Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-09-06
09io Statesman
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The Ohio Statesman Company
TUESDAY MORNING, SEPT. g.
Mcclellan no BlOod-Letter -
Tribute from 81 Republican Con-

gress.
In Congressional debate on the bill to
oyerslaugh MCCLELLAN and other Generals,
Mr.. Cox made the following remarks:
Mr.. cox. Ihave indicated in my amend
ment that those who have received the
thanks of Congress should be made an eX-
eeption to this proposed reform. do not
disguise the fact that my intention is to ex-
cept from the operation of the bill such
men as Gen. Mcclellan, who did receive the
thanks of Congress. Unanimously, sir, on
the 9th of May, 1862, Immediately fol-
lowing the battle of Williamsburg, upon a
resolution offered by member upon the
opposite side of the House Mr.. Lovejoyl
Congress thanked that distinguished Cen
eral The resolution was voted for by you,
| Mr.. Speaker, with great alacrity. That
| resolution will have read.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
"Resolred, That it is with feelings of pro-
found gratitude to Almighty God that the
| House of Representatives, from time to
time, hear of the triumphs of the Union
| armies in the great struggle for the suprem-
acy of the Constitution and the integrity of
| the Union.
"ResOlued, That we receive with profound
satisfaction intelligence of the recent vic
| tories achieved by the armies of the POto-
mac, associated from their localities with
| those of the Revolution, and that the sim
| cere thanks of the House are hereby ten
dered to General George B. Mcclellan for
the display of those high military qualities
| which secure important results with but
| little sacrifice of human life."
Mr.. cox. / am sorry my colleague Mr..
| Schenck] was not present in the last House
| to give the sanction of his distinguished
military Judgment upon those ''high mill
tary qualities" of General Mcclellan 'which
secure important results with but little sac
yifce of human lite." The yeas and nays
| were not called upon that resolution for the
simple reason that every member believed
in it. 1t went through the House nentne
| cOntradicente. Every one OF us in happy
accord joined in this splendid tribute to the
beloved captain of the Army of the Poto-
mac. A splendid tribute! For what lau-
rels ever crowned the brow of hero or
demigod equal to those honors which shall
cluster around the memory of him whose
martial triumphs have been won with but
little sacrifice of human life? Long
after the carping committees on the
| conduct of the war;" who have distort-
ed truth to injure general whose abili-
| ty is so far above their comprehension
| shall have passed away; long after the po-
| litical hucksters who have joined in revil-
| inc him in order to add to their ill-gotten
gains, shall be numbered with the forgotten
dead; long after the vacillation and inter-
/ meddling of presumptuous civilians shall be
dismissed to a dishonored oblivion, this ut
terance of the national Legislature will live
and shine; not, sir, because we passed it, but
because in an hour of honest impulse we
recorded our testimony to the truth which
| the historian twill not willingly let die.''
Those triumphs which are unstained by
blood have been so few and signal in this
and other wars that among the good they
involuntarily invoke the choicest approba-
tion of the human heart and intellect. So
few and signal are they that / might be
| pardoned tor imagining thateven the Prince
of Peace himself would condescend to be-
| dew with something of his own grace, and
consecrate to noble destiny that martial
genius which achieves its victories without
| the effusion of fraternal blood. They ante
date that millennial day-that holy time
which seems so distant to our mortal view
when the "music of the worlds accord
shall displace the harsh clangor of arms,
and its sweeter song
| "Shall swell from shore to shore;
| One hope, one faith, one love restore
The seamless robe that Jesus wore"
The heroism which brings such painless,
results, is crowned with chaplet fragrant
forever with the white flowers of peace!
A measure of this kind striking at the mil
itary status of General who for two or three
years has given all his stupendous energies
to the cause of the Republic, should have
better reasons than mere economy. For
what is he to be disgraced? Is it for his
prompt rescue of Western Virginia, where
amid the mountains and along the Kanawha,
with many of my own constituents from
Ohio, he advanced the banner of the Union
Is it for his humane and orderly march into
those disaffected regions which his arms
preserved from the rebels, while his policy
saved it from disaffection and ravage? Is
it for his grand system of strategy whereby
he directed successfully the operations Of
every point on the Cumberland, on the Ten
nessee, on the Mississippi, at New Orleans,
round to the Carolinas, where Burnside
achieved those successes which he so prompt.
ly attributed to his superior? Is it for thus
illumining the "whole hroizon" with the
blaze of victory, achieved upon compre-
hensive plan, whose consummation he had
reserved for his own Army of the Potomac {?
Is it for founding that noble army out of the
ruins of the Bull Run disaster? Is it for
saving that army by his unprecedented and
miraculous retreat for seven days and nights
tain him, and when thrown upon his own
resources? is it for rescuing the army after
Generals Lincoln, Pope and Halleck had
blundered? Is it because he took the army,
weary and wan, footsore and dispirited, and
by his sublime presence made it heroic and
clamorous to be led at once after the enc
my? Is it because the President said he
was worth any ten Generals, if all were
compressed into one, when it became neces-
sary to save the archives, the capital, and
the personnel of this Administration? Is 1t
because twice he saved this national capi-
tai, including those at the other end of the
avenue who have done their utmost to ira
duce and disgrace him? Is it for all these
services-now, thanks to his own truthful
report, committed to history, and over
which recorded honors will gather forever?
For which of all these works do We pelt him
with your pitiful persecutionsp All! no,
for none of these; but because, forsooth, he
would have made the war honorable and
civilized; not war for political faction, par
tisan revenge, or fanatical hate, but war
"to enforce the equal operation Of the laws
of the United States upon the people Of
every State;" war to save and not to de-
stroy the Constitution! Because he dared
to write to his Majesty from the sacred pre-
cincts Of Malvern Hill, in the agony of his
heart at the failure of the Government to
aid him, and to plead with its agents to
conduct the war on the principles Of civili-
zation and Christianity, and not with a
view to emancipation, subjugation and cx-