Daily national Republican., 1864-02-24
A DsmocratIe Paper ON Mcclellan.

The DEAD wRIeHT.-We have been reading
the prominent passages In the report Of George
B. Mcclellan. They are the passages which
are selected by such papers az the New York
World, and others favorable to him, to give
him the very best show before American citi-
zcns. They have convinced us, sincerely, that
he is a man Of unsurpassed military ability.
His letter OF February Sd, 1862, to Secretary
Stanton, setting forth the plan Of the Peninsu-
lar campaign, as he would have had It, is mas
terly In Its conception, AID shows the highest
military talent In lts details That is as It seems
to us.
We regret that 1t was not fully adopted by
the Administration, for with its ultimate fru-
ition the rebellion might have been a thing of
the past, the natlon might have been united
and happy once more, and General Mcclellan
might have been the enthusiastic choice for the
next Presidency. But the plan may have been
faulty; II certainly was, for good or for evil,
not carried out. Its protector has, for good or
for evil, parted company with the great strug-
gle for the Union, and seems TO have thrown
himself, with his heavy dead weight, upon all
efforts to go on with the war. ...
What matters IL here, In this time of peril,
whether McClellan's or somebody else's plans
and theories, in 1862, were betteri II Is pre-
olsely OF as much consequences as the question
of Grouchy's fidelity at Waterloo. II is mat
ter with which history has to deal-not VIC
here in the trenches, resisting an assault upon
the life Of a nation.
Suppose Mcclellan to have been badly
treated. Shall the earth and the sun stand
still until he Is attended to Give him a court
martial, or committee Of inquiry, If he wants
it; shoot him OF Stanton, whichever Is found
10 be In faulti do anything In reason tina the
wants done, but let us go on meanwhile with
more pressing and important matters.
Joe Hooker had as good right TO growl and
grumblc and humph hlmselfup. Didh do 1t
go and ask him, down there In Tennessee,
good .noturedly smoking his cigar under the
shadow OF Lookout Mountain. John Pope as
brave a fighting man as ever lived, never had
tho hundredth part Of the time, the favor, the
patient waiting which was given Mcclellan to
do something with the Army of the Potomac.
Did he fall back, glum and cross, and demand
that nothing should be done until he was
avenged
He came from the command Of great army
to a mere Indian border war as gaily as though
il were holiday excursion. Burnside did moi
cope with Longstreet at Fredericksburg, and
was summarily sent away; but he sought I'm
other trial, and gave him hard knocks at Knox,
vile. Mcdowell, the earliest victim OF ill-luck
al has been yainly urging ever since, not tho en-
torsement of his plans at Bull Run, but a com
mand to lead once more ut the rebel army
Rosecrans, the beloved Of all, who was blow
out after the battle Of Chickamauga as yoI
would blow out penny candle referred TO tn
druggist, instead OF the Government, about tn
eral living, who was set aside gently but firm
ly, takes his morning walks in the Fifth avenue
and II he doesn't encourage, he doesn't dis
courage the attempts we are making 10 saw
. the country.
.aa Up TO the advent Of Meade, every genera
who has had command OF the Army of tn
Potomac has been relieved from II under cir
p. cumstances which they probably did not regar,
a. fiattering But Of them all there has beei
only one who has undertaken 10 infilct hi
wrongs-lf they were wrongs-upon the coun
try. That one was George B. Mcclellan. III
asks the country 10 take notice that not onl'
his military plans, but his ideas as TO the poll
tics of the war, are different to those whicl
I, have been pursued. He publishes old letter
20 the President. He charges Stanton, the ex
4 isting Secretary of War, with having connlve,
Y at his defeat and the destruction OF the army
He advocates the election Of man to the gov
ernorship Of Pennsylvania who declares tina
the draft is unconstitutional. And he permit
himself TO be named as the Presidential cand
date by Fernando Wood, the VallandighamI
and all other dead weights hanging on thi
war. It is one Of the fatalities which seem /
attend that class Of politicians, that they ar
making a candidate Of that kind. So long a
they keep control Of the Democratic party 5
long will It be defeated.-Grssn Boy VII.
Deyloer1f