The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1864-08-17

: ments, should consider himself authorized
as President to regard the independen
f action Of sovereign States looking to al
organic change of government, in th,
same light that the Governor of Stat.
! would be authorized to regard the insur
! rectionary action of the people of a, eoun
. try.
There was but one solution of the diff
, Guilty that was compatible with the prin
: ciples of our Government, and.that cauld
have been adopted with out sacs5ncrn g ~ a.
pride of opinion of either sectlon-tha
was, an appeal to the reason of both sec
tions through National Convention o.
, the States-a body in which the Govern,
ment would have been resolved into itl
!, original organic elements, and in which
enlightened craftsmanship, either could
have devised some new conditions upon
which the Union of the States could have
been harmoniously preserved, or q separ-
alton OF the slaveholding from the non-
slaveholding States accomplished upon
equitable terms and upon principles that
! would have been least detrimental to the
interests aud prosperity of both sections.
I he progress we have achieved, and the
prosperity we have enjoyed as nation
1
true or proper Federal Union is of all
forms OF government the best adapted to
the preservation of liberties and the pro-
motion of the welfare OF the American
people. But. that form of government as
1t exists under our CGhstit6:ion, is found
, ed upon the princi pie of local self-govern-
ment, and State Sovereignty The as
sumption upon the part of the Federal
Government Of power not expressly dele
gated to it, or of any power whatsoever,
over the domestic affairs or local institu-
tions of the several States, is subversive
of the very Fundamental principles of the
free Federal Union OF
Cur system of government, SO far from
requiring uniformity in the system of Ia:
bor, local institutions, laws or religions of
the several States, is based upon the di-
rectly opposite idea-it Is a reconciliation
of dlyersities-and is adapted to our cir
cumstances, because it is in conformity
with nature.
The manners, customs, ideas and laws
of every community are always formed
and controlled to great extent by the
laws of climate, the natural production, the
physical character aud confgpration of
The country The great merit of our sys-
tenn of government consisted in the recog
milton of these great physical trnths, and
IN protecting or promoting rather by nom
interference the natural development of
the resources of each and every section OF
the country, under the free and intelligent
action of the respective communities (call
ed 'States) that fRhabit them.
This, however, is not the idea of the |
Federal Union that found expression by |
the majority of the people ofthe United
States In the Presidential election of 1860. |
The people of the North had become thor
oughfy indoctrinated with the fatal here
sy that there was an antdgontsns between
what was termed freedom and siaUery
that it was necessary to abolish, in the
language of DIR. Lincoln, "by making the
all the one thing or all the other
and this, too, in the very face OF the
most harmonious and mutually prosper
Gus relations existing between the pro-
iuotive interests of the South and the
manufacturing interests of the North
No people had ever attained more ad-
vanced position, either morally, intellect
nally, or physically. There was no other
reason why 1.-The country ought to be made
all the one thing, or all the other" except
hat portion of the people OF one section
30 desired it.
The Presidential election of 1860 de-
creed the dissolution of the Union. Il
demonstrated the existence of ideas, held
by a constitutional, though not numer
,ial majority os the people of the United
States, incompatible with the preservation
If our then existing form ofof fgovernment.
The distinct Reputation of the spirit of
,)mpromise upon the part Of all the
Northern States, and its equally distinct
equalization upon the part of large num- 3
yer of the slaveholding States, was re-
,udiaticn of the vital spirit OF the true !
federal Union-for it is just as imPossi. !
lie four our system of government to be j
maintained without compromise; as it 6
Fould be for The harmony of, the solar q
ystem to be preserved without adjust r
1ent of the opposing forces of attraction I
nd repulsicn. Definite separation of $
he South from the North was, therefore, In
n inevitable conclusion OF the logic of q
vents. iysE- g. s.- a
There is only only ono way in which the
Jnion can be restored. That is by the s.
xercise of mutual forgivness, mutual re. Il
enhance, and the free and voluntary 40, z
on OF the parties that composed it. The 81
istory of mankind leaves us but little t.
respect that these conditions ever will be o
llflled. War, may possibly result in the
onquest of the towns and cities and terri tt
,rles of the South--but it can meuer re- z'
lit either in conqucring the spirit of the p
outhern people, or in the restoration Of al
Iose. fraternM relations aotich alone can al
axe u true FEDERAL Union possible or d.
ssira6le There is but one description al
union that is possible, under any cir g
nmstances, for war to bring about; that ia
, a mere Territorial Union. Even this al
utterly unattainable, except at the ex-
ense Of the total n decentralization and cl
,nkruptcy of the country, the destruc- fu
on of the material interests of both pt
orth and South, the sacrifice of humid di
DIS and thousand Of valuable lives, the II