The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-02-04


wo uld add Yankee Doode;p but first let m,
be assured tLat Yaiik ee Doodle loves the Unior
moro than he hates the stakeholder.
And now, sir, propose to briefly consider
the causes which led TO dIsunion snd the pres
ent civil war; and to. inquire whether they
are eternal and iperadicahle in their pature
and at the same time powerful enough to over
como all the causes aud considerations which
impel to reunion. s- t45g
Having TWO years ago discussed fully and
elaboraiely- the more sbstrusc and remote
/ causes whence civil eommotions. in all Govern
ments, and those also which arc peculiar e
our complex end Federal system, such rs the
consolidating tendencies of the General Gov.
ernTept, because of executive power and pat
ronage, and of the tariff, and taxation and dis
bursoment generally, all unjust and burden.
some to tho West equally to the South, ] pass
them by now.
What, then, ask, is the Immediate, direct
cause of dsunion and this civil war Sla-
very, it is answered Sir, that is the philoso.
phy of the rustic in the play that great
cause of the night, is lack Of the sun. Ger.
tainly slavery was in one sense-yery obscure
indeod-the cause Of the war. Had there
been DO slavery hero, this particular war about
slavery would never have been waged. In a
like sense, the Holy Sepulcher vas the cause
of the war of the Crusades and had Troy
or Carthage nerer existed, there never wsuld
have been Trojan or Carthaginian war, and no
such personages as Hector and Hannibal and
no Had or Enied would never have been
written. But far better say that the negro is
the cause of the war; for had there beer no
negro here, there would be no war Just now
What then? Exterminate him {? Who de-
mands it? Colonize him How? Where
When At xhosA cost Sir, let rs have an
end of this folly.
But slavery is the cause of this war Why
Because the South obstinately and wiekedly
refused to restrict or abolish it ut the demand
of The philosophers or fanatics and dema-
gogucs of the North and West. Then. sir,
it was abolition, the purpose to abolish or in.
terfere with and hem in slavery, which caused
=disunien and war. Slavery is only the SUBJECT,
but abolition the cause, of this civil war. It
was the persistent and determined agitation in
tho free States of the question Of sbolshing
slavery in the South, because of the alleged
eirrcpressible conflict hetween tho forms of
labor in the two sections, or in the false and
mischieypus can't of the day, between freedom
and slavery, that forced a collision of arms at
last. Sir, that conflict was not confned to
the Territories. 1t was expressly proclaimed
by its apostles, ss between the States also,
against the Institution of domestic slavery
everywhere But, assuming the plltforns Of
the Republican party as the standard, and STA
ting the case most strongly in favor of that
pnrty,it was the refusal of the south to con-
-seat-that- -Slaxeryzz zzhnnld be excluded from fha
Territories TINT led to the continued agitation,
North and South, of that question, and finally
to disupion and civil war. Sir, I will NOT be
answered now by tho old clanor about sthe
aggressions of the slave power" That miser=
able spocter, that unreal mockery, has been
exercised and expelled by debt and taxation
und blood. If that power did govern this
country for the sixty years preceding this ter
ribie revolution, then the sooner this Admins
tration and government leturn to the lrinci-
pies and policy of southern craftsmanship, the
peter for the coui.try and s1.. s...; sir, is al.
ready, or soon will be. the judgment OF the
people But deny that it was the "slayc
power" that governed for so many years, and
so wisely and well It WINS the Democratic
party, and its principles and policy, nodded
ard controlled, indeed, largely by southern
statesmen. Neither will be stopped by that
other cry of mingled fenaticism and hypocri-
cy, about tho sin and barEarism of African
slavery. Sir, / see more of barbarism and
sin, thousand times, in the continuance of
this war, the dissolution of the Union, the
breaking up of this Government, and the en-
slaYement of the white race by debt and tax
es aud arbitrary power. The day CT fanatics
and sophists and enthusiasts, thank God, is
gone at last; and though the age of chivalry
may not, the age of practical craftsmanship is.
about to return. Sir, I accept the language
and intent of the Indiana resolution to the
full-3that in considering terms of settlement
we will look only to tho welfare, peace, and
safety of the white race, without reference to
the effect that settlement may have upon the
condition of the African" And when we
have done this, my word for it, the safety,
peace, and welfare of the African will have
been best secured. Sir, there IS ffty-fold less
of anti-slavery sentiment to-day in the West
war be continued, there will be still less a
year hence. The people there begin, at last,
to comprehend that dnmestic slavery in the
South IS question, not of morals, or religion,
or humanity, but form of labor, perfectly
compatible with the dignity of free white la
bor in the same community, and with national
yigor, power, and prosperity, and especially
with military strength. Thcy have learned,
or begin to learn, that the evils of the system
affect the master alone, or the community and
State in which it exists and that we Of the
free States partaks of all the material benefits
of the institution, unmixed with any part of
its mischiefs. They believe also in the subor
dination of the negro race 10 the white where
they both exist together, and that the condi-
ton of subordination, are established in ~tae
South, is far better every way for the negro
than the bard servitude of poverty, degrada-
tion. and crime to which he is subjected in
the free States. All this, sir, may be "pro-
SLAYER Wis U, !" if there be such word. Per-
ha ps It is but the people of the West begin.
now to think it wisdom and good sense. We
will not establish slavery in our own midst;
neither VIII we abolish or interfere with it out
side of onr own limits.
3 Sir, an antislavery paper in New York,
{the Tribune,9 the most influential, and, there
fore, most dangerous of all of that class---it
would exhibit more of dignity, anl command
more of. ipauence, if it were always, to discuss.
public questions and public men with de-
cent respect--laying aside now the epithets of
and ''traitor," kas returned to
its ancient political nomenclature. and calls
certain members of this House sspro-slaveiy.',