The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-08-12

| be reminded that issues are now suspended in
| the balance, on whose decision will depend
| the future map of nations. [ would bo silent
in the presence of these great events, on all
save their solution, if the party now in power
had been content, when once in control of af-
fairs, to look to restoration and not destruc-
tion-thc restoration of constitutional suprem.
acy, and not its further abasement-the res
toration of the Union and not its irretrievable
overthrow-the restoration of peace and not
the prolongation of the horrors of war for its
profits and spoils. We might cover up former
crimes, though they were freighted with our
country's calamnities, if some onement had
been IN made l have not dwelt upon the per
tnicious issues of q former period as justifica
tion for the fearful seems which surrounds us,
but rather by their light to interPret the mean
ing of steange and afarning doctrines now for
the first time put forth in this Government,
and also to guide US in our conduct in reotion
to the revolted States. .aa
Let us pause here on this 18th Anniversary
of American i berty, and investigate the prin-
| ciples on which the Government is now con-
ducied. Into what perilous and tempestuous
latitude have we drifted, under the pilotage of
a discontented and revolutionary party p
Guided by no respect for the Constitution, in
its efforts to obtain power, it has simply used
its elevation and possession of official station
as means of giving increased tcrce to it's as
saults upon the established institutions and
principles of the country. A. war upon the
South has not been sufficient to graf fy its
| sanguinary purposes. The present a dminis-
tration seem intent on conducting two wars at
the same time. An open conflict has been
waged from the commencement of hostilities
In the South to the present hour, on large
majority of the citizens of the Northern States
Why do wise and prudent men now every
where dread and predict civil war in the loy-
al States? Would peaceful citizens, engaged
in the happy scenes of domestic life, with the
appalling spectacle of civil war in full view,
transfer its desolating tread to their own corn
fields and hearth-stoncs, without some cause as
deeply moving on the public mind as a fierce
hurricane that agitates the lowest depths of
| The ocean Is the fault of 8 divided and rest
4 less public sentiment due to a vicious and de-
praved people, failing TO appreciate the glory
and honor of their country, and inspired with
no patriotic grief for its deep aff1iction, or is
| it not rather due to the weakness and wicked
ness of incompetent and corrupt rulers We
stand to day at the end of more than two
years Of desperate and gigantic war. No peo-
pie ever made more sacrifice. Blood has been
cheaper than water, and the wealth of the ma
ition has been sported with as the player rat
ties his dice. Great promises have from time
to time infamed anew expiring public conf
dence. but the people now no longer amuse
themselves with the lus o Is of hope. tt
demand without further delay to know for
what purpose and IN wnat cause they sweat,
and bleed and die. And first thsy demand to
know whether this war cannot be waged with
out corresL Londing waI for the suppression
and overthrow of civil liberty in the North -
IF it cannot, then it must stop, for that if for
no other reason.
il Extended boundaries are desirable, the in
tegrity of the Union is worthy of national ar
dor and devotion, but the inalienable and in
destructible rights of man, declared in the De-
claration of our Independence, and secured in
the Constitution, can be bartered away in ex-
change for no object within the scope of hu
man conception. Boundaries win grow again
by the inspiring force of our youthful blood.
Time, the great physician for national as well
as individual msfortunes, will pour its obli-
yious balm into the gaping aud CORY wounds
which sectional hate has inflicted in this mod
ern str. .fe between Cain and Abel. The rains
will descend and the fields will bloom again
under the hand of the husbandman. The
golden haired goddess of the harvest will pre-
side over the fruits of midsummer and au-
tumn wasted commerce will revive and flap
its glad wings with newness of life in all the
four quarters Of the globe. The flag, the beau
tiful flag of the free hearts only home, will
still be known and honored throughout the
earth-all this, and more, of renewed prosper
=
tai powers of personal liberty, older upon
earth than Platea or Marathon, and radiant as
an emanation of Divinity, shall be preserved,
and emerge at the close of the conflict un-
harmed by the flames. It will be the angel of
our resurrection. I might dwell upon the in
auence of our free institutions in achieving
the past greatness of the country: | might
take up that favorite line of thought, SO fa-
miliar to such an occasion as this, aud show
Il L L. zk,aa
which has given to the Govern ment its digni-
ty, its grandeur, and its power. Other nations
have borne the eagles of their dominion far
ther than we have They have accumulated
more wealth. Their cities have outshone in
dazzling luxury and magnihcence any that
point, their spires toward the American sky
Their commerce has brought home ample
'spoils from strange lands. Their population
has been as. leaves of the forest and as the
sands of the sea shore But why do the at
tention and interest Of mankind turn, from
them with sense of relief and delight to the
Western world? The student of ancient his
tory drops the book from his hands and forgets
| to resume the story in gazing at greater won
lders here than any of which he reads 1t is
the spirit Of liberty that has worked this won
| der. ai.ia9D asasi4s
+ Your fathers upon the rock of T lymouth,
with the wilderness and the savage before
them, the ocean ana oppression penlno tnen,
land the lwintry storm over their heads, did not
] reason on the extent of the country they came
to possess They made no calculations of the
wealth it contained. Visions of splendor did
not float before their eyes. One inquiry and
Fone alone engrossed their minds: Can we
hero be free? Will the shadow of our vine
and iig tree be here unmolested by inquisitors
into the rights of private conscience? Will
civil and religious liberty take root and live
/ in this barren soil7 Can man here be lord of
| himself and hold his rights by a we'll defined
tenure May free thought here elevate the
I SOUL may free speech here, like the sun rising
! out Of the sea illuminate the twilight of the
! dawn which yet hang over the world ?" Thus
i -aa.enoa the fathers of New Enoland and in