Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-09-10

IS DSln8 laPlulg concentrated upoA an lul-
portant line for active duty.
The Dangers Of the Past--The Demands Of
The People.
From the Washington correspondence of
the Cincinnati Gazette we quote the fol-
lowing paragraphs;
"Never was great ship nearer found
ering in o fearful storm through the ill
timed quarrels Of her officers and crew,
than IS our old ship of state just now. In
the very agony of our peril, when the whole
rebel army was pouring down on the weak
er wing Of ours, the other wing Of ours ar
rived within striking distance, but did not
strike. For some reason or other, for some
bodys fault or other, there was a failure
to cooperate, and terrible disaster result
ed.
What we now demand, what the nation
must demand, If she ever hopes to rescue
herself from the abyss over which she is
toppling, is that whoever is responsible for
this failure to use the power in our hands,
and for the consequent crushing disaster,
shall be promptly stripped Of his command
and punished with the severest penalties
known 10 military law. We have had
enough Of that cowardly justice that can
only strike at such helpless victims as
Rodney Mason and dozen company Off
GERS. Major Generals most imperatively
demand cur yirtuous Eigor, not Captains
and Eeutenants.
I am not now speaking for or against
General Mcclellan; for orsgainst General
Pope for OF against General Mcdowell /;
against any msn save the one whom an in
slant official investigation shall demon
strate to be responsible for the glaring
disobedience Of orders that produced our
disaster. That man-be he Mcclellan, or
Pope, or Mcdowell, OF Halleck-should be
SHOT. No milder measures suit the crisis.
For this is no ordinary case where the
jealousies Of rival officers have produced
embarrassments in the conduct Of the war.
The life of the nation was at stake; some
man has reeklessly hazarded, and well nigh
destroyed it. He has not merely murder
ed the thousands Of gallant officers and sol
diers who have poured out their blood like
water on Manassas Plains, 10 bear up
sgaina the overwhelming foe; he has not
merely carried desolation to thousands of
households throughout the land, but he has
stabbed the nation in her most vitat part,
and in her weakest hour.
WHERE THE DANGER LIES.
Just here, ii seems to me, is our pro-
foundest peril. We are beginning last
falls campaign again. We have put The
General Of that campaign in power again;
and though happen to know that his au-
thority is yet far from what his partisans
profess to believe ii, yet he only came in
on receiving the most humilisting personal
pledges, and there is every reason to be
lieve that he will not be long in endeavor-
ing to extend his influence.
We have begun, too the old game of en-.
ormOusly exaggerating the rebel forces
Prestndy we shall be hearing the same stuff
about the impTegnability Of the Manassas
lines. Then we will be toldof the necessi.
~ Of spending four or i've months drilling
the raw recruits. Meantime the rebel Co
adjutors in the newspaper press Of the
North viii be bowling against the Radicals
demanding that the do-nothing General!
shall have unobstructed sway, clamorinl
against allfghting, because it does not saw
the lives Of the soldiers, doing what they
can TO create a popular sentiment, anC
above all, an army sentiment in favor o
delay, thus helping to protract the contest
till the distracted North, groaning undel
its fearfully swollen burdens, shall sue fol
peace.
"There lies our peril. Forewarned i
fore-armed Itis best to face it now. Thel
what follows must be as the people of thi
North, IN their majesty, shall say,