Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-02-24


TaB New York Commercial Advertiser,
having just been accused by Withdrawing
subscriber, of poisoning the minds of men
against the government, says.
"When we express our qualification at
the prospect which is fast opening before
US of the extinction of human slavery in
America, we find ourselves reviled as an
organ of 'Mr. Chase and the Radicals.'-
When we point out the fatal consequences
Of financial policy which pays the ma
tons debts in promises to pay, and arrives,
by ingenious and ephemeral devices, at
results only attainable through fidelity to
financial law, we are denounced as cop
perheSds and traitors
Exercising a wise philosophy, the Com
mereioE falls back upon Defoe's keen-sight-
ed warning:
''If might give short hint to an i'm
partial writer, it would be to tell him his
fate. If he resolved to venture upon the
dangerous precipice of telling unbiased
truth, let him proclaim war with mankind
neither to give nor take quarter. If he tells
the crimes of great men, they fall upon him
with the iron hands of the Law; if he tells
them of virtoe, if they have any, then the
mob attacks him with SANDER. But if he
on both sides, and. then he may go on,
fearless, and this is the course l take my.
self"
1t is one of the misfortuues of we'll in
tentiOned journals in this our peculiar day
and generation that they ind the path of
duty beset with unusual difficulties. To
speak plainly often involves the risk of
being Misunderstood, paradoxical as it
may seem. The New York Commercial
Advertiser is sober, rational and loyal
newspaper. Yet its money article, if read
by itself and disconnected in the mind of
the reader with the general tone of the
paper, would lead some to suppose that
the editor Waa at work endesvOring to dis
credit the finances of the government.
'''Faithful are the wounds of friend" said
Solomon. Aud so they are; and yet how
few people think so. A loyal paper, anx-
iOus and earnest for the best interests of
the gOVernmeut-intelIigent appreciative
ofthe run of events, sincerely appreheusive
lest taxes are not being OPPORTUNITY
and adequately provided, willing to
lend all its strength to prop up
the government and yet afraid of eu-
couraging it in a mistaken policy
finds itself indeed ofteutimes confronted
with perplexity. And for this reason:-
No sooner does word of censure, a line of
dissent, an advisory suggestion, drop from
she pen of the editor, than some waiting,
hating and undermining ghoul of a copper
head, seizes hold upon it and parades it
before its readers with "see herel" ex-
clamation. "See here what one of Lin
coins organs and minions says" Moth
ing is oommoner than these tactics on the
part of the cOpperheads. From exchanges.
never otherwise quoted from by them, they
are always sure to Gull an editorial para
graph rejecting upon the conduct of anv
government officer or any phase of govern
meutpolicy. Theywho never yet have had
word of hearty cheer for the government
in its mighty struggle with the rebellion,
are only too glad to whitewash themselves
into credibility with their own readers. bv
the disloyal misappropriation of the sincere
and we'll affected criticisms of honest
minded patriots.
And this miSappropriation of their crit
leismS is why SO many loyal journals hes.
ltAte to speak out when they feel that they
should speak concerning the misdoines of
those who sustain official relations to the
government Were it other than the time
OF danger and rebellion that it is, these
journals would not hesitate. AS is thew
do. Our own notion has always been that
such hesitation was simply weak mis-
conception of the popular judgment and
very exaggerated notion of their own
power over that judgment. If Congress
does not do its duty: if the Administra-
ton members, along with other members,
sell their votes, for instance, to
the whisky spectators, why should
not the public learn that fact
through the columns ola true and faithful
journal. Why not let every tub stand on
its own bottom, and make corrnpt friends
OF the government answerable ON parsoD.l
and not political account to the public,
Such exposures, while they disgust decent
people with all time. serving pretensions of
fidelity to the government, do not Olsen
gage their minds from an adherence to
the great ends involved in the struggle for
the Union. Yet this is really the mistake
that some of our editorial friends stumble
upon, of not making every wrong, as we'll
ss wrong doer, answetable of itself and
himself to the public judgment, aud not
trusting that judgment to discriminate be-
tween the accidents and incidents of the
struggle for the Union and the struggle
;too(f 80