Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-09-17

ho" hoNo OhoocH CcndtOTb anu hepTC6en.
tatives TO Congress. and demand their
admission, and full establishment of all
our State rights and our restoration to
all our former privileges and immunity
as citizens of the United Statcs.''
This demand is made by men who are
traitors in heart; men who hate and des.
pise the Union; men who never had a
patriotic sentiment men who, if they
could, would hang every friend of the
Government. But for the sake of getting
power into their own hands by our con.
cession, which they could not obtain by
fighting, and for the sake of avoiding
their natural crimes, they will demand
restoration under the guisc Of claiming
State rights.
What will be the consequences Of yiel.
ding to this demand
They will gain the right Of managing
their affairs according to their will and
pleasure, and not according to the will
and pleasure of the people Of the United
States.
They will be enabled by the interven.
tion of their State laws and State courts
to put and maintain themselves in ef.
fectual and perpetual opposition to the
laws and Constitution of the United
States, as thew have done for thirty i've
years past They will have the power
to pass such local laws as will efleclualy
exclude all Northern men, all soldiers,
all free blacks and all persons and things
which shall be inconsistent with the the
ory of making slavery the cornerstone
OF their local Government; and they may
make slavery perpetual in violation of
the law of the United States and the
proclamation of the President. They
may continue the enforcement of those
classes of laws against free speech and
freedom Of the press, which will forever
exclude popular education and all other
means Of moral, social and political ad-
vancement.
They may send back to Congress the
same traitors and conspirators who have
once betrayed the country into civil war,
and who will tbwart and embarrass al
measures tending to restore the Union
by harmonizing the interests and insti-
tutions of the people; and SO, being in
troduced into camp, as the wooden horse
into Troy, gain by fraud and treason
that which they could not achieve by
feats Of arms. The insanity of State
rights doctrines will be nourished and
strengthened by admitting back con.
quered people as our equals, and it
baleful influences cannot be estimated!
The solemn pledge of freedom Offered
to the colared citizens by Congress ant
by the proclamation must be broken, an,
the Government and country coveret
with unspeakable infamy. Even for
eigners might then justly consider II
guilty of treachery of the cause of hu
manity and civilization. ~
Suppose. o,day, the rebellion quel
led and the question put, will you nov
give your enemy the power of making
your laws?
Eastern Virginia. Florida and Louisi
ana are now knocking at the door o
Congress for admission into the Union
Men come to Washington, chosen by 9
handful of associates; elevated, by rev
olution, to unaccustomed dignity; repre-
senting themselves as Union men, ant
earnest to have State rights bestowed
upon their constituents.
If their conitituents are clothed will
the power to constitute a State, int,
whose hands will that power fall
Beware of committing yourselves t.
the fatal doctrine of recognizing the ex
istence in the Union, OF States whicl
have been declared by the President
proclamation to be in rebellion For
by this new device of the enemy-thi
new version of the poisonous Stat
rights doctrine-the secessionist will b
able to get back by fraud what the
failed to get by fighting. Do not PERM
them, without proper safeguards, to re
sumo in your counsels in the Senate an
House the power which their treaso
: stripped from them.
DO not allow old States, with the
Constitutions still unaltered, to resum
State powers.
Be true to the Union men of the Sout
not to the designing politicians of II
I border States. The rebellious State
contain ten times as many traitors 4
loyal men. The traitors will have a va
, majority of votes. Clothed with Sta
u rights under our Constitution, they wi
crush every Union man by the irresist'
y BILE power of their legislation. If yc
Il would be true to the Union men of I'll
: South, you must not bind them han
o foot and deliver them over to their BIZ
lerest enemies.
;, Beware of entangling yourselves wit
II the technical doctrine of Forfeiture
ie State rights; as such doctrines ADM
a. by necessary implications, the operate
m OF code of laws and of correspondil
ir civil rights, the existence of which y
10 deny. ....-.
+, The solution of all our difficulty rel
IA in the enforcement against our pub
y enemy, of our beligerent rights of ci
~ war.
al When the insurrection commenced
u illegal acts of secession and by cert'
nc exhibitions of force against the Cover
ho ment, in distant parts of the country
): g. was supposed that the insurgents mig
u be quelled and peace restored without
80 quiriDg large military force, and wi
involving those who did not activ
10 10 participate in overt acts of treason.
~, :, Hence the Government, relying up
VS. VS. the patriotism Of the people, and &C