Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-08-08
Saturday, by the, LINCOLN Convention OF
the First District; and Col. HAYES by that OF
the Second District,-ED. STATESMAN.
lFor The Ohio Statesman.l
The Present Crisis.

| nc HEeHcmh NEAShbs
A great effort has been made by the OPP
position, since the commencement of the
war, to divide the Democratic party into
factions, for the purpose of destroying its
influence, and impairing its strength. The
Democratic party has heretofore been
known as the war party, and such 1t will
doubtless ever be, when called upon to main
tain the honor, dignity, and prosperity OF
the country. But war which has not these
purposes in view, and which is prosecuted
solely to crafty radical portion OF the
country, and to uphold and maintain in
power a party hostile to civil liberty, never
could have had, and cannot now have, the
support of the Democratic party. There
| have, heretofore, been honest differences OF
opinion, among Democrats, upon the sub
ject of the war, and as to their duty in re-
gard to it.
As long as the Democratic party was in
duced to believe that the South really in
tends to break up the social compact, and
| destroy the Government, it gave the war its
cordial support. 1t is true the election of
Mr.. Lincoln was not very acceptable, yet
| the entirety of this great nation, and the
preservation of the constitution intact from
| the hand of violence or change, was thought
| sufficient to require of all honest Demo-
| Gratis their support of the administration
at the head of the Government; and If Mr..
Lincoln had kept his promises faithfully,
the Democratic party would have been
to-day unit in this great struggle. He
had said in substance, in his Inaugural, that
his aim was to preserve the Constitution
and the unity of the States. When he was
| candidate for United States Senator before
the people of Illinois, he had said in the
first speech of that great struggle, that
1 n
nently half slave and half free;;" and when
he was elected to the Presidency, it was
very natural that this marked position, en-
| dorsed, as it were, by the convention, which
nominated him, should excite feeling of
alarm with the conservatives of the coun-
| try for the safety of the Republic. The
Democratic party, therefore, accepted with
| delight this, his declaration of intention,
| in regard to his future administration of
| the government. This of course did not
please the Opposition. They were not salts
| fled with this policy. Nothing short OF the
| extinction of slavery would answer their
| purpose, and in course of time called forth
| from Mr.. Lincoln his memorable letter to
Horace Greeley, in August 1862. In this
| he still declares it to be his paramount OBJ
| iect to save the Union, and not either save
or destroy slavery"
This letter was uneXceptionable. His
war policy was approved by every honest,
upright citizen in the land. Itwas perfect
| ly defensible before the civilized nations of
| the earth. We were fighting for existence
as nation-one and indivisable-and if by
accident the war in its progress liberated a
slave, no power in the world except brute
force, could again reduce him to slavery,
against his will, on the principle that con-
quering army frees every human being be-
hind it, and is a principle OF interna-
tional law too well understood to admit of
argument. 1t was for this reason that the
British nation refused to pay for the me-
groes which they carried away from Charles
ton, and occasioned so much opposition to
the ratification of jays treaty. With these
assurances, the Democratic party gave to
| Mr.. Lincoln their most cordial support;
| but when in course of time, they beheld
| him sweeping away, as it were, with one
| stroke of the pen, without consulting Con-
gress, nearly all of the bill of rights in the
| Constitution-the Habeas Corpus, Trial by
Jury, and instead of placing the people for
| theirdeliverance before the tribunals, which
administered Justice according to the course
of the common law, made them subject to
courts-martial of his own selection, and in
many cases, incarcerating them in forts
without any trial or even explanation-the
|
| giyings, and to distrust the great public
leader Of the Opposition. They feared pre-
cisely what has already been done time
after time-if he could and would do one
illegal act, he would very probablydo more.
| Charles the First failed to keep his prom
ises with his subjects, and lost the conf
dence of the nation, and his throne.
AS was very natural, the Emancipation
Proclamation came forth, without any otli-
| er sanction, than such as would belong to
an absolute sovereign of Europe. The DEM
ocratic party withdrew, measurably, their
support. They said at once, that the object
of the war was not the preservation of the
Constitution and the unity of the States,
but great dominant party, and the aboli-
tion ofslavery, though it involved the sacri-
flee of constitutional liberty; and if por-
ton of the Democratic party still gave their
support to the Administration, it was be-
cause they but believed that the war was
prosecuted for its original purpose. The
splendid Empire of Charles V. was erect
ed upon the grave of freedom, and who
can tell but the President of the United
States has fixed in his mind and heart like
a cabal of French, to transform the great
body OF the citizens into soldiers, and then
establish himself tyrant over the liber-
ties of once free and happy people. The
Democratic party believing this to be the
object of the present struggle, and not wish
ing to continue the war, simply for the pur-
pose of changing the forms of Government,
which were handed down to them by their
forefathers. are now reckoned as Peace
party, because it wishes to arrest the prose-
cution of war which will eventually lead
IFS to anarchy and ruin, and spend uselessly
the blood and treasure of the land. w.