2

The Removal of McClellan.

The removal of Gen. McClellan from the command of the Army of the Potomac has been attended by no such results as many of his partisan friends predicted, and no doubt hoped for. The country generally accepts it as a matter of course. The indiscreet friends of the late commander of the Army of the Potomac was fastened upon him for the better accomplishment of their partisan schemes, and whose over-praise has had the effect to weaken public confidence in the object of their adulation more than any other cause, seem to be the only ones who are taken by surprise. It is well for Gen. McClellan's own fame that he is relieved from this class of parasites. They were only anxious for his success in order that they might political capital out of it — not that the rebellion might be put down and traitors punished. — While professing the most unlimited confidence in one upon whom, more than any one else the success or failure of the war, for the last fifteen months, has depended, they have been loud and violent in their denunciations of the conduct of the war. They say the result of the late elections is an emphatic demand for a change in the makepolicy of the war, and the Administration seems disposed to gratify them.

The country, too, demands a change. They demand that the war shall be prosecuted by the Government for the suppression of treason, and that subordinates shall no longer be permitted to sacrifice the blood and treasure of the nation mercly for the furtherance of the ambitous schemes of parties and individuals. They expect the Administration to see to it that the war shall be prosecuted successfully, inasmuch as upon itself must fall the disgrace of defeat, by whomsoever brought about. We are willing now to trust the matter in the hands of the President, as we have been in the past. Believing that he had good reason for retaining McClellan in the most important command in our whole army heretofore, we have yielded both to that officer and to the Government our hearty support. But that support has not been rendered simply because he was commander of the Army of the Potomac. Important interests were confided to his charge, and we would not throw a straw in the way of the successful execution of his trust. We would do the same by any other commander under like circumstances. Without asking or caring to know what are the peculiar political notions of his successor, we are prepared to extend to him the same confidence and support. All we care to know is this: is his heart in the work before him, and has he the capacity to lead our armies on to victory? From what he has already accomplished with smaller means in his hands, we are inclined to believe only one answer to this question possible. We shall hope that results will give an answer in the affirmative.