Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-06-20
SATURDAY, JUNE so, 1868,
PennsyIvami~ and Illinois.

tons, one at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and
the other at Springfield, Illinois, have
been duly spread abroad by the telegraph.
The Illinois democrats "cheered loudly for
Vallandigham," heard speeches by Richard
son, Cox, Voorhees,, and other copperhead
orators, and resolved that ''the further prose-
cution of the war tends to subvert the consti-
tuition and government, and entail upon the
nation all the disastrous consequences OF ms
rule and anarchy; that we are In favor oil
peace upon the basis of the restoration OF INC
Union, and for the accomplishment OF when
we propose national convention to SET
tie upon terms of peace, whlch Shall
have in view the rcstoratinn Of the
Union as it was, and securing by constitu-
tional amendments such rights to the several
states and the people thereof, as honor and
Justice demand" The Pennsylvania demo-
Gratis passed a set OF tame, spiritless resolu-
tons, in opposition to arbitrary arrests; re-
preached their political opponents with de-
sign to make the war war for abohtlonism;
declared their own patriotic intentions, and
IN Tile name Ol InG utllOCldNy Vi L ShhoJ
mia denounced the least intimation that their
party ''entertains now, or ever has enter
tanned, or ever can entertain, the slightest
sympathy with the present gigantic rebellion,
or with traitors in arms against the gov ern-
ment, or would ever consent to peace on any
terms involving a dismemberment of the
Union"
We should like to give credit to the Penn
sylvania democrats for greater degree OF
patriotism than their Illinois co-laborers pos
sess, but we greatly fear that jenkins cavalry
raids on the southern Pennsylvania border,
had some influence upon their convention, or
upon the committee on resolutions Harris
burg was threatened Cor supposed to be) with
invasion by a large number of mounted dele
gates from the (late) southern democratic
party, and resolutions like those adopted in
Springfield, Illinois, might seem too much
like a mandate to Gen. Couch to put stop to
his defensive operations, and invite the chival-
~ into the city. So an appearance fpatriot-
ic fervor had to be put on which did not really
belong to the convention, or fairly represent
the party. Times of panic are not the most
favorable for the expression of genuine and
honest opinion, and 1t is quite probable that if
jenkins had been in the neighborhood of the
capital of Illinois, instead Of the capital of
PENNSYLVANIA, the resolutions of the two con-
ventions might have been interchanged.
Leaving these speculations, however, as UNI
profitable and possibly unfair to the Pennsyl-
vanians, we turn to the Illinois copperheads
and respectfully ask them to inform us-frst,
what reason they have for supposing that the
rebels would consent to peace upon the basis
of a restoration of ''the Union as it is; )" sec
ond, if they are willing to consent to such a
restoration, where is the need of a national
convention to change the Union as it is into
tuition any more acceptable to the rebels than
they now are; fourth, whether it is the fur
ther prosecution of the war on our part or on
the part of the rebels, which tends to subvert
the government; fifth, if on our part, must
we not stop Immediately and leave the Union
and the constitution broken; sixth, if on
their part, is there any way to make them stop
the prosecution of the war, except by win
ming victories over them in the field; and
sixth, where will it be safe to hold a national
convention, out of the abolition reign of New
England? We suppose when the time comes
for such convention, conservatism" will
demand that it shall be held at Louisville. or
some other border city, or at Columbus. or
some other southern city, under 'sconserva-
tive" influences; but we doubt if such dele
gates as New England would be likely to send
would be welcome at either place. On the
other hand, we have no fears that convention
such as the Illinois copperheads desire, for
the purpose ofgiving new guarantees to slave
ry, and re-establishing the domination of the
shareholders, would have hot and hard
time of it, even in law-abiding New England.
Possibly some town in Connecticut might an
swer the purpose.
We breach these subjects, just to give the
Illinois men an inkling of some of the diff
culties in the way of any other settlement of
these troubles than a settlement by war;