The Ohio Democrat. [volume] (Canal Dover, Ohio) 1840-1900, 1863-02-06


servative. 1t makes the absolute polit.
ical equality of the white race every.
where practicable. 1t dispenses with
the English order of nobility, and leaves
every white man, North and South, own
ing slaves or owning noue, the equal of
every other white man. 1t has recon
ciled universal suffrage throughout the
free States with the stability Of govern.
ment. speak not now Of its material
benefits to the North and West, which
are many and more obvious. But the
South, too, has profted many ways by a
union with the non .slaveholding States.
Enterprise, industry, self-rslionce. per-
severance, and the other hardy virtues
of a people living in higher latitude
and without hereditary servants, she has
learned or received from the North. Sir,
it is easy. know, to denouncs all this,
and to revile him who utters it, Be it
so. The English is, Of all languages,
the most ccpious in words of bitterness
ana reproach. "Pour on: will en-
dure." ..... ..-..
Then, sir, there is not an "irrepressi-
BILE conflict" betw cen slave labor and free
labor. There is no conflict at all Both
exist together in perfect armony in the
South. The master and the slave, the
white laborer and the black, work ~ ~.
gether in the same Hneid or the same
shop, and. without the slightest sense of
degradation, They are not equals, Ell.
ther socially or politically. And why
not then, cannot Ohio, having only free
labor, live in harmony with Kentucky,
which has both slave and free Above
all, why cannot Massachusetts allow the
same right of choice to South Carolina,
separated as they are thousand miles,
by other States who would keep the
peace and live in good will? Why this
civil war? Whence diSuniou t? Not
from slavery-not because the South
chooses to have two kinds of labor in
stead of one; but from seCtlonaltSm,
always and everywhere diSintegrating
principle Sectional jealousy and hate =
these, sir, are the only elements Of con.
aict between these States, and though
powerful, they are yet not at all irrepres-
sible. They exist between families, CON-
munities, towns, cities, counties and
States; and if not repressed would dis
solve all society and government. They
exist also between other sections than
the North and South. Sectionalism
East, many years ago, saw the South
and West united by the ties of geograph-
ical position, migration, intermarrage,
and interest, and thus strong enough to
T control the power and policy of the Uni.
on. 1t found us divided only by differ
ent forms of labor; and, with consum'
mate but most guilty sagacity, it seized
upon the question of slavery as the sur
est and most powerful instrumentality by
which to separate the West from the
South, and bind her wholly to the North
Encouraged every way from abroad by
those who were jealous of our prosperity
and greatness and who knew the secre
| of our strength, it proclaimed the "irre
, pressible conflict" between slave labO
and free labor 1t taught the people o
, the North to forget both their duty AM
; their interests; and aided by the artiii
Q cial ligaments and influence which none
5 and enterprise had created between tn
e sea. board and the Northwest, it persna
!. ded the people of that section, also, t
$ yield up every tie which binds them t
r the great valley of the Mississippi, an
d to join their political fortunes especially
n wholly with the East 1t resisted tn
o fugitive slave law, and demanded tn
exclusion of slavery from all the Terri
!. tories and from this District, and clan
d ored against the admission of any NOR
N slave States into the Union. 1t organ
Y lied a sectional anti,slavery party, an
thus drew to its aid as well political an
It bition and interest as fanaticism; an
h after twenty five years of incesSant an
is vehement agitation, it obtained posse
e sion finally, and upon that issue, of tt
d Federal Government and of every Sta
Ie government North and West. And tt
"a day, we are in the midst of the creates
;" most cruel, most destructive civil WI
l. ever waged But two years, sir. of bloc
: and debt and taxation and incipiel
IS commercial ruin are teaching the peop
e of the West, and l trust Of the Nor
l. also, the folly and madness of this or
r. SADIE against African slavery, and Il
|. wisdom and necessity Of union of Il
d States, as our fathers made it, "pa
re slave and part Free"
Is What, then, sir, with so many caus
Of impellng to reunion, keeps us apart t.
a. day? Hate, passion, antagonism, r
IS venge, all heated seven times hotter
Mt war. Sir, these, while they last, are t
Of most powerful of all motives with pc
a. pie, and with the individual man; b
0. fortunately they are the least durable
nd They hold divided sway in the sal
all bosoms with the nobler qualities of lo'
= justice, reason, plauSibility; and, exec
th when at their height, are weaker tn
ed the sense of interest, and always,
* States at least, give way to it at last
nd No statesman who yields himself up
es- to them can govern wisely or well a
lb- no State whose policy is controlled
is- them can either prosper or endure. I
1e- war is both their offspring and their e
tes ment, and while it lasts, all other n
Try tives are subordinate. The virtues
peace cannot flourish, cannot even &
ery development in the midst of fghtin