Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1862-03-06
ments, and aualyze the elements Of this de

The observer Of our National character
and development will have noted that, from
his early recollection, the American people
have been divided into TIVE distinct, yet not
parts, by line representing no
natural geographical climatic boundary, but
following the borders Of certain States irreg-
ularly from east TO west. On either side of
that line is found part Of the same people,
descended from common ancestry, inher-
iting the same institutions, speaking the
same tongue, subject TO the same Nation
al laws, and in their local constitutions ex-
hibiting, hardly with variation, the same
principles and machinery Of Government.
10 the diversified associations AM interests
of life they were practically one; passing
and repassing from side 10 sido freely, and
bound together by countless ties of friend
ship, Srbarental, fllnl apd DISQUALIFICATION
and Of welded love- ME- than once they
have fought, hand in hand, under the same
flag, and never did the soldiery Of one gain a
victory that was not shared by that Of the
other. r
Did calamity overtake one, the other was
ready to minister relief did prosperity
smile on one, its warmth cheered the other !;
did danger threaten all, they We'd with
each other in repelling it. But STILL there
was tho line and in the course years, on
either side, there gradually grew up opin.
ions upon social and political questions,
variant from those prevailing on the other
The difference, at first tolerated. if not kind
ly borne with, became at length the source
Of annoyance. One grew meddlesome, the
other restive and intolersnt. Utraism and
pertinacity in comparative few on one side
was met by an almost unanimous defiance
and assertion of superiority on the other !;
which naturally expanded into a demand
that its opinions should control, its political
dogmas predominate, and its hand direct
the movements of the common Government,
though its free citizens hardly numbered a
fourth of those of the whole country. From
time to time in the course of third of a
century, a spirit of discomfort with the
Union which had covered all with blessings,
betrayed itself; only to be followed quickly
BY imperious exactions, with the alterna-
tive Of disruption and dissolution. 1t is
within the knowledge of all, that for the last
thirty years those exactions have been COM
piled with, almost without intermission. n.-
The arrogant will of the minority controlled
the majority. The Nation spoke through
organs chosen at the dictation of the smaller
part. But at last, in the mutations Of
events, this ascendancy ceased the execu-
tive power was transferred to the majority
and before even the constitutional forms of
its investure could be observed, the naughty
minority revolted against the authority il
had failed to retain, and plunged the natior
into the intolerable horrors of civil war
rather than tolerate the four years chic
magistracy of aconstitutionally elected Pres
\ ident n 4 --l-y--a-s..s-. = ..-s-
My friends, if this be not true and fai
statement of the rise of this war, contes
my inability to make one. But this doe
not indicate the cause of the war. Othe
questions still arise Why should disuniol
and its train of incalculable evils be EN-
braced on one side, but never purposed, o
even dreamed of, except by some poor fana
tics, on the other? Whence the venomou
influence that could so pervert the loyalt.
of one part, while the other remained stead
fast to the Constitution? How is it tina
one proclaims aud defends the right of Sc
cession, and the other denies it? VIII,
should one be ready to fly to arms in rebel
lion, and the other touch not weapon un
til war is driven into its very teeth? FO
such radical differences between two part
of the same nation, leading to such fatal is
sues, surely no light or transient cause sui
fees. 10 say that they spring from contest
of expediency, or from collisions Of politics
dogmas'or principles, ot from the iivalrie
of partisan leaders, is only to skim the SUI
face, and to reach not the vital spring tina
lies beneath. My countrymen, before cart
and heaven there is but one cause for th
hideous rebellion, and that cause is SLAYER,
, That is the key to Southern unanimity
its demands for power for the minority, tn
, origin of that spirit of domination whic
would have all or destroy all, the one sol
a impelling force which preoipitated the Sout
against the bulwarks Of the Constitution
and fills the land this day with confusion
j lamentation and death.
When Mr.. Stephens Of Georgia, in Marcl
i 1861, in his speech at Savannah, declare
y that Slavery was "the chief stone of Ii
:. corner in the new edifce' Of GovernmeI
4 which the South had just reared, in deiant
q of that which their fathers had framed,
y threw off all DISCUSSES, and laid bare to Il
= = world the cause and the spirit of the revol
in which he stands second in rank only
!, its desperate chief Give me your attentit
y while recall to your remembrance te
!. sentences of that remarkable speech. /
r was indicating to his hearers the points
= difference between the rebel Constitute
e and that which Washington had aided
!, - establish, and the South was impiously 9
f tempting to destroy, and he spoke as IL
Il lows: ..
~ ~ "But not to be tedious in enumeratil
"a the numerous changes for the better, allt
~ me to allude to one other-though last n
.s least the new constitution has put at re-
y, forever, all the agitating questions relati
i. to our peculiar neutrality-suspicious. Slave
- =; as it exists among us-the proper status
y the negro in our form Of civilization. II
~ ~ toas the immediate cause of the late rupti
=. and revolution. Jefferson, in his foreca
e had anticipated this as the rock upon viii
" the old Union wohdsplitl' He was rig
ha What was conjecture with him il now
hs realized fact. But whether he comprehet
(. ed the great truth upon which that rS g
= stood and stands, may be doubted. 1
al ad pervading ideas entertained by him, 2
=. most Of the leading statesmen, at the II
,,o Of the formation Of the old Constitute
10 we're, that the enslavement Of the Afri!
bs was il violation of the laws of nature Il
ND ND it was wrong in principle, socially, mora
re. and politically. 1t ives an evil they KIN
III NOT we'll how to deal with but the gene
u IT opinion Of the men of that day was, tn
~ somehow or other, in the order of Pro
~, no dence, ths institution would be evanesce
us and pass away. This idea, though not
.ass oorporated in the Constitution, was the 7