The Portland daily press., 1865-03-30


aimed to perpetuate the most infamous .wrong
OF modern times. To have drawn TIE SWORD,
without provooatlon, against the peace o. So
Getty, was itself an act of grave crlminailty
but to have drawn the sword III oroer 70 per-
petuate Human Slavery, renders the crime OF
the South tenfold mo dark ana detestaole.
And there can be no doubt tnat this utter bad
ness of the rebel cause has oarkened It's coun-
sels-corrupted its esources-counteracted
audacity. and ensured its defeat. The Gov
ernment at the outset, as regards its simple
issue with treason, was entirely in the right
In virtue of that fact it had moral alvant.
age over its assailant. For truly does the
great poet tell US AoN
'Thrice armed is he who hath his quarrel jusr.n f
But when the nation began to take issue with
! Slavery, and to make its military arm the
buckler Of an oppressed race; it took high
er moral position-fortifed itself in the moral
sense OF the world, and made Almighty God
Its ALLY. From that moment its eventual tri-
umph has been assured. Every fetter it has
struck from the slave has been as a crashing
shell dropped upon the brain OF Treason. A
Pro-SlaVery Government, fighting Pro Slav-
cry Rebellion might have gone to the WALL
tripped by the crafty neutrality OF England,
and stabbed by the impudent rapacity OF
France ;-mankind were not concerned in the
issue OF such a quarrel but q Government
which had but on the breastplate of Emanci.
patton became invulnerable. Having made
itself the Friend of the Human Race--hav-
ing come into harmony with the august pur-
pose of Infinite Justice-no weapon formed
against it could prosper.
Hence the inevitable failure of all plots de-
vised by the Rebels, or by their sympathizers,
having in view the destruction of the Govern
ment, or outrages upon Northern property.
Those plots seem for the most part to have
been skilfully contrived; but their success
would have involved too great loss to socie-
ty, and would have lent too much encourage
ment to a vicious cause. Hence they have
been uniformly balked--not by any miracu-
lous interposition, to be sure, but by such a
providential adjustment of natural means as
rendered their failure certain.
Almost from the beginning of the War,
there have been, it would seem, reasonable
combinations in the North, of a more or less
formidable character. Foremost among these
was what is called the North Western Con-
spiracy, embracing not less-according to the
testimony of Vallandigham--than hall mil
lion OF desperate men, sworn foes of our Gov
ernment, and pledged to cooperate with JEFF
ferson Davis in its overthrow. Here was an
insurrection organized at our very doors, for
midable in numbers and diabolic In spirit
which seemed capable of overwhelming the
rear of our struggling armies. Yet such has
been the providential disposal of events, this
great conspiracy has exploded; and we have
every reason to believe that its only .perma-
nent effect will be to strengthen the Govern
ment it aimed to destroy.
. In the midsummer of 1853 there was to
have been rising in the North, with the
double aim of resisting the Draft and cooper
ating with Rebel Invasion. But the stimuli
fona Aafo %rNfT - Nokkx
fall of the Rebel stronghold on the Mississippi,
seem to have necessitated the abandonment of
The Eighth OF November perhaps the most
anxious and critical day of our struggle.
dawne amid clouds that threatened to break
10 national ruin. While we feared that the
barriers of society might go down, and wild
Anarchy sweep over the Land, beholdI at
sunset burst Gods storm of Renovation, whose
lightning laid every secret traitor dead as Ju-
das, and whose thunder was the anthem of a
rescued Repubiic 80 ~, tsi'sTn'tT
During last Autumn the Rebel refugees and
Federal deserters lurking in Canada were to
havedevastated our Frontiers. Our Commerce
was to have been swept from the Lakes. Our
chain of frontier cities were to have been laid in
ashes. Later still, the Commercial Metropo-
lis-which has indulgently sheltered and fed
some thirty thousand virulent Southerners-
was w udFo Hdu It's HOSplLallIy rccOmp0nSeQ Dy
being burned to the ground. saaq 1ff.a
Are we to regard the failure of these sue
cessive plots as having been accidental? Are
they not rather to be viewed as intimatinns
that we are under the care Of a Righteous
Providence, whois thus preserving the Nation
that it may accomplish a benign mission for
Humanity? Does not God speak to the no-
public in this tremenfqMns ~ .. .o ~ Essn's,
have chosen for you; reverence my Name;
keep my law; break every; yoke: and no
weapon that is formed against you shall pros
per-" hol T5N ssa.W aEsqasod9 1sas98a
The Rebellion started on its .unholy career
armed with a two-fold powers "a Military
Power. occupying the Revolted States; and a
Moral Power, fortified in the ungenerous Par
tisanship of the North. Both are now sub
stantially overthrown: the Military power, by
the rapid progress of the Federal arms; and
the Moral Power, by the impending Constitu-
tional Abolition of Slavery. Thus 90
The cruel rod of war
Blossoms white with 'ghteous Law,
& And the wrath Of man is praise. '-5llj sif.l