The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1864-06-16
A Little Plain Talk About the
WAR.

one that has been and will continue to be.
calamitous to the American people. is their
disposition tosacriGce everything to blind
idolatry of Union-political Union between
States. We have as strong a love for the
old Union, and as high an appreciation of
Its benefits, its illustrious origin and glo-
rious memories, as any one born under its
flag and reared under its benign influences;
but we cannot permit this sentiment to
blind us to facts or deaden our sensibili-
ties upon other higher and more moment
Gus issues. We will always put liberty
before Union-the preservation of the
rights of the citizens and of the States as
of infinitely higher Importance than
breadth of territory, acquisition of num-
bcrs and grandeur Of Federal power The
irst We must havc-its possession is essen
tial to the life of the free born Americans:
the last we desire nlso, but We would make
it entirely subordinate to the first We
hold that whoever is ready to sell his per-
sonal liberty for territory is as much a
traitor to his country as was Judas to his
Master when he took the thirty pieces of
silver Union is good thing to have,
but We would trade off q thousand Unions
for the ancient rights Of Magma Charta
wrung by the hardy sons of liberty from
tyrant kings, and the guarantees of person
al freedom secured through the twelve
Amendments to the Federal Constitution
If we understand the purpose of the
Democratic party, it is first to rescue from
the hands of usurpers impcriled republican
! institutions, and after this is effected. a
restoration of political Union with the
Southern States would be an object for
which it would labor. The soul of the
old Union fed long ago, before the scorch-
ing flames of sectional hatred and strife;
whoever would win it back must do so by
quenching these fires of hatred ard allay-
inc the strife. Nothing is left but the
ii;alcss, CHASTITY skeleton Of the old Union,
bespattcred with human blood and black
ened with the flames of n barbarous war
This skeleton Of Union, devoid Of the soul
that once animated and made it the adj
miration Of the world, has come to be
nothing more than puppet show IN the
hands of President Lincoln, through which
he seeks to pcrpetuatc his power. Sitting
at Washington curtaincd behind the
scenes, he pulls the wires that set the pup
pets to dancing in Louisiana. North Caro-
lima, Arkansas or any other State at will,
and with the magic powers of a political
vcntriloquist, he makes these ifclcss corps
es Of sovereign States of the Union speak
and call aloud for him to be their master,
and for him tc scourgc them with war and
carnage on a still mighticr scale. When
Stephen A. Douglas said, ''war is dsun-
ion" he uttered 4 solemn truth. verified
by the unmistakable evidences of the past.
Black Republicanism split the Union in
twain, and the booming of cannon at Sum
ter and along the entire line of hostile ar
mics, was only the sound that came from
the rendinS asundcr of the mighty fabric. |
Southern power sprang into existence
The sovereign people resumed the powers
they had delegated away, laid anew the
foundations Of social order and political
structure. organizing in such forms as they
deemed best for the framework OF new
government Against this new govern
ment the Administration at Washington
has. for a period of three years, directed
its mightiest energies Great armies. pro
vided with every engine known to ancient
or modern warfare, have again and again
bced hurled against this new political or
ganizaton, and who can say the prospect
of speedily overthrowing it is greater now
than at the beginning. Then sixty days
prophets were listened to, now arc scoffed
at.
We say the war is a failure, that it will
continue to be Il failure, and we believe
that to be the position Of the Democratic
party.
If the war ought to succeed, than all
ought to support it and help fight its bat
ties 1t matters not upon what prctcxt it
is wagcd. Republicans tell us it is for the
destruction Of slavery and the restoration
of the former territorial boundaries of the
Union, while those who call themselves
war Democrats tell us that we must ti"ht
for honorable terms and for indemnity
We have yet to learn that it is part of
the policy of the South to make conquest
of Northern territory, force pconle to own
slaves who do not want them, interfere
in the slightest degree with an, of the So
cial or political rights of the people of any
state in the Union. Ii this Is so what