The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1863-07-23

'hNuiN SCi IVuOiy Ntfihi IbO IISDJ 10 re-
yoke grant, in consequence Of having
an unqualified right to make it. A
right to break contract because he
had right to enter into it? To what
extent is it more rational on the part
ola State to found the right to dissolve
the Union on the competence Of the
parties to form it, the right to PROSTATE
a government on the fact that it was
constitutionally framed ?"
Even the old Confederation recogni-
nized noright in the States to withdraw
from it at their pleasure. On the con-
trary there was special provision that
the articles of confederation should be
"inviolably preserved blythe State, and
that the Onion should be perpetu-
ated. n When the confederation fell to
pieces for want Of power to enforce its
authority on the individual citizen,
then the Constitution was ordained,
g in order to term q more perfect Union"
than the former one, and yet even that
was to be "inviolably observed by eve
Try State" even that was to be "per-
petual.
But Secession is morally wrong
! Look at the sins it implies in the case
before US. l. That of perjury in the
case Of all United States officers, both
Of the General and State government,
and all officers Of the army and navy,
who joined in rebellion; for they have
all sworn to support and defend the
Constitution ofthe United States. And
from this oath they can only be re-
leased by resignation, or the expiration
Of their term of office.
2. Secession implies theft. The
territory Of the seeded States belongs
not to them. 1t belongs to the Uni
ted States, as well as those public
works built at the expense OF the gen
cral government-together with ships,
guns, moneys, &C., which they appro-
Ipriated to their own use. And on what
a gigantic scale is this theft conducted?
Louisiana cost Sl5,000,000; Florida
S5,O00,00O besides the expense ofsOme
pose Of driving out handful Of Semi
noles; Texas S200.000,000 expended
in the Mexican war; besides S10,0OO,-
900 paid to her in 1850 for ceding a
tract Of land to New Mexico. If to all
this we add the expense of forts, navy
yards, court houses, custom houses, and
other public buildings, $500, 100000
have been expended in the GulfStates,
fve-siXths Of which are levied from the
North and Northwest. Add to this
the debt repudiated at the outbreak of
the rebellion, and the vast amount eX-
pended in carrying on this war, for
which the insurgents are responsible;
and | ask, was ever robbery carried
out on so large scale?
3. There is another crime I will
not name, as | wish to make no harsh
or unjust charges, ] refer to the de-
struction of human life o, it makes
ones heart bleed to think of the rivers
Of Americas best blood, which have
flowed through our valleys and down
our hills since the war began; of the
tens ofthousands of her noblest sons,
who have fallen on the weary march,
and on the bloody fields or in the hos
pitfalls of the armies. All count if
you can, the graves at Manassas, on
the ChickahOminy, at South Noun
tain and Antietam, at Shiloh, on the
Rappahannock. at MurfreesbOro. at
Vicksburg; besides the nameless
graves on the Atlantic coast and be-
meath her waves, and in the sands of
the Mississippi, Responsibility lies
somewhere. This crime needs some
name. will not name it; orphans
and widows, and bcreaved parents will
rame it, and God at the Judgment will
name it.
And now, I ask, could all this have
been prevented? Yes, had those who
rebelled remained subject to the "pow-
ers that be- If they had sought re-
dress of their wrongs-if they were suf-
iering wrongs-in the proper manner
There has not been an hour since
the war began, that the government
would not have rejoiced at peace
not an hour that the Christian temples
of this land would not have been
thrown open to crowds of people as
sembling to praise God that the bloody
strife had ended But the leaders of
rebellion did not want and would not
have peace upon any other conditions
than that Of the acknowledgment of
their independence; and that the gov
crnment could only do by submitting
to her own destruction. Many efforts
were made to avoid using the warpower
of the nation. The President in his
message says: at is with the deepest
regret that the executive found the
duty of employing the war power in
defense of the government, for forced
upon him he could but perform this
duty or surrender the existence of the
government in compromise" And
when he did employ that power what
was the object? Not the interference
with the rights or institutions of any
State, but simply the execution Of the
laws. In his call for $4,000 men the
President says; "Wheroas, the laws
of the United States have been for
sometime past, and now are opposed
by combinations too powerful to be
suppressed by the ordinary course of
judicial proceedings, or by the powers
vested in marshals Of law; now there
fore, l, Abraham Lincoln, President of
the United States, in virtue Of the
MOWERS in me vested by the constitu-