The Democratic press. (Eaton, Preble County, Ohio) 1860-1865, 1862-08-07
ON PREBIE COUNTY, oHTogrHURsDAY, AUGUST 1862

any action or omission of the Gov
ernment, or any member of it,
without having treason imputed to
him ? Can not you, sir? Can not
/? /, for example, have the mis-
fortune to think that Mr.. Seward.
our present Secretary of State, is
not fit, as a statesman, to index
the papers of the late Sias Wright.
However little my thoughts may
trouble him. ] do think his want
.0f sense sober lsGhse==has snlsrAc
him the laughing stock of Europe.
| think he is u small ward and
county politician, who writes like
a sophomore, and acts like a stock
jobber. Every time he speaks
about what will happen in sixty
days-in ninety days-he puts me
i'll mind of curb-stone broker
chattering over the approaching
maturity of a dubious note. |
think such men have been adj
vanced to important places in this
country about as often as they will
be; and 1 can not help rejoicing to
think that Mr.. Seward will prob
ably be the last ofthe LiIliputians.
May | not say so? Has Mr.. Phi
lips taken out patent for the ap-
plication of first rate abuse to
second rate men; and must | be
tried for treason if l however un-
successfully, attempt to infringe
it?
Again, I do not worship Mr..
Sumner, the Chairman of the Com
mittee on Foreign Relations. l
can not admire person who is 30
simple as to think it a finer thing
to pretend to be fanatic, than to
be q dull but honest man. There
is a fine old German story called
"The Adventures of Reynard the
Fox," in the illustrations of which
the animals of different countries
are represented in the attitudes
with the expressions of men. The
illustrations are very good. Expose
a cup of clear water to the frost
observe it, and even when the cold
begins to fill its transparent sub
stance with beautiful spineILa o
ice, if you agitate the mass it will
not Immediately freeze. But give
il, in that condition, a short perioC
Of rest, and it becomes a rock
hardly yielding to the energies o
gunpowder and fire. So have we
found the South. They were once
undecided. Time and the stupid.
ity Of the Government have con.
solidated a hesitating into a hostile
people. Yet Mr.. Gordon is a trail
tor If he calls q fool d fool.
No, sir, freedom of speech is not
quite gone. 1t "Stili lives" in Bos-
ton. This mean prosecution is not
to affect it. The respectable mem
bers of the Republican party say
plainly what they think about it.
Those that l happen to know OF
them are gentlemen. They did not
agree with me in politics when
politics existed, but they agree
with me now in despising that
petty persecution of laborers and
mechanics for their opinions, which
was the reproach of the old Wing
party, and which was one of the
causes Of its fall, as great and res
pectable as that party was. They
say, with perfect truth, that the
whole effect Of our unanimity de.
pends on its notorious freedom
from constraint, and that it would
not only be lost to us, but would
be used against US with tremen-
dous power, it it could be shown
for one moment to be produced by
fear or by force. II we can not
hold our own against one or two
Secessionists in u whole State with
out force, what are we to do with
the armies of Stonewall Jackson ?
If Heading Republicans, however,
abandon their own principles to
take vengeance for opinions sake,
[ can tell you that they will not
leave SO great u matter in the hands
of any such persons as the prose
cutors in this case. They will moi
to shrink from the
Court of Judge Lynch in order to
whine over us in the cellars OF
Deacon Palmer! They will not
attempt to watch US in entry ways,
like Mr.. Phineas Stone, or adver-
tise us in the Sunday papers as
we're the Gordons. Nor, if we
happen to be so situated, will they
sneak rouLd to master builders or
other employers and threaten them
with loss of business if we are not
dismissed, as is the high-toned and
practice OF Mr.. Will
lam Washburn.
The petty business never sprung
rom them. They are great party,
md, believe, an honest one. They |
are not to be measured with the
measure of Mr.. Sumner, or of Peter
Hobart. Ii they utter sneers in
.emper, they empty their pockets
II generosity; they care tor the
widow and the orphan, and when
hey do that, sir, they never ask