Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-06-07
Letter of Hon Cessius NJ. Clay 20 the I'd.
itsr of the London Timea,

SIR: Allow me your journal to make a
few remarks upon the complications of the
United States of America, which, l am sur
prisd to find, are so little understood this
side of the Atlantic.
l. "What are we fighting for?" 1--WE the
people of the United States of America Ito
use the language of our Constitutiou,) are
fighting to maintain our nationality, and
the principles of liberty upon which il was
fo~unded-that nationality which Great Brit
ain has pledged herself, both by past comfy
and the sacred obligations of treaty, to re-
spect; those great principles of liberty, that
all power is derived from the consent of the
governed; trial by jury, freedom Of speech
and the press that without ldIr there is no
liberty"-which we inherited from Great
Britain herself, and which, having been
found to lie at the base of all its progress
and civilization, we desire to perpetuate for
ourselves and the future of all other nations.
The so-called Confederate States of Amer
ica" rebel against u~s-against our nationality,
and against all the principles of its struc-
ture. Citizens Of the United S~tates-of the
one Government mot of Confederate States,
as they would have the world believe-but
of ''us the people,") they propose, not by
common legal consent, but by arms, to sever
our nation into separate independencies.
Claiming to "be let alone" they conspire
against us; seize by force our forts, stores
and arms; appropriate to themselves our
mints, moneys, and vessels at sea; capture
our armies, and threaten even the Capital at
Washington =
The word Secession" is used to cover up
treason and delude nations. They stand to
us in the relation OF one people" the idea
of State sovereignty" is utterly delusive.
We gave up the old Confederation" to avoid
just such complications as have now Oc-
CURED. The States are by our Constitution
deprived of all the rights of independent
5overeigns, and the National Government
acts not through State organizations, but
directly upon the citizens of the States
themselves-to that highest of power, the
right of life and death. The States can not
keep an army, or navy, or even repel inva-
sion, except when necessity will not allow
time for national action; can make no treaty,
nor coin money, nor exercise any of the
first great essential powers of Sovereignty"
In a word, they can no more "secede" from
the Union than Scotland OF Ireland can
gecede from England.
The professed friends Of the independence
of nations and popular rights, they have not
only overthrown the Constitution of the
United States, but the Constitutions of the
Confederate States" themselves, refusing
in every ease to refer their new u~surpations
10 the vote of the people, thus making them
hOa9AI AA1AkCA9 ~ 0VNA WIG 0k1kC1 AAU
the nation. The despotic rulers over four
millions of enslayed Africans, they presume
to extend over us, the white races of all
nations, the same despotism, by ignoring the
political rights of all but their own class, by
restrictions upon the popular franchise by
the suppression of the freedom of speech
and of the press, by their terrorism OF
Lynch law or t~yrannical enactments,
backed by standing armies, to crush out the
/ saAaHnAAnAnn lf NHau-Ik IL s-A..ggLN
instincts of our worldwide humanity-With
the atroeious dogma that negro slavery il
the only basis of real conservatism and pro.
gtessiye civilization, and that the true solu
ton Of the contest Of all time between labor
and capital is that capital should own the
labor, whether tphite or black.
The success Of such demands would send
the tide of barbarism not olny ever the
millions Of the New World and the isles o
Western oceans, but roll it back over En-,
gland and emancipated Europe, and blot on
from history this, the greatest glory Of Oul
times.
Q. aBUt can you subdue The Yepoltsd EtatssF p
OF course we can. The whole seven reVOlteI
States (2,l73,0 00) have not as much whit
population as the single State of New
York 1881, b6S) by 100000 people. If al
the slave States were to make common cause
they have only s,9Q5,Sa4 whites, witt
4VJ0,000 slaves, while the Union has Abou
10000 900 Of homogeneous people, as power
full in peace and war as the world has seer
Intelligent hardy, amid "many-sided,n thei
late apparent lethargy and weakness wa
the self possession Of conscious strength
When they had made up their minds tina
force was necessary, they moved upon Wash
ington with such speed, numbers, and stead
ness as is not surpassed in history. w
have the money lat q lower rate Of interes
than ever beforel the men, and the con
mand Of the seas aud the internal waters
We can blockade them by sea. and inVad
them by land, and close up the rebellion |
Q single year, if We are VII aLoRsi" 70
the population of the slave States is divide
perhaps equally fer and against the Union
the loyal citizens being for the time over
awed BY the organized conspiracy Of th
traitors, while the North Is united 10 4 man
the late allies Of the South, the Democrats
Party, being now more earnest for the sub
jugation OF the rebels than the Republican,
D. "Baa can yOW govern q tSs6jueated peo
pie and yeconstFget Me UniOaP"l We do NO
propose 20 H~sabjugatS' the revoltsd States
we propose TO put down simply the rsbsIciti
eens. Va 60 70 the rescue Of the loTa
Unionists Of all the States. We carry safety
and peace, and liberty 70 the UniOn-lOVin