Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1863-01-31

l'oiVcuti III latdl HaSlo anu WITHOUT tu
nivicc or consent OF Congress, issued hi
proclamation, dated the next day, calln
out seventy~five thousand militia for thre
months, to repossess the forts, places, an
property seized from the United State:
and commanding the insurgents to dispers
in twenty days. Again the gage was ia
ken up by the South, and thus the flame
Of civil war, the grandest, bloodiest, an,
saddest in hi,tosy, lighted up the who'll
heavens. Virginia seeded. North Caro-
lima, Tennessee, and Arkansas followed
Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Mis-
souri, were in blaze of agitation, ant
within week from the proclamation, The
line ofthe Confederate States was trans
ferred from the cotton States to the Poto
mac, and almost to the Ohio and the Mis-
sourt, and their population and fighting
men doubled
! Iu the North and West, too, the storm
ragged with the fury of u hurricane. New
er III history was anything equal to it
Men, women, and children, native and
foreign born, Church and State, clergy and
laymen, were all swept along with the
current. Distinction of age, sex, station
party, perishcd in an instant. Thousand
bent before the tempest; and here and
there only was Que found bold enough
foolhardy enough it may have been, to
bend not, and him it smoto fell as a con-
suming fire. The spirit of persecution for
opinions sake, almost extinct in the Old
World, now, by some mysterious transmit
grafton, appeared incarnate in the New.
Social relations were dissolved; friend
ships broken up; the ties of family and
Kindred snapped asundor. Stripes and
hanging were everywhere threatened !,
sometimes executed. Assassination was
invoked slander sharpencd hi, tooth !;
falseLood crashed truth to the earth !;
reason fed : madness reigned. Not JUS
tice only escaped 10 the skies, but peace
returned to the bosom Of God, whence she
came. The gospel OF love perished; ; hate
sat cnthroned, and the sacrifices of blood
smoked upon every altar.
But the reigu OF the mob was inaugu-
rated only to be suppIanted by the iron
domination Of arbitrary power, CoDstitu-
tional limitation was broken down hubclS
c'rpuS lcll liberty of the press. Of speech
Of the person, OF mails, Of travel, of ones
own house. aud of religion; the right to
bear arms, due process Of law. Judicial tri
al, trial by jury, trial at all every badge
and niuuimeu: of freedom in republican
government or kinsly government--all
went down at u blow and the chief law
officer Of the crowu-I beg pardon, sir,
but it is easy now to fall into the courtly
language-th e Attorney General, first OF
all men, proclaimed in the United States
the maxjm of Roman scrvility; Whatever
p5eaSeS tie IrcsiIeW, that as laW! Pris
oners of State were then first heard of
here. Midnight and arbitrary arrest,
commenced travel was interdicted, trade
embargoed, passports demanded bastilcs
were introduced, TRANCE oaths invented,
secret police organized, "piping' began,
intormers multiplied, spies now drst ap'
peared in America. The right to decla e
war, 10 raise and support armies, aud to
provide and maintain a navy was usurped
by the Executive; and little more than
two months land and naval force Of over
three hundred thousand men was in the
field or upon the sea. An army Of pub
lie plundcrers followed, and corruption
struggled with power in friendly strife for
the mastery at home
On the 4th of July Congress met, not
to seek peace, not to rebuke usurpaton
nor to restrain power, not certainly to
deliberate, not even to lcgislate, bat regis.
) Il Il Of ha
Executive; in your language, sir, upon
the FIST day Of the session, to invoke a
universal baptism Of fire and blood amid
the roar Of cannon and the din OF battle.
Free speech was had only at the risk of
prison possibly of life. Opposition was
sienc?d by the fierce clamor of "disoy yal-
ty." All business not of war was voted
out of order. Five hundred thousand
men, an immense navy, and two hundred
and fhy millions Of money were speedily
granted. In twenty, ot most in sixty days
the rebellion was to be crushed out. To
doubt it was treason. Ahjoct submission
was demanded, Lay down your arms, sue
for peace, surrender your lcaders-torleit-
ure, death--this was the only language
heard on this floor. The galleries re-
sponded, the corridors echoed, and con-
tractors and placcmen and other venal
patriots everywhere gnashed upon the
friends of peace as they passed by. In five
weeks seventy eight public and private
acts and jout resolutions, with declarao ory
resolutions, in the Senate and House, quito
as numerous, all full OF slaughter, were
hurried through without delay aud almost
without debate.
Thus was civil war inaugurated in
America. Can any man today see the
end of it!
And now pardon me, sir, if pause
here moment to define my own position
at this time upon this great question.
Sir, I am one of that number who have
opposed abo'itionism, or the political de-
velopment of the anti-slavery sentiment of
the North and West, from the beginning.
In school, at college, at the bar, in public
-. Al L i, -,