John Bull and Bull Run
Editor of the Evening Star :--The battle-roar of Bull Run has been echoed back from the columns of the Thunderer--the London Times--in which, as was expected, Mr. Correspondent Russell figures lengthily as delineator of what he saw of that fight. By his own account, he saw nothing of the battle. He arrived at a late hour of the conflict at Centreville; saw not a shot fired; saw not one soldier of the rebel army, horse or foot, but was a spectator merely of the panic and the rout. In no respect, perhaps, has he given an exaggerated picture of either; but Mr. Russell has not hesitated to rest on his limited opportunities of seeing derogatory comments upon the character of the conflict he did not witness at all, and upon the behavior of our troops, successfully engaged for hours before and up to the time of his arrival — the first flying portion only of which he saw, and among whom he was himself (on testimony presently to be quoted) soon found in hasty retreat to Washington. The editor of the Times, also, has doubtless based his bitterly sarcastic criticism upon the battle and the conduct of the volunteers, upon the same unfair, slender means of judging either, furnished by his purveyor. Without adverting to the animus in quo pervading the effusions of both, let us glance at the self-complacent sketch Mr. Russell gives of himself near the field of battle. [30] After having lunched at Centreville, he is encouraged by the report of an officer from the scene of strife, that the “rebels are whipped,” and Mr. Russell, mounting his horse, tries to get “in front” of the battle. He soon finds himself in the midst of a panic-stricken crowd of fugitives, among whom he appears to be the only unalarmed person, going the other way. As he bravely pushes towards “the front,” the signs of disastrous rout thicken, the cannon sounds nearer, and to his puzzled queries as to the cause of the panic, not a man or officer passed is able to give a coherent reply. An occasional shell bursts over the fugitives, and in the midst of his calm exhortations to them, his taste for the active scenes of battle “in front,” which he “went out for to see,” suddenly disappears. Near as was the prospect of personally witnessing materials for his written account to the Times, he suddenly recollects that he must leave the field at once if lie wishes to secure the mailing of his letter by the steamer of Wednesday! “Punctuality is the soul of business,” is an axiom not to be driven from the considerate mind of the gentleman, even amid falling shells and the booming of cannon! Faithful correspondent! to be thus punctual, even if you had to turn your back upon the scenes you had not time to stop and witness. Then follows a detailed account of the retreat, during which Mr. Russell represents himself as the only self-possessed man visible, as alternately engaged in reproving runaways for their “causeless panic,” trying “to save Uncle Sam's property,” and considerately telling all the pickets he passes that it was only a “falling back upon Centreville — no defeat, no rout.” Now this is certainly a very impressive picture of the chaotic sea of routed soldiers and civilians, amid which he alone moved along the impersonation of calm disdain of “causeless panic,” --of philanthropic efforts to save “Uncle Sam's property,” of eloquent reproofs to craven officers, and ingenious comfortings to anxious pickets; but it is in strange contrast with another sketch by another artist, of this same devoted hero, as he appeared on the road to Washington. Could a sudden fear of being caught and supplied with an unseasonable suit of tar and feathers, promised him by Southern journals for his strictures upon the Southern people, have caused the change in his aspect which the following sketch represents? Or must we attribute the change to the contagion of the “causeless panic,” and put the correspondent in tile same category with our troops — showing nerve and courage to “get to the front,” but shaky and rather hurried in retiring from the field. Here is what is said of Mr. Russell by Mr. G. P. Putnam, of New York, in an article in the Knickerbocker, entitled, “Before and after the battle.” (See Doc., p. 99.) In subsequent letters Mr. Russell indulges in further strictures upon the battle, and says it was “unattended by any desperate struggles save made by those who wanted to get away!” Does not the above roadside sketch establish the gentleman's claim to the first honors in that species of military daring?Union.
