Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1862-12-12

luuuuIulIun
oceasacnal Csrsspssasnos Of the Daily Journal.
Frea Warrington.
HeU ~ AesseQs sOas received at Wdshsng.
l0n- 11S ANSsssal Rsports-" Old Brains"
On tie Was- Minor Topics
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 1862.
The Message has been well received here
much better than the last one. The friends
If the administration are much gratified that
he Proclamation of September 22d, is to be
rigidly followed BY that document, then
which is to unshackle the chains OF
III the slaves of Rebellion. They rejoice that
Mr.. Lincoln has again shown himself to be
himself, in the utterance Of the noble senti-
ment of the last paragraph, where, rising to
lofty eloquence, he proclaims that giving
freedom to the slave, is assuring freedom to
the free. They are proud ofthe simple, terse
style of the Message its undoubted merits
as State Paper, and of the refreshing can
dor and disingenuousness animating the
whole. As an essay, it is, indeed, entitled to
very great praise. The statement of our for
eign relations is clear and explicit, the style
of augmentation is as simple as that of Soc
rates, and about as conclusive as the demon
STATIONS of Euclid. In fact, the President
might be less automatic, without being mud
dy, but could hardly be more easily under
stood, had he hammered away on his Mes
sage for century. But 1t is not my purpose
to criticize it. Even the enemies of the Pres
ident and of freedom admit that it is candid
able document. The New York World, the
ablest democratic journal IN our commercial
metropolis, admits much more than this
The real friends of the country, therefore,
may well take courage.
The Reports of Secretaries Stanton, Smith,
Welles, and Blair, which accompanied the
Message, are unusually full and interesting.
and excite good deal more attention in poll
teal circles here than the reports Of any of
their predecessors for many years. Especial
ly is this the case as regards the Report of the
Secretary of War. which, in mastery man
ner, treats of the operations of our armies
during the past year, and concludes with a
powerful argument in favor of striking down
the entire system of servile labor, on the
ground of attacking the enemy in his most
accessible quarter The argument will be
none the less cogent with great many Of
our people because of the fact that Secretary
Stanton has always been Democrat Of the
most strait sect.
But the report of Gen. Halleck cold
Brains," as he is called,) is rich. He winds
up, and chaws up, Little Mac in quiet way,
which will no doubt astonish that rather SEN
timental little hero, as, in the delightful en-
braces of his family, he reflects upon how he
drove folks to the wall. and then again how
he didn't.
But he gives Pope "a good General and q
great liar) hint, too, about those messages
of his as to his first week of skirmishing =
During the operations Of the previous week,
of which we received very favorable but not
reliable accounts, every effort was made to
reinforce Gen. Popes army"
Then be quietly tells Mcclellan, in answer
to his schoolboy high-faluten against evacuat-
ing the Peninsula, that he cannot understand
why simple change of position will demon
alize an army in excellent discipline, unless
the officers themselves assist in that democrat
ization that the reduction of Fort Darling
would require considerable time, perhaps as
much as that of Yorktown that it was a very
easy thing to ask for endorsements, but not
so easy to gios them, when you have no
troops at command; and fires off several
other hot-shot which strike the rather dilapi-
dated hulk of Glorious Little Mac kerchunk
between wind and water. In Short the
Young Napoleon (lueus non ete) settles en-
tirely out of sight under the raking, CALLING
fire of Old Brains. Then, the beauty of the
thing is, it is purely Democratic fight. No.
body will accuse Halleck of being Radical,
or Of demolishing Mcclellan for political pur-
poses So let every one read the Report of
the Commander-in-Ch Chief, with the accompa-
nying exhibits.
Gen. Burnside is not "quiet," though his
army is. He made the best march of the
war, Immediately upon taking his present
command, and would now be laundering at
the gates of Richmond, or in pursuit of the
rebels beyond, but for Quartermaster- General
Meigs' criminal delay (for which he should
lose his star at least) in forwarding pontoons.
Meigs excuse, reckon, is to be found in the
fact that he had become so used to McClel-
lan's snail PAGES that he could not at once
appreciate the changed state of things. But,
the army being so stopped, and still more by
the storms, Burnside came up here, and soon
had the Quartermasters and the Pay masters
awakened to a lively sense of their duties,
and excoriated the laggard Commissaries
without mercy. He has his army all the time
ready to move, anyway, and that is great
improvement over the old reign. guess it
will be found he can move through mud knee
deep faster than his predecessor ever did over
turnpikes and railways.
The city is even more lively than usual this
winter. Congressman, lawyers, contractors,
visitors and soldiers fill the hotels and board
ing houses, and make times brisk. Among
the strangers from Iowa, J. Scott Richman,
Esq, of your city, is here, having business in
the Supreme Court. also met Judge Brain
ard, of Harrison county, on the Avenue, the
other day. Heis on ''swamp-land business"
On dit, Secretary Chase and Mrs. Douglas
will shortly be married. L1NKENsALE.