Part 17 (1/2)

It was Louis XV who exclaimed, ”_L'etat? C'est moi!_” ”The state?

_I'm_ the state!” The next move of Fremont can be compared only with that spirit of the French emperor It was no less than a proclamation of emancipation This was a civic act, while Fremont was an officer of military, not civil, authority The act was unauthorized, the President was not even consulted Even had it been a wise move, Fremont would have been without justification because it was entirely outside of his prerogatives Even had he been the wisest man, he was not an autocrat and could not have thus transcended his powers

But this act was calculated to do much mischief The duty of the hour was to save the Union Fremont's part in that duty was to drive the rebels out of Missouri Missouri was a slave state It had not seceded, and it was important that it should not do so The same was true of Kentucky and Maryland It is easy to see, upon reading Fremont's proclamation, that it is the work not of a soldier, but of a politician, and a bungling politician at that

When this cae of the President he took prompt reatest good with the least hareneral:

”Allow me, therefore, to ask that you will, as of your own raph so as to conforress entitled, 'An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes,' approved August 6, 1861, and a copy of which act I herewith send you This letter is written in a spirit of caution, and not of censure”

But Freress, and declined to make the necessary modifications This placed hionisht to have been done by Fremont had to be done by Lincoln, upon as thrown the onus of whatever was objectionable in the ive him trouble It alienated hbor and friend, Oscar H

Browning They see slavery His enemies needed no alienation, but they made adroit use of this to stir up and increase discontent

So rew no better with Fremont, but much worse for three : ”He had frittered away his opportunity for usefulness and fame; such an opportunity, indeed, as rarely comes”

On October 21st, the President sent by specialletter to General Curtis at St Louis:

”DEAR SIR: On receipt of this, with the acco enclosures, you will take safe, certain, and suitable measures to have the inclosure addressed to Major-General Fremont delivered to him with all reasonable despatch, subject to these conditions only, that if, when General Freer,--yourself or any one sent by you,--he shall then have, in personal coht and won a battle, or shall then be in the immediate presence of the enemy in expectation of a battle, it is not to be delivered but held for further orders”

The inclosureHunter temporarily in command It is plain that the President expected that there would be difficulties, in the way of delivering the order,--that Freht prevent its delivery General Curtis, who undertook its delivery, evidently expected the saers who took three separateto reach Fre the order did so only because of his successful disguise, and when it was accomplished Fremont's words and manner showed that he had expected to head off any such order This incident reveals the peril which would have fallen to American institutions had he been more successful in his aspirations to the presidency

Fremont had one inia There he disobeyed orders in apermitted Jackson and his ar to serve under a junior officer, resigned And that was the end of Fremont as a public man The fact that he had ceased to be a force in American life was emphasized in 1864 The extreme abolitionists nominated him as candidate for the presidency in opposition to Lincoln But his folloas so slight that he withdrew from the race and retired permanently to private life

Yet he was a man of splendid abilities of a certain sort Had he practised guerilla warfare, had he had absolute and irresponsible command of a s else he pleased, he would have been indeed foran, spread over wide territory would easily have been surpassed by Freuerilla warfare was not perovernment The aim of the Confederates was destruction; the aim of the administration was construction It is always easier and more spectacular to destroy than to construct

One trouble with Fremont was his narrowness of view He could not ith others If he wanted a thing in his particular departht injure the cause as a whole Another trouble was his conceit He wanted to be ”the whole thing,” President, congress, general, and judiciary Had Lincoln not possessed the patience of Job, he could not have borne with hi The kindness of the President's letter, above quoted, is eloquent testinanimity

CHAPTER XXIX

LINCOLN AND MCCLELLAN

McClellan was a very different h he was as nearly as possible opposite in his characteristics, still it was not easier to get along with him He was apersonality Graduating from West Point in 1846, he went almost immediately into the Mexican War, where he earned his captaincy He later wrote a manual of arms for use in the United States army He visited Europe as a ather ineering, a line in which he had no superior He went to Illinois in 1857 as chief engineer of the Central Railroad, the following year he became vice-president, and the year after that president of the St Louis and Cincinnati Railway At the outbreak of the war this captain was by the governor of Ohio coeneral, and a few days later he received froeneral in the United States arinia with orders to drive out the rebels This he achieved in a brief tiress He was, after the disaster at Bull Run, called to Washi+ngton and placed in command of that portion of the Army of the Potomac whose specific duty was the defense of the capital He was rapidly proe and infirrand old warrior, Winfield Scott, whereupon he was eneral-in-chief of the United States aro, this young eneral-in-chief, not of the largest arent army, the world has ever seen He would be almost more than human if such a sudden turn of the wheel of fortune did not also turn his head

It was Lincoln's habit to let his generals do their work in their oays, only insisting that they should accoible results This reat patience under trying circumstances On this point there is no better witness than McClellan hiiveand unbounded confidence” Later he expressed contempt for the President who ”showed him too much deference” He was a universal favorite, he beca Napoleon,” he had the confidence of the country and the loyal devotion of the army, and the unqualified support of the ads were expected, and reasonably so In the power of inspiring confidence and enthusiasanizer and drill-master he was superb The army after Bull Run was as dean to arrive fro thousands of such into Washi+ngton These required care and they must be put into shape for effective service This difficult task he accomplished in a way that fully reat credit upon hihter That is to say, when he fought at all--for he fought only in defense--he fought well A distinguished Confederate soldier said, ”There was no Union general e so ht, no equal” And they declared they could always tell when McClellan was in coht

An illustrious co at Antietareatest battles and one of the nificent victories of the war It showed McClellan at his best

We knohat the Army of the Potomac was previous to the accession of McClellan Let us see what it was after his reh McCulloch, ”and what happened to the Arhter under Burnside at Fredericksburg; crushi+ng defeat at Chancellorsville under Hooker” All this shows that McClellan narrowly enerals in history But let us glance at another page in the ledger

His first act, when in coreement with General Buckner that the state of Kentucky should be treated as neutral territory That agreen country, like England or China, when the very purpose of the as to insist that the United States was one nation

This act was a usurpation of authority, and further, it was dia even had he possessed the authority