Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-08-20

The National LIteliigencer thussketches
the official history of the expunged Sec
rotary Of War, STANTON;
When Mr.. Stanton went into the war
Office, he might have been a union man,
but Just before his nomination, when the
rebellion was in its incipiency, he ap-
plauded the course Of John c. Breckin-
ridge, and, meeting Senator Brown, OF
Mississippi, at the door of the supreme
court room, after Brown had bid farewell
to the senate and announced his inten-
tion to Join the rebels, stanton eheered
him on, asserted that he was right, that
his course was the only M % save the
south, and urged him to keep his cOnstit-
uents up to the mark.
When the committee on the conduct OF
the war badgeTed President Lincoln and
demanded the instant removal of Mr..
Cameron as secretary of war, a member
Of the cabinet happened Inadvertently,
ct 8 late hour in the evening, to express
to 8 friend, what shall! we do for a SEQ
rotary Of war gu The friend was 8 friend
of Stsnton's. He replied: flake Stan
TOM but he has announced that he
will not take Office under this admins.
tration," the administration Of Mr.. Lin
coln.) "He may be induced to do So"
"GO see him at once, and il be Will con-
sent, he shail be secretary OF war to-
morrow" on the morrow he was made
secretary Of war. His first act was to
kick down the ladder by which he had
mounted to the position. He prosecuted
Mcclellan end his staff, and drove them
all u of the army. He lent himself to
the uses Of the radical committee GA the
conduct OF the var, and conducted the
a-n. -.# TO- vfnF-r~ hut g. H. I,r.gN1F
the radical republican faction. When
Mcclellan was about to take Richmond,
be stole down the Potomac in the dark
ness Of the night and ordered the right
wing back from its position, so that Jack
son could reinforce Lee and drive Nc
Cleilan across the Peninsula. The head
of the radical republican faction had said
that If Richmond were taken, then it
would put the republican party back
twenty years. Again, after the army of
the Potomac had been defeated, when it
was found absolutely necessary to recall
Mcclellan 10 the command Of the soldiers
who loved him SO we'll when he took a
dlspirited, demoralized and discouraged
army through Washington to the plains
of Antietam and pursued the enemy to
Rectorsville, Va where it was proposed
to take Lee and his whole army, Just at
this moment, as at the % when
orr army was about to take Richmond,
Stanton, this radical Cdrnot" Of the
war, stepped in and prevented the WIG
tory by the summary removal of McClel-
Ian from command.
We are not now defending Gen. Nc /
Clellan, but simply stating facts that the
history OF the var will confirm. We |
only intend to show what this "Carnot"
of the war did to organize the most dis
astrous defeats of our army. After his
interferesce at Aqua creek came the
terrible seven days battles, the retreat
to HarFison's landing, and the sUbse-
Guent abandonment Of the peninsula.
After ms removal Of McClellsn at Rec.
t~orsville, came the terrible disasters of
Fredericksburg and Charlottesville.
For all these the late secretary Of war is
responsible. He seems to glsat upon hui
man agony and human suffering. He is
responsible, also, for all the suffering Of
cur prisoners in the south. The record
will show il. This record has bean pub
lished again and again, and no one has
dared 20 deny II, or provoke the exhibit
ton of proof in the case. The proof is
ready whenever required, that the then
secretary Of wal was alone the
cause of delay in the exchange
Of prisoners. When the Confed-
authorities were pleading
with US to take away, without immedi-
ate exchange, twenty thousand OF our
prisoners, Stanton was inexorsble, and
10 listen to the application. He
not wish to exchange skeletons for
live men. He did not care to have our
brought back in exchange for
soldiers. The rebels would not
recognize the negro as an equal, and,
therefore, our white soldiers must be al
to stai ge, rot and die in rebel pris.
.ns without exchange. Even II the |
rebels would admit that exchanges
be made including negroes, it was
better TO let cur msn die there from
starvation and i'll treatment than to send
the rebel prisoners back to go into the
rebel army.
This was the policy. This cool-blooded
brutality has marked his whole admins
Of the war department. Reek-
of expenditures, however high
the public debt might be piled; reckless
ness Of consequences, however many
thousands Of our countrymen might suf-
fer, have been the peculiar characters
ties of this "CarnOt" of the war, who
has invariably organized defeats instead
Of victories and grsYeyards instead of
!,
We have nothing 70 say now Of his
recent course. That he has been sntag- .
onistic TO the administration is known
that he has been q spy in behalf of the
revolutiOnists is acknowledged
he il p0Tticeps cTiminis in the new
conspiracy may, perhaps, be proved.