The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1864-01-20

their actual abilities, whilc the parsimonious,
or ~theopponent of the war, will withhold, from
pecuniary o. unpatrfetic considerations Tax
alton alone will egualize this burthen, and ims
pose it where it should rest, upon the property
protected by the services that the revenue is
intended to compensate. If the additional
levy increases the taxation of generous con-
tributors, it relieves them from a large amount
of private bounty, and imposes it upon the
non-contributors, where it should fall. Even
when the State assumes the entire support of
soldiers families, there will be scope enough
for private contributions to alleviate the priva-
tons and sufferings of sick, disabled and woun-
ded men in hospitals and at home.
Sd. The form of private charity is not al
ways acceptable to its recipients, and especial
~ the class to whom this is applicable. Much
suffering and privation will be endured before
pride will suffer application to private charity,
whore there is consciousness that meritorious
services of the absent provider should prompt
ly call the State to the protection and support
of his dependent family. We should divest
this fund of the appellation of charity. It is
not such, in any application of the term. It
is an honest debt, and an imperative duty,
that we owe the men that are serving US in po-
~sitions of labor and danger. They save us
from i~nvasion--from the destructive ravages Of
rur within our borders. While they press the
J. LIS " II "a -
Government, they protect our property and our
lives; they are tie conservators of fall the pros
perity that surrounds us. They do net per-
form this service for the small compensation
allowed them by the Government. They are
aetuated by q higher and a nobler motive, and
while they incur privations, danger and death
for the common cause, the State should not
only protect their families from want, but
make the act one of right and justful compen-
%sation, instead of burthening it with the often
sive appellation of charity. Neither should
it be governed by the rigid economy of mere
subsistence. 1t should be at least such plen-
ty and comfort as the stalwart arm of the nat
ural provider would furnish them, ifhe were
at home to do it, instead of laboring in our
service, to ward calamity from our hearth
stones.
In my Judgment three mills on the dollar
is the least sum at which this tax should be
fixed, and 1 should prefer to see it four mills.
The patriotic people ofthe State will cheer
fully pay it, and justify you for imposing it.
The act should also require County Commits
sioners to. collect reports of disbursements from
township and ward Trustees, and communicate
their aggregates annually to the Auditor of
State.
Our State heretofore filed her quota in the
armies by volunteering. In addition to this,
we have several thousand men in the service
Of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana, for
which we cannot have credit in our allotments.
Hopes are entertained that we may be able to
fill the recent call, without resorting to a
draft.
The conduct of our officers and men in the
field has been highly creditable to themselves
and honorable to the State. Upon every bat
tle-feld they have won high encomiums for
cool and steady courage, prompt obedience,
ooI IooIz &c -oH1a or;-r Thau - hrioxhf
jewels in the crown of the State; and while we
wear them will pride, we should cherish them
with affection.
During the past year steady and effective
advancement has been made in the prosecution
of the war. We have re-possessed ourselse !;
of a large amount of the revolted territory,
and the triumphs of our arms and policy that
havo strengthened US, have materially weaken
ed our adversaries. Present events indicate
very strongly that the end of the rebellion is
rapidly approaching. The contest has been
fierce and sanguinary, and has been protracted
beyond the expectations of our people. But
on the other hand, IL is to be remembered that
it was precipitated upon us under every possi-
BILE disadvantage. On the part of the rebel
leaders it was not only coolly and deliberately.
planned, but years were spent while they were
still in the councils, and even control of our
Government, in preparing for 1t. They even
exercised this control to disarm us, in a great
measure, of men and materials for conflict
They trained and educated their people for it,
by firing them with falsehoods, and inspiring
them with hatred of the people of the North
ern States, and our republican form of gov
eminent. They anticipated much, no doubt,
fromsthe supposed weakness of that govern
ment to protect itself from such an assault, on
the one hand and from political co-opera-
ton in the Northern States, on the other
They brought about, by their management the
necessity, of what they termed a Sectional
election of President, and then used that as
a pretext to put in practice what they assumed
to be the right Of "peaceable secession" They
undertook the revolution of the government
but prepared for, and eventually adopted the
alternative of armed rebellion. We were not
| prepared for the onset. We had armies to
gather, and arms and munitions to provide for
Cinema navy to collect, whence rebel leaders,
while in power, had scattered it, and equip it
for the strife; and it was only with the lapse of
time we realized the strength and magnitude
of the rebellion, and the elaborate and effect
i've means that the leaders had taken for its
prosecution and success. When all these
things are carefully considered, our people
| should not be surprised at the duration of the
conflict, or the cost of blood and treasure it has
involved.
There has been a great deal said about the
North seeking to subjugate the South. we
have sought nothing of the kind. The po-
~litical and military leaders of this rebellion it
is who have subjugated the people of the
Southern States trampled upon their politi-
cal rights, and involved them in crime Of
treason, with its accompaniment of civil war.
The triumph of the Northern armies, and the
lrestoratien of the old Goyernmsnt, is, sn truth,
she, deliverance Of the people of the South
ind they will SO hail it hereafter.
There are but two ways in which the res
~toration of peace and the Union is to be &C.
complishcd.s First, the demonstrations sur
render of the leaders, and the abandonment OF
the rebellion ; or, Second, the continued prog
ress and ~conquests of our arms, until the mil.