The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1864-04-13

and is recording its Judgment now. That
Judgments that the Administration and the
great party-powerw which controlled it required
Of military commanders something more than
a strai ghtferward prosecution of the war for
the defeat of the Confederate power and the
restoration of the constitutional Government
The commander of the Army of the Potomac
was not sufficiently interested in the abolition
policy of the Republican party. He had not
sufficiently adysrced in the science of etholo-
gy to perceive that the negro was better adap-
ted to the duties of asoldier than white men.
The scheme of reconstructing States upon the
Plan OF the proclamation had not entered into
his policy. Confscating the, plantations of
the South into the hands of Northern disu-
nlonists to be cultivated by enforced negro Ia
Dor under a system which, while it gives the
high-sounding name of freemen to slaves, cx-
acts their toll and sweat at. q less compensa-
tion than they received from their former mas
tiers, did not enter into his PLAN Placing "the
round and top of sovereignty" upon the heads
of one-tenth of the people of a State to Sc
cure from a meager minority made up of
.Proteges the electoral votes of that State was
not in his 1coRtemplations. Excluding from
the army all sources of political information,
except such as were most fully committed to
the Administration and denunciatory of all
criticism upon it, enforcing the distinction of
keeping Democrats in the ranks and sending
Republicans to their homes at a great expense
to the Government to vote in behalf of the
Administration were useful political appli-
ances, but were nos regarded by the general
as amoung fhe legitimate. appliances Of war.
The military ability and military success could
not long secure the countenance of the Ad-
mlnistration to a general so remise in more i'm
portant things is evident to those who know
the history of the times. +.
A ffpr rho Ianocifiop oP Conaro1 MaC1a1Iap
from command, the army of the Potomac, un-
der a new leader, fought another battle. The
result OF that battle, as every body knows,
was to send its broken ranks, dispersed and
demoraliZed, before q conquering foe, who
took advantage of the rout to invade the up
per States and the capital itself. 1t was a
time of awful peril .he boldest heart palpi-
tated with fear the emergency was pressing,
Interior considerations gave way for the mo-
ment to the most certain means of saving the
capital and of freeing from hostile occupation
the territory over which the enemy's battal-
ions were VIGOROUSLY tramping. All thoughts
were concentrated upon the deposed rMeClel-
Ian. He was called again in that dread hour
to his command. Order Immediately spraug
from confusion ; courage succeeded to panic
and alright. Among other important achieve
ments the great battles of South Mountain
and Antietam were fought and won. Defeat
Gu Ia Jul VI lHeSc SuSdSSmS Hlo, u nSAiNS
were driven across the Potomac, feilcd of all
their sanguine expectations by the bravery of
the army which under another command they
had so recently dispersed The Judgment of
the country is that wi. hout the timely inter
vention of that general the invasion would
have been in n great degree successful, and
that the public ediices of the capital
might have presented to the nations view
nothing but ihcongraous masses of broken and
ruined masonry.
After a short space necessarily spent in re-
cruiting the energies of our men after these
terrible and e1haasting struggles, and when
the General having pursued and overtakeH
the retreatiDg eneEay was about to attack him,
with as reasonable expectations of his capture
as the exigencies of modern warfare admit,
was again dismissed from his command
tears ee1rssd down the cheeks of the
hardy war-worn soldiers at the separation
again repeated, they were of no avail. Ser I
vices could be dispensed With when the enemy
was on his retreat, which were indispensable
when lie was on his advance.
1t is interesting to the u~nprejudiced to see
the obscurity which for a long period IL
volved the policy Of the Administration to-
ward the General before mentioned is being
Illuminated by truthfn and circumstantial his
tory which has too long been suppressed
The interested people are now permitted to
Judge, from the facts before them, what policy
whose policy, supported and not over
ruled through inadmissible motives, would sse
this TINA probably, in the result certainly,
have conquered the rebellion and restored the
union of States, if military conquest achieved
upon the principles of right and justice be
of leading to such a result
The Limitation of my time prevents me
from proceeding further upon this subject
but concluding, I %conjure this House and the
country, by the reverence we have for the
memory OF our fathers; by a just regard for
Ill that made us a prosperous and happy PEG.
pie by all our yearning desire for the liberty
nd prosperity of those who are to come after
IS 4; by all the holy patriotism that ever was
,nshrined in the Americas heart; by the &
considerations of self-protection and duty to
Tod, to stop the course Of this revolution
which threatens to PROSTATE the very citadel
If our liberties, and seek not for repose till
he Government of 1857 be rescued from the
grasp of abolitionism and reinstated in its
ightfal sway.