The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-09-24
Mr.. Linc0ln's Letter to Frcmont-Its
Happy Effects.

| HAPPY EMeCtgs
The effect of the statesmanlike letter of the
President to General Fremont is most marked
and decided. 1t has done more for the Union
than to have gained pitched battle. 1t has
won Kentucky and its State organization with
out blow. The condition of Kentucky pre-
vious to the publication of this letter was very
dubious and very unsatisfactory. Not only was
there danger of her Legislature insisting upon
maintaining an armed neutrality, but of going
wholly with the Southern confederacy In JAN
uary last her Legislature passed anti-coercion
resolutions strongly sympathizing with the
cause of the South Her Governor has been
from the beginning and is still a secessionist;
dents letter, clearly defining the position
the federal government and the objects of the
war, Kentucky would have been by this time
precipitated out of the Union by the conspirators
who seized upon Fremont's proclamation as the
instrument by which to accomplish their nefa-
rious design. The prompt, courageous and
wise action Of Mr.. Lincoln shattered the con-
spiracy to atoms, and has raised him at one
bound high above the level Of party to the dig
nifty Of statesman and patriot.
General Fremont ought to have aided the
President in Missouri. Instead of that he be-
came source of weakness and embarrassment
to him. When he entered upon his duties in
that State, the rebels had been swept out as
chaff before the wind. But now more than
half the State has been recOnquered by the
Confederate arms Disaster after disaster has
befalen our arms there. The death of Lyon,
and the retreat from Springfield caused from
want of those reinforcements which General
Fremont ought to have sent, are now followed
up by the still more disastrous capture of Lex
ington from the same cause, involving the loss
to the Union Of3 500 of the best troops who were
sacrificed by neglect, the gain of all their small
arms, artillery, ammunition and equipage, to-
gether with three thousand horses, to the cause
of the rebels, to say nothing of the moral effect
of such a misfortune. 1t is very evident that
there must have been terrible mismanagement
at st. Louis; otherwise the brave Mulligan and
his devoted little band would not have been
thus left to their fate.
The radical error of Gen. Fremont appears to
have been that, instead Of securing Missouri
the State in which his headquarters were fixed
and making it safe base of operations against
the rebel States lying to the south, he planned
various wild expeditions prematurely-
down the Mississippi to Tennessee, and some
across the river to Kentucky. Strange to say,
these expeditions are set forward by the friends
of General Fremont as a valid reason for his
not sending reinfOrcements to the little heroic
bands of Union troops who were struggling
nobly against superior odds in the interior of
Missouri For instance, we are told that
short time since Fremont designed to take
Hickman and Columbus, and for this
purpose ordered ten Indiana regiments
TO Cairo. When part of them
were on the cars, and the rest embarling, all
were stopped by orders from Washington
Still later, he planned movement on Memphis
for Tuesday night last, to be conducted by
McKinstry, when an order on the previous
Saturday for five thousand armed and equipped
men for Washington knocked the whole ar
rangcment on the head. Now, we ask, what
business had General Fremont to plan a move
ment on Memphis, Tenn, at the very time
that Price was advancing with an overwhelm-
ing force against Lexington? Had the men de-
signed for the Memphis expedition been sent to
Lexington in proper time, the government could
not have ordered them to Washington, and a
different story would be told to-day. Had The
troops at the disposal of Gen. Fremont been
used vigorously in Missouri, that State would
have been long since reclaimed and there
would have been troops to spare for Washing
ton and for other points. The very first princi-
pie of generalship is to secure the rear as you
advance It is contrary alike to the dictates of
common sense and military science to proceed
with an expedition down the Mississippi into
hostile country and leave hostile army
in Missouri, in the rear. The expeditions to
Kentucky and Tennessee were premature. AS
for Kentucky there was no danger of her hos
tlity, unless what arose from General FIRE.
monts own acts in prematurely sending troops
to her soil, and from his unlucky proclamation.
These were just the excuses the Confcderatcs
wanted to unurl their flag. General Fremont
ought to have first made Missouri safe, and then
he could have advanced with security either
''SaiiIsI NcHtuCNy, IL ucCcSSaIy, VI IeuHcsSce UT
Arkansas, and then in succession the other dis
loyal States on the Mississippi. By General
Fremonts plan of operations his army-after,
perhaps, achieving considerable success--woud
have been cut off from its base Of operations,
and lost to the Union.
But the greatest blunder of all was the pro-
clamation and distinguished statesman has
| said that a political blunder is worse than a
crime. Fortunately, the President, by his bold
stand, has not only neutralized the bad effects
| of that unwise pronunciamiento, but has made
most favorable impression on the Union and
conservative sentiment, North and South, and
we are glad to learn that his whole Cabinet
goes with him, anG that the scheme of emanci-
patton has received its death blow, and with it
| the hopes Of the abolitionists. As for Ken
lucky. she is marshalling her hosts under An
derson and Crttenden to expel the insurgent in
vaders from her territory and in that she will soon