Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-04-15
clvil war--Ths End in view.

thtebUen VI our OuiVtu nePuuhO ns'o w. |
IS, while entreating us to beware ofgeographi'
,al distinctions and sectional differences But
hose distinctions have been broadened,and these
differences aggravated, until at last the fatal
blow has been given, and sectional war inau-
gurated.
The roar of the cannon which were fred into
and from Fort Sumter on the 18th of April,
1861, sounded the knell Of the American Union.
The patriotic historian, as he records the sad
event, will drop tear upon the page on which
It is written. We may now say that the glory
of the American name is departed, and with it
depart our national greatness and prosperity
We must prepare ourselves for untried and fear
full scenes-for privation, suffering, heavy
taxes, the breaking up Of communities and
families, and for evils all the more fearful,
because underlined and terrible.
1t is now no time for recrmination and abuse.
Itmatters little whether the Government or the
secession forces fred the first gun. Both claim
ed the right to occupy Fort sumter-one was
Fastening to its relief in order to retain it's pos
session; the other was determined to prevent
such movement, which 1t regarded as an act
OF hostility. The United States Government,
under the Administration of ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
was ostensibly attempting to provision the gar
rison in Fort Sumter. which 1t had legal and
constitutional right to do. A resistance, on the
part ofthe secessionists, to that right, wasrev-
olutonary; it was rebellion But the lombard
ment opened on Fort Sumter, on the 18th oi
April, was not the first overt act of revolution
or rebellion which the secessionists had commit
ted. During the four months preceding that
bombardment, they had committed a serieI
OF such acts in each of the seven seeded States
both before and after the Republican Admins
tration came into power.
From the time that LINCOLN knew for q Ger
tainty that he was elected President of the Uni
ted States, he and the men who most actively
promoted his election knew just as certainly
that the country was in state OF revelation anC
that acts of rebellion had been, and would, un
less the revolutionsts we're conciliated or con-
CObbinhC W pC uC pOhCl
OF the BUCHANAN Administration was to concli
ate; IL cannot be told what the policy OF th,
LINCOLN Administration is-whether TO concli
ate by concession and compromise, or conque
by fire and sword. Though the country was il
the midst Of rebellion, which he could hav
STAYED with ten decisive words in favor of con
Citation, President LIscoLN wonld not speal
these words before his Inaugural address; an
when that address came, il was 80 ambiguou
that the country was SO much in the dark as t
what the new Administration designed to dc
as before. Nor have the oracles at Washing
ton been more definite since, in response to tn
urgent and almost despairing entreaties for som
certain indication Of the policy of the new Ad
ministration.
The Administration has, as We have said,
legal and constitutional right to provision Fo
Sumter. But the exercise Of a legal and consi
tutional right may not be at all times polite
morally iastifable. The motive with which
c act is dOne-the design or end aimed at, is VIII
c determines its true character. Many deeds a
u performed every day which infringe no law
e constitution, and yetare as intrinsically Grin
10 nal as the open commission Of murder or rc
u berry.
u The secessionists or revoluLionists deola
J. openly that they have dissolved their come
: ton with the Federal Government; that th
have set up an independent Government, al
mean to maintain it, If need be, at the point
L the bayonet. Nov what does our present Fel
eral Government mean 10 do with this imperiu
in impeyio-ths sovereignty within SOW
reignty2 For what purpose and with what
i sign does it seek to retain It's hold upon forts
seeded States2 Does it intend by the stror
, arm of military force to reduce these States
: subjection2
1t has not said that such Is Its policy. HI
il said 80 when it first came into power,
b shortly afterwards, though Union men wou
j. have lamented that no compromise had be-
attempted, they would, Notwithstanding, O
: most TO q man, have rallied to the support
D an Administration which had taken ON ope
. manly and patriotic stand to put down rebelli'
: and vindicate the laws and honor Of our comm
country. But instead Of thfs, the Administr
tion has been paltering, hesitating-it has al
' nounced no policy-it says it wants to retain Il
. Southern forts, but for what purpose Is not di
closed. If it means to coerce or conciliat
10 should say SO. The secrecy 1t has ol
served-the concealment it sedulously prat
tiRes--so much like tho mystery that ham
around the courts Of eastern despots-is prin
taeie proof that its ends are not such, and
policy not that which will bear to be revealed
full to the American people and the world.
The Administration does not intend to p
down revolution by force or cOnciliatei it by co
cession; il it did, SEWARD and CHASE wou
: have the manliness to cay 30. No: the cove
u intention is to agFavate the secession NOV
ment by pretending to oppose IL; to cause Il
Border Slave States to secede, and thus bril-
about, with civil war as the means, the consuu
3 nation Of the long concealed, revolutionar
Q reasonable, Republican, Abolition conspiracy
4 the final separation of the slaveholding from h
d non-slaveholdng States.
= D' The Republicans do not wish to concilia
the Border Slave States. Every movement
Al IL Al a