The Portland daily press., 1863-01-19


west from the Atlantic, and particularly the
New England States. Fernando Wood has,
on several occasions, limited at a reconstruc-
ton of the Union, with New England excl1d-
ed The vile traitor Vallandigham, in Con-
gress, has characterized the present conflict
brought on by Shareholders, as war between
Cavaliers and "roundheads = while his col
league, S. ii. Cox, separated from him in dis
loyalty only by a very narrow and very inds-
tinct line, has said that misunderstanding
New England nfluence-.is areptile that must
be crushed
We have seldom found New England men
sufficiently sunken. or lost to all seli-respect,
to openly indulge in such filings at the land to
which they are indebted for their education,
their moral principle, their mental culture,
and all the noble qualities of head and heart
for which New England has long been cele-
brated In the espondence-editorial, ev-
identy-of city paper Of Friday, there was
paragraph which plainly limited at the idea
that Maine, and the rest of New England, may
be excluded from the tender mercies of the
political gamblers, who are now comforting
lowed to reconstruct the Union and to decide
who shall and who shall not be permitted to
enjoy forever the blessed communion of slave
holders and slave-breeders, which they appear
to regard as the highest boon ever yet granted
to mortal man. The editorial correspondent
referred to, writing from Augusta, takes oc-
cason 10 speak of the 'inanimate and SOM
49,. n
the election OF Mr.. Morrell to the L. S. Sem
atorship = somber, doubtless, to one before
whose own eyes had long danced visions of
that same senatorship, but who has found
them if possible, more unsubstantial than the
great dramatists' "baseless fabric" Transfer
ing his own feelingsof disappointment to 9TH
er members of the Legislature, and looking at
them through the distorted medium oi his own
perturbed spirit, he inquiries:
Was this prevailing, obvious sense of oppres-
sion, that characterized all the actors. the newt
able influence of a coming termination by dIsas-
tiers, of the six years service TO which the elect
was dedicated, ere two, or perhaps one year of
the term shall have expiredg and either by
recognized establishment of the Southern Confed-
eracy, or by construction of the Union ,cih
-Hdine and aiihe .NeW England States leff out.
Here is a hint that New England senators
may be excluded fromECongress by the exclu-
sion of their States from the Union. And it is
by such hints that, even in this city, an at
tempt is made to frighten the timid into the
ignoring of their own honest convictions, and
into an acquiescence in the demands of the
friends of the slave oligarchists. 1t is 10 be
hoped, if New England should be excluded
from a reconstructed Union, that such men as
find satisfaction in haunting her. in slandering
her institutions, in extolling the slave institu-
tions of the South, and in offering to sacrifice
her States to appease the demand of despots,
may find it convenient to locate themselves
beyond her borders, and spare her the disgrace
of being their abiding place. though she may
not be able TO wipe off the reproach of being
their birthplace.
The idea of excluding New England from
the Union, as punishment for her sins, is so
superlatively absurd that we almost feel that an
apology is due the reader for occupying his at
ton single moment inreferring to it, and yet
We hope to be pardoned for the expression of
few thoughts touching this matter. And
1. 1t will be noted that those who propose
to exclude New England are not the men who
are daily charged with overriding the Consti-
tuition. 1t is not President Lincoln: it is not
his cabinet; it is not the Republican party; it
is not the hated 'abolitionists" even: but it is
the conservative" y democracy-tbose po-
litical gentlemen who have inscribed ineffaca-
bly, upon their banners, "The Constitution as
it is, the Union as it ras!" To rub out slave
institution in rebellious South Carolina, would
be to annul the doctrine of their motto; but TO
rub out the six New England States, and to
expunge them from the Union map would be
all fair, and in beautiful consistency with the
preservation OF the Constitution as it is, and
the Union as it was The practical conclusion
is, in the estimation Of the conservative
Democratic jury who propose to hold an in
quest over the body OF the Union, that New
England freedom is less constitutional, and less
Union element than South Carolina slavery;
and that six States had better fall from the
Union constellation, than for dark cloud to
cease to obscure the brightness of the South
ern cross.
2. The idea conveyed in the covert threat
to expunge New England from the sisterhood
of states, is that her influence and her institu-
tons are di,credtable- Now there are a few
things which need neither eulogy, nor praise,
nor special pleading. Bunker Hill is one of
them. Plymouth Rock is another. Faneuil
Hall and its associations come into the same
category. But high above all these are the
free schools and the free churches of New
England, where common mental development
is taught to manifest itself in free thought and
free expression In material prosperity no
less than in mental growth and moral and re-
ligious culture, the most unlavored of the New
England States far outstrips the most favored
of the slave states, for the proof of which we
refer to the mastery articles recently from the
pen of Robt. j. Walker; man who has repre-
scented the south both in the Senate and in the
Cabinet New England has no cause to hang
herhead. or to feel ashamed, aud if the Union is
to be dsmembered and broken in fragments,
for one we viii. thank God from the depths of
full heart that our lot has been cast in New
England.
3. The covert threat referred to implies
that New England has not contributed her que
ia to the growth and prosperity of the Union.
If any one has ever felt that, as a New Eng
lander, he has been pauper upon the general
government, let him at once correct his err
k., .t,,ta e.. M