The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1866-03-20

= COLUMBUS, Ono, March 6, 1856.
To the People of Ohio:
We the undersigned members of the
General Assembly of the State of Ohio
being in the minority in that body, and
having no adequate means for an expires.
sion upon the present condition of pub
lie affairs, officially, deem it net improper
to submit the following through less
-obstructed channel, the public press.
Public events of great.importanee have
recently transpired. Happily for the
people and the perpetuity eff the Union,
the war has been brought to termina-
ton. =
The great mass of the Southern peo.
pie soon restored order, and commenced
reviving their civil organization. They
voted and elected Legislatures which re-
pealed the ordinances of secession. They
elected State and other officers. They
repealed the clauses Of their State Con.
stitutions in regard to slavery, and adop.
ted aa amendment to the Constitution oil
the United States, forever prohibiting
their system of seryitude. The people Of
every State in the South, except Texas
and she was taking like action, had or.
ganized their State Governments.
In official or corporate capacity these
States stood IN the same relation to the
Federal Government as the States of the
North. The rebellion ceased to exist
The Constitution became and was opera
tive in the whole Union. Nor were the
authorities of the Federal Governmentin.
active. The armies were gradually with
drawn. Excepting the arrest Of a few
persons, the people of the South were
left undisturbed, and were encouraged il
l'the work demanded by the Constitution
The action. of their State Legislature
was recognized by the Federal authori
ties as legally essential and binding
Their States we're reorganized as States II
the Union, and their people as citizens
Taxes were laid and collected of them, ,anc
the burdens imposed by the Constitution
were acknowledged and borne. The
whole people of the South were strug
Cling to bury their sufferings and calam
tiles, and had heartily yielded themselves
up to full allegiance to the Government
of the United States. Under these cir.
cumstanccs, and as still further evidence
of total repudiation Of every other Gov
eminent, they elected persons to repre-
sent them in Congress.
This was the browning duty imposed
by the Constitution. This alone remain
ed to be done to bring each Southern
State fully into its old Constitutional or
bit. The South fully accepted all th'
Constitutional obligations.
Cander and patriotism require that thi
causes of public events should be Gnall,
probede The causes Of the war are a
work yet, though the war has ceased, ant
are more, active and procreatiye of tbei
inevitable eonsequences,by reason of war
eneendered passions. A eonsiderats vieV
Of the past establishes the fact that tw'
radical extremes brought on the coniic
that the war was proyoked-Abolition
| ism in the North, which openly avowe'
its purpose, and for thirty years was tn
assailant, was net by aaspirit hostile to il
The latter was broken in the name Of. th
Union, but ,the former remains, bloate
and ferocious with the blood of its riva
The President of the United States latel
said: "0n this matter the extremists Q
both sections, while pursuing differen
means, slabored steadily to the accomplish
ment of the same endAthe destruction 9
1.-THE Union. So far as the dissolution 9
the Union is concerned, one is as bad q
the other. When the rebellion is pu
down and We find . party for consolida
ton and concentration, it is the sam
spirit as rebellion and leads to the sam
end--destructio of the Government
Il The assailing spirit Of Abolitionisr
yet survives, ,nourished into immense pre-
portions aud intensity by the influence
Of the war, aggravated in its strength b
causes foreign to it's nature, and craze
byeits powell without reasoning as to il
own elementary formation, it yaiply i'm
Eagines itself superior to the Constitu
Itiou Having, as Il claimed. fought th