The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1864-10-21
WHOLE NUMBER, 1879
FoL. s, NO. u.

! | tif0ated at HlcAnOnd, at 'T"yOv'
/ Exclusive Of Early's command -. 0.00C
Showing the discharge and loss from
Grant TO be. ........-.........-.a. i30suut
And that of Lee TO lie. ......-8.. q. IS, Coz
i Judge Kelley, were the record Of the council
of war, and that Of ''the strict course of exam
1 ination" made by Mr.. Stanton, indicating the
1 very difficulties and dreadful losses Grant has
Il lately sustained, ever piSced before him And
why not And who is responsible for the lU0,
900 men unnecessarily and wickedIy sacrificed
south of the Rapidan in the experiment made
to prove that General Mcclellan and the coun-
Gil of war were wrong, and that the Presidents
plan was right
The army Of the United States, as you found
it at the commencement of this war, was COM
posed Of high-toned, intelligent, honorable,
gallant set Of men, fully equal to the contest
before them; they had always studiousy avoid
ed all political connections many Of them had
| been thirty years in the service of their coan-
| try, and had never voted. They held tieir
country and the honor and integrity OF it be-
! fore every other consideration. Had 81 rule
been adopted requiring that no political subject
should be introduced into the army, bu. that
all political rights should be respected, and had
army officers only been held responsible tor the
conduct Of The war, it would have Terminated
| long ago.
! Why havo Mcclellan, and Sedgewick. and
MPhcrsOn, and Bayard, and Frarklin, and
Buell., and Meade, and Averil, and Porter,
and score of other general officers. with hun
drcas, if not thousands cfSoficers Of an inieri-
/ or grade been offended and held back, and
many of them dismissed from the army without
wcrd Of explanation, an arbitrary act un-
known in Great Britain, whilst Pope, and
! Burnside, and Hooker, and Butler and Hunter
and Banks, and !Sigei and Sickels, and hundreds
Of others, certainly no better than the former
have been preferred? Why was Gen. Stone,
thar whom there IS not a more loyal man. and
accomplished gentleman and gallant soldier in
the country, confined in prison for Is months
And when released by an act of Congress, WAY
was ii that neither the President nor Secretary
ot War, nor Secretary of State, or other per-
sons AT Washington would assent 70 any kaow
edge or any participation in the arrest Such
outrages are calculated to break down the hon
or and esprit da corps of any army, and All have
looked ON with disgust and horror, and pain
old friends and ai6ife and N ' 9qtEages that have
! know incapable of an rngentemaniy, dishonor-
able, unsoldieriy or disloyal act
Why did the Committee on the Conduct of
the War investigate aud falsify with such nice
precision the conduc; of N Clellan and his friends,
and ovcrl0o'. the volume Of charges filed in the
/ War Department against Fremont, and Sigel,
! and Hunter, and others, and entirely overlook
/ I'd the immense slaughter at Characteristic,
and Fredericksburg, and south Of the Rapidan
/ Why did a secret political inq uisition, with no
I other pretext than they suspected him of politi
| cal ambition, sit over five hundred days ana
manufacture over seventeen hundred pages Of
er parts testimony against young officer, a
! Christian gentleman, an honest man, who heav-
er only knows, never had but one purpose and
| that to serve his country and his Goo?
Iou know, Judge, that whilst in Washing
ton General Mcclellan studiousy avoided all
political association, and TO such an extent that
many Of his friends Of both parties were much
offended
The first knowledge that I ever had of any
political ambition his part was after he
had been retired from active service and sent
in disgrace to New jersey, and this was after
his fitness for the succession had been discover
by Mr.. Lincoln, and tie people had signifed
( their affection for him. His letters and orders
have been called political, but they were emf
ncntly proper, and refer entirely 10 the military
policy of the country. But, Judge suppose
we admit that General Mcclellan had an am
bition TO be President of the United States.
was it not laudabIe ambition, and IS there any
improperly in it ? Is the field not open to him
as well'as to Mr.. Lincoln, or Mr.. Fremont, or
Mr.. Chase, or the many others infinitely his in
feriors
So far as the objections to his military quail
ifcation are concerned we have only to remind
you that within the last sixty days confden-
tial friend of the President was sent 10 offer
him one of the most important commands Of
the army But this proposition WAS coupled
with the most dshonorble condition. that he
should decline TO be q candidate for the Presi-
dency. Gen. N ;ClelIan restrained his indigna-
ton and replied to the bearer OF the message,
go back to Washington, ana say 10 the Pres
ident for me, that when | receive official writ,
ten orders he shall have my answer"
Beware, Judge, of the incorporate abuse Of
your political opponents, as proud and loyal as
you are, who would rather see the Continent OF
America sink into the ocean with all that awells
upon it. than see our nationality destroyed
who will not endure this constant usurpati0n Of
authority and encroachment upon their rights,
and whom You may drive into dreadful con-
aict, in which the Aholitionist and the negro
may frl themselves arrayed against all who
will Gnitodly stand, hand in hand, and shoulder
Ito shoulder, in defence of the Constitution and
the fundamental laws of the land.
Very respectfully,
Il HENRY nj. HAGLEE.
To Hon. WM. d. KELLEY, Philadelphia.
J eFThe recent draft has drawn largely upon