Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1865-05-06

from the people. and peculiarly adapted 10
their genius; nation not sluggish, but
nctive, used to excitement, practiced 10 po
liticaI wisdom, aud accustomed to self.go
ernment, and all its vast outlying part,
held together by federal government
mild 10 temper, gentle 10 administration
and beneicent 10 results, seemed TO have
been formed for peace. ~ y
All at once, 10 this hemisphere OF bappi
ness and hope, there came trooping cloud,
With 6ery bolts, full Of death and desoia
tion. At a cannon shot upon this fort, ell
the nation, as If il had been q trained army
lying on its arms, awaiting yignal, rose up
aud began war which, for awfulness rises
into the frst rank Of bad emineuce. The
front Of battle, going with the sun, was
twelve hundred miles long aud the depth,
measured along mer idisu, was thousand
miles. In this vast area more than two
million men, first and last, for four years,
have, in skirmisb, fight and battle. met 10
more than thousand conflicts while u
coast aud river line, not less than four thou
sand miles 10 length. bas swarmed with
fleets, ffeghted with artillery. The very
Industry of the country seemed TO have been
touched by some Internal wand, aod, With
sudden wheel, changed its front from peace
to war The ahvils Of the land beat like
drums. AS out OF the ooze emerge mon
sters, so from our mines and fonndries up.
rose new aud strange machines of war, iron
clad .f., ..o -,r.
And so, 10 nation OF peaceful habits,
without external provocation, there arose
such storm Of war as blackenei the whole
horizon and hemisphere. What wonder
that foreign observers stood amazed at this
fanatical fury, that seemed without divine
guidance, but inspired wholly with Internal
frenzy '"'
The explosion was sudden. but the train
had long been laid We must consider the
condition OF Southern society, if we would
understand the mystery of Ibis iniqnity.
Society in the South resolves itself into
three divisions, more sharply distinguished
than in sny other part Of the nation. A.,
the base is he laboring class, made up OF
slaves. Next is the middle class, made up
OF traders, small farmers, and poor meu-
The lover edge Of this class touches the
slave, and the upper edge reaches up to the
third and ruling class This class was a
small minority iu numbers, but n prscticed
alb lily they had ceutered in their hands the
whole government of the South, and had
mainly governed the country.
Upon this polished, cultured, exceeding
ly capable and wholly unprincipled class;
rests the whole burden of this war Forced
up by the bottom-beat Of slavery, the ruling
class, in all the disloyal States, arrogsted
to themselves superiority not compatible
with republican equality, nor with Just NOR.
ais. They claimed right Of pre-ennence
| An evil prophet arose who truised thest
wild aud luxurian. shoots of ambition tc
the shapely form of political philosophy
By lis re agents they precipitated drudg
cry 10 the bottom Of society, and left at the
TOP what they thought 10 be clarified
and. In their political economy, labor
was to be owned by capital. In their the
ory of government, few were TO rule The
many. They boldly avowed, not the fact
alone, that, under all forms of government,
the few rule the many. bu, theIr right aud
duty TO do 50. Sci free from the necessity
of labor, they conceived contempt for
those who felt It's wholesome regimen. Be
lieving themselves foreordained to suprema.
cy, they regarded the popular vote, when
IL failedsto. register their wishes, as an in
trusiou audu nuisance. They were boru in
a garden, aud popular liberty, like freshe' s
oversw cling their banks, but covered their
dainty walks and flowers with slime apc
mud-of democratic votes. Applausel
When, with shrewd observation, lney
saw the growth of the popular element ia
the Northern States, they instinctvey took
in the inevitable events II must be con
j trolled or cut off from nation governed by
gentlemen ! Controlled, less aud less, could
il be. in every decade and they prepared
secretly, earnest ly, and with wide conference
aud mutual connivance to separate the
South from the North. ~
We are 10 distinguish between the pre-
lenses aud means, and the real causes OF this
war. t.o
To inaame and unite the great middle
class Of the South, who had no interest il
separation aud no business with war, they
| alleged grievances that never existed, ant
employed arguments which they, bette
than all Other men, knew to be speciou
aud false, Slavery itself was cared for oul
do uu iust' VI pS"Ott " " SA~''SuiSA'
They had unallerably fixed their eye upo
empire, aud ell was good which would Sc
cure that, aud bad WHICH hindered it.
Thps, the ruling class Of the South-a
aristocracy as intense. proud, and iuasxibl
. as ever existed-not limited either by Gu
; toms or Institutions, notrecognized and
jasied in the regular order Of society, pla.
lug O reciprocal part in its machinery. bs
secret. disownipg its own existence. bag
zsd with osienlslious names Of democr'ey,
obsrquious TO the people for the ssie =. y
J governing them this namelesS, Sln'us
aristocracy, that ran 10 the blood o. s0'' ~
like q rash. not yet come 10 the ,sa wv.
D political lapeworm, that produrso ao'as ~ s
/ but ley, coiled 10 the body, eea"s ~ "s
/, nalrimenl, aDd holding the sDo'e sus'; :,
10 be but Q servant sci up % nor.i,t ;,s G..
this aristosracy OF The pl'nIauon' WV ~. nu'
and deliberate resolve, breogai oa .n' va
: .ha. they might Gu, ibs LAID IN lwo, ana,
clearing themselves rom ,u,o''o .,;as .a,n;,a Is
J society, set up slsraer, s1aleiler empire,
where slaves worked thai gentlemen misn'
live At ease NOr can there to any doab'
,hs, ,honsh Al 6rst. they meant TO erect
,bs form Of republican government. This
was but n dsrico q step necessary to th'
.sc.,iae on that power by which the,
I | SS>H'ee lLi. ~ ahan0a the " hOla OnO