Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1863-08-05
From the Now York World
SOUTHERN SYMPATHY.

ker saying TO dog, whose inopportune
barking had disturbed his courtship, 90
will not harm thee, for my religion denies
revenge, but will show thee how Qua
ker can punish" He thereupon leads the
animal quietly to the gate, and raises the
cry of mad dog;" whereupon the pass
ers with sticks and stones assail and des,
troy the unfortunate brute.
This Administration has adopted this
Quaker policy towards liberty. Willing
to wound, and yet afraid to strike, it hopes
By the catch word of southern sympa>
thy" to direct the honest impulses Of ha-
! tired to rebellion for dishonest use. No
sympathizer with rebellion exists in the
free States. 1t is as idle to pretend that
such a state of feeling can be found rs to
assert that there is a preference OF stones
to bread for food. 1t is no more in the
nature of things than a square CIRCLE
Men no more sympathize with rebellion
than they WOO the Asiatic cholera or in~
! fest their veins with black vomit. There
] does exist class of thinkers insignificant
in numbers, and which only administers
tive madness can make important, holding
from the beginning that the basis of the
| Republican party was ANARCHY, and that
|
which necessarily and inevitably flow
from such a basis that therefore, every
day of war would give it more power of
mischief and that the disntegration of
the Union which accompanied its access
sion to rule would be continued during
the exercise Of it. We hoped, and belize
we'd, that these men were mistaken but
they were as honest in their opinions as
the President in his, ana were entitled to
the same right of expression as he, ard to
the same right Of protection from the
country in its exercise as he had when q
private citizen. The right OF perfectly
free public discussion is as essential to
free State as the law Of grayitation to crea,
ton. War and peace are subjects OF com
mon interests to US all we are the jury
to render a verdict. If we can only hear
arguments on one side, how are we to
form a sensible conclusion? To suppose
that we cannot deduce correct results is
to insult the intelligence of the whole
4 community.
The great wrong we reproach to the
seeded States is infdelily to the Demo.
cratic faith, that truth will overcome
error. Yet the Administration which
for rebelling against the Constitution, is
now itself in rebellion against the Consti-
tuition. 1t admits thus that it was origin.
inally in the right, not by principle but
by accident. 1t compels us Democrats to
; oppose it in the very interests of that
Constitution which we with it united TO
uphold. We have not budged one inch
from our position; we stand on the Con-
> stitution and refuse TO abandon it, and to
follow the Administration into the labyN
rinth it has entered. 1t has changed the
policy in which all agreed, and finds fault
with us because we refuse TO follow its
downward path 10 fresh dissolution and
certain destruction. We have never lost
heart one instant, but il is repeating in
its civil conduct that blunder in its mill,
T tary conduct which held back Mcdowell
, and saved Richmond A fear has come
over it, and, like all the panic stricken it
. does exactly what it ought not to do -
, Originally strong in the common consent
of the people, impregnable when it rested
, on the Constitution, why is it that, in two
, short years this Administration has secu-
, red powerful opposition and intensely
vindictive personal enmities. The cry o
, "Southern sympathy" will not answer. -
} Where was that sympathy two years ago
, how did it marfest itself? That cry il
simply the assertion of an untruth more
damaging than all the other untruths
which have been perpetrated or permit
ted. If there be d large party in the free
States which holds the South justified
e in secession, and rejoices in its success
t then The South must be in the right
t Such will be the verdict Of Europe -
e Then, instead of this war being a grea
e contest for the Constitution it would sim
: ply be a repetition of the old clash fac
tions which have hitherto convulsed re
; publios it would simply prove that sci
t government is delusion. 1t is bad enougl
S to have such a sentence pronounced by
8 the enemies of freedom, il is dreadful tC
hear it re>echoed, but il is terrible to fine
r the Administration certify ing to its truths
/ by repressing free discussion. There i!
= about as much probability of a man con
r vincing the people of these States tina
r the South is all right and the North al
{ wrong, as of an infant coaXing the moor
: from its armament by the eager grasping
c of its little fingers but if any man SHOULD
: be found TO discourse on such text W.
. do not know any way so efiectual 10 max,
D.. believers in his theory as to choke hi
c utterance or punish his attempt. 1t will
f not do for the Administration TO accuse
. others of that indifference to duty it ha
Q 30 singularly manifested it will not do L
J. charge that faith with coldness which
r shudders at n blow given to the Constitu
{ tion by hands sworn to protect it; it will
. not do for the priest who mocks at tn,
, Gown to charge others with impiety. |
, from humble suggestion OF right it ha
driven the democracy into fierce denun
;, citation of wrong; if it has made war OF
; the Government by every means know
J. to the Constitution and the law as essen
tial for that party as for the Governmen
}, TO war upon the rebellion, it is not ou
!. fault. There is one thing dearer thar
Union it is liberty. We don't intend U
give up either he one or the other, ant
= we no more think the Government vii
succeed in conquering our liberties thar
-, secession its independence. But II by
. the mingled madness and weakness wbici
seem to rule the hour we are compelled u