Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1864-09-01
New Series--Vol. 4, No. 81.

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and their own convictions; and for this 70,
seIyne party would bring persecution at u
Diealng OF your feudsl lords. 10
OH 70 any but the blind the case l. cleal
,h;u party would place the liberties q
.nn:y millions in the hands Of one-four,b !
tnnn ~. o. petty slaveholding tyrants. Yo,
III 49, .he Southern Democrats demand /,
VII, VII government equsl rights-thst Ia vo,
S,.,as m ,einftmoer' equal power with the Fre
90 es, ,heucn their voters should not b.
.. ,u,.D 81 me entire voting population
W yYaI righo sounds very euphoniom T.
Les IL Is harmonious in the mouths of hon
est men but harsh when prononsceJ i,
tyraDts. The white population Of tbo sor,J
Is scarcely ono third the populat;on ae ~,
North; yet the South demands nrsuondor
ating power in the General Goyernment =
so did Vallandisbam understand. and 9,
designed when be proposed m maj.
more perfect Onion" by, dividing Il int
four parts; the South forming on, and N,
North three, se balancing their pewers a. I,
forever place Northern majority In the bant
OF Southern minority. A yerv cemnsc
coDfederacy, very easily controlled. baino II
very, very firm bsndsl The vail was 10.
thin to hide this Democratic trick. in tbs
nand OF a Southern cat's-paw. from any
sensible mind, or from tho disgust Of any
freeman. " A"'
Our country has had the experience of a
quarter OF century of the lordly domipa.
ton OF the men now at the head of the Sc
cession. This rule has terminated in terri
Die rebellion and war. Have we not had
enough OF III You, as party, have placed
your necks under the heels OF the rebel slave
power; and now, beg you. sir, do at let
your siavlsh misery seek the company of
fresmen.
g. L now would abandon your party, if I
had not before this. because of its secret
combinations against liberty and the Gov.
erBment. =
1t Is now too late to deny the existence Of
secret Democratic combinations to aid and
comfort rebellion--to overthrow the Gov
ernment--to place. by fraud and force, ths
democratic party in power, and forever es-
tabllsh slavery and the slave power. Then
we snail have reign OF terror such as no
other power on earth could inaugurste but
terrible, blood-stained slavery. If our coun-
try 10 to fall into the hands of midnigh, oon-
splrators, may the Good Lord in mercy in
terpose for our salvation: and into their Sc
cret, my soul, come not thou
Z. shall trouble you but with this ono
reason more; and to it ask your grave at.
tentlon, Your party is at war with the word,
the authority. and the government of God.
the Ruler of tho nations; and by its God
defying course is bringing upon our land the
JUDGMENTS of Heaven.
This war, TO suppress insurrection and
punish treason, was waged by our Govern
nent upon principles differing materially
from those involved in the other wars in
which this country has been engaged in tbe
past. 1t has the divine sanction and author
ity implying divine obligation and com
nalssion.
The war Of the Revolution-in its moral
boarlngs-wss not so self evidently essential
to right and moral duty. as TO forero all
question and deliberation. There was n,
s,oorn obligation upon the Bostonisns to
spill the tea nor upon the Colonies, lust
then and as they did, to take up arms and
resort to the duel of blood Impossibility,
either moral OF physical, was not in the way
OF one or more plea at the bar of the mother
country. ReJur5 and fathless adininistra-
tlon OF Constitution, law and Government,
could not have attached to the Colonies had
they made enc more peaceful demand for
their rights. Discretion was still their priv
ilege.
The war Of 1912 might Justly have raised
-as 1t did--some cases of casuistrs in the
court of conscience. 1t was, even when de-
clared, grave question among the first
statesmen Oh both sides of the Atlantic.
Had the effort been employed to conciliate
Great Britain that was made to com promise
with the South, the war of 1912 never would
have been. No, never-had even one-tenth
OF the discussion, the argument, the COM
promise, the conventional effort, the conces-
sion, the diplomacy and peace policy been
expended. In this war your party of the
South was much more earnest and enlisted
than in the war of the Revolution; and
this, too. just about in the proportion asst
Revolutionary war was more clearly jusli6-
able than the other. While England was
wrong and we in the right 10 both these
wars, yet, In the latter the Administration
was not oath-bound to strike that day and
hour it did.
The Florida war. which cost Forty Mil
lions of money, and hundreds, if not ihoGs-
ands of lives, was for the rendition of few
lnsians' wives and half bred children, claim
ed as Southern property. This war had
scarcely the shadow Of justice or honor. 1t
was Democratic, pro-slavery war, cruel aud
inhunah YET your Irienps prosecuted tnlS
crusade with ten times the zeal they did the
war of 1912. What law or official oath
bound them to plunge us into this war?
The Mexican war, to say the least, in re-
gard to its morality. was doubtful. 1t GER
tainly added nothing to our national char
acter, or honor to the flag. 1t was a war Of
invasion upon weak Republic for trivial
cause. beyond the interest of slavery, which
was the main and the real object. Future
historians wilihardly Justify the FIRST aggres-
sive order commanding Gen. Taylor to ec
cupy Mexican soil with an invading Ameri-
can army. This was both a sectional and
party waE 1t was a war for conques. and
for slavery and hence tho large proportion
In the Mexican campaign from the slave
States, and OF fi!libusters and adyaDturers,
while 80 few from the Free States of the
North. Had there been any honorable dis
position to Concession, or " compromise, T"
or laudable effort TO avoid war, this would |
Rot have been. Yet here, your party was
the reckless war party, while now as peace
ful as non-resistant Quakers; not from prin-
ciple, but from party. 51g .537.
In the present struggle with rebellion
there can be no such questions as in regard
to all our former wars. Here the question
is simply one of .fIct-the obligations of la,s,
Of the Constitution and the o6fciidl oath. =
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