The Ohio Democrat. [volume] (Canal Dover, Ohio) 1840-1900, 1863-02-06

tIce only escaped 10 the skies, but peace
returned 10 the bosom of God, whence
she came. The gospel of love perish>
ed, hate sat enlhroned, and the sacrifice
of blood smoked upon every altar.
But the reign of the mob was inaugu.
rated only 10 be supplanted by the iron
domination of arbitrary power. Con-
stitutional limitation was, broken dOwr;
habeau' corpus fell; liberty Of the press,
of speech, of the person, Of mails, of
travel, of ones own house, and of reli>
gion; the right TO bear arms, due process
Of law, judicial trial, trial by jury, trial
at all; every badge and imminent of free
dom in republican government or kingly
governmental went down at blow,
The chief law officer of the crown-I
beg pardon, sir, but it is easy TO fall in>
to this courtly language-the Attorney
General, first of all men, proclaimed in
the United States the maxim of Roman
serility: Whatever pleases the Presi-
dent that is lac! Prisoners of State
were then first heard ofhere. Midnight
and arbitrary arrests commenced; travel
was interdicied, trade embargoed, pass
ports demanded, bastles we're introdu-
ced, strange oalhs invented, secret po-
lice organized; piping" began; infor'
mers multiplied; spies now first appearN
ed in America, The right to declare
war, to raise and support armies, and to
provide and maintain a navy was usurp-
ed by the Executive; and in little more
than two months land and naval force
of over three hundred thousand men was
in the field or upon the sea, An army
Of public plunderers followed, and cor
ruptiOn struggled with power in friendly
strife for the mastery at home.
On the 4th of July Congress met not
to seek peace; not to rebukc usurpation
nor 10 restrain power, not certainly to
deliberate, not even TO legislate, but to
register and ratify the edicts and acts
of the Executive; and in your language,
sir, upon the first day of the session to
invoke auniversal baptism of fire and
blood amid the roar of cannon and the
din of battle. Free speech was had on.
Iy at the risk of prison; possibly oflile.
Opposition was silenced by the fierce
cIamOr of "dlslovalty." All business
not of war was voted out of ORDER
Five hundred thousand men, an inns
mense navy, and two hundred and fifty
millions Of money we're speedily grant
ed. In twenty, at most in sixty days,
the rebellion was to be crushed out. ia
doubt it was treason. Abject submis'
sion was demanded. Lay down youI
arms, sue for peace, surrender your lea
forfeiture, death-this was the
only language heard Oh this floor. The
galleries responded; the corridors echo
ed; aud contractors and placeman and
other venal patriots everywhere gnash'
ed upon the friends of peace as they
passed bv. In five weeks seventy-eigh
public and private acts and joint resoIu'
tions, with declaratory resolutions, in
the Senate and House, quite as numer'
Gus, all full of slaughter, were hurrie'
Though without delay and almost with
out debate.
Thus was civil war inaugurated il
America. Can any man TO day see thu
end Of il!
And now pardon me, sir, if | paus
here moment to define my own posi-
ton at this time upon this great ques
lion.
Sir, | am one of that number VIII,
have opposed Aboitionism, or the polit
cal development of the anti-slaver.
sentiment of the North and West, from
the beginning. In school, at college, a
the bar, in public assemblies, in tn
Legislature, in Congress, boy and mar
, as private citizen and in public life, i
: time OF peace and in time of war, at a
2 times and at every sacrifice, | hav
8 fought against it. Ii cost me ten year:
: exclusion from office and honor, at tha
. period OF life when honors are sweetes
t No matter; | learned early to do rigt
=, and to wait. Sir, it is but the develop
a ment of the spirit of intermeddlini
d whose children are strife and murder
e Cain troubled himself about the sacr
o fees Of Abel, and slew him. Most
y the wars, contentious, litigation, an
: bloodshed, from the beginning of tim
1t have been its fruits. The spirit OF moi
d Intervention is The very spirit of peat
Is and concord. do not believe %hat
e slavery had never existed here we wou
g. have had no sectional contro versies.-
j. This very civil war might have happeI
!. ed fifty, perhaps hundred years late
/. Other and stronger causes of disconte
IN and of disunion. it may be, have exis
/. ed between other States and section
Ie and are now being developed every di
l. into maturity. The spirit of interve
ID ton assumed the form Of Abolitionis
h because slavery was odious in nan
o, and by association to the Norlhe
v. mind, and because 1t was that whit
a most obviously marks the different CT
X iIizatiOns of the two sections. II
,e South herself, in her early and later {
m forts to rid herself Of it, had exposed Il
|. weak and offensive parts Of slavery
ir the world. Abolition intermeddlil
taught her at last to. search Tor aud d
m fend the assumed social, economic, al
: political merit and values OF the ins,
10 tutiOn.l But there never was an ho
,e from the beginning when it did no! see
e, to me as clear as The sun al broad moo
Ig that the agitation in any form in q
e, North and West Of the slavery questi'
|, must sooner or later end in disunion al
!. civil war, This was the opinion al
le prediction for years OF Wing and Der