Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1863-03-19
THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 1868.
UNITY OF SPIRIT.

the defeats experienced by the Republican party
in the last Fall elections we thought it proper and
timely to offer some observations on the perils of
political reactions. Our remarks were equally
directed to those who profess themselves the un-
questioning upholders of the present Admins
tration and to those who avow themselves its de-
termined opponents For ourselves, prescribing
as the rule Of our conduct neither the servty
which abjures the right Of Independent judgment
nor the factious opposition which gives to party
what is due to country, but striving, acc riding to
the best lights before US, to consult for the safety
Of the Republic in this day Of its trial, We have
depored equally the and the results of these
dissensons which for time seemed to threaten
the Government with an incurable weakness, if not
to ihaugurate the reign of universal anarchy. 1t
was under these apprehensions, ADD at time when
Republican elimination of all who dissented from
certain peculiar views Of military policy and social
change was met with Democratic recrimination,
imputing to the Administration and its friends a
more than laundering, because wilul Indifference
to the public interests and to the Constitution,
that we thought it proper to lift voice in dep
recation Of political intolerance, alike on the one
side and on the other Ia this spirit we wrote as
follows on the 18th of last December:
Whatever theory may adopt with regard to the
necessity the origin Of these political dssensons it is
the less tue that their existence and their pers
cannot be denied Ignored There is danger that tie
party in power may by unwise and untmely measures
still further exacerbate the political stuaon and there
danger that the party in opposition by sezing the
real imputed of the Administration may push it's
hostility to particular men and measures beyond the
bounds Of far debate and Legitimate Oppugnaon. II
we have, in their own interest AID, as we conceived
in the interest of the country counselled the friends
Of the Administration to practise moderation and pru
dence in adjusting III of public policy to the
present exgeuces of the LAID, may be per
mtted with quail earDe tn to The aversares of
the Adminst on far at least humble voice
hope to reach them, against transcendng the limits of
loyal and candid opposition. Opposition for the sake of
opposition ii ind feasible at all mes becomes than
out Of place in the existing condition of the country
The oscillations of party marking at each rise and fall Of
the pendulum CHER and wider sweep, may shake tbs
stability OF what yet remains OF p0t system, when
the forts of all should be zeaousy and uptedy bent
the reconstruction of the whole fabric in it's ancient SYM
try, far that may be 20 sble after the tide OF
bloody war which has swept and may continue to sweep
over the land"
Our readers are aware that we have never COM
planned our own account of any of the calumnies
and Misrepresentation which We have won for our
selves by our simple adherence to the Union and
and as well under Republican as Democratic
Administration These calumnies and misrepre-
sensations, whether inspired by the malice Of one
party or the other, come from source so far be-
meath our notice in this day of high debate that
we have rarely thought it necessary to turn aside
from our public discussions for purposes of per-
sonal controversy and least of all for the purpose
of Standardization. In career as journalists,
we have observed that paper generally bears the
character which its own columns give it, whether
for intelligence, truth, or loyalty, rather than the
character sscribed to it by columns lacking the
or the other Of these qualities
But it cannot be denied that the spirit and tenn
per Of the political press in parts of the loyal
States portend any thing but harmony and union
in support Of the Government On the one hand,
it is common for few insensate papers which pro-
fess to support the Administration, but who really
signify their contempt for its intelligence some
times by absurd censure and sometimes by absurd
praise--it is common, we say, for such sheets to
indulge in cheap invective against such of their
contemporaries as do not always share their precise
view Of any Administration measure. On the other
hand, we see opposition journals whose columns
TEEN with the worst possible appropriations of every
thing that is said done in all departments of the
Government under the present Administration
1t is in the presence of such state of affairs
that we may be permitted to recall, alike for the
benefit Of the Presidents ndscreet friends and of
his sssjudiccd opponents, the words uttered by
him in his last annual message, when he said that
off there ever could be proper time for mere
catch arguments that time surely is not now. In
times like the present, men should utter nothing
for mhih thy wopld not aoillingly be responsible
through time and IN eternity"
1t is very evident that good can be done by
seeking to stgmatize traitors" all who exercise
their own intellects public aff,irs by consulting
for the welfare of the country rather than for the
complacency of official incumbents. And it is
equally evident that the advantages of Legitimate
discussion can be secured without suffering political
debate to degenerate into the acrimony of deter
mined pariisanship When criticism on men or
measures transccnds the limits of justice or fair
ness, it fails to react on the party in whose
service it is enlisted, just those who minister at
the public altar only for the sake of burning in
cense beneath the nostrils Of men in place, become,
most Of all, an offence to those whom they seek to