| Show i i l GAKFIEIiBRQSECBaHB J 11 i I I I The sensation of the day is the r f 11 c MJ f effort being made in certain political r iti quarters to injure the reputation of i llf Ii 1 f the late President Garfield For ril rt rM I weeks past hint and insinuations 4j t g j have been appearing lin the newspapers ii f Id news-papers that it would have been unwise J ti ffl If I un-wise if not positively dangerous to 1 t t s have printed at any time between t II n r J t the 2d of July and the funeral of then the-n i jl 1 j President The storm came nearer t J i c 1 when Blaine in his Garfield memorial q I i I memo-rial eulogy imprudently referred in i if i an uncomplimentary way to Gen t A I i Rosecrans management of the 1 Ifr i Army of Cumberland This very M I 1 4 1 naturally called from Rosecrans a f 2 I = reply which he made rather sharper t V fJ than some people thought was j I j necessary The general also permitted i j t z per-mitted the publication of a letter I it i y t I from Garfield in which the latter ij 1 I i 1 i said I have never been untrue to lt e you in thought word or deed Dana i i Ii rt or any other liar to the contrary r + fi j t r r t notwithstanding The Dana referred > u i re-ferred to is the editor of the New r 11 1F York Sun who once charged that y t Rosecrans had been relieved iri through the treachery of Garfield f J No doubt Dana was pleased that he > had been drawn into the controversy t a t contro-versy for it gave him the opportu 1 1 t ity for publishing a letter written d 1 l 1 S by Garfield to Secretary Chase in t 1863 It was dated at Nashville t J I when Garfield was Rosecrans chief ii of staff and though marked i private and confidential it fell into t I T hands that held it all these years r i The press telegrams have had much j l to say concerning this letter but ct i 1 strange to say it was not telegraphed 1 f 1 i i J graphed west The letter expresses t J t 1 > the impateince with which Garfield 1 = Gar-field had waited for an advance of t1 111 5 j J r the army of the Cumberland Garfield if r 1 Gar-field informs Chase that Eosecrans i1 r unnecessarily delayed the movements J L ° t move-ments of the army to the great detriment 1g r det-riment of the Union cause and while Garfield wrote like one who f = hated to testify against his friend f his letter is a severe criticism on 1 t the dilatoriness of Eosecrans t i The letter is just such a one as the t = thief of staff should not write concerning t ii con-cerning his superior Its publication at the time would certainly have 4f 4 subjected its author to a court martial r i mar-tial trial and perhaps dismissal from the service Eosecrans expressed I + i ex-pressed great and painful surprise y 1 at the letter and showed that he i hoped it was a forgery The gen v li k a 3 1 I Ff IA > uiheness of therdocument being established es-tablished Rose rans declared with I emphasis that it contained many I untruths and proved Garfield to be guilty of the basest treachery I All these developments are the occasion of sorrow rather than joy Mr Garfield was cruelly assassinated andf the country wept over him as a martyr Whatever of error there had been in his life all felt like burying with him thereto there-to live foiever But his enemies would not and will not allow him or whatever indiscretions he may have been guilty of to rest in peace We might wish that the controversy contro-versy would stop now before any I bodys reputation and especially that of the dead and therefore powerless President is made to suffer But it will not stop here The quarrel is not between the dead Garfield and the soon to die Rosecrans but between political factions represented by the late President and the opposing section of the party Whatever hurts Gar fields reputation will prove also injurious in-jurious to Blaine and those who stood by the dead President in the war to crush the opposing faction Blaine is largely to blame for uncovering un-covering an old sore thepresence of which was suspected but not known Perpips Gen Eosecrans was not sorry for the chance of retaliating even upon a dead man for what he has long believed though he dared not express his belief be-lief were wrongs against him Altogether this is an unfortunate affair and one which it were better had never arisen |
