The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1862-06-28
NEW YORK HERALD SATURDAY, JUNE %, 1869
Our Late Repuisc Near Cha Fleston-
Where Lies the ResponsibiIiiY.

Oar Late Kepuiso Near Cha Flcston-
where Lies the ResponsibiIify!
Alittle column ot our brave soldiers in South
Carolina, after a desperate engagement with
some of the defensive rebel works on James
Island, near Charleston, have been repulsed
with very heavy loss in killed and wounded.
The details, which we publish at length, from
our own officers and reporters, tell the melan-
choly story. We read it over with the accom-
panying explanations; but still the question
recurs, Where lies the responsibility?
General Benham the officer in the immedia
command Of this Stone Inlet enterprise, has
been seized upon as the responsible party, and
has returned TO this city under arrest, az hav
ing disobeyed or exceeded his orders in the
battle. But, whatever may be the charges
against him, and whether true or false we must
strike at higher game than General Benham il
we wish to reach the parties to whom the re-
sponsibilty in this matter properly belongs.
We think it very evident that General Benham's
force was much too small for the work which
he undertook to accomplish. Five or ten thou
sand additional men would have given him
decisive, and, in all probability, bloodless
victory. Our supreme commander in that de-
partment, General Hunter, should have known
better than to suppose that the small force de-
tailed under General Benham would be suf1i-
cient to work its way round to the back door
of Charleston. General Hunter, however had
been too much preoccupied with the negro
question, his emancipation edcts and the con-
trabands of Hilton Head, and the abolition
missionaries and school teachers among them
male and female-to know much of the rebel
forces and defences around Charleston or any
where else. We think, therefore, that, in the
first place, the responsibility in question may
be Justly shifted from the back Of General Ben
ham to the shoulders OF General Hunter.
Instead of conciliating, by conservative
policy on the slavery question, and by acts Of
charity and magnanimity, as General Halleck
has concilated the white population of the dis
| trcts he has conquered, we find General Hun
| ter, with his abolition DEGREES and abolition
negro schools, to say nothing Of negro soldiers
| laboring zealously. in behalf of our abolition
| fanatics and disorganizers, to eXasperate the
| white race Of his department to the iercest
desperation against him and the Union. But
whence and why these extreme abolition
manifestations on the part of General Hunter?
| That is the question. We answer that he has
been encouraged in these proceedings by the
emissaries and proteges of the Treasury
| Department, and by the full consent, if not
| by the active cooperation, Of our present
Secretary of War. While we may condemn
General Hunter, therefore, in this business
as the willing instrument of his superiors in
official power and influence, they are the
really responsible parties for this late military
blunder near Charleston, and for the very
unsatisfactory results of all our vast military
expenditures in that quarter since our occu-
patton Of Port Royal harbor.
We charge upon Mr.. Secretary Stanton, es-
pecially, this disaster at James Island and all
the Improbable results Of our late mill
tary operations in South Carolina and Georgia
as we charge upon him the chief responsibility
for all our military blunders, rsverses, losses,
failures and entanglements, from the Kappa
hammock to the valley Of Virginia, which have
followed the breaking up Of the original army
and the plans of General Mcclellan. The Pre-
sident, however, appealing from the War Office
to General Scott, has at length taken the proper
course and the proper man to repair all these
losses and blunders in the Shenandoah valley
and the Rappahannock Department General
Mcdowell, General Banks and General FIRE.
mont, each as an independent commander in
the same general field, have only served to en-
barrass each other, and make confusion worse
4 confounded.' The latter has just resigned.
and, under the comprehensive supreme
command Of General Pope, we dare say the
others will do much better in having SUI
perior. tried and approved military leader to
direct their movements A similar reform in
| the department Of General Hunter, making
abolition philanthropy, fanaticism and folly Sc
condary to the more important work Of putting
| down the armed forces Of this rebellion, will
leave US very little more to be desired in view
| Of speedy end to JEFF. Davis and to his spu-
rious and intolerable despotism over the rem
nants remaining Of our late so-caled "Confede-
rate States
| UNION MEETING AT THE COOPER INSTITUTE,
AND THE PoLTIcAL IssuEs.-The announcement
that Union meeting is to be held at the
Cooper Institute on Tuesday evening next has
stirred up the wrath Of the abolitionsts, who
are endeavoring to misconstrue Its purport and
object, no doubt prompted by fear that it