The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1863-04-08


forts to give the child of the poor man the
same opportunities as the child of the
rich man But IL defends the grog-shop
as an institution Of the people !; lit adores
the slavery of the black race as the great
bulwark of the democracy and it follows
with most devoted subserviency the for
tunes of the conceited aristocracy, who
kick them even while bending in the ex-
tremest abjectness ofsubmission, who spit
upon their concessions, who scorn their al
lance, and declare themselves disgusted
with their very presence. iHaa4 is5r .-s-
Such is the loathsomeh debasement to
which the Copperheads of Connecticut
have sunk, and such is the degradation
which they are preparing for that digni-
fed, sturdy, proud old State
These two factions, though both OF
them prominent enough, for different rea-
sons, to represent the state abroad and to
claim its name, are very unequal in num-
bers. The one comprises, the great body
of the intelligent men of the state. The
other is mere faction of the great Dem
ocratio party, but exceedingly threatening
and noisy, with large talent for political
intrigue, having its voeiferous represen-
tatlves in every hamlet in the state, using
every tavern and grog,shsp as propa-
ganda of its faith, andso welding an in
Huence out of all proportion to its size,
its talent, or its real courage Between
the two lies "third estate"-a large
mass of ineu who are of somewhat uncer-
tain character, but whose former procliv-
tiles are such as to encourage the Cop
perheads to seek their aid in the nefarious
schemes now on foot Some of them are
unthlGking men, easily imposed upon by
such sophism as this, for example, "We
are for sustaining the Government, but
God forbid that we should call Abraham
Lincoln and his abolition Congress the
Government !" too careless to perceive
that this means, 1--WE are loyal to the
Government while it is in the hands of
our party, but rebels the moment it is ad-
ministered by others" Some of them
afe unlntelligent men, before whom infa-
nous Toucey ventures the assertion that,
after weeks of active armed insurrectiop
on the part the South, the simple hu-
name act of Lincoln in sending provis-
ions to the starving garrison at Fort Sum-
te. was the inauguration of "war and
blood policy" and the origin of "a civil
war which has no parallel, ner anything
like parallel, on the pages of history"
Some of them are jealous men intensely
prejudiced against those who have been
more successful in life than themselves,
and who, by an adroit handling of these
prejudices, can be swerved, momentarily
at least, from the path of patriotism.-
Some of them are timid men, who are
nervous about gunpowder and dream O.
night about 'the draft and who are so
short-sighted as to suppose that the plan
Of resisting the conscri ptlon and defying
the power of the Government under the
leading of some Copperhead Governor, is
a safer enterprise, and one likely to re-
quire less military service, than fighting
the rebels Some of them cannet get rid
of the notion that the couLtry is never
safe except under the control of some
thing they call "Democracy," to whom
the query Of Gov Wright of Indiana is
pertinent Il am Democrat. You say
you are Democrat, aud are my brother
in political faith But before | own YOU,
want to know what kind of Democrat
you are. Jefferson was Democrat, but
Burr was a Democrat also. jackson was
d Democrat, but so was Calhoun, Doug.
las was Democrat, but so was Breekin
ridge. | want to know what class you
are in" These gentlemen might be
made more patriotic, if they could be
brought to see that names are not ataoays
things Aud some of these men are both
and honest, and are troubled
lest civil liberty should be endangered in
the exercise of military power, and are
hardly able to repress their Anglo, Saxon
a noble instinct it is-to
resist governmental encroackments until
the war is over, and the nation saved.
Now it is evident that this "third es-
tate"-this mass of undecided men-held
the balance of power not only in Connect
icut, bus through the country. The
question of the efec;ual and final sup
preston of this rebellion depends upon
the effort that shall be made within the |
next four months to awaken the latent
and to appeal to the native
good sense, which are far from wanting
10 these men. 1t will be great calami-
ty if, even temporarily, they are inveigled
INTO the support of the traitorous and de- |
,tructive schemes of the Benedict Ar
nolds of 1868. Should they come per-
manently under such sway, the whole
social fabric would inevitably be dsmol
shed. There is no possibility of overes-