Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-09-15
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE.
THE PoRTENToUs THREAT.

effect that, in the event of Gen. McClellan's
election the country would not be safe In the
hands of the present Administration during the
interval which must elapse before the new admin
istration can constitutionay come into power"
has produced an impression on the public mind
as painful as it is profound.
We do not know that we have ever read any thing
in the history of politics calculated to startle
and alarm the friends of constitutional liberty than
this deliberate menace held in terror over the
heads of the people to deter them from the free
exercise of their conscientious opinions in the i'm
pending election. When it first met our eye in
the report of Mr.. Stewards speech we almost re-
fused to believe the evidence of our of sight,
and we read again and again the paragraph in
which this intimation is given lest we might have
possibly misconceived its meaning. But the Ian
guage is clear and unmistakable. 1t admits OF no
doubt and no cavil We once more reproduce its
terms for the cool inspection of the reader Mr..
Seward says
II such thing could happen that the Chicago cand
date nominated upon such agreement should be elected
President of the United States the first Tuesday Of
November next WHO CAN voUCH FOR THE SAFETY OF
THE COUNTRY AGAINST THE REBELS DURING THE IN
TERvAL WHICH MUST ELAPsE BEFORE THE NEW AID
MINI .TRATIoN CAN CoNsTrTUTIoNALLY COME INTO
PowER3 1t seems to that such election WOULD
TEND QuAILY TO DEMoRALlZE THE UNION and 10 an
Due the insurgents 10 their efforts for as destrnc-
tion"
This language is nothing more nor less than a
threat that if the people, in the exercise of their
free choice, shall declare their preference for Gen.
Mcclellan over Mr.. Lincoln in the approaching
election, the latter will longer have the will or
ability to preserve the safety of Government
whose honors and emoluments he is no longer to
enjoy A more astounding statement never fell
from the lips Of any man in any age Of the world,
and if such statement, coming from such source,
does not open the eyes of the people to clear
perception of the maxims on which the Govern
ment is at present administered, it can only be
because they are smitten with judicial blindness.
In the last Presidential election there was pro-
baby no one thing which lent more vigor and de-
termination to the adherents of Mr.. Lincoln than
the standing menace of certain Southern politi
clans that in the event of his election they would
proceed to dissolve the Union. The spirit of the
North was stirred and its pride wounded by this
appeal addressed to the fears rather than to the
judgment of the people. What, then, must be the
feeling of the same people when they are deliber-
ately informed to-day by the Premier of the pre-
sent Administration, that, in venturing to vote
against Mr.. Lincoln's retention of power after the
4th of March next, they must first consider this
nonentvue q~s.tinn. {" H. ~. evrs,a for s'sc
SAFETY of the country against The rebels during Tho
internal achich must etopse before the neW admin
istration can constitutionally come into powsr ?"
This, be it observed, is no question of ours. We
should never have thought Of raising it. Even if
our opinion of the "personal ambition" Of Mr..
Lincoln was equal to that which Mr.. Senator Wade
and Mr. Representative Davis do not hesitate to
impute to him in the face of the country, should
not have conceived it possible that any question
could arise as to the loyalty of Mr.. Lincolns de-
votion to the Union and the Constitution during
the interval specified But Mr.. Seward plainly
and distinctly puts thi, portenous question before
the country. And VIC wish it to be perceived that
1t is question which solely concerns the integrity
and the honor of the Administration. 1t doe, not
at all relate to the comparative ability of the Ad
ministraton to preserve the safety of the country
IN the event suggested any more than before it,
Tor the military power Of the Government in the
Wv N"9O VIII NC tue same as IN the 0tner. More
over, since We are now assured that the military
power OF the insurgents is efectualy broken, it
follows that nothing but positive and wilful treach-
cry can betIay the cause Of the country into the
hands of the insurgents during the period IS to
which Mr.. Seward raises this question in the minds
Of the people. Does he suppose that the Ameii-
can people are likely to be proptiated towards an
Administration respecting which such derogatory
suspicious excited by it, most distinguished
spokesman-suspicions which its most distrustful
opponent could not have thought of cherishing
until they were suggested by this most untoward
1ntimationf Or does he suppose that tho Amer-
can people will be frightened from their propriety
by this tbreat-insomueh that they will vote to con-
tinuc the power Of the Union in the hands of its
present dsposers lest peradvcnturc, if that power
DC Withdrawn in constitutional way by the soycr-
cign VIII Of The people, its present possessor,, in
their spite and passions may betray it with the Union
and Constitution into the hands Of the enemy? No,
W. seward, the people may not think highly Of
Mr.. Lincoln capacity administrative skill, but
they are not quite prepared to suspect him Of thi,
tremendous treason They will, therefore, vote ac-
cording to the dictates Of their own undergraduates
and consccnces, unawcd by the threats as we