Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-11-12
The Removal OF Gen. McCIeIIan-An
Able and Searching Article.

The Removal OF GEN. McCIeIIan-An
Able and Searching Article.
From the N. Y. Times. .g
Gen. Mcclellan has been removed from
the command of the Army of the Potomac
and Gen. Burnside appointed in his place.
The immediate cause of this removal has
been Gen. McOlellan's refusal to advance
against the enemy, even under the most
peremptory orders of the General-iu- Chief,
It will be seen, by a letter from Gen. Hal.
leck 10 the Secretary of War, which We
pablish,in another column, that on the lst
of October Gen. Mcclellan was urged by
Gen. Halleck to cross the Potomac and give
battle to the enemyI-being at the same
time reminded of the disadvantages of de.
laying until the Potomac should be swollen,
and the roads impaired, by the autumnal
rains. Finding that this produced no eff
feet, Gen, Mcclellan WAS '.peremptoriky or
dEred' by Gen. HalIeck, on the 9th of 0C.
tober, to "croSS the Potomac and sive battle
to the enemy or driUf him South." For three
weeks this order was not obeyed, aud the
only excuse given for not obeyiug it, so far
as appears,-the want of supplies,-is
shown by the letter of Gen Halleck to have
been utterly without foundation, The dis !
closures of that letter, concerning Gen. Nc
Olellan's constant and reiterated complaints
of lack Of supplies, are very remarkable
and deserve special attention.
We presume that this particular instance
of dis6bedience of orders, though the inn
mediate occasion, is not the whole cause of
Gen. McClellAn's removal. 1t is pretty
generally understood that this is only the
cslmination Of a systematic disregard OF
orders, of a steady and obstinate tardiness
in the conduct of the campaign against the
rebels, and of a consequent inefticiency in
command, which would long ago have se-
cured his dismissal under any Administra-
ltion less ;imids(hs1 that which has now
possessi6n of power THE fifteen months
during which he has had virtual control of
the war have been utterly barren of results
to the cause he has prOfessed to serve
Few commanders in history have had such
SPLENDID opportunities, and fewer still
have so ostentatiously thrown them away.
With an army capable Of the most heroic
achievements, powerful in numbers, unri-
vailed in discipline and equipment, eager
always for active and onward movements,
he has accomplished absolutely nothing
but successful retreats from inferior forces,
and the defense of the Capital at Washing
ton, which he should have left no foe capa-
BILE of menacing. The rebel armies have
grown up in his presence, aud by his toler-
alton. Through all his long career he has
made but one attack and won but a single
victory; and that became absolutely fruit
less through his failure to follow it up.
We have no theory on which to explain
this most extraordinary failure of Gen. No.
Giellan as a commander, or the still more
extraordinary persistence of the President
in committing the fortunes Of the war to
his hands. Gen. Mcclellan has shown too
many of the qualities OF an accomplished
soldier to attribute his failure to simple
lincapacity. That he is absolutely disloyal
to the Government we have never permitted
ourselves to believe. Yetwe think it quite
probable that his heart has never been in
the war-that through it all he has had
hopes of a compromise which should end
| it, and that he has feared the effect upon
such compromise of a stern and relentless
prosecution of hostilities. His position aud
possibly his feelings have been those as
ded the armies of the Parlia ament at theout-
break of the great civil war. He was an
\ accomplished soldier anda Parliamentarian;
but be shrank from civil war-he hoped
| through it all for an accommodation with
the King, and 'nezt to a great cat he dreqded
a great Uietory" Under such leader the
war could never prosper, and it was soon
found necessary to replace him by Hamp-
den, who carried into the field the bold
ness and courage he had shown 10 politics,
and who,had thelsagacity torsee from the
outset that ain war of all kinds, modera-
tiou is imbecility." AS politician, Gen.
McClellan's sympathies, previous to the
rebellion, had always been with The South
BE has believed them wronged by North
ern sentiment and by Northern action
Aud beyond all question, he has hoped
aud believed that time would come when
! the war could be arrested, and when the
Southern leaders, backed by a powerful
| party in the Northern States, would listen
/ to terms Of aecommodation,-an that
nothing would stand in the way of such a
compromise more than victory which
should wound their pride by humiliating
their arms Dudserushing their power.
In ttiissyiew Of the case Gen. Mcclellan
has beenSeneo nraged by the political parti-
sans who, at an early stage in the war,
made him their; prospective candidate for
the Presidency, and came thus TO have an
Iiuterest in putting him in opposition to the
| Administration which he professed to serve.
They defended his'etrors, aud made them
selves the speciel champions of his worst
mistakes. They had upquestionable pro-
| vocation and some excuse for much OF this
| in the incorporate zeal with which he was
assailed; bur they betrayed him into an
undue reliance on the support of aiParty,
and a ruinous subservieuey to their wishes
and views. We know not how else to ac-
count for the steady aud systematic disre-
gard he has shown of the wishes and orders
of the Government aud for his adherence
to deliberate and, methodicall inactivity,
which has brought the cause of the Union
to the very verge of ruin.
Unless we have been misinformed, Pres
| sident Lincoln has on two occasions writ
ten to Gen. Mcclellan, reviewing in detail
his military operations, and, demonstrating