The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1862-04-10
"A9lagoai.tic Ideas"

AU0BVWuSSbC AucteSs-
81 have CURSED the Constitution and the
Onion, and endcavorcd to break them, and,
thank God, they arc broken
WENDELL PHILLIPS.
81 do not expect the Union to he divided
- do not EXPECT the house to fall but
ao.expcct It wal cease to be divided" ~
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Can any one imagine two things to be
more directly ''antagonistic" in feeling ant;
in principle, than the two quotations above.
And yet the Mercury Of last week introdu.
ces them to'the public, with some remarks
Of its own which it very properly heads,
"The Rant Of Treason" a belonging to the
same Glass; in opposition to something else
Surely if they are not antagonistic, one to
the other, there can DO no antag ,nisrns Of
thought or principle.
The Mercury and other kindred sheets
seem utterly unconscious of TIE high honor
whic,,: they bestow on the Republican Party
by going so often outside Of it, to end senti-
ments against which to hurl their anathc-
mas. Phillips and Garrison are the twin
ghosts that haunt their distempered vision
BY night and by day.
And yet, no two democrats in the nation
have 50 bitterly and so keenly ridicsled
leading republicans and their principles, as
this same Phillips and Garrison. Garrison
secuted Summers maxim that '.Libcrty was
national and slavery sectional" maxim
introducodas plank into the platform Of the
American Party, and. in this way Endorsed
by majority of 299 in W ,pello County
more than six years ago.
Garrison spurned the idea of recognizing
Slavery even as sectional thing. It was
Wendell Phillips and not a democrat that
called Lincoln. slave catching hound from
Illinois. .....
Phillips and Garrison ask favor of no.
body and would disdain to be held respon.
sible for any republican principle whatever;
and much more would they disdain to mis-
represent any person or party merely for
political effect. # u
Cannot the democracy be reconstructed
without resorting to this process, Or does
all its capital lie in this direction?
But the Vice President left his desk to
shake hands with Phillips! We ought to
be very grateful for that. Did it never oc
cur to the Mercury and its adherents that
the candidate for the Vice Presidency
on the same ticket with Mr.. Douglas, and
supported by that portion of the democracy
which had been purified at Charles.
TOM had he been elected could have shaken
traitors hand without Leaving his desk p
Aye, that he would be under the necessity
of shaking traitors handwhen he shook any
hand? How much worse is it to sAske hands
with traitor than to be traitor?
Gentlemen who rant about the "Crimi.
nality Of Republicanism" must be little
careful in this matter Of shaking hands.
"Onr merchants 'and "business men, -
whose ''good name" is so precious to the
Mercury, have many of them Endorsed the
same Lincoln, whom it places among trait
ors in its columns, and have Endorsed him
because he holds the sentiments which tn.
Mercury gives us as treason.
Are they not traitors too! And what ar,
Lincoln Democrats ?" Are traitors to h,
received into full fellowship. IL they are onz.
democrats' Is this the way in which tn,
democracy is to be reconstructed
The American people are now rcaping tn
fruit which this sort Of democracy has sown
and will take their own time to think abou
giving 1t a chance to seed the country again
None seem more conscious Of this tina,
the Mercury ITSELF, for it instinctively omit
the name Of Buchanan in the list of Presi
dents whose patriotic sentiments it had QUO
ted in previous number
Could Helper find for his book scores O
extracts from the writings of Jefferson to tn
terror and CONSERVATION Of the latter da,
democracy, and cannot the Mercury find on
patriotic sentiment uttered by Mr.. Buchan
an in his long life, il it be for no other pur
pose, only to make the Presidential list com
plete. 1t quotes from six Presidents, ele,
ted in opposition to the democracy, from
two, Washington and Monroe, elected with
out serious opposition from any quarter. anc
from one Of the rcmaing five, Mr.. Van Blu
rem, subsequently candidate on free sol
Platform, and opposed by Lincoln, Seward
and thousands of others now in the Repub
iican Party, and can it not give one line
from Buchanan? Was there no antagonisn
to treason in the last President which tn,
democracy gave Us, and do they ask us tc
elect another?
But there are two things which 1t Is pru
dent for all loyal men to note Not sinsl,
person in the Nercnry's list of traitors, is .
traitor according to the Constitution Of The
United States.
Garrison was mobbed in Boston in 1891
for teaching precisely the same that he ha,
taught ever since. At that time and until
the fourth Of March 1887, Gen. jackson was
President of the United States--a man new.
er slow to lay his hand on traitor, as his
dealings with ratification, and his whole
character abundantly attest. He never
thought it necessary to tneddle with CARR
son or.any others like him. But now, for.
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