The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1865-10-30

Two or three days ago we reproduced from
a republican newspaper OF Cincinnati a con-
fession that soldiers were day by day" de-
sertlng to the democratic party, and very
solemn and pathetic adjuration TO them not
to leave the union" ranks. Similar comics
sions through similar appeals are now ire
auent in the republican press. The solicit
tude eviuced by it to keep green IN the mem
cries of the boys In blue those who were hos
tile to them during the war, bespeaks COM
mendable interest in the fortunes of the sol
ders aud we are disposed 70 aid IN the IN
dertaking, not by general and Wholesale
charges, but by the presen tation of facts,
For the first year and half OF Abraham
Lincoln's administration we defended him
against the assaults of the abolition press.
aud urged the prosecution of the war for the
Union when governors OF states demanded
that the contest should be converted to one of
emancipation before they forwarded more
troops Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts
made such demand, and Governor Blair, of
Michigan, In q speech made by him at Jack
son. in that state, asserted that he had with
held troops because the war had not been
thus perverted. They were willing shat the
soldiers already in the field should be sacri-
ficsd unless the war was changed TO an aboli-
ton crusade, and In this they were sustained
by the entire radical element in the republi-
can party. Here is the proof:
President Lincoln, in his address to the
congressional delegation from the border
states, July -, 1872 said, concerning his re-
pudiati1n of General Hunters emanci PATTON
proclamation:
ssIn repudiatng it, gave dissatisfaction, if not
offense, many whose support the country cannot
afford to lose And this is not the end OF It. The
pressure in this direction as stu upon and
creaSing. BY concedng what now ask (emanci-
patton, YOU can relieve me, and, much more, the
country IN this important point"
Two months after, he succumbed to that
pressure" and In doing so made. as Chief
Justic Chase indirectly acknowledged, eman-
| cipa.ion the object and not incident of the
war. The contest thereafter was not for the
! Union, but to forward the fapsticsl purposes
OF men of the Garrison. Phillips and Sum
ner school. For this the lives of soldiers who
! had volunteered to defend the Union were
| sacrificed The war then assumed q partisan
! character, so far as the administration was
! concerned, and generals who did not sympa-
thize with 1.-THE objects of the war" were as
sailed by it and the republican press. The
downfall of Mcclellan had previously been
determined upon, not by Mr.. Lincoln. but by
those who were officiating him with this
pressure" of which he complained, headed
| by Secretary Stanton, who at that time, with
deviIish hypocricy, was protesting the ut
most confidence in and friendship for Me
Clellan.
We present from the correspondence of the
New York Tribune the fact that Mcclellan 8
downfall was resolved upon, though it cost
the destruction of his army. 1t In taken from
a letter written on the banks of the James.
July Sd, 1862:
'sWhen loyal New York regiments. lifted from
their feet by the fire of rebel brigades, cry out of
their wounds and death for help; when the choIc-
est of New England and Michigan and Pennsylva-
MIA troops outnumbered In front and on both
hanEs by whole divisions of the enemy, beg tor
renfnrcements, say that the blacklist crime that
power can commit is stalk upon the field OF bat
| tie and say. s'Soldiers / have faith in your
| commander; let your martyrdom proceed - and
| says the army of the Potomac, and II registers
tonight vows OF vengeance as II marches IN the
| dark from position which their diminished num-
bers disabled them from holding, but which is
secrated to them forever by their suerings, their
| labors and their wrongs. The politicians and
statesmen who left us here to be outnumbered and
Gu; of from our supplies and the possibility of
| treat ara doomed men,"
Soldiers, you have here the testimony of
! the New York Tribune that the lives of your
brave,comrades were sacrificed as was also the
national safety, by the politicians and states
men of the republican party, to accomplish
McClellan's defeat. At that time the same
radical pressure of which Mr.. Lincoln COM
planned to the border states delegation, was
| bearing on him with enormous weight to pro-
| cure McClellau's retirement from command.
Those men who thus ruthlessly delivered your
| brothers in arms to slaug plotted
for the destruction of the army of the Poto-
| mac, and for the promulgation of the war,
! and many of whom have returned thanks to