Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1863-07-02
GEN. HooKER's REMOVAL.

Army or the POTOMAC under It's late commander,
that Gen. Hooker had long ceased to inspire in us
that confidence which we desire to repose in the
leaders of forces charged with such tremendous
responsibilities This distrust has not been ex-
pressed in any terms derogatory to Gen. Hooker's
character brave soldier, SO far as that charac-
ter has been exemplifed in subordinate command /;
but in justice to own convictions, well in
duty to the cause which claims our honest coun-
sells, we could not profess security we did not
feel while he was retained at the head of this
army.
The Congressional Committee on the Conduct
of the War inflicted fatal blow on the popular
confidence in Gen. Hooker when they published
to the world the evidence given by this officer re-
specting the operations in which he had borne a
conspicuous part. 1t is not the least among the
mischiefs wrought by the intermeddling of this
committee that, in giving publicity to the testimo-
ny of officers respecting each others conduct in
the field, they have sowed broadcast the fruitful
seeds of personal dissension between the officers
concerned, and at the same time have impaired the
usefulness of valuable Generals, now by amassing
against one whatever of partial testimony could
contribute to his disparagement, and now by ex-
posing in another the foibles and defects which
should never have seen the light, because they
would have been comparatively harmless in the
sphere of that restricted command to which they
should have been confined
We all know the influences to which General
Hooker owed his elevation to the supreme com-
of fbo If he and
ers will recall the circumstances under which his
appointment was made-his promotion having i'm
mediately followed upon the heels of recommen-
dation made by his commanding officer General
.Burnside) that he should be summarily dismissed
from the army. Instead of Diminishing him, or
even putting him on trial, the President promoted
him to the chief command and relieved his accu-
SER We have before adverted to this extraordi-
nary page in our current history and need not re-
peat the comments which have received only an
added significance from the events of the last few
days.
The accession of Gen. Hooker to the conduct of
the Army of the Potomac was naturally hailed
with delight by that class who had seen in him
the exemplar of their peculiar ideas of war-ideas
in which passion, presumption, and physical vio-
lence prevail over calmness, prudence, and moral
force 1t was confidently predicted that the
I" clogs " and "hindranccs" which had previously
impeded the advance of this army would now be
removed, for, in their faulty or prejudice, this
class of persons found all these clogs and hindrances
not in the physical obstacles interposed by rivers
ravines, and powerful enemy, but simply in the
vis inertis of Gen. Mcclellan.
We suppose this delusion was pretty generally
dispelled by the battle Of Charlottesville, except
in the case of those who had drowned the voice of
their reason in the camors of their passions
And yet, with the fatal optimism which has be-
come in certain quarters the favorite dialect of
mloyalty," there were found those who insisted
that call was weP' as soon as they discovered
that the Government had determined to retain
Gen. Hooker in command. Taking their mot
Tord,e from the declarations made by the Secre-
tary of War Immediately after the retreat of Gen.
Hooker across the Rappahannock, when he assured
the country that that officer would soon resume
NE offensive, they invoked for him unimpaired
-sufdence and INDUCED in fresh laudations of his
capacity and energy The leading members Of
the redoubtable "Committee on the Conduct of
the War" repaired to the camp of the defeated
General, and returned with the report that he
was all right" and must have another trial The
partisans of the committee joined Of course, in
ready chorus to their demand, and denounced all
dissent from such wise military counsellors.
In Difference to what was believed the wish and
determination of the Government many forebore
the full expression of the dstrust they could not
conceal We were of the number, and wrote as
follows in our paper of last May 23d:
ave have obtained authentic intelligence respecting
the late operations Of Gen. Hooker but the Govern
ment has not thought proper to spread before the people
any official information the subject and has thus done
nothing to guide the popular judgment to intelligent ap
desire any discussions which should have for
their effect to bring the operations of Gen Hooker to the
scrutiny of popular review military criticism In de-
ference therefore, to the conceived wishes Of the Govern
ment we shall withhold the observations we had proposed
To offer under this head and for the preparation of which
we have gathered valuable materials derived from sources
the most enlightened and trustworthy The considerations
of military prudence which make proper practise this
recence favor Of the present commander of
the Army Of the Potomac long as he by his re-
tenon in command possess the confidence Of the AID
minstraon are not likely to exist always For the day
must when it will be as proper to review the
failures OF Gen Hooker those of Gen Mcclellan
Gen. Burnside his predecessors in misfortune, and this
whether his next essay he shall succeed in retrieving his
reputation whether st greater disasters are destined
to be the harbingers of his ultimate removal by retain