Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1861-06-20

ing the republic 1t is perfectly certain that
in the attempted exercise Of this right
neither States nor statesmen will be ''let
alone" Should ruffian meet me in the
streets, and seek with his axe to hew an arm
and leg from my body, / would not the less
resist him because, as dishonored and help
less trunk, might perchance survive the
mutllation. IL is easy to perceive what fatal
results to the old contederacy would follow
should the blow now struck at its integrity
ultimately triumph. We can well under
stand what degradation it would bring to it
abroad and what weakness at home; wnat
exhaustion from incessant war and standing
armies, and from the erection of fortifca-
tions along the thousands Of miles of new
frontier; what enibarrsssnents TO commerce
from having its natural channels encumber-
cd or cut of; what elements of disintegration
and revolution would be introduced from the
pernicious example; and, above all, what
humiliation woud cover the whole Ameri-
can people for having failed in their great
mission to demonstrate before the world the
capacity of our race for self lf-goyernment.
While far more fearful responsibility has
fallen upon President Lincoln than upon any
of his predecessors, it must be admitted that
Nv iiuS " WIN anu lCdl
lessness. Cicero, in one of his oratiDns
against Cataline, speaking of the credit due
himself for having suppressed the conspr-
acy of that arch traitor, said, "If the glory
of him who founded Rome was great, how
had saved it from overthrow after it had
grown to be the mistress Of the world?"-
So it may be said ofthc glory of that states
Il, .,r..,.. ,,l. Il IL Al
vortex of revolution this republic, now that
it has expanded from ocean to ocean, has
become the admiration of the world, and ha,
rendered the fountains Of the lives of thirty
millions Of people, fountains of happiness.
The vigorous measures adopted for the
safety Of Washington and the Government
itself may seen open to criticism, in some Of
their details, to those who have yet to learn
that not only has war like peace its laws,
hut it has also its privileges and its duties.
Whatever of severity, or even of irregulari-
ty, may have arisen, will find its justification
in the pres ssure Of the terrible necessity un-
der which the Administration has been call
ed to act. When a man feels the poignard
of the destroyer at his bospm, he is not like
ly to consult the law books as to the mode or
measure of his rights Of self-defense. What
is true ofindividuals is in this respect equally
true of Governments The man who thinks
he has become disloyal because of what the
Administration has done, will probably dis
cover, after close self.examination, that he
was disloyal before. But for what has been
done, Washington might ere this have been
a smoldering heap of ruins
They have noted the course Of public af-
fairs 70 little advantage. who suppose that
the. election Of Mr.. Lincoln was the real
ground ofahe rcyolusonary outbreak that
has occurred. The roots Of the revolution
may be traced back for more than aquerter of
century, and an unholy lust forpoweri is the
soil out of which it sprang. \ prominent
member Of the band Of agitators declared in
one Of his speeches, at Charleston, last
November or December, that they had been
occupied for thirty years in the work of sew
ering South Carolina from the Union. Wher
General jackson crushed notification, he
said it would revive again under the form of
the slavery agitation, and we have lived t.
see his prediction verified. Indeed that ag.
itation, during the last Is or 20 years, ha.
been almost the entire stock in trade Of
Southern politicians. The Southern people
known to be aS generous in their impulse.
as they are chivalric, were not wrought int
Il phrensy Of passion by the intemperat,
words of few fanatical abolitionists; fol
these words. if left to themselves, woulG
have fallen to the ground as pebbles into the
sea, and would have been heard of no more
But it was the echo of those words, repeated
with exaggerations for the thousandth time
by Southern politicians in the halls Of Con
greis, and in the deliberative and popula
assemblies, and through the press OF tht
South, that has produced the evaporation
which has proved so potent lever in thu
hands of the conspirators The cloud wa
fully charged, and the juggling revolutionist
who held the wires and could at will dircc
its lightnings. appeared at Charleston
broke up the Democratic Convention Assem-
,, blcd to nominate candidate for the Presi
dency, and thus secured the election of Mr.
Lincoln. Having thus rendered this certain
they ut once set to work to bring the popula
mind of the South to the point Of determin
ing in advance that the election off Repub
lican President would be, per Sc, cause for
dissolution of the Union. They were but to-
successful, and to this result the inaction an,
| indecision of the Border States deporabl
contributed. When the election of Mr.. Lin
coin was announced, there was rejoicing il
the streets of Charleston, and doubtless a
other points in the South; for it was be
lieved by the conspirators that this ha,
brought tide in the current Of their mach
nations which would bear them on to vic
tory. The drama of secession was now open
and State after State rapidly rushed out o.
the Union, and their members withdrew froI
Congress. The revolution was pressed o
with this hot haste in order that no tim
should be allowed for reaction in the North
ern mind, or for any adjustment Of tn
slavery issues by the action of Congress, Q
| of the State Legislatures. Had the South
ern members continued in their seats,
satisfactory compromise would, no doubt
have been arranged and passed before tn
adjournment Of Congress. As it was, afte
Il their retirement, and after Congress had bt
come Republican, an amendment to th
j Constitution was adopted by u two-third
vote, declaring that Congrers should neve
interfere with Slavery in the States, and d,
claring further, that this amendment shoul
be irreyocable. Thus was falsifed the clan
or so long and so insidiously wrung in. th
ears of the Southern people, that tho abol
ton of slavery in the States was the ultima
aim of the Republican party. But even tn
amendment, and all others which may
needed to furnish the guarantees demanded
.. are now defeated by the secession Of eleve
States, which, claiming to be out OF II
, Union, will refuse to vote upon, and, In
, feet. will vote against any proposals to mo-
ify the Federal Constitution. There a
! now thirty-four States in the confederac
three fourths of which, being twenty-si
. must concur in the adoption of any amen