Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-11-10
@ORCE S Err,
MONDAY, NOV. te, lso@.


Gen. Mcclellan has been removed from
command Of the army of the Potomac, and
that Gen. Burnside has taken his place. The
reasons fer this change are not stated, but
they are, no doubt, sufficient, There is gen.
eral confidence in the character, ability, and
patriotism of Gen. Burnside. He has cordial
and earnest sympathy with the purpose of the
government to sObdue the rebels in the swiftest
and most thorough manner possible and his
services in the Geld have made him known to
the country man of energy decision, and
sound judgment, with natural aptitude for
military command. The style in which he
went through the terrible storms and dangers
at Hatteras Inlet, and through difficulties at
Roanoke Island, to brilliant success, and
the bolduess and decision with which he car
ried the long line of threatening Notifications
at Newbern, show his quality. We shall now
see what he will do with the army of the Po-
tomac.
1t has been evident that there was in the
army of the Potomac some influence that has
sought to delay and embarrass the war against
the rebels, Major Key, whom the president
dismissed from the service for disloyalty, de-
clared and repeated in a very earnest manner
that the programme of certain high officers in
that army was to prevent subugation of the
rebels and carry on the war in a fruitless, eX-
pensive, exhausting way, with view to the
next presidential election. He did not inn
pute this policy to General Mcclellan;
but he did say explicitly that it was
the policy of certain army officers ''high
in command" and that he himself favored
that policy Hewas cashiered, as he deserved
Whether the president has ordered change
in the command of the army of the Potomac,
in consequence of anything growing out OF
these revelatioUs or whether he has done II
for other and very different reasons, we are
not told. We may be sure, however, that it
has not been done without sufficient cause.
Our dispatches report, also, that Gen. Fitz
John Porter is ordered to Washington to make
answer to the charges preferred against him
by Gen. Pope 1t is high time to have an in
vestigation of these grave charges, and I'VE hope
the investigation will be Of the most thor
ough and impartial character. 1t is our be-
lief that this man has been the evil genius of
Gen. Mcclellan and the army of the Potomac.
We may be wrong in this belief, but it has
been strengthened by the pleadngs and speech
es in the case of Gen. Martindale, against
whom he preferred charges that could not be
proved. a Washington correspondent of the
Boston Traveller, writing Oct. 24th made the
following statements in regard to General
Porter =
''Gen. Fitz John Porter writes to some of
his particular friends in Washington, that
our troops are not in condition to advance
upon the enemy because they lack shoes
and clothing This testimony would be
more valuable if it were not fact that
General Porter has been engaged in the
same business ever since the rebellion be-
gan. He was with General Patterson before
the battle of Bull Run, and upon the same
ground now occupied by him. He then, as
now, opposed an advance of General Patter-
sons troops on the ground that they were not
well armed and equipped, and the result was
the loss of compaign. &c. too, on the pc
nnsula, Gen. Fitz John Porter urged Nc
Clellan not to follow up the victories at York
town and Williamsburg because the army was
not fully equipped. The result was, the loss
of a campaign and very nearly the ruin of the
country. He is now doing over for the third
lime the same work. he is OeH N1cClelidnS
worst enemy, for he constantly encourages
him to hesitate and delay carrying out his mil
itary projects"
The country holds the president response
Bile for the delays failures, and fruitless CAM
paignings of the army. Therefore it is his
duty to use all the means in his power to
prevent them. If army officers are incompe-
tent, inefficient, or lacking in loyalty to the
cause for which the army is in the field, it is
his duty to remove them and put better men
in their places There was need that some
thing should be done to infuse more Wig
or and efficiency into the command of
the army of the Potomac, more pur
pose to crush the rebellion, more down
right earnestness, and more determination to
win a swift success. 1t is the purpose of the
president to do this and we hope his purpose
may be entirely successful. His responsible
~ is very great and he endeavors to do his
duty faithfully. Let him have the most cor
dial, faithful, and untring support of every
loyal man in the country.