Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1862-11-26
AN AeREEABLE EPISODE.

I
AN AGREEABLE EPISODE.
| One of the most remarkabie results of the
autumn election is, that while the opponents
of the Administration have succeeded in the
middle free states such as Pennsylvania. New
York, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, they have
signally failed in nearly all the border slave
| states. In Delaware and Missouri, which are
slave states, fhe unconditional Union men
have triumphed, and in Missouri, where the
question was put, the emancipationists have
carried the day. We have no doubt that in
Eastern Virginia, Eastern Tennessee and Ken.
tucky we should see the same result, il elec-
| tions could be held in these districts.
| W. might refer, in this connection, to an
other singular fact, which is, that the real u
Mon men of these border states are more
earnest, determined and nnrelenting in their
| hostility to the rebels, than many of the pro-
| fessed Unionists of the free states. Such
men as Johnson, Brownlow and Carter in Ten
nessee, Gratz Brown and Drake of Missouri,
| Holt and Rousseau of Kentucky, Hamilton Of
Texas, and hundreds of others, put many Of
our more northern loyalists 10 the blush. A
midst the hottest fires OF rebel wrath, their
property and their families exposed to vio-
lence, and surrounded by shareholders on all
sides, they yet uphold the government in its
EXTREMIST measures, aud with force and in
tensiy OF effort that has no parallel in the free
states. They wonld scorn to allow their in
terests in slavery 10 defect their fidelity from
the higher interests of the nation; and they
would scorn still more to allow their local pref
udfces to weaken their devotionto the great
principles of constitutional government
While men at the North, who have nothing to
lose by the destruction of the institution.
are doing what they dare to uphold It, while
m n who were born and educated under the
influences of free society repudate their birth.
right and betray their traditional principles TO
prosper the cause of the nation's enemies.
these noble spirits cheerfully sacrifice their
estates, their comforts, their hereditary senti-
ments, and the approval OF lifelong friends,
in the earnest and perilous discharge of their
duty to the country. Hl1
The reason of this difference is, that these
slave state patriots know what the rebellion
means; they know its ambition and its malig-
nifty; and they are MOI deluded by the false
hopes of peace which professional democrats
affect to cherish. They know that the leaders
OF the revolt, convinced of their utter inability
to retain or recover their political power with
ID the Union, are determined to destroy the
Union; that they have set their lives upon the
cast, and will stand the hazard of the die.
come what will. The rebels jeer and mock at
the foolish proposals of conciiiatiou which
sometimes obtrude themselves in the speech
es OF democratic orasors, and they tell us, az
the Richmond Dispatch did in an article of
November 10th. on "the ele ctios in Yankee
dom," that ssthe old flag is the most detested
Of symbols 20 the whole body of southern So
c1ety," the boasted American eagle in reality
a mere ''Yankee buzzard,'' and that elf sla-
very were legalized in every state, the South
would never accept the condition for return
to the land OF bondage" In such state of
feeling in the seeding states the wise men
Of all parties regret to see that war alone can
the existing difficulties.
But, besides, the slavery question has become
in several of the border slave states question
of immediate and local concern. A large par
fy in Delaware, IN Maryland and in Missouri
has come to the conclusion that it is detrimep-
tai to the community. and that it must be, in
some way or other. extinguished. In Missou-
Il, particularly, the late elections turned en-
.irely upon the Issue of emancipation; and the
people, by clear majorities, have decided in
avor OF freedom. OF the nine members of
Congress chosen, four are declared emancipa-
ionists, two are unconditional Union men.
md only three are pro- slavery democrats while
he majority of the state legislature is repor.
ed to be in favor of emancipation. This iss
glorious result, and in itself compensates the
patriotic heart for whatever shocks and suffer-
ngs it may have experienced through the un-
oward judgments of the ballot boz elsewhere.
One more state will assuredly rank itself, and
y its own deliberate action, among the num-
Der Of the free states in very short time.
Her example win prove contagious in Ken
ucky, in Maryla in Delaware, and in the
western part of Virginia, until the whole line
If the border is completely redeemed from
he awful curse which now hangs upon its
prosperity and blights its good name.-Pkii.
ldetphia North .American.
One OF the most Successful military orRauI-
IatlQnx In st. LoNis. In coHnDoaAd of man 49,