The Democratic press. (Eaton, Preble County, Ohio) 1860-1865, 1861-03-21
PEACE.


quiet assurance ofhope. Each day
repeats the glad tidings that, not
only arc the great body ofthe peo-
pie yearning for, but that even our
new Chief Executive is striving to
restore peace and confidence to all
sections OF orr country. That his
course disappoints many, there is
no doubt. We are among that
class, but we are happily diSap-
pointed. There is q class who vent
their impotCnt rage in curses loud
and deep. They are the men who
would gladly wage unreIcnting war
upon half our land. Let no one
say we approve the course of the
South; we believe she is in the
wrong; that in the dcIlrium Of pas.
sion, provoked by the tauntS and
triumplls of sectional spirit, she
has rashly raised her hand against
the Union Of our States. Nor are
we of the North guiItless. 1t is
proper, in this hour OF gloomy reck
oning, just beginning to brighten
with hope, to speak, not as parti-
Fans, but as patriots. The South is
wrong when she invades the hal
lowed boundary of the rights of an
American citizen-she is wrong
when she rcpudiates her just obi
gationsto our citizens-shcis wrong
when she makes a mans citizenship
a cause of his violent expulsion
from her tcrritory-she is wrong
when she lays violent hands upon
the most beautiful and beneticemt
form of govcrnment the world has
ever seen, and strives to whclm it
in one common ruin. We are wrong
when we cry no union with slave
holders-we are wrong when We
legislatc to defeat the enforcement
of their guaranteed rights I'VE are
wrong when we let slipfrom pulpit
or stump, or press, those bitter,
burning words against 0 lr brethren,
which do us no good, and inAamc
their minds with hatred. She is
wrong when she lowers the stars
and stripes, which have waved in
battle and breeze for almost q cen
fury; that proud "Ensign full high
advanced" to which the down
trodden of all nations have hurried
for shelter and protection. We
have been wrong, whenin this mad
ness ofpoliticAl excitement, a polite
al party has erased onc-half the
glorious stars on its field of blue
and toretold the gloom to which
se%ctionalism was hurrying us. w,
have in times past had patriots
whom the true of all parties re
spectcd, and if Abraham Linco,l
sacrifices party upon the altar o
patriotism, and restores peace an,
prospesity to this distracted coun
try, far be it from us to assail tn
act. II by concession and mutua
compromise, the horrors of civi
war may be averted and our Ian,
saved from its blighting effects; tn
man whose patriotism is broa,
enough, and whose nerve is stron.
enough to look upon the distorted
face o fparty with seorn and act tn,
patriot, is sure of a place in hu
manity's biography of her heroes
Fight our brethren! How man,
times must we forgive our s%innin!
brother before we aspire to becom
the Gains of this beautiful heritage
Did the brave jackson, at New Or
leans balance the account whicl
was opened at Bunker Hill, an,
close the final act Of the blood
drama Of our strife with old Eng
land with 4 suitable catastrophe 10
so thrilling a tragedy that the stir
ring memories Of Northern an,
S)athern battle-felds, blending i
the history of our Union, shoul
give place to deadly hate and inter
necine war? No, no, from Main
to Texas, let the voice sound forth
the Union must and shall be pre-
served. Let party pride and pass
ion stand silent and Inundated il
the presence of the danger an,
gloom of the present hour, and ev
cry patriot, if Abraham Lincoll
pursues a policy of peace, sus