Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1846-06-23
THE ENQUIRER.
Monday Mornins, june ~, 1916.
RICH MOND. VA.

Monday Morning, June %, 1916.
II is curious, as we'll as instructive, 10 com
pare The attacks OF the Wing press upon Mr.
Polk with similar assaults of The Federaists up
on our own Madison. There is a remarkabl,
coincidence in The language and tone Of the lwt
periods. MIR. Madison survived the denuncia
lions OF his enemies and The war of 1912 cover
ed the country with honor, and secured us lons
peace. Are we too bold, in predicting the like
fruits OF Mr.. Folks administration
On the 4lh of June, 1912, bill declaring wa
against Great Britain passed the House OF Rep
rescntalives by vote Of 10 to 10. 1t was dis
cussed in the Senate till The l7ih, (tvelvc days.
and passed that body by the close vote Of 10 10 Is
and the next day Qs'h) received The signature o.
the President, James Madison. The minority
in an address TO their constituents, solemnly pro.
tested against the declaration of the war, and de.
clared that they "could not consider the war into
which the United States have in secret been pre-
eiDated, as necessary or required BY any mora
duty, or any political expediency." GLOW much
| this language resembles the extracts We published
on Saturday from the American Review, the
! great organ oil the Wing party Of the UnionD
/ The declaration Of the existence OF the present
war with Mexico was adopted by the large vote
OF la to II in The House, and 10 10 in The Sc
nate In this respect, then, j, presents itself in a
much more imposing aspect than the war Of 1872,
which was warmly discussed and finally declared
by a close vote.
The modern Wings are lavish OF their denun-
Citations OF the Mexican war. They say il is
'ihe Presidents war"-begun by the President,
without warrant of law or reason-a gross and
exlravagant usurpaion Of The Cons,ilution-and
brought about By his own misdeeas and selfish
aims; that, had he desired it, il might have been
easily avoided, and that upon his head will resi-
all its fatal consequenccs-;he loss fife, deslruc-
lion OF property, arrangement OF business. &C.
They, also, assert that it is owing 10 The weak
aud imbecile policy OF the Presdcn; that The war
was brought on; that il has found US un?tepared,
and that with The same ignorance and imbeciy
it has been thus far conducted Finally, they
charge that as the war was wanlonly COM
menced by the President for base purposes, il is
designed to be war Of aggression and plumber,
one object OF which is The conquest OF California
in word, war Tor territorial aggrandize.
meni.
We omit all reference 10 The gross charges
which have been brought forward BY The iren-
zied fanatics of The Nuuh. We allude simply
10 the assaults upon the President, which have
been adopted by The Wing press generally
throughout the Union.
Is there any analogy then, between the denun-
Citations OF the war OF 1872 and the attacks OF the
modern Wings upon MIR. Polk and the Mexican
waI2 In The interesting speech Of Mr.. Thurman,
OF Ohio, he has grouped together The Federal al
tacks in 1912. We make lew extracts. We
shall no, defend Mr.. Polk nor the war with Mex
ico II The vr!uous Madison did not escape al
tack from political opponents for his patriotic
and able services, is il strange tina, our present
SDisi inaSiotidtC siiooiu .N"'S :. 80 ------
share ofrolitcal hostility?
A resolution of Federal Convention in Mas
sachuse,ls, on the 18th July, 1912, declared:
"That our rulers flames Madison, &c. have
Frustrated our national character, sacrificed our
vital interests, and finally inroired us, ampre-
pared, IN tie calamities OF 1rar."
Another Convention in The same State, and in
the same year, referring TO The government, says
dis measure Of iniquity is now filled up BY
declaration OF war against Great Brian-a war
tmpoi,tic, unnecessary and anjnSs
In this awful state of things il is The urgent
duty Of the ireemen Of Massachusetts 10 consult
tooe,her. This duty has become The more impe-
tho al fhlc
Commonwealth, OF which one branch Ohe Senate
is in the hands OF asurpc1s devoted 10 The iniQui-
BUS system oil the National Government"
The Rector of Trinity Church, in Boston, said
from The pulpit:
aAs Mr.. Madison has declared war, lie, Mr..
Madison carry il on"
The u. s. Gazette said:
1.-THE war is purely Democratic. H,oas snde'-
taken for Democratic and not )0r national purPo-
ses"
The Worcester Spy, of 1914, said 10 be edited
by "Hones john Davis" declared:
awe have uniformly entered our solemn pro-
lest against this desoaling var, which originated
in the wicked, malignant passions Of a corrupt
aud imbeciie Government"
"No republican people were ever so harrassed,
perplexed and dissraced by cautious and cor.
rupl sci OF rulers as The people OF this country"
aSuch sorernmcn; is worse than none"
"The evils the Fedcral>l> have long predicted
are lhickening upon US, and in our affection let
us always remember. il is Jansss l2adisoa AMI
has pa7ig liai hare brought these ea'4mities rs"
"rhiS obstinate Infatuated man piunses us into
panton ,v,ekcd pur-a eringing eomard"
"Our cotrardiy cap;ain-general galloped his
poor beas, 80 miles from the battle ground"
The Boston Gazette Of lSl4 said "Wha' then
if We lend now them money? 7aev tsdl not make
2socc- MeumM stu hanier for Cnna6o."
Again the Senate o Massachusetts, much high
err authority, declared lhai ",he war was founded
in falsehood, declared wiihou, necessity, and us
real otjeet was tytcnt If territory Jy august con-
quests and 10 aid the late ;yran! oil Europe in his
view of agrandizement."
But This is enough 10 show the striking analogy
between events now and in 1912. As Mr.. Thur
man strongly puts it, in referring to the oppo-
nents of Mr. Madison as we'll as those Of Mr.. Polk
"The charges they make have a marvellous
resemblance. The epilhels they use are almost
always The same. The tendencies oil their acts
differ only in degree. Both tend 10 weaken their
governmental tend TO destroy its moral force
-boh tend to subjec, il 10 disgrace-bnth tend 10
D1tt t1ei7 C0IH1y III exc ichs -oulil icIu W oiiuS
upon il the condemnation ol The world-boih tend
10 paraiy-c lis eforis-bolh lend toinspre the foe.
The Petersburg Intellgencer totally miscon-
ceives our meaning. We had no wish 10 create
The impression, lha, Gen. SCOTS Wing friends
had treated him with undue harshness ny their
comments on his recent correspondence. In
using the words, "save me from my friends, }" as
applicabe to Gen. SIS position, we referred to
the mischief they had done him, by Installing into
him nnfounded suspicion and jealousy of,he Ad-
minis,ra,ion We also had especial allnson 10
his Wing newspaper supporters. who had led off
in violent assaults upon the President for sup
posed .ual-,rca,ment Of Gen. 5. The facts
which came 10 light soon afterwards, not only
showed The absurdiiy and injustice OF those
| ..u,,, h,,, nv contrast paced the General 10 a