Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1865-08-31


cd before them we're not forgotten, and, in
their hatred Of free Government, they de.
termined upon the struggle, cost what il
might. We are now, in some measure,
enabled to estimate that cost. That South.
ern country, which they we're accustomed
to speak of as the garden Of the world, has
been ravaged in every direction by hostile
armies. The scourge Of war has visited it
with such terrific effect that years must
elapse before the soil will be rid of the
painest 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 their populations; and now,
involved in almost hopeless bankruptcy,
those of them who survive have to look
back upon the work of their own hands,
| We, too, have felt the cost and the burden
of the struggle. Oar homes also have been
visited by mourning, and our households
also have many vacant places. But the
armed power Of the rebellion was at last
force to succumb, and our tolls and expen-
ditures of treasure are at last rewarded by
complete military possession OF the States
recently in rebellion.
POLITICAL RESULTS OF TIE WAR.
The most marked political results of the
war arc two first, the complete extinction
of the system Of slavery; aHd, secondly, the
establishment of the paramount duty OF al
legance to the National Government as a
duty above all obligations to separate States,
and az being directly and Immediately due
from the individual to the Federal Govern
ment itself. The first was the necessary
result Of the war, because slavery having
been, in ITSELF the cause Of the rebellion,
its existence depen led necessarily upon the
success of the revolt. That which we were
unable to do, aud which We had no purpose
of doing so long as the Southern States
maintained their peaceful relations to the
Government, we had the power to accom-
plish, aud it became our duty to accom-
plish when once they had taken up arms to
separate themselves from the Union. The
second is y necessary result OF the war, be-
cause it is the only means of establishing
principle which shall be, in itself.a guaran-
tee against those mistaken and exaggerated
notions of State Rights which were made
the means of uniting in the rebellion many
who would not have embarked in it for the
sake of slavery in ITSELF Whenever these
results shall have been fully accomplished
so that there can be no danger Of evading
them and no power to reconsider them, the
work of reconstruction of the Union will
open new problems for our discussion. But
our present duty is limited 10 the compile
ton Of this work, and the union Of all loyal
men fer this purpose is what we now insist
upon as the necessity Of the hour.
We have advanced. therefore, in the face
of an opposition both in the South and in
the North, of so formidable proportions
that it is no wonder the enemies OF the
Government, both here and in Europe,
have believed we should never succeed, and
from time to time, congratulated themselv Ives
that our efforts must soon be abandoned.
THE SOUTHERN DEsPoTIsM.
In the South we have overcome the con-
ceutrution of the whole physical power Of
the rebel States, under a really despotic
government. Beginning with the assertion
Of State Rights, the rebellion eliminated in
the most absolute and complete overthrow
OF them. Never, under Russian Gar or
Roman Emperor, was the power OF the
country more absolutely welded by one
man, than was the power Of the Southern
Confederacy by jefferson Davis. The pro-
tests of State Governors and the opposi-
ton of the so-called Congress, were alike
oyer-ridden, and the doctrine of State Sow
ereignty had its most complete refutation in
the submission OF the rebels themselves to
this absolute Capitalization of power and OF
administration, which they saw was indis-
pensable to enable them to continue this
contest.
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
At the North we have had an opposition
less open but scarcely less bitter. The pow
erful organization of great political party,
which had the prestige Of long-continued
success to attach to it its followers, was used
as an engine to thwart and oppose the Gov
ernment, at svery step OF its struggle for ex-
istence. When the war began the members
of this party, whose loyalty to their Govern
ment was stronger than their party allegi.
ance, abandoned it, Such men as my friend
who is present here, (allu6iag TO Ex-Gov-
erner Tod, and the present Governor OF this
State, followed by great numbers OF men
who showed their patriotic spirit, abandon
ed the organization of the Democratic par
ty, and in the ranks of the defenders of the
Union have labared with US to support the
Government The disloyal element which
remained, showed its chord OF sympathy
with the South from the beginning. They
opposed all preparation to meet the out
burst that was SO manifestly approaching
The slightest military expenditure, the
mere repairing Of the material OF war, was
decided by them as both unnecessary and
directly tending to disturbance. While
every Southern city witnessed the drill and
organization of those who were preparing.
for an attack upon the Union, our hands
were tied under the pretence that the Gov
ernment would be safe if we showed that
we were unprepared to defend it. They de-
clared that there was no power in the Gov
ernment to eoerce in submission those States
which might enter into open rebellion. They
positively asserted the right of secession,
although they pretendedly opposed the pol
ICY. They did not hesitate to declare that
the bond Of Unien was permanently broken,
and to advocate with more or less openness
the still further subdivision of the territory
of the country. From the beginning they re-
cognized the confederacy as real and indie
pendent Government. They talked Of it as
of q foreign power fully established. They
compared it to our own, praising the consti-
tuition under which it was framed, and pre-
ferred it to that established by our fathers:
They exaggerated its strength, and DETAINED
and belittled our own administration, and
our own resources and power of upholding
the Government. They opposed all real
and effective measures Of legislation for the
conduct fthe war. They opposed all prac-
tical efforts to enlist or draft troops for the
army. They encouraged desertions, and
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