text:  Experiencing in an unparalleled degree both the indulgence of a generous nation who are willing to forget the past in the enjoyment of the present and the forbearance of high-minded opponents who could easily have triumphed in the exposure of their disastrous blunders the Whigs have made a characteristic return by rancorously assailing the man whom the public views as its benefactor with captious criticisms on the terms of a proclamation or hypocritical objections to the transmission of a trophy