Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1862-03-22

| long been impossible TO recoucile them
Have there been too many and unreason
able protesiotions Of devotion to "thu Union
rs it was" and innexible determination to
reconstruct II 2 Consider that ten years
OF earnest struggle against British tyranny
proceeded our fathers Declaration of Indie.
pendence. During those trying years, pro.
fessions Of loyalty to the British throne
were not merely authoritative but sincere
Two years before that Declaration was put
forth, neither George Washington nor John
Adams would have supported movement
for absolute Independence. Hope of ac-
commodation indomita able affection for the
Gag under which they had so often fought,
and to which they bad always fondly look
cd for protection habits of thought and
OF feeling which associated Loyalty with
Integrity, Honor, Virtue, in every ones
ideal OF true aud noble character, render
ing the sevcring of the ties which bound the
Colonies to the Mother Country q work of
time. None were more sleadfast in their
loyalty to their new country than those who
had most Reluctantly aud tardily sundered
the ties which so closely bound them TO the
Old. Yet but two days over year inter-
vened between President Lincoln's Conser-
vatiye Inaugural aud his Emancipation Mes
sage. But what year
But what does this Message amount to p
testify ask few impatient souls, who deem
a decree Of immediate aud absolute Eman.
cipation the onIv adequate medicine of our
National ills. 1t amounts at least to this
"a recognition of the truths that Slavery
is tue Nations mplacable and dangerous
enemy, and that its abolition wonld restore
US unity and peace. Even had these truths |
been propounded as sheer distractions, the |
importance Of their embodiment in Stare |
Paper emnnatng from the Whie House
could hardly be overestimatcd But when |
they are tntwined with a proposal that
Congress shall as a measure of National dc.
feuse and security extend pecnniary aid 10
any State which may see 1T TO Danish Sa.
very from their soil, their significance
is vastly increased Simply as the Nations
expression through her Chief Magistrate,
of her earnest desire to be delivered from
her cancer, aud her willingness to bear sac.
riices to that end, it will exult us in the
eyes Of the wise and good, aud reinvigorate
our eneriges for the trials still before us
1t dePrives indolence and self,hness Of :hcir
plea that We should do nothing 10 abolish
Slavery because we have no power over it.
We had none but moral power in the p emi
ses I'LL The giant wrong saw fit by rebellion
to give US power now We may do what.
ever is essential to the preservation Of the
National life. And we have now high au
thority sustaining our own conviction as to
the nature aud source Of the couutry's
peril.
This Message is no mere abstraction.
Though no State should promptly accept
the prUffer, the Presidents proposition
backed Ms it doubtless will be by Congress
will remain guiding light an The troubled
sea OF our politics which no present or tu-
ture storm can obscure. The the slereotyp.
ed congrries of aIsehoods-"Ths North
fhsteued Slavery upon the South-sold off
her own slaves TO the South when she could
no longer keep them to pro6t-and now,
envying and coVeiiug the wealth they pro.
dnre, seeks to steal them, bnt will do moth.
ing toward remuneratin6 their owners for
their loss"-the Message aud the action
thereon will he our conclusive answer.
Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Virginia, TeSas-not all at once
nor Immediately, but some of them speedi-
", and others at intervals thereafter-will
lin case the rebellion is suppres>ed) be Ogi
tated by canvass in behalf of the Presi.
dents proposition. 1t will afford the "place
whereon to stand" which Archimedcs re-
qnired to move the world. And | feel con
fident that Such canvass will not prove IN
fruitful. The South needs bnt discussion to
convince her that Slavery is as pernciouS
as the most intense AbolitioniSt ever pro
nonnced it, Nor does this proposition at
all preclude the conGScation by Congress
of the slaves and other property Of rebels.
That matter stands by itself The PreS-
dents proffer necessarily contemplates the
satisfaction of the claims of slaveholdiug
loyulry. 1t is not addressed to the rebels
1t does not contemplate their attitude.
Were all the loyal laveholders-and they
are by no means numerous-thiS day rec.
onciIed to the overthrow of Slavery, we
could deal more abruptly and deeisively
with the rest.
Bv his Message Of Freedom. President
Lincoln takes bis post at the head of the
Nation. The party of Progress, which has
temporarily been dubious if not divided
with regard to his attitude, be so no longer.
Individuals may still hesitate, but the great
body instinclively and joyoasly recognize
their chief May doubt and distraction be
evermoro banshed, and the Nation move
on, compact and confident, through the
dark and bloody ways of trial affection, to
future respondent with the beams Of Jus.
| tice, Freedom, and Peace.
spurgeOD, by ThurIOw Weed.
w, yXTo,1 oitendad NJ Cr,rooop' "a