Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1861-06-13
To the People of the United
Sfnteg.


assembled in the city of Frankfort, desire
10 address you in relation to the present
condition Of the country.
None us have ever expected to live to
see the spectacle now exhibited in our
land. The cry to arms re-
sounds throughout our borders. and in a
few short weeks we have seen all over the
land the marshaling of troops ready for
the conflict. The pursuits of peace are
neglected and abandoned, snd the fell
spirit of war has seized almost every
heart, until even gentle and tender woman
yields TO the fierce impulse, and encour-
ages the strife, and the maternal eye scarce
gathers tear as the son seizes his arms,
and rushes toward the field of carnage
and of death.
If this warlike spirit-this terrible en-
ergy-were displayed in preparing to
meet the legions of an invading enemy,
our hearts would exult in the exhibition
of the martial spirit of our countrymen I;
but, alas the combatants are descend
ants of sres who stood side by side in
the day of battle, to maintain the indie
pendence of our country, and in the ap-
preaching conflict brother is to fall by
the hand of brother.
Can we hope, in this day of fierce pas
sion, that our voice, crying for peace,
will be heard ? Will any portraiture of
the horrors of civil war, that we can give,
have any influence with those who are
rushing madly on to destroy each other
We fear not. States which should have
been with us, and whose voice would have
increased the potency Of our demands for
peace, have been seized with the prevail
ing madness. and have rushed to arms
Still we feel bound to make our voice to
be heard, with the hope that our words
will have their influence at some day,
when men shall behold the wasting and
desolation that their madness has pro.
duced.
All the slave States except four are ar
rayed in hostility to the General Govern
ment, and are demanding that the confed-
Grafton which they have formed shall be
recognized as a separate sovereign nation.
The process by which they have attempt
ell to form themselves into distinct ma :
tion has been, for each state by itself to
declare all connection with the General
Government terminated, and then unite
in forming a confederation among them.
selves.
Our present purpose does not require
us to to discuss the propriety of the acts
of those States, yet it may be proper fol
us to say, that they find no warrant in
any known principle of our government
and no justification in the facts existing
when they seeded.
While these States claim that their
sovereignty as nation shall be recog
nized, and have collected armies to make
good their claim, the government of the
United States insists that the ordinances
of secession are utterly void, and that the
Constitution and Laws of the United
States are still in force within the seeded
States just as they are within any Of the
other States, and to maintain this posi-.
ton armies are rapidly gathering on the
borders Of the seeded States.
If there could be any intervention by
which the shedding of blood and the des-
olation of civil war could be avoided, the
practical good sense of the American
people might discover some mode of adj
justing the difficulties, which would be
alike honorable and beneficial to both the
contending parties. But while one side
demands the recognition of its sovereign.
ty and the other insists that such recog
milton is a constitutional impossiblity, il
is manifest that there can be no arbitcl
but the sword, unless The people them
selves, acting upon and through theil
representatives, State and national, shal
interpose, arrest the strife, and enforce {
settlement without bloodshed. If any
terms of adjustment would be satisfacto
ry to both parties, which would fall shor
OF the recognition of the sovereignty o
the seeded States, and still satisfy them
and short of the obedience of the secedeC
States to the Constitution and laws of the
United States, and still satisfy the peo
pie of the United States. it is the duty o
each party to notify the other of sucl
terms as would be satisfactory, so that al
attempt at adjustment might be made
But we repeat, if the recognition of tn,
sovereignty of the seeded States continu,
sane q"d non, and if the government con.
linue to disclaim the constitutional power
to make such recognition, there is NJ
peaceful solution of the difficulty possbl,
other than such as people themselves may
by their actions produce.
1t is proper for MS to say that in on
opinion the Constitution delegates to nc
one department of the Government, MOI
to all of them combined, the power tc
destroy the Government itself, as woult
be done by the livision of the country in
to separate confcderacics. and that tn,
obligation exists to maintain the Consti
tuition of the United States, and to pre-
serve the Union unimpaired.
IL has been suggested in quarters enti
tied to the highest respect, that tho indc-
pendence of the States which have secede,
might he acknowledged by Natona
Convention, adopting on amendment tC
the Constitution for that purpose, as sucl
an amendment would have the support
and acquiescence of the seeded States.-
But we leave that for the decision of tb,
people and their representatives., wher
they shall feel the imperative necessity o
such a settlement.
We now turn to the consideration o.
what ought to de done for the purpose OF
quieting apprehension within the few slave
States which still adhere to the Union es.
tablished by their fathers.