The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-03-04
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.]
Politics and Observation-Disclosures
NUTS and DQmoorafa

Politics and SOienCe--Butter-
nuts and Democrats.
It has been the custom of late, among a
certain class of Abolit;onists, to call the DEM
ocrats by the name of "Butternuts." This
nickname is like 20 be of as much advantage
to our party, as the epithet Quaker and Meth
odast has boen to the once despised, but now
influential, religious bodies bearing these titles.
There is something il the word sButternut,"
that is rather pleasing; and there is much in
the historical associations connected with tho
White Walnut tree, of which BuHernut is the
synonym, to endear it to the back-woodsman.
When the writer was a boy, this tree supplied
the coloring matter for nearly all the fabrics
worn as clothing by the western people. I'm
ported dye, like imported wearing apparel,
were then unknown in the West.
When the midnight war-cry CT the Indian
reused the mothers in Ohio from their slum-
bers, it was the brave "Butternut-lad sons of
Kentucky who rushed across to the rescue.
"Butternut" was then no epithet of reproach
in the West.
This costume is still worn in the mountain
ranges of Kentucky and Tennessee, and in
Southern Illinois and Missouri. On the gath
ering together of the soldiers, at the outbreak
of the war, the fresh recruits from these dis
tricts appeared in the ranks with garments of
Butternut colored cloth. In derision their
NooPohAOAo oAiSo lhSA LUZ
ternuts /" and, as they were mostly Democrats,
from Democratic districts, the name, ere long,
was applied, by the Republicans, to the whole
Democratic party.
But this Butternut costume was not limited
to one side, it being common to both rebels
and loyal soldiers. The epithet was used with
the greater zest by the Abolitionists, because
the earlier rebel prisoners were dressed in
"Butternut," and its application to the Demo-
Gratis, they expected would not only fasten
upon them an approbrious name, but convey
the impression also that they were in ympa-
thy with the rebels.
So much for history. Let US now examine
this term of reproach in the light of science.
TIL White Walnut tree has the generic
name in Botany, of JuJlans, or the Tree of
Jove."
We thank our Abolition neighbors for this
name. 1t indicates that the "Butternuts' are
the heaven ordained party, deriving their pow
er and influence from Omnipotence. But not
only is the tree significant of the near relation
of the Democrats to the power that controls
the fate of nations the fruit is also emblem
attic of the innate sentiments and affections of
the party. On removing the outer hull and
saving the nut into two parts, near the center,
the most elaborate ornamentation is presented.
Look closely at the central area. 1t pre-
scnts two hearts, united at the base, and may
well justify the exclamation uttered when the
discovery was made
"Two hearts-the Northern and Southern
-united at the base, and bound together in.
dissolubly only in the "ButternutsP
Again we thank the Abolitionists for be-
slowing this name upon us. "Old Hickory"
was not more potent, as applied to General
Jackson, than will be, in the future, the term
"Butternuts," as applied to the Democratic
party. Our tree designates us as the favorites
of Heaven, while We are represented in its
fruits as uniting the-Northern and Southern
hearts and thus are We foreshadowed, in the
"Butternut," as destined to restore the Union
and the Constitution, as formed by the great
hearts of The North andSnnth ntIha RcXolu-
ton. Ihls glorious work, now everywhere
prayed for by a suffering people-but impos-
sible in the hands of those who are clamoring
for the shedding of additional rivers of blood
can only be accomplished by the Butter
nuts"
Look also at the rampant surrounding the
central area, and see how its jagged buttresses
render it impenetrable to an a~ssailing foe, and
give perfect security to the united hearts in
trenched within. So it is with the Democrat
ic party. 1t has the rights of the people en-
shrined in its heart, and will resist the aggres-
sions of every foe to constitutional freedom,
and present an impenetrable barrier against
foreig 1 assaults.
*~Juglans, Gst. Jovis CLANS i. c. the Nut of
Jove: a name civ en- it by way of eminence-Wood's
Botany, page $40.
What AboIitionism Means.
Attention is called and generally directed
to the following from Wendell Phillips New
Years SPEECH
"The Union launches now on a new chan
mel. She undertakes to say that the system
of slavery is incompatible with the perpetuity
of the Republic. The Union announces that
doctrine, records it On her statute book, and
henceforth the motto of the American citi-
zen is LIBERTY TO THE SLAVE OR
DEATH TO THE UNION."
The "Rev. Dr." Bellows is reported to have
said
ait is no longer a war in defense of the
Union, the Constitution, and tho enforcement
of the laws. 1t is a war to he carried on no
longer with the aim of re-establishing the
Union and the Constitution with all their com-
promises. God means not to let US of-and
I consider it the most humane, the policy now
to take the most radical course possible-to as
sumo that this is war for the subjugation or
the determination of all persons who wish to
maintain the slave power-a war to get rid of
slavery and of slave owners, whether it be con-
stitutional or not"
Political Names.
The editor of the New York Eapress, who
has had twenty-five years experience of fight
ing the Democracy, says:
"THE Co~PPERHEADs."
eff there be anything the Democrats can
stand, without wincing or willing, it is hard
names and what is curious, these hard names