PRIVATE.] HEADQUARTERS NORTHERN DEPARTMENT,

Cincinnati, Ohio, December 8, 1864.

Honorable BENJ. F. WADE,

United States Senate:

Now that the election is over, I trust that no objection will be made to my appearing before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, to render an account of my stewardship while in command of the Army of the Potomac. I feel, and know, that great injustice has been done me by those who have professed to be my friends in not permitting me to make my disclosure at an earlier period, as it is the only way in which I can have is spread before the public, so long as General Halleck exercises the influence he now does over the highest national authorities. The issues involved in my case mainly rest between myself and that officer, so far as I know, and it is for his interest to delay their publicity to the last practicable moment. This is my impression; of its accuracy, you will be able to determine as soon as an opportunity presents itself for you to become acquainted with the facts. I know of no public duties connected with my present command that can be urged as an objection to my absence for a few days early in the coming month, should the Committee deem it expedient to summon me before them. Allow me to request that you will inform me at your earliest convenience if I amy look for this privilege to be extended to me. A refused will be deeply injurious to me. I have already suffered severely, as you well know, from the ignorance of the public in regard to the events to which I refer, although my subsequent services have done much to obliterate the recollection and quiet the censures of my enemies. It is only with the authorities that I am prejudiced now. Every step that I take among the people satisfies me that I am right with them, and I know that we have no army in the field that would not welcome my return to it with enthusiasm. Yet I cannot have an active command given me, and an effort is being made to degrade me by promoting juniors over my head.

Generals Sherman and Sheridan, I am informed, have bee nominated to the Senate for commissions of major-general in the regular army, while I am their senior as a brigadier. This is an outrage to me, and would be so pronounced by nine-tenths of the army were they allowed a free expression of their opinion. No matter what the newspapers may say to the contrary, no officer high in command has been more unfortunate than Sherman, and this moment he is engaged in a raid which will tend to prolong the war, when he had it in his power to have utterly destroyed Hood's army. At the time he cut loose from Atlanta, Hood was on the north side of the Tennessee River, but instead of marching for him, he chose to march from him. Blows, not marches, are to kill the rebellion. It is our duty to look after the rebel armies, and not territory, for that will come when the military power of the rebels is broken. Sherman's present raid will be likely to resemble in its results that of last winter to Meridian, in which he suffered much more than his adversary. We will, however, hope for the best. Whatever was gained by the campaign of Atlanta, all will admit was abandoned when the quit Atlanta, undoing at the close of the year what he had gained at the beginning. As regards the campaign of Atlanta, considering the relative strength of the forces and the means of each, taken in connection with the field of operations, the rebellion has presented no such opportunity for the display of generalship, and yet how badly improved. We merely crowded back an enemy inferior to us as one to three, instead of annihilating