Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1865-04-21
TIE ADDRESS OF HENRY WARD
BEEOHER.
At the Raising OF fhe stars ana StrAPes
over Fort sumter, by Major zen
eraI Anderson, April "a, Aseo.

lower edge -ol- tnls Clhss bOucu0Q bH6 Slave
md the upper edge resched up to third,
or ruling class. This class we're q small
minority in numbers, but in practised a5il-
jtv thew had centred in their hands the
whole government of the South, and they
had mainly governed the country. Upon
this polished, cultivated, exceedingly ca
pable and wholly unprincipled class, rests
the whole burden of the war, forced up by
the bottom heat of slavery. The ruling
class in the disloysl States srrogsted to
themselves superiority not compatible with
republican equality nor with just morals.
They claimed right Of pre-eminence.-
An evil prophet arose who trained these
wild and luxuriAnt shoots Of ambition To
the shapely form of political philosophy.
By its vagsries thoy precipitated drudgery
to the bottom society, and left at the top
what they thought clarified fluid. In their
political economy labor was to be owned by
capital; in their theory of government a
few were torule the many. They boldly
svowed, not the fact alone that under sll
forms of government the few rule the
many, but their right and duty to do So
Set free from the necessity of labor, they
conceived 8 contempt for those who felt its
wholesome regimen. Believing themssl-
YES foreordained TO supremacy, they re-
garded the popular vote, when it fsiled to
register their wishes, as an intrusion and q
nuisance. They were born in garden,
and popular liberty, like freshets over
swelling their banks, but : covered their
dainty walks and flowers with slime and
Tnud of democratic votes. (Applsuse.)
When, with shrewd observation, they saw
the growth of the popular element in the
Northern States, they instinctively took
in the inevitable events. It must be con-
trolled, or cut of from nation governed
BY gentlemen. Controlled less and less
could it be in every decade, sad they pre-
pared secretly, earnestly and with wide
conference and with mutual connivance
We are to distinguish between the pre-
tencs and means and causes of this
war. To infame and unite the
great middle class of the South, whe
had no interest and no business with war,
they alleged grievances that never existed,
and employe ed srgun ents which they, bet
ter than sll other men, knew to be speeious
and false. Slavery itself was cared for
only as an instrument Of power or of ex-
citement. They had unaltersbly fixed
their eye upon empire, and all was good
which could secure that, and bad which
hindered it. Thus the ruling class of the
South, an sristocrscy IS intense, proud
and in1exible as ever existed, not limited
either by customs or institutions, not reeog-
nized and adjusted in the regular order of
society, playing reciprocal part in its
machinery, but secretly disowning its own
existence, baptized with ostentatious names
of democracy, obsequious 70 the people for
the sake of governing, that thus nsmeless,
lurking sristOcrsey, that ran in the blood of
society like rash not yet come TO the skin
this political tspeworm, that produced no.
thing but lay coiled in the body feeding
on its nutriment and holding the whole
structure buta servant set up 70 nourish it
this aristocracy ofthe plantation, with firm
and deliberate resolve, brought on the war
that they might cut the land in two, and,
clearing themselves from incorrigible free
society, set, up sterner, ststelier empire,
where slaves worked that gentlemen might
live at ease. Nor can there be any doubt,
that though at frst they meant TO erect
the form of republican government, this
was but device-a step necessary 10 the
securing of that power by which they
should be able 70 change the whole econo- |
my Of society. That they never dreamed |
of such q war we may well believe; that !
they would have accepted it though twice |
as bloody, if only thus they could rule, !
none can doubt that knows the temper of |
the worst men of modern society. 1Ap-
plsuse But they miscslculated; they
understood the people of the South, but |
they were totally incapable Of understand |
ing the character of the great working |
classes of the loysl States. That industry |
which is the foundation of independence |
and so of equity, they stigmatized as stu
pid drudgery or as mean. avariee; that !
general intelligence and independence |
Of thought which schools for common |
people and newspapers breed, they reviIed |
as the incitementof unsettled zeal, running
easily into fsnsticism. They more thor.
Oughly misunderstood the profound senti-
ment Of loyalty, the deep love of country
which perVaded the common people. If /
those who knew them best have never sus.
pected the depth and power Of that love of
country which threw it into an agony of
grief when the flag Wss here humbled, how
Ihould they conceive of it who were who'll
y difjoined from them in sympathy? The
whole land rose up, you remember, when
he flag came down, as if inspired unoon-
ciously BY the breath of the Almighty
nd the power Of OmnipOtence. It was as
Vhen one pierees the banks Of the Missis-
ippi for rivulet, and the whole raging
tream plunges through the headiong
curse. There they calculated and mis-.
calculated. And more than all, thew mis-
calculated the bravery of men who have
'een trained under law; WHO s{e civilized
.na nate personal bfoilsr Who ara 20
'rotecteo BY society 9s t9 ksv~~-
aissed All thought of dis
ne ,Whoie eoqTsF- selfdefence,
1Fned 70 per-~ of whose life is
ant = -aceful pursui s. These srro-
eenspirstors against government,
with Chinese vanity, believed that they |
could blow away the self-respecting citi- |
zens as chsff from the battle field. Few |
Of them are left alive to ponder this mis-
take. HeJe there are the proofs of this
civil war. It was not a quarrel of wild /
beasts it was an infiction of the strife of |
ages between power and right-between
ambition and equality An armed band |
Of pestilent conspirAtors soughtthe nations |
life; her children rose up and fought at |
every door, snd room, and hall, to thrust
out the musderers and save the house and |
household. It was not legitimately 8 wsr
between the common people of the North
6nd South. The war was set On by the |
ruling class, the sristocrstic conspirators of
the South. They ,suborned the common
people with ie, with sophisiries, with |
cruel deceits and slsnders, to fight for So
cret objects which they abhorred, and |
against interests as dear to them as their |
own lives. charge the whole guilt of this |
war upon the ambitious, educsted plotting |
Of the political leaders of the South. ZAP
plsuse.l They have shed this ocean Of |
blood. They have desolated the South
They have poured poverty through all her
towns and cities. They have bewildered |
the imagination of the people with phan-
ond 1nd them - holio-,o r.