Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1865-06-22
The Present Peril.

stncuS OF the human heart, against the die
tates OF common sense. against reason and
all experience we insisted upon yielding
every thing to Slavery in free Govern
ment, until Slavery took the Government
by the throat, and only by the most pro-
longed and desperate struggle was thrown
OF. In like manner, against all reason and
experience which assured us that sovereign
~ is one and can not be divided, that ma
ton can be injured in no part without suf
ferlng every where, that the law of life in
communities is like that in individuals, we
allowed the mischievous Kentucky and
Virginia resolutions to remain as vague
apology for treason, instead of seeing that
where such resolutions could be adopted
and defended there was the utmost neces.
sity of solemn national remuneration Of
thom by a constitutional amendment fore =.
er settling the question. Suffcrance made
treason insolent; servility made it strong;
until the authority of the State struck at
the national supremacy, and only BY flood
ing. every hearth-stone with blood, and
loading our children with debt, was the ma
tional authority restored.
Have we yet learned that the spirit of
Slavery, whether it actually buys and sells
human beings like cattle, or dcspises and
outraEos them as pariahs, is the spirit Of
eternal war; and that the doctrine of State
Sovereignty, whether it haughtily calls a
kings patent, or civil engineers division
OF land, nation, or asserts the reserved
rights OF States, means, substantially, trea
SOM IL would be ludicrous, if it were not
too sad, to see those who are still stunned
by tho war doubling whether the men who
excited and conducted it can possibly be
capable of any naughty action. There are
the horrible pens Of Millen and Anderson
vile; the unmaginable suffering inflicted
upon innocent men; there are the cold
blooded slaughters Of Folt Pillow and Law
renee; the hangings and tortures Of Union
men In East Tennessee, in Texas, in all the
South and Southwest; there are the plots
to burn great cities, the firing Of hotels and
museums and theatres full Of innocent wo-
men and children; there are the plans of in
fecting whole districts with fatal disease
by the yellow fever rags; there are the mas
sacres Of helpless negroes in the streets;
there is the murder of the President in a
theatre; the Inurdcrous attempt upon the
Secretary Of State lying i'll in his bed-and
some good soul asks, "Do you really think
they would be guilty of murder They may
be politically mistaken, but do you seriously
think they would do any thing unfairy"
Could we seriously think otherwise 2
How is it natural to suppose that those who
breed children for sale, whose laws and so
cia and industrial habits are designed to
imbrute human beings, would wage war ?
Is it not by every foul and .dishonorable
means? Is it not by poison, by assassina-
tion, by massacre? Why should not saw
ages be savage? Jefferson Davis was call
ed "a high toned Southern gentleman. -
Doubtless he was as much of a gentleman
and a. high toned as any man bred in such
condition of things could be. But what
his gentlemanhood and high tone were you
discover when you read his speeches, in
which Yankees are hyenas, and Grant and
Sherman are spaniels to be whipped. There
were lively and accomplished women in>the
Slave States but when they spoke of slavery
their bald harbarity dehumanized them -
The blood chilled IN the heart to hear their
tlippant or fiery talk. They were like the
smooth skinned wives and daughters Of
ogres in tales.
Is it unkind to recall these things? Is it
poor policy Of Cancellation to recur to the
old otfenses? Oh no; they are not old of
fenses. This was the spirit of that society.
get il? Can we mike it otherwise by pre-
lNuuluS HUt W kUUN IL hi6 otDISC ~
Sanders and Jacob Thompson and Beverly
Tucker and Clement G. Clay and the lass
criminal foes of the Government of the
United States, any less iniidel to its iunda
mental doctrines, any less dangerous and
dishonorable men, to he Stunned in every
way, and exposed to public obloquy and con
slant suspicion, because Horace Greeley
calls them distinguished Americans Of the
other party to our civil WARP" Are Hun
ter, Campbell, and Stephens any less trai-
tors because the same authority calls them
eminent COuiedoratesW Is the ostrich
the model of statesman? Are wolves
mild and dccie because you call them lambs?
The men who control Southern sentiment
are baitlcd they are not changed. They
less hostile? Do they confess that they had
that States are not sovereign? Do they
acknowledge the equality of human rights?
Do they hate Yankees any less because the
Yankees have whipped them? The ladies
of the rebel States, whe are reduced from
the luxury based upon the unpaid toll and
untold wrongs of human beings to gain a
livelihood by mechanical labor or to receive
Government rations-are they less bitter
and mad than before? The beggared mon,
who live on charity and sneer with irrepres
sibe hate at the Federal" Government
are they changed at heart? Mayor Mayo,
of Richmond, whom Governor Pierpont re.
instates-is he any safer citizen of the Uni
ted States than when he was in active re
belion three mcnths ago2 The North
Carolina planter whom Gen. Patrick, the
Provost Marshal at Richmond, told that he
must not whip his slaves at present, but
that good time was coming-is he type
Of the distinguished Americans Of the 9TH
er party to our civil war" who are to reor.
ganze tho late slave States? The Alabama
delegation, the Mississippi Governor, Boyce
from South Carolina, Brown from Georgia
are these the eminent Confederates"
with whom, shutting our eyes and minds,
aud pocketing common. sense, we are to fra
ternize in restored Union? Let by cones
be by-gones, do you say2 And what by
gone do they forget? What dangerous
dogma, what reasonable intention do they
give any proof that they have renowned?
The rebels carry the State election in Vr-
ginia. Are they to send representatives to
Congress? A palpable charatan like Geo,
Sanders led Horace Greeley by the nose at
Niagara. Are abler and wilier leaders than
Sanders incapable of hoodwnkiug more sa.
gacious men than MIR, Greeley2
This country needs as much watchful in