Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-06-17
"The Constitution as IL is"--HypOcrisy Ol
the Phrase.

Ahb
The Wheeling Intelligencer--published
in a border State, be it remembered, and
where it could see oil the blessings Of
"cOnoiiatory' policy toward the guerilla
rebels, if there were any such blessings
has the following comments upOn tho
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 a "Union
with those who hold such doctrines as are
here shown up; -...........
There is nothing on this earth, and never
was, more false and utterly hollow heart
ed than this hypocritical cant about pre-
serving the Constitution as it is-this pre-
tence that the loyal Northern people are
| all abolitionists, are all its enemies, and
are going to destroy it-this apprehension
Of " "Anti-Slavery Despotism.' What is an
| ARti-Slayery Despotism 1t is term en-
ployed by those who sympathise with the
/ pro-slavery ahsolutism now warning
/ against Democratic Government. Simply
! that and nothing more. What reason is
there to say that the Northern people are
enemies 70 the Constitution : None. A
| few of them, radical and fanatical, have
sneered at it all their lives, but in repub-
lican governments the liberty Of speech
and opinion is tolerated. But even they
have never taken up arms to assault it,
They do not oppose physical force to the
execution of its provisions. They do not
kill the soldiers il calls into the field. They
| ar Ahnfvs
tongues, and havd never done much dam
age, as yet. And yet the curators par eI-
ceIlenee of the Constitution can sec nothing
more criminal in the levying Of terrible
/ and criminal war against the Constitution,
than in the idle and ineffective sneers of a
few fanatics There can be but one ex-
PLANTATION Of a proposition so monstrous.
Il is as already suggested, that they
cry "Lordl Lord ~ when they mean
"Satan Satanr They lose sight Of every
provision of the Constitution except that
which protects rebel masters in their ne
gro property. They want no other provi-
sion enforced. They are willing that all
those sublime declarations that are embod-
led in the Constitution, upholdiAg this fab
ric of constitutional liberty, shall be sunk
in the bottomless abyss, so that negro
slavery be preserved in all its pristine
beauty. This is the Alpha and Omega Of
their preservation of the Constitution as
it is-their restoration of the Union as it
was. The Union never can be restored as
it was no more than man can call back
his life and live it over. The past is ir-
revocable-the mischief of the past is ire
parable. Can you restore to life, to their
families, to society, the thousands of gal
liant and generous souls who were mur-
dered, and mangled afterward, by armed
traitors, because they would not tamely
surrender their Government and Constitu-
tion-their free institutious-theirc civil
ration Can you restore the millions Of
treasure that have been swallowed up be-
cause the Union has been assailed and
must and will be preserved2 If you can
not, then you cannot restore the Union as
it was. But you may restore 1t, and make
is lsvtt-- 4hHH it was, You may sink con
splraoy against freedom and human right
so deep in the ocean of infamy that nc
pfummet can ever reach it, and no bubble
will ever come up to show where it went
tiVwu Forever. You may nn9lse tho UlAisn
better than it was, stronger than ever
more respected abroad and loved at home
but you must at first expunge the last YES
tige Of secession, otherwise it will ingeI
like the dreaded plague, and the war fol
our institutions will every few years have
to be fought over.