The New York herald., 1863-09-14

the rresiOentIai succession, ana, instead OF IOi'
lowing the radicals any longer, it is clearly bis
intention that they shall follow him.
! Great Men North and south.
| Southern names used TO preponderate very
greatly in our history, and the British news
papers satisfied themselves long ago that all
the American statesmen and Americans Of abili-
ty generally were from the Southern States.
When we had fought the South for six months,
or even year, appearances seemed to Indicate
that it was TO be the same in war as it had
been in some other matters, and the South
| seemed to be clearly ahead Of US in the fitness
for command Of the great mass of the officers in
its armies. as well as in the possession OF
| generals Of distinguished abilities Homilies
from Europe on this single theme came by
every steamer. Beauregard had then battered
Anderson out Of Fort Sumter and won the
battle of Bull run. He was Southerner and
very great hero. He was contrasted against
Mcdowell on our side. Joe Johnston had
manmuvred himself opt Of Patterson's reach,
and come up in time for the same battle. He
was contrasted with Patterson. and that was
against us. He was Southerner aud bril-
liant strategist. Sydney Johnston was another
instance, and be was Landed, not for any
achievement OF his own, but upon tradition
Of his abilities that existed in the old army
In those days Magruder, Bragg. Twiggs, Van
Dorm, Gustavus Smith. Lowell and others
Of about the same calibre were regarded
as men Of great promise-the best mate
rial Of the old army-and were cited
rs part Of the brilliant array of Southern
ability against which the North had compare
lively little to oppose. Later Lee, Longstreet
the Hills and Stonewall Jackson became pro-
minent names, and the comparison looked no
| better for us But, now that we are in the third
| year Of the war-now that the snowy talents Of
all the Southern FIRST rates have been fairly tried
against previously unknown Northern men
| we have all reasons to look upon the compari-
son of achievements with pride in our owa
men; and this comparison should settle for
| ever the miserable notion that there is some
peculiarly in Southern institutions or educa-
ton that produces better men and better minds
| than grow in our free Northern air. Grant,
Rosecrans, Meade, Mcclellan, Gilmore. Banks
i
TO draw not only good contrast for the North
against the South. but also most advan-
| tageous one for the North against the world at
large. Grant and Rosecrans are soldiers OF un-
| qualified greatness. We stand at present too
near to them to appreciate their just proportions.
! Posterity will know them better. Belmont,
| Fort Henry, Shiloh and Vicksburg will speak
/ ~ r..x. r.. ~ 4
boro for the other. They will need no other
| praise than the statement that they gave the
| country those victories. Meade il above all a
ready man. He assumed command OF the
Army Of the Potomac on Sunday night, June
2s. Then that army was in Maryland. on the
way from Edwards Ferry to Frederick. He
had it all in motion on Monday at eight A. NJ,
| with bad weather at that On "Wednesday two
corps encountered the enemy in Pennsylvania,
| and on Thursday--the fourth day Of his COM
| mand-he had his whole army concentrated
| and fought the second OF the Gettysburg bat
| ties, and on the next day the third, with at
least twenty thousand less men than the enemy
had In those two days he changed the whole
complexion Of this great contest, and his VIC
tory will be ranked as one OF The decisive ones
in the worlds history. McClellan's bold march
| to Antietam and his concentration there form
| another Of the instances in which our generals
have taken the initiative and his victory
was not less important than that OF Gene
raj Meade. Banks retreat from Winchester,
his defeat Of Stonewall Jackson at Cedar
Mountain, and his late campaign in Louisiana,
with the capture of Port Hudson, establish bis
reputation and place IL very high. Gilmore
is at the commencement OF bis career. and his
greatness is already as clearly marked ~ was
that Of Napoleon Bonapartc after the siege OF
Toulon; and, by comparison with what Gill
more has already done at Charleston, what Ma
poleon did at Toulon was child's play. Here
we have in two years development of mill
tary ability equal to what appears in two
hundred years in Europe. England, out Of her
great rebellion" got for her history one great
soldier. Gustavus, Charles, Frederick. Tu-
rcnne, Marlborough Prince Eugene each Of
these il the one great soldier or his nation and
his time. And in the same period that u takes
10 develop one in Europe we develop six
And against these six what men can be named
to sustain the comparison for The South. There
Is no one but Lee. All others now alive =
Johnston, Beauregard, Bragg. Pcmberton---
have been proved TO be miserable mcdiocrities
The only man with whom the Southern ad-
ministration dare entrust great army for active
operations is Lee, and he was fairly beaten out
OF Western Virginia by Rosecrans, was beaten
at Antietam by Mcclellan, and beaten terribly
at Gettysburg by Meade has been beaten by
three Of the sir, and the others have never had
a chance at him SO much for the present com.
parson OF military ability.