Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1865-10-19

him that he must maintain the authority of
the Government and see that the laws we're
oxeouted-this coming from friend, would
have induced the secessionists to pause and
consider al least; IL would have aroused and
ei'cn confluence 10 The Union element of
the south. 1t would in my opinion, have
avcrted the conflict. But he stood still and
did nothing. State aier State seeded. -
Gov rnriort vessels trying In relieve Fort
SuD'ter were fred in y and driven off. A
GNctHmcht hostile to the Union was per-
iect!rE its orpon'zpIinn at Montgomery.
| Tro ps were yo'un'' eiing. And vet the
National Gdvcrum,I 1T stood still, as il it
were powerless. Congress was in session.
yet Congress took no action looking to the
vindication of the nation authority. What
was the effect upon the public mind2 So
far as regards the Union men in this State,
they were paralyzed, panic stricken, with
out rallying point. To sacrifice themselves
for Government that would not defend
itself, nor try to preserve its own existence,
seemed to them Quixotic aud absurd. The
public mind associates the organs and agents
ot the Government with the Government
itself. 1t looked as if the Government had
abdicatcd its powers, that the right Of State
to secedc had thus been politically adjudi.
Gated and had come to be the settled policy
of the country. In other words, il struck
the public mind that the Union was dead
and gone, and all its friends could do was
to buryit
Mr.. Lincoln came into power in March,
1861. His proclamation calling for troops
was issued. "A Northern man cannot un-
derstand the state of things prevailing here
at that time. Unless he has been here and
seen the influences at work, and the state OF
feeling superinduced thereby, he cannot
appreciate the difficulties which beset the
+ Union men. Is it to be wondered at, that
men who bad once become possessed of the
idea that the Union was at an end, should
not have beer able to take a calm and con-
siderate view of Mr. Lncoln's cAll for sew
enty-ive thousand men2 1t struck them,
not as the act of government exerting its
rightful power and vindicating its violated
authority, but a. vindictive attempt on
the part of foreign people to punish them,
in order to crafty feelings of hatred. Mind
you, am not urging that this was the fact.
merely suggest whether such views, al
though enormously entertained, are not en-
titled to great allowance, under the pecu-
liar circumstances; for really at that time
Il speak of North CarOlina) the public
mind was in such state of doubt, Difficult
ty, confusion, almost despair, that the best
and ablest men knew not which way to
turn. In this state of public feeling the
Convention met in this city. The Conven
: ton regarded tho Union as at an eud-that
the Presidents proclamation calling foi
troops was a virtual declaration of wal
against the South. They saw Virginia on
the North, and South Carolina on the
South, had passed ordinances of secession.
, They yielded to the inevitable force of facts
Ihn o1, bad h., b.,,A IL, L
to the circumstances surrounding her In
, passing the ordinance of secession, they
felt that they were yielding to what seemed
the law of destiny. Still, so far as | was
, concerned and believe the same was ths
case with nearly all those who had beet
Union men-l hoped that our action va,
not final; that something would soon turI
up to prevent a collision Of arms, and resul
in an adjustment Of the diffiulty.
( In the view have presented of the cours,
of the Union men of this State, and the in
fueDces by which they were forced, ] an
not trying to prove that the Union men die
right. My purpose has been to show thai
the difficulties oftheir situation were sucl
as to enttle them to great sympathy ant
forbearance on the part Of those disposed Il
censure them.
The hearts of the great mass OF tn,
Southern -pesple we're never in this disun
ion movement. In calling their State Con
ven'inns, it was not the forgone conclusion
that disunion was to follow. 1t was bccaus,
the times were rerious. and it was though
best to convene the sovereign power of tn,
t common good la not State | think wa,
the ordinance Of secession ever submitted I,
the people for their ratification or rejection
'Tis true, that in the spring of 1861 thrr,
was storm of feeling that swept over the
SOuth-a sort of furor, growing out Of the
, idea before suggested, that it was a war d
, vindictiveness on the part OF section
rather than the effort of Government t,
enforce its lawful authority. But that tor
, nado soon subsidized, as was evidenced BY
the necessity of a ''conscriprion, in order tt
keep up the army
Mr. Rayner then enlargos on the fact tha
the North Carolina Union men did not re-
gard it as foregone fact that disunion
, would follow their vote for secession, The,
, hoped the imminence of the conflict woud
force settlement of the difficulty, bu
having placed the State in the position o
antagonism to the Government, they fell
bound, as matter Of personal honor, tC
sustain her in that position until recon
! citation should take place. In sustaining
r tne NOuIeueTatt uONeTui1eUt TOT tne time
being thoy made it so strong that all theil
influence had no weight a..ainst it. Thus
it was the Union men found themseive,
powerless. Having hlundered into the dit
6culty, every effort to get out seemed to
involve series Of additional blunders. -
Finally, CONSUMPTION, h0beas corpus repeal
repudiations, tthe, impressment, and heavy
taxation consummated the reign OF terror,
which crushed and prostrated and sealed
the mouths Of the Union mon throug hout
the South.
He then alludes to the continuance of the
war long after all hope of Southern success
had passed away. He says that after the
battle Of Gettysburg not one. tenth Of the
Southern people had any confidence in the
triumph of their arms. He then confesses
that the Union men of the South sinned
greatly in not throwing themselves into the
breach in the first instance, and risking
civil war at home, rather than suffer the
Unicn To be broken up but concludes that
their fault was rather one OF omission than
of commission, and appeals TO the charity
and magnanimlty of the North. He re-
minds the eader that Northern man Mr..
Douglasl first suggested the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise that Buchanan, an
other Northerner, encouraged the forcing