The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1865-05-26
THE Cause Of The War


Some of the Jacobn journals; with whose
editors it is a kind of second nature TO saddle
upon the shoulders of their political opponents,
every thing that goes wrong in governmental
affairs, are now trying to make it appear that
they were entirely innocent, and the Democrat
ic party ;mmeasurably guilty, as respects the
state Of things which produced the Southern re-
bellion. They know that, the war being over,
passion and resentment viii subside and reason
and Ieaecton rule the public mind, in their stead.
They know that when popular interest is no
longer centred upon raids and battles and sieges,
and anxiety concerning present perils no more
obscuTes recollection of past difficulties, the eau
ses of our national troubles viii be fully can
vassed and clearly discerned by an intelligent
and impartial public. Therefore, they think it
prudent to ''take time by the forcock," and fore
stall, if possible, the judgment which they fear
viii be rendered against them by the people
But in this attempt they must fail. The truth
of history is against them, and all their special
pleading, and all their appeals tc the prejudice
Of the time, viii not avail them. Il is part
of their record that tHey three the first stone
They first set the lars o. the Union at aefancs
Theg first resisted and murdered L. S. officers n,
discharge Of ot!ciaI duty. TAfy y5rst leUied ocar
ogaias. tie Federal Government. Are we asked
when or how they were guilty Of these things?
We point to the history of that Boston riot, in
which u S. officer was slain by them, when
in the act of performing his duty in arresting
fugitive slave; to the Christiana riots, in this
state, in which citizen Of Maryland lost his
life, whilst endeayoring to reclaim fugitive
from service; to the rebellion in Kansas, which
set up q government in opposition &c that Of the
United States. striving 10 maintain it by force
Of arms, aud which Gen. Sumner, with u. s.
troops, was sent to suppress; and, lastly, TO the
invasion Of Virginia, and the seizure Of the u.
S. arsenal al Harper's Ferry, by John Brown.
al these things lie at the door of the Jacobin
Abolition party, and even the destructive bosom
of civil war, cannot sweep them away. There
they are and there they viii remain in history
But these were only the out-croppings Of the
hatred which this party bore the people and in
stitutiona of the South. Their antipathy to
slavery and Shareholders. was preached from
every pulpit they controlled, tinctured every po-
Htical speech their orators delivered, per7aded
every public law their legislators enacted, and
finally broke up national party organizations,
and crrstalized itself in a sectional organization
which, from its avowed hostility to Southern
institutions, couid not gain q foot.hold in a sin
gle slave-holding state. In this manner many
Soathernozs were embittered against the people
OF the North. and when Mr.. Lincoln was elect
ed in 1860 there were but few Of the former
that did not either feel resentfuI toward the par
ty about TO take the reins OF government, or
that were not filed with doubt and alarm as to
the security Of their civil rights. Thus, the
revolutionary Abolition party produced state
of mind in the South, which enabled the few
original Secessionists to gain the confidence of
the masses and 10 persuade them to join them
IN their scheme of Southern independence Be-
sides, such men as Greely and Banks and their
confreFes, had publicly declared, that if the
Southern 1taLeS SPce1eu IEOm Tue CUIDI, lDey
would be willing to let them ''slide." This mis-
led the Southern people into the belief that they
could go out of the Union with impunity. Af-
ter such assurances from the leading spirits Of
the dominant party, they never dreamed that
secession would be regarded as treason. Hence,
the conclusion must inevitably be reached that
the Abolitionists are responsible, in the premi-
SOS, for the horrible war which has delugcd our
country in fraternal blood. But we do not
wish TO be understood as holding the Southern
srs blameless. They had no right 10 secede.
They acted rashly and criminaly in firing upon
Sumter. They did grievous wrong not only
to the government, but to their own people, by
precipitating the commencement of hostilities
and grieyously have they answered ii. The
South has been awfally punished for Secession,
The North, too, has been terribly visited On ac-
count Of the wantonness Of Abolition. The