The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1864-09-16
The Tories of l776, and the 0opperheads
e. slI Of 1864. In l'


Mr.. Lorenzo Sabine has just published q
work entitled {" The Loyalists of tho Amer.
lean revolution" filter title would have
been Z" The Tories Of the Revolution" The
The preliminary historical essay is full of the
circumstances Of the present time. Tho
Christian Register says:
1t teaches that not single wrong exists
now but existed then to greater extent.
Do men now plot in secret against the gov
ernmcnt? Thirty thousand loyallst,. accord.
Ing to tho lowest Communication, then took up
arms against the government and South
Carolina forced Gov. Lincoln to surrender
her capital to the enemy IN 1880.
Are there men now to be found who sell to
the enemies of their country? Washington,
while his army was in rags and starving at
Valley Forge, writes to Col. Stewart, g. am
amazed ut the report you make Of the guam.
tity of provisions that goes daily into Phila.
delpbia (then occupied by the British ARMY
from tho county Of Bucks"
Do officers, through personal jeulousics or
o desire to shirk, now throw up their COM
missions? John Adams in TIT, writes:
81 nm worried to death with the wrangles
between military officers, high and low
They quarrel like cats and dogs. They worry
like mastiffs, scrambling for rank and pay
likes apes after nuts"
Are surgeons now dismissed for incompo.
tency or speculation? "Many of the sur
gcons," says Washington, are very great
rascals, countenancing tho men to sham com.
plants to exempt them from duty. and often
receiving bribcs to certify indispositions, with
view to procure discharges or furloushs." "
They also draw " medicines and stores In the
most proluse and extravagant manner for
private purposes. .i'.
Have VIC bounty iumpcrs?" So had
our fathers. Men enlisted only to get their
thousand dollars, and then desert. a thou
sand men after they had Voluntarily enlisted,
perjurcd themselves in order to escape the
service. Many deserters rc.cnlsted under
now recruiting officers. II was no uncom-
mon thing Tor them to desert by the twenty
and thirty at time.
Havo we now shoddy contractors who fat
ten on fraud. and demasogues who foment
strife? Read Washins.on's picture Of his
tino. ~ should in one word say that idle.
ness, dissipation and extravaganza, seem to
have laid fast hold of most that spccula.
tim. pecuation. and nm Unsuitable thirst for
riches. seem to have got the better of every
order of men, and that party disputes and
personal quarrels are the great business Of
the day."
There is, in fact, no possible discourage.
mcns now encountered by American patri.
OTIS. but existed in a greater degree during
the Revolution, and yet our fathers tri-
umphed over all of them.
We do not press this subject on our read.
crs to excuse any rascality or treason, but to
show that our fathers had to deal with tho
same difficulties which confront us. And
we would warn those men who now plot
against the government, that their names, in
company with their companions OF tho Rev
olution. will go down to postcrity covered
with iniamy.
We hope those who are inclined to exag-
geratc the present evils by falsc contrasts
with the past. will read the closing chap
ter of Mr.. Sabinc's Historical Essay, for, to
use his owr language, 1t may do some
thing to correct the exaggerated ind gloomy
views which are often taken OF the degener-
ate spirit of the present times, founded on
rroneons, because on u partial, estimate Of
the virtues Of u by-gone age"