The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-09-18
DAILY PRESS.
ND.
Tuesday Morning, September 10, 1866,
The Cleveland Convention.
PORTLAND

The Cleveland Convention.
When the army of the Potomac lay pant
ing and exhausted at Harrison's Landing, al
ter the fearful struggle which broke its hold
upon Richmond in 1862; when our brave boys
lay dead where they fell, amid the swamps and
woods of the Virginia Peninsula, from the
York TO the James when the enemy, foiled
in every attack upon our retiring columns,
rolled sullenly back from Malvern Hill, last Of
all. and our worn out soldiers went to sleep by
regiments where they stood under arms-at
this time of all times that could have been
chosen, General Mcclellan took occasion tc
say to a group of officers who stood or sal
around him, 1--WE shall all live to be ashamed
of the part we have taken in this war;" &C.:
Mcclellan had previously sought permission
to lay before the President his views respect
ing the state of military affairs throughout
the whole country and the President with
touch of mild irony had replied, "Ifit wouid
not divert too much of your time and atten-
ton from the army under your 1mmedia'e
command 1 would be glad to have your views
as to the present state OF military ANAL
throughout the whole country-as you say
you would be glad to give them" In snort
if you have the itch OF wr1tns' "ri1e' pu0
don't neglect your business on that account
Gen. Mcclellan had written before the retreat
commenced. What he wrote furnishes key
to the singular remark we have quoted above
"a remark which the officers who heard it
received with indignation, and which they
dared not repeat before their meh. iaisi1
There are two views of the armed contro-
versy which was pending before Richmond
Gen. Mcclellan, as his singular epistle to the
President shows, regarded it as Family
Quarrel, in which the rights and privileges OF
the parties were on common footing. In
such quarrel he thought it natural and prop
er to 60 with his State. AS a Pennsylvania
he joined the Northern army, just as Gen
Lee joined the Army of Virginia because he
was Virginian. Looking upon the contest
asa squabble bred by incendiary words and
acts Of Northern and Southern fanatics, the
dapper General, smarting under defeat, M
doubt felt thoroughly sick of the business ant
spoke out of the bitterness of a full hear
wheL he declared his expectation of living t,
be ashamed of meddling with it at all. 1t il
easy to see what must be the sequence of no
tions like these. If both parties were equal,
to blame at the beginning, if we have had N,
rebellion, but only family brawl, then o
course when the fighting stops all the combat
ants stand on the same footing and ought to
be ashamed OF their parts in causeless, aim
less, resultless brabble. The soldiers who met
at Cleveland yesterday are already ashamed o.
themselves, and this convention is their act o.
public humiliation. They have assembled to
declare publicly that the war carefully plan.
ned and inaugurated by Southerners who
were tired of democracy and willing to fght
for government with slavery for its corner
stone, was only brabble of which both parties
should be equally ashamed, and to invite thest
same Southerners, with their political theories
wholly unchanged, to resume their old infu
ence in the government without the slightes
guarantee against another outbreak.
In confessing that they regarded each side
as equally guilty, these men confess that they
themselves went into the war with no high
purpose, with no belief in the justice of Their
cause, but for purely personal ends. Such sol
diers are called "me rcenaries" If they are
usiranrea " tneir part IN rue war, uDey doubt
less have reason to be, and the country ha;
reason to be ashamed Of them. Our volunI
teers here in Maine believe that we have had
Rebellion, and not a Family Quarrel They
believe the National power has put down the
Rebellion, and that the Nation has right to
require of its 'paroled prisoners of war; such
conditions as are essential to its future securil
ty. They believe that the conditions propos-
ed by Congress are excessively mild and that
certainly nothing less should be accepted. So
believing, they insist that their hardships and
greyous losses shall not be made of no avail
BY stupid laundering now, and above all that
men who confess themselves mercenaries shall
not assume to represent the soldiers who
fought i'm the name of the Republic 4eiI .