The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-08-20

''the fierce Hun" and Alaric, "the Gothic
monster" Witness his words. Does the
Argus endorse them?
Sir, will not here pause to dwell in detail
on the usages of civilized nations III conduct
ing civilized warfare. But L challenge that
reverend chronicler of the grave, Whatever
its sacred or profane records, to produce a
parallel to the spirit and temper with which
the party now in power has conducted the aw-
full struggle in which we are now engaged.
The boundaries of civilization 1T Is true,
as / have stated, are barren of any precedents
for their couduct, but the dark regions OF bar
barism furnish here and there CHASTITY ana
horrible example of fury, hate, and revenge,
which is now followed by the Executive and
his partisan supporters. Demons have occa-
sionally in the mysterious providence OF God,
visited the earth in the guise OF men, to prey
upon the human species from the mere love OF
slaughter and misery. Alaric, the Gothic
monster, never treated with his enemies, never
negotiated for peace. The dying groan OF a
soldier on the field, the bitter wall OF the wild
ow and the choking sob of the orphan at
home were equally music in his ear Attlla,
the fierce Hun, known in history as the scourge
of God, never sent nor received commissions to
discuss and allay the causes of war. He paint
ed upon his banners the sword, and the sword
alone, and proclaimed that by that sign, and
it alone he would conquer. GenghlS Khan
and Tamerlane preserved by the pen OF the
historian for universal execration, found no
pursuit so pleasant as calling for more men,
more men, more men for the harvest OF death,
and like our present executive snuffing with
jests and ribaldry the warm taint OF blood on
every gale. The patriots who surrounded
these barbarian chiefs spurned with eager IN
dignation all proffers of mediation, all efforts
at compromise, all talk of negotiation, Just as
do now the patriots who are seated on the west
side of this Chamber, and who pay court for
contracts at the west end of the avenue. Nor
did Hyder Ali, that more modern incarnation
of unconditional eXterminating war, regard
with favor the suggestions OF peace, when
pausing for a moment-like a cloud OF wrath
ON the brow of the mountain, he swept down
over the plains of the Carnatic, and smote
them with blasts of fire, with indiscriminate
Woe
Undoubtedly Mr.. Voorhees, hated Presi-
dent Lincoln with a more bitter hatred than
he entertained for any other man III the
country. Second on his list was the clergy
whose great offence in Mr.. Voorhees, eyes
was that they preached that treason was a
crime and prayed for the salvation OF their
country. Listen, Rev. Gilbert De La Matyr,
and hear what one of the leaders of the par
ty in which you are now training thought OF
you in 1864. Let the argus, which has been
much stirred up of late by an alleged insult
to clergyman, listen too and see If it can
consistently recommend Mr. Voorhees, to the
church-going people Of Maine:
But there is another class who preside over
the ministrations of this inspired Book, and
who mingle with their offerings to God the
poison of political preiudices, before whom the
cause of humanity union and peace need not
be presented. That large portion of the clergy
of the land who, claiming to be the chosen
agents of the merciful Redeemer, fill the cup
of his sacrament with rancor and vengeance,
hear none of the sweet, angelic tones which
placed every page of His gospel in favor OF that
individual and national charity which sutfereth
long and is kind. They teach their fiocKs no
longer to hunger and thirst after Righteousness,
but to hunger and thirst for the blood of their
enemies. They ascend the sacred desk no
more to pray that gentle peace like the dews
of heaven may descend upon our wounded and
distracted enemy, but to declaim in warllke
strains in the face of the Almighty upon the
delight which they feel in the infiiction of hu-
man agony. They have reversed the order OF
the millennium which the Christian world has
looked forward to since the days of the proph-
cts. The one which they hail in fond antici-
patton is that in which every ploughshare shall
become sword, and every pruning hook a
spear; in which CONSUMPTION, slaughter, and
taxation shall go hand in hand; when the
keepers of the house shall tremble, and the
strong men snail bow themselves, and the
grinders cease because they are few, and those
that look out of the windows be darkened, and
the doors shall be shut in the streets when the
sound of the grinding is low" "because man
eoeth to his long home and the mourners &C
around the Streets TO these men much OF
the sorrow which now overshadows our homes
is properly attributable. They have been, and
are to-day the foremost enemies of domestic
tranquility. Agitation on matters pertaining
to civil government has been their element.
Sedition against laws which conflict with theiT
ignorant and selfish bigotry has been their fa-
vorite calling in all countries and in every age
They have a higher law than the Sermon on
the Mount; and the word of God is made to
fit the procrustean bed of their blind and furi.
GUS prejudices, which they mistake for con-
science.
We think we have quoted enough extracts
from Mr. Voorhees, speech to refresh the
Argus's recollection. The argus must by
this time be convinced that Mr. Voorhees, is
not a fit political teacher for the people of
Maine, and if it continues to recommend
him, it will sin against light. Were any
thing more necessary to prove the part Mr..
VOORHEES, played in the Rebellion, this
speech furnishes abundant material. There
is hardly line in it that does not contain a
thrust at the patriots who were engaged in
putting down treason. In one passage Mr..
Lincoln is stigmatized as the man ''who does
not make war for the Union" In another
national bankruptcy is predicted. 'Four
more years of our present policy will leave
the Republic an unshapen mass of ruins, y
said Mr.. Voorhees,.
Almost the only truthful paragraph in the
speech is that in which the evils of depre-
ciated currency are set forth, and OF that
kind of a currency Mr.. Voorhees, is to-day
an advocate.