The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-10-25
what iI Means.

A.,.rm;ne what the result Of the recent cleo
t;on. means. There are some things, it seems
- ma yery plainly evident. The result ss re-
..orded on the 14th of October means that the
neonle are restless under the prospect of an
Indefinite prolongation Of the war: Of vic-
tories rarely followed up; Of battles without
decisive results; of campaigns without battles;
~ promised action and distressing inaction.-.
A. frst it was transportation which was want.
-, and they waited; then subsistence, and they
.sre patient; then troops, and they supplied
tbem: then strategy, and they sat in dumb
vonder for the prodigy to be born Of it. Had
tbere been less promise and more performance,
~ had the ratio between promise and perform.
snce been better preserved, they might per-
hans have borne disaster with greater equan.
;mitv and expensive nothingness with tolera-
HE serenity. They have been semi-oficially
assured, over and over again, that decisive
movements were at hand; that rebel armies
~sre to be surrounded and "bagged;" that cit.
los we're to be TAKEN rivers opened to naviga.
t;on and such tremendous energies brought
~ boar on the rebellion as would crush 1t at
once and forever. Predictions of Q conclusion
If the war before ninety days, before the
leaves fell, before winter set in, before Christ
mas, before some appreciable point of time
inst ahead, were circulated as derived from
Cabinet circles A thunderbolt was forever
heine forged, but never launched; but that it
was forged, nobody was permitted to doubt,
for wise heads were knowingly wagged, re.
sponsible' shoulders mysteriously shrugged,
aue fingers placed upon betrsying lips, as if to
saw "keep mum and you'll see."
Cancellation having failed, change of pol
lev was to be inaugurated. No more rebel
property guarded, no more treason tolerated,
but we we're to make war. Yet proclamations
we're issued, only to betray impotence in their
execution, and paper pellets hurled at the
mailed front Of rebellion. The change of pol
icy is not particularly apparent and its prom
ised results fade into an indefinite future. The
Army of the Potomac lies like torpid snake
on the banks of the Potomac. Buell. philanders
up and down Kentucky in fruitles chase after a
nimble foe. Nashville is in state of seige
the Mississippi still closed, Missouri still
threatened. Our merchant marine IS scoui ged
upon the sea by foe more insolent and more
terrible than the Sumter. This is the military
situation, with winter close at hand; and with
winter comes winter quarters, and with winter
quarters--Copgress!
There is tremendous crisis uron the Ad-
ministration, If as its friends allege, the mis-
attributable to Democratic Generals, who de-
sign to ruin the Republican party, by compel
ing the Administration to bring the war to an
impotent conclusion, if not dishonorable
peace, it is in the power of the President to re-
move such Generals, and replace them by GEN.
erals who will fight. The people have supplied
the Government with the men and the money,
and it does not lack the authority to use these
means, ard all other means, for vigorous
prosecution of the war. The people have a
laurel for every hero, who proves to be one,
and cheer for every victory that is victory
indeed. They have waited for 'the coming
man" impstiently and whether he be Demo
crat or Republican in politics, stand ready to do
him immortal honor. They ask, they demand
perhaps they are unreasonable in so doing
that the administration shall do its part toward
finding such leader. They have belief
perhaps they are unreasonable in cherishing it
that, with Generals who will lead on the
armies, there will be victories as the result
The Administration can bring every loyal man
to its support ardently and enthusiastically
Its political success must be worked out,
not in caucusses, not in proclamations, not in
excuses, not in pledges, but by armies, by
battles, by victories. 1t holds in its own hand
not only its own destiny, but that of the Re-
public As it will be credited with success,
SO it will be held responsible for failure. If it
wants political endorsement at home, it must
win it upon the field. TIE people have sup
piled the resources, and they demand proper
tionate results. 1t is because their expecta-
tons have not been realized that, in a very de.
cided degree, political revolution has been
accomplished. - With the crown rests the
CARE, is an old apothegm; and with Admins
tration lodges the responsibility. Though in.
dividual men may be marked out by them 70,
execration and denunciation, the final entry up
on the electoral ledger will transfer the whole
account to those in the highest authority
[Cin. Com.