Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-09-04
From the London Post, Government Organ Aug Is.
Lord PalmerstOn's Opinion of Gen.
= MeClellan,s AppOintment.


The appointment of Gen. Mcclellan to the
command of the Federal army is circum-
stance which not unnaturally has excited
considerable discussion in the New York pa
pers. By one he is described as a military
dictator, who is to act entirely free froin the
control of Gen. Scott and the War Depart
ment; and by another loud complaint is
raised because the gallant General, in COM
pliance with the intrigues of certain selfish
politicians in Washington. is to be hampered
in the selection of the general aud regimental
officers who are to serve under his command.
But all the accounts agree 10 one particular
that Gen. Mcclellan, having accepted the
responsible post of Commander-in-C Chief, is
examining everything with his own eyes, and
is endeavOring to enforce that stern aud
rigorous discipline, without which, as the
disaster at Bull Run shows, great army
may speedily become a disorganized and
pannic-stricken rabble.
But when the New York papers talk of
military dictatorship, we hardly know what
they mean. Civil war necessarily implies
the suspension of ordinary law, and the sub
stitution of the rule of the sword. AS far as
the interests of the North are concerned it
matters little whether this extreme power is
welded by the President at Washington or
by the General at the head of the amy in
the field. Mr.. Lincoln, it is admitted has
travelled far beyond the principles of the
Constitution. He has proclaimed martial
law, he has suspended the habeas cOrpns act,
and he has deposed and imprisoned the mu-
nicipal authorities at Baltimore. We do not
say that these measures are not perfectly JUS
tiiiable. The indemnity acts of Congress
prove them to be so. Mr.. Lincoln can de-
legate to the chief of the army any power
which the head of the executive government
is permitted to exercise; and for the purpose
of the campaign it matters little, We repeat,
whether Mr.. Lincoln or Gen. Mcclellan exer-
else powers which are beyond the strict let
ter of the Constitution.
1t still appears to be doubtful whether the
Confederate troops, flushed with success. in
tend to attack Washington. As their object
will be accomplished by clearing the seces-
sionist States of Federal troops, sound policy
would seem to dictate that the enemy should
be quietly left to improve their organization
in the comparative security of Arlington
Heights. Actual warfare in the United
States has now been waged for several
months. Every advantage, with the excep-
ton of Gen. McClellan's successes in Western
Virginia, has been on the side of the South.
What has the North gained 10 exchange? A
disgraceful defeat, an amount of taxation
which is unparalleled in the history OF Euro
pean nations, the utter subyersion of consti-
tutional liberty, and, by means of prohibitory
tariffs, the alienation of the sympathies OF
their best customers and friends. 1t appears,
further, that slavery is not the cause of this
lamentable contest. It arises from CONNER
cial Jealousy, and thus we see that in Ameri-
ca the great battle of free trade as opposed
to protection is fought out, not by hastings
and platform speeches, but by the ultima ra-
to regum.