Civilian & telegraph. [volume] (Cumberland, Md.) 1859-1875, 1864-03-10

to succeed MN III tie Presidential char, !
and so could the Secretary of the Trca-
srry use his patronage to influence his
nomination, and the Postmaster General
with his more than forty thousand officers
in every county, city and village of the
country might make them all subs;gicnt
to his nomination. The fact is, such
reasoning is absurd unless you make
every man who holds an ofiieo that ena
bles him to dispense patronage Ineligible.
Mr.. Pomeroy's neis reason against the
denomination Of Mr.. Lincoln, is so
puerile, contemplate and utterly false
that we blush to commit it to rapcr-to
announce it to our readers. 1t is this,
viz: 1.-The people arc mortified, hulnilia-
ted and disappointed by the duration of
the war;" and he charges that its con-
tinuancc is attributable to what he calls
the Presidents Facilitating policy"
Mr.. Pomcroy should have shown
wherein the President has yacillated when
making such serious charge, but this
he has not attempted. Perhaps, as his
circular was intended for secret crcula-
ton, he deemed it unnecessary, for lie
did not expect his statements to be ques-
toned by those who were 10 be employed
in clandestinc effort to injurc the Prcsi-
dent.
We maintain that President Lincoln
has shown no vacllation, but has steadily
moved forward developing his policy MS
events seemed to demand. At the COM
mencement of the rebellion, how deeply
was the public mind imbuod with the
idea that there was no power in the gem
eral Government to coercc q State.
While President Buchanan asserted there
was no power in State to secede, he also
maintained that there was no power in the
general Government to control their, ac-
ton. With these views before them, the
public were paralizcd and fearful tremb-
ling took hold upon the people, and not
until the traitors fred upon Sumter was
the spell broken, and the public mind
acquiesccd in the exercise of eoersite
measures by the Government.
We are all aware how intense was the
feeling not only in the South, but also
in the North and West, against the Abol-
itionists, and how men looked upon them
as the cause of the strife that had COM
menced between some of the States and
the general Government, so much so that
in order to conciliatc the border States,
and to lead to prompt volunteering in the
free States, Congress found it necessary
by resolution to declare that the object of
the war was to maintain the Union and
preserve the Government; hence, when
General Fremont issued his proclamation
in Missouri affecting the slave interest,
the President found it necessary to annul
that proclamation, and why? simply be-
cause the people had not been educated
up to that point, and not to have done so
would have sadly embarrassed the Gov
eminent, if it had not seriously jcopar-
died the Union. But as the war pro-
crossed, and the people became aware
that slavery was at the foundation of all
our troubles, and began to give evidence
of their hostility to the peculiar institu-
tons, the President, with that foresight
which constitutes great statesman, an
nounccs his purpose, unless in the mean
time the rebels lay down their arms, in
given period to proclaim the purpose of
the Government to free the entire slave
population. How was the clamor against
this purpose of the President by many
who had prior to this announcement their
warm adherence to the Government.
The proclamation was pronounced un-
constitutional, absurd, ridiculous, and
not worth the paper it was printed on.
Has the President shown any vactllation
in this matter; on the contrary he has
lsSt manfully stood by his purpose, and do
not thousands to-day, who bitterly de-
nounced the proclamation when it was
first published, not only cheerfully
acquiesce in but loudly applaud it. So
with the enlistment Of colorod soldiers,
what would have been the effect if they
had been called into the field on the first
breaking out of hostilitics? Why, no
white army could have been raised, aud
the Government would have been de-
stroyod; but now it is universally ap-
plauded by the true loya'ists everywhere.
IF keeping up with the public senti-
ment, and advancing with the public
mind, and adopting such measures as the
war developes as most needed to suppress
the rebellion may be vacillation, then
we admit the charges, but if Mr.. POM
eroy and his committee intend to convey
the idea that the Presidents adopts and
changes his policy with the ccccntricity
that characterizes a whimsical child, we
assure him he will find it very difficult
task to make the American people think
so.
No fact is more apparent than that the
people in a peculiar sense regard Mr..
Lincoln as one of themselves, and they
are determined to stand by and support
him; he has warm place in their afec-
tons, and firm seat in the hearts, so
that it is too late for Mr. Pomeroy 10 call
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