Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-10-22

'tOns such was when Stanton with several
members Of the cabinet signed protest against
McClellan's being put in command Of the Army
Of the Potomac after Popes defeat in Virginia.
In this instance these signers had the good
sense not to send their protest to Mr.. Lincoln. ="
From this II ia evident that the protest written
by the President himself in Mr.. Stauton's
room, and a copy Of which have given, was not
known to the Presidents historians Tho pro-
test they refer to was one written BY Mr..
Stanton giving certain reasons Why Gen. Nc
Clellan should be Immediately removed
from any command in the armies Of the
United States" and which protest the
President saw and had in Mr.. Stanton's room
when he himself wrote the one have given
and from which he partly copied. This pro-
test written by Mr.. Stanton is the one Secre-
tary welles refers 70 and which he says he de-
clined to sign on the ground that 1t would be
disrespectful to the President. OF this objec-
ton the President was advised and he wrote the
protest himself, which 1 have given, that Mr..
Welles might see that it had his sanction and
approval. Another reason why the President
wrote the protest himself. which was to be pub
lished at that time, was that he deemed it best
to avoid the discussion which would have GER
tainly resulted from a statement of the reasons
in so grave and momentous an affair. have
thus given all the facts Of the cabinet protest,
which was written by the President himself.
1t is important, however, that I should here
state that the protest, in Its first written form,
did not originate with Mr.. Stanton, but with
Mr.. P. H. Watson. then assistant secretary OF
war.
HOW MCCLELLAN WAS RESTORED TO COMMAND.
l will now refer to the order restoring Gen.
Mcclellan to the command Of the army for the
protection Of the capital and what was said
about it at that stormy cabinet meeting. This
order was prepared by Col. Kelton Of Gen.
Halleck's staff and was issued by Adit. Gen.
Townsend 'By order of the Secretary OF
War" But Mr.. Stanton did not give such
order. and as it was irreguarly given by the
President he (Mr. Stanton had it made as by
order of Maj. Gen. Halleck." Two orders
therefore were sent to Gen. Mcclellan, the
reason for which, he says, he did not under
stand, and states that Mr.. Stanton made it and
then denied it,
Referring to this change In the order Gen.
Townsend says in his interesting and valuable
Anecdotes Of the Civil War: There was
probably some supposed political significanceat-
desired me TO see that the order in the new form
should appear in all the papers which had al
ready published it, and that the Washington
EVENING STAR should be sure to have it in the
corrected form. accordingly saw the editor,
handed him copy, communicated to him the
Secre,ary's WISH and cautioned him against the
possible contingency of the order having been
already set up in its erroneous form from
morning paper. He promised to see TO it, and
! returned to the department satisfied that no
mistake could possibly occur To my amaze
ment in the afternoon the Secretary (who had
quickly obtained copy of THE SrAK) handed
me a copy Of THE STAR in which was the order
in the Objectionable form. Going to THE STAR
Office taxed the editor with not having needed
what had tried to impress upon him. He sent
for copy Of the paper. then lying on the
counter for sale, and | confess to being some
what dazed when l there saw the order unnis-
takably IN its right form. / began to think for
the first time that there must be some truth in
the existence Of witches. The explanation was
that the order had been copied from the morn
ing papers and O very few proof copies of The
stan had been struck off before the correction
was made, which was Immediately done when
my manuscript was received, and all the main
edition Of the paper was quite correct"
MEMORABLE CABINET MEETING.
Secretary Chase thus describes that cabinet
meeting Of September 2:
The Secretary of War came in. In answer
to some inquiry the fact was stated By the
President OF Secretary that Mcclellan had been
placed in command Of the forces to defend the
capital, or rather, to use ths Presidents own
words. he had set him to quitting those troops
into the Notifications about Washington, be-
laving that he could do that better than any
other man. l remarked that this could be done
equally we'll by the engineer who constructed
the forts. The Secretary OF War said that
one WAS now responsible for the defense of the
capital that the order to Mcclellan was given
direct by the President to Mcclellan and that
Gen. Halleck considered himself relieved from
the order; that Mcclellan could now
shield himself should anything go
wrong under Halleck, while Halleck could and
would disclam all responsibility for the order
given. The President thought Gen. Halleck as
much responsible az before, and repeated that
the whole scope Of the order was simply to di-
rect Mcclellan to put the troops into the forti-
fcations and command them for the defense Of
Washington. / remarked that could not feel
but that giving command to him was equiva-
lent to giving Washington to the rebels. This
l said and more. The President said ii dis
ing on such point, from the Secretary Of War
and the Secretary ofthe Treasury that he would
gladly resign his place, but that he could not
see who could do the work well as McClel-
Ian. l named Hooker or Sumner or Burnside,
either Of whom could do the work better"
SEWARD AND MCCLELLAN.
Again Mr.. Chase says:
1T may not be generally known, but it is
nevertheless true. that Mr.. Seward entertained
great admiration and most sincere regard for
Gen. George B. Mcclellan, or George, ~ Mr..
Lincoln used Familiarity and affectionately to
c6ll him. Once. when speaking of the general,
MIR. Seward told me that he considered him one
Of the most forbearing, self-controlled and pa
tent men whom he had ever known. He only
remembered single occasion upon which he
displayed an implacable feeling Of resentment.
This was after his rupture with Mr.. Stanton
and his retirement from the command Of the
Army Of the Potomac. The rebels were pouring
north and the battle which Is known to US by
the name of 'Antietam was to be fought. There
was panic in Washington and after much con-
sideration 1t was determined to invite Gen. Nc
Clellan to again head our forces. Mr. Seward
was selected to convey to him the desire and to
urge his acceptance. To his surprise aud disap-
pointment he Mt first found George inc xorabIe.
He felt that Mr.. Stanton had treated him with
too much injustice to permit him to accept the
offer consistently with his own self-respect.
For n long time he would not recede from his