The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-11-07
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The President Striking his
Friends.

The President Striking his
Friends.
The Presidents Missouri Letter, we have
read with profound regret. IL IS tempe
rate honest and candid; but it is wrong
Weighing both sides OF the argument, he
gives Judgment kindly but unrighteously.
Indeed, in saying that he weighed both
sides of the question, We give him more
than his due. The Address of the Delega-
tion as it stands, the President does not
answer, but first misstates its points, and
then answers these misstatemen,s. His
special pleading is on points which the Ad-
dress did not bring into Controversy
He swings his scythe among some men of
straw, but we do not see that he has cut
down Mr.. Drake. The President puts on
glasses to scrutinize some of the minor de-
tails of the Address, but bandages his
eyes agalust looking at its one great fea-
ture. The central fact to which the Presi-
dents attention was specially invited, he
skillfully ignores. This was, that in Mis-
souri, the policy of the Federal Govern
ment was constantly shaped to the inter-
estS of the Slave Power. Mr.. Lincoin'S re-
sponse does not relieve the anxiety of the
friends of Freedom concerning this chronic
calamity to the Union cause. As friends
of Mr.. Lincoln's Administration, we have
a better right than his opponents to speak
the plain truth to his face. The letter to
the Missouri Delegation is scrawny fruit
from the stalk that yielded the golden ap-
pie to the Illinois Convention.
Let US not be misunderstood. We are
not willing fault-finders-not captious crit
les, The President is man whose per-
sistent and irradicable good-intent keeps
criticism half unarmed. The bad argu-
ment which he has put together, we have
no relish for picking to pieces in detail. At
this remote distance from Missouri we
cannot say from satisfactory knowledge
how far the special and individual facts in
the controversy may be over-stated in st.
Louis or under-appreciated in Washing
ton. We do not undertake to say what are
the merits or dement's of the Missouri State
Militia, nor what sentinel slept on the
night Lawrence was burned, nor what
fraction of that strange compound called
Gov. Gamble is made up of disloyalty or
how much Of incompetencv, nor whether
Gen. Schofeld ought to be plucked up by
the root or simply praned in the branch
We will not say that on all these points the
Delegation erealtogether in the right and
the President altogether in the wrong
But how can we help saying that the Pre-
sident, whether right or wrong in these
particulars, has grieved To the heart his
best friends and supporters. by closing his
ears against the one single and groanmg
burden of their grievances, which is, that
he permits Slavery to override Freedom in
that State, and appoints his enemies to
govern his friends? Is the President
aware of the magnitude OF his blunder?-
While seeking to put down rebellion in
the South. he puts down the chiefest loyal
lists in the West. While waging war
against formidable enemy, he strangely
strikes down his staunchest supporters
While attempting to save Missouri to the
Union, he marvelously throws the State
out of the hands of its trustest defenders,
and takes sides with asUspected opposition
who at all times have been willing TO COM
promise with the Rebellion.
Who are the radicals of Missouri? They
are the finest fiber of the state-the best
heads and hearts among the people,
Their loyalty, beyond other mems, has
been tried in the furnace and found pure
gold. Their patriotism is not worn like
garment for fashion, but ingrained as
principal of their lives. Their sufferings
are a story yet untold-of houses burned.
of goods destroyed, OF families made home
ess, of graves multiplied. And all for
what? For Il manly and courageous es-
pousal OF theCause OF Freedom-for an IN
taltering devotion TO the safety ard honor of
the Republic! Dwelling for years in the
midst OF Slavery-not hitherto known as
Abolitionists, they have not been so blind to
the signs Of the times as not to discern that
slavery is the rebellion, and the rebellion
is slavery, and when either falls the other
cannot stand. They have came slowly to
their anti-slavery opinions, taught by
bitter experience. They are such men as
Abraham Lincoln would be were he 10 live
among them and suffer with them. It is
thousand pitieS that he is walled up in
Washington! If before writing his letter,
he conid nave spent week in Missouri,
and had been awakened every night by
the crack of prowling rifle in the neigh
borhood, he would have answered Mr..
Drake with Yes instead of No. 1t is by
such logic as this-of perilous days and
sleepless nights-of barns set on fire and
cattle stolen-of houses entered and sacked
of good men left slain at their own doors
that the radicals OF Missouri have been
pursued into their radicalism. They have
earned their honorable name!
On the breaking out of the war the anti
slavery men in Missouri were small mi
nority. At that time, throughout aW the
States the radical men were minority
The wise men in the country are few, till
Providence teaches the multitude by a les
son of experience. With the progress of
the war; there was progress of free senti-
ment in Missouri. The seed corn which
Abraham Lincoln dashed out of Fremont's
hand fell into the soil, and has already
come to harvest. Every succeeding cleo
ton demonstrated the growth of the radical
party. 1t gathered to itself the best men
of ali the old parties. 1t is now the hope of
Missouri-on which she builds her pros
pective freedom and prosperity. Now
against this party the President has turned
his face, TO smile coy smiles upon MS enc,
mics. Is he wise? He has not committed
graver fault since the day he quenched
Fremont's proclamation. Ii he does not
see his error in the bud, he viii taste its
bitterness in the fruit!
Why has the war been so long drawn
out? Because the President at the begin
ning-as if predetermined to make his
hard work harder-hung round his neck
the milestone of the Border States. Does
he not wear Kentucky like collar to this
day? A dog with collar fights slow. Is
it not high time for the Commander-in-
chief to learn that Il policy which favors
Davis, instead of Abraham Lincoln, had
been called to decide whether the petition
from Missouri should be granted or deni-