Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1861-08-16
tlFrom the Cincinnati Commerciall
Is tho Government Worth
Preserving?

w men we look at lue ScneuleS "
peace which are proposed by those VIII {
would have the war for the Governmen
cease, we find that they all propose
some kind of compromise, looking tt
an amendment of the Constitution
The very mildest of them-that pro
posed at the late session of Congress by
the Hon. S. S. Cox, of Ohio, while
cloahing its purpose in specious pro
fession of the duty of maintaining The
Government, still proposes nothing less
than a meeting on equal terms with
Commissioners from the rebel States, tc
agree upon amendments to tic Consti
tuition.
Now, the entire war for the Govern.
ment and against the rebellion, proceeds
upon the theory, which no man can
gainsay, that the Constitution as it is, is
sufficient and ample in its guarantees
for the rights of all classes Of the reo
pie. and all sections of the Union
The crowning infamy of the conspira
tors against the lawful Government C o n
siss in the fact, that without grievances.
without wrongs, without violation OF
their constitutional rights, they have
raised their hands against the estab-
lished Government which was as much
their making as ours. This sin the
people who are devoted to the Union
long ago made up their minds should
never be expiated, save by the defeat
and submission Of those who first drew
the sword. and forced war upon the
country. The very proposition to amend
the Constitution is false and dastardly
admission of the justice of their cause.
1t is lending a base consent to their
arguments, and cowardly submission
to their arms. 1t is dignifying this
base usurpation with the laurels of le-
gitimacy, and entreating the traitors
who have conspired the overthrow of
this Republic, to name their own terms
of settlement
This cowardly surrender is asked for
by men who pretend to believe in De-
mocracy; in the right of the majority to
govern. These men know that the cor
ner stone of democratic principles is the
right of legally elected officers to ad-
minister the Government. They have
pretended uniformly to stand for the
Government by whomsoever admins
tered, as the sole hope of the preserva-
tion of public order and the perpetuity
of the Republic. Yet, they are now
ready to admit practically the right of
Secession, to abandon the integrity of
the Union, to strike down the Constitu-
tion and the law at the behest of rebels
in arms, and to give up without a strug-
gle all that the people have poured out
their money and their blood to main
tain.
This base and unprincipled PROPOSE
tion GENES, too, just upon the heels OF
the cruel disaster at Manassas, which
the, nation is rousing all it's energies to
retrieve. At the very moment when
the bleeding wounds of the country are
fresh, when the unburied corpses of
hundreds of her defenders lie on the
tratorous soil Of Virginia, we are asked
to tender the olive branch Of peace to
the bloody hands Of these usurpers, yet
rceking with the blood of our brothers.
The bare proposition is treason to
public justice, and an insult to the
moral sense Of the people. Amend the
Constitution, because we have lost a
battle! Beg jeff. Davis to be- pleased
to dictate such Constitution as will
suit them, because few untried soldiers
and civilians got frightened at Manass Isl
n ho
bellion and of the world, that this Gov
ernment isa thing Of shreds and patches,
which the weakest or wickedest mem
Der of it may tear to pieces at pleasure!
Strip the insignia Of legitimacy from
the Government Of the peoples choice,
aud install Jefferson Davis and his tribe
Of Confederate usurpers, whom nobody
elected, as lords Of the ascendant!
Truly, such Government as that
would not be worth preserving. If that
is what our great Republic has como to,
we had better all forswear citizenship
IN it, and migrate to the French or the
Russian Empire, where the Government
is respected, because it is strong. What
10 we want of amendments of the Con-
,titution? Haven't these rebels enjoyed
is many rights as they were entitled to
under it-and a good many more, too?
Haven't they exercised the privilege Of
.yrannizins over public opinion in all
heir borders, muzzling the utterance of
thought, imprisoning and maltreating
the friends OF the Union, fogging, hang
ng, and banishing every loyal citizen
If the United States on whom they could
ay their hands? Do they want to put
hat in the Constitution? Is that one
IF the constitutional guarantees which
his newfangled peace party want to
give them? Or what is it that they
want?
If this oligarchy of despots is to be
surrendered to, let us do it at once, and
above board, and not 90 sneaking about
lnder pretense Of tinkering up amend
ncnts to the Constitution, after they
nave spit upon it, trampled it under
heir feet, and made new one of their
,wn. If these gentlemen who are so
end of peace that they are ready to sac
'ifice even liberty and honor to procure
t, want Jeff Davis to rule over them,
ct them say so, in an open, manly way,
20 that the people may understand them,
md know what they would be at; for
We tell them that there is no other
question remaining, but the triumph
either Of the Legitimate government or
he usurping one. They cannot cock
st on this continent, and it is idle to
lream of it. One or the other must
uccumb. Which shall it be, gentlemen