Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-10-06
CONSERVATIVE NONSENSE.

=" s"S
blunder in calculating to get into power
by the advocacy of apolicy which will be
acceptable to those who have lately been
in rebellion against the Government. 1t
is not merely a blunder in the light of that
principle which afirms that every action
is q mistake which is not in itself strictly
but it is also a blunder in that sell
fish view of action which approves or con-
dennis alone upon the probability of sue
cess or failure.
There is no question in the minds Of
those who really love the country and put
its interests before their individual inte-
rests, that those who have been in rebel
lion will be governed BY feelings of re-
and will generally prefer q policy
inimical to the general good, and just so
far as public men shape their measures to
secure their approval they will be pander-
ing to the feeling which actuated the enc
my in the field against the Government.
In every moral and patriotic sense this
would be a most prodigious blunder, be-
cause it would be putting in danger the
institutions OF the country for the triumph
of party or the temporary possession Of
public office. Yet there are men enough
to take this course as can be seen by the
of the Democratic party, the
only policy of which seems to be to get
the control of the Government by the aid
of the rebels of the South. The very
worst thing that could befall these men as
well as the country would be their success.
But there is no danger of their succeeding.
A clearer case of ambition Ger leaping
itself has not yet occurred in history than
that which will be afforded by those who
count upon getting into power by the aid
Of the rebels. There are several reasons
either of which alone might be depended
upon as sufficient grounds for such a be-
lief, while all together make it a matter of
absolute certainty. The first is the fact
that in bidding for the support of the dis
loyal, the loyal who have expected to re-
organize and eventually control the party,
will be driven out of it. 1t is doubtless
true that thousands who have acted with
the Union party intended to 90 back into
the Democratic party when the war was
over and by resembling and denouncing
the measures advocated by it during the
war, make it again the leading party Of
the country. If they had succeeded in
doing this, and the old members Of the
organization had held. on, there is little
doubt that the project would have been
successful in name, while in point of fact,
one branch Of the Union party would have
defeated the other. But they could not
do this because the feeling of those who
have controlled the party was in favor Of
an alliance with the rebels, while they
thought that by the aid of a united South
they would get enough States in the North
to obtain control of the Government.
With the dilemma before them of winning
back the Union men of the North, or to
get the hearty support of the secession
element in the South, they chose the latter
under the impression that it would pay
the best. Therefore the Union men at the
North, the Republicans, are more united
and stronger than they have been at any
time during the war.
But the second reason for prophesying
their failure in adopting this policy, Is no
less important than the first. The teach
ings Of history are uniform that those who
have sought the overthrow of a Govern
ment by force, and failed, have never after
become leading citizens in it, although all
disabilities growing out of their curse
have been removed. A variety of causes
exis, for this fact. They must always be,
in some degree, objects of distrust to the
majority Of their countrymen, and al
though their local popularity may be suf-
fcient to secure them place, it would be
in the main, IN empty honor. Their in
Auence would undoubtedly be impaired
BY the remembrance Of their position in
the past, and their advocacy Of a measure
would be more to its detriment than to its
advantage in a body composed mainly Of
loyal men. This fact with the further
one that the great majority of men who
have suffered a humiliating failure are
soured toward everything connected di-
rectly or remotely with the causes of
failure, lead them to consider themselves
separate and apart from the community in
which they live, if it does not drive them
to emigration. The men of the Common
wealth who survived the restoration Of
Charles II either lived in a voluntary re-
TRACY or left England to try their fortunes
in other lands. At the close Of the Revo-
lutionary war the tories who had the
means left by thousands and settled in
the British colonies or West Indies. Nova
Scotia and the adjacent islands and New
Brunswick were largely settled by that
class Of persons, and their descendants are
still among the most bitter enemies of the
United States. The Southern rebels will
form no exception to this rule. Those
who were most heartily engaged in the
rebellion, and controlled popular opinion,
will exile themselves. Mexico, the West
Indies and the States of South America
will afford them refuge from the daily
spectacle Of the blessings conferred upon
the country by the defeat of their unhal-
lowed schemes, although it is to be hoped
that they may never escape from the pangs