Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1885-12-18
ROSEBURG REVIEW
FRIDAY, DECEMBER Is, 1885.
CEN. AroCLELL4N

Ed. REVIEW: The Plaindealer has
taken exception to my articles on Cen
Mcclellan. am not at all surprised |
at this. But it has missed the mark
widely in its surmises about who "Xel'' |
Is. He was not soldier in the Con
federatc army during the 'late un
pleaaantness; NOR on the southern side
of the line. 1T is true that he was not
in McClellan's army for he was too
young to enter the service while
Mcclellan was in command. But he
was in the northern army, from which
he has an honorable discharge. Nei-
ther was he drafted into the service as
he was too young. at any time during
the war to be subject to the draft and
he did not enlist for bounty. excl"
also lost brother in the northern ar
my who, like himself volunteered when
too young to be in any danger of con-
Scription. If the writer of the elito-
rial in the Plaindealer can present as
many claims to 'loyalty" as this he
will do well. ''Xel' has just as much
patriotism and the interests of the
country just as much at heart as his
critic Furthermore he as heartily en-
dorses the emancipation proclamation
as any abolitionist, though he never
approved the doctrin tie extreme
abolitionists apy moFs el dfd Lin
coin.
Dropping the third person I may
say that / am an admirer of Abraham
Lincoln, but l defy no man. 1 find
faults in all. There is none perfect no
not one, and Lincoln in this regard
was an exception. His greatness con-
sisted rather in his equanimity of tenn
per- integrity of purpose, and good will
toward all men, than in broadness of
intellectual grasp. Of course he was
more than an ordinary man; but he
was not a genius. He was not above
personal ambition nor jealousy; few
men are. But Lincoln tempered all
with great charity and devotion to his
country. His natural freedom from
guile and at the same time lack of
broad culture made him an easier prey
to designing men than his other noble
qualities would have sanctioned. |
firmly believe that his treatment of
Mcclellan arose from suspicious
breathed into his ear by those around
him, especially by Stanton--a man for
whom / have no respect whatever.
Mcclellan attributes to him, and we
believe Justly, all his difficulties with
Lincoln and the failure Of his cam
paign No one who knows much
about Mcclellan will doubt the follow
ing, from his article in the May num-
ber of the Century: $50 long as Mr..
Cameron was Secretary of war;" he
SAYS, 81 received the cordial support
Of that department; but when he re
signed, the whole state of affairs
changed. / had never met Mr.. Stan
ton before reaching Washington il
1861. He at once sought me and pro
fessed the utmost personal affection
the expression of which was exceeded
only by the bitterness of his denunci
alton ofthe Government and its policy.
I.would like to quote further from
this article but your space will not al
low it. commend it to my critic and
to all others who want to know more
of the merits Of this discussion.
A word or two more to my critic
] was not it is true as explained above
in McClelIan's army. But this is ne
reason why / should not write on thai
campaign. There are no more ardent
admirers of Mcclellan than those who
served under him in the late war. W.
could give many incidents to substan
tiate this, | recite one. Two of The
most radical Republicans | ever knew
were talking of the war just after
McClellan's removal. The one n sol
dier home on turlough, the other one
who did all his fighting with his tongue
at long range. The latter began tc
abuse Mcclellan when the soldier
promptly knocked him down, to give
him to understand that he would stand
no defamation of his idolized leader.
And had Mcclellan never come up for
office on the Democratic ticket this
would have been the feeling of Repub-
licans and Democrats alike who served
under him. That [ was not in his
army does not argue that / do not
know as much about the merits of that
campaign as those who were. We do
not get our knowledge of q campaign
from serving in it, but from study
of it afterward What does the aver
age soldier or officer in an army know
about the workings of the war depart
ment, the orders General receives at
the timel My critic accuses me of ig-
norance Of the subject but fails to point
out single item ia which l am incor-
rect thinlthc trouble is my ar
ticle showed too minute knowledge oi
the emerits of the case. 1t is easy to