The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1863-04-23

Gen. Mcclellan and the Peace Party.
1t will be remembered that the dis
patch of Lord Lyons TO Earl Russell
respecting his interview with the lead
ers of what he calls the {" Peace Party
had the following remarkable juxtapo.
sition
"They seemed to be persuaded that
the result of the election would he ac.
[cepted by the President as declara
tion of the will of the people that he
would increase the moderate and con
servative element in the Cabinet; that
he would seek to terminate the war
not to push it to extremity; that he
would endeavor to effect reconcilia
tion with the people of the South, and
renounce the idea of subjugating or ex
terminating them.
On the following morning, however,
tintettfgence arrived from Washington
which dashed the rising hopes of the
Conservatives. 1t was announced that
Gen. Mcclellan had been dismissed
from the command of the army of the
Potomac, and ordered to repair TO bis
home-that he had. in fact, been re-
moved altogether from active service
The General had been regarded as the
representative of conservative princi-
pies in the army. Support of him had
been made one of the articles of the
conservative electoral programme His
dismissal was taken as a sign that the
President had thrown himself entirely
into the arms Of the extreme radical
party, and that the attempts to carry
out the policy of that party would be
persisted in. The irritation of the con-
servatives in New York was certainly
very great 1t seemed, however, 10 be
not unmixed with CONSERVATION and
despondency."
THE rising hopes of the Peace
Party dashed" and consideration
aud despondoncy" insuing, because
Gen. Mcclellan il removed from the
chief command! Was the like ever
heard OF? An avowedly peace party
dismayed at the displacement of com
manding General. There is but one
possible way of accounting for it; and
that is that the General was notfurther-
ing a. war policy, and was scarcely in
sympathy with the party aiming at
peace.
That we verify believe is the key TO
all the extraordinary procrastinalion,
inefticiency and unmilitary behavior
which marked the entire fifteen months
career of George B. Mcclellan as Com
mander I'm Chief. That alone is the
real explanation of his constant study
how not to do it, and to mlsdo it when
he was forced to act. He was for
harming the enemy as little as possible,
and for getting on peaceful terms with
him as soon as possible.
Oneis amazed in carefully perusing
the late Report of the Committee on
the Conduct of the War, tn mark how
uniformly Gen. Mcclellan displays this
disposition, from the very outset of his
assumption of the chief command.
The committee have not set this forth
in the salient manner it deserved.
They confined themselves simply to
digest of the voluminous testimony,
and abstained from all deductions and
all comments. They left to the read
ers Ia take the matter home toStbem-
selves in their own way. We beiieve
that it would not have been departure
from their proper functions had they
summed up conseculively the short
comings and misdoings of Gen. Nc
Clellan. as established inevitably by
the documents and the military wit
nesses before them. In default of this,
We have taken the pains to go through
the whole Report carefully, and select
the more important particulars wherein
Gen. Mcclellan failed 10 do his duty as
the Commanding General, and acted
in conformity with peace rather than
war policy. 1t is proved by irrefra-
gable evidence that with 185, 900 men,
on the lst of December, he for weeks
retrained from advancing upop Man
assas, where were less than 7O,0o0 OF
the enemy, though the roads were hard
and the weather most favorable. and in
spite of the vi gent solicitations of The
President. g
That daring all that time the Poto-
mac remained bloekaded, because Gen.
Mcclellan, though strongly urged by
the President, would not send col
umn to cooperate withsths naval yes
sells in destroying the batteries and
clearing the river, II
That, in spite Of the solicitations of
the President, of the Secretary of War,
and Of the War Committee spd the