Pope was driven back upon Washington. His humiliation was complete. The army was torn by dissensions and cabals. Party spirit ran high, not only in Congress and in the country, but in the camps around Washington and in Virginia. In the field were disaster and defeat; in the Cabinet, divided counsels; and in Congress, virulent and heated debate, and a growing opposition to the war, with, now and again, a recommendation that terms for peace be offered to the Rebel Government. It was a dark and gloomy time. Lincoln, alone in his sublime trust in God and in the righteousness of the cause of the Federal Union, did not hesitate to manifest his unshaken belief in the ultimate triumph of the Federal arms and in the power of the people to quell the slaveholders' rebellion. Men who listened to him, in those days of peril, went away marvelling at his patience, fortitude, and courage.

Once more McClellan had an opportunity offered him to achieve a great success. Yielding to what seemed a military necessity, Lincoln placed him at the head of a newly reorganized army. He now had under him the Army of the Potomac, the remnants of Pope's Army of Virginia, and the forces brought from North Carolina by General Burnside. To these were added reinforcements from the raw levies, making the force under McClellan the largest that had ever been massed together in one army-more than two hundred thousand, all told. If ever "the young Napoleon" was to win laurels, this was his time and opportunity. But he seemed impatient and discontented that any troops should be under

a command separate from his own. He wished that the force retained in the defence of Washington should be sent to him, saying that the capture of Washington would not be so great a calamity to the country as a single defeat of the Army of the Potomac. He asked that the twelve thousand troops holding Harper's Ferry should be sent to him, and when told that if he would open communications with that point, Harper's Ferry would be included in his command, he failed to take the necessary steps, although he knew that a Rebel force was marching against Harper's Ferry. He delayed, did not seize the precious opportunity to strike at Lee's army while it was divided, and did not relieve Harper's Ferry, which, on the 15th of September, surrendered to the Rebels.

Lee, meantime, was advancing into Maryland, and it became absolutely imperative that he should be checked. McClellan, finally roused, but one day too late, attacked Lee, and the bloody battle of Antietam was fought, September 17th. The Rebels were thoroughly whipped, and began a sullen retreat across the Potomac. It would appear that McClellan might have followed, one entire corps of his army not having been in the fight. But he remained where he was, and called for more reinforcements. This amazing demand, following the delay to move, alarmed the President, and he made a personal visit to the army to see for himself how affairs stood. On his return to Washington he issued an order, dated October 6, 1862, through General Halleck, directing McClellan to "cross the Potomac and give battle to

the enemy or drive him south." This order McClellan declined to obey. On the 10th of that month, J. E. B. Stuart, a dashing Rebel cavalry officer, crossed the Potomac, going as far north as Chambersburg, Penn., which he raided, and made the entire circuit of McClellan's army before he recrossed into Virginia.

A few days after this daring exploit, which McClellan had confidently predicted would end in his "bagging" the whole of Stuart's command, Lincoln wrote a long and friendly letter to McClellan, in which he begged for a forward movement, arguing the case from a military point of view with much acuteness. Still McClellan did not move. He complained that his horses were fatigued and had the sore tongue. Lincoln could not help asking what his cavalry had done since the battle of Antietam, fought more than a month before, that they should be fatigued. McClellan showed that he resented this home thrust, and Lincoln, ready to plead his own desire to be exactly just, wrote to the General to say that he was very sorry if he had done the General any injustice. He added, however: "To be told, after five weeks' total inactivity of the army, and during which period we had sent to that army every fresh horse we possibly could, amounting in the whole to 7918, that the cavalry horses were too much fatigued to move, presented a cheerless, almost hopeless, prospect for the future." It may be added to this that the winter was now close at hand, when active operations in the field, always difficult, would be impossible under McClellan's command.

Finally, on the 5th of November, 1862, just one month after the order to cross had been issued, the army did cross the Potomac. By this time, of course, the Rebels, recovering from their defeat at Antietam, were ready for battle or for a retreat. It was too late. General McClellan was relieved from command of the Army of the Potomac on the 5th of November, and was ordered to Trenton, New Jersey. His military career was closed, and we hear no more of him until he emerged, in 1864, as the Presidential candidate of the Democratic party.

This long and interesting chapter of military history is valuable as showing forth th patience, forbearance, and sagacity of Lincoln. Again and again, he was urged by the impatient and fiery spirits around him to remove McClellan, and subject him to trial by courtmartial for disobedience of orders. Even those who did not advise these extreme measures with the General, counselled the President to withdraw McClellan from command. But Lincoln knew that many of the subordinate commanders in the Army of the Potomac were warm champions of McClellan's military genius, believers in his mysterious power to win great victories. They would support any other commander with lukewarmness, if they supported him at all. There was no such rigid and severe discipline in the Union army as exists in the military organizations of European states. Military councils were something in the nature of condensed town meetings. The rank and file maintained an exchange of sentiment and judgment that corresponded exactly to the public opinion of towns, cities, and other communities. The

country was slow to give up its faith in the young General, who, in the very opening of the war, achieved military successes ir. western Virginia and won for himself a name before other men had had a chance to distinguish themselves. Lincoln was reluctant to rouse animosities and harsh judgments by a removal of McClellan while he yet had a chance to retrieve himself. He remained to encourage popular and military confidence. It was not until McClellan had, so to speak, worn out his reputation, that he was removed.