The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1864-11-07
Monday Morning, Nov. z, 1864.
Views Of an Old Line Democrat.

Views Of an Old Line democrat.
The following is the material portion of q
Letter FROM DR.. GEORGE B. .LoRINe, ofSalem,
Mass. in re BY to a letter numerously signed
by his fellow citizens inviting him to give his
views on theRresent crisis in public address.
"Dr. Loring" for reasons given, declines zap
pear before the public as speaker, but as he.
has been Tin an equivocal position by por-
tion of th bartyi press, and as he feels a deep
interest iiilhe affairs of the country, he takes
advantage Of the occasion, to set himself right
before his fellow-citizens in the letter of which
the following is an extract: ss. s. 4'i se'..e
With the errors, and mistakes, and short
comings, and delinqnences of the times, d O
not propose to deal. No age has been with
out them; no man has escaped them; all our
heroes and great men have been charged with
them; they confuse and blind, in every violent
excitement, whether civil or military; and
they have left their mark on every great hu-
man effort. The true intent and meaning Of
all that is now passing before US, lie above and
beyond this dust of the highway, as it was in
the days OF Washington and Jefferson, whose
labors form the three great eras in our history,
The past we all know is full of glories; and
so is the present, ii we will but look at it a.
right. full of glories still brighter. The hero
ism ,and devotion, and self-sacra6ce of our peo-
pie, have hardly yet been equaled. And In the
work which they have undertaken, cannot
conceive Of the necessity or possibility or hon
or Of taking one step backwards. We have
organized great armies; we have built great
navies; we have achieved great victories; we
have arrested the mischievous designs OF for
eign powers; we have secured unparalleled
domestic prosperity; we have taken long
stride in the work of relieving cur govern
ment from the blot, which the faith and hope
and charity OF the fatheys left behind them,
with the firm belief In their minds, that il
would be wiped out by advancing civilization,
and by the verdict ofa high-toned and eleva-
ted people living under free constitution.
Why then should we retrace our steps?
Not for our moral elevation surely. How
ever obedient we may have been to our con-
etitgtIanal obligations, however impatient Of
attacks on our system of government, howev-
er anxious that the rights, conferred upon US,
and preserved by US, should be respected,
however confident that the liberal and Just
spirit which formed the Constitution, SHOULD
guide its application in all cases, we have still
elt the pne hqrthen which has pressed upon
us all we haye still seen the one cloud In our
otherwise clear and refulgent sky. Can we
then, in the face of heaven and the civilized
world, return voluntarily to the compromise,
which an appeal to arms has scattered to the
winds? ss AaAiksasai ts efael. 81 as
Not for our national prosperity, For if any
thing is to give value our cprreney,M any
thing is to enable us to support the barthen
of our taxation, if anything is to give ultimate
value to our bonds in the markets Of the
world, if anything IL to restore our commerce,
and secure for our manufactures and products
the encouragement OF an untrammeled trade,
it is the entire SUCCESS Of our arms, in. man
ly and unAinohing contest forfthe supremacy
of our government There is rapidly in-
creasing debt, / know, growing out of the
war; there is an imitation of the currency and
of the markets. But when the power of our
country shall be established by the sword,
and labor shall return to its accustomed chan
nels, the fabulous wealth of India can hardly
compare with that which may be drawn from
our lalnes and Cur soil, and which will be cre-
ated by the ceaseless ingenuity or our people
on the land and on the sea. AT the close Of
the war, industry may pause, for time. But
It will only bb for the gathering OF new
strength to give value to our currency, and
to secure the interest on funded debt-the
investment made by gallant people in the
cause of good government, II we would
inyalidate cur debt, we have but to surrender
to foes without and bad counsel within. Ii
we would bankrupt our people, we have but
to pause in the war, for our enemies to take
fresh courage, and to destroy the confidence
of our citizens in their government. Let us
take care Of our armies, and our armies will
take care OF the debt. sfst
Not for our national peace and glory. We
have not reached the point Of armistice or
suspension. There is no treaty which we could
offer, acceptable to the South, consistsnt with
our. honor and future prosperity. There is n o
guarantee which would not be open to future
political change and consequent renewal OF
the strife. That people, which has taken up
arms for national Independence, is not bone OF
our bone, and flesh of our flesh, If 1t would
aow return To its f1rGer condition simply to
renew that political cantroRersy which mas
ended In such baptism of blood. The terms
of peace which they would demand we cannot
submit to; the terms of peace which we could
offer they are not yet ready to accept. When
they are ready to accept terms based on the
Constitution they will be ready to accept
terms based on emancipation, for they Know
perfectly well that reunion now means eman-
cipation, let the process be what 1t may.
Not for the sake of humanity. The land is
indeed red with the blood of slaughtered citi-
gems, the sky 10 daFkened by the smoke of
burning villages, fields are wasted, and the
angel Of death hoyers goomily over our
homes. But to pause now in our career, with
buC 4hUuCob AC1uAb Va btliS Wal doH aSOOA1-
piisled, Is simply to transmit to our descend
ants ali The seeds Of strife, apd to bring down
upon our heads theiF curses for their inherit
ance of blood. Jwh aa
1t seems to me, therefore, that the platform
adopted by the supporters OF Gen. Mcclellan
does not belong to the order OF events through
EAlsA prr country is now passing. Ii 1t means
anything it means humiliation and civil war
81 the North. and do not belieye that either
q these two ealamites is TO befall us, have
700 muea faith In the courage of our people TO
peheye tqem ready for the rormer--too much
faith In their good sense to believe them ready
for the latter. And when am told that the
platform is repudiated, and that all the hopes
of our country are to be hung upon the sim.
ple elevation Of Gen, Mcclellan Ia the Presi.
dency, Wlthout.Gny acknowledged rrInoinIos
IL seems to me tobe such fall from tha hro 90
bid avowal of specific doctrines, 10 which
Democrats have been accustomed, that 90
not understand how they find place for tbsno-
selves in sHch contest, I see nothing but
evil ia SUCH a position. Mcclellan with ths
platform brings disgrace; Mcclellan without
the platform brings confusion. For, to sa,
nothing about the uncertainty which woulI
paralyze the country between his election an
inauguration, the doubts which would han,
oyer the army, the new life which would b
Infused into those who are opposed to tn
government, the plots and counterplots whic
would arise, we Inay turn with fear an
treanbIing to the consequences which Nigh
arise from an open hostility between the Pres
ident and Congress in times like these.
Gen. Mcclellan has enjoyed great opportu
mites for good in his day, but this can in n
way be added to the number. His elevation
under the circumstances. would be simply a
additional calamity. Where would be hi
armistice, where his terms OF peace, wher
I =. IL o..n III a,,r,rIaa Q And IL afff