The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1864-09-29
Read and Reflect.

IF the Union has a constitutional
right to defend its own existence, then
to charge the President and his suppor-
ters with the cost Of tho war--to hold
them responsible for the mountains Of
slain it has piled, the abysses of debt il
has opened, is most unjust. 1t is like
saying to the sheriff of New York City,
"Sir, you have during the last year,
spent million Of dollars in ferreting
out, arresting, arraigning, trying, and
Furnishing felons; what have you to say
for yoursolf2" "Only this" the sheriff
would doubtless reply, "That | COM
mitted none of the felonies, and did not
elect myself sheriff; and ifit we're wrong
to prose cute felons to conviction and
punishment, the law is in fault, uotI.-
you would give impunity to felonS,
you should neither enact laws nor
choose sheriff,."
General Mcclellan, in his roccr1
West Point oration, forcibly says;
To secure ourselves from the fate of
the divided republics of Italy and South
America, to preserve our Government
from destruction, to enforce its just
power and laws, to maintain our very
existence as a nation--these we're the
causes which impeled US TO draw the
sword. Rebellion against a govern.
ment like ours, which contains the
means of self-adjustmsnt and pacific
remedy for evils, should never. be con-
founded with revolution against despot-
ic power, which refuses redress Of
wrongs. Such a rebellion cannot be
jus flied upon ethical grounds, and the
only alternatives for our choice are its
suppression or the destruction'of our
natio nality. At such a time as this,
and in such struggle, political parti-
sanship should be merged in true'and
brave patriotism, which thinks on y Of
the good of the whole country. 1t was
in this cause, and with these motives,
hat so many of our comrades have Civ
en- their lives; and to this we are all per-
sonally pledged in all honor and fdeli.
ty. Shall such devotion as that of our
dead comrades be of no aVail2 Shall ID
he said in after ages that we lacked the
Wig II to complete the work thus begun;
that, after all the noble lives, freely
!, given, we hesitated and failed to hkeep
: straight on, until our land was saved?
c To buy off the rebels by proffer Of
favOrs, concessions, privileges-this is
not to suppress" their rebellion. 1t is
to offer a premium for future revoltS-
u to render secession the ready resort Of
r every defeated aapirant, every restless
J. egitator. To maintain that the Union
cannot "coerce a State" is to proclaim
it the sport and waif Of every local jeAl.
1 eusy, every sectional am mbition. tits 20
T assimilate our national existence to .
Fourth of July gathering, a mass meet.
ing, collected by some orators fame,
+ some raree shows attractions.
c That-should it ever arrive--will b
3 a sad day for America and for Freedom
i which witnesses the confessed defeat OF
:, the Union in its struggle for existence
: Despots and Olig1r chs will exult over
the spectacle, exhibiting it to their vic
s tins as conclusive proof that repub
n lies have no adherent vitality and Af
@ ford no adequate security for property
y or life. But darker-far darker-thau
t, even this, would be a reunion purchas.
,e ed by concessions to rebels in arms oil
if privileges and favors which we're denied
e them while still loyal-privileges stwsl
d not only with the equal rights Of thei'
ct fellow citizens, but with the rights Of
is Human Nature itself While the eur
d tailment of the Republic would be q ca
le lamity, it's debasement into mere con
n venience an | lacquey of the slavehold
OF ing traitors would be monstrou u
re crime. "Taks any form but thatl"-
In IN. Y. Independent.