The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-02-27

uIdlt ID lIuloucu, Cucu Do tTlcu NY d civil
court, and fined $500, or imprisoned two
years, or both.
MIR. Weeds Reply to Rev. Henry
Ward Beecher.
To the Editors of the Commercial Advertiser
The Tribune of this morning copies an
article from the Independent, in which that
journal discovers striking likeness" to
myself. The gist, or argument, of the ar
ticle is embraced in the following extract {:
We are sorry to say that New York and
Pennsylvania have bred, for the last fifty years,
a generation of most astute politicians, of the
most INSCRIPTIONS and dangerous kind. They
have been men without moral convictions
They have lost faith in human integrity. They
believe that every man has his price. Such
men must at length cease to reckon upon mo-
raj convictions as of validity or practical force
in the conduct of State and National politics.
There can be neither moral principle nor even
patriotism in men who have learned to put par
ty above country, and to serve the party, even
by employing the worst motives for the accom-
plishment of the most selfish ends.
Some three or four years ago 1 found
myself seated in Hudson River railroad
Car by the side Of an intelligent stranger,
with whom an agreeable conversation en-
sued. At Poughkeepsie Ilearned that the
gentleman was Rev. Henry Ward Beecher.
The conversation, when resumed, related
to the Maine law" then pending in our
Legislature, Mr.. Beecher advocating and
opposing it. He urged it with zeal and
fervor, as a question of right and duty. I
opposed it as inexpedient. He insisted
that expediency had nothing to do with
questions of conscience His standpoint
was "moral conviction"-minec common
sense. He demanded "total prohibition. -
l denied the possibility of so restraining
a human appetite, and appealed to his COM
mon sense in favor of regulating and re-
forming an inevitable evil He replied
eloquently with arguments which / need
not repeat.
rejoined, insisting that the ultra tenn
perance views of Messrs. Greeley, Delavan,
Gerrit Smith, &C., had already greatly
damaged the benefcent temperance refor-
nation inaugurated some years previous
ly, by wiser, if not better philanthropists
He answered, that the difference between
US was, in effect, that, as Christian, it was
his duty to exterminate an evil which /,
as a politician, hoped to modify by tenn
PORTING; that pitch, if touched, defiled !;
and that halfway remedies were worse than
the disease. l closed the controversy by
remarking that results would test the
soundness or fallacy of our respective
views, asking him to remember that, in
my opinion, the passage of the "Maine
law " would place dead statute in our
archives, and that intemperance, overrid-
ing it, would run rio! through the State.
The Maine Law passed, and may be
found in our statute books. Rev. DR..
Beecher will, perhaps, when his leisure
serves, inform either his congregation, or
the readers of the Independent, whether
his "moral convictions demonstrate the
superiority, upon Legislative question, of
the Divine over the Politician.
The existing rebellion places Rev. Henry
Ward Beecher and myself in the same po-
sition of antagonism. We differ about the
mode of prosecuting the war as radically as
we differed about temperance. | have
stated, in a series of articles commencing
in December, 1860, my detestation Of Sla-
very, as the cause OF a "mOnStrOus and
unnatural rebellion. No mans zeal, in
favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war,
exceeds my own; nor has solicitude for
the welfare of my country occasioned in
others more anxious days or more sleep
less nights; nor, under mental pressure,
has more hairs turned gray upon any other
mans head.
This sOlctude is now intensified by the
attitude, arrogance and insolence of Abo-
lition journals, representatives and lee
turers. In assuming to discover, in the
Presidents Proclamation, ''new policy, -
and one which converts and perverts the
war waged in defence of the Government
and Union, into crusade against Slavery,
l see sure and swift destruction. In Wen
dell Phillips avowal that the Abolition
motto is "Death to Slavery or the Union, :"
Endorsed by the Tribune and Independent,
I see, unless tne reasonable sentiment be
rebuked, divided North, with two-thirds
of our people against this fanaticism.
| While there is much in the inviting re-
ply in the Rev. Mr.: Beecher's article, l
will not waste time or paper IN noticing
what is merely personal. But desire to
make this record: If ii comes TO be IN
derstood that lie oiecs and policy of
Messrs. Sumner, Greeley, Wendell Phil
lips, Ward Beecher, &c, &C., obtain, IN
Tie conduct Of tie aca', ii ariH result az
Me destruction Of or Government and
Union, and q triumph Of Rebellion and
| iSl00eTy. IHURLOw WEED.
Hon. Thomas Fl. Seymour has been
nominated for Governor by the Democ.
racy of Connecticut.