Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-09-07
words Explanatory.


Union. In the light of recent history il is
evident that, by the adoption of the policy
idicatcd by the Crittcndcn resolutions, or
by reasonable degree of attention to the
suggestions and earnest cntrcatics of distin-
guishcd statesmen and conservative patriots
In all parts of the country, prior to the COM
mencement of hostiltics, the might have
been avoided. Such aods the opinion of
the Democracy then, and such is the opinion
oil the Democracy to-day. But when, for
reasons which need not here be rccited,
wide spread dissatisfaction eliminated in
overt acts Of resistance to the United States
authorities, and the nation was committed,
10y administrations ofits rulers, to the policy
of an armed enforcement of their behcsts,
1t came to be the generally received opinion
OF the Democracy, that vigorous prose-
cutlon OF the war; had become necessity;
and, acting in obedience to the convictions,
many OF the best officers in the army, and
hosts of the rand and file, rushed from their
peaceful homes into the thckest of the
fight. This was done-not for the gratifi-
cation Of a puritanical and blood -thisty
fanaticism-not for the purose of over-step-
ping the bounds prescribed by the Constitu-
tion for the sake. of emancipating the negro
race-not with the view to subvert the gov
eminent and establish in its stead military
or any other form of despotism-and, cspe-
clally, not for the purpose of ignoring or
trampling under foot either one of the con-
stitutional rights of the States, but solely for
the high and noble purpose of preserving
the Union, and bringing back the disaffected
States to their allegiance, and into the Union
with their rights unimpaired. This was
taking Mr.. Lincoln at his word; for he, as
well as Congress which, as was supposed,
reflected his opinions, had repeatedly decla-
red, that the war was not for conquest or
sujugation Of the States, but solely for
preservation Of our common country from
the evil OF dislntegration, and our social and
political institutions from the dangers by
which they were at that moment cnvironed.
Believing the oft-repeated assertions of
the leaders Of the so-called Republican party
to the effect above stated, and listening to
their urgent solicitations, and prompted
moreover, byan irrepressible desire to see
the Union restored and the warended, many
Democrats in this section and elsewhere, in
1861, united with what was then called the
Union party" and acted in good faith with
it, on the somewhat hazardous presumption
that its leaders were honest, and that their
declarations were sincere. But no sooner
had the partzans of the Administration Sc
cured their object, than the mask was thrown
off, and their policy stood revealed in all its
detormity. 1t was then learned by all who
were not too blind to see, that it had been
no part of their plan to restore the Union,
or enforce obedience to the Constitution;
but that, bent upon effecting the cmancipa-
tlon of the negro race, at the expense of the
one and total disregard Of the other, the
war power of the Government was to be
invoked, to aid them in the accomplishment
Of their undertaking? Those who still re-
tained an inbred respect for the solemn
compact by which the States had so long
and 50 happily been bound together, and
who had vivid consciousness of the fact
that great, if not fatal error had been
committed by the party in power, were in
suited by the application Of unsecmly cpl
thets, were accused of being traitors, " and
were, in many instances, cast into prison
among fclons, without so much as the poor
formalitles oflaw, and, in a majority of the
cases, without knowing who were their ac-
cusers or what were the crimes whereof they
stood accused. The conviction came upon
the public mind like Il thunder bolt, that
the very men who had enlisted in the army
for the preservation Of the Union, We're to
be employed to crush out of existence what
remained of Constitutional liberty, and that
the stcalthy encroachmcnts of the Federal
power, now rendered formidable by being
backed up by an army Of more than mil
lion Of men, would inevitably culminate in
Il desperate effort, not only to confiscate the
coveted inheritance Of the South, but to
bring the once free North into base SUBJ
Ijugation to a spirit of intolcrant and aggrss-
sive fanatlclsm, and ride, rough shod, booted
and spurcd, over all the sacred guarantees
Of civil liberty, regardless alike of the rights
of the States, and Of the rights of individ
uals. That conviction, forced upon an un-
willing people by astounding and indisputa-
y BILE facts, has served to dispel the delusions
by. which thousands of Democrats have been
mfsled and to reveal, in characters of living
light, the necessity, on the part of Conserv-
ativc men, Of united effort to reinstate the
: Democratic party in power, and through its
. instrumentality restore the country to its
former condition of union, peace and har-
mony, prosperity and happiness.
While counsclling Just and conciliatory
course, on the part of those who claim that,
from the first to the last, they have never
been deceived by the talschoods and blan.
I dishments of the black Republican party,
\ and while insisting upon the obvious neces-
sity Of a concentration Of our entire political
strength, for the fierce conflict with the COM
f mon enemy in which we are about to engage
we can, with the utmost boldness, call upon
I all who have heretofore acted with the Dem
ocratic party, to return to its ranks, and
share with us the labors, the perils, the
+ responsibilities of contest for the right,
and peradventure the honor of splendid
q victory over the wrong. In doing this we
\ ask for no dishonorable concessions, no
: sacrifice of principle, no dodging of vita
J issues but simply and plainly, for cooper
alton in mighty, and we doubt not, success
7 full effort to redeem our State and nation
! from the stupendous evils brought upon tho
: people by Il party made up Of the odds and
ends Of all imaginable factions, and now il
! the process of dissolution from the weight
9 of its own sins, and the explosive force o.
n its own incongruities
y Unatcrably devoted to the Union as i
8 was, obclicnt to the Constitution as it is
+ with Il platform of principles which may b.
: carped at but cannot bereiuted, with candi
: dates Of whom we may well be proud, anC
6 with every induccment before us to inclin,
y us to union and untirng activity, the De
n mocracy Of Ohio are called upon by ever.
p patriotic consideration, to do their duty
= Plain Dcdir.
Z sambO Makes Trouble i'm Akron
;s The Union Senatorial Convention wa
" held at Akron on Saturday, and Mr.. Tibles