The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-09-01
clnIly every loyal Ponnsylvanlan, will deplore

| the sentence.
Having failed so slgnally es a General, what
reason IL there 10 hope that MCCLELLAN will
succeed better as a PresidentP Ifhe was not
NJ for calling for which he was specially
educated, how can he be expected to answer
the requirements OF a vocation in which he
has bad no schoolingP If he achieved no
positive successes as a military leader, what
better reputation eau he hope TO win In the
highest and most difficult civil trust Of the
nation? In the business Of a statesman no Is
n perfect novice and the knowledge which II
took WEBSTER and CLAY, and such men,
years of study and labor to acquire, GEORGE
b. MCCLELLAN cannot bo expected to gain
by sudden inspiration. We do him, therefore,
no injustice when we assert chat he is totally
unsulted for the Presidency, and should
not be put by the people in position
whose grave responsibilities are far
above his abilities. Even il his pa
triotism were above suspicion, and It we're
possible for any man TO rely alone on the
instincts of that passion to guide him in the
execution of the Presidential office, yot
GEORGE b. MCCLELLAN lacks even the
firmness of will to be governed by his own
impulses. He has no positlveness in his moral
or intellectual composition. He has shown
himself to be a hesitating, timid, tcmporizing
person, halting perpetual!y between two
opinions-between what his sense Of duty
tells him to do, and what his want of moral
courage makes him afraid to do. Thus his
cowardice, or his indecsion of character, is
always defeating the dictates of his under
standing. Such negative soul is flt for no
place and no occasion demanding
resolution like that Of JACKSON, and
civil wisdom and virtue like that
of WASHINGTON. His ductile nature, how
ever-his liability to be moulded, like piece
Of potter's clay, to any fashion and to any
end, by stronger, and yet worse men than
himself, is at once the reason why he was
nominated for the Presidency by an assem-
blage of selfish politicians, who hope to use
him as a tool, and why he should not be
elected TO that Office by the people, His pop
ularity, moreover, will be found, we think, to
be more fictitious than real. 1t rests not 80
much on any positive merit, either Of charac-
ter or service, as on a supposed public pity for
persecution, of which he Is claimed to be the
victim. But his martyrdom is of his own
making. he was displaced from a command
in the army for allowing his private notions
ofpolitical policy in the conduct of the war,
to interfere with his duty as soldier, and
as he failed In his proper Office
by presuming to exercise the functions of one
to which he was not appointed, he was very
wisely and justly sent into retirement. 1t is
probable that GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN would
be to-day in command of the Potomac Army
If, sitting all political ambition and respecting
himself the military subordination he imposed
on his troops, he had faithfully discharged the
duties of his responsible position, and not
sought to arrogate the discretion and autho-
rity Of President LINCOLN. But he tried to
reconcile the obligations of a soldier with the
aspirations of politician and that attempt
disastrously sacrificed the cause he was so
generously appointed to save. His suddenpr
motion to high military command-his taste
of power to which he had not been accus-
tomed-spoiled him for the only business for
which he was ever fit and has gained him a
nomination for post for which he certainly
does not possess single essential attribute OF
fitness. But viii the people endure such an
unreasonable attempt to reward a man for
gross misdemeanors and inadelity In one
office, by elcvating him to a higher? If Nc
CLELLAN was dishonest and dislOyal as
soldier, can he be expected to be honest and
loyal as a civilian?
If he could not fight, Internationally, for
the Union and the Constitution, cani be sup
posed that he would, as President of the
United States, be more devoted to eitherP
But he has been turned out of his command
in the fieldll OIL that is terrible, that is
monstrous, say the unconditional peace men
in the North-the sympathizers with the Re-
bellion. Well, gentlemen, what of thatP
Would you have palterer with treason to
fight treason? If you would, let us tell you
that the people are not ofyour way of thinking,
and that they are not likely to abet you in
avenging the supposed griefs of MCCLELLAN,
on Government which treated him with a
generous confidence which he shamefully
abused