Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1861-12-20

aud nobly did he meet the responslblll-
ty. You and honor him for his decis-
ion. He said, Never 6y an order from
mn hand, ,chile 7 am President, shall
the Stars and Stripes be struck to q REQ
el foet' (Long applause) This mn
nnlsive and patriotic declaration of the
President, in my Judgment, saved the
life of the nation, and whatever blund-
ers he may have committed, or shall
hereafter commit, this brave and noble
act ought and with me, shall excuse a
multitude of mistakes.
When asked what he proposed to do,
he answered, that "he eoOrtd 1oM esc-
,,ectqts TO aDrovision oar soldiers, tcItSte ia
tie faithJ1a discharge of their duty,
and I intend to notify the authorities at
Charleston that the troops IN IT. Sun1p-
ter ,ciH be fully proUisiOned By sending
an u,adrned vessel to the Fort" The
vessel was dispatched and when within
sight of the Fort she was fired upon
from the rebel batteries, and compelled
to put to sea. Thus day after day all
hope of peaceable solution of our diff
iculties was dispelled, and when all hope
of reinforcing the Fort seemed to be
given up and Major Anderson only had
one or two days rations of salt pork for
his handful of men, at the expiration of
which time the rebels knew he must
surrender, they opened their fire upon
that patriotic band, and il was compel
led to surrender. This act sealed the
doom of the traitors. The North here
tofore divided, were now united, and
every patriotic Union man gave up par
ty for country.
need not detail to you the stirring
events which followed. The call of the
President for $4,000 men, the alacrity
with which hundreGS of thousands of
all parties patnotically volunteered to
defend the Constitution and the Union.
Until then, did not know how full the
nation was of the old leayen Of 1776.-
Until then l had noidea of the immense
moral power of the bayonet.
The President called Congress togeth-
er on the 4th of July, and asked for
100000 men and $4OO, 100000 of mon
ey to put down the rebellion, and we
gave him 5000 men and $500, ,000,0 600.
How the citizens in the loyal states have
responded to the call of Congress and
the President, you know. Never in all
the history of the world, from the days
of Alexander and Caesar to Napoleon,
has any nation of eighteen millions of
people been able to put an army OF
100000 men into the field armed and
equipped as we have, in five MONTHS
This fact of itself is a guarantee of our
success if the Government but does its
duty.
The conduct of Breckenridge, Bright
and others, in the Senate, of Burnet and
others in the House after the new ad-
ministration came into power, is proof
positive, that these men were either In
sympathy or completely with the trail
tors who were consplring to destroy the
government, at the very moment they,
with upIifted hand, were swearing to
support and defend it.
/ might quote by the hour from speech
es of the leading rebels since the out
break of this rebellion to sustain the
position which have so elaborately for
tilted by fact after fact but | am sure
you will agree with me, that it is unnec-
essary. l will only detain you long
enough on this point'to make two or
three short quotations which l think it
important to submit in this connection.
The first is from Alexander H. Stephens,
tile Vice President of the rebel govern
ment. Mr.. Stephens, | suppose you all
know to be one of the fairest and most
conservative men in the entire South,
and a man of the first order of talents
In speaking of the principles on which
the Southern Confederacy was formed
this summer, he said:
"That its foundations were laid-that its
cornerstone rested on the great truth that
Slavery subordination to the superior race
was the Negro's natural condition; that the
Confederacy was founded on these principles
and that this stone, which was rejected by the
first builders, had, in their new edifce, be
come the chief stone of the corner"
The foundation stone upon which
Washington and the patriots of the rev
olution built, is rejected by the leaders
in this rebellion, and if Mr.. Stephens
speaks truly, the foundation upon which
the conspirators build, is Slavery. Yet
in the face of such statements and all
.Illb ldCJS Il nave
and newspaper editors attempt to de.
ceive and mislead the people by declar-
ing that slavery has nothing whatever
to do with this rebellion. ~.
Senator Brown, of Mississippi, col
league OF Jefferson Davis, openly de
clared that he not only demanded
Southern Confederacy, @ but that he wan
ted '1Cuba, Mexico and Central Ameri
ca for the planting and spread of Slave
ry, so that like the religion ofour divine
Master, it may spread to the uttermost
ends of the earth"
Mr.. Clay, of Alabama, declared in {
speech at Montgomery, last winter, that
"a Gordon of Free States must never b
permitted to surround the God-given institu
ton Of Slavery-the beautiful tree must NO
be thus girdled that il may wither and die.n
And the leading organ Of the conspiI
ators for May of this year, DeBoy'
Review, not only declares 'that tn
foundation of the new Confederacy ha
for its cornerstone, slavery" but deter
ded and justified the enslayement eve
rywhere of the entire labOring populs
ton, declaring that the social cO1sdi
tion Of England assd the i0OrLd aoOpL
be infinitely better If the Ia6Ori,ag cta'
SeS soere domestic sIoves.'' ..t1r
Are these startling facts new to you
49,, a~a oiI ea,,,,l;ar aoc,,a;,,ko,,,oa, =