Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1865-04-15

to catch some inadvertent syllable in favor
of liberty; no more embargoes in the
market place, in the pulpit, In the psrlor,
on free utteranee, the Americans birth
right; no more threatening, driving out
tarring and festhering of Yankee school
masters, for slip Of the tongue or &
stroke of the pen; no more imprisoning
Of northern women for teaching children
to read the Bible; no more incarceFat-
| ing in dungeons and Penitentisries of
ministers of the gospel for pointing
sable inquirers to the North star; no
more summary executions Of Lynch Law
upon unofending strangers; no more ban
isement OF Missionaries, expstriation of
too faithful ministers, censorship of the
Press, demolition of seditious types, mur-
der of editors on the border, Gaming of Sena-
tors in Congress, and expulsion of Repre-
sentatives of Northern States going South
totest the legality of arbitrary and derogs-
1 tory proceedings there2 Has it entered
into your thoughts that very soon you may,
/ go st large over the South, and speak forth
your sentiments there as fully as you do st
homer Why, to-day Henry Ward
Beecher is talking on the heights Of Sum-
ter as boldly as he is wont to talk on Brook
lyn heights; the abolition preacher has ex-
changed his Plymouth pulpit for that of q
Palmetto psrapet; and no bowie knife or
revolver leaps from the bosom of intoler-
snce to take his lifel
That speech, which the Nation is m
patient to read, whatever merit of matter
or manner of logic or rhetoric it may
possess, will have ssuperlRtive interest in
| the fact that it will be the forerunner of
Free Speech in the South. Where Beecher
has spoken, who may not speak with impu-
nity2 Does United States Wsr-shlp bear
him to his platform, and protect him while
he holds forth? So will the United States
safeguard surround every citizen of the
North who may hereafter have worthy
message to bear to Southern ears. 1sf
Charleston is open, Savannah is open,
Richmond is openj to Garrison, to Phillips,
to Douglas, and to the rest of Us agitators,
albeit now our occupations gone. What
message could we bear SouthWard here
after, but that of brotherly unity2 What
but greetings of peace and good will and
glory to God in the highest
The unfurling of the flag on Sumter is
also an invitation to all skillful srtifcers,
to cunning mechsnicians, TO enterprising
business men, to intelligent agricultural
ists, to enlightened educators in the North,
TO go to the sunny South, carrying with
them their Northern principles, and to
built up on the ruins of patriarchsl institu-
l tions those puritan politics which have
blessed New England and the West.
There is grand work, and ample scope for
constructive genius in every department,
and for creative art, and for all ciVilizing
agencies and refining influences. There
the free schools will SOW the seeds of intel
ligenee, thrift and order. There the Col
lege will furnish adequate facilities for the
liberal culture of the youth. There liters-
ture will have its organs, its depoeitaries,
its authorities. There philosophy will
have its seats, its seers, its schools. There
puritan christianity will have her free
Democratic churches and her spiritual
worship.
This year a National Congregational
Council is to be held in old Boston. Twen-
ty years hence such council may be held
in Charleston
The fag-rsising at Fort Sumter is pro-
phecy of this. The Plyn outh Prescher,
son of Puritan sires, carries Plymouth
rock to Charleston port. He goes-tbe
Yankee Parson-to wed Connecticut 70
South Carolina, after the tanning oft Vir-
gt11 Shrel0.Ey Sherman, that greater tanner
than Rarey or Van Amburg.
The flag from Sumter waves q wider in
vitation, and signslizes q sublimer consum-
nation still. It sends forth its message
with the famous AbrahRmie heading-To
all vhona 1t may concCT71-invitine immi-
grafton from foreign lands, offering rich
nd &c Of ~ 4
and Swedes, TO Ssxons, Sclsvers, Celts, and
opening to them magnificent domain
consecrsted by the sword to free labor.
And while it attracts the people of the Old
World, that old flag that heralds the re-
union Of the States, without seetionality,
brsvely shakes its warnings at those Eu-
pean powers whose dishonorsble policy
during the war has infsmed toward them
the animosities of both sections. At home
1t is Flag of Friendship; abroad it is a
Flag of Friendship to the masses. but of
menace to the monarchs. In this vein. 1
almost tremble at what the ceremonial at
Fort Sumter may foreshadow. Yet, why
should [ tremble? If "the sword of the
Lord and of Gideon" have still ether work
to do, on grander scale, the achievements
will be more and grander, and will bring
new and more genial Thanksgivings. But
the flag that floats to-day over Charleston
Bay, in the gaze of admiring m myriads, has
another cheering sslutation, which is sd-
dressed, in good faith, to the children of
Africa, to the free cOlored people of the
North, and TO the freedmen of the South.
Freedom to the negrol A congenisl sun
to Afric's tropical children, with work
and wages and citizenship. This is the
asLtimGtuDl from Fert Sumter. No people
on the globe have richer inheritance in
the events of to-day than the humblest of
all peoples, who have hitherto been not q
people, but now are and hereafter 8 hall be
a great people. We of the North have in
that unfQrled flag the pledge of personal
security in the streets of Charleston; thew
of the South have In it the promise of |
prosperity and progress under new aus
pices; but the colored race have in it the
pledge of recognized manhood and the |
promise of chartered citizenship.
Viewing the scene of Fort Sumter in |
these varied aspects, and embracing in the |
view the accessories of the victories in yir- |
ginis and in Alabama Richmond ours
and Mobile as good as ours, and no strone- |
hold remaining to the rebels, and, in the |
background, discerning peace and reunion, |
the national debt disappearing, and the |
national credit dilsting, we may well doubt |
for 8 season whether we are not beholdipg |
the brilliant vision of 8 dream, until, |
distinctly realizing that the Lord hath |
turned our captivity, ard taken away |
our shame, and remitted his curse |
it is most becoming that our mouth be I'LL |
cd with laughter, and our tongue with |
singing. Verify, this is a great day of |
gladness with Americans it is q dsY of |
jubilee to ransomed cAptives, it is dsy of |
thanksgiving for all who have prayed and |
tainted not, but have cried unto God dav |
and night, even his own elact, whom, though |
he has borne long with their importunities,
ha has nnur nnrna "a nrrnr,n. 49,. .l:I-- |