The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1865-08-02

the numbers engaged, the resources it so
suddenly improvised, and the duration
and intensity of the conflict. It was on
ly less astonishing than the numbers and
resources it encountered II has ended
as all rebellions must end, when opposed
by greatly superior resources and num-
bers. The rebellion is over. Itsleaders
are captives, exiles, or supplicants for
pardon /; its armed adherents have saluted
their flag for the last time, and its friends
throughout the South have yielded the
contest. Their submission has been
graceful, unanimous, and in all apparent
good faith. Not an armed confederate is
to be found within the limits Of the State
The Federal Government professed to
draw the sword only for the sole purpose
of enforcing its constitutional authority
wherever it was opposed it is this day
supreme within the entire limits of the
United States. No opposition is any
where attempted I; nor, indeed, can any
be organized. Why, then, ask, are we
threatened with dcspotism as inexcusa-
bic as rebellion? Why are free elections
denied to the Union men and qualified
voters of the State? Why have non. res
idents and louppers around Federal camrs
without YOUR knowledge or consent, and
in defiance of vour protests and onneals
been permitted to usurp the high and rc.
sponsible places Of mower, apd to declare
themselves vour onpressors and mastcrs-
and this, too, in contempt of that Decla.
ration Of Rights. whose sacred princirlcs
are inyiolab,e, and, by your Constitution,
"exceptcd out Of the general powers Of
Government 2" Why are offensive rul.
ers being set over the loyal people of the
State by those who are Jointly RESPONSE
Bile for the war? Why are bands of
armed negroes permitted roam over the
country. plu1deripp and insulting the
timid and do(cnceless And more than
these, wbv are YOU and I. whose souls are
unstained by treason, compelled to drain
this cup Of shame at The hands of those
who were the original ipstirators of the
rebellion 2u
| beg leave to assure your Excellency
that, in using the words "oRIGrNAL IN
srloAroRs OF u THE REBELLION, ~ allude
to vou further, that smoke in no Pick.
wickian sense. And now that | NAV in.
woke YOUR clcmency, not for myself, but
for those who listened to my remarks, l
frankly confess that | submitted certain
proofs of the truth of my charges. l told
the people that the first time | ever saw
you, you were haranguing the multitude
to prove me an Abolitionist that it was
somewhat "yaw and gusty day." and
that your vehemcuce in the open air
caused YOU to contract throat disease,
from which, unfortunately for the coun.
try, you profess not to have recovered. |
alluded to your carly speech in Congress,
in which you resortcd to the bitcrcst per-
sonal abuse of John Quincy Adams, be-
cause Of his religious, anti slavery opin.
ions; to your revcrential confession that
God had killed off General Harrison be
cause he was an Abolitionist. | also told
the people that you had, in 1856, in the
State of Tennessee, proposed that every
Southern man should rioin in one frater.
nal hug" and plunge into rebellion, if
Fremont and DAYTON we're elected. In
addition to this, / informed the audience
that herd you, in the Senate, in De-
cember 1859, denounce Mr.. Seward and
the Republican party as wholly response
bic for the murderous raid Of "this old
man Brown" whom you then stigmatizcd
as "nothing more than murderer, rob.
ber, thief and traitor" said, also,
that YOU not only supported Breckenridge,
the candidate Of the avowcd disunionists,
but that after the election of Lincoln,
after tho meeting of Congress in Decem
ber, 1860, and only one day before the
assembling of the Convention which de,
clarcd South Carolina out of the Union,
you had, in tho Senate Of tho United
States, made laborcd speech, embracing
a part of two days, in which you posi-
lively pledged yourself, in contingency
which has long since happened, to join
these same rebels, Ito perish in the last
breach" to "burn every blade of grass"
and to make your grave in "thc last in.
trenchments' of rebel freedom. | told
the people that I heard this speech (dur'
ing the delivery of which Jefferson Davis
offered you a most unprovoked insult, the
effect Of which | will not now attempt to
statc), and that every word of it was de.
signed to convince the people of Tcnncs
sec that they wero an oppressed people
and you their champion that their cen
stitutional rights were in imminent dan
ger aud that they ought ito demand ad.