New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-01-26
THIS IND THAT TOGETHER.

and emphatic attention.
| --------------------
THIS IND THAT TOGETHER
Two items of intelligence recently attracted
| our notice. BY the first wo were informed
that Mr.. John c. Breckenridge, a person not
unknown to fame or to infamy, as the reader
nleases. having been washed white by Presi-
! DENTAL proclamation, will soon he able to re-
turn to Kentucky without seeing in every
bush an officer Now, the propriety or justice
or expediency of politically rehabtating this
wanderer and of forgiylng his political crimes,
is one which we do not propose to discuss.
The deed is done; the man is pardoned; but
we must insist that the absolution covers the
person simply, and not the sin; that what was
treason before, is treason now; and that OF tins
| Mr.. Breckenridge is verify guilty. That Is
| truth which it is not in the power OF Mr. Andy
! johnson or of any other pOtentatc TO proclaim
! away proclaim he never so sOnOrOusly. The
! important fact, however is that a great many
people in Louisville think, or pretend to think,
! Mr.. Breckenridge a martyr, and are preparing,
as we are informed by the newspapers of that
| vicinage, to give the returned fugitive n right
royal reception He is to be dined and wned,
hailed and paraded, fcted and caressed. lie Is
to be received not as an obliged, but an in
jured individual, TO whom but a tardy and in
complete justice has been rendered. Now if,
in casting off his allegiance, Mr.. Breckenridge
thought that he was doing right, Of coure
batteries and public attentions like these will
simply stimulate him. should the least oppor-
tunity offer TO do right after his own notion
again-Oaths being nothing but wind, and 10y
| atty no better than an old cloak TO be worn
or discarded at pleasure. Such mistake, to
use an exceedingly gcntcel word, we
! think it is hardly for the benefit of
the Republic TO encourage in any man,
! however affcctiOnatey he may be re-
garded 10y the inhabitants of Louisville Ky.
! 1t il not, nor it cannot come TO good. We must
pardon, we must cOnciliate, we must forgive;
but We are not called upon to stultify ourselves,
to cOnfound oil the laws of public duty, to
sweep away all the landmarks of official re-
| sponsbity, and to honor those who were un-
| faithful Just as we honor those who were faith
full found. The Prodigal Son upon his return,
it is true, was kindly and even aflectionatcly
received but while his respected parent be-
slowed upon him the clothes and the calf, no
! approval was expressed Of tho outrageous con-
| duct of the young man. lie was welcomed
because he had repented, and not because he
| had been living loosely with the harlots. If it
be Mr.. Brecknridge's political harlOty which
| is pleasing in the sight of his Louisville admi-
rers, then we say that their proposed ovation
is mischievous. Finally, if, in running after
| strange political gods, Mr.. Breckenridge now
thinks that he acted, we will not say unright-
eously, but injudiciously, then it i'll becomes
him to obtrude himself upon the public atten-
ton, or even to permit himself to be paraded
as a sufferer for the sake of conscience.
These considerations at the present moment
are as far as possible from being unimpOrtant
| Quite recently, in the Senate, Mr.. Freling-
| huysen presented memorial from certain cti-
zens of Georgia, in which they set forth that
it was hardly possible for an avOwed Union
| man to live in the rural districts of that State
They say if Loyalists arc murdered that it is next
to impossible to bring the murderers to justice /;
that intimidation of voters is constantly re-
sorted to- and generally the old Secession
spirit is represented TO be rampant and dan
gerous. There may be only little Of the old
| Secession leaven left, but there is enough in
certain localities to leayen the whole lump.
This inveterate spirit of treason is not by any
means confined to Georgia and wherever it
exists, while we can safely say that we fear
from it no irremediable damage, we are sure
that it must be delaying that era of peace,
good will, and perfect union, upon which the
future prosperity of the Republic depends.
Everything which in the remOtest degree en-
courages this pernicious adherence, even theo-
retically, to what is called " The Lost Cause
should be discouraged or avoided, because
there never really was any Cause" and if
there had been, it is now so irretrievably lost
that it is not worth weeping for, and should, so
far as possible pass from the memories of man
kind, or be retained there only for the sake
Of warning. We are not familiar with the
private views of Mr.. Breckenridge; but, taking
it for granted that he is DESTROYS of peace and
permanent adjustment, he must see, unless he
is stone blind, that it i'll becomes him to re-
ceive extraordinary honOrs as Secession
leader while he is at the same time determined
upon fidelity to the Union. If he be DESTROYS
of preserving even q show of consistency, the
idle and purpOseess batteries which are pre-
pairing for him can be nothing but distasteful,
and he will comprehend and act upon the COM
prehensiOn, that it is a little too early for him
again to assume so much as u quasi public posi-