Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1863-03-26
THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

IL Is known to those VINO are Iamlllar with tEe
history Of literature that Bossuet, the illustrious
Bishop Of Meaux, proposed to himself the idea Of
q great work which should have for its object to
state and expound theory of faith and practice
on which Protestants and Papsts might alike unite
in giving form and effect to the great cardinal
principles of a common Christianity. In Ike
manner the poet and metapbysiciau, Coleridge, at
period in his literary career, conceived the pro-
ject Of grand disquisition which should seek to
effect logical reconcilement between the funda.
mental doctrines of the Platonic and Aristotelian
PHILOSOPHERS, with their diverse methods of specu-
laion and apparently antagonistic results.
And, as in the literary, so in the political world
there have been speculative philosophers who, ig-
norant Of the practical art Of craftsmanship, have
invented " Ideal Republics" and q O,eanio Com
monwealths" in which all things were to be ar
ranged one day according to the best possible
maxms of State craft But between the fanciful
Republic Of Plato, the universal Christian Com
stery Of Fourier, and the socalistic community
of Proudhon, the points of theoretical difference
are SO numerous and important that practical minds
have long since despaired of the regeneration of
society by the promulgation of political plat
FORMS" however ingeniously constructed, or how
ever broad in their foundations.
1t is found that men can best bring themselves
into practical cooperation for the attainment
Of common end, if room be left to all classes
for the development and the play of Individual
and private opinion within the organic spheres
Of their enterprise. The cohesion which re-
suits from a mechanical and exterior pressure
has but the semblance of consistency and is ready
to dissolve at any moment under the operation Of
tendencies from within or of influences from with
out. The union which makes strength is not al
ways necessarily a union which results from the
perfect assimilation Of the constituent parts that
enter into any combination, but may be equally
seen in these composite arrangements Of society,
art and nature, which sometimes bind in the strong
est coalition elements at once the most hetcroge-
neous, and, in their separate and unrestricted ten
denotes, the most antagonistic.
Unless we mistake the signs of the times, there
are now some perceptible evidences which point
to the offspring and growth in the Loyal States of
political unity comprising elements of strength su-
peror to that which has existed at any time since
the outbreak of the war And in so saying our
readers will not suspect us of pointing to what are
called Loyal Leagues" in different parts OF the
country, as these voluntary associations, where
they any thing more than nero social or politi-
cal fraternities, deserve to be deemed rather the
effects than the causes Of that Cancellation and
harmony which are beginning to spring up from
the midst of the alienation and discord that at one
time prevailed among u.s.
The unity which we suppose ourselves to descry
in the proximate future, unless it shall be disturb
ed by military msfoItunes, by administrative errors,
or by political phrenzy coming from one faction or
another, is a unity based on the ruins Of much
popular enthusiasm, of many political illusions,
and, most Of all, the submergence Of political
intolerance which once exacted that adhesion to
certain dogmas which due only to the great
cause of the Constitution and the Union.
We say that the present firm attitude presented
by the Government and the people is attitude
taken after, and, we may add because Of the de-
cline of the transient enthusiasm which seemed to
fuse the Loyal States into one mass at the threshold
OF ,tnls c0ICe5t. Inc echoes OF the cannon Wnlcn
toled over the fall of Fort Sumter walked into life
what contemporary justly calls ga wild and un-
premeditatcd patriotism" which ran throu ii the
great mass of our population, and which no
thing could stop or resist 1t surprised the people
of the South. Ii surprised even the people Of the
North who were themselves the subjects of this
new and strange emotion. But this enthusiasm,
being partly Fictitious in its origin, and being fed
by no perennial streams of military triumph grad
ually wasted away.
Then succeeded the period of popular dcspon-
dency on the one hand and Of political illusion on
the other. Despairing politicians were ready at
this early stage to give the struggle as hope
less but what was to such the hour Of darkness only
served the more magnifcently to usher 10 the day
spring OF the bright morning towards which san
guine philanthropists strained their eyes as they
prayed for q" Proclamation Of Freedom to end
the war by single coup Of extraordinary states
manship and military sagacity. In due time the
proclamation came, and if it has had no other effect
it has at least placed in clear light the falacious
nature Of the predictions and the visionary quality
of the hopes based on its promulgstion. This is
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