Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1861-05-25

manifested now, so that the world may
see it, and SO that for all future time in
its history the idea ofsecession and re-
bellion, shall be an idea of the past
When the people see their uprising has
put down the rebellion, they will be
satisfied, and not before.
The difficulties of the present cri sis
are growing greater and more extreme
every day. Broad and more extended
fields are constantly opening by the
threatening attitude ofnew States, for
ccd by treachery, or by armed mobs
dignified by the name Of rebels, into
secession. One State after another,
willing, or unwilling, has been or is
now being placed in an attitude of hos
tility to Federal authority, until with
one more seeded State, there will be
fifteen hundred miles of contiguous ter
ritory standing in most wicked war
like antagonism.
tits a most startling consideration
that the people Of the United States
should be at war with each other, and
that the Government of the United
States should be forced to the terrible
necessity of maintaining its authority,
against internal dissensions, by force Of
arms. The settled design to over
throw our system, SO wisely designed,
complicated yet simple, the completest
for working out the greatest good of
all men under it, is so strange, unac-
countable, causeless, inexcusable, that
war had actually begun, and an attack
upon public property had actually been
made, before the law-abiding people
Of the country could be brought to re-
alize that danger existed. We had no.
ticed for long time apparent prcpar-
ations for mischief, and heard threats
Of 4 hostile disposition i'll one portion,
but eighty years of growth and prosper
ity had 50 fastened upon the minds of
the people the idea Of fpermanency and
strength, that it was impossible to con-
ccive- of serious, deliberate intent to
destroy the Union.
The feeble colonies of revolutionary
days had grown into great states, many
of which in population cqualled and i'll
wealth exceeded the population and
wealth of the whole thirteen at the close
Of our first great struggle. An in
crease in population from about three
to thirty-thrce millions of men, women,
and children, and an increase in wealth
of thousands upon thousands Of mill
ions Of dollars, should be our sufficient
warrant, for assuming that the govern
mcnt under which our fathers lived,
and under which the posterity Of this
great people ought to live in peace
was and is of some value, and that 1t
ought not for slight causes to be dis
turbed.
The election Of man to the Presl-
dcncy Of the United States, according
to the usual mode, strictly in conform
ity with the constitution OF the United
! States, without force or violence, IS the
pretext upon which what is called Sc
cession is now attempted. just as all
Presidents but one have been elected
to the highest executive Office on the
Contucnt, so Abraham Lincoln was
elected President Of the United States.
There is no pretence anywhere that the
election was not legal and constitution
al. His installation, however, was the
occasion OF resistance TO the constltu-
ted authorities, and state after state
has been madly precipitated into rev.
olution. 10 make more severe the trl-
ais of the country III this exigency,
some high in position as cabinet minis
ters, and as administrative officers, had
been covertly and treacherously using
the whole power intrusted to them, to
destroy the force and efficiency Of the
machinery of the government.
On the 4th Of March last, the new
Presidential incumbent found the treas
ury of the nation empty, and its credit
exhausted It's army scattered III small
bands to extreme points, SO that 1t
could not be concentrated within any
reasonable time; its ships dlSmantlcd
and disabled, or in foreign and far dis
tant ports; and its arms doubly secur
ed by being deposited in the willing
hands of traitors, and every dlurnaL
revolution brought fresh anxletles, as
the treachery and faithlessness OF
multitude of civil, military and naval
officers became manifest. The very
MAGNITUDE of the crimes that have
been committed against the govern
ment, appalled, tho stoutest, and the
stealing Of moneys from the public
treasury, the plunder OF arms from the
arsenals, and other public crimes, were
so majestic and imposing in their ex-
tent, that by their side, the dlgnltles
! and lustre Of the boldest couspiracles
+ and robberies Of which history makes
record are dim and shadowy IN their
: littleness and meanness.