Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1863-12-31
Ccrrcsrcndencc OF the Charles City Intcllgenccr.
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON.
WASHINGTON, Dec. Odd, 1863.

LETTER FROM WASHINGTON.
wAsuIxGTox, Dec Odd, 1863.
EnrroR INrELLlGENcER During those
great crises when the fate of nations
is to be determined for good or evil
there is no installing the stuff Of which
men arc made. When really great
principles are at issue, tho men whose
business it is to control public affairs
cannot, if they wish, help imprcssing
their trae characters upon the gcner.
nj estimation. No more can those
who are ont Of official positions, and
whose talents, or luck, have given
them prominence before the public
Mr. Augustus Caesar Dodge, whilom
minister and envoy extraordinary to
her Catholic and buxom majesty of
Spain, in crisis like this sinks to the
level Of a common coppcrhead, and
gulps down with pride the whiskey-
scented adalation Of seedy ward politi-
clans. Mr.. George Wallace Jones,
once the Turveydrop of the Senate and
the dispenser of ottar-of-rose favors
in the fashionable bnt, perhaps, not
elevated soirees of the National Capt.
tai. has taken to playing second.fiddle
to an Irish sheriff. 9bese seedy fel-
lows, however, form rather melancholy
subjects Of contemplation, and it is
merciful to let them pass into. oblivi-
on, in case their talents do not justify
fears Of harm to the county.
If the war has brought many men
to shame and ruin--thc Blair tribe,
poor little Mac, Fiiz John Porter.
Thurlow Weed if it has made pretty
much of failure of Grow. Henry VIII
son, John p. Hale, John Sherman if
II has developed the profound inca.
pacity Of Henry 5. Lane, and only the
cxhaustless Italic fonts of the clieva-
lier Forney--it knvslso shown that
the nation is not wanting in men, Of
great aud varied talents and the
purcst patriotism.
. The President himself, though it
cannot be denied he has committed
some grievous errors, is nevertheless
entitled to the respect and gratitude
OF the country He will be more
aaighly thought OF, | think, by coming
generations than he is by his cotem-
poraries. His clemency, now regard
ed by many as mistaken kindness,
even the rosc-watcr policy so long
persisted in, will probably be regard.
ed by tue historian as exhibitions of
his conscientious regard for the con-
,stitution. The very snail number Of
arbitrary arrests" will be adduced
in proof, not of tyranny but of re-
,spect for law, tempered Ivy just re-
gard for the safety of the State. His
entire want of vindictivcness, his
spirit Of cancellation. manifested in
all his acts and all his writings, will
place him 10y the side Of the most gen
crous rulers Of any age or any coun-
dry. The long consideration which
he gave to every important subject
switch called for new mode Of treat
.mcnt the attention with which he
listened to the arguments of all class.
.cs of his fellow citizens, as well those
who had opposed as those who had Ia
~orcd his election !; the candor with
which he replied to objections and ad-
mittcd their weight, when they were
weigh,y-tbcse qualities of Mr.. Lin
coin, now looked upon with considera-
bile impatiencc by some, will when
the light Of impartial history comes
10 he thrown over all the incidents Of
these troubled times, rebound to his
credit as a thoughtful, practical States
Kan. Ii VIC fairly consider his record,
as it will be considered when all the
bad blood which this war has engen-
dercd has gone down to the grave,
We mast confess that the country and
the cause of freedom might have been
ruined by a more brilliant, but less
careful, less honest President than
Abraham Lincolu. The calm judg-
mcnt, the sagacious looking ahead,
the comprehensive view Of the strug-
gle, the studied adaptcdncss Of the
means to tho end, the exalted patriot
issnof Washington carried the colonies
safely through the Revolution, whilst
n more dasa,y man might, and proba-
bly, would, have brought them to the
feet Of the British lion. The verdict
Of history for Mr.. Lincoln will not be
dissiailar.
Among the few real diamonds dug
ont by the war is Benjamin F. Butler.
! have just finished reading Parton's
history E his administration in New
Orleans, (which embraces, indeed, a
tel.raLly fall sketch of his life mp to
his departDuc from the Crescent city
about year ago, but is admirably
thorough, docssacntative, and exhaus-
tive upon "Gen. Butler in New Or
lcans." I sec the volume il already
in the sixth edition. making an edition
sold each week siDcc publication. So
il is popular, and justly. Mr.. Parton
is one of orr racicst writer's. He
found ia Gen. Butler fascinating and
congenial theme, aud HAS produced a
work AZ entertaining as a novel by
Dickens, and, do not doubt, as truth
full as our most authoritative histories
Gen. Butler, from a bunker democrat
II the hunkerest sort, has developed
inD an emancipationist scarcely less
RADICAL than b. ,Gratz Brown, Of Mis-
souri. Whilst he was at Annapolis,
Maryland, lie proposed, upon hearing
minors Of a negro insurrection, to
lend his troops toward putting II
down. At Fortress Monroe, be set
tied knotty question by historical
sentence" these men are contraband
If war" But when he had Witnessed
the practical horrors of slavery al New
Orleans; when he had seen that il
~ns both the cause Of the rebellion
aud the cornerstone Of the Confcdera-
~ when he observed that its bar
harisms were u hundred fold more
dreadful than had ever been pictured
hy Mrs. Stowe or related by Charles
situnDcr, alpe last bunker scales fell
from his eyes. and he saw the only
safe road ont al tho difficulties was by
emancipation. Thus has
llIc war eliminated his moral pcrcep-
ions. 81