the 2eth
Of July; on the 10Th Of August VS. fought the
battle Of Wilson's Greek, in which the brave
Lyons fell. 10 whoss energy We In Ieva owe ths
security We have sajoyed. Al that time the
whole army Of the West consisted Of about
1000 men, all told, $4,000 Of these were three
qonths volunteers, which, II deducted, would
leave, an available force Of abost 1900 men,
Of these $500 were with Gea. Lyons, leaving
General Fremont abost4 4, 800 men. The various
Regiments then as Cairo three months volun-
seers) were In process Of reorganization. The
district Of country 70 be protected embraced
both branches of Tie Pacific Railroad, the Iron
Mountain, jefferson City, Bonneville, Rolla,
Ironton, Cape Girsrdeau, Leavenworth. and
many other pointa 30 limited were his t ,rces
that the Missouri 1th wss I'll that Gen. Fremont
could order TO join Gen. Lyons. Gen. Fren ont
arrived soon after he disaster Of Bull Run. and
vas left for time - bic own resources. I reed
not Say what difficulties hs had 70 surmount 70
keep up the morale Of hi Department When
RegimenA was armed and equipped, It was or
dered to the Potomac. Golfers ware empty;
there we're NO armA
! RI pc were the means ct the disposal Of Gen
eral Fremont. which required time and labor
70 amcliorate, and Of which you appear to
have formed an erroneous idea. What have
| they done in Washington with ill the means
ID their powers First Is Bulls RUM
You didn't ssk the removal Of Gen. Scott, its
author They have permitted batteries upon
batteries to be erected until the Potomac 10 par
TALLY shut, and rendered insecure to navigation,
and yet you do not say anything about i'll
Fletcher's battery has been for above two
months waiting cannon, yet during stay of 9
few days at Lexington Gen. Price had two can-
non casty With Ill that, If we take into con-
sideration the military character Of Gen. Ere.
mont during the Mexican wars, we'll readily see,
the real object in question, the growing popular
ity Of that Son of Freedom, which frightens the
ambitious spirit Of the Washington Camari!la,
which appears to give but second thoaght to
the West. The Mississippi is ahut; and our
Railroads, now sishppt composition, has 50
raised ito rate Of freight, that 20 farmer can an
ship anything. All kinds Of fabrics ard msai.
features for the army are In the East, although
there are plenty Of materials in the West for
the manufacture of arms, nothing is thought Of
it but the sending of men, and the paying Of
| taxes! But there is people yet that most EN-
phatically say that the first shall be the l,st and
the last shall be the first, and the stone that
was cast away shall be the fandament of the
edifce upon which they shall build.
Burlington, Oct. 81, 1861.
If the writer of the above article is no closer
in his observation Of military matters than in
his reading of the Hawk-Eye, his remarks are
entitled tc very little consideration, which We
do not mean to say he misrepresents the
Hawk-Eye in every reference to it. Our con-
domination of Gen. Fremont was on account of
his failing, as We believed, to make that use Of
the means in his hands for putting down the re.
bellion in Missouri in the months Of August
and September, which he might have done, We
thought then and think now, that his head was
carried away with the projected expedition
down the river, go much 90 that he did not see
or properly meet tine movements Of the rebels
in his own State with the means at his con
mand. This lie the only allegation we have made
against him, and we have thought it as much
entitled to work his removal % did the
disaster at Bull Run that of Gen. Mcdowell.
But Fsbius, with On exhibition of candor
which is refreshing says We have warned the
Administration that il he Is not removed soon,
he will become so popular with Western people
that it will be difficult to GUST him. Fabius is ad-
vised to refresh his memory by reading our re-
marks second time. What We did Say was
condemnatory Of the Administration for its in.
justice towards Fremont in the matter Of the
sharp Ere in the resr-asserting that it had NO
right to annoy, harrsss and diecredit General
which it kept in the field. 1he President is
Commander-in- Chief of our armies and has the
right to say who shall command. For the pro.
per exercise Of the great powers vested in him.
he is responsible to the people. We are con-
tent that the matter should remain in his hands
where the Constitution places it. But we are
not willing that Fremont should be prosecuted
Our opinion has been that the country was
entitled to and ought to have the services Of
the best men in it. If there ia man vino can
do better than Gen. Fremont, Gen. Mcclellan or
General anybody else, he should at once be put
in the place. No man has right to hold COM
mand in the field, to the detriment of the pub,
lie services, because he entertains certain set of
opinions, or because he is personally popular
with class or party.
Gen. Fremont may yet prove himself equal to
the important command Of the Department of
the West. We should rejoice as much as Fabi-
us at such result, and hope to see him achieve
a brilliant victory in Southern Missouri or Ar
kansas over the combined rebel forces.
I'd Daliam of the Oquawka Plaindealer Is off
to the wars again. We congratulate him upon
being appointed on the staff Of Brig General
Richardson.
a The Iowa City Reporter has merged into
the Republican. Harrison 4 Porter say good
bye through the columns of the latter, and its
publishers promise to bring out the paper at
once in new dress.
~ The 18th Iowa Regiment, at Davenport,
have received their uniforms and muskets The
uniform consists of dark blue coats and pants
and black hats looped up on one side, and plumes;
The muskct is the percussion lock smooth bore
a. The citizens Of Davenport held very
large meeting last Monday night to discuss the
position Of Fremont. Resolutions were passed
strongly condemnatory Of tho Chicago Tribune
and other papers, which had based their action