Weekly national intelligencer., 1848-07-22

which, upon every principle Of common sense as
. well as of public law, ought to have preceded in
: stead of following the bloody fray"
1t was for language like this (which at the pre-
sent day will hardly find an honest and intelligent
dissentient in any pary) that the Executive organ
in this city considered it in the line Of its duty to
brand" the free press, and continued for months
to grind ont imputatons more and more absurd,
againsti moral treason" "Mexicans, &C. until
the President himself in his next Annual Message
to Congress took up the tale, and, without cir
cumlocution or disguise, charged reasonable con-
duet against all who denied either the expediency
or necessity his war; How the fire which the Pre-
sdenthadopenedupo the freedom Of discussion was
kept up from the Union" battery during that short
session (the LAST against Members of both Houses
of Congress well as the Press must be still in the
memory of our readers, until, as the session drew
to close, the extreme of that vtuperaton till then
confined to the Press, came to be exceeded in
coarseness by the villanous aspersion dealt through
the columns of the /" Union," against freedom of
speech and action in Congress-
The force of official insolence could no further
60 Indeed, it had already overshot its mark.
This last outrage contributed greatly to the causes
of the reaction among the People, of which decisive
evidence was afforded by the Fall Elections; since
which we have heard no more from the President
and not much from his party, on the subject Of
"moral treason' until this effort of the Baltimore
Convention to revive it.
Prompt however, to obey the party signal,
the government paper (the C1aion) once more, in
late editorial article, renews, for the benefit Of ma
esty to come, all its old inyective and impuations,
meant to have rendered irresistible the majesty that
is passing away. From that article il is necessary,
for the information of our own readers, to Gull
of the phrases which it applies to the Wing party,
for their audacity Of disappearing the Presidents
late war. Ii is headed thus !" The Party of Moral
Treason" This sweeping denunciation spares no
Whig and being, of course, intended to advantage
Mr.. Polk and General CAss, includes all Wings
who have displeased the President or disapproved
either the origin or the conduct of war. 1t pro-
ceeds to characterize !" the course Of the Wing
leaders"-by whom it chiefly intends (as the con-
test shows) the Wing opposition in Congress and
the Press-as " factious and reasonable" 1t after
wards talks Of the difficulties of the war, which
ratorous faction at home in the midst Of ease and
security, itself up viliy, and aggravate, and
denounce." Finally, after much more Of the same
sort, speaking of General TAYLOR, and suggesting
that he should fling in the teeth of the Wings
their nomination, it closes the diatrbs with this
sentence:
AT all events, he may thus separate his name
: and fame from that of party which stands de-
nounced and condemned, now and hereafter, as
the Party of Moral Treason, and over which the
!. scahing Indignation OF great and patriotic people
plainly impends y
Here, then, we have once more the proclaimed
and deliberate principles of the Cass party, of the
/" Democracy" and Of whatever the Government
paper here is to expound vindicate. All this
stands an example and definition Of Locofoco
liberty; of the license of opinion which, in public
questions at once the most vital and the most de-
batabe, that party means 10 allow, either TO the
private citizen, to the legislator when discussing
las he must the causes and consequences Of Ex-
ecutiye measures, and to that still more fetIerless
guardian of popular information and alarm, the
Press. According to all this, President has only
to draw the sword, no matter when, for what, or
against whom he lists, and instantly there must be
no further question Of what he has done or shall
DO. mere Is al once 10 De an emo Oh ali puOnc
power, OF all public right, but his. No.counsel but
how to perform his behests can be held, without
disloyalty. There shall be no speech, except ap-
plause Of his acts, however fatal or foolish.
And now, for such claims of power these, so
atrocious and so slavish, what pretence is there
Not the Constitution, we have seen for there,
as we have shown, special care has been taken 10
secure absolute freedom Of opinion, Of speech,
of debate, and of printing, to every citizens nor can
treason there be made out Of any license, any abuse,
of this our boundless immunity: for there only an
oreu act Of levying or Of adhering to the ene-
my constitute that crime. Its essence is action
as enemy. Mere opinions, words, spoken or
printed have no relation to the offence, and cannot
by any Nervousness to which they may be carried,
become Treason nor any other public wrong And,
in this particular our Constitution is but faithfully
in accord with itself: for one of its chiefest ideas
was, that this ,cas 10 be Government in which
every citizen must hare his free voice, and public
affairs be subject 10 The control Of all, acting
together, in one great and incessaaf council,
upon their common ueai, and especially The con.
duct Of their agents, their political authorities.
So that the great fundamental idea Of our whole
system was Free Consultation, Free Opinion and