The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-11-04
THE WAR MEN TESTIFYTNG
AGAINST EACH OTHER.

VI
an army in the face of the enemy-guiIty of
slaughtering thousands of soldiers in an at
tack by the enemy during the depletion of
the regiments to send voters home to carry
elections-guilty of delaying the war for a
whole ~year-guilty of converting the army
into mere politicians instead of soldiers?
All these, and more, are the charges against
the Administration, which cannot be denied.
They are concentrated into the one vast charge
OF making the war a mere political machine
and nothing else. And yet this same World
advises tho Democrats to turn W1r Men, run
war candidates and out-Horod tho crods and
out Judas the Judases in killing menLand
stealing greenbacks, to continue q political
war, under a Democratic Administrator =
From the New York World.
NIeade's and R~osecrans's Repulses
democratic Defeats--Their Cause.
The point decided by the late election is,
that the war will be protractsd until after the
end of the Presidential canvass. The means
by which these elections have been carried
furnish both a motive and a reason for a dila-
tory military policy. The war cry having
been found by trial to be the most efficient
electioneering engine the Administrator can
use, they have a political interest in the con-
%tinuance of the war, quite distinct from the
general interest of the country, which re-
quires that the rebel armies shall be DESTROYED
and the loyal States relieved of their burdens
at the earliest possible date. The country
has no interest that the war should continue
fer a single day beyond the shortest period
within which it is possible to subdue the re.
bellion but every interest to the contrary
The Republican party, on the other hand, has
no less a stake than its own existence in the
continuance OF the war, SO long as a war cry
is the most stirring legend it can inscribe on
its political banners. Here, then, is a n,otiue
which the late elections furnish for an I'M
Necessary protraction of the war and the
means by which these elections have been
carried supply a reason why the war will drag
its slow length along the administration de-
sires.
We, of course, understand that the aseri
bling to the Administration such a motive as
the one now named, we are impeaching its
honor and its patriotism. We are making a
charge which, if sustainable by proofs, ought
to work a complete forfeiture(& public conf
dence in our present rulers. Shall we be told
that their high sense of honor and duty for
bids them to weigh the possession of power
against the good of the country? We can in
reply only appeal to indisputable facts. That
the Administration ought to be restrained by
honor and duty from seeking to strengthen
their hold on power by the proceedings which
tend to prolong the war, is true enough but;
unfortuna tely, a question of right is not in
this case identical with a question of fact
We ask no reader to follow Us into the doubt
leul domain of hypothesis our appeal is to
facts actually accomplished, and to the conse-
queLces which necessarily result from those
facts. The evidence is such that if taken
down in the form in which testimony is given
in a court of justice, it would procure a con-
viction of fine party inculpated without any
labor of sum ming up. 1t could safely be sub
mitted to the Jury without
Question. What is the number of Rcpubli-
can soldiers ~furloughed to go home and vote
in the Pennsylvania election Ansacer.-
twelve to fifteen thousand. Question.
What is the Republican majority in Pennsyl-
vania Ansoer. From twelve to fifteen
thousand. Question. When was these sol
diers Withdrawn from General Meade's army ?
Anscer. Two or three weeks ago.. Question.
When did General Meade begin his arrange.
ments to retreat from the advanced position
in the enemy's country which he then occu-
pied Ans0er. Very soon after his army
was weakened by this taking away of Repub-
lican soldiers for political duty in PepnsylYa.
MIA. Question. Was General Meade suffered
by the enemy to make this retreat unmolested?
AnssDer. No 1t was FASTENED and made COM
pulsorysby a vigorous advance of the rebel
army, now relatively SO strong that General
Meade dared not imperil what remained of
his own army by staying and giving battle.
These simple, unvarnished facts, stated in
the plainest and dryest form without rhetori-
cal ~artiice, proves that the political victory
won by the administrator in Pennsylvania
has been won at the expense Of, disgracefu1
retreat by the army of the Potomac. The
cost of this political victory to the national
treasury cannot be estimate with arithmetical
accuracy for the want of exact data but it
must amount to many millions The pay,
subsistence, and transportation of the soldiers
sent into Pennsylvania, is less than a drop In
the bucket. The retreat thus made necessary
by converting the army into a political ma
chine to carry elections for the Republican
party, has rendered abert:ve I'll that has been
done by General Meade since he recrosseG the
Potomac in pursuit of General Lee after the
battle of Gettysburg. Not only has all the
0zp0nse of maintaining the Army OF the Po-
tomac in this long interval been squandered,
but (what is still moro importantly precious
time has been wasted alta season of the year
which precludes the recovery of the ground
General Meade has lost until the roads shall
have become practicable in the spring of 1864,
when the term of service Of the three years
men first enlisted will be about to expire
The Republican political victory in Pennsyl-
vania, therefore, costs the country the greater
part OF a years expenses of the Army of the
Potomac, and postpones anything more than
uCiOuoi'C OPSia1iouSJ ny IHo army, uuLii d
great part Of its men are mustered out of SER
vice.
We presume all sorts of tales will be inven-
ted TO show that General Meade's retreat was
purely voluntary, and made for stragetic rea-
sons. But no reason, stragetic or other can be
given for General Meade's retreat which is
not a reproach to the Administration. A
hurried retreat of fifty or sixty miles proves
that he was not strong enough, or did not
think himself strong enough, to fight the enc.
my in the region into which he had advanced.
IF he was not strong enough originally, why
was he permitted to do so foolish a thing as
to advance? IF he was strong enough before
his army was depleted to carry the Pennsyl-
vania election for the Republicans military ad-