Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1863-10-29
NATIONAL INTELLlGENCER.
OFFICIOUS FRIENDSHIP,

Rosecrans while he was in command, has turned
to rend him now that he has fallen from his high
estate Never was there better illustration oi
the melancholy truth that " man being IN honor
abid3,h not" As is epigrammatically said by one
of our contemporaries, " the Hero OF yesterday,
prescribed by the Administration, is the lncompe-
tent, the Lunatic the Epileptic, the Sluggard,
yea, even the Coward of to-day" For all these
representations have been made, by one Admins.
traitor journal or another, in explanation of his
deposition.
And to these ia now added by the Washington
correspondent of the New York Times the charge
that Gen. Rosecrars persistently retained in his
confidence and under his patronage VIGOROUSLY
disreputable person as his chief of military po-
hce-a man, it is said, who was expelled from the
lines of Gen Grant for using the cavalry and the
wagons of the Government to obtain cotton, In
stead of bringing in subsistence or guerrillas, as 1t
was his official duty and protested anxiety to do;
and who. firmly established under the protection
Of Rosecrans obtained and exercised for his rer-
sonal profit the exclusive right to grant passes to
90 through our lines, seized goods and arrested
their owners on charges of treason, tried them IN
court Of his own, convicted them and sent them 10
Alton penitentiary, and finally arrogattd to him
self the business and got the profits of carrying the
mails and Transporting soldiers"
So notorousy was this criminal malversation OF
the means and good name cf the Government pur-
sued ia the Department of the Cumberland that,
saws the correspondent of the Times, writing from
this cry, itUecame "a byword that this person
was the commanderin-chie and We are nos
told that Gov Andrew johnson came to Washing
ton expressly for the purpose Of procuring relief to
the plundcred people of tennessee by etfectlng the
expulsion of this petty Verres. But, it is added,
supported aud protected by Rosecrans, the chief
of p.!ice kept his place and defed the world his
connexion with this subjected Rosecrans 10
most damaging suspicious, weakened his influence,
and finally became the element of the misfortune
which has overtaken him"
Now, we do not assert any thing whatever IN
denial of these representations Nor have we
recitcd them simply for the sake of pointing
a moral wlich is as old " the vanity OF hu-
man expectations" or of adorning tale which has
been told Of thousands, who, before Gen. Rose
Grams, have heard the same aeclaimiug crowd cry
"bosanua" to day, and tomorrow Z" cruelty hin"
&" cruelty him.!
But we wish respectfully to submit to the Jour
nal;.ts who arc making themselves such swift wit
nesses aeairs the fallen commander that they are
in no little danger of overriding the uren7iabie
part which they have been SO ready to assume !;
for, do they not perceive that in piling up pyra
mid of accusations against Gen Rosecrans, any one
of which. if true, would be sufficient to condemn
him, they run the risk of topping down the whole
fabric which they are spsndustri5usly rearing as
monument to his shame? If one or two sufficient
reasons were generally and consistently assigned
for his removal the public might acquiesce IN the
probability of their truth, but where one witness
declares that he was removed for military incom-
potency, and another for epilepsy, and another for
lunscy, and another for sluggardism, and another
for cowardice and another for completely IN pecu-
lation, there is at once ground for the suspicion
that these cumulative statements have no better
authority than the reckless gossip of men who al
low themselves to be suborned by their obsequious
Difference to tie conceived wishes Of our military
authorities who, it seems be supposed, will be
HIdtClul lJI "h'N'A SHNA' 'A"'~
for their eff ct to reconcile the popular mind to the
removal of General that had previously gained
large share Of public confidence, and had gain
ed it in part By his achievements and in part by
the systematic audations which portion Of the
Republican press once sbowered upon him as the
energetic" succ, ssor Of the "essy going" Buell..
We do not believe that our military authorities
will confs s auy obligati to the journals which
have ode themselves the convenient suces of these
terrible charges sg.nst the opposed General, for if
these imputatiops are true, and if, as we are now
told, there have been complaints on these grounds
of many months standing against Gen. RosecraDs,
what could be more dcroeatory to the military ad
miuistration Of the country than the retention of
such man in high command at point than which
scarcely any is more important to the success of
our operations If Gen. Rosecrans is not ruined
in the estimation Of all men by such retailers
Of detactop, it is certainly safe to say that the re-
pute tf our military authorities is not heightened
by such supererviccsble zeal on the part Of its
self appointed patrons, When the President de-
sires to explain the considerations which have
prompted, and We doubt lot wisely prompted, his
action as regards Gen. Rosccrsns, he will commu-
nicate his reasons to the country in way to secure
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