The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1865-08-31
WHY THE REBELLION WAS BEGUN.


States were making. '' f"l
WHY THE REBELLION WAS BEGUN.
The proEagaudists of slavery at the
South, welded to their system, and
foreseeing its overthrow in the Union,
at last, determined upon rebellion
against the Government and the es-
Establishment Of a confederacy, avowed-
ly based upon the system itself The
result was war-war deliberately de-
termined upon by the leaders in the
secession movement, and urged for
ward in hot haste lest, by some agree
ment, Or some compromise, the oppor-
tunity for that disruption of the Gov
ernment, which they sought would be
lost to them; and. whatever may
have been true of the masses of the
Southern people, we have abuhdant
efidehcss that their leaders fully
measured the great crime which they
were committing, and went into its
commission /, with their eyes open To
all the possible horrors and disasters
which it must bring upon'the country
They doubtless had lingering hope
that the mere show of force would
overawe the Government, and enabls
them to make their secession an &C.
complished fact, without great cost,
either of life or of treasure to them.
selves. But the contingencies which
opened before them were not forgotten
and, in theft hatred Of free Govern
ment, they determined upon the strug'
gel, cost what it might. We are now
in some measure, enabled to estimate
that cost. That Southern country
which they were accustomed to speak
'of as thegarden of the world, has been
ravaged in every direction by hostile
armies. The scourge of war has visit
ed it with such terrible effect that
years must elapse before the sol
will be rid Of the plainest traces of the
conflict which has taken place there
They have brought mourning upon
all their homes, They have almost
totally destroyed the youth and
vigor of theSr population; and
now, involved in almost hopeless
Bankruptcy, those of them who
survive have to look back Hpon the
work of thei. own hands We, too
have fegt th, cost and the burden o.
the str9gge. Our homes also have
been visilSd by mourning, and oul
households also have many vacaht
places, But the armed power of the
rebellion was at last forced, to succumb
and our tolls and expenditures O
treasure are at last rewarded by com.
plete military possession of the States
recently III iebollion. d.
POLITICAL RESULTS OF THE WAR.
The most marked political results
of the war are t&o--frst, the complete
extinction Of the system OF slavery
and, secondly, ths establishment o
tie paramount duty of allegiance tc
the national Government, as duty
above all obligations to separate
States, and as being directly and i'm
mediately due from the individual t.
the Federal Government. itself Tht
first was the necessary result Of th'
war, because slavery having been, il
itself, the cause of the rebellion, its ex
istence depended necessarily upon thu
success of the revolt. That which WI
were unable TO do, and which we hac
no purpose Of doing SO long as th'
Southern States maintained theil
peaceful relations to the Government
we had the power to accomplish, anC
it became our duty to accomplish wher
once they had taken up arms to sepa
rate themselves from the Union. Th'
second is necessary result of the war
because it is the only means Of estab
fishing a principle which shall be
itself, a guarantee against those mis-
taken and exaggerated notions OF Stat
Rights which were made the means O
uniting in the. rebellion many VIII
would not have embarked in it for tn
sake of slavery in itself Whenever
these results shall have been fully &C
complished So that there can be nj
dangero of evading them and no power
to reconsider them, the work ofrecoh
struction of the Union will opon nev
problems for our discussion. But ou
present duty is limited to tho compile
ton of this work, and the union of al
loyal men for this purpose is what W
now insist upon as the necessity ofth
hour. ' a-. - 9f+ .". y
We have advanced, therefore, in tn
face of an opposition both in tn
South and in the North, Of SO form
idable proportions, that 1t is NO won
der the enemies Of the Government
both here and In Europe, have be
lieved we should mover succeed, an
have, from time to time, congratulate'
themselves that our efforts mdst sool
be abandoned. 'Ia '4-''
THE SOUTHERN DEsPoTIsM.
In the South we have overcome tn
concentration of the whole physics
power of the rebel States, under a re
ally despotic government, Beginnini
With the assertion Of State rights, th
rebellion eliminated in the, most, alb
solute and complete overthrow ofthen
Never, under o Russian CSar or Ro
man Emperor, was the power of th
| country more absolutely welded b,
one man, than was the power Of th
Southern Confederacy by Jefferson
Davis. The protests of State Gov
ernors, and the opposition Of the 50
called congress, were alike oyer.rid
den, and the doctrine of State Soy
| araiOntv had its most comt1lete reIuta