Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-12-12

merchants, Ladies', officers In the army and ma on
ano others who were attacked. The list which
was rolled up of those who were stigmatized IA
traitors, and found innocent, grew GO long, that
sne single victims are almost forgotten, unless
some incident recalls them to mind.
rretty much every one has already forgotten
s9e Jury and hxedness Of purpose with which
lion.1ames %. Harvey, United States Minister
W roftugai' was haunted by the sensation
Huees. ridiculous special dispatch from
asnlngton pronounced him traitor, and In
an instant the pack was after him in fuil crv
We defended the absent man, assailed In sncb
coWardly manner This action was Wholly
ulslnterested on our part, for we had no ac-
quAintsnce with him whatever, but the result
was only 70 turn the torrent Of abuse on our
serves; and poor Harvey continued a traitor,
until II was ascertained one pleasant motnIne
tnat the whole story was false, that he was i5
the confidence Of the Government and was d.
ing excellent service abroad. Dut We have
never seen the accusation taken back, or apollo.
gized for, by any Of his maligners. Shortly AZ
terWard the question OF the power of the Pres
ldenI TO suspend the writ Of habeas corpus
came up for discussion. II was q fair question
ior reasonable men, and although II had never
peioFe had but ono side, IL was suddenly dis
covered that the man who advocated that eide.
Whicn was the old view OF Blackstone and
traitor. Tf -~''' "'". 50.
A few days afterward the army was going nm
to Richmond. Some men had read the paners
and believed IN the strength of the enemy,-
Such per. ons warned the country that Manassas
was strong point. But any man who said that
the rebellion had strength Of any sort or that
the rebels could by any possibility have any
money, clothing, provisions, cannon or men, to
render them formidable opponents, was dia.
couraging secessionist and traitor, and ought to
be shut mp or strung up.
Aweek later the wolves howled around our
neighbors who had urged the battle, and the
meaning OF the word traitor had suddenly ex. |
perienced change The men who were In |
favor OF battle when the enemy were ready |
and We were not were now traitors. II was as
serted that they had plunged us into defeat,
with evil hearts. few weeks later the Pfesi- |
dent OF the United States modified Fremont's
proclamation, AMI out In Chicago, and down 10 |
Boston, and along Nassau street In New York
the President was called traitor. A little
ia.er tne people began to demand that abolition |
editors be sent to Fort Lafayette as traitors-l
Three weeks ago strong Republican paper an |
nounced that the editors of the Independent
were considered traitors! A Boston CLIQUE
pronounced the Secretary of State a traitor
A st. Louis meeting charged the Secretary of
War with being traitor. General Scott was
dozen times called traitor in the early part of
the conflict Mcclellan, some stupid false &C
cuser declared, had received an offer from the
Southern Confederacy of o commission which
he would have accepted, IL not forestalled by
Northern commission. Of course Mcclellan
was traitor. Fremont was accused of rebel
sympathies instantly after his removal BY the
President, and as for Patterson, Mcdowell,
Stone, Sherman, and even poor Halleck, who
has succeeded to Fremont's vacant throne, they
are one by one consigned TO infamy by more or
less accusers i
The story is ptisble. 1. is disgrace to our
national character. We are 80 accustomed TO
the words here, that we pay little attention to
them. But when We take up Euglish news
papers, and find this Blllingsgate style of Amer
lean denunciation copied In all soberness and
circulated in that country as illustrating the ma
ture OF our war, and the impossibility OF de.
pending on any one, high or low, we cannot but
regret the recklessness with which the accuse
tions have been made.
These Wholesale denunciations Of parties
have damaged the Union cause materially
The temptation TO give odious names to politi-
cal opponents is very great, but the course re-
suits In conveying very false ideas to the enc
my. No one can fail to mark the ex lltation
with which the North receives the smallest in
stance of division Of sentiment at the South. -
We print and reprint, and comment on every
trihng quarrel between rebel leaders. Judg-
ing by this fact, how much aid and comfort
must the South receive from Northern papers
which circulate the intelligence that the hun
dreds OF thousands Of Democratic votes OF the
North, who have this fall voted In various
States, are secessionists and traitors! The ab.
surdity OF the statement Ia q sufficient denial
here, but in Europe, and in the enemy's cities,
it is hailed as truth. We have a remarkable
illustration at hand in two small and unimport-
ant elections which have taken place in the
principal cities of Connecticut. II has been
widely circulated, on Hartford authority, that
In that city, "the issue was made openly on the
question of loyalty or disloyalty," and 1.-THE se.
cession Democrats were completely routed. ."-l
AS the Democrats polled eighteen hundred
votes, and were beaten by only five hundred,
this statement would imply that Hartford is in
a bad way, with about half of its voting popu.
latlon secesslonists and disloyal. In New Ia
ven, the same foolish and blind course is pursu.
ed by the defeated party, who, having been out
voted by the Democrats, declare the issue to
have been patriotism and secession" ;" and that
secession has triumphed! Not only Is New
Haven disgraced by the statement, but the sto-
~ will be circulated throughout the South, pre-.
cisely as we would circulate such news coming
from Charleston, and originating in Charles.
ton newspaper.
1t is time, it was time long ago, to end this
criminal campaign of bad language. The
North ia united in desire to preserve the Un.
ion. If We differ about ways and means, let
US differ like honest men and good citizens, not
like nation of pickpockets.-N, Y, Journal Of