The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1862-06-20
The Constitution as u fs''-
Hypocrisy OF the Phrnsc.

Mhe Wheeling Intelligencera=pbblish-
ed in border State, be il remembered,
aud where il could sec all the blessings
Of "concilatory" policy toward the
guerilla rebels, II there were ony such
blessngs--has the following comments
upon the course of certain "conservatives''
which We commend to the attention Of
those who in this State are seeking to
convert the Republicans Of the State to
"Union" with those who hold such
doctrines are here shown up:
There is nothing on this earth, and
never was. more false aud utterly hollow
hearted than this hypocritical cant about
preserving the Constitution os il is--this
pretcnce that the loyal Northern people
are all abolitionists, are all It's enemies,
and are going 10 destroy it-tbis appre.
hension Of "Anti-Slavery Despotism. I"
What is an Anti.Siavery Despotisml II
is term employed by those who sympu-
thise with the pro.slovery Hbsolutism
now warning against Democratic Govern
mcnt. Simply that ard nothing more.
What reason Is there to say that the
Northern people are enemies TO the con-
stitu ion! None. A few of them, radical
and ianatical, have snetrcd at il all their
lives, but in Repub lean Governments
the liberty of speech aud opinion is tolcr-
nted. But even they have never taken
up arms to assault il. They do not OPP
pose physical force to the execution of
It's provisions. They do not kill the sol
dicrs i calls IL into the field. They mike
no war against Il except with their tongues
aud have never done much dammage, as
yet. And yet the curators par ezceHenoe
of the Constitution can see nothing more
criminal in the levying of a terrible and
criminal war against the Constitution,
than in the idle and ineffective sneers of
few fnnaticsl There can be but one
explanation ofa proposition so monstrous.
II is as already suggested, that they cry
"Lord! Lordl" when they mean "Saton!
Satan" They lose sight of every pro-
vision Of the Constitution except that
which protects rebel masters in their me-
gro property. They want no other pro.
vision enforced. They are willing that
oil those sublime declarations that are
embodied in the Constitution, upholdinp
this fabric of Constitutional liberty, shall
be sunk in the bottomless abyss, SO that
negro slavery be preserved in all its pr:st-
inc beauty. This is the Alpha aud One
gn of their pr ,servaton of the Constitu-
ton as II is-thcir restoration of the
Union as il was. The Union can never
be restored as it was, no more than a
man can call back his life and live il over.
The past is revocablc-thc mischief of
the pust is irrcpOrable. Can you restore
to life, TO their families, TO society, the
thousands of gallant and generous souls
who were murdered, and manglcd after.
ward, Ly armed traitors, because they
would nottnmcly surrende their Govern
mcnt and Constitulion--iheir free insti.
tutions-thsir civizationl Can you re-
store the millions of treasure that have
been swallowed because the Union has
been Hssailcd and must and will be pre-
servedl If you cannot, then you cannot
restore the Union as il was. But YOU
may restore il, aud make il better than it
was. You may sink conspiracy against
freedom and human right so deep in the
ocean of inlumy that no plummet can
ever reach IL, and no bubbl will ever
come up to show where it went down for.
ever. You may make the Union better
that II was, stronger than ever, more re-
spcctcd abroad and loved at home, but
you must at first expungc the last vestge
oi scct ssion, otherwise it will linger like
the drC AIDED plague, and the war for our
institutions will every few years have to
be fought over.