The Republican journal., 1870-08-04

ional limit of their session expired. The Governor
refused to reconvene them, and thus, by his own
fault and that of his friends, he was without the
ways and means to pay the current expenses of the
State. tie was wrong but his error was that of
violent partisan, not the crime Of corrupt magis-
trate. lie did not come to Washington with any
intention to relieve his necessities by pundering
the federal treasury. He made no proposition
either to Mr. Lincoln or Mr.. Stanton, that they or
either of them should become his accomplices in
any such infamous crime His promises was to de-
mand payment of debt due, and acknowledged to
be due, from the United States to the State Of In-
diana. The money had been appropriated by Con-
gress to pay it, and it paid accordtng to ldc!
self held up o as feon n confsssna his guilt but can
say, with some confidence, that if Mr.. Stanton were
alive he would call you to very severe reckoning.
What must amaze the readers of your article
more than anything else is the perfect sincerity of
the belief which YOU express, directly indirectly,
in every line of it, that the base misconduct you
tribute to MIR. Stanton is eminently praiseworthy.
You seem to be wholly unconscious of detaming
the man YOU meant to eulOgize But, If your facts
be accepted the honor and honesty OF them will
not be measured by your standards. IL may De true
that public opinion has OF late been sadly deDauch-
ed but the American people have not permanent
ly changed their code Of morality. Good faith be-
tween man and man, personal integrity, social n
deity, observance of Oaths and obedience 10 tne
laws which hold society together, have heretofore
been numbered among the virtues and they Will be
again. The government OF God has not been re-
| constructed. Fraud or force may abolish the Con
stitution, but the Ten Commandments and the
Golden Rule are beyond your reach; some persons
have faith enough to believe that even "the gates Of
hell shall not prevail against them"
The OdOus character you have given MIR. Stanton
is not merely unjust in itself, but, if uncontradcted
it must lead to other misconceptions of him. Be
sides the offences against law, justice, humanity
and truth which you have enumerated and assigned
to him for his gorifcation he has been charged
with others which, if established, must expose
him to universal eXecration. For instance, 1t Is
asserted that, in the winter of lS6l, when he was
Il member of the Cabinet he gave to Governor
| Brown of Mississippi the most emphatic assurance
of his conviction that secession was right, and
urged him to ''gO on" with it, that in 1862, while
he writing the most atlectonate letters to
General Mcclellan, he not only malgned him al
Washington but malicionsly plotted his defeat and
the destruction CT his army before Richmond that
he refused in 1864 to receive the Andersonyil6
prisoners when offered freely without ransom ak
change, other equivalent, though he knew Il
left there, they must perish for want OF medicine
and food which their captors had not the means to
give them. These accusations, you are aware,
have often been made, with horrible aggrayatiou,
which | need not repeat. Hi1 friends have de-
MED and discredited them, mainly on the ground
that his character was wholly above such imputa-
tions. But you have done your full best to mako
this defence worthless. If he wore the CLOAK OF
constitutional democracy with us. and put on tho
livery of aboonism with you, why should he not
assume the garb of secessiOnst with men of the
South! If he tried to get his friend Toucey Kid
mapped, what moral principle could hinder him
from contrying the rum of his friend McClellaut
If he Crafty eXered himself at your end Of the
avenue to bring on a bloody civil war, which ac
cordng to his own declarations at your end wss
unlawful and causeless, what crime against human
life was he not capable of committing! If he will
fully left prisoners to certain starvation, and
then managed falsely to throw the odium OF their
death upon the political enemies of the party In
power, and thus contributed very largely to the
, enslavement of the Southern States was not that
an act OF ''mtense and abounding patriotism
well worthy of your praise as some others for
which you have bestowed itY Those who give
credit to you will find it perfectly logical to believe
the worst that has ever been said of him.
Scjanus has passed for about the worst specimen
of ministerial depravity whom we have any account
of but nothing is recorded of him which might
not be believed of Stanton, if you regarded
credible authority; for you have made 1t labor OF
love to paint him MS master in the loathsOme arts
of treachery, discrimination and falsehoOd-unfath
fu alike to private friendship and to public duty
i With the talents he possessed and the principles
you aScrbe to him, he might have made an inYal-
: uble Grand NiZier to a Turkish Sultan-prOyided
the Sultan We're in the prime of life and had no
: powerful brother the throne; but in free
country such 4 character cannot be thought ot
without disgust and adherence.
If in your eyes the "intense and abOundiug
patriotism of Stanton is sufficient to atone not only
for all the faults he had, but for all the offences
against law and morals which the utmost fertility
of your imagination can lay to his charge; and
in the vocabulary, means devotion to the interests
of that political sect which has you for one of its
priests. This will not suffice. You cannot safely
: blacken a man with one hand and neutralize the
effect by daubing on the whitewash of patriotism
with the other Patriotism, in its true sense, does
D indeed dignity and atiorn human nature. Ii Is au
4 exalted and comprehensive species of charity.
which hides multitude of sins. The patriotlsm
of Washington, which laid broad and deep the
= foundation of free institutions and set the noble
example of implicit obedience to The laws; the
patriotism of John lIampden, who voluntarily de-
2 voted his fortune and his life to the mantainancr
of legal justice; the patriotism OF Cato who resist
ed the destructive madness of his countrymen and
greatly fell with falling State; the patriotism Of
: Daniel OConnell, who spent his time and talents
in constant efforts to relieve his people from the
calling yoke of clerical oppression; the patriotism
t of the elder Pitt. who, speaking in the cause OF
universal liberty, loudly rejoiced that America had
resisted the eXactions of tyrannfca Parliament;
f to such patr otsm some errors may be psrdoned.
When men like these are found TO have committed
fault, it is well that history should deal with II
tenderly,
And, sad angels for good mans sin,
Weep to record and blush to give it n.'
But the loyalty that tramples on law-the fidelity
which stabs the liberties 1t ought to protect-the
public zeal which expends itself in gratifying the
yindictve OF mercenary passions of one party by
the unjust oppression of another-this kind OF
patriotism has less claim to the admiration of the
world. 1t is cheap thing. readily supplied to any
fraction unprincipled enough TO pay for 1t. 1t is
entirely too ''ntense and aboundinS !" and its
tenSity and abundance are always greste.t in thr
worst times 1t does not sanctity evil deeds Hit
be not sin in itself, it certainly deserves TO be
ranked among what DR.. Johnson calls "the rsscslIy
yirueS
Mr. Stanton's reputation is Just now in critical
condition. He took Of it while he lived
and he died, like Bacon, leaving vulnerable name.
'to mems charitable speeches." He needs more
discriminating eulogist than you, and far better
!, defence than am able to make In not at
tempted to portray his good qualities; | intended
only to protest against your shameless parade Of
vices to which he was not addicted, and crimes
which he never committed; and this have done,
not only because it is just to him but necessary tor
the yindicai0n OF others. d. ). BLACh.
The Lindsay Hayward tragedy, in Chester,
Va has been briefly chroncled. From the
l Richmond papers we gather that Lindsay,
the dedeased, arrived in Chester from Rich
mond on Wednesday afternoon last and pro
ceeded to the bar-room of Capt Hayward,
which adoins the hotel kept by himself. The
; captain, after mixing liquor for Lindsay and
Il friend who accompanied him, joined them
and all three drank together. Hayward As
soon as they had drained their glasses re
: quested Lindsay to step into the hotel that
} Il gentleman was there who was desrous of
seeing him. The two went into the hotel
and up to the second floor, and Captain ii.