New-York tribune., 1874-04-27


Your friends were traitors and Clymer
responded "Your friends are thieves al.
though nobody quite believed either OIL
them, the latter hit was considered the
timelier one. SO when Mr.. Starkweather anu
Mr. Brown got to reading each others oiu
letters, it was felt insensiby that it wos less
effective to say Congressman once syn'p"
thized with the Rebellion than to say that ne
was shady partner of the spoilers Oh WASH.
;ngton. The result of these squabDles must
have convinced any thoughtful ponticnan "ho
listened TO them that it is not going 10 DC
enough hereafter to silence an oppoheh. Who
accuses Won of dishonesty to reply by an IN
sinuation that his heart was not IN the Tish'
place in 1850. ,;eoo,;or
Tbero are two reasons for this modincatioh
of public sentiment, the one gehera' anu '"o
other special. The crime of treason Is un-
ouestionably more heinous than that OF lar
ceny. and in times of public peril 1t Is always
90 considered and punished But the memory
of it does not remain so long as that OF other
crimes and does not inhict such stain upon
the traitor and bis family. Among men OF
our race. clemency is universal in matters
Of politics. This is the general fact. The
one that more especially applies to us is that
the charge of treason has been too much used
of late years in the speeches of our orators,
and has lost much of its effect in that way
Besides, it has come to lack what the French
journalists call "actuality." 1t has ceased, we
may say, to be newsy. The war is over. No
one dreams of another armed instruction
from the soldiers of the late Confederacy.
Some of the Administration orators, two years
ago, had sufficient contempt for the intelli-
gence Of their audiences to say that
Mr. Greeley's election would revive the
Confederacy, but they said it with tongue in
cheek, and would not repeat it now. There Is
no longer any danger from secession, and so
the public Indignation, which is always rather
practical in its manifestations, seeks for some
nearer and more threatening evil to act
against. Political corruption occupies the
conspicuous place to-day which Secession oc-
cupied thirteen years ago, and you cannot
any longer make loyalty as live an issue as
honesty.
Political loyalty has had its day and has
done tremendous service both for good and
i'll. 1t is doubtful if the nation could have
lived through the terrible crisis which fol-
lowed the inauguration of Lincoln, II 1t had
not been for that ardent and intolerant
patriotism which subordinated everything to
itself. In those days, there was no crime to
be compared with political unsoundness. We
are not people who hang or gullotine our
dsaffected citizens, but the guilt Of iacjrisme
was never moro severely regarded in 1913, than
that of opposing tho war in '63. This
passionate and credulous patriotism lasted as
4 X
| perhaps have been well for us if it had lasted
no longer. For from that day to this, it has
been trained and drilled to do the work of as
bad breed of politicians as history describes.
Loyalty to the flag and loyalty to the Repub-
lcan party were, during the war, one and the
same thing; and when the war ended, it was not
Immediately possible to separate them. The
people went on voting the Republican ticket,
without caring who was on it, and, as will al
ways happen in such cases, the tickets became
crowded with the men who knew
just enough to get on them, and who
felt that patriotism was a much better
| thing for voters than for politicians.
The most innocent tendencies and sentiments
were forced to do the menial work OF corrupt
inrigues. The harmless social organizations
of returned soldiers in Illinois made Logan q
Senator, and gave to Oglesby the place va
Gated by Trumbull. 1t was not always the
soldiers who profted by their own clannish-
ness. The war spirit in this State made Muir
ply and in Massachusetts made Butler, neither
of whom can well be called military man.
While such were the effects in the North,
where society had suffered no disorganization,
what could we expect to grow out of chaos in
the South but an order of things worse than
chaos, because bereft of hOpe1
1t is therefore natural result of seeing
thieves thriving by the loyalty of voters, that
public sentiment is becoming nervous about
accepting politicians merely upon their pro-
fessions of devotion to the American flag.
This devotion is an excellent thing at all times,
and especially when 1t is needed. But just
now dose of honesty is more required by the
condition of the country. Aud 1t is highly
probable that it will be more damaging to
candidate in the coming elections to be sus-
pected thief than to be proved Copper
head.