Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-09-28
VOL. 81.


cial oath
In an unhappy hour for the honor and in
tcrests of the country, this party, ruled by
men of such political antecedents, obtained
the control of the National Government =
If the rule obtains in politics as IN morals,
"that by their fruits shall ye judge them, "
then had the men of the South reason to
fear that in the hands of these men the laws
of the land would be perverted from the
wise purposes of their trainers and instead
of continuing, as they have been heretofore,
bands Of triple steel, binding us as people
in fraternal relations, become the means of
making us discordant and disunited peo-
ple-of becoming an engine of oppression by
which the rights reserved by the people of
all the States forming the federal compact,
should be trampled under foot and one part
of the federated States made subservient to
the other. That there was much in the
history of the past to justify alarm among
our brethren of the South, to candid mind
is indisputable, and should be taken into
careful consideration by those who in un-
finchingly probing the wounded body poll
tic, honestly strive to apply the most SOW
ereign remedy.
These apprehensions, however well
grounded, afford no justification for the
overt acts of the South by which they sought
to keep intact the right of the States. In
the sober second thought of the people, and
within the domain of the Constitution, an
adequate safeguard to the rights of all Sec
tions of the country, could and would have
been found. 1t is not certain, however,
whether the republican leaders were not de-
sirous that the southern people should put
the issues between them to the arbitrament
of the sword, while it is patent to the most
superficial observation that the enancipa-
tion Of slavery was regarded as of more i'm
portance than the preservation of the Union.
When efforts were being made all over the
country by members of the Democratic par
ty to allay the sectional animosity, long
since engcndered, but made more apparent
by the result of the elections oflS60-whcn
peace conventions were being held, and
plans pacitication proposed and discussed
these same party leaders and party pa
pers denounced the efforts made to avoid
strfeand perhaps disunon, and affixed upon
the Democratic party, as a stigma of re-
proach, the soubriquct of Union Savers
1t certainly must be supposed by these men
that the memory of the people is wonderfully
unretcntive, if they would now regard them
as the Union party par crcctlemce
The rebellion came, the wise counsels of
the conservative men both North and South,
were unheeded, and the fanatics of the
North, and the fire-caters of the South,
unnecessarily as we firmly believe, plunged
the country into all the horrows of domectic
war If the safety of the Union was the
paramount object Of the party in power,
surely wise policy would have dictated that
even with the sword in one hand, the other
should have borne aloft the olive branch of
| IiS,,l,,, nFE -,
consistent with an honest endeavor to re-
move all real causes of dsaifection and
alienation of feeling from the minds of the
Southern people. Even the good sense OF
Mr.. Lincoln, for time, resisted the appli.
ances used by these leaders to declare tho
emancipation Of slavery as the object and
end of the war.
1t was in answer to the call for troops tC
maintain the laws and Constitution of the
country, that the brave men of the North
responded with an alacrity and devotion
unequaled in the history of the world, and
not to maintain crusade against the insti.
tutiOns Of the South, eudeared to them by
usage since the formation of the government.
a wise policy, having for its object the res
toration ofpeace at the earliest period and
upon terms conducive to its permanent re-
establishment would have carefully avoided
measures calculated to ALLEVIATE the friends
of the Union at the South from the gov
crnmcnt, and by concessions not dcrogatory
to the national honor or interests, have re-
tained their affection and influence on the
side of the supremacy of law and the intcg-
rity of the Union. Yielding in an evil hour
to the opportunities of these advisers, Mr.
Lincoln proclaimed, in his emancipation
proclamation, and more emphatically in the
f,nt,A L. l., Il
visement that the emancipation of slavery
was the frst--the preservation ofthe Union
only secondary object of the war. An
enunciatiou which recruited more soldiers
for the rebel armies than did any proclana
tion of MIR. Davis, or any act of the Contcd
crate Congress. 1t is in the face of these
prominent facts in the history of the rebel
lion, that the leaders Of the republican party
have assumed their last alias Of "Unior
party"
But now the rebellion has closcd--nc
armed opposition to the federal authority
| is found in the entire limits of the States
either North or South-the appeal made t.
the sword, four years ago, by the Southern
States has resulted in their defeat, thu
: leaders of the South, those who nodded thu
: public opinion Of the rebellious States, sub
5 NIT to the fate of war, and peace is one,
more established. The Southern state
never out of the Union, seek to resume the
relations interrupted by the rebellion, anC
, enjoy the rights and franchises which belon.
to them in common with the other States
1t would seem that nothing was wanting t,
the establishment of fraternal feelings anC
relationship, but a governing principle o
sense and justice OH the part of the power
: that be at Washington. Mr.. johnson
) though not the exponent of Democrat,
r principles, and elevated to the position h,
r now holds unaided by democratic suifrages
, at least in his theory of reconstruction ant
: the fundamental principles upon which it il
based, is sustained by the democratic party
: Here it would seem as if the consummatiol
so devoutly to be wished for-the end t
f procure which the lives and blood of ou
: brave men had been so lavishly expended
t and our national treasury bankrupted fo
$ almost all time to come, was obtained-th,
supremacy of law and the integrity of tn,
d Union established.
q 1t was vast price to pay. Surely sucl
d a dearly purchased blessing should be prop
e erly appreciated and guarded with NOR
s than jealous care. How do the Republica
# leaders to-day, with whatever responsibility
y belongs to them of bringing about and pro
C longing this unnatural war, stand in con
o nection with the project of restoration
t They do not propose to maintain intact til
o old union of the States with the old guar
Il