Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1862-05-25
rho DemocratIc and Conservative
Position

Radical Republicans and their Fusion sympa-
thizers are continually charging that Democrats
and other conservative men want to spare slaV
ery a, the expense of the Union. The charge
IA false and malicious, and most Of those who
make Il know it to be so. Democrats, consefv-
alive Republicans, and all conservative men
everywhere, North and South are bent upon
saving the Union under the Constitution as 1t
IL, let slavery or any other institution or inter
eat. suffer az il may. Their motto is, the Con-
s.itu.ion as Il Is must be maintained, and the
Union Of thirty y-three united, yet distinct States
must be preserved. iti
Bat while conservative men are determined
that the Union shall not be periled for the sake
of slavery, they are determined that hostility
to that institution shall not endanger the Union,
or encrOach single hairs breadth upon the
constitutional and reserved,rights Of the States
Our soldiers are fighting, and our country Is ac-
cumuIating tremendous debt, which the peo-
ole must pay, NOS for the sake Of preserving or
abolishng this or that State institution or local
usage, not for the sake ol establishing cen
traIized and consolidated National Government
or urdespotism over the whole people, but for the
sole and only purpose Of preserving our FEEDER
al system of separate and distinct States and
State Governments, with all their constitution
al rights, privileges and immunities unimpaired,
and united in one common Government, with
powers defined and limited by written Con-
atltution.
Democrats and their conservative co-Workers
stand not up for the defense of slavery or any
other State institution as such; but they de-
mand, that under no pretense of saving the
Union, shall the Union itself be overthrown.
They know that If The sacred right of any State
to determine for itself its own local institutions
and ussges under the Federal Government, is
encroached upon or taken away, 1t Is destrue-
,Ion of the Union; for that can only be pre-
served by preserving the individuality and in
teerisy Of each and every State unimpaired.
To abolish State Institution, permitted BY the
Federal Constitution, without the consent OF the
people of the State, is not merely an attempt to
overthrow tho State Government, but the Gov.
eminent Of the whole Union. For whether that
Government is dependent for its existence upon
the States or the reverse, 1t is certain that with
out the States Il cannot exist as Federal or
Union Government, for if the States are gone,
there Is nothing to be federated or united,
The attempt, therefore, to musilate OF de-
strOy State, BY causing her people Or q portion
Of them to attempt to secede, BY turning her
domain into territory, OF BY taking away any
constitutional right guaranteed to her, as to
have slavery or not as her people may deter
mine by their own local Constitution and laws
il an attempt.to overthrow the Union and sbOl
ish tho Constitution. S sE a.
What conservative men insist on 10 this
that neither political pro-slavery nor politica
sntl slavery shall be spared, If il stands in th'
way Of maintaining the Constitution and say
ing the Union. Let them both 60 to the wal
la y Iafsrl y - A 4 L. Al.