--The late speech of
General McClellan, on accepting a sword presented to him by Philadelphians, contains one undoubted fact.
He says he has not yet done anything to merit such an honor.
This is more modest than his boasting proclamation that he had put an end to Secession in
Western Virginia, and his more recent pronunciamento from
Washington-- "Soldiers, we have seen our last defeat.
No more defeats; no more retreats You stand by me, and I'll stand by you"--which had an immediate commentary in the fastest time ever made by the
Yankees themselves, in that wonderful foot-race at
Lewisville, and lately in the overwhelming rout at
Leesburg.
It is also more truthful than his report of the killed and wounded at
Rich Mountain.
And if he has done nothing to merit a sword, pray, what has he accomplished, to be made
Lieutenant-General?
It could be said at least of old
Scott that he had enjoyed a great reputation, but
McClellan is absolutely an unknown man. Nothing but a small success, achieved by the aid of tremendous odds, over a few hundred
Virginians, in
Western Virginia, has given him that prestige with the infatuated Yankee nation which has induced them to place him over the head of old officers of their service, of men like
Wool, who, if he had a sword presented to him, could not say, without a palpable affectation of modesty, that he had never done anything to deserve such a tribute.
The Lincoln Government, as well as the
Northern mob of which it is the representative and the tool, is as unjust to its friends, when it can make no further use of them, as it is to its enemies.
When
McClellan says he has done nothing yet to deserve a sword, he utters a truth, which is illustrated by
Lewisville and
Leesburg; when he intimates that he will hereafter, we must be prepared for doubting whether a man who, on his own showing, has never yet done anything worth special honor, can accomplish more than
General Scott and the combined military talent of the United States Army have been able to achieve.
