The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-21


hell shall not prevail against them"
The odious character you have given Mr..
Stanton is not merely unjust in itself, but,
if uncontradicted, it must lead to other mis-
conceptions of him. Besides the offenses
against law, justice, humanity, and truth
which you have enumerated and assigned to
him for his glorifcation, he has been charged
with others which, if established, must ex-
pose him to universal execration. For in
stance, it is asserted that in the winter of
1861, when he was a member of the Cabinet,
he gave to Governor Brown, of Mississippi,
the most emphatic assurance of his convic-
ton that secession was right, and urged him
to Ego on" with it; that in 1862, while he
was writing the most affectionate letters to
General Mcclellan, he not only maligned him
at Washington, but malciously plotted his
defeat and the destruction of his army before
Richmond; that he refused in 1864 to receive
the Andersonville prisoners when offered
freely without ransom, exchange, or other
equivalent, though he knew that if left there
they must perish miserably for want of the
medicine and food which their captors had
not the means to give them. These accusa
tions, you are aware, have often been made,
with horrible aggravations which need not
repeat. His friends have denied and dis
credited them, mainly on the ground that his
character was wholly above such imputa-
tions. But you have done your full best
to make this defense worthless If he
wore the cloak of constitutional democracy
with us, and put on the livery of abolition
ism with you, why should he not assume the
garb of a secessionist with men of the South?
If he tried to get his friend Toucey kid
mapped, what moral principle could hinder
him from contriving the ruin of his friend
Mcclellan? If he craftily exerted himself at
your end of the avenue to bring on a bloody
civil war; which according to his own dsclara-
tions at our end was unlawful and causeless,
what crime against human life was he not
capable of committing If he willfully left
our 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 enslave-
ment of the Southern States, was not that
an act of Intense and abounding patriotism,
as well worthy of your praise as some others
for which you have bestowed it Those who
give credit to you will find it perfectly logical
to believe the worst that has ever been said
of him.
Sejanus has passed for about the worst
specimen of ministerial depravity whom we
have any account of; but nothing is re-
corded of him which might not be believed of
Stanton, if you are regarded as credible
authority; for you have made it labor of
love to paint him as master in the loath-
some arts of treachery, dissimulation,
and falsehood-unfaithful alike to private
friendship and to public duty. With the
talents he possessed, and the principles
you ascribe to him, he might have
made an invaluable Grand Vizier
TO Turkish Sultan, provided the
Sultan were in the prime of life and had no
powerful brother near the throne; but in q
free country such a character cannot be
thought of without disgust and abhorrence.
In your eyes the 'intense and abounding
patriotism" of Stanton is sufficient to atone
not only for all the faults he had, but for all
the offenses against law and morals which
the utmost fertility of your Imagination can
lay to his charge; and patriotism in your
vocabulary means devotion to the interests
of that political sect which has you for one of
\ its priests. This will not suffice. You can
not safely blacken man with one hand and
neutralize the effect by daubing on the white
wash of patriotism with the other. Patriot
ism, in its true sense, does indeed dignity
and adorn human nature. 1t is an exalted
and comprehensive species of charity, which
hides multitude of sins. The patriotism 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 Hampden,
life to the maintenance of legal justice; the
patriotism of Cato, who resisted the de-
structive madness of his countrymen, and
greatly fell with falling State; the patriot
ism OF Daniel O'Connell, who spent his time
and talents in constant efforts to relieve his
people from the CALLING yoke of clerical op
pression; the patriotism of the elder Pitt
who, speaking ia the cause of universal
liberty, loudly rejoiced that America had re-
sisted the exactions of tyrannical Parlia-
ment-to such patriotism some errors may be
pardoned. When men like these are found
to have committed fault, it is we'll that his
tory should deal with it tenderly,
sand, sad as angels for the good mans sin,
Weep to record and blush to give it in"
But the loyalty that tramples on law-the
| fidelity which stabs the liberties it ought to
protect-the public zeal which expends itself
in gratifying the yindictive or mercsnary
passions of one party by the unjust oppres
sion of another-this kind of patriotism has
| less claim to the admiration of the world. II
is q cheap thing, readily supplied to any fac
ton unprincipied enough to pay for it, 1t is
entirely too 'intense and abounding;' anG
its intensity and abundance are always
greatest in the worst times. 1t does
not sanctify evil deeds. If it be not
sin in itself, it certainly deserves to be
ranked among what DIR. Johnson calls ''the
rascally virtues"
Mr.. Stanton's reputation is just now in 9
critical condition. He took no care of il
while he lived, and he died, like Bacon, leav-
| ing vulnerable name ''to mems charitable
speeches" He needs more discriminating
eulogist than you, and far better defence
than am able to make have not attempted
to portray his good qualities; 1 intended only
to protest against your shameless parade Of
vices to which he was not addicted, and crimes