Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1863-04-16
LIE Err II.
SUDDEN CONVERSIONS.
Your friend
PAUL AMBROSE.


When votary desires TO mako sacrifice be ,v,Ii 6,a
sticks enough under every hedge knde the fire. There
is Latin proverb to the same purport-,. ou NM, ,,d.
eansm Jaeite inpena Jusem My Interpretation Of this
bit OF experience H. that whenever our hearts upou
foroiddeL enterprise. al easy virtue VII encounter no
dincuy III Inc search Tor the TO get ii on foot Or
es me putt u shape more germane 10 my present
subect-whenever it is necessary to support a bad or
doubtful cause oy argument he is but sorry casust
who will have to 60 far TO find one
every day struck by the proof which the rsb,io,
afIrds TO the of this insight iuo the nature of
the ordinary conscience If mankind IL is curious to pote
the facility with which, this time macy OF tho most rs
spectacle minds OF the country, even many eminent in
public shas have permitted themselves TO lapse into t,at
fatal apostacy which III moment has aside the hon.
orable conservatism Of Their whole lives and plunged thsm
into that very Of political error which they have al
ways taught themselves and others to shuu
1t is not long ago when it almost the universal oon
vction of approved statesmen both North and
SOUTH and shi more that OF the great multitude who take
their opinions ut second hand that the doctrine of see
sion was shallow invention Of few Quixoes in politss
10 the days of Gen jackson it denounced and de-
rded the ba kest Of teasons by the whole Of that IN
perous party which, undcr his lead swayed the public
MUD With absolute authority. When he said the Union
ustoe preserved these words moro than
policy u Cancellation they uttered az an angry
threat against those who medtaed d.unon and ntma.d
tba necessary tho Union should be preserved by tho
sword HE words were appaudod by thousands and
oil thousands OF those WHO to-day crying ont Thu.
Union sha be destroyed" When ho said In strono and
uoequ-oca phrase that secession treason these saps
thousands isecboed tho sentiment with such e.na.t -
petition to plant II in every heart Of the country an an
article Of faith The intuition of the masses in tb.
vcton sustained BY the better informed INDIGNANT If
the most eminent expounders Of the Constitution by the
courts py Congress, aud by the Cabinet at that time
INDUSTRIOUS Tor the great ability and experience of ts mero-
oc u which one yet survives to grace the Supreme
bencn OF The Union as lite honored chief Ii was not
les sustained by the quiet support nine his of the
educated mou IN every State who, taking share 10 tie
popular demonstrations Of political action gave their own
ncathfu tone Of thought 10 tho social circles Of their -
spective neghborhoods
There wcrc notable exceptions, il ia true to this oola
mou consent Of opinion; many South Carolina where A
Threatened revolt had been ssked upon the issue some in
other States aud particularly in Eastern Virginia
where peculiar system Evolutionary daectcs had bred
class of barsptug doctr,nairss not less remarkable
for the eccentrcy Of their dogmas than for the
with Which they maintained them. The philosophers Of
the Resolutions Of 90 were few enough and Vrotesoue
enough IN the ordinary estimation Of the country to pr
woke Roodpated laugh at the perseverance, with which
they muddled their brains IN the modification Of pro-
practical value that celebrated scheme Of Lsputs,
the extracting Of sunbeams from cucumbors But evon
the Resouonsts for tho part stood BY jackson, aud
turned thor back upon the doctrine Of secession
JUDGED. il may be sirmsd, an historical fsct sAt