Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1866-02-24
THE GREAT CRISIS IN POLITICAL
AFFAIRS.

and the denunciations of it and the President
by leading Republicans; the second, the speech
of the President from the portals of the White
House to the populace who made demon
stration at that point of encouragement and
support. And although much stress is laid
upon the assumption-that the time, matter
and manner, of the speech, were all objection.
able, yet, as the President did not institute
this method of communicating directly with
the masses; and again, as he had been assailed
previously without stint, nsercilessly, by those
also bound by their high official positions to
observe the prophecies, he must not be harshly
Judged by those who profess a desire to Go
justice to all concerned.
Let us note and bear in mind, to begin with,
that however the late message may have dis
appointed those whose special policy was
overruled, yet, that it was eminently dignifed
and respectful in style towards those addressed;
that with rare moderation and minuteness it
endeavored to give a reason for every ground
of dissent; and that if as we judge the every
day events of life, any have incurred grave re-
sponsibility, or censure, it must be those who
struck the first 6loov-led off as angry assail-
ants. Challenged thus, and previously again and
again, and with the opportunity fortuitously
given him to turn upon those who were vim
dictively following him up, was not in human
nature, not even in Presidential human ma
ture, not to turn upon the aggressors, and in
dignantly repel the charges so fercely and
recklessly fung.upon him, in the aspersion of
his motives.
Let it be noted, further that in estimating
all this, we have to consider the relative
standing of assaiant and repellant of the as
sault, on the score of demonstrated patriotism
of past devotion to the Union. Tried by
this standard, not one of the men so swift to
accuse him, so ready to impeach his good in
tentions haye-to say the least of it-any ad
vantage over him. In the direst peris of the
terrible revolution just past, they were pa
triotic from safe distance; they were not be-
lcaguered by armed hosts; they were not
driven to peril life and all else, as he was, for
months and years, finally to succeed one whose
blood, as martyr to the Union cause, stained
luc OlICldl lCSluGnCG III Which, Ic lOOh up LIS
abode, making him altogether uncertain
whether the fate of his lamented predecessor
might not speedily be his own. No, none of
this; and therefore it is the duty of the Ameri-
can people, to resent aspersions recklessly
flung upon one of the most efficient and illus
trious defenders of the Union, recognized as
such not only in this, but in all other lands
where the tale of our troubles has reached.
So much for this passage at arms, the time and
the manner of it; and now for the matter of
it, and the consequences Of it to the President
and to the country.
Let it be observed that no speech hitherto
made by the President in reference to the re-
bellion, could more Enthusiastically express his
opposition to and horror of treason and its
consequences, than this uery speech, by many,
hastily condemned as afording grounds for
desertion of the President And what more
natural and proper, too, in dealing with charges
made against himself, than that he should
proudly assert the unity of his past record, his
consistency as a defender of the Union from
the days of Andrew jackson down to the
presant time However severe it may be upon
those who have done what they could to pro-
woke it, it is a thorough Union mterance, so
bold, so unmistakabIe, that it would seem
as if he who proposes to himself to take sides
against the President, must have made up his
mind previously, and for other reasons, to do
so. Men in great emergencies of this kind, do
not go off on matters of mere taste; but upon
matters Of principle; and he who could endorse
the past course of the President and his dec
larations in the veto message, yet fall out with
him because of this speech, would hardly be
valued by him as that supporter men need in
the difficult positions he has been compelled to
occupy.
Again: those who hastily conclude, or fan
cy, that what has happened is going to
weaken the President with the nation, has
studied the tendencies of popular sentiment
and popular movements tovery little purpose.
1.-THE American people value any character
istic whatever more than another in public
man, it is boldness; frmness; the determine
ton not to be rode over tamely by those who
may array themselves in antagonism to him.
1t was this, more than aught else that made
President Jackson what he became; and the
public may rest assured-that an occasion SO
thoroughly American as was the late demon
stration at Washington when the President
turned upon his foes at last to pay them off in
their own coin, will enlist the applause and
the sympathy of the millions, strengthening
his hands, and making him still more formida-
BILE as leader of the people. The whole
Anglo Saxon race value 'pluck," ''spunk,"
or whatever may express that readiness to do
battle the President has at last shown. after
constituting himself for nearly twelve months
model of patience in his intercourse with
friend and foe; and no worse policy could
have been hit upon by Messrs. Sumner, Ste
vens and others, than to have persisted in
goading to the last limit one of his well known
temperament and antecedents; one, who if
finally aroused, was sure to turn upon them
with power and determination greater than
their own.
The nation cannot afford to see him Sacri-
feed IN any such conflict and what is more,
there is no danger of its coming to that. fhe
cannot fight his own battles, there has never
been man in the Presidential chair who
could. He has courage, sagacity, selfpoise,
promptness; and his antagonists may rest as
sured, will not easily be driven from his course.
Called to his high position fortuitously, he has
never had the cordial support and sympathy
in his terribly trying position he should have
had; and left largely to find his own supports,
he has borne himself in a manner to win the
confidence of the American people. Charged
with design to betray the Union men of the
South, right On the heels of his declaration to
the Virginia delegation that if there were but
''Gve thousand loyal men in that State they
were the ones who should govern it, there was
no occasion to furiously impeach his political
integrity; to denounce him with the indecent
haste exhibited by his assailants. To use an
expression current on the Mississippi river
upon occasion-Sumner, Stevens and COM
pany shave run against snag and are not
insured;" fact they have doubtless realized
by this time.
A few words in conclusion. The time mov
have come to found party on broader basis:
one including every man having in his bosom
80 &c l.