Alexandria Gazette

The Slang of Politics.
The moderation which has marked the conduct of the new administration has not prevented the outcry of certain journals, whose columns abound with such phrases as "proscription," "victims," the "guillotine," the … working of the axe," "chopping off heads," and the like. These are terms of daily use, and have got to be so much a part of the political vernacular as to be no longer regarded as figurative.
Considering the source from which such outcries come, the sensitive mind is touched.— These claimants of sympathy, these ministers of woe, who express such horror at the idea of proscription, are peculiarly entitled to consideration from the fact that they are speaking in behalf of a party that never proscribes.
How forcible is their appeal! They call upon their friends in office to stay there—as long as they can. One gentleman, in the possession of a good place, has become a hero by announcing magnanimously that he would do so : and a certain journal has revived some reminiscences of the saving of the capitol by declaring that it would put out its neck like an old Roman, rather than leave its nest.
It is the beautiful propriety of the thing to which we invite the reader's attention—the admirable consistency! Satan rebuking Sin never rose to a loftier attitude of the sublime.— Passing the bounds of ordinary impudence, the demeanor of this outraged patriotism ascends to the height of a most imposing effrontery.— It is poetical in the boldness of its fanciful conception: it illustrates the picturesque of politics, the rhapsody of humbug.
The Black Hussars of proscription converted into meek wayfaring pilgrims; political adventurers, who have become placemen, turned suddenly into patriots; devourers of spoils, the harmless and tender nurslings of the Treasury!
Such a metamorphosis has not been seen since the days of Ovid, who tells us how a hunter became a stag, and that Jupiter himself was disguised in a shower of gold.
It will be borne in mind that the new Administration has not made itself liable to the charge of proscription in any sense: but it is also to be remembered that the ejection from office, or the refusal to reappoint men whose sole or chief claim to place is founded upon the doctrine of "spoils," is not proscription. Quite the contrary. It is the very sort of reform which the times require, and which good men will approve. Not, indeed, that the places of such shall be filled by new incumbents upon the ground of the same doctrine: but by men honest, capable, and faithful, who are respected for their worth, and whose occupancy of office will impart as much respectability to the place as the place may confer distinction upon the occupant.
Baltimore American.