The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1863-04-16
Patriotic Letter of y. g. Miles,
Esq, of Huntington, to the
Ebensburg linton League.
HuNrIsepos, .4pris 8, 1868.

! HuNrIsapos, .apris 8, 1863
Mr. 4. A. BARKER Dear Sir:
have received yours of the 4th inst, inyi
ting me,to address a Union League yol
contemplate organizing in Ebensburg to
morrow evening. / regret that pressing
duties at home compel me to forego tht
pleasure Of being with you on the occasion
mentioned, and which cannot be other
wise than interesting by the circumstance
of your meeting and the holy cause which
| viii bring you together. 1t is no partisan
cause around which American patriots are
rallyipg in the formation of Union
| Leagues. hut the sacred cause of free
government and of human liberty every
| where. The American Union is strug
Cling for its life with. the most fearful
linexcusable and Gdiabolicalrebellion against
established law and order which the his
tory ofstl,e world has eyer recorded, and
in that struggle, the sad spectacle is ex-
bibited of many, very many, who ought
to have been relied upon r aid the Gov
ernment, the living embodiment of that
Union, in defending its existence, and yet
are lending all their influence and giving
all the energies of their bodies and minds
to the work of embarrassing it in its ef-
forts to crush the rebellion and keep our
place amongst the nations OF the earth.-
So far as party prejudice AID party tactics
can accomplish it, the Government has
been weakened in its power to strike,
when strength and vigor were wanted to
strike down the monster, and restore q
distracted country to such condition of
peace as will not Disgrace and degrade US
as nation in the eyes of the civilized
world. The crisis upon US is too momen-
tous, and its calls upon the united patriot
srn of the country are too imperative, to
justify wasting OF our time and strength
in the discussion OF party and collateral
issues. There is but one issue now, and
but two sides to it-who are for and who
o9atast the Government? Who are for
preserving the nation from disinteeration
aud consequent destruction, and who are
willing to all in that destruction and as
sis, the despotisms Of the earth, at home
and abroad, in their efforts TO extipguish
the beacon light of this Government and
drag down into endless night the cause of
human liberty, well-rcgulattd, rational
liberty, throughout the World! In the
pei from internal and external foes
which have been before us as people for
two heartrending years, ! have been
struck with utter amazement at the course
of nren protesting to be friends of the
Union, and yet organizing themselves rs
political party upon principles which
sweep away the very foundation upon
which that Union resfs, to wit, the soyer-
eignty Of the people as nation, and upon
the additional principle distinctly assumed
of opposition TO tfe defence the Govern
mcnt i. making against bloody war made
upon il, without justification or excuse,
by members of its own family They say
this devastating war must be stopped
that they are for peace and are the friends
Of pence. But how can it be stopped by
the Government without sn ac!lnoB dge-
mcnt that it has been vanqiishcd, and
the additioual acknowled dgement that the
REBELLION was right Who made the war?
1t was not the Government The trai-
tors made it upxa the Government, with
the very arms Of the Government in their
hands, stolen from it during the adminis
tration of James Buchanan through the
treacherous instrumentality of his Secre
tary Of War, John b. Floyd, now a gen
era. in the rebel army. The Government
made NJ war upon the rebels. It didn't
strike blow until after Fort Sumter had
been orobarded, on the 18th April, 1861,
its wails battered down aud the flag Of
the Union struck, although between the
Goth December, 1860, when South Caro-
lima passed her uncopstitutiona ordinance
of secession, and that date, more than
dozen forts, four arsenals, two kon,-
houses, branch mint, post-ofice, three
revenue cutters, a coast survey schooner,
a marine hospital, And vast amount of
government property tf all descriptions,
had been forcibly seized by the rebels
These We're aggressive acts of positive
war waeed asanst the Government by the
rebels, who have been in arms against it
from that day to this. The Government
has been prosecuting nothing but a defen- |
sive war against this aggressive force, and |
how can it stop that war whilst the rebels !
are in arms against it without recognizing
the rebel government, and, as before sta
ted. acknowledging itself to have been |
? In the name of Heaven !
WHO that is friend to his country can be
for this ,tse s
But have. propounded the inquiry,
Who made the war and that inquiry |
has been partially answered And ength- /
N~ho :