Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1861-07-03

| the Notification became wrapped in flames,
| the besieging batteries, in violation of the
usages of civilized warfare, instead of relax
! ing suspending, redoubled their fires. A
| more wanton or wicked war was never COM
| menced on any Government whose history has
| been written. Contemporary with, and follow
| ing the fall of Sumter, the siege of Fort Pick
| ems was and still is actively pressed the prop
| erty of the United States Government contin-
| ued to be seized wherever found, and its
troops, by fraud or force, captured in the
| State of Texas in violation of solemn COM
| pact with its authorities that they should be
permitted to embark without moleStation.
| This was the requitai which the lone star
State made to brave men who, through long
years of peril and privation, had guarded its
| frontiers against the incnrsions of the savages.
| In the midst of the most active and extended
| warlike preparations in the South, the an
| nouncement made by the Secretary OF
| War of the Seeded States, and echoed with
| taunts and insolent bravados by the Southern
press, that Washington City was to be invaded
and captured, and that the flag of the Confed-
| crate States would soon float over the dome of
| its Capitol. Soon thereafter there followed
| an invitation to all the world-embracing nee
eSsarily the outcasts and desperadoes OF every
| sea-to accept letters of marque and reprisal,
to prey upon the rich and unprotected COM
merce of the United States.
I'm view of these events and threatenings,
| WHaJ WAS tue uuIy Oh Inc C0leI OF
| the Republc7 He might have taken counsel
of the revoutionists and trembled under their
| menances; he might upon the fall of Sumter,
have directed that Fort Pickens should be
rendered without firing gun in its defence,
| and proceeding yet further, and meeting fully
the requirements of the "let-us- alone" policy
insisted on in the South he might have order
ed that the stars and stripes should be laid in
the dust in the presence OF every bit of rebel
bunting that might appear. But he did none
of these things, nor would he have done them
without forgetting his oath and betraying the
most sublime trust that has ever been conf
| ded to the hands of man. With heroic fidel-
ity to his constitutional obligations, feeling
justly that these obligations charged him with
the protection of the republic and its capital
against the assaults alike of foreign and do
mestic enemies, he threw himself on the 10y
atty OF the country for support in the struggle
upon which he was about to enter, and nobly
has that appeal been responded to. States
containing an aggregate population of nine
teen millions have answered to the appeal as
with the voice of one man, offering soldiers
without number, and treasure without limita-
ton, for the service of the Government. In
these States, fifteen hundred thousand free
men cast their votes in favor of candidates
supporting the rights of the South, at the last
Presidential election, and yet every where, a
like in popular assemblies and upon tented
field, this million and half of voters
found yielding to none in the zeal with which
they rally to their country's flag. They are
not less the friends of the South than before
but they realize that the question now present
ed is not of administrative policy, or of
the claims of the North, the South, the East
or the Vest but is, simply, whether nineteen
millions of people shall tamely and ignobly
permit five six millions TO overthrow and
destroy Institutions which are the common
property, and have been the common blessing
nd -,,f.l ha thnr, |, Far -
the North, the East and the West, are lumin-
Gus with the banners and glstenng with the
bayonetS of citizen soldiers marching to the
capital, or TO other points of rendezvous but
they come in no hostile spirit to the South
If called TO press her soil, they will not ruff1e
flower of her gardens, nor blade of grass
of her fields in unkindness. No excesses will
mark the footsteps of the armies of the Re-
public no institutions of the States will be
invaded or tampered with rights of per-
sons or property will be violated. The known
purposes of the Administration, and the high
character of the troops employed, alike guar
antee the truthfulness of this statement.
When an instruction was apprehended few
weeks since in Maryland, the Massachusetts
regiment at once offered its services to sup
press it. These volunteers have been de-
nounced by the press of the South as stknaves
and vagrants,' s'the dregs and otfscourings of
the populace,'' who would 'srather fitch a
handkerchief than fight an enemy in manly
combat 10 yet we know, here, that their dsci-
pliue and bearing most admirable, and,
presume, it may be safely affirmed that larg-
er amount Of social position, culture, fortune,
and elevatian of character, has never been
found in so large an army in any age or coun-
try. If they go to the South, it will be as
friends and protectors, to relieve the Union
sentiment of the seeded States from the cruel
domination by which it is oppressed and ST.
fenced to unfurl the stars and stripes in the
midst of those who long to look upon them,
and to restore the flag that bears them to the
forts and arsenals from which disloyal hands
have torn it. Their mission will be one of
peace, unless wicked ard blood thirsty men
shall unsheath the sword across their pathway.
1t is in vain for the revolutIonists to ex-
claim that this is sssubjugation.'' 1t is so,
precisely in the sense in which you and l and
all lawabding citizens arc subjugated. The
people of the South are our brethren, and
while we obey the laws enacted by our joint
authority, and keep compact to which we
are all parties, we only ask that they shall be
required to do the same. We believe that
their safety demands this; we know that ours
does. We impose no burden which We our
selves do not bear; claim no privilege or
blessing which our brethren of the South shall |
not equally share. Their country is our coun-
try, and ours is theirs; and that unity, both of
country and of government, which the provi
QeDce Oh GOu auu LuS CohPaceS vi inOu nave
created, We could not ourselves without self
immolation, destroy, nor can we permit it to
be destroyed by others.
Equally vain is it for them to declare that
they only wish 'sto be let alone," and that in
establishing the independence of the seeded
States, they do those which remain in the old
confederacy no harm. The Free States, If al
lowed the opportunity of doing so will un-
doubtedly concede every guarantee needed to
afford complete protection to the institutions