The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-05-18

composed Of crimes, recognized as such in tn,
decalogue, and by the voice Of mankind. Tha
which was put forward as the cause Of the Sou
thern revolt Is now acknowledged to have beer
pretext, sought for and labored for by the re
volutiOnists themselves. The consprators hay,
called themselves conservatives, when they wer
destructives in purpose; they have made tn,
boldest aggressions upon the rights of the North
and slenced protests by charging the Nortl
with aggression; they have professcd great re
gard for the Constitution, and as q cover for thu
hatred which they now openly declare; the,
perjnred their souls while in the administrator
of the National Government by plotting trea
son against it /; they stole the nations money
they scattered its navy, they put the nations
arms in the hands of it's enemies, and they did
what they could to ruin the nations credit
Then they cheated the people into rebellion By
lies which they acknowledge, and by appeals te
the basest passions of their basest men.
The new government processes, by the mouth
of its soberist apologist and defender, to stand
upon human slavery as it's fundamental basis
and to regard the system as one of the favorite
institutions of Christianity and of human liber
ty. Its act is to steal from the Federal Govern
ment everything it can L,v its hands oR-forts
minis, custom, houses, revenue. cutters, arsenals
Then, in the several seeded States, the people
are allowed no deciding whether they will leave
the Union or not. Treason, usurpation and des
po,ism walk hand in hand. Any protest that is
made is met BY the halter, or a coat Of tar and
feathers, or tho confscation of property. A
reign of terror is instituted from which no man
can escape. To carry on the purposes of trea.
son, forced loans are exacted. Soldiers quarter
themselves upon the people, and steal their liv
ing wherever they can lay their hands upon it.
The hate of the South against the North is stim.
uated to intensest bitterness by lies touching the
purposes of the government. The North is re.
presented as making war upon the South in the
struggle Of the General Government to maintain
its existence, and so the South is fed on lies
To add to the infamy of perjury, usurpation,
falsehood, murder, theft, despotism and treason,
they command band of pirates to prey upon
the innocent commerce of the nation, with Just
as much authority to do it as the revolted con.
victs in q county JUL, and no more.
Language fails IN the attempt to give an idea
of the monstrous nature of this rebellion. 1t
was conceived in sin and brought forth in mi.
guilty, 1t presents none of those points which
attract the sympathy of the world. 1t is not q
struggle for freedom to any man, but struggle
for power to hold and enslavc men. 1t does not
present spectacle of a noble people striving by
noble means to accomplish noble ends, but il
shows an inf1amed, ambitious. inscriptions PEG.
pie striving to overthrow government which
has honored and blessed them, and to establish
in its place despotism. Yet, with the infa.
nous history of this rebellion sinking in the
nostriIs of the civilized world, the vice presi.
dent of the consprators dares to say that God
is upon their side in this controversy. Its pro.
per that blasphemy crown catalogue of sins
illustrated by the history of no other people OF
whom we have read.
When this rebellion shall be extinguished, as
it is doomed to be, and the leaders shall have
found dishonored graves or cowardly exile, then
will be the time to write its history. We be.
lieve that it will then be regarded as a thing
wholly unique-as u popu 1T revolt in the direc-
ton of barbarism-as the rebellion of people
who were not good enough for the institutions Of
their country-as an illustration of the power
Of human slavery to degrade, demoralze, dena-
tionalize and heathenze people. 1t would
seem as if God had determined to destroy those
who have marred the peace and prosperity OF
the nation so long, and to bring the long reign OF
Southern rufianism TO violent close Spring
field Republican.
TENNEssEE.-The people Of Tennessee were
recently required by their Governor and Legs
lature to vote Tor or against Convention to
take their State out of the Union and annex it
70 the jeff Davis Confeder. They voted,
by great majority, to do no such mad and trai
torous act, but to stay in the Union and have
no Convention. In defiance of that direct, ex.
plicit, emphatic vote, the Governor recently
called the Legislature together, and, with its
appreciation, appointed three Commissioners
TO meet the Hon. and Rev. Henry w. llillard OF
Alabama, Commissioner from jeff Davis
aud they together have cooked up temporary
convention, agreement and military league" be
md he 10 Faap afnr
whereby,
First: Until the said State shall become
member of said Coniederscy, according to the
Constitutions of both powers the whole militia
ry force and military operations, offensive and de
fensive of said State, in the impending conflict
with the United States, shall be under the chic
control and direction of the President of The
Confederate States upon the same basis, princi
Piles, and footings as if said State were now and
during the interval, member of said Conied
eracy."
That is to say: though it is not pretended
that Tennessee has yet legally seceded-thougi
it is known that her people recently voted tina
they aroMd not secede, and would not cothe an.
body with power to do it for them" the who'll
military force" and resources Of the State arr
at once turned over to JEFF. Davis, to be use'
at his unboauded discretion in making war upo!
and subverting the Government Of that Uniol
whereof Tennessee has for nearly seventy year
formed an integral part. This "league"
formed in direct and ostentacious defiance o
the Federal Constitution, which every sconndre
of these conspirators has solemnly sworn to sup
port, and which express y provides Art l, sec
lO) that I" No Stale shall enter into any treaty
F." alliance or confederation" But what use Q
mentioning oaths to "A traitor! We only cit
the above clause to show how utterly null ant
| void this League" would be, even If the Legs
| lature had been empowered by the. people t
contract it, instead OF being virtually instructed
to do nothing of the kind.
| Well: the Legislature, having thus COMMITTEES
perjury and treason, and made Jeff DAVIS vir
tual dictator OF the State, with full control owe
its "whole military force" proceeds to enac
that the people thus plunged into treason, shall
on the Sth OF June next, be allowed to rote fu
"Separation that is, Dsunion--or mo Seps
ration" The mischief being already done, an
every man in the State subjected to the call c
jeff Davis, who may have him shot if he hes
tates to shoulder his musket and march agains
the defenders of the Uuion--he is to have til
privilege, month hence, of voting all this dowi
But suppose lac has meantime been marched I
Arkansas or Kentucky-suppose he has bee
shot in an attack on Cairo--what chance wi
he have to vote? And how will his votin
avail?
OF course, there is not in this broad land or
fool SO foolish as to believe that there will
ANYTHING like lair election in Tennessee on Il
9Th of June. No; there will be just such d
election as the Missouri Border Rufiians were a
customed to hold in Kansas five or six years 6g
and nothing else. Consider that an attempt
the Union men to hold meeting at Paris, Tenr
a few DAYS since, was broken up by force, ~
Union men being shot, and that secessionis
being asked to meet or follow Mr.. Etheridge
Trenton, responded: If he speaks against Il
South that is, Secession" our only ans'ee'
him and his Jackers must be cold steel and bullet
and you see the whole thirg This election
20 be simply farce, intended to throw th
vail over a traitorous usurpation; and no Uni
, men will dare vote where the Secessionists ha
the most armed men on the ground, as they W
take care to have in most places. Nashville al
Memphis gave majorities against Secession VIII
: the late real election was held; now they
: give Just as much for it as the conspirate
suppose will be most advantageous TO TN
eAAse.
The jeff. Davis rebellion strikes not mere
|, at the heart of she nstion-its very existence
, it strikes an equally deadly blow at oil Repr
lican liberty. 1t is an uprising Of the viole