M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1863-11-26
The Civil Wnr-AlOW it is Viewed
by an American Abroad.
From the Washington Constitution. ]

[Erom the Washington constitutional
We are sure our readers will be
Instructed by the subjoined acute ana,
lysis OF the mischiefs that have arisen
from the follies OF the present Admin.
jstration. Ii comes from one in a
distant land, who, stationed aloof
from the dir and smoke OF the battle
field, is better capacitated from his
position, than Ourselvers to calculate
the consequences of the conflict:
The choice reading of the President
Of the United States is said to consist
Of two well-thumbed and well-worn
books, which he keeps in his pocket,
I"Joe MiIer's Jests" and "Hsop's
Fables" The last mentioned is Lis
particular iavorite, as on all occasions
OF logical difficulty he draws his
moralities from that source, to illus.
trate or enforce an argument or to
turn laugh against an opponent. It
would be interesting to know whether
be has ever studied the well known
fable of the "Dog and the Shadow"
so as to apply its teachings to the
history Of his own unhappy admins.
tration Of Federal affairs. If he has
done so might not some useful :chec.
tions suggest themselves to his mind7
Like the dog of E5op, he is doubt.
less convinced that the shadow at
which he grasps--the subjugation of
a proud, sensitive, valiant and de.
tcrmined people, who ask nothing Of
him but to be let alone, to work out
their own destiny, unimpedo1 by the
interference of pragmatical philoso
phists and theorists, who would free
| four millions of slaves and then leave
them to starve or be exterminated lis
no shadow, but a substance. But
shadow or substance, as events may
determine, he and the American peo.
pie have already lost in pursuit Of it
more than any nation ever lost before
that was not overrun by foreign foe
and held in the iron grasp Of q mill.
tary conqueror.
J. First and foremost, they have lost
the Constitution-that complex, deli
cate, and finely balanced instrument
which it took Washington, Jefer
son, Hamilton, and their illustrious
compeerS such patient study, such
Consumate craftsmanship, and such
enlightened knowledge Of human
character to adapt to the wants as well
as to the prejudiceS of free and
jealous people ; Constitution which
guaranteed The right OF local self,
government; which found each com.
petent State OF the Union a sovereign
within it's own sphere, and left it so,
and SGT bounds to all possible usurpa,
patton on the part Of the Central
Power. That Constitution is des-
troyed; every one VI its wise provis.
ions has been set at naught the local
authority has been denied and super
seded ; the State Judges have been
arrested on the bench by armed men,
for no other offense than an exposition
of State law according to their con-
science and their oaths, but which
happened to be distastefnl and incon'
venient to the Central Government.
The members Of the Legislature Of
sovereign States have been dragged
Of night, and imprisoned in hastiIes,
subjected to disgusting indecencie'
and humil!ations, and worse treatment
than falls to tho lot of convicted fel
uns, not for any thing they had done
but for something wich il was though,
they might do. Mr.. Seward has
rung a bell on his right hand, and
ordered the Imprisonment, by tele,
graphic message to Provost Marshal
Of a guiltless citizen of New York
guiltless of any thing but hatred oI
The war and fidelity to the Constitu'
tion and he has rung bell on his
left, and ordered, by similar agency
the imprisonment of another citizen
in Ohio for the same offenses. The
privilege and writ of habeaS corpus
have been overruled in thousands o.
instances, without olher pretense OF
justification than the tyrant's plea o.
necessity. Forts Warren, Lafayette
and McHenry have been crammed
with prisoners of State, as ignorant
for the most part Of the grounds o.
their incarcerations, as any of the
unhappy victims who were released
from the Bsstile OF Paris on its des.
truction by the indignant French
people in 1889. The right Of free
speech has been denied; and gen.
tleman, and a scholar, a patriot, and
q statesmaD-openly addressing 20,.
900 Of his countrymen in public
meetiDg-for uttering words that moi
even the oaths of paid military spies
could twist or pervert into any thing
worse than a want OF confidence in
the Administration, of disbelief in
war as an instrument for the restor'
alton Of the Union, was seized tive