Parliament inquired into the conduct of the Crimean War, and out of the investigation grew the remedy for a host of grievances. The French Assembly, in the days of the Republic, also looked into the failures of their Generals. Our army claims exemption from criticism, immunity from censure, and that all its mistakes may he covered.

The Investigating Committee, on calling on General McClellan for facts in the Ball’s Bluff affair, were informed that he was too busy to look into past disasters. We confess we do not like the precedent. Once established, no limit can be named where it will end. It is not simply that a vexed question may be settled, as to who is responsible for the wholesale murder at Ball’s Bluff; who is to blame that our Federal troops were shot down like penned sheep; whose fault it was that there were no suitable means provided for crossing the Potomac; by whose mistake it was that Baker was sacrificed; why the movement was made at all; or when made, why recalled. It is not simply to settle these points that on investigation is needed, but to fix in the minds of all our commanders a consciousness that for all similar errors they are to be held responsible before the people.