Prince Napoleon On The Generals

Washington, Aug. 1G, 18G1. I spoko in my last letter of tho govern mental element in tlio TJuited States, which I have found ufinitcly inferior to tlio important mission coutidod to it. I aliall apeale to day of an element differing esseutiaüy from it, and to which the events trunspiring iu America at this ínoinent liau suddenly given a vory gl'Civt preponderanco. I mean the military clement, of whiuli Generáis Scott, MuClellau and McDowell in the uorth eni army, and Beauregard and Johuston ia the southern arniy, r.re tLc highest and eomplctest pcrsouiGcation. I shall begin by occupying inyself with tho íirst nanied Generáis. UEXEliAL SCOTT. General Sott is a man of enormous height aud corpulaneo, aged absut weven ty-five jears, goutv, worn out, almost euded. He is Lioutenant General, a grade corru?poriding to that of Marshal, Hiid to which a attached the permanent command of thc regular army in time of peace as well as in timo of war. In tho United Síates there is hut one Lieutenant General, and he.is in porpotuity Commander-in-Chief of the arniy, a sort of war minister for life, whiio tho Cabiuet offieor, wbo has tlio titlo of Minister of Wnr, is more speeially charged with the military uiministration. Gen. Scott, tlfereforo, directa all tho operations of tho present war, just as in Franco the Minister of War directs the armies in the fie'd eommanded by agcueral-in chief. General Scott is, or rather ha3 been - for I repeat he lias tho air of iv man whose career is ended - a truc gentleman, the marnier of an English General, well cducated, enlighteüed, and belonging, as well by his age as his marmers, to quite a different generation than tin present ono - Jle has never eommanded any but tho regular army, in contrast to the militia. It was at the head of tho regular army that, in 1847, he made tho spleudid campaign of Mexico, huided at Vera Cruz, niarclitd on tho capita!, which be soized after an obstinate battlo, while General Taylor, on the frontiers of Texas, and at the head of Ameviean militia, won the victory of Buena Vista. General Scott. who is a very gallant man, lias, besides. an exeessivc scli-love ; his countrymen have so oíten compared him to Napoleon that the comparison has onded by making somo impression on him He likes to recall the fact that té has never been de feated, and even that, in his military career the enemy has never taken from him eithor a detaciiment or a post. CEN. Sl'fiLELLAN. General McClellan eommanded, somo days ago, in Western Virginia, a province half p'ubjeeted ánd half revolted. - Charced with the duty of paoifying it, ha acquitteá himself of that aiission with the greatest suceess. Of the two secos genist Generáis who opposed him one was taken with his vrhiöle column, tho other was killed, and his troops dispersed. These successes, which Americau exaggeration hus transfonned into greak victories, have given from day to day an Immense populaiity to McClellan. You sce his name at New York on playcards, on. baiincrs, in the newspaper headings; with the phrase, " McClcllan - two vic torios in one day." After this battle of Buil Run, to whi.ii I shall again refer, the President called McClolIan to thé command ot the coiiqnered and deiaoralized army. Ilo bas, therefore, under lus orders at t h i a munient the troops rc-assembled o.i tho Potomac, from Harper's Ferry to the sea. líe has the title of General of División - Mujor General - a position which correspouds to that of General of División having eommanded, or commauding, a corps of the army. - Tliere are at present ouly two offièBW of that grade iu tho United States - McClellan and the eelebrated traveler kuown under thc name of Coloncl Frcmont, who lias once been a candidato for the Prcsidency. Ile comniamls the small Federal army which operates against the :- siionists iu the Mississippi valley, in the Ötate of Missouri, around St Louis. ït is thereforé, iri the liands of Gen. Mc Clelian that the North has placed its military desíinie?, and the care of aveuging the sbameful defeat of Buil Hun. '1 lic connections of Gen. McUlel'.an with Gen Seott are alniost those of a General of the army with the Minister of War. Gen. McClellan, a pupil of West Point Academy, is a man of thir ty-five yi'.ars oí' age, very gmall in statue, with black hair a::d ïuustaehes, an intelligent, open and most agreeable couutenanco, and a simple and modest bearing. - Should 3'ou sec him pass in the street in Paris you woald ccrtainly take liim to be a l'Yeñc'i oiïicer of cugineers or of artillery. ORNliKAL m'dOV.'EI.L. Gen. McDowell commands all the troops on the right bank of the Potomac. Ho is aman of fötty-ÏWO years, tall and largo. His l'aee isnot partieularly fine, but it is rcmarkably open and systomatic, through its air of fraukness aud kindncss. ff McClellan resembles one of our engineer officers, McDowell resembles one of our infantry oflicors. Did I not dread reducing to puerile shades the soarch for rescniblances and assimilations, I should say that McDowell bas the type of a chief of battallion of foot chas.seures - His conversation, his charactcr aud bis principies aro still superior to hisappcarance, favorable as that is. Ilo is oue of tho honestes!, truest, siinplest men that you can meet. He sustaitied a terrible check at Buil lluti, and he speaks of it without bitterness,'without recriminatien, with :v. DL-cent of sinceri y and an elevatioiiof sentinients thut do him the greatest honor. Deprived of the suprema command in coneequenoe of that reverse, he has seen McClellan, his fellöw student at West Point, younger than himself by sevoval years, mlierit his honors, his position and bis gmwiüg popularity. Ile l,is taken, without a murmur, an inferior placo umler liini wboae miision it is to repair tho niisforiunc atiached to liis name. Well, no one doubts that McDowell will be the most submis.sive, most devoted of McClellan's lieuteuants.- McDowell lias, besides, a reputation in the ariuv of bttiug a sort of Btoio nhilosopl,cr areputatiou sought after and more or lees doservcd by a certafn number of West Point pupils. Ho drinks neithcr -'■ ■ tea nor ooffee, does not smoke, and has'litbitrpf Wioty a,d self-denial ÏHciu keeping with hi Pu"tau pnucipits CUSEHAt BE AÏÏSFO AJU)?. I lm-e tcilcl you of thogor.cr.lsMrn. maading the nónbera aiir.v. , J. details wbieft I sond you wonld be incomplete vvere I not to Ppe'ak also of tbose who command the southern army - Generáis Beatil'egard and Johnstoo. General Beauregard i.s of Freuch origin, that. is to say, iiis fumilj' en igratt'd frhtli Franco to Canuda about a himdn.d and fit'ry years since. His father lelt t ho English colony to beeome a citizen of tho United Ötatei, und settled ín New Orleans. Hü ibere uhonged hie rteligion, abjurfbg Protes tanism and embraciug Oaiholieity, which Is tho religión of the GenèVal i:nd his farnily. A pupil of West Point, Ueauregard was a Lieulenant pojonèl in tho regular army when tho war broko out. líe had just been áppoirttecl Superintendent of tho West Point Academy. Tho government of his Sta'o, Louisiana, recalled hiin, ruado hitri leave the Federal armv, and President JVfiférSoii D.ivis i uir.e.iiately c:mferred upon liim tho rank tí (i. neivl and tho cqinrriftpd of ha tronps iit.Qhuileston, We.know that that coT-mand g:.ve hiin the opportnnity of fiifhg1 thu 6tst cunrion sht which rent tho il.i of' tljo thii-ly-foi;r stars. Ho üoin!ai'del and took Fort Sutnpter, a micccss wliich achieved hirn an irnrnenso popularity. When ihc socoHsion army fofrnëd to march on Washington Béarfftíád was rtivested with the pprfache of Gonnral of Uiviioü - Major General Deauroararil is foi-iy years of' ago. Ho is small, brown, thin, cxtremely vig.iroiis, nlthoilgij bis íí'atures Woar a tii'od eSpreaalcVii, and his hair h:is .whitened irema'.urely. Fai'e, physiorD(irny, tont;uo, noc.ent, evcry thing about liim is French. IIíh bravci y is great and nndeniable, and evervthirig denotes in him, if not a superior generral intelligence, at loaat n very rémarkablj military ïpiitudo Ho i?i qnicl, q litllo abrupt, and although we'l aducíatod and distingaished in hia rpanuefa ho must sometimes offend, less by s'!ri he says than by his ïr.anner of snyirtg it. Perhaps ho doe. not repress with suffieient care the innnlfestaiiond iif un ardent perxanality whioh knows iif wortli, and to which an immense military success ma'y have given n legitímate si'lf rionfidence. lie is éxtremely nup;:sioned in tho defenso of the oause which he serves; at loast, he taken les? care to conceal his pastion ur.der a calm and colu exterior than do most of his comrades of either annv. To suif) up al!, the South has f'ound in him a man of an uncommon ardor, a eeaseless activity and indomitable power of vvill - characteristics by which we reeognize tho men destined to win battloá and to tóiid parties. OnXEÜAI. JOIINSTO.V. General Johnston, also a pupil of West Point, is i littie older than B'j'atlregard, and was Oulonel ti t lio rtigDlnr army at the period of secession. JIo served very biüliantly in the Mexican bampaigh, and injuys in tho United States a great repiitation lor bapaüily añil probiiy. An extremo resei vu, a 'moilosty no less groat, causo a sort of sadnesa to appear to parulyiio in him tho briiliant i.uaüües uhicb every ono recognizes in him; bnt placu him in tho tield ol baf.le, and then the tn:e warricr roappears in hi;n ni f by onehantment. These aro the two men who command the sontherh army. I say "who comirnind," becanse in truth it is. pretty tlillicult to say uhicli cf tho two is in possession of the verita')lo chief eoininand. Both have tho samo grade, and it Lippears that, either throiigh righi of geuiórity or rri crtöficquoncë oi u special coüimission, Johnston is, in tho camp at Manassas, tho superior of JJeauro gardj and vet, ooUvithstanding the prosence of Johnston at tho battle ot liull J au, it is admitted by every one - by Boaurogard ürst, and aftel warthy Jolinston - that it was ]5eai roguril whq .-oüducted the battle, and has all tho honors of tho victory. It bas been explained to me ihat Johnsti'n, h:v;ig arrn'ed only tho [iievious even'ng at Manassas with u p'jrliou uf his troops, did nol assuine the supremo command till the day after the fight, and nctod on ihat day mcrwy asa su)iort to his co.le.'iguo 13ut these are sliaiuws, which only a mi'itary man can soizc, lor these altnbutes ff' rank and the eonsütution oT command fonu the obsou: est pat t of the military orgánifca tion of Americans. For the foreigïier, whom the.-e prulesuiuiiial queatious do not interest - who is content wiih hearing what muy be told him, a:i! wiih soeing what may be fsiïówri him - Beauregard is tho southorn Comniander inchicf It is ho who g:iiriO'l tho battlo of Buil iiun, imd it is he wlio wiil gain tho next balllo that will be fought.