Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1861-08-22

only Union paper in the entire Southern
Confederacy, having any circulation among
the honest people, must be crushed out by
the liberty loving, and tyrant-hating author
tiles of the Southern Confederacy at Rich
mondl We have been told that the Con
federacy, conscious Of uprightness Of pur-
pose, and knowing that her cause is just,
feared no discussion, but threw oren wide
her doors and invited the light Of heaven to
shine in upon her men and measures! We
supposed that with her hundreds ofjournals,
able and strong stretching from the District
of Columbia to the Western frontiers of
Texas, she could combat the errors Of one
Union paper among the mountains Of East
Tennessee But no, this boosted Confeder-
acy finds it necessary to frown down inves-
tigation, to check the progress offree inquiry,
and for what? Why, forsooth, lest her
deeds should be reproved.
1t is an old proverb, but as true now as
centuries ago, that none ever feared that
the truth should be heard, but those that the
truth would indicS'--none ever feared to
come to the light but those whose deeds are
evil. And when we find men loving dark
ness, and wishing to keep others in darkness,
either in regard to their Government, OF
other transactions, we have reason to believe
all is not right
Leading men of the Union party, of un.
blemshed character, must be rudely seized
by an armed band of men, to crafty the
malice ofleading Secessionists in Knoxville,
torn from their families, and rushed off up.
on the cars to Richmond, and there thrown
into loathsome prison The only press
they have must be muzzled, its batteries
silenced, and its readers and friends requir-
l,,l Al, G,l, -
papers for the news ofthe day Large bodies
of armed men must be thrown into our coun-
try, and put in possession of all the princi-
pal towns and thoroughlares of the country,
but no wrongs are to be inflicted upon the
people of East Tennessee, nor are they to be
deprived Of any of their rights.
Can all this mean anything less than a
declaration of war against East Tennessee
Is it not opening the ball, and inviting blood
shed in East Tennessee? What the effec,
of all this will be, we are wholly unable to
say 1t will either depress the Union force.
cover like dogs, or it will make them fran
tic in defense of their gallant leaders, dowr
trodden because Of their principles, and
arouse a thirst for vengeance and brave
deeds What Union leader, after all this
can any longer meet his friends, and urge
them to peace, and moderation, as we know
they have been doing?
So far as we are concerned, we can suspend
our publication, in obedience to the dictates
of tyranny and intolerance-we will yield t.
the demands of an armed mob---turn owe
to them our Office and what little propert!
we have--deprive ourselves and hel pies
family of small childfen of the necessar,
means of support-and beg our bread from
door to door among Union men who are abl
to give--but we shall refuse, most obstinat
ely refuse, to the day of our death to thinl
or speak favorably of such Confederacy a
this, or to agree that honor, patriotism, o
love of country, have influenced the men a
its head, who have plunged the country in
to this revolution And whether our hum
Bile voice is hushed in death-whether ou
press is muzzlcd by the spirit of intoleranc
at Richmond, making this our last issue o
a journal we have edited for almost a quar-
ter of century, VIC beg all who may com
after us and our paper, to credit no Seces
sion talsehood that may represent US as hay
ing changed our principles from those of Il
exalted devotion to the old AMERICA
UNION, and of undying hostility TO those VIII
would perpetratc its dissolution
w. g. BRowNLow,
Editor of the Knoxville Wing.
AUGUST 10, 1861.