pread attempt to have a quarrel between General
McClellan and the Secretary of War Now, I occupy a position that enables
me to believe that these two gentlemen are not nearly so deep in the
quarrel as some presuming to be their friends. General McClellan's
attitude is such that in the very selfishness of his nature he cannot but
wish to be successful--and I hope he will--and the Secretary of War is
precisely in the same situation. If the military commanders in the field
cannot be successful, not only the Secretary of War, but myself, for the
time being the master of both, cannot but be failures. I know General
McClellan wishes to be successful, and I know he does not wish it any more
than the Secretary of War for him, and both of them together no more
than I wish it. Sometimes we have a dispute about how many men General
McClellan has had, and those who would disparage him say he has had a very
large number, and those who would disparage the Secretary of War insist
that General McClellan has had a very small number. The basis for this is,
there is always a wide difference, and on this occasion perhaps a wider
one, between the grand total on McClellan's rolls and the men actually
fit for duty; and those who would disparage him talk of the grand total on
paper, and those who would disparage the Secretary of War talk of those
at present fit for duty. General McClellan has sometimes asked for things
that the Secretary of War did not give him. General McClellan is not to
blame for asking for what he wanted and needed, and the Secretary of War
is not to blame for not giving when he had none to give. And I say here,
so far as I know, the Secretary of War has withheld no one thing at any
time in my power to give him. I have no accusation against him. I believe
he is a brave and able man, and I stand here, as justice requires me to
do, to take upon myself what has been charged on the Secretary of War as
withholding from him. I have talked longer than I expected to do, and now
I avail myself of my privilege of saying no more.

TELEGRAM TO GOVERNOR ANDREW. August 12, 1862.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON CITY, D.C.

GOVERNOR ANDREW, Boston, Mass.:

Your despatch saying "I can't get those regiments off because I can't
get quick work out of the V. S. disbursing officer and the paymaster" is
received. Please say to these gentlemen that if they do not work quickly I
will make quick work with them. In the name of all that is reason