ating to the thus celebrated organization
of the army is an exclusive work of the West Point wisdom--is handled
by West Pointers; and, nevertheless, the general comprehension of all
details in relation to an army, how it is to be handled, all the
military details of responsibility, of higher discipline, &c., all
this is confusion, and strikes with horror any one either familiar
with such matters or using freely his sound sense. A narrow routine
which may have been innocuous with an army of sixteen thousand with
General Scott and in peace, became highly mischievous when the army
increased more than fifty times, and the war raged furiously. All this
confusion is specially produced by the wiseacres and doctors of
routine. Undoubtedly it reacts on the army, and shows of what use for
the country is, and was, that whole old nursery.

Wherever one turns his eyes, every where a deep line separates the
patriotic activity of the people from the official activity. With the
people all is sacrifice, devotion, grandeur, and purity of purpose, by
great and small, by rich and poor, and with the poor, if possible,
even more than with the rich. With the highest and higher officials it
is either weakness, or egotism, or coolness, or intrigue, or
ignorance, or helplessness. The exceptions are few, and have been
repeatedly pointed out.

_Oct. 8._--General McClellan's order to the army concerning the
President's proclamation shows up the man. Not a word about the object
in the proclamation, but rather unveiled insinuations that the army is
dissatisfied with emancipation, and that it may mutiny. The army ought
to feel highly honored by such insinuations in that lengthy
disquisition about his (McClellan's) position and the duties of the
army. For the honor of the brave, armed citizen-patriots it can be
emphatically asserted that the patriotic volunteers better know their
duties than do those who preach to them. Some suspect that Mr. Seward
drew the paper for McClellan, but I am sure this cannot be. It may
have been done by Bennett or some other of the Herald, or by Barlow.
If this order is the result of Mr. Lincoln's visit to the camp, and of
a transaction with Mac-Napoleon, then the President has not thereby
increased the dignity of his presidential character.

Wilkes's Spirit of the Times incommensurably towers above the New York
Press by its dauntless patriotism; by its clear, broad, and deep
comprehension of the condition of the country