The Portland daily press., 1862-12-25
Gross Indignity to American Soldiers.


Courier-thus giving it full endorsement-the
following paragraph:
The depth of dissatisfaction in the army at
the removal of Mcclellan has hardly yet be-
/ come familiar to the public. The army knew
that his guidance and conduct were essential
and Indispensable. To dsplace him, was like
to taking away the rudder from ship at the
! height OF the gale. From private information
| received directly from the army, we learn that
| TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND OF the soldiers are
missing since the action at Fredericksburg.
Only about ten thousand of these can be aC-
counted for among the casualties; and the pre-
| sumption is, that no less than fifteen thousand
have struggled, probably, in most cases have
passed over into the confederate lines, in Or
der to be paroled. In this way a very large
army might soon be reduced to nothing But
all these things follow from the first false step,
in depriving the soldiers of commander
whom they loved, and in whom they had con-
fidence
Bear in mind that the above is from paper,
and comes to us through another, both of
which have been ready to denounce as little
better than traitors every one who, while Gen
eral Mcclellan was at the head of the army
of the Potomac, dared question his fit
ness for the position, or to say word that
could possibly tend to lessen confidence in his
ability. How many times has the Argus de-
nounced the Press because correspondent
criticised Mcclellan, and accused it of thus
attacking the President himself, by whose ac-
tion alone Mcclellan held his commission and
his position!
But who needs telling of the venality of that
paper, or that all its pretended respect for the
President was the basest hypocracy, or that
any moment has transpired when it would not
boldly have attacked the President and open
ly expressed its sympathy for jeff Davis If it
had dared to do soi Now, when Mcclellan
is no longer in command, and when one of
the truest, ablest, most successful and most
high-minded of our Generals has taken his
place, that base sheet, following the lead of its
traitorous cotemporary in Boston, takes the
earliest opportunity to assail him indirecty,to
represent his army as demoralized, and not
satisfied with this, it represents $1,000 Ameri
can soldiers so wanting in patriotism, lost
to all sense OF duty, so devoid OF all soldierly
qualities, that they have deserted to the enc
my's lines on purpose to be taken prisoners,
that they may escape from duty by parole!
This is the credit given to "our brave boys" by
such infamous sheets as the Boston Courier
and the Eastern Argus! When those 'brave
boys" return from the smoke and dust of the
conflict, they will probably mark such ira
ducers of their good name, and hold them in
everlasting remembrance. The soldiers of
our State were largely represented at the bat
flo of Era1priek si,rr Tho Maina rti
ularly report large number among the miss
ing, and according to the Courier and the Ar
gus those noble fellows, who have proved
themselves on many bloody field, have crav-
emily and traitorously gone over to the enemy,
to gain the advantage OF a parole! Shame on
the traducers of the American soldier! Shame
on the man who will allow his sympathies for
rebellion to place $4,000 brave, honest, patri-
otic soldiers in so unenviable position!
But the facts there is not single fact to
justify the assertion that the army was demor-
allied by McClellan's removal, or that any
continued dissatisfaction followed that event.
There is nothing to show that they were not as
ready tofollow and fight under Burnside as ever
they had been to follow his predecessor. On
the contrary, all the facts 90 to prove that
Burnside was enthusiastically received by the
army, that the soldiers were ready to follow
him, and that they never fought better than
they did at Fredericksburg. Even the green
troops are said to have fought like veterans
Rebel authority itself does full justice to their
bravery, their unfiinching determination, and
their gallant bearing. Nothing short of po-
sition seemingly invncibe, saved the rebels
from an ignominious rout and defeat in their
own chosen strongholds.
Aud the defeat - when was ever anything
more mastery or successful? A congression-
al committee who visited Fredericksburg af-
ter the battle, represented the army to be in
''the most effective condition, and in the best
spirits" There was no disorder, no confusion,
no panic, no decentralization; but the wounded
were all brought off, with all the property, not
gun lost, and the men marched in as good
order as on dress parade; aud even the rebel
General Lee, when the next morning he found
Burnside with his whole force on the opposite
side of the river, and viewed the well disci-
plined ranks through his field glass, thought it
was a ruse to re-cross at another point, and to
attack him from another direction. And yet
the above shameful paragraph was published
in the Boston Courier, and copied by the Ar
gus since its total lalsity and injustice were
well known.
1t is humiiating to think that our own city
should furnish paper so lost to patriotism as
to indulge in remarks calculated, if not de-
signed, to have no other effect than to weaken
confidence in the government, and to encour-
age the rebels. Here is sample cut from the
leader of the Argus yesterday:
Meantime, what spectacle does the coun-
try present! Our army dl eated, the rebels
encouraged and everywhere pressing upon our
troops, and Washington filed with petty DO
litical intrigues! 1t is sad, humiliating to con-
template.
The facts justify no such language. Our
army has not been defeated. 1t has not been
dricem back. 1t has simply demonstrated the
strength of rebel position, and the wisdom
of attacking from a different quarter, while
the rebels themselves have shown that they
dare not leave their entrenchments to meet
our well-disciplined and valiant army in open
field. 1t is not true that they are everywhere
pressing upon our troops" 1t is true that
"Washington is filled with petty political in
trigues," but it is the iutrigues of just such
men as give tone to the Argus, who are in
triouing to overthrow the administration and