The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1849-11-03
T H E R E P u B LII G..
WASHIN GTON:
SATURDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 3. ls4s
ForestaIling.

tons and SANDERS which disfgured the
columns of the Opposition press during
the first six months of General TAYLOR s
Presidential term. The history of party
warfare furnishes no parallel, in grossness
Of accusation or hardihood in invention, to
the defamation and libel which have hith-
erto been employed against the President
and his Cabinet. There has been no APP
proach to such system of scandal and
contumely. 1t balks at no accusation, how
ever infamous, nor pauses at any charac-
ter, however pure or exalted. The devices
Of talsehood and the phraseologies of de-
traction have been exhausted, to bring
shame and reproach upon the gray hairs
of Chief Magistrate whose days have
been spent in perilous and patriotic SER
| vice, whilst members Of his Cabinet have
been accused of the most dishonorable
conduct in their private dealings.
As the appointed time approaches for
| the Administration to give Congress an
account Of their stewardship, and to re-
| commend for the consideration of the
country system of administrative mea-
sures, these accusations are to be revamped
| and vanished anew, lest the representa-
tives of the people should not bring with
them to the capital sufficient amount of
prejudice and vindictiveness to answer
the truculent purposes of their inventors.
The Union, as in duty bound, has led off
in the renewed charge. For fear that the
Presidents message may be more salts
factory than the safety of the Opposition
would have it, General TAYLOR is again
denied to be 'san honest man." He is
scoffed at afresh as ''failure," as an
imbecile," as having violated the sa-
| cred word of soldier" as having ''sur-
rendered the functions of his Office to an
irresponsible cabal,' - Sc as cheat" and a
"violator Of pledges" The Union has
said that =" he General TAYLOR had only
to be an honest man to gain both the APP
plause and affections of his countrymen;"
and having so said, and engaged itself to
"oppose him and his cabal to the bitter
end" "no matter what face the future
may wear" it is its vocation to denomce
him as dishonest one, no matter with
what violence to the obligations of truth
or the requirements of decency or honor.
Perhaps journal which has doomed itself
4
to relentless opposition, under every aspect
of the future, may convince the repre-
sentatlves of the people that the voice
which cheered the American soldier in
the hour Of danger speaks falsely; that
the heart which confronted and repealed
the adverse tide of war on the plains of
4 Buena Vista is full Of guile; that the hand
which plucked victory, from the jaws OF
defeat is lifted up against the rights and
property of their constituents. But should
it succeed, the youth Of the country will
read Of the prowess OF the American arms
with shame upon their cheeks; and the
eagle, now the emblem of honorable am
bition, will be regarded as bird of evilest
omen
| Not only will the arrows which have
been sped at the President be redipped in
venom, but the Cabinet will be one by one
subjected to renewal of misrepresenta-
ton. The Secretary of State, whose pub
lished correspondence has withstood the
test OF criticism, stands justified before the
American people by his acts, in so far as
they have been seen by his countrymen.
He will yet be assaied as though he had
failed in his duty, lest Congress should
forget that his dispatches are the work Of
blunderer. What has not appeared, and
what has not yet been written, will be
condemned beforehand, by inventing cases
and guessing at the future, in so many
ways and upon so many suppositious is
sues, as to prepare the hearts" of the
party for opposition, {" whatever face the
; future may wear"
1t is in this spirit, and for the further pur.
pose, perhaps, of inventing offsets TO the
disclosures which an examination of the
departments may bring forth, that the
miserable and degrading libel upon Mr.
I Ewing is renewed. This profigate accu
sation is no less than a charge that the
Secretary of the Interior has traficked il
: Offices, and agreed 10 barter ucrativ,
, place for a bride of few dollars. w,
published yesterday, from the .Nationa
4 Inteihgencer, calm and dignifed article
which was at once a poignant rebuke o
2 the slanderers, and vindication of tn,
slandered. Were human life and propert,
z as unsafe from the assassin and the robbie
: a. character is from the habitual libeller
: no one could walk the streets at noonda,
n without exposure to the dagger, and nom
!, could lie down at night in confidence tina
}. his house would not be riled before morn
| inu The rhor0o aua;pst fba Secondary n