Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1861-07-11
Disunion Conspiracy.

Disunion Conspiracy.
i" As one by one new facts are developed, to
make it clearly evident to the whole c0un-
try that the disunion conspirators have been
gradually perfecting their schemes during
the last thirty years, men may well contem'
plate with amazemeDt such an extraordinary
spectacle 1t cannot be doubted that up to
within recent period very large majority
of the people of the South, like those of the
North, were aevotedly attached to the Union.
and even at the present tr3e there must ne>
cessarily be large body of men there who
still love it, and are only temporarily pre-
vented from giving free expression to their
sentiments by the system of terrorism which
has been established. But during all this
period comparatively small. but determined
aim. No matter what party was in power !;
no matter what issues seemed for the NOS
ment to command public attention no mat
ter wha. objects they prefessed temporarily to
have nearest their heart, their one steady
and Interchangeable eins was disunon. and TO
the disruption of this great Confederacy,
they INCREASINGLY deYoted all their energies,
| in season aud cut Of season, making all oth-
er quest ions subordinate to this. When in
power they embraced every opportunity pre-"
seLt d to them to sow the seeds disaffection
oDd d;.trust a1d to turr tLe anar0v ord ra
sources eff TIE Republic into whatever chan
nels could be made most available and use
ful, when the proper period arrived, for its
destruction. History furnishes no parallel
for the guilt of these persistent and unfalter-
enemies of our country. Other nations, tits
true, have had their conspirators, bat none,
who, for so long period, or for such slight
causes and pretexts, or wbo bad so fair
chance of enjoying the highest honors Of
nation, and securing the chitf portion of its
posts of honor and preferment, have played
the part of incarnate traitors IT the full ac-
unit of their Vaccinations could be written
what terrible lesson of drplicity and ini-'
quity it would teach ! We talk Of associa>
tons of men in other countries, who have
banded together for series of years to accom-
plish cherished political objects, and who
have. in some instances, stained their names
and cause with infamy, but the worst of
these cannot compare 10 depravity wilh the
Jealous devotees of the secession movement.
BY what gradual process they have under
mined the fidelity Of many Of the officers of
the army and navy, of Suutbern birth and
| poisoned their minds with the false and trea-
sonabie idea that their highest allegiance was
| due to the desperate politicians, who contro :
ed the people of their native States ! How
sealoasly have they magnifed the import
ance of every little difference of opinion, or
| of supposed interest, between the people of
North and the South. and insisted upon the
absolute triumph of the views of the latter
on all questions How industriously have
] they disseminated the idea that if in any case
! the Southern doctrines should not prevail,
any such failure would justify resort to
revolutionary measures for redress
Conscious of the strength of our Govern
ment, and of tie bepiicent nature of its OPP
erations upon the people of our whole coun-
try, SO long as tie propositions to destroy it
merely took the shape of threats, we could
afford to laugh at their folly, and TO despisa
them /; bat now, IN looking back at the past.
we can see the double significance Of what at
the time was supposed to be mere blatant
demagoguism. Ths traitors aimed at once
to frighten and terrify the patient and yield
ing North into submission to their demands,
and to undermine the loyalty of their people
and prepare theof for desperate measures
when, in the fulness of time, their plot haG
thickened and their preparations for estab.
fishing Southern eonfederacy were COM
plete. Nothing was better calculated to grad:
ually accustom the Southern mind to the
Secession scheme, from which they would
have originally shrunk back with horror, than
perpetual repetition of the cry, year after
year, that each question that arose in our
nstional politics was sufficiently important
to justify and demand dissolution Of the
Gonfederacy if the wishes of the Fire-eatsrs
were not complied with.
The conssirators simultaneously pressed
forward different branches of the programme.
One was to constantly increase the stringen-
cy of their claims upon the North, and tho
other to swell louder and louder, year after
| year, their threateng, defiant and rebellions
tone, while they terrified, cajoled or pur-
chased tools and agents of their villianous
scheme in all parts of the country, and thus
gradually laid what they supposed would be
an impregnable basis for their great rebel
| ZION.