The New York herald., 1871-02-06
Boutwell's PoIicy-Im Cruelty and Folly.

may not be obvious to the masses of the Ameri-
can people, but they all vince and suffer under
Its unparalleled heartlessness and cruelty. 1t
is an old and trite saying that corporate bodies
have no souls, but it is something new to find
statesmen entrusted with the direction of pub
lie affairs losing sight Of all feeling of humanity
or regard for the happiness and comforts Of
the present generation in perhaps honest
but blind pursuit Of policy which is paralyz-
ing the sinews OF industry throughout the
whole country. Even if Mr. Boutwells policy
was the true one, which it is not he should
remember the axiom Of Solon-ssYou cannot
give people the best laws, but the best they
can bear"
Mr.. Boutwell, should learn that there is a
vast difference between an enlightened states
man and mere heartless, hard politician.
The former Identifies himself with the feelings,
the thoughts, the sufferings and the hopes of
the people; the latter moves only in the
vicious mechanism of party the one strives
to promote the happiness and prosperity of
the surging mass of humanity styled the
peoples. the other acts only for his party, and
If he makes what may seem triumph
for hard abstract party principle, thinks
nothing OF the suffering by which it is secured.
That Mr.. Boutwell, belongs to this latter class
and not to that of the full-souled, large-viewed
statesmen, must be manifest to the whole coun-
try. His vision is bounded by one idea, beyond
which he can neither see nor feel-''pay off the
public debt" He simply says to his party, eff
after four years We can tell the people we have
paid off large portion of the public debt we
can secure new lease Of power until 1876.
No matter what sins may be laid at the door
Of the administration this, my financial policy,
will cover them ALL" But instead Of hailing
this policy as blessing, the American people,
as Mr.. Boutwell, will find, are beginning to
regard it as curse, and instead Of imparting
fresh life, if persevered in, it will bring speedy
death to the republican party.
What are the facts? From 1861 to 1865
vast masses of the American people sacrificed
their property and lives in the war for the pre-
servation Of the Union. The war came to a
close, but not the sacrifices. In the general
imitation of the prices of all the necessaries and
comforts of life, in the oppressive taxation
imposed on even the smallest resources of
enjoyment, in the impulse which war contracts
gave to shoddy, pretension and fraud in the
demoralzing practices it engendered and the
burdens it imposed, no generation has ever
been subjected to so many gallings, hardships
and shocking extortions as the present gene
ration Of Americans who bore the brunt Of the
civil war and by the most unparalleled sacri-
fees brought it to triumphant close. One
would almost imagine from the iniquities
fostered on every side among peculators, spec
ulators and shoddy contractors and the oppres-
sive taxes imposed by Congress upon the
people that they were the rebels, and were
to be punished during their natural lives for
the heroic devotion they displayed towards
their country.
Surely if vindictive passions still live in the
hearts of the leaders of the Southern rebellion
they must be fully gratifed by the sight of the
masses of the Northern people bowed down
under crushing load of taxation, their
foreign commerce destroyed and the American
flag swept from the seas, while the Southern
States, which depend less on industry and
commerce than on agriculture, are steadily
progressing in the work of regeneration. But
Mr.. Boutwclls callousness seems as great as
his statesmanlike genius is small. 1t matters
not, apparently, to him that that generation
which contributed its blood and treasure for
the country's life, should be prostrated by the
demoralizations and taxation the war has pro-
duced, SO long as in 1872 he may boast of the
wonders he performed in reducing the public
debt. In Europe at the close of great wars.
as at present of that between France and Ger
many, the victorious party always exacts from
the defeated indemnity for expenditure and
loss. But our war being a civil one, it was
deemed more magnanimous to throw the bur-
den mainly on the victors, who were supposed
to be able to bear it best 1t may be that in
such matters magnanimity, like charity, had
better begin at home but at all events, the
readiness with which the North accepted the
burden should entitle it not only to justice,
but even to tenderness in the measure of its in
Fiction. Let Mr.. Boutwell, look to the example
of all other countries, if he can be induced for
a moment to elevate his vision. What would
have been thought of the statesman in the time
of Pitt who should have proposed to make the
generation of Engshmen which battled against
the first Napoleon assume the public debt?
The great object of England's statesmen was
to maintain first and before all things her CON-
merce and her industry, the security for the
debt, and to distribute the debt over a number
of future generations in the manner best cal
cnlated to effect this object If such policy
was good for indebtedness incurred in foreign
wars, the wisdom Of which might be disputed
by after generations, how much more power
full in regard to war for the preservation of