Daily national Republican., 1862-11-14

in which movement his advancing army itsel
would have availed as a covering force fol
Washington.
Neither he nor the Government had the ordi
nary prescience to provide for reserves, ant
just before starting he proposed a reduction
of 10000 from what time has shown to be oul
entirely inefficient cavalry force. The Who'll,
defence of Gen. Mcclellan, semi-officially writ
ten for the New York World, by DR.. wistar, o.
Philadelphia, his friend from boyhood. who wa.
Iwth him during the last battles before Rich
mond, all rests on an absolutely false assump
| tion which had before gone vaguely to the coun
| try, and which has remained uncontradicted au
thoritativcly to this hour, because the Govern
ment could not, In defending itself, attack III
own gencral-we mean the charge that troops
agreed to be a part of Gen. McClellan's PENN.
| sular force were detained from him after he had
embarked.
We Inop that this was utterly false, and we
will briefly give the truth. With reference Ia
the expedition TO the Peninsula, the President,
wisely and of his own motion, by formal writ.
ten order, prescribed that Washington should
be lefl " absolutely secure" and that General
Mcclellan and the four generals of army corps
should decide what such force should be. BY
elaborate written report they decided that 55 900
men were necessary for the immediate defence
Of Washington, of whom 1000 were to occupy
the defences on the north and fully man those
on the south side of the Potomac, and q, 200
were to operate as covering force Immediately
in front of the latter. Before leaving, the
general placed General Banks, with 35, 900, on
the line of Winchester and Strasburg.
In the same way, and with equally positive
knowledge. we stated in June last some of the
reasons why General Mcclellan ceased to be
Gencral-in- Chief. II is not necessary to re-
iterate thnt deliberate and guarded statement.
We left II to be determined whether he had the
ability to he more successful as the head Of a
grand offensive army than he had been as
Gcneral-in-C Chief. While at the head of 200, 600
men, he wished to divide his army and trans
port one portion of il to the Peninsula, leaving
his enemy entrenchcd at Manassas. This plan
abandoned, the movement in flank upon Ma
nassas failed, because engineers of his own
selection, under his personal superintendent,
and meanwhile recommended by him for pro-
motion, collected boats for the passage of
troops. which, when the force was assembled
for Increment, nere all found too large 10 pass
through Tie lock Of the canal opening into The
Potomac. The movement thus announced to
the enemy, was necessarily abandoned, and
| every rebel escaped from Manassas, of whose
evacuation the general was utterly incredulous
in the face of cumulative and true testimony.
He embarked for the Peninsula with 123, 900
men, and their armament and supplies, in the
most magnificent fleet of transports this world
ever saw. From on shipboard he made the un-
expected and astonishing request for the whole
of McDowell's covering force of $1,000 then
outlying, as agreed, the forts opposite WASH
ington. and for eight regiments in addition.
The only suggestion he could make Of force
to supply their places was some four regiments
Of undisciplined troops in Pennsylvania. The
| President asked those in command of the de
fences of Washington for a detailed report OF
the number of troops for the defence. By that
report ii was demonstrated that, with the excep.
tion of McDowell's covering force, there were
only 5000 men, nearly all disorganized regi.
ments rejected by Gen. Mcclellan, and without
a single battery of field artillery; that, If his
request were complied with, not all even OF
these 5000 men, instead of the agreed So, 600
would be left to hold the defences Of Washing.
ton, without man as covering force between
them and Richmond by way of Gordonsville and
Fredericksburg, and that Gen. Mcclellan had
therefore, started with 1000 more men than HI
was entitled to by written agreement.
The President then referred the whole evi
dence TO two generals to decide whether, Il
Gen. McClellan's request were complied with
Washington would be left defended within tn,
terms of the order and agreement, and they o
! course decided adversely TO the request.
From this force of As, 900 men the President
even then, withdrew and sent Gen. Mcclellan
Gen. Franklin's 1900, leaving 30, 600 insteat
of 5000 men for the defence of Washington
Such are the authoritative facts and such Is tn
overwhelming answer to the loose and repeate,
misstatemcnts, charges and falsehoods of tn
last six months.