Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-03-19
VOL. XVII.

produced traitor, or a eympsthizer with
one. This is no merit for a Republican
cannot be q traitor. Let the country pom
der this.
But what can be said of party in whose
members it is thought to be a rare distinc-
tion that they are merely patriotic; who,
TO be true 10 the country, must be better
than their party, and are loyal il spite Of
its teachings, and their political associa-
tions am glad to say that on this floor
there are many such brave and noble men );
while the mass Of their followers are true,
as the people ever are.
THE PRESIDENT, HIS RELATIONS TO THE WAR,
CRITICISMS OF HIN, ETC.
How easy it is to abuse, traduce, and
nounce. That it requires neither. wit,
grace or truth, is illustrated by the assaults
Of those gentlemen on the President.
shall enter upon no laudation Of the Presi-
dent, yet there are some words deem it
fitting now for me to say in reference to
him. .f.-.
Sir, the Executive is the arm of the peo-
pie under our Constitution, and with 1t
only can we deal q blow upon the rebel
/ lion. He who would strike that, save with
this arm, strikes fully upon our own cause.
4 Whoever strengthens this arm Strengthens
| the national cause; whoever Weakens it,
strengthens the enemy. For the tine be-
| ing the other branches Of the Government
might well be in abeyanee, that all our en-
ergies might 60 to swell the mighty mus
cles of that arm. To save all, ali must be
risked. You cannot separate the EXecU-
tive from the persOnGLe of the President;
and whatever detracts from him PERSONAL
! ly weakens the executive force, as what
ever eleTates him gives it added strength.
So that whatever shakes the confidence of
the people, or any Of them, in the capacity
or integrity Of the President, by just SO
much aids the rebellion, as that which
strengthens confidence in him gives vigor
TO the national cause. ~ LIEf1
The President, without the people, and
all Of them, can no more conduct this war
to successful issue than can the people
without him. Alone, no mater what are
his personal qualities, he would be the
feeblest driveller that ever perished under
a great catastrophe, and the people must
perish with him. With a united people he
is irresistible, spite Of mistakes and acci
dents. A united people and President can
control fate and compel success, They
must stand together; and woe unutterable
to the wretches whose words or deeds shall
separate them. From this il follows that
if the President will not go with US we
must 20 with him. The freedom of speech
is the last franchise a free people will sur
render, and our millions Will exercise 1t
in the midst Of no matter what calamities.
They will discuss the events and manage
ment Of the,War. / It is their war, and the
humblest of them has an interest in ii
equal to that of the first citizen, and they
must and may discuss his acts with free
and manly ken. But submit.if the just
limit of criticism and manly debate has
not been brutally outraged in the fierce
denunciations Of the President by gentle
men on this floor, and which have been
caught up and re-echoed by their partisan
press2 Sir, if these obscene revilers could
gain credit with the masses, no power on
earth could save US from destruction. for
they would shiver the only arm that must
bring US safety. And so, tOo speak Of
the ceaseless tide Of eritieism-shallI call
it2-that has deluged to drowning all the
military operations Of the Administration.
Was this world ever before so enriched
with such a quantity of such valuable COM
mentary on the art of war, and by such
maslers-generals BY Instinct and the
grace Of God ? For year and a half this
luminous tide has swept over US; and will
some mortal tell of some good, the least,
that has waited upon the labors of these
critics2 What mistake has been avoided,
what error retrieved, or what bIunder re-
deemed? And yet what jealousies they
have engendered, what factions they have
built up, and what feuds they have embit-
tered
pray gentlemen to remember that no
general has been improved by denuncia-
ton or made skillful by abuse; nor yet re-
moved by this clamor, and never will be-
/ But the confidence Of subordinates has
| been shaken in a commander, and the con-
| fdence Of the people has been weakened
in the President, for placing or retaining
a general in command, when no two could
agree upon q substitute or successor.
These outspoken comments here and else
where have ut least the merit of boldness;
! but what shall be said Of that muttering,
unmanly, yet swelling unGer-current Of
| complaining criticism that reflects upon
/ the President, his motives and capacity,
so freely and feebly INDUCED in by men
having the public confidence 2-Rhisper-
| ings and cemplainings and doubtings and
misgivings and ordinations and predic-
tiOns. have heard men complain that
George Washington had died, as if untime-
] ly, and feebly sigh for a return of Andrew
| jackson to life. What can be done with
such pulling drivelers? Men who have
| morbid passion to exaggerate our misfor-
] md frtIa in
amities; and who are never so happy as
when they can gloat over the sum of our
disasters, which they charge over to the
personal account OF the President am
sick Of this everlasting cowsrdice and
/ pallOr, under reverses. Defeats must
come, disasters must come, and still great
er ones, perhaps, and the end is not yet.
These men would never have worked
through the first Revolution but that, as
this viii be, was achieved in spite of them
Sir, if we fail it viii be wholly because
we are unworthy to succeed because we
VIII not with our whole heart and energy,
might, mind, and strength, give ourselves
up wholly to this war as do the rebels
study its pOrtents, and obey its demands
alone. The task itimposes is for our hu-
man kind Its work is the accumulated
work Of the dead centuries thrust upon
our hands, and its hope is the hope Of all
the ages to be born. If we doubt, assail,
and cast down those who alone must lead
us we mightas we'll now slough into any
infamy that men will call peace, or skulk
behind the mediating scepter of no matter
what despot, and forever hide our dishon-
ored heads amid the ruins Of our nation
ality. If any man here distrusts the Pres
ident, let him speak forth here, like these
bad leaders, openly, and no longer offend
the streets and nauseate places Of common
resort with their unworthy olamor. He
may not have in excess that ecstatic fire
that makes poets and prophets and mad
men; he may not possess much Of what
II Il