Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-02-26
PARTISAN INTOLERANCE-THE MA
RYLAND SENATORSHIP.
From the New York Time

The cause of loyalty is more injured than
helped by the refusal of the Senate to adj
nit Mr.. Thomas after the report of the Ju-
dietary Committee, that no adequate cause
exists for his exclusion. The zeal which
brands a man with disloyalty because his
opinions are not those of his accaser, may
be fashionable in certain circles but when
it undertakes to make the difference a
pretext for curtailing the choice of State,
and excluding one against whom no overt
act is alleged, it becomes a nuisance, from
which the party toleraiing it will be the
heaviest suffer.
The progress of the Wearisome debate
which ended in the vote of Wednesday has
shown to what lengths partisan folly is pre-
pared to 90 in search of excuses for pro-
ceeding not warranted by facts. At the
outset the charges against Mr.. Thomas
were many and grave. 1t was averred
that his disloyalty had assumed forms
that could not be misinterpreted,
and Justified denial of his
right to take the seat. These charges van
ished before the elaborate investigation of
the committee. One after another they
we're disproyed, until the whole thing
dwindled down 10 q complaint that Mr..
Thomas had behaved kindly to his own
son. He gave hundred dollars 30 his boy,
who had resolved to leave Baltimore for
the Rebel army Such is the circumstance
on which, notwithstanding the report of the
committee, the advocates of exclusion
placed their main reliance Such the in
cident which learned and patriotic Sena-
tors presented in all imaginable shapes as
proof of Mr. Thomas completely with the
rebellion.
Latterly the exposition assumed a wider
range. Mr.. Sumner cited English defini-
lions of treason, and attempted, by a resort
10 the doctrine of constructive treason, as ex-
pounded by English authorities, TO enforce
an Interpretation foreign TO the principles
and provisions of the American constitu-
ton. The argument may have satisfied Mr..
Sumner, but wedoubt whether it will recon
Gle the country to an importation of English
theory and practice in regard to treason.
Others, again, triedtO frame sort of treason
felony, BY which the assumed logical
| tendency of mans sympathies or views
should be considered conclusive against
him. And in this way the case Of Mr..
| Thomas has been made the occasion for
promnlgating principles and purposes, in
virtue of which it will be necessary only
| to show that Senator A or b holds princi-
| pies which c and the rest of the alphabet
consider hostile to the I" life of the nation
to yindicate the exclusion of the
minority from the Chamber. Indeed
if the tyrannicai spirit which in the
name of loyalty opposed the admission OF
| Mr.. Thomas is sufficiently strong to accom-
| plish its purpose, We think that it will be
constrained, by proper respect for con
sistency, TO purge the Senate OF all who are
| guilty of cherishing Democratic sympa
| thies. There will be no justice in the
| punishment Of Mr.. Thomas if Senators
| holding views identical with his are al
lowed to retain their seats.
| Whether the temper now at work b'
thus fully developed or not its exercise
| will not be generally regarded in a ligh
favorable to the motives Ofthoss who cult
waite it, Hood has reminded us that 9Th
daw is not religious bird because it erie
cav from church steeple )" aud We ap
| prehend that the extremists who unde
the pretense of loyalty seek TO create test
of qualification unknown both to the con
stitution and law, will not thereby secur
canonization as loyalists or patriots. Al
but those who read through the same specta
Giles will trace in this dispute about MI
Thomas nothing more than a vulgar an
selfish psrtisansh;P. In this sense its foil
is as striking as its intolerance. For tn
time will probably come when the baianc
Of power viii pass into other hands, an
then, perhaps, the pretences piled so boldl
by Radical Senators wall return 10 plagu
| their inyentors