The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1863-03-21
VOL. XXIII---NO. 81.

BtsS opCHo 81 HcW avenue TO
Cancellation and peace every act OF bru.
tality and barbarity closes door leading
to these results Acts OF brotherly love
beget fraternal feeling; acts Of cruelty
and oppression and injustice lead to alien
alton. retaliation and revenge While we
will firmly hold the sword in one hand,
and use 1t too with determination and re-
solution, the other must always be Opeu
with the proffer of peace and friendship
SO soon as they will return to their allie
glance to the Constitution. 1t is due to
the South-it is due to the North--it is
due to the world-that the niatured and
fixed determination of the Democratic
party should be known and thoroughly
understood on this subject IL Is due to
the South, that they may not cherish the
deluslve hope that the late elections mean
that they may go in peace aud destroy
this Government. 1t is due TO the North,
that those who have come to our help for
the purpose of bringing the Gosernuaent
back within the restraints cf the Consti.
tuition, may know that they have not been
contributing to the success of the rebellion
and the destruction of the Government
and the Constitution 1t is due to the
world to know that our late triumphs are
not an invitation TO Intervention, or an
evidence Of division among our people
upon the propriety Of the prosecution Of
the war for the restoration of the Union.
The readings or explanations Of the late
Democratic successes have been various
and opposite. By the Republicans it il
said that by these elections the people
havecon demned the tender mode in which
the war has been prosecuted, although
this is directly opposed to their positions
before the election In Europe they were
a Ppp1 nation nf the and vote for
eparation-adopting the Republican
theory during the canvass The South is
silent on the subject, awaiting events.
Now, the true mode OF understanding the
meaning OF these elections j. to read their
antecedeuts Not what the Republicans
or Aboitionists said OF US, for that would
sustain the foreig IN explanation. But what
did our friends say What did our papers
and our speakers say What did the party
proclaim as It's principles, to the support
OF which il invited and claimed the sutfi
RACES o. the people? These were esustained
by the popular vote, and these tell with
uEerrlrr certainty what these elections
mean. Did any representative speaker, or
did any standard paper, advocate dsso-
luton of the Union or peace upon the
basis of separation Our enemies said this
OF US; but We denied it vehemently, East
and West and everywhere. They knew
and we knew that a conviction of these
charges was eur certain defeat. All know
now aud knew then. that no anti war
party could succeed with the people-that
the popular vote could only be secured
upon the war platform, and the only differ
cuce which we admitted or recognized was
the principles end purposes for which the
war should be prosecuted. Wrail insisted
papers, orators and conven,ions-and
proved, too, that our enemies We're pros4-
cutting the war for unconstitutional pur-
poses and by unconstitutional means-that
the emancipation proclamation was uncon-
stitutional aud that arbitrary arrests and
the suspension, or rather Suppression of the
writ OF iaJeas c5rp1ts, by the Executive and
his subordinates was equally a violation of
/ that instrument. 1t was upon these meas
ures pro- ecution tf the war, and upon
these issues the popular verdict has been
rendered Both parties went to the coun-
! try admitting and advocating the proprie-
~ and the necessity OF prosecuting the
war. The whole country then-both
parties were for the war. There we're
lEdIv iIuai exceptions no doubt on both
sides, but they entered their opinions IN
silence and voted for that party which
approached nearest their views There
were no doubt some fes who voted sith rs
war, who have ever sympathized with the
rebellion, and think the South has right
10 separate and 90 in peace, but they are
very few. There are many more abolition
sts VINO feel that the South can never be
conquered but by exter8inatlon, which
the history OF the world shows is impossi-
ble, and that prolongation Of the war will
insure Democratic ascendancy and resui:
in a restoration of the Union az IL was un-
Ger the Constitution as 1t Is, and hence
they are for a separation and peace, at
once, which they deem preferable to the
old Union. Neither party countenanced
these extreme views, and to have done So
would have ensured certain defeat.
Where, then, did we get our votes
There were not enough old democrats to
give the victory. We must get, and
did get accessions from the republicans,
from those who voted for Mr. Linco,n,
who helped to place the present admira-.
ton, including the Congress in power.
. low did we get these votes? Why did
they leave the republicans and come to us
1t was because the republican party.-the
administration, ceased TO represent their
, views. They dsapproved, it is true, but
still tolerated arbitrary and illegal arrests,
perhaps because the Confederate govern
ment did the same thing IN q most arbi-
trary manner, with the Union men in the
t South. But it wa. the proclamation which
, produced the revolution in the North,-a
, peaceful and n Constitutional revolution.
, The process OF reasoning which brought to
, our ranks such accessions of patriotic men,
= and will bring 10 us many times more IN
] the future, was not uniform among these
2 who deserted the opposite party and came
to us; while all were influenced by sub
I ~. A.
r mind differs in different men, SO will men
D reason differently from the same facts
. while arriving at the same result.
= As for some. if not by far the reatest
y sroportion of our accessions during the
= late elections they saw that in his Inaugu-
i raj Address Mr. Lincoln had proclaimed
e that he would maintain the Constitution
t and not violate it, That he had approved
d most cordially the Crittenden resolutions
t ,assed at the special session in July. 1851
:, That he had, in fact, disappreved Of the
J. confscation law and finally signed it with
II great reluctance snd virtually under pro.
e test All approved of his Greeley letter as
= showing that he was prosecuting the war
e only for the restoration ofthe Union. He
t had revoked the Fremont and Hunter
( orders protesting to free the slaves in their
a respective departments and had removed
: both those Generals from their commands,
Y and finally in his answer to the Chicago
Y Clerical Committee, he had again publicly
t committed himself to q conservative and
!, constitutional course, and had, by mos,
# unanswerable arguments and illustrations
$ pointed out the dagger npd the folly ei
: the course which they urged upon him.
C Many of these old Lincoln men,-the old
d conservative Webster and Clay wings who
l. constituted the conservative element OF
If the republican party, believed and still
a believe, that Mr. Lincoln had been honest