Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1862-11-20
tFrom the New York Times.)
The Removal Of General Mcclellan.

| immediate cause of his removal has been Gen,
McCleIlan'S refusal to advance agains the en.
emy even under the most peremptory orders
of the Geueral-in-Chef 1t will be seen by q
letter OF General Halleck to the Secretary Of
War, which we pub ish 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 enemy-being at the
same time reminded of the disadvantages OF
delaying until the Potomac should be swollen,
aud the roads impaired, by the autumnal rains.
Finding that this produced no effect, General
Mcclellan was " promptly ordered" by General
Halleck, on the 9th of October, to "cross Ms
! Potomac and gire battle to the enemy or drius
him South" For three weeks this order was
not obeyed, and the only excuse given for not
obeying it, so far as appears-the want OF sup.
plles-is shown by the letter of Gen. Halleck
to have beer utterly without foundation. The
disclosures of that letter, concerning General
| McClellan's constant and reiterated complaints
of lack OF supplies, are very remarkable and
| deserve special attention.
| We presume that this particular instance Of
disobedience of order, though the immediate
occasion, is not the whole cause of General
McClellau's removal. 1t is pretty generally
understood that this is only the coumi0aton
of a systematic disregard of orders of stea-
dy and obstinate tardiness in the conduct OF
the campaign against the rebels, and of con-
sequent inefhcleucy in command, which would
long ago nave secured his dismissal under any
Administration less timd than that which has
possession Of power. The fifteen months dur
lug which he has had virtual control of the
war have been utterly barren of results to the
cause be has professed TO serve. Few com.
manders in history have had such splendid op.
portunities, and fewer still have so ostentati.
ously thrown them away. With an army ca.
pable of the most heroic achievements, power.
tul in numbers, unrivaIed in discipline and
equipment, eager always for active and on.
ward movement, be has accomplished absolute.
| !y nothing but successful retreats from inferi,
Or forces. and the defence of the Capital at
Washington, which he should have left no foe
capable OF menacing The rebel armies have
grown up in his presence and by bis toleration.
Through all his long career he has made but
one attack aud won but single victory and
that became absolutely fruitless through his
failure TO follow it up.
We hare no theory on which to explain this
most extraordinary failure of General McClel.
Ian as o commander, or the still more extraor.
binary persistence of the President in commit.
thug the fortunes of war to his hands Gen.
Mcclellan has shown too many Of the quail,
ties of all accomplished soldier to attribute his
failure to simple incapacity. That he ia abso.
lutely dislovai TO the Government we have
never permitted ourselves to believe Yet we
think it quite probable that his heart has nev.
er been III the war-that through it all he has
had hopes of u compromise which should end
it, aud that he has feared the effect upon such
compromise of stern aud relentless prose.
cutiOn of hostilities.
His position aud possibly his feelings have
been those ascribed by Macaulay to Essex,
who commanded the armies of the Parliament
at the outbreak of the great civil war. He
was al accomplished soldier and Pariiamenta.
ran: but be shrauk from civil war-he hoped
through it all for an accommodation with the
King, aud aext to a great defeat he dreaded
great cictory." Under such leader the war
could never prosper, and it was found neces.
sary to replace him by Hampden, who carried
into the field the boldness and courage he had
shown in politics, and who had the sagacty to
see from the outset that " in acar of all ktnfi,
moderatl0a as ambeclity" As polite an, Gen.
Mcclellan S sympatheS, previous to the rebel.
lion, had aln ays been with the South. Hs
has believed them wronged by Northern sen.
timeut and 10y Northern action And beyond
all question he has hoped and believed that
time would come when the war could be ar
rested, and when the Southern leaders, back.
ed oy powerful party in the Northern States,
would listen to terms of ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
that nothing would stand in the way of such
a acompromse more than victory which should
wound their pride by bumiliatng their arms
and crushing their power.
In this view of the case, Gen Mcclellan
has been encouraged by the political partsans
who at an early state in the war, made him
their prospective candidate for the Presidency
aud came thus 70 have an interest in putting
him in opposition to the Administration which
be professed TO serve They defended his er-
rors, and made themselves the special cham
pons of his worst mistakes. They had un-
questionable provocation and some excuse Tor
much of this in the intemperate zeal with
which he was assaied but they betrayed
him into an undue reliance on the support OF
party, ard ruinouS subservieucy to their
J wishes and views We know not how else
to account for the steady and systematic dis
regard he has shown OF the wishes aud orders
of the Government, and for bis adherence to
deliberate and methodical inactivity, which
has brought the cause of tn, Union to tho
very verge of ruin.
Unless We bave been misinforned, President
Lincoln has oD two occasions written to Gen
Mcclellan, reviewing in detail his military
operations, and demonstrating his failures to
respond to the wishes and just expectations of
the Government. One OF these papers was
prepared just after Mcclellan had landed on
, the Peninsula, the other after lbe BATHS Of
! .tietam /; and We have heard both spoiaa