The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-12

times was long time in sending. Not long
ago the war department secured an admir-
able letter of good counsel which the Pres
ident wrote in December 1861 to Cen
David Hunter, who was dissatisfied with
his place in the West and was inundating
the war department with what Mr. Lincoln
called ugly letters" On the back Of the
letter in question Gen. Hunter had written
THE Presidents reply TO my ugly let
ter This lay on his table a month after
it was written, and when finally sent was
by special conveyance with the direction
that it was only to be given to me when
was in a good humor."
There is in existence a draft of a let
ter dated Sept. Is, 1863 and addressed to
Gen. A. E. Burnside. in which Lincoln re-
views the daily promises that the general
had been making to move to the aid of
Roeecrans, then shut up in Chattanooga
and his steady move "the contrary way"
When the President wrote the document
he evidently felt that Burnside's own re-
ports were the severest witnesses against
him, for in his opening sentence he de-
clared that Burnsides conduct made him
doubt whether he was awake or dream
ing" Yet justified as he undoubtedly felt
he was when he wrote the letter, he never
sent it. He held it. hoping as he always
did that something would happen to make
it unnecessary. The events of the next
few weeks outlawed this particular docu-
ment and it exists to-day simply as a
proof of Lincon's unwillingness to criti-
else and advise unnecessarily.
Sarcasm for Mcclellan.
Although so uniformly kind even in his
rebukes, there is more than one case on
record where President Lincolu's patience
failed and he sent a telegram of bitter
sarcasm to a general. Such was his mes
sage to Mcclellan on Oct. a. 1862 when
that general after five idle weeks refused
to pursue the enemy because his cavalry
horses had sore tongues. 1t was drop
too much for Lincoln.
Il have just read your dispatch about
sore-tongued and fatigued horses" he wiz
ed. 'Will you not pardon me for asking
what the horses of your army have done
since the battle of Antietam that fatgues
anything"
Yet even for this telegram he half apol-
ogized two days later:
Most certainly I intend no Injustice to
any, and If have done any 1 deeply re-
greet it, To be told, after more than five
weeks total inaction of the army. and
during which period we have sent TO the
army every fresh horse we possibly could
amounting in the whole TO 1918, that the
cavalry horses were too much fatigued
to move, presents a very cherries, all
most hopeless, prospect for the future. and
it may have forced something of impa-
thence in my dispatch"
Warm Recognition of Grant.
One pleasant feature of Mr.. Iincoln's
relations to his generals was the heartiness
with which he acknowledged every ad-
vance. God bless you and your army"
was the gist of many a telegram, many
verbal message which he sent. Perhaps
of all these congratulatory messages none
is pleasanter reading in the light of later
events than the Presidents letter to Gen.
Grant after Vicksburg. In a way il may
be called Lincoln's first recognition of
Grant;
Maj. Gen. Grant-My Dear Cen
eral: do not remember tbe.
you and have ever met Der-
sonally. write this now as a
grateful Acknowledgement for the almost
inestimable service you have done The
country. l wish to say word further
When YOU first reached the vicinity Of
Vicksburg. l thought you should do what
you finally did-march the troops across
the neck, run the batteries with the trans
ports, and thus go below; and never had
any faith, except a general hope that YOU
knew better than 1, that Yazoo Pass ex-
petition and the like could succeed. When
you got below and took Port Gibson,
Grand Gulf and vicinity, I thought YOU
should so down the river and Join Gen.
Banks, and when you turned northward,
east of the Big Black, I feared it was a
mistake. l now wish TO make the personal
acknowledgment that you were right ard
1 was wrong. Yours very truly.
IA Lincoln"
Comparatively little of these close rela-
tons of Lincoln with his generals was
known to the public during the war. 1t
was not until twenty years after his death.
when his secretaries, Messrs. Nicolay and
Hay published their great work which
must remain through all time the rnost i'm
portant source for the history of Abraham
Lincoln, that the greater number of these
wise. keen, kind letters were given 10 Tho
public II remains to be seen whether
twenty years from now Mr. McKinlev's
chosen biographer Will be able to Law he
fore the world any corresponding docu-
ments Ida NJ. Tarbeu
In the Near Future-"Got the latest
accidentg'
What Is it?"
IAN autocab in trying to dodge an auto
ambulance ran into an autopatrol wagonr'
-rs.,, N