The New York herald., 1863-09-03

mr. Lineo ms Letter TO GEN rrnI Grant
inoss oi our readers have no doutt sSen inc
cur Gus and almost unique letter Of Mr.. LIN
coin 10 General Grant, but, lest il should frve
escaped the notice of any, we here republish il
IN the most conspicuous place in our col
umns:-
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
| WASHINGTON, July Is, 1868
Ny DKaR GaSEsAL--I do not remember that you and
ever nei personally. write this a Crate al ac-
| acknowledgement ior the almost inestmabie service you
nave nave done mo country wish :, say word further
Mhch you hfst reached tho vicinity Of Vicksbnrg
thought you chould do you tina ly dld-march
oos across the neck run the batteries with the trans
Iorisi ana mus 80 below and had any faith
ceI enera hope that you knew better than l. that the
fazoc ass expedition and the like could succeed when
you GOT below aud took Port Gibson, Grand Gull and vi
cai,y. ught you should so down river Join
aeuerai baos and when you turned norhward east OF
make the personal acknowledgment that you were right
and was wrong. A. LINCOLN.
This is a gem which does equal honor To the
head and Ito heart OF the President. II de-
serves to bcTrinted in letters of gold II car
res us back 10 the candor, dignity aud sim
p!icity of George Washington /; and, contrasting
IT with so many other acts of Mr.. Lincoln, we
cannot help excaming, 0 81 sic onania. We
have, from the very outset Of his career as Chief
Magistrate till the present time, given him full
credit for honesty, integrity Of purpose and
truth.ulness. We knew that he always meant
well to the country. And not only 30, but we
| folt that his mind was above the average stand
ard. HIS letter to General Grant proves that
that was necessary to render his Presidency
complete success was to have freed himself
from the malign influences Of the radicals, and
| to have acted from his own honest impulses
! This letter shows how near Grants cam
pagn OF the Mississippi was being defeated,
like that Of Mcclellan in Virginia, by the sim
lister advice of the two third rate lawyers who
rule the War Department and the Satanic Com
mittee on the Conduct Of the War. Had Gene
raj Grant been as near to Washington as was
Mcclellan, 1t is certain that the brilliant victo-
ries which crowned his arms would not have
been won, and his campaign, instead of ending
in the capture of Vicksburg, would have re-
suited in disastrous failure. But General
Grant, being at safe distance, paid very little
attention to the advice or orders Of civilians at
the federal capital, who knew nothing of the
circumstances, and who, if they did, would still
be disqualified from forming correct military
judgment. He pursued his own course as a
soldier, and therefore was successful. The
President admits that he was wrong in
what he wanted Grant to do, and
that Grant was right. That is, the mill
tary Inspirations from Halleck and Stanton,
conveyed to General Grant through the Presi-
dent, are demonstrated to have been foolish
ness and Mr.. Lincoln has honorably and man
fully made the acknowledgment. What now
becomes Of tho stolen piumes in which Halleck
and Stanton strutted on the Fourth Of July,
when, in their speeches at Washington, they took
to themselves all the credit of the success of
Grant. This letter Of the President lays them
out stiff and cold. Perhaps there never was
more impudent attempt to flch from great and
gallant soldier his laurcls, and never, perhaps,
was such an attempt 30 eHectually rebuked.
We shah be anxious to learn II hereafter Hal
leck aud Stanton will venture to hold up their
heads in any decent society.
In Justice to himself tho President ought i'm
medistely to write similar letter to General
Mcclellan, acknowledging his error In prevent
ing McDowell's corps from forming . junction
with the Army Of the Potomac, and in removing
Mcclellan after his important victory Of Antic-
tam, just when he was on the eve of another
great battle with Lee; and to render the act of
reparation the more complete, and to efface the
injustice done to an accomplished soldier, Nc
Clellan ought to be recalled TO the command
Of the Army Of the Potomac. which Genera.
Meade has declared his willingness to resign.
Had Mcclellan like Grant, been permitted to
carry out his own military views it cannot be
doubted that Richmond would have been cap
tured more than twelve months ago, and the
rebellion would be now thing of the past
This letter of the President clearly shows
that, had he been left alone to work out his
own conscientious ideas, and not been interfered
with and led astray by the radical leaders in
the Cabinet and out of 1t, he would long since
have had the war finished and the Union
re established. The Presidents great failing
does not consist in want OF intellect integrity
pr love Of truth, but in q deficiency Of moral
courage in giving way to the clamors of
faction, and to the seductive advice Of the knot
Of fanatical and treacberous politicians who
aspire to lead il. These men have been the
prime cause Of the whole mismsnagement Of the
war. They have succeeded in rendering Mr..
Lincoln odious TO the South and in making the
people Of that section almost unit against the
federal authority. But this Is not all: they
have been eminently successful in making Mr.
Lincoln's administration unpopular in the loyal
States. The Emancipation act and the Cohhs.
cation act only affect the South. The three
thousand arbitrary and unconstitutional ar.
rests, and the enforcement OF the abominable
Conscription act. directly affect the North.
But the letter OF the President to General
Grant shows that he Is awaking to sense Of
the false position in which he has been placed
before the country by a selfish and desperate