From the West.
the Fremont and Blair Controversy — Fremont in a New Attitude against Lincoln — the Irrepressible conflict.
We find the following in the Evansville (Indiana) Journal, of the 4th instant. That paper is one of the most able and influential, as well as ultra, of the abolition papers of the Hoosier State, and the article we give below evidences that Fremont, by his emancipation proclamation has secured the support of the abolition wing of the North, and will be supported even to the abandonment of the Lincoln Administration, by a large portion of the dominant party. The article is a significant one, and will command the attention of the South.
Fremont Under Arrest.--We learn this morning that Colonel Blair has preferred charges against Gen. Fremont, and that the Commander of the Western division of the grand army is ordered to report himself at Washington to answer the charges before a court-martial. The malignity that characterizes the conduct of Col. Blair is unaccountable. He seems determined to strike down Fremont, though in doing so he may strike down the best interests of the Government in this part of the country. That he should post pone making the charge until Gen. Fremont had placed himself at the head of the army and was about to strike the blow that would demonstrate the fitness or unfitness for the position he now fills, manifests a personal venom that is discreditable to a man who claims to be, par excellence, a lover of his country. Col. Blair's hostility to Fremont may react upon himself, and the petard which he has so carefully laid to blow up the reputation of that General only result in the destruction of his own. Fremont has the confidence of the people. They are not disposed to see him condemned and removed from his position on charges that are not substantiated by proof clear as the noonday light. It is a part of a politician's trade to originate and prefer charges. There may be trumped up against any Government officer in a few days what it will take him weeks, if not months, to answer; and the manner in which Gen.Fremont has been treated indicates that this course has been pursued toward him, so that his time will be entirely occupied in defending his own reputation, and none left to devote to the interests of his country.
The Administration will do well to beware. It is trifling with the feelings of the West in a manner that will prove disastrous, unless more of a disposition is manifested to consult their wishes and opinions. If Fremont is called to Washington, and defeat overtakes our troops in Northwestern Missouri, it will be hard for it to shift the responsibility from its own to Fremont's shoulders. If, on the contrary, our brave soldiers meet and overpower the rebels under Price, our people are very certain to assume that the success is due to the energy and sagacious foresight of Gen. Fremont. Thus, let the contest in Missouri terminate as it may, the sympathies of the people are with him whom they conceive to be a persecuted and slandered, but still efficient, officer. Charges have been preferred. The Administration has had opportunities of ascertaining the truth or falsity of these charges. The summoning of Fremont from his command to Washington undoubtedly indicates that, in the opinion of the Government, the charges are sustained by evidence. If the charges are not sustained by the clearest proof, the attempt to degrade the officer in whom the people place so much confidence will arouse a storm of indignation in the West that will be heard even to the Capital.
Our people already fear that the vision of the Administration is limited by the Alleghany mountains. The only demand for troops is to protect Washington from the possibility of danger, and afford employment to the vast hordes of patriotic artisans in the Eastern States.
It matters little that Beauregard may frighten McClellan's 200,000 men with 10,000 or 12,000, while he swiftly transfers regiment after regiment from the Potomac to the Ohio: it matters not that our citizens on the border are to be robbed of their sleep by incessant alarms and constant duty under arms to protect their firesides and homes, so that the men they put in the field see to it that the President is made safe in Washington, and Mrs. Lincoln is uninterrupted in her French studies. These things are seen by our people. They are thought of, they are talked about. They know that Indiana has been drained of her soldiers to protect other interests than her own, and as they look in each other's faces, pallid with alarm, they cannot understand why it is that Beauregard can transfer so much of his force West, while McClellan is constantly being strengthened by troops sent East. Are the first cities in the valley of the Ohio to be blotted cut of existence that General McClellan may become a military demigod? If his army is not in a condition now to attack Beauregard's ‘"half-starved, ragged, undisciplined army, living on salt and potatoes,"’ in the name of God when will it be ? It is clearly evident that troops from Virginia are pouring into Kentucky, and yet there is no advance from Washington, and no indications but that the borders of Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois are to be left to take care of themselves. The result of this culpable indifference on the part of the Administration as to the fate of the many cities, towns, and villages that beautify the valley of the Ohio, is known only to the Supreme Being. Our duty is to acquit ourselves like men, notwithstanding the neglect of those who should protect us; and if we are overpowered and destroyed, let it be after a resistance that will glow in the future history of the great rebellion.
