Year: 1864

L


who, in their party zeal for the Administration


may be tempted to raise question on this point


We invite their attention to the following candid


statements of the Hon. Edward Everett, who, al


standing at the head of the Lincoln electoral ticket
in Massachusetts, is . witness whose testimony nc
Republican will venture to discredit In a speech


delivered before the Union Boston Club on the
9th Of April, 1858, he held the following lam
guage:


The existing Administration came into Office in the
result OF strenuous party contest and ii tber
natural that II should be organized purely party basis
Gould II have been foreseen that in less than weeks the
country would be plunged into 6Ontt st which would task
20 the utmost all ts strength and require the employment
o. all its resources material and moral the attempt per-
maps would have been made to place the Administration
on broader basis This however could not be foreseen
and the President has not yet found it practicable or if
practicable not expeden far ci0H Affairs
cerned to assume position independent Of parry Efforts


10 fact have been made to induce him to organize the
Executive on still narrower party basis Meantime ii


mast justice stated hats has been as


6eray supported by hose ho did those soo did
contribute to pacs in po,oer and fordablv assaid
By ITS nominal adterents by its Teputed opponents


belonged, need not say, to the latter class that
much o. Bell and Everett man. for IT, IN parsmen-


ary phrase it had been possible to divide the question:


should have voted asainst the candidate for the Vice Pre-
sdency on that ticket did all in my power to prevent
~ excused


admit however that without being much of partisan
belong to the Presidents opposition But what then
There Is Loyalty Of opposition i0sH loyalty Of sup
port shall because am not political supporter of
the Administration sit quietly by and the Government
overturned and the country dismembered? Because we
did not vote for Mr. Lncoln's Administration must we
hold back from the vigorous prosecution of the war.
which is to prevent MIR. Davis from installing himself
at Washngon2 Because We may d.sapprove of the
removal of General Mcclellan, shall we do what we
can to parayze the arm Of his succsssor7 Such has
nnf nf M~(sI
When he was abruptly removed from his command, after
having with army dsheartened by and
which he in the language Of the Confederate Gen. Lee
reorganzed as with the enchanters wand, had in two
noby fought battles rescued Washington and Baltimore
from menacsd capture and preserved Maryland to the
Union instead Of using the language Of dissecon
complaint ne eIhored the army h he idoiired
be as faitult0 Gen. Burnside had been to him Be-
cause may doubt the policy of the procamaons Of the
22d September and Let January shall We, far in


es operate with the ogarchy of the Seeding States
in forcing their peculiar institution into the unoccuped
territory of the Union in reopening the African slave
trade Tor which their diplomacy is already making asute
Pepara.on IN overIIrnng this most admirable consttu-
ton OF Government which, in the intention Of it's venerable
and patriotic founders South we'll North contem-
plated only the temporary federation and gradual dsap
pearance OF involuntary servuds and 10 establishing and
That at the cost OF des0latng civil war Conede
racy on the corner stone of slavery"


These are just and candid statements, as we'll in
the facts they affirm as in the principles of loyal
duty which they inculcate Nobody will deny tha.
Mr. Everett was loyal man when, on the 9th of
April, 1868, he avowed himself to be one Of the
Presidents Opposition, and where he stood then
the Opposition stand to-day with the advantage in
their favor that what was once their privilege now
becomes their imperative duty, called as they are
to pass upon the merits of the Administration, no
longer in the way of opinion, but of deliberate
action at the ballot box


But it will be said this division Of sentiment with
regard to the Administration is source of weak
ness to the cause of the Govern nent Loyalty to
the Government demands, say some, that we should
be equally loyal to the Administration at this juno
ture. Well, the division of sentiment is fact
which cannot be argued out of existence by any
such sophistIy as that. If it was loyal to oppose
the Administration in the year 1868, it must be
equally loyal to oppose it now, provided that oppo-
sition springs from patriotic motives and is directed
to patriotic ends.


And whence does this opposition to the Admin
istration spring? If it be curse, we know that
the curse causeles, shall not come" And in
this case the cause lies on the surface It is the
conduct of the Administration which has produced
this division of sentiment There was time
when, as Mr.. Everett says, it was "as formidably
assaied by its nominal adherents as by it, reputed
opponents" When, yielding to the pressure"
OF the formidable assault waged against it by what
the President calls "the Greeley faction" the Ad-
ministration took on the shape and hue of that
faction, it was inevitable that conservative men, in
adhering to their opinions, should become arrayed
in opposition to the President If it was and is
the duty Of all true patriots to avoid faotious op-
position to the Administration, as we admit to be
the case, it equally and is the duty OF the Ad-
ministration to assume position wholly indepen-
dent oil party. On this point we need but cite the
following conclusive observations of Mr.. Everett,
in letter addressed by him to the celebrated Con-
vention held in Springfield, Illinois, in the month
of August, 1868. He wrote:


" Candor requires to add that If it is the duty of
good citizens to abstain from factous opposition il s in
time Of not lees the duty of an Administration as ,oeH
eiul as IN military and naval affairs TO assume posi-
tion .ohoty independent of party an afraid II Is i'm
possible in time OF peace to carry representative 90
vernment except on party basis During the existence
OF war, especially OF which tasks to the utmost the
energies and resources of the country party support
proportion az ii 10 relied on element not of strength
but of weakness"


1Ha axuts tsohA AI,1