Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1863-06-19
The President Responsible for the War.

err" and the exp. ession of his face as "hag
gard ard careworn in the extreme" &c. Th
Dubuque Herald uses this somewhat extrave
giant coloriDg of the Presidential features t
point a moral; and discourseth thus:
No wonder the President looks wretched
no wonder be looks as if the ghosts Of half
million Of his countrymen were pointing 1
their ghastly wounds, and accusing him of be
ing their murderer. He might have, AM
could have, and should have, prevented thi
murderous strife which has deluged the coun
try with blood, devastated it with the scourg
of war, ara sacrificed half million of hi
counirymen to the idol of aboliliouism.'
This would all be very effective, were it true
in part or in whole. Or have we not read tht
history Of the past two and half years a
right? Was Mr. Lincoln President of The
United States when South Carolina seeded,
Did he hold ''the rod of empire" when Geor
gia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and other
States declared themselves free and irdepen-
dent? Was he Commander in chief Of the
Army and Navy of the United States when
la Confederate Government was set up, and
forts, ships, arms custom houses and revenues,
belonging to the United States, were seized
and appropriated 10 the Use Of this new and
inevitably hostile government? Any one Of
these things was an act of war, and would be
so considered by any Government that the
sun ever shone upon. They were sufficient
cause of war, and would have justified The
! Government in calling out the militia, and
concentrating all its resources for national de-
| fence. Did Mr.. Lincoln do il? Was he in
power, or had be any voice in the matter, be-
yond any expression be might individually
have chosen to make public? Perhaps we
/ have been mistaken all this time. 1t must
have been Mr. Lincoln who fred upon the
Star of the West, dispatched 10 the relief OF
an enfeebIed garrison. 1t was he, then. who
trained the guns in Charleston harbor on Fort
Sumter, and, with cannon biockading the free
navigation Of the Mississippi river, compelled
boats to round and pay tribute a. the port OF
Vicksburg. Any and all these were acts of
positive hostility, and would be so considered
by any nation and the laws of nations.
We must revise the record. The innocent
patriots at Montgomery and Richmond had
no hand in bringing on hostilities They sim
ply took what they would and asked to be let
alone. They trampled on the flag, defed the
property, exacted imports within its limits. |
obstructed the navigation of its rivers, organ
lied and equipped armies, fred upon its garri-
sons, threatened TO seize its Capital, and all
this too before the President called for single |
volunteer, or one cent of the national treasure
was used to purchase single gun, or any in
dicatiOns given Of design to dispute the right
of any State or cOntederacy Of States to break
up the Union and tear in pieces the Constitu.
tiOn. And yet Mr.. Lincoln is responsible for
the warl He is the murderer of half mil
lion of bis slaughtered countrymen
But he might have prevented the war
How? By coneeding all the rebels demanded.
Would the people who placed him in Office
have assented? He was sworn TO sustain the
Union, the Constitution and enforce the laws.
To have yielded to the demands of the insur-
gents would have been to perjure himself in
The eyes Of the world, and prove faithless to
the trust confded to him. What did the reb
els demand? Territorial control of every inch
OF slave territory. including all the border
States. Would Kentucky or Missouri have
The surrender of the free naviga- !
tion of the Mississippi Would the North
west have consented? The giving up OF all Of {
the property of the United States from Balti-
more to Galveston. Would the people of the
loyal States have consentsd? Yet this was the T
nltimatum of the rebels They would consent {
10 nothing less; they preferred war TO any a. q
batement of their nzolent claims. The Dubu- r
que Herald may assert from now to the miIlen- [
um that the rebels would have returned to the '
Union on certain conditions; but no intelligent a
nan will believe it. No fact stands ont more b
clearly iu this contest than that, from the first @
he rebels refused to listen to any proposition S
short of the recognition of their independence h
md final separation from the United States. Y
They were offered all reasonable guarantees.
Peace Committees waited upon them, only to t
De rejected. They set forth no list of grev- q
Inces for, as Alexander Stephens confessed, 1
hey had none. They did not appeal to the /
light of revolution, for they had 20 plea for
he exercise of that right They had no COM
plants against the Government, for it had not Y
oppressed or injured them. Its burdens fall {
IS lightly on their shoulders as the sunlight s
alls on the leaves of the forest. They had e
imply determined to set up a government OF b
heir own on the ruins of the old, and to the e
injury of the States with whom they were
lnited by the most solemn of compacts. They a
lad perfected their plans. and counted upon t
he evaporation OF such fellows as Maheney t
o assist in their execution, as they now count I
lpon his assistance and that of other ''green t.
loosiers,' as they style the men of the West,
o create political diversion in their favor, if
lot 10 fomeBt actual civil war on Northern I
oil. b
There was no escape for Mr.. Lncoln's Ad- | e
1t had either to surrender our T
rational existence or prepare for lis defense a
10 compromise could be made because of a
as distinctly declared as b
words could make it, on the part Of the rebels, a
lot to accept it. True to its trust aud rely s
ng on the patriotism of the people, the sword II
vas drawn, and the for the Union was Il
1t is that war which is being il
vaged to-day 1t is not war for the negro,
Who is a mere incident in its progress, but
var for the restoration of the Union as it was a
The Government was the last to take up the h
word, and it will be the last to lay II down Il
Those who appealed to it must abide by the 81
psult Their blood, and that of the thousands Il
# brave men who have died in the defense of II
he Union, be upon their own heads Gin II
innati Commercial. u
PAYMENTS OF FIVE -TwENTIEs IN GoLD-
hr. Harrington, the Assistant Secretary Of q
he Treasury, replies 10 an inquiry as follows; I
''AlI coupon and registered bonds forming 3
,arl OF the permanent loan of the United 3
tales will be redeemed in gold. All nb.igu- h
ions aud notes forming part of the temporal \
y loan will be- paid in United States notes. Il
Unless before maturity, payment in specie Al
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