Smyrna times., 1863-04-16
MISCELLANEOUS.
GEN. MCCLELLAN AND THE PEACE
PARTY.

1t will be remembered that the dispatch
of Lord Lyons to Earl Russell, respecting
his interview with the leaders of what he
calls "Peace party" had the following re-
rnarkable juxtaposition:
They seemed to be persuaded that the
result Of the election would be accepted by
the President rs declaration of the will Of
the people that he would increase the mod
crate and conservative clement in the Cab
met that he ,could seek to terminate the ,Uer,
not to push it to extremity that he would en-
oItaror to cb9c reconciliation ,C1th the people of
the South, and renounce the idea of subiura-
ting or extirminating them.
On the following morning, however, in
tenigence arrived from Washington which
ddsted tie rising hq1es ftie conservatives II ,ca<
announced that Gen. ncCIellu, had been DIS
missed from the coanmand of the Arny oPthePo-
| tOnaac, and ordered to repair to his home
that he had in fact been removed altogether
from active service. The General had been
regarded as the representative of conservative
principles in the army. Support of him had
been made one of the articles of the conser-
vative 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 at New York was certainly very
great it seemed, however, to be not unmired
"lth cOnSternation and dipondency."
"The rising hopes" of the Peace Party
dashed" and CONSERVATION and despon-
dency" ensuing, because Gen. Mcclellan is
removed from the chief command! Was
the like ever heard Of? An avowedIy peace
party dsmayed at the displacement ofa Com
manding General There is but one posi-
ble way of accounting for it and that is
that the General was not furthering a war
policy, and ras secretly IN sympathy a4th the
party aiming at peace.
That we verify believe is the key to all
the extraordinary procrastination, inefficien-
cy and military behavior which marked the
entire fifteen months career of George B.
Mcclellan as Commander-in-Ch Chief That
alone is the real explanation of his constant
study how not to do it, and misdo it when
he was forced to act. He was for harming
the enemy as little as possible, and for get
ting on peaceful terms as soon as possible.
One is amazed in carefully perusing the
late Report of the Committee on the Con-
duct of the War, to mark how uniformly
Gen. McClellaE displays his disposition,
from the very outset of his assumption of
the chief command. The committee have
not set this forth in the salient manner it de-
served. They confined themselves simply
to digest of the voluminous testimony,
and abstained from all deductions and all
comments. They left the readers to take
the matter home to themselves in their own
way. We believe that it would not have
been departure from their proper func-
tions had they summed up consecutively the
short comings and misdoings of the General,
as established inevitably by the documents
and military witnesses before them. In de-
fault of this. we have taken the pains to go
through the whole report carefully, and Sc
lect the more important particulars wherein
Gen. Mcclellan failed to do his duty as COM
manding General, and acted in conformity
with peace rather than a war policy 1t
is proved by irrefragable evidence.
That with 1876, 900 men, on the LIST of
December, be tor weeks refrained from ad-
yancing upon Manassas, where were less than
10000 of the enemy, though the roads were
hard and the weather most favorable, and
in spite of the urgent solicitations of the
Presidents aar rs Bb bta esq
| That during all that time the Potomac
assaa@s lV9A ~ q ls1L