Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1861-07-27
The Preservation OF the Union a National
Necessity.

oil July Grafton in New York
Why ne should not recognise he seeding states
And no let US rise from these disregard
ed appeals to the truth of history and the
wretched subtleties of the secession schoo
argument, and contemplate the great Issue
before us, in its solemn practical reality
why should we not it is asked, admit the
claims of the seeding states, acknowledge
their independence, and put an end at once
to the war P why should we not p an
SWer the question by asking another, why
should we 2 What have we TO hope from
the pursuit of that course Peace But
we were at peace before Why are we not
at peace now? The North has not wared
tne war, 1t has been forced upon us in self
uelehse and if, while they had the Consti.
tuition and the laws, the Executive Con.
greSS, and the courts, oil controlled nv
themselves, the South, dissatisfied with Ie.
gal projections and constitutional remedies
has grasped the sword, can North and
oouth nope toIve in peace, when the bonds
OF mon are broken, and amcable means
OF adjustment are repudiated ? Peace is
the very last thing which secession if rc.
cognIzed, VIII give US it will give US moth
ing out hollow truce-time to prepare the
means OF new outrages. 1t is, in its very
nature, perpetual cause of hostility an
eternal, never Cancelled letter Of maroue and
reprisal an everlasting proclamation of
border war. How can peace exist, when
all the causes of dissensiou are indefinitely
multiplied when unequal revenue laws
snail have led to gigantic system Of snug
Cling when general stampede of slaves
shall take place along the border, with no
thought OF rendition, and all the thousand
causes of mutual irritation shall be called
into action, on a frontier of 1900 miles. not
marked by natural boundaries and not sub.
Ject to Il common Jurisdiction or a mcdiat.
ing power ! We did believe in peace fond
Iy, crednousIy, believed, that, cemcnted Jy
the mild umprage Of the Federal Union, it
might dwell forever beneath the folds of
the Star.Spangled Banner, and the sacred
Shield OF common nationality. That was
Ihe greatest nrcanum of policy that was
Ihe state mystery into which men and an.
gels desired to look hidden from ares but
revealed to us:
Which Kings and Prophets waited for.
|
A family of states, Independent for local
concerns, united under one government for
the management of common interests and
The prevention of internal feuds. There
was 10 limit to the possible extension of
such system. IL had already compre.
honded half of North America, and it
might, in the lapse Of ages, have folded the
contintnti in its peaceful benefcent embrace.
We fondly dreamed that in the lapse of
ages, it would have been extended till half
the Western Hemisphere had realized the
vision of universal, perpetual peace. From
that dream we have been rudely startled
by the array Of ten thousand armed men
in Charleston harbor, and the roar of eleven
batteries raining storm Of iron hail on
our poor scgeworn company, because in
obedience to lawful authority, in the per.
formance of sworn duty, the gallant An.
dcrson resolved to keep his oath. That
brave and faithful band, by remaining at
their post, did not hurt hair of the head
of Caroniuu, bond or free. The U. S.
proposed, not to reinforce, but to feed
them. But the Confederate leaders would
not allow them even the miserable boon of
being starved into surrender aud because
some laws had been passed some,rhere, by
which it had been alleged that the return
Of S7nle slaves (nOt one from Carolina had
been or might be DISTRACTED S. Carolina,
dsclaiming the protection Of courts, and
of Congress, which had never been with
held from her, has inaugurated a ruthless
civil war If, for the frivolous reasons as
signed, the seeding states have chosen to
plunge into this gulf while all the peaceful
temperamentS and constitutional remedies
Of the Union were within their reach and
offers of further compromise and guarau,
tees were daily rendered them, what hope,
what possibility Of peace can there be when
the union is broken up when, in addition
10 all other sources Of deadly quarrel, a
geaeral exodus of the slave population be-
gins (as beyond all question it willy and
nothing but war remains for the settlement
of controversies
The Vice President of the new Confed.
eracy states that it rests ou slavery but
from its very nature it must rest equally
on war eternal war, first between North
aud South, and then between the smaller
fragments into which the disintegrated
parts may crumble The work of demons
has already begun. Besides the hosts mus
tered for the capture or destruction of
Washington, Eastern Virginia has let
loose the dogs of war on the loyal citizens
of Western Virginia they are straining
at the leash in Maryland and Kentucky
Tennessee threatens to set price on the
head of the noble Johnson aud his friends;
a civil war RACES in Missouri.
Why, in the Rame Of Heaven, has not
Western Virginia, separated from Eastern
Virginia by mountain ridges, by climate,
by the course of her rivers, by the charac.
ter Of her population, and the nature of
her industry, why has she not as good
right to stay in the uaion which she inher-
tied from her Washington, as Eastern Vir-
gina has to abandon it to the mushroom
Confederacy forced upon her from Mont
gomery Are no rights sacred but those
of rebellion no oaths binding but those
taken by men already foresworn are lib
erty of thought, aud speech and action
nowhere to be tolerated except where laws
are trampled under foot, arsenals and mints
plnndered, governments warred against,
and their patriotic defenders assaied by