The New York herald., 1863-02-22

A0iSsouS point OF view, 10 ubV0 Cicuuef nen0e
and purer hearts than the abominabie Phari-
sees of the religious press
General McDoweIps DcfenOe-Its yindi.
cation or Mcclellan and Coademn alton
OF the War Department..
The defence which General Mcdowell read
before the court Of inquiry at Washington is .
paper too voluminous for our columns. Yet it
contains points of great interest. to which we
desire to advert.
AS far as the charges against General Nc
Dowell are concerned, we think he has been
completely successful in refuting them. He
was accused Of drunkenness, disloyalty and
treason" As to the first charge. he has shown
that he has never drank anything stronger than
water; and as to the alleged disloyalty and
treason, there was not a shadow Of proof pro-
duced to substantiate those cruel charges so
hippantly made by the abolitionists. The out
cry raised against him in the Senate by Mr..
Wade and in the republican journals, about
protecting rebel property while he was in CON-
mand Of the Army Of the Rappahannock, is de-
monstrated to be without any foundation to
rest upon. The charges of Sigel, too, about
his permitting Longstreet to pass through
Thoroughfare Gap, and about his failure to
play his proper part in the second battle Of
Bull run-charges reiterated in all the radical
journals-have fallen to the ground, and recoil-
ed upon the heads Of their authors, the same
men who, by their +" on to Richmond y clamor,
caused him to lose the 6rst battle Of Bull rum
by goading the administration to order him to
make the attack before his raw troops we're
sufficiently drilled and disciplined for offensive
operations.
But the weightiest charge made against him
was that he obtained the separation of his corps
from the army Of Mcclellan, and wilfully de-
feated the peninsular campaign by refusing to
cooperate with that general in the advance
upon Richmond. The testimony proves ex-
actly the contrary: that he never sought
to have an independent command, and that he
did his utmost to effect junction with McClel-
Ian, but was prevented by positive written
orders from the War Department, which he pro-
duced before the court General Mcclellan and
General Hitchcock, Of the War Department,
both equally acquit Mcdowell of any respon-
sibility in failing to join the Army Of the Poto-
mac. On the oath of April he received at Fal-
mouth despatch from the War Department
"not to throw his force across the Rappahannock
at present" After earnestly soliciting permis-
sion to cross. over to Fredericksburg he received
another despatch from the War Department,
dated April 80, telling him that she can occupy
Fredericksburg with such force as in his judg-
ment may be necessary to hold it for defensive
purposes, but not with view to make forward
movement"
Meantime, Mcdowell, with the aid of his
troops and the trees cut down by them,
rebuilt the railroad bridge over the Rap
pahannock, six hundred feet long and
sixty-fve feet high, and that over the
Potomac creek, four hundred feet long and
eighty feet high. The latter, which was built
in nine days, was most remarkable and elected
the admiration of distinguished foreign officers
II was structure which ignored all the rules
and precedents of military science as laid down
in books, and even Napoleon's bridge builders
never accomplished such work. On the 18th
of May instructions were issued from tho War
Department that, on being joined by General
Shields division, he should move to Rchmon d.
He had forty thousand men and one hundred
pieces of artillery, and he was ready to id
vance. Shields army which was without
"shoes, trowsers and ammunition, &C., now
joined him. The needed articles were supplied.
But it was found that all the artillery ammuni-
tion furnished was bad, and was condemned by
an iuupactar 0fo froy,, tho
ment and new ammunition was ordered; but
the transport grounded near Alexandria, and
lost day. Everything was ready for the
march on Sunday; but another day was lost by
an objection on the part of the pious authori-
ties at Washington as to the desecration OF the
Sabbath But on Sunday (the 25th of May)
he received an order from Washington "to
lay aside for the present the movement on
Richmond, and put twenty thousand men in
motion at once for the Shenandoah" Jackson
was now in pursuit of Banks, and the alarm at
the capital was great. Ords division was
ordered by the War Department to Washington
and Alexandria, and Shields division was sent
back to the valley via Catlett's Station. A ter
rible rain storm, which carried away the
bridges, prevented the junction Of the forces of
Shields and Fremont; and Jackson, after driv-
ing Banks to the Potomac, made good his re-
treat, and marched rapidly to the assistance of
Lee on the Chickahominy, while it was firmly
by Banks, Fremont and the wiscacres
at Washington that he was about to return into
the valley with reinforcemcnts.
Thus McDowell's army was kept in the valley
by Jackson's ruse de gterre; but at length, on
the 9th of June, Mcdowell was ordered to send
McCall's division from Fredericksburg to Gene
raj Mcclellan by water, down the Rappahan-
mock. Had 10000 more men been sent at that
time, Mcclellan would have been in Rich
mond in less than week. On the sth
Of June, after a personal interview with
the President, Mcdowell obtained an order from
the War Department to the effect that, "after