The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1861-06-06
KenOsha, Thursday, June 6, 1851
Keep the Responsibility where Et Re
longs!

longs!
There IL no point which the enemies Of
the Administration and the Union seize upon
with greater avidisy or harp upon more con-
stantly and zealousy than the financial difficult
ties under which the NorthwestiS laboring-
Under ordinary circumstances, the "pockets"
of the people are the most vulnerable point Of
attack for demageguos and political brokers'
The scare-crow of high taxes has been raised
and turned over and over until the most hid
eous aspect has been given it.
The financial troubles under which some
three or four States here at the Northwest are
at the present laboring consequent upon a de-
preciated currency, is, no doubt partly
occasioned by the present attempt to break up
the Union and break down the Constitution and
the Government. Our currency, based on State
stocks the value of which is always varying &C
cording to the stock market, Or the digestion of
stock brokers, may frequently be deprecated,
even without the stimulus Of a civil war. We
passed through financial crisis few years
ago, more widely extended and full as fatal as
anything we are likely to see now, when there
was no Gil war; no open movement made to-
ward the disruption of the Union
We are told by the apologists CT Southern
treason and the advocates Of peaceable seces-
sion, that the present financial troubles are all
the result O. an attempt to preserve the Union
in its integrity and to preserve inyiolate the
Constitution of the United States. But is it so?
Suppose pcaceable secession had been allowed
Is it supposable case that the States which
had repudiated their allegiance to the Union
the States whose rulers, Legislators, and officers
had perjured themselves, (for they had all ia
ken the oath to preserve, uphold and obey the
under any greater obligations to pay their
bonds 1t is lear that that in the event of
peaceable sececession, these Southern stocks
would have been even more worthless than now.
But even supposing that Ill our financial diff
fculties are the results Of the war to preserve
the Union, the responsibility must rest where
it belongs. The North has not commenced the
war-the North has done nothing to provoke
the war. No priviege,no franchise of the South
has been encroached upon by the present. Ad-
ministration. 1t is not engaged in any work
of supererogatiOn in its present preparations for
war, 1t is simply acting on the defensive, on
the principle of self preservation. If two or
three persons who own buildings in the heart
of our city, conclude that they ould be better
off to burn them up and take the insurance,
they would not be allowed to set them on fire,
when they might burn down the whole city. II
| they persisted IN the attempt to set the fire, on
the plea thaHit WAS their own property, they
might be arrested and imprisoned. True, they
might resist the sheriff, on the ground that he
was acting illegally oppressively in not allow
ing them to burn their own houses, but will the
apologies Of Southern secession say that the
sheriff ought not to call out a sufficient posse tc
prevent general conllagration because it would
involve the county Ill extra expense
Southern secession is parallel case. The
Union is the city. 1t is composed Of many sep
arate and distinct States, as the city is ofmany
separate and distinct buildings. These States
are bound together by Common interests, com.
mon responsibilities, aud by common Consti
tuition, and one or two or three of those States
cannot be violently wrenched from the Union,
without erdangering all the other States, and
involving the ruin of the whole Union To pre-
vent this ruin, to preserve the Union and the
Constitution the administration has called up
on the loyal citizens of the country in their mil
tary capacity, and that call is responded to with
an alacrity never before Witnessed
The friends of disunion and enemies of the
Adminstra ion have done their utmost to pre-
vent this patriotic response, but their voice was
powerless. Now, they appeal to the cupidity,
the fears and the avarice of those who are to
furnish the means OF support aud equipment OF
those who have responded to the call for sol
diers. They ring all the possible changes upon
" financial ruin" "panic," g distress" bur
densome taxes, broken fortnnes, and few
more such phrases, but they will End at last,
with no better success than in the former case.
The people Of the North are not acting on the
impulse or spur Of the moment. They are con-
scious OF their Intentions They kao,o that
tASg iio'S given Tue Obubu no OCCASION Tor TN 6
diabolical crusade against the Government
They knO'o that they are only engaged in the
preservation of this Union with ali its Free In-
stitutions, with all the blessigs it has conferred
and all the hopes it holds out to humanity the
world over, while their opponents, whether
North or South, are intent only upon destruc-
ton. They have appraised the value of Liber-
ty and the Union, the Palladium Of Liberty land
they have counted the los t oftheir preservation
and that cost sinks into utter insig nifeance
when compared with the value.
AS our Fathers in 1776 pledged their lives
their fortunes, and their sacred honor" in plant
ing this nation and establishing this Union, SC
We, in 1861, make the same pledge to preserve
it.
The GeCasSiSn VoTa in Virginia The