The mountain Democrat., 1864-03-19
wuntsa war.

IL Inc var cOulo nave oeen avoided ana
the Union preserved and perpetuated by
the TagptiOn of ~. Crittenden's amend.
me1is ito the Classification. The leaders
Of Tie present Abellion, according 70 the
positive and unchallenged statements of
Senators Douglas and Pugh, emphatically
signitied the readiness of the South to ac-
cept them as q tinal and satisfactory set
tlement of the disturbing questions. They
were HNtsiOti" .>-Nsesis;e::ee9' 20. permanent
adjustment and peace. They demanded
less for the South than the Supreme Court
or Mr.. Crittenden himself considered due.
But the Abolitionists, arrogantIy trusting
to their numerical power. contemptuously
rejected the olive branch rendered by Mr..
Crittenden. They defeated this noble
scheme Of pacifcation- Because
they wanted war and wanted to dissolve
the Union. Well, they have got war, and
war unsurpassed in the annals of history
for its ferocity and brutality. They have
sent at least S00,0O0 Young men to pre-
mature graves. They have reduced the
country to the verge of bankruptcy.
They have entailed perpetual burden of
the most oncrouS taxation upon the peo-
pie, The have destroyed the friendly re.
!ations once existing between people en-
joying common ancestry and heritage.
They have inaugurated a system of espi-
onage diSgraceluI to the age and country.
They have robbed the people of their lib
critics, and made corruption a stepping
stone to power. They have placed the
military, in defiance and mockery of the
language Of our bill of rights, above the
civil power. They have clothed the whole
land in mourning, "desolated homes and
confagrated towns; and they are still
ravenous for more blood. Three years
ago the Abolition Senator from New
Hampshire, Clark, said, with fendish ma
lignity, -" Yield not an inch :" and his
party obeyed hIm and the result is be-
fore us in thousands of fresh graves, des-
olate homes, thousands of destitute wild
ows and orphans, and debt Of at least
three thousand millions Of dollars. "A
little blood-letting will do good," coolly
wrote Chandler, the drunken and de-
PRAYED Senator from Michigan, "and the
negro will be free" Blood has flowed CO.
piously, but good has not como from it.
1--WE prefer our platform, wrote Greeley,
ITO fifty Unions" and the reasonable de-
claration was indorsed by the President,
his Cabinet, by Congress, and the organs
and supporters of the Administration ev.
erywherc. The Legislatures of Virginia
Pennsylvania and Kentucky inplored
them to accept the Crittenden Comprom-
ise; thousands Of petitions, numerously
signed, to the same effect, were presented
to Congress but all to no purpose
They rejected, insolently and brutally ,ev-
cry proposition for peace, and boasted
that they "could subjugate the South in
ninety days" They had the power and
they would make the South feel it. "We
want no Union with Shareholders" said
Wilson, the Abolition Senator from Mas
sachusetts, land war will destroy slave.
ry; therefore, am for war" Such were
the sentiments and actions of the leaders
Of the Abolition party, and history will
hold them responsible for the destruction
of the greatest Union and Ae freest Gov
crnment on the face of the earth.
What folly-what madness-what bar
bnrism--- to involve such country as this
in ruin, and such a people in slaughter,
when few members of the Abolition
party could have saved it by voting for
the Crittenden Compromise, a comprom.
Use which called for no sacrifice at their
hands. In rejecting it they proved tn EN-
selves enemies Of their country and were
advocates Of disunion, lawlessncss and
blood. 1t is iron. clad impudence and hy-
pocrisy for such men and the party they
represent to claim TO be honest and pa
triotic.