New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-07-19
THIRTY YEARS AGO.

Alike for men and nations it would be a
wholesome task though an irllsome one, 10
spend. as of DID, at least one day in the three
hundred and sixty-hve or six in modification
and abasement over the follies and concerts
tbe negligences and ignorances, to say nothing
If the sins of the year. Sackcloth AMI ashes
are gone out of the fashion, else would they
come in capitally for public and private wear
as often as we live to sec the return OF tha'
dav. the 21st of July, 1861, when the sun rose
on the exultant tumultuouS advance OF the Ma
tonal forces to the crest of the hills that lie
beyond Bull Run, and the same sun set upon
the rout and flight of panc-stricken mob PACK
over the Stone Bridge into tho Valley OF HUI
initiation. Many Americans learned many things
on that evil day, things good to remember, yet
not sweet, and some have even remembered
these, or part of these.
Mortified pride demands swift soapegoat'
and in those days, after the surprise OF the thing
was partly spent, the people found vlcnn
ready to their hands in the person OF Horace
Greeley. His had been I" the Nations wal
crv"; it was his Forward to Richmond For
ward to Richmond - displayed at the head OF
the editorial columns of The TRIBUNE day
after day from the 26th Of June till the Attn OIL
July, that had brought about the movement
that had ended in disaster. 1t was "prema-
ture''? it was all his fault; no matter that he
had but spoken the voice of the American peo-
ple the American people had changed its mind
after the fact, and chose to speak with another
voice. For thirty years no one has sought to
appeal from this first hasty sentence OF con-
demnatiOn.
Was the advance premature? This Is the
interesting question now at length raised and
discussed. with all the aid afforded by personal
and professional knowledge and full study Of
the official data, in the letter printed in another
column from a member of the Board OF Pub
lication of the War Records. Mr. Greeley did
not speak as a soldier. He did not pretend tC
BIO soldier or TO know the technique and tactic
of the soldiers trade. He never pretended tc
be anything that he was not, and probably nc
man ever moro soundly hated war and the
thought of war. In urging that the Confed-
crate Congress should not be allowed to meet
in Richmond on the goth of July, Mr.. Greeley
spoke for the people to those who, in his OWL
| words, held the peoples proxy for this bust
ness" If he was wrong, it was because he could
not and did not view the matter from the point
of view of the soldier. That he left to the
Lieutenant General of the Army. And now
Mr.. Perry in an article on the seventeenth
page, shows that even from the soldiers
point of view Mr. Greeley was right. Instead
of being made too soon, our correspondent as
serts that the advance was made too late thai
the Confederates were the gamers by the de-
lay and this he proves by facts and figures
themselves beyond dispute.
With some Of Mr.. Perry's opinions we are
unable to agree. Even the authority of Genera
Sherman does not persuade us that Bull Run
was the best planned battle of the War;" MOI
can General Scott and General Johnston united
draw us into hearty admiration of the strategy
that rendered Patterson's failure not merely
possible, but probable. Neither can we joir
in attributing the delay in moving troops out
of Washington to the jealousy of old Genera
Mansfeld"-then in his fifty ghth year, by the
way. In truth, his zeal was as conspicuous as
his want of administrative capacity; at An.
| tietam il cost him his life.