Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-01-09
Prom the New York Times

"nAe COMMANDER OF the Army OF the Pc
! tomac. The original document will, prob
/ ably, never meet the eyes Of one of thou
sand OF our readers. Its enormous bulk
Of thousand printed pages prsciudes
general circulation. The book. uroperiv
speaking, is not an official document At sIi.
II has none of the succiretness aud sim
Plicity which belong TO that class of pro =
| duetioos. Military annals, either IL
Europe or II America, may be search ed in
vain for any report OF g General IN com
nand, Of one tenth part OF the magnitude
of this Wellington, though seven years in
the Peninsula, neTer wrote paper that
would NIL twenty OF these pages Grant.
though his achievements have been a
hundred times greater, has told them all in
repcr's, the whole collection of which rR5
be read in sixty minutes. This report is,
in fact, nothing else than the .HiLtdry Ne
'aOiT' Of George B. AeCleLLan, printed at
heexperse of the Government
What Gen. Mcclellan was, or what he
did that entitled him 10 so much unexau-
pied self display may soreiy puzzle the
future historian. For his benefit we NAV
as vel! say that this huge parade don't s1-
pertain a. all to anything Gen Mcclellan
is, or anything he has done, as i military
man. The initiation is all political /,
comes from his aspirations TO De q Presi-
Dental candidate. The party opposed TO
the Administration loug since conceived
the idea of turning him TO account in that
capacity. They foresaw that in the aImos;
universal support given BY the ablest aud
best men of the country TO the Admipis,ra-
ton, they would be hard pressed for a can
dIda;s Q: any figure at all. They did no,
hesitate 10 speak freely of Gen Mcclellan
as their most available man, long before
bis removal t-ou Command. And perhaps
1t ls the part OF charity to sscribe much Of
hls military iueficieucy TO the lack of that
sIngleness OF purpose brought upon him bv
the consciousness that he owed something
TO political party, and had something
ether than military ends 20 realize. Gen.
Grant has exhibited lis sovereign good
sense, and the thorough ursel6shness of
his devotion to the cause, bv discouate-
nancIng aud repellinR every attempt to use
MS name for political purposes OF course,
II can hardly be supposed that be l. with
out the honorable ambition that belongs TO
all men of superior abilities. But he knows
that war is now his sole business. and that
this demands the complete concentration af
every fsenlty aud feeling of bis paIure-
He also understands that moral power j.
no susil element II successful EeneraIzhip
and that this cannot be uaiataiued if il is
seen, or even suspected, that the General
has party couuseIs TO hear, and political
interests TO cultivate
But the fact that Geu. Mcclellan WAS
removed from command, committed him
more decidedly than ever TO the entrzea
of the opposition, and the fancy odor of
martyrdom that hung about him made him
more than ever the accepted favorite and
predestined nominee of the party. We
say fancy odor, for there vas nothing resI
IN II. de had simply received the same
that had oVertakan Fremont Pope. Bu-l.
and hak-doEen other Major Generals
who had rot fulfilled the military expec-
tations of the Government. Bur. consid-
erlng himself a peculiar man, he naturally
considered himself a peculiar victim. and
redolent of persecution For nine months
after his removal, up to the date of the
report, he nursed that feeling, aud with it
the idea that il gave him Il peculiar claim
to the political support of the country.
Hence this extraordinary production, larger
twlee over than CRsar's Commentaries.
Ihe future AnnaIist Of the great rebellion,
when IN his researches he comes across
thls performances, will be staggered at its
lnnensity, aud wonder at its meaning
Fer his benefit we make the coten poraTv
record that lis significance is merely DO
AtcaI- that though it has the Inscription
OF military report, il is in reality oui a
very curloRs piece of engineering. designed
to raise political wind that sbau uafr
the author 70 the White HJuse. On the
principle OF specific levity, as applied bv
certain recent inventors Of flying machines
in Europe.
We have said that Gen. McClelIap's no.
hilcal associations manifested them selves
inJurIousiy long before bis removal. 4
new illustration Of it is furnished in his
letter 20 the Presids1t-eubrace in this
sOstraet-Writteu from Ea-risonis Landizz
just after his rePulss from Richmoud.E
Among other things, he says: '.Unless The
principles governing the future coudpc. of
our army shall be made known aud On
PToredr the effort to obtain Seo,i.f,. f,--.,
t7lH be GLI0oIt Entirely hePeLesa. A declara.
ton OF radical views, especially pno,
Slavery. aOilE rapidly disiategTate ouI ,r,,sn,
aFm'eI' This is equivalent TO saving thar
unless the President prociaius and a3bsrss
to certain policy, such as Gen. McCleIl.n
and such other people believe TO- be pronsr
there viii De no more enIisting: and mai
II ne presumes to declare 8 certain otb-r
policy the army Will5peedily break up ana
go home. Gen Mcclellan sets for4h t+jZ
all important policy. Its main featura i
"militsry PorceT should not be aIIovsd -
interfere with the relatiocs of seryit,5s
either by supporting or ippairip1 tbs
authority OF the master, excepting for sun-
pressing disorder as in other cases Ha
protests that ''ReithsT eoafseqtioa Of p-oB
cry, political executions Of persons. ter[i.
ritorial organizations of States, or 6,r.ibk,
GboIltiOE Of StGUSy should be eontsnnIat.d
for moment" But it matters NOT vb.t
the particular policy urged, or deprecated,