New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-08-23

There was no way out but to fight out; and
], loathing war intensely, was among those who
desired and demanded the most rapid con-
hard blows quickly at the heart of the Rebel
lion. ! believed then, as / believe now, that
we might and should have had an army Of One
Hundred Thousand in Richmond by the 4th OF
July, 1861, and that thus the War would soon
have been ended. And it seemed to NE the die
tate of Humanity as well as Policy that we
should have.
But, instead Of concentration, we had disper-
sion; instead Of vigOr, imbecility; instead oil
patriotic ardor, treason working in our military
councils and directing tle movements of some
of our armies-all eliminating in that most
needless, shameful discomfture-Bull Run. II
knew those living quietly at home who died OF,
this-not so much for what it was as for what
it argued and foreboded; l survived 1t, that
was all Mr. Weed has ever since treated it as
his triumph. Here is what he says Of it now:
"Eary in the war. Slr. Greeley. in spirit Of con
ceit and arrogance peculiarly his own, assumed com
mand of the Army of the Potomac and issued his
order, On to Richmond authOritatiyely as Rchari
the Ill exclaimed To horse OF as Wellington said
Up guards. and at EN-. And, such was the power OF
popular. widey-crculating Journal the Government
actually forced prematureiy into the disastrous
! Bull Run battle. When il was over. most disgrace.
fully, Greeley the mischief he had done and ap
palled and haunted by speccrs OF dead and dying sol
diors he confessed in letter to Mr. Lincoln, aud IN
THr TRIBUNE, that he had done great wrong. II was
said by those around him that Tor several days his re-
mcrse was agonizIIg."
Weed here asserts that l issued the order,
" On to Richmond" and that, after Bull Run
| " confessed, in letter to Mr.. Lincoln, and
! in TIE TRIBUNE that" Il chad done great
wrong" If Mr.. Weed is allowed the use of
any Of my private letters, insist that he shall
print them, rcrJatim, and not pretend to give
what he chooses to say is their purport. In de-
fault of this, can only say that no letter ever
wrote will justify his assertion; and, as to what
| confessed in THE TRIBUNE, here it is,
quoted in full from the article entitled "Just
Once" July 25th, 1861:
81 wish to be- distinctly understood not seeking TO
be Teegod from any responsibility for urging the al
vance Of the Union grand army into virginia, though
the precise phrase, 'lorward TO Richmond IS hoI
mine, and would have preferred not 20 nerate H.
thought that thai army, hundred Thousand strong
might have been IN the Rebel capital on or before the
.gth inst while felt that there urgent reasons
why st0ad be there fp0ssible. And now ii any one
ina gincs that l. any connected with HE IHiB'
UNr commended or Imagined any sven strategy %
the launching of barely thirty thousand Of the one hund
] led thousand Union volunteers within hity miles OF
Washington against ninety thousand Rebels enyeopcd
in a labyrinth ol strong intrenchment1 and urTeeon,
uO.ieTcd masked batteries, then demonstration NOu.d
be lost on his closed But will not dwell on this
II needed q scapegoat for All the mat! bun
dcr of he last month so be- it, individuals must die
that the nation may live. II serve her best IN
. that capacity do not shrink from tie ordeal
II ever alluded alterward to the subject it
was with distinct reference to this statement, as
the sum and substance of what ! thought and
felt with regard to Bull Run and the response
biity therefor.
l. Thurlow Weed a man of TRUTH
III. His assertion that / proposed to stop
fighting latter sixty or ninety days is just
like the foregoing. What dad propose, at no
particularly dark hour, was, that We should
strengthen our forces in every quarter call out
our uniformed Militia to garrison Washington,
Baltimore, Ac., and make one general, deter
mined advance and elort and, if the Rebels
should really prove too strong for Us, so that we
could make no Roadway against them, We
should frankly acknowledge the corn" To
the standstill, dawdling, shilly-shally strategy
Of too many of our early commanders, / was
n1exiby opposed. | dill not see how these
would ever put down the Rebellion; and | did
not like the frutlcss rolling up Of mountains of
Public Debt. TO tax the bread of our children
and grandchildren. believed that we might
as easily beat the Rebels first as last and
wished to have our soldiers led on to try. |
now see that Gods way was better than
any that | contemplated, in view of the great
end of Kidding our country forever of Slavery.
And vet, in view of the constant and very fear
full peril of collapse of our Finances, or of
such Copperhead accession to power as the
Elections Of 1862 showed TO be imminent, | am
not sure that, if il were all TO he begun to-
morrow, | could be more patient than Iactually
was.
". Mr.. Weed strongly intimatcs that he and
| were quito at variance with respect to
peace Very likely. Let US sce'
Ny idea was and is that Government so
causelessly, so wckcdly, yet so formidably
assailed as ours was, should at all times eynce
spirit Of conciliaton-an earnest desire TO
stanch the flow of fraternal blood. 1t is not
enough that it should wish for Pcace-it should
let the world see especially those who have
been deuded and lied into lrenzied parricidal at
tacks upon it, that it is fighting only under COM
pulsion and in righteous selfdolense. Hence, il
had had my way, would have welcomed every