Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1865-08-31

10 assist the enemy by destroying Northern
towns, and releasing rebel prisoners. Th'
whole spirit Of this disloyal party was 81
manifestly hostile to our own Government
aud friendly to the rebellion, that every cit
izen for himself can bear witness to his con
sciousness that its members were actuatet
by that disposition wherever they wert
found. That there we're many private lndi
viduals who we're deuded by their leaders
and who in their hearts did not intend to bC
traitors, was doubtless true; but the organ
izstion as such, controlled as it was, was {
manifestly uniriendly power, limiting the
exhibition of its hostility only by motives
Of personal prudence and safety. The spirit
Of all their public meetings and conventions
proved this. And even when, with theil
lips, they preserved the form Of loyalty
their conduct showed it was loyalty in moth
ing but words Finally, in the EXTREMIST
hour Of the country's peril, when encourage.
ment was most needed by the whole people,
and when any word expressive Of belief in
the failure OF our cause was Of great assist
ance and encouragement to our enemies,
when the result seemed trembling in the
balance, and it was uncertain whether Sher.
mans movement against Atlanta could be
T rsuccess, their party met in formal deliber-
alton as national party and declared the
war failure. They had shown the same
disposition in their personal attacks upon
| the President and the members OF the a1-
ministratiou. While Mr. Lincoln was, with
honest and patient purpose, seeking only
lrow the country might be freed from its
| periIs and embarrassments, they were de-
| nounclng him as tyrant and usurper.-
No bitterness of attack seemed too ma.
/ NJ hatr fnn
intense, to vent their feelings against him,
whose only fault, in their eyes, was that he
was the representative Of the determination
of the American people to sacrifice their
lives and fortunes rather than that the
Union itself should be destroyed. And now
that the war is ended, this same organiza-
ton exists, and the defeated rebels at the
South are looking to it as their natural ally
in upholding the political struggle which is
now taking the place Of the military conflict.
SHALL VICTORY BE WASTED?
The war being thus transferred to a new
arena, the question now to lie determined
is, whether the fruits of our long struggle
shall be wrested from us by combination
of the defeated rebels at the South with
the defeated disleyaists at the North.
During the last war the Southern press
teemed with evidence OF the reliance which
the rebels were placing upon their allies at
the North, and their confident expectation
that by long continued effort they would
succeed in so embarrassing the Government
by opposition to its necessary measures, or
by stirring up dissatisfaction and strife in
the several States Of the North that any
vigorous prosecution of the war would be-
come impossible, and their independence
would be achieved.
VALLANDIGHAMISM
One who was but recently their candidate
for the Governorship Of this State, openly
proposed the formation of new confeder-
acy, to be made up Of the Northern States,
and the possibility that such new secession
might be accomplished gave courage and
perseverance to the rebels of the South,
who knew that this would be equivalent to
the immediate success of their own cause.
In different forms the same idea continually
came to the surface. What could not be
accomplished in one way, they sought to ac-
complish in another. With untiring per.
severance and pertinacity they worked for
the success Of their Southern friends, and
even now, when the cause of slavery and the
cause of rebellion seem to have fallen to-
gether, the most consistent and outspoken
of the disloya party boldly affirm both the
storing slavery. The instinct Of success
prevents the party as a whole from avowing
the doctrine of the more radical wing, but
in their actions and conduct there is no diff
ference to be seen, and the same spirit and
purpose animate the whole. 1t is of little
consequence what verbal differences there
may he in the statements of opinion, or the
statements Of principle, which may be put
forth by the two conventions Of the opposi-
ton shortly to meet in this State. Their
real purpose will BE- one, and the only ques-
ton between them will be as to the pro-
priety and advisability Of greater or less
boldness of utterance.
THE NEW SHAPE OF SOUTHERN REBELLION
Meanwhile in the South, those who but a
short time ago seemed to have abandoned
not only the hope of opposing the Govern
ment by force of arms, but also the purpose
of resistance to the DEGREES of fate in ref
ference to their peculiar institutions, are
now found asserting themselves, and pre-
pairing for organizing with view to a new
struggle to prevent the results of the war
from being thoroughly consolidated and
made permanent They would never have
dared attempt or even think of this had it
not been for the existence of this disloyal
party at the North, and their knowledge
that its organization here afforded them the
basis for action, and ground for hope,
where otherwise the future would have been
to them hopeless. All Eistoiy shows us
that mems opinions are rarely changed by
military conquest-that those who were
rebels in arms will remain rebels in thought
and at heart until a change in the condition
of the country, or the establishment of new
institutions and new interests shall, in the
lapse of time, change their relations to the
society in which they are as we'll as to the
rest of the country.
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE UNION PARTY.
The elements Of Southern society remain
substantially the same as they have been;
the animosities and bitterness which have
characterized the war can not be expected
to disappear. The growth of free institu-
tiens, and the change in the whole condi
tioa of the country which free labsr must
make, will in time effect a thorough con-
version. But until time has done its work,
the safety of the country must depend alb
solutely upon the efficiency and the power
of the Union organization. The body of
loyal men throughout the land must keep
so closely compacted and so thoroughly OR
ganized that their power can not be opposed
and their political action must be made to
control the country and its destinies. If
| -. - L. IL L