Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1863-05-21
PARTY SPIRIT.

Evening Journal, very opportunely and properly
calls for suspension of the hard name" " which
different classes of newspapers and politicians in
the Loyal States are in the habit Of bestowing on
each other and the parties they respectively repre-
sent, for no other reason than difference of opn
ion as to the men and measures by which the
/" war for the Union may be most successfully
prosecuted.
On the one hand there is class Of Republican
journals which perpetually TEEN, not SO much with
legitimate defences of the Administration from un-
just and captious criticisms, as with imputations
on the "loyalty" of all persons who are not avow-
edly and ostentatiously numbered among the yea
lots Of particular political or social creed. On
the other hand we have Democratic journals which
are SO sodden with partisan prejudces against the
Administration, in all its measures and in all its
departments, that they never find in one or the
other aught but grounds for disparagement or open
and sometimes violent condemnation. These two
extremes may be called the positive exponents Of
public opinion, as differently developed in differ
ent political organizations, and respectively en-
bracing among their adherents large masses of the
people. The few sheets which, having no ideas
or views of their own, confne themselves to- the
superficial function Of fat and idle mirrors reflect
ing with grotesque distortion and ridiculous carl
cature the conceived wishes of official personages,
may be left out of the account in this generaliza-
tion of current journalism.
We suppose ourselves to have made it tolerably
clear to readers that do not belong to either
of these classes, and to have made this fact spe.
cially manifest by the language we have held TO-
wards the " constituted authorities" In this re-
spect we are neither approved Republican" " nor
approved Democrats; for, however much these
opposite extremes may differ as to the grounds Of
their harsh criticism, it is remarkable fact that
the utraiss Of each party concur in personally re-
wiling thePresident and his chopen agents or ad-
vsers, if all the latter not appointed or removed
according to their several notions Of political or
military expediency. ua
II is known to us that the President has ex-
pressed his surprise and pain at the ungenerous
treatment he has received, especially at the hands
Of those from whom, as his professed {" friends"
he had a right to expect candid consideration and
honorable treatment. That all of his supporters
should at all times be able to concur in the wisdom
of his measures was never anticipated by the Pre-
sident, for he is intelligent enough to know that
an unquestioning support is pledged only by those
whose support is worthless, coming from mere
political barnaces which fasten themselves to the
ship Of state in all waters But, if we may pur-
sue our nautical metaphor it is not SO much these
sedentary crustacea cingng to its sides and bottom
which threaten damage to the ship, as the noxious
teredo of party, which, with unrelenting fang,
gnaws into the very heart of her strong timbers.
On this point We are sure that every rejecting
citizen will concur with Gen. Burnside's observa-
tions, contained in his statement made to the
court in Cincinnati, and in which he held the fol.
lowing language
The press and public men, n a great emergency like
the present should avoid the Of party epthet and
bitter nyectves and discourage the organization Of secret
societies, which always undgnfed and dsgraoefu to
tree people, but now they absolutely wrong and in
furious they create dsensions and dscord which iust
amount to treason The simple names patriot and
traitor are comprehensive enough.
beg to call upon the fathers, mothers brothers,
ters some daughters relatives friends, and neighbofs Of
the soldiers n the field to aid in stopping this license
and incorporate discussion which 10 dscouraeing our
armies, weakening the hands of the Government, and
thereby strengthening the enemy If honest
efforts God will bless us with glorious peace and uni
ted country Men Of every shade Of opinion have the
vital interest in the suppression Of this rebellion shoud
we fail in the tack the dread horrors Of ruined and dis
tracted nation will fall alike ALL whether patriots
traitors"
These are words Of truth and soberness. 1t
cannot be doubted that "this license and intem-
perate discussion" on the part of some Republi-
cans who denounce every Conservative or Democrat
as traitor at heart" and the similar vitupera-
tive style of speech held by some Democrats in ali
their illusions to political opponents, tend very
directly and materially to "discourage our armies
and weaken the hands of the Government and
thereby strengthen the enemy" These crimina-
tons and rccriminations indicate the presence OF
political dstemper in the public mind, and we
Incline to the opinion that Gen. Burnside did
much more to remove this maady when he exhorted
the fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons,
daughters, relatives, friends, and neghbors of the
soldiers in the field to aid him in stopping this
license" than when he sought to subdue it by the
duress OF military arrest and military trial. The
evil, in the form in which il exists, spreading As
it does through our whole political system, is one
that calls for moral alternative rather than for
the knife or cautery Of the military surgeon
r. - . . I. -. /,