is mind, and that was,--not that _he should save the country_,
but _that the country should be saved_. Not the faintest shadow of self
ever fell for an instant across this simple purpose. He was intent to
play his part out faithfully, with all the ability he could bring to it;
but any one else, who could, might win and wear the title of savior. He
chiefly cared that the saving should be done. Never once did he
manipulate any covert magnet to draw toward himself the credit or the
glory of a measure or a move. To his own future he seemed to give no
thought. It would be unjust to allow the dread of appearing to utter
eulogy rather than historic truth to betray a biographer into
overlooking this genuine magnanimity.

* * * * *

It was in December, 1861, that Congress created the famous Committee on
the Conduct of the War, to some of whose doings it has already been
necessary to allude. The gentlemen who were placed upon it were selected
partly of course for political reasons, and were all men who had made
themselves conspicuous for their enthusiasm and vehemence; not one of
them had any military knowledge. The committee magnified its office
almost beyond limit,--investigated everything; haled whom it chose to
testify before it; made reports, expressed opinions, insisted upon
policies and measures in matters military; and all with a dictatorial
assumption and self-confidence which could not be devoid of effect,
although every one knew that each individual member was absolutely
without fitness for this business. So the committee made itself a great
power, and therefore also a great complication, in the war machinery;
and though it was sometimes useful, yet, upon a final balancing of its
long account, it failed to justify its existence, as, indeed, was to
have been expected from the outset.[155] In the present discussions
concerning an advance of the army, its members strenuously insisted upon
immediate action, and their official influence brought much strength to
that side.

The first act indicating an intention on the part of the President to
interfere occurred almost simultaneously with the beginning of the
general's illness. About December 21, 1861, he handed to McClellan a
brief memorandum: "If it were determined to make a forward movement of
the army of the Potomac, without awaiting further increase of numbers
or better drill and discipline, how long would it require to actually
get in m