The New York herald., 1864-08-04
The Petersburg rsiluTs-Barnsids-
Me ade-The Miggsr.

like the present II Is crime for men to hold in
our armies places that they are not @. for. In
competent men arc moro likely to get high
places than competent men are First, be-
cause they are In an immense majority, and,
next, because they make more use Of those
| courtly graces that recommend them to the ap-
| pointing power They talk better, and are al
ways more ready to set forth and explain their
own abilities Through the empty headed
eagerness of incapablcs the right men arc kept
irfcomparatve obscurity, while the Others are
pushed up to shine in gold lace and enjoy the
popular applause. But In the hour Of great
trial it is seen that the eagerness by which in
capable men get high places, and which ap-
peared to be either harmless vanity or On ex-
cusable ambition, is in reality q crime against
the State. 1t is certain that one former COM
mander OF the Army OF the Potomac attained
the command of that army by persistent dis
paragement of popular general, coupled
with tho most continual! and shameless praise
OF his own achievements and abilities. He
proved, of course, to be unfit for his position,
| and his presence at the head OF that army in
an hour OF supreme trial caused it most dis
SitCctuk ucicdt duo Tic lOSS Oh over twenty
thousand men. Under the French Revolution
men were, in similar circumstances, held re-
| sponsible for their unftncss; and there was a
natural justice in The law by which incompe
tency in man who had pushed himself into
high places was punished with death. That
law made many fools modest
! Under an indictment framed from the above
| viaye uoip iario n NJ caak-
ing incompetenoy, we believe that General
Burnside would not be found guilty. 1t is on
record to his credit that if he had been per.
mitted to do what he thought he ought to do
he would not have been at Petersburg on Sat
| urday last to contribute his share of incompe-
tency toward the failure of great attempt;
| for he desired to resign and leave the service
two years ago. He, therefore, did not force him
self into place in which he was 50 powerful
for evil 1t must be very distinctly In the popu-
| lar recollection how earnestly he protested
against his appointment to command the Army
OF the Potomac, and how he desired to resign the
command after be bad taken it. He was virtu-
! ally forced into the place, aud therefore can
not be held entirely responsible for the Fred.
ericksburg slaughter. We must remember, too,
that he desired to resign even his corps command
subsequently, aud if permitted would, by his
retirement probably have averted the disaster
at Chickamauga. But the country has clear
case against the President for the criminal
blunder of not permitting General Burnside to
resign when he 30 often wanted to, and for
| thus keeping an incompetent man in an import
ant place against bis will. But for that error
what regrets might have been spared us. We
dare not permit ourselves even to name the
many places where we might have had success;
for disaster has followed the footsteps of this
man across continent-from the Rappahan
mock to the Tennessee, and thence eastward
again to the James-like some awful and blood
thirsty shadow.
With General Meade the case is different,
though we have heard that he also once de-
sired to resign. But he never gave any partcu-
lar emphasis to the expression of tDat desire.
He is therefore guilty, since there have been
many periods in his career when every conside-
ration of honesty and justice toward his coun-
try called upon bin to retire from the pos ton
he still holds. He ought to have resigned as
soon as be caught up with the army at Gettys-
burg, and thought it necessary to "msnmuyre
and not to fight" His occasion came again
only few days later than that. Lee, with tie
demoraliZed remnant OF q shattered army
covered on the banks OF the Potomac, and
Meade, within a mile oil him, 'mannuvred" to
bis hearts content. 1t is the distinct implca.
ton OF one of the nervous utterances of Napo-
leon Bonaparte that the general who permits
his enemy to get away under such circuni-
stances is an idiot. Yet Lee got away, and
therefore General Meade ought to have re-
signed then; for no patriot ought to be satisfied
while a man who had so nearly proven his
idiocy was in command of his country's finest
army. His achievements at Mine run ought to
have made still more apparent to him the pro-
priety of his retirement. And If only half that
is printed Of the late failure at Petersburg be
true, he most certainly ought to resign now.
lie never saw the day on which he was ft to
lead great and brave army, and he certainly
never will see it. He has lost what little he
had OF the confidence of the army and the coun-
try, and it is out of his power to please the
country in any other way than by resigning
But it is not only the incompetency OF two
generals that we are to blame for the failure Of
the attempt that ought to have given us pos
session of the rebel city. We must blame also
the President and his whole Cabinet, with its
nigger worshipping policy. They who have
insisted against all opposition that the niggers
should enter the army are even more to blame
than all others. Niggers are not ct for SOL
diers. They can dig, and drive mules; they
cannot and will not fight. All the sensation
stories in the niger papers to the contrary are
mere moonshine. They never have fought well
in any battle. To insist that the niggers should
be in the army was to insist that there should
be weak point in every line OF battle with