, 1885-11-12
TARDY JUSTICE

name IL nllleu Win a general cnOrus OF
praise. Among the tributes now paid to
his memory it is particularly pleasing to
see such n recognition as this from the
Hartford Couront, Il paper which de-
nounccd Mcclellan in 1862 as a copper
head and traitor;
The work he accomplished was a great
work, and a high place in history is se-
curely his. He was a patriot, no one
| doubted the s~ingleness of his devotion.
In the day of our extremity and ignorance
he was called to the h~erculean task of or
ganizing one Of the greatest armies that
ever manGuvered in the field out of raw
l%evies, and that, too. in time of intense
excitement, and when we did not know
our ignorance. but believed political zeal
more necessary than military skill. He
was a young man when he took the helm,
and, like every one else in the land, with
out experience in handling large masses of
men. He organized the army of the Po-
tOmac, the hammer that finally beat the
rebellion into fragments. His example
and his skill inspired confidence in our
darkest day after the first Bull Run, and
in the great period of panic after the sec.
ond Bull Run he was the savior Of the
capital on the field Of Antietam. He
rendered inestimably great services. and
for these, whatever his relative rank is
finally settled to be, a grateful country
will hold him in enduring honor.
The most shameful part of the injustice
that was done Gen. Mcclellan was the
conduct of Stanton, the wal secretary.
He, without properly equipping the
generals war-worn army, placed him, as
David placed Uriah, in the front of bat
tie, and then refused to send him the as
%sistance he sorely needed. IL was all an
obvious piece of partisan littleness, shown
.despotically by a jealous nest Of conspira-
tors, who had the power to do the fla
grant wrong that was twice inflicted upon
this silent general, first in Gripping him
and afterwards removing him, in the de-
termination to prevent him, a Democrat,
from winning the honor of subduing the
Confederates, and thus becoming an ir-
resistible candidate for the presidency.
Our Hartford contemporary further
says.
l~lonors are tr%ansitory, often denied
when deserved, often-and this is hard,r
to bear-accorded when not deserved.
What we like to remember of Mcclellan
at this moment il that he was a man of
character. He was always truthful, he
always meant 10 be Just, ne had unflinch-
ing moral courage. He had the great
qualities Of simplicity and directness.
There was in him neither envy nor sus-
picion, he had the same loyalty in his
friendships that he had for his country,
and those who knew him best never heard
Lin speak evil of any one. He felt keen
ly injustice and the imputation of wrong
motives to himself, but he was among all
men most slngularly free from any express
sion of enmity. His nature was magnan-
imous, free from pettiness and personal
rancor and bitterness. This was not sim
ply because of his good nature and gem
ialty-and he was the most cordial, genial
and companionable OF men-but il was
based on principle, on solid. lucid charac-
ter.
And again.
Disagreeing about him in military mat
ters as many did, and differing from him
in politics as more did, no one, we VEN
ture to say. who knew him once ever
doubted the rock like integrity of his
character, nor his fine sense of honor, nor
the staunchness of his loyalty in all the
relations of life. Here is a military hero,
filling important pages in his country's
history, for whose life no private allow
ances or apologies have to be made. He
had that great requisite for this life and
the next-charactcr.
This is justice, candidly and honorably
presented by the editor, Senator Hawley,
who, with the writer, served with Nc
Clellan in 1862, while the stay.at-home
writers in the CourdHt office were wrong
fully accusing the general of cowardice
and treason.
Justice comes late in this instance. but
better late than never.