The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1856-11-13
To the Democsatie Party Of lhe
[ United States.
NATIONAL DEM. CoMnIIrrE RooM.l
November 9th, 1861


vsss, con6ded to the Democratic National
Resident Committee has been discharged
with the fidelity which the honor and the
exigency OF that trust alike demanded, and
the committee has TO unite its congratula-
ton with your own IN announcing the sue.
cess ofthe Democratic ticket by decided
and gratifying majority.
The struggle is over, and the Union is
safe. Ours IS, indeed, new and signal tri.
umph. Heretofore our victories have been
achieved over those who, like ourselves,
were friends of the Union. This has been
a conquest over its enemies. Heretofore
our antagonists have cOntended with frater.
nal eagerness for the honor of promoting
the progress or of insuring the duration of
the republic. Those whom we have just
vanquished sought, under treacherous ad
herence to the forms of the Constitution, to
rob it of all its essence and vitality. The
principles of the Demo cratic party having
become the established policy of The FEEDER
al Government, it brcume necessary for its
enemies to organize some new and desper-
ate comb natiOn TO overthrow it. An unnat-
ural alliance between anaticism and venali
" has engendered monster which the De-
mncratc p.rty has with great peril sought
out and destroyed.
That monster was sectiOnaliSm.
The circumstances under which the evil
originated were peculiar. The land hls
been cluuded by miasma Of error. The be-
+ lief that one part OF the Union hHd been in
vaded by the institutions uf another, und that
, the federal government had lent its power
to promote this injustice, had spread with
cpdemical rapidly. 1t had been infected
into the circulation of popular thought with
all the force of al unscrupuIouS press, and
WAS spread broadcast over the land by tho
whole power ot representative influence
1t seemed at one time almost in vain to
pursue with the anrdote of truth and reason
this venomous error as it sped through the
channels of public opinion.
Our enemies had chosen their ground with
sk i'll, they had recruited their ranks with al
the influt nces v hich could combine an or
my. They proclaimed the ultimate nbol
tiun OF slavery as the incentive to the tana
tic-thP division of the spoilS as the rewar,
Of the mprceHary. The pretended invasion
of sacred ri h. constituted their appeal tc
those with patriotic impulses, whilst feign
, ed regard for the Unot was to secure thu
support or the neutrality OF all whose mater
inl interests were involved in its duratiun.-
) These devices had organized a formidable
a array. Masses Of honest and earnest met
: were de,uded by the teachers whom they
t had trusted into the belief that their govern
) ment had betrayed and their fellow citizen
= had oppressed them. Dvincs. girded will
= the sword and clothed with the puthoril,
. OF the Gospel, preached bloody resistance t
il. the laws as the most acceptable service +
I God. Woman quilted her peaceful station
d to animate with her opprehensions those Il
whom her '. ishes are ever command; an
, the youth, ndoctrinated by willy managers
g responded with enthusiasm TO false appeal
= addressed to their innate, and generous ha
v tired OF oppression. Politicians speculate
ph'losophicniy upon the capacity Of the con
stitution, caring only to know whether it
native strength of structure would bear tn
agitation necessary 10 secure the success c
> their ne:arious schemes, and still leav
" enough OF ability to insure their enjoy
ment.
1t was the purpose of these conspirato'
to secure possession of the government If
pershed--as it must have perished- in the
grasp. 1t wos their purpose to inaugural
o The North as the dominant section. Th
rule of eligibility was to be obedience to tn
sway and con 'ormity to the opinions of tn
dominant section. The subjugation of lr,
land by force, division, and bribery was
-, be reproduced upon the continent, and tt
Southern States were to be reduced to mel
provincial "ppendage oi the federal COVER
ment Such was the plan, and disunic
must have followed its plshment.-
Southern men would have only differed
to the hour and mode of separation. TT
st cement which binds the fabric Of the Unil
le would have Iost its cohesion in the fires
~ the conflict, and the majestic fabric wou
ri have crumbed and fallen in ruins, new
IN aga ain to be reconstructed
bo Never was the Republic in such peril,
Never were the friends OF the Union fro
tn any sufficient existing grievance, less pr
- pared t. have unprecedented Il nspracy
atrocirus. But those to whom you had cor
n mt the saety Of the Republic were fait
90 ul to their trust. The Democratic par
o. was. by common consent, acknowledged
- be the sGle patty of the Union, and W
RI, charged with its defence. Sound and trut
tul documents adequate to the emergen
were prep red, and circulated 10 an exte
eo scarcely interior TO that OF the errors viii
,f they were intended to counleract Able a
k. eloquent orators were impressed into t
I'M service OF the Union. They responded wi
an aacriry worthy that with which th
70, ancestry had repaired to the battle field
the same holy cause. Never was the