The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-07-31
The Practical Statesmanship OF Con-
serVatism.

THERE are no men who m axe louder pretensions
to practical stdtesmdnshlp than our self-stvled
conservatives" Their special boast is that
they are not abstractionists. They have holy
horror of what they are pleased to call fanat-
cism. They profess to base their political action
on the broad grounds of eXpediency. They
never tire of denouncing those "impracticap
men who will insist on principle. Iu word,
they are, in their own estimate, the embodied
quntesseIc ce OF political wisdom.
Unfortunately, these pretensons, when
brought to the test OF facts, are dsspated into
very thin air. 1t is then found that the most
impracticable of all impracticables are these
very boosters. We at once discover that wisdom
will probably still remain In the world long after
the melancholy demise of these profound gen.
tIemen shall have taken place.
Real wisdom in politics, as in everything else,
is based upon truth. Practical statesmanship is
nothing more than the conduct OF affairs in the
State according to true principles. But your
selfsuffcient conservative prides himself upon
being no heoriSt or Notwithstanding by
these terms that he does not regulate his action
by abstract or theoretical truth. His idea OF
statesmanchip is to get along with things as they
come up by temporary make-shitt5 and eXpedi-
ents, and without any reference to the prlnci-
pies which lie at the bottom of affairs. Palia-
tives that alleviate for the moment are vigor-
ously applied, while the radical restorative that
would 60 to the root OF the difficulty is neg.
lected. Compromises that merely promise to
put off the evil day are resored to, as though no
hour of settlement would ever come. The inev-
table crash of bankruptcy ls postponed little
while by process of political shining, instead
of a resort to those fundamental reforms and re-
trenchments that would save the estate intact.
But the trouble is that these temporary expedi-
ents are soon, to use phrase of the times,
'played out" Our conservative quack keeps
on applying his palliative5 but meanwhile the
disease reaches its crisis and the patient dies on
his hands. Our political "lame duck" goes
shining around, paying three and four per cent
a month for temporary loans, until he goes to
protest, and the game is up. Principles will
work right on, whether our conservative skep.
tics believe it or not; and their petty make-shitts
and eXpedlencies are brushed aside, like so many
cobwebs, in the stately march of events.
Look back over the history of the country, and
see what these immensely practical men have
done for us. They wouldn't believe in the neces.
sary and eternal antagonism of freedom and
slavery. Instead of meeting the question man
fully and by wise and bold course settling it
ON the final basis O principle, they were forever
compromising fixing things up for to-day, care
less of what might be the result tomorrow
They always thought that all the trouble was
caused by a few fanatics" and ''extremistsn on
both sides, forgetful or ignorant of the fact
that slavery and freedom are themselves the
widest extremes-separated by an infnity of
distance. Well, they gave their practical states.
mansbip full swing. We had compromise ate
compromise, until it seemed as though the dig,
nifty and freedom of the nation would be wholly
compromised away; and what was the result?
Simply that the nation was plunged into civil
war; and the contest which, under truly wise
craftsmanship, would have been carried 10
bloo6less issue years before, had now TO be set
tied Cd the battlefield, at an infinite cost
treasure and life. Pretty dearly we paid for that
conservative whistle The practical statesman
ship of compromise and expediencies and make
shifts demonstrated itselft be very huge sham.
During the conduct of the war we had, unfor-
tunately full opportunity to witness further
exhibitions of conservative" wisdom. Every
sensible man saw from the start that slavery
was the one vital point OF the Rebellion. The
rugged common sense of the country at once
said, 'strikeit there" But no; our conservatives
held up their hands in pious horror. Slavery
was the ore thing sacred. 1t must not be
touched, or the Rebels would be erdSperated !
Our great conservative general FASTENED to pub
lish proclamation, that ii the slaves should rise
and strike for their liberty, he would put them
down with an 'iron hand" That was more than
he ever said OF did to their Rebel masters. Well,
the conservatives raised such a howl, that our
good President LINCOLN, who always desired to
have pretty unanimous public sentiment be-
hind him, waited AMI waited until two years OF
terrible and, much of the time, disastrous cam
paigning and fighting had been done, before he
struck that fatal blow which sealed the fate o
the Rebellion, at the same time that it secured
the freedom OF a race. 1t might Just as vel
have beer struck two years before, and would
have been, had it not been for the opposition o
the conservatives. This was another exhibition
of their ''prdctiod stdtesmanstip" and it cost ui
thousands upon thousands of lives and million,
OF money.
And 30 we might go through the whole history
ofthe war and we should find these conservative
constant dead-weight, and drag upon the Uniol
cause. Every one Of those great practical mea
sures which everybody now sees to have beer
necessary to the successful conduct Of the war
encountered their stubborn and unreasoninl
opposition. They were always just so far behind
Every advanced step that was taken had to b.
taken in sptte OF them. 80 B. W. N , w. .
Is IL strange that this class of politicians ar
now finding fault with the Union partyY Ooult
we exDect ANYTHING else from their nast oo,