Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1862-12-06
Ghe polplresian.
GOV. SEYMOUR'S SPEECH.
Why the e-RepubIicaniPart cannot
Save the Union.

On the other hand, the very character OF the
Republican organization makes it incapable of con-
ducting the affairs of the government For series
of years it has practced system of coalitions with
men differing in principle until it can have no dis
tnctive policy. In such chaotic the violent
have most control They have been educating their
followers for years. through the press, not to obey
| laws which did not accord with their views. How
can they demand submission from whole communi-
ties, while they contend that individuals may Op-
pose laws opposed to their consciences! They are
| higher-law men. They insist that the contest in
which we are engaged is an irrepressible one, and
that therefore the South could not avoid it unless
they willing at the onset to surrender all that
abolitionsts demanded. To declare that this con-
test rrepressible declares that fathers formed
| a government which could not stand Are such
men the proper guardians OF this government!
Have not their speeches and acts given strength to
the rebellion and have they not also enabled its
leaders to prove to their deuded followers that the
contest an irrepressible Onei
But their leaders have not only asserted that this
| contest was irreDressible unless the South would
give up what extreme Republicans demanded their
local institutions), but those in power have done
much to Justify this rebellion in the eyes of the
world The guilt of the rebellion is determined by
the character of the government against which 1t is
arrayed. The right of revolution, in the language
of President Lincoln. is sacred right when ex-
erted against bad government.
We charge that this rebellion is most wicked, be-
cause IL is against the best government that ever
existed. 1t is the excellence of our government
that makes resistance q crime. Rebellion Is not
necessarily wrong. 1t may be an act of the high
est vrtue-it may be one Of the deepest depravity.
The rebellion of our fathers is our proudest boast
the rebellion of our brothers is the humiliation of
our nation, is our national disgrace. To resist
| bad government is patriotism-to resist good one
is the greatest guilt. The first is patriotism-the
last is treason. Legal tribunals can only regard
| resistance of laws q crime, but in the forum OF
public sentiment the character of the government
| will decide if the act is treason patriotism.
Our government and its administration are differ
ent things but in the eyes of the civilized world,
abuses, weakness, or folly, in the conduct of at
fairs. 90 far to justify resistance have read to
you the testimony of Messrs. Greeley, Weed, Bry-
| ant, Raymond, and Marble, charging fraud, cor
| ruptiOn, outrage and incompetency upon those in
power. Those who stand up to testify to the in
competency of those representatives OF discordanr
party to conduct the affairs of our government
politically opposed to US. Bear in mind that the
embarrassments of President Lincoln grow out of
the conflicting views Of his political friends, and
their habits and principles of insubordinaton. His
hands would be strengthened by Democratic VIC
tory, and if his private prayers are answered We
will relieve him from the pressure OF philanthro-
pists who thirst for blood and who call for the ex
South. The brutal and bloody language of parti
editors and political preachers have lost the
sympathy Of the civilized world in a contest where
all mankind should be upon one side.
| Turning to the legislative departments of our
government what do we see In the history of the
decline and fall of nations there more strik
ing displays of madness and folly. The assemblage
of Congress throws gloom over the nation; its con-
tinuance in session is disastrous than defeat
upon the battlefield 1t excites alike alarm and
disgust.
The public are disappointed in the results of the
war. This is owing to the differing objects of the
people on the one hand, and fanatcal agitators in
and out of Congress on the other In the army, the
Union men of the North and South battle side by
side, under flag, to put down rebellion and up
hold the Union and the Constitution. In Congress
fanatical majority make war on the Union men
of the South and strengthen the hands of the seces
sionists by words and acts which enable them to
keep alive the flames of civil war. What Is done
the battlefield by the blood and treasure of the
people is nndone by Senators. Half of the time is
spent in factious to destroy all confidence
in the government at the South, and the rest in
noying our army, in meddling with its operations,
embarrassing our generals, and in publishing undi-
gested and unfounded scandal. One party is seek
ing TO bring about peace, the other to keep alive
hatred and bitterness by intererences. They prove
the wisdom of Solomon when he said 80 Ii is an
honor to Il to cease from strife, but every fool
will be meddling.''
This war cannot be brought to q successful con-
cusion or our country restored to honorable
peace, under the Republican leaders, for another
reason. Our disasters mainly due to the fact
that they have not dared to tell the truth to the
community. A system of Misrepresentation had
been practiced long and successfully that when
the burst upon they feared to let the people
know its full proportions and they persisted in
suring their friends it was bot passing excitement.
They still asserted that the South was unable to
maintain and carry war. They denounced as
traitor every who tried to tell the truth and
to warn people of the magnitude of the contest.
Now, my Republican friends, you know that the
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of the North with regard to the
South has drenched the land with blood Was this
ignorance accidental appeal to you, Republi-
cans, If for years past, through the press and in
publications which have been urged upon your at,
tention by the leaders of your party, you have not
been taught to despise the power and resources of
the South Iappeal to you to answer if those who
tried to teach truths now admitted have not been
denouncedl Iappeal to you if book. beyond all
Others false, bloody and reasonable was not sent
out with the Endorsement of all your managers; and
is it not true that now, when men blush to own
they believed its statements, that its author is hon.
ored by an official station 1t is now freely con-
fessed by you all that you have been deceived with
respect to the South. Who deceived you, Who.
by false teachings. instlled contempt and hate into
the minds of our peoplel Who stained our land
with blood Who caused ruin and distressl All
these things are within your own knowledge. Are
their authors the leaders to rescue US from our
calamties They shrink back appalled, from the
mischief they have wrought and cell you it is an
irrepressible conflict. That reason is as good for
Jefferson Davis as for them. They attempt to
drown reflections by new excitements and new ap-
peals to our passions. Having already. in legisla-
tion, gone far beyond the limits which, by their
resolutions. they were pledged to stop, they now
ask to adopt measures which they have heretofore
denounced as unjust and dunconstitutional. For this
reason they cannot save our country.