Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1865-05-24

out and IN part paid. a heavy scoro yet re
mains Bnt will not essay to reckon ur
and adjust the appalling account Of debt and
taxation, Of suffering, crime aud blood 10 the
past or yet to come. Again accept the 70 cts
rejoiced, indeed il under the new order oi
things, we aud our children may enjoy the
same measure OF private happiness and pub
lie prosperity which was permitted to us and
TO our fathers under she Old Union, "psrt
slave and part free. Aud now, if without
slavery, reunion and pacifcation real, sin
cere, aud lasting, together with welfare and
security to the people OF all the States, can
be made sure, let slavery utterly perish
But IN 40 event, let the question stand any
longer ia the way ] still would prefer the
Union, the Federal Union, the Old Union
yes, "the Union as it was, under the Consti.
tuition as it is'--to either slavery or the abo.
litlou Of slavery Fanatics at home, and
envous, supplanting statesmen abroad, may
not be able or willing to comprehend this
conviction: every true and liberal minded
American patriot will
The fatal mistake of the South--her "blun.
der which false morality pronounces worse
than crime, was in ignoring the great
American idea of One CoUNTRY---not an i'm.
pulse, not theory, not mere aspiration OF
national vanity, but a commandment written
by the finger OF God upon the rivers aud
the mountains and the whole face of the land
and craven thence upon the hearts of the
people. 1t was this, not antislavery, which
held the border slave States in the Union and
stirred, for good or evil, the whole North and
west to such exertions OF military, naval and
financial force, as never Lefore were nut
forth by any nation And it was this grand
and pervading national sentiment hedged
by the sanction Of destiny, which, according
to the measure OF my ability, | undertook to
eXpound and justify in the House of Repre-
sentaliyes, in 1868, and by this line of argu.
mentation to establish that the Union
through peace was inevitable Nothing but
the violence OF an intense counter passion.
aud the terrible pressure Of civil war, could
have suppressed, even for time, the power oil
this sentiment among the people of the
South also. Had their leaders forborne to
demand separation and distinct govern
ment, adhering TO the old flag, and, within
the Union under the Constitution, firmly but
justly required new guarantees for old rights
believed TO be in peril they might not, indeed,
have had barren and deluding sympathy
from subjects, and false hopes OF assistance
IRON kings and emperors in Europe, eager
for the decline and fall OF the American Re.
public but they would have been cheered
by the cordial greetings and the active sup
port Of finally au overwhelming maiority
OF the States and people OF the West and
North But when they established perma.
nent distinct government, and took up arms
for independence they marked out between
them and u.s. a high wall and deep ditch
" rms
without the guilt and the penalties of treason,
They went beyond the teachings Of their own
greatest Statesmen OF the past age, for Mr..
Calhoun himself had declared, in 1881, that
the abuse OF power, on part of the agent
(the Federal Government), to the injury
OF one or more OF the members (the States),
would not justify secession on their part:
there would be neither the right nor the
pretext to secede. No matter who was re.
sponsible originally for that condition of
things which led finally to war, nor what the
motives and character of the war after its
upon both these questions
entertain and have expressed opinions as
liked as the solid rock-so far rs the South
fought for separate government, she stood
wholly without sympathy or support in the
States which adhered to the Union. What.
ever else may happen, her vision of indepen-
dence has now melted into air. In the
appeal to arms-maintained upon both sides
for four years with u courage and endurance
grandly heroic-she has failed; ami though
1t had happened otherwise, still, in nay deib
crate conviction, her experiment of distinct
government would have failed also But the
sole question really decided by the war, as by
peace years before it had been settled, was
that two several governments could not exist
among the States Of the American Union,
And here the whole controversy ought to
end with or without slavery, care not, SO
it end here lfupon this point the Crit
tenden Resolution" OF July, l86l-proposed
too, at the same time, in the Senate, by An
drew Johnson--should be modified, let it in
all else, both in spirit and letter, be exactly
carried out. But whatever policy may now
be decreed-and trust it will be o wise, a
liberal, a healing policy-it is the part Of
for the people OF the South to acqui-
esce returning wholly and cordially to the
Union, thus making it once again'a union of
consent, a union of hearts and hands, as our
fathers and their fathers made it at first.
Then will the passions Of the recent terrible
strife speedily be hushed. Already millions
IN the North and West regard them as breth
rem still, and in q little while these millions
will become vast majority OF the people, and
will see to it that the solemn pledge be re.
deemed and the Union restored with all the
dignity, equality and rights OF the several
States uniInpaired" With slavery, the peo-
pie of the South will prosper within that
Union, as before Without slavery, if in
wise and judicious way, it shall be abolished,
hey must, in less than a single generation
except possibly as to two or three States
become more popnlous, prosperous and pow