Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1863-04-15

had been done for the slave holding
! States, he said:
The return we receive is war, armies
marched upon our capital, obstructions
and danger to our navigation, letters OF
marque to invite pirates to prey upon our
commerce, a concerted movement 10 blot
! out the United States of America from the
map of the globe. The question is are we
TO maintain the country of our fathers. or
allow it to be stricken down by those who,
when they no longer govern. threaten To
! DESTROY
The slarsry question as a rners ercaSs. TIE
election Of Lincoln IS a mere pretert. The
present secession movement is tho result
of an enormous conspiracy formed more
than a year since formed by leaders in
the Southern COnfederacy more than
twelve months ago.
| But this is no time for detail of causes.
The conspiracy is now known. Armies
have been raised, war is levied to accom-
plish it. There are only two sides to the
question. Every man must be for the
United States, or against it There can be
no EslttraLsh tbs ssar; only patriots and trai-
tors"
These facts which l have quoted were
as patent to intelligent men on the 23d
day of January when the democrats OF
Ohio assembled in Convention at Colum-
bus, as they are now. But what did the
leaders in that Convention do towards re-
buking the causeless treason of their re-
cent party associates in the slave holding
States! Absolutely nothing. What re-
proof had they to offer to the rebels for
their making war on the Government, and
for their seizing by force the forts and
property of the United States! None,
but among the resolutions passed | find
the following:
.'Resolred, That the two hundred thou
sand Democrats of Ohio send to the peo-
pie of the United States, both North and
South. greeting; and when the people of
the North shall have fulfilled their duties
to the Constitution and the South, then,
and not until then, will it be proper for
them to take into consideration the ques-
tion of the propriety of coercion.
By this resolution they said to the trai
tors in arms-"Greeting" or words OF
kindness, and joy. Using the good old
word greeting" so frequently used by the
apostles, in their epistolary correspon-
dence with the Churches they had estab-
lished
They said in substance to southern
rebels, you are not thus far to blame,
we approve of what you have done,
the North have encroached upon
your rights, and we the democracy Of
Ohio will see to it, that the Unite States
shall not coerce you, you may continue IN
the rebellion you have inaugurated, un-
til the people of the North have fulfilled
their duties to you, then and not until
then, will we take into consideration the
question of the right and propriety of
coercion" do not intend to convey the
idea that two hundred thousand demo
Gratis of Ohio were committed to that res
olution or approved of it. do not believe
a majority the Ohio democrats approx
ed it. But the leaders of the party did,
and procured its adoption by the Conven
tion.
This resolution was intended to give
and did give countenance to the rebellion,
and it shows to my mind conclusively that
the Conspiracy was not confined to the
rebel States. . 4
This resolution implies that the people
of the North had given just cause to the
rebels for their war against the Govern
ment, for it asserts that "lOhen the people
of the North shall have fulfilled their du-
ties to the Constitution and the South,
then and not until then will ii be proper
for them (the democracy TO take into
the question of the right
and propriety of coercion" In addition
to the evidence already referred 20 / will
adduce little more democratic authori-
ty, as to the cause of the war. In a speech
at Cooper Institute, New York, John
Van Buren, an active supporter of Gov.
Seymour. for Governor, at the last election
in New York, speaking of the cause of
the war said:
mo right of any southern man had
been invaded History will record that
the world never witnessed a rebellion
against governmental authority before
where the rebels could not lay their fin
ger upon thing to show that either their
their liberty, or their. rights had
been,in the slightest particular invaded"
John C. Calhoun, the great pro-slavery |
and democratic leader, whose father OPP
posed the adoption of the Constitution of
the United States, as long ago as 1872, |
with almost prophetic foresight foretold |
the true cause of this war In letter to
Commodore Stewart, in 1872, in speak
ing of the South he said:
That we are essentially aristocratic / |
cannot deny, but We can and do yield
much to Democracy; that is our section
al policy we are from necessity thrown
upon and solemnly welded to that party, /
however it may occasionally clash with
our feelings, for the conservation of our
interests. 1t is through an afhliation wit h |
that party in the Middle and Western
States, we control under the Constitution
the Government of these United States
but when we cease thus to control this
nation through disjointed Democracy,
or any material obstacle in that party
which shall tend to throw us out of that
rule and control, we shall then resort to I
the dissolution of the Union"
Our democratic fellow citizens, particu-
larly the delegate from this district, DR.
Wood to the Charleston Convention, re-
member the contest there, between the
friends of Mr.. Breckenridge and the friends
of Mr.. Douglas. The effort there was to
bring the Northern democracy to south
ern views on the slavery question gener-
ally and particularly the right of slave
holders to hold their slaves in the Terri
torie-
The time therefore had come, in the
judgement of Mr.. Calhoun when they
would resort to dissolution of the Uni
On, and they did resort to it, as Mr.. Doug
as said on the pretext of the election of
Mr.. Lincoln. Not being able longer, with
the aid of Northern Democracy to
rule the Country in the interest Of
Slavery, the slave holders, as Mr.. Cal
loun said, essentially aristocratic," put
on foot their scheme to break up the Gov
With divided North they ex-
pected to be able, to so change the pres
snt Constitution as again to get control
IF the Government. The object was TO
break up the old Union and reconstruct
IN a pro-slavery basis.
L. W. Spratt, of South Carolina, and
member of the Convention, that took that
State out of the Union, in protest ad-
lressed to Hon. John Perkins, delegate
rom Louisiana, published in the Charles
on Mercury of February Is, 1861, speak