Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-06-11

For the Leader.
The Democratic Antl-COere ion, Anti-THx,
Anti-WRr, Conservative Party,
The four first named phrases Of this new
party are too well understood to need com
ment; but the last name, protesting to en-
brace all Union, peace and Order-lOving
citizens, regardless Of former distinctions,
seems to require passing notice.
Conservative and conversation are
terms SO. often used, and repeated with such
emphasis, by those who use them, that it
is designed, in this article, to show their
legitimate application, and if I succeed, the
fact will be established that the use of
those terms BY the party assuming the
name, is a perversion Of language to 'mis-
lead the unwary, a manifest solecism of
the grossest nature. 8JNII 100
Conservative, Mr. Webster defines, 'ahav-
ing power to preserve" If Mr.. Webster
be correct, the term, then, is applicable
only to greater and lesser truths, that is,
to truths appertaining to cycles of greater
or less duration. In the natural world it
is that element which preserves the 0rbs'
in their spheres, and uniformity in the re-
curing seasons. In the moral world it
preserves "a decent regard for the opinions
of mankind, and the alteration that is
everywhere paid to virtue In medicine,
it is the Uis medicatriE nature In husband
ry, sit makes the wilderness blossom as
the rose, and ordains plenteOus harvest,
when it Separates the tares from the
wheat, binds them in bundles, and burns
them" -...
Conservatism, then, is no less inherent
in truth than it is ever in antagonism with
error, and DEGREES its determination. The
physician, called to a patient suffering
from malignant ulcer of an extremity,
who should resort to emotient treat
ment, to save the union Of the body in all
its parts, would Justly merit the execra-
tions Of friends, and be denouneed as q
quack by the common sense of the world,
but the physician that should discover re-
turning health, b. relieving the Vis msdieG-
triT Of its superintendent weight, and
should resort to smputation, would justly
be ranked with the benefaetors of his race.
Hence, false conservatism, by saving the
extremity, loses the patient, whereas true
conservatism, by exterminating it, restores
the patient to health. ~ Hl n
Freedom, equality, was the gOodly seed
soWn by our Fathers, while privilege, the
common enemy Of man, sowed tares, whose
growth, protecting the wheat from the
storms Of the revolution, was therefore
permitted by the conservative husband
men who framed our Constitution, until
our nation should arrive at the maturity
of manhood, when they believed that, by
the wisdom Of man, or 'the interference
Of the Almighty it would disappear, and
the immortal Declaration exist a truth in
fact, ensuring, under Divine auspices, free
dom and equality to the new world. And
now, has this period Of our national pro-
gress AID maturity arrived? Did prophet
ever have clearer vision, or poet sing sub
Inner song
Privilege is asincompatible with free in
stitutions as prerogatiYe. 1t is the crea-
ture of legislation subsisting upon
unpaid toll A privilege, extended
to one class, is an abridgement Of the
rights Of ali others, an unconstitution-
al exercise Of the functions Of a govern
ment created solely for the protection of
the rights Of its members. Inthe language
Of the Hero Of the Hermitage, Legislation
should be general in its operation, as heaY-
en- distils her dews, dispensing blessings
to all, granting privilege to nonep -
Since the adoption Of the Constitution
to the present era, no branch Of the gener-
al Government might interfere with
Institutions Of the several States, but
the States in rebellion, have, by their own
act made it the arbiter of their destines,
and the institution, which, in their AFRO
gance, they declared eternal, is, by their
madness and folly, placed within the ju-
risdiction Of the National Administration
/ and Congressional legislation, in which
/ either department may extingUish it for
| the preservation Of National existence and
] the restoration of public peace not in vio-
lation Of the letter and spirit of the Con-
stitutiOn, but in unison with its inherent
! and express provisions. The word "nec-
/ essRry" is in the Constitution, and it is to
/ that instrument what the Uis medicatrir na-
| ture is to the animal organism, and the
/ Chief, when acting in that
/ capacity, and the National Congress, are,
either Of them, competent to determine
/ how iminent be the peril to National ex-
/ istence when it shall extinguish that insti-
tuition which has de. uged the land in blood.
Herein would be manifested a conservative
exercise of the functions Of those depart
ments with which they are clothed by the
| Constitution.
But the conservatism, Of which this con-
seryative party is the exponent, would save
I the tares instead Of the wheat, would save
the ulcer instead of life, would save the
habeas corpus, that treason might triumph
in thejudgment seat, would save traitors
and their institutions, though the only free
government would be blotted from the
map Of nations. Indeed, conservatism Of
to-day, is the decrepitude Of age, whose
youth was spent in dissipation, manhood
in luxury, and declining years in dyspep-
sia, hypoehondria and gout whose only
legacy is treason and rebellion, and he that
with TINS song can be lulled into slumber
to dream Of the security Of free institu-
tions, may not hope to awake at the sound
Of the trump Of the resurrection. = f.--4-
Blair, " june Z. UNION