Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-03-08

Democratic Members Of the Ohio
gg tIo Legislature, 6a 5a ...5
TO THE PEOPLE or OHIO.
lCoLUMpUs, March 9, 1866.


TO zHE, ,PE0PLE on, ,0Hio;i y =. ~.
The undersigned Members OF the General
Assembly of the State of Ohio, being in the
minority in that body, and having no ade-
uuate means for an expression upon the
present condition Of public affairs, official
", deem it not improper TO submit the fol-
lowing through a less obstructed channel
the public press: .s., ,r.ry . 7i. .ef.l odi
Public events Of great importance have
recently transpired.l Happily, for the peo-
pie aud the perpetuity of the Union, the
< war had been brought to a termination.
1.-THE great mass OF the Southern people soon
4 restored order, and commenced reviving
their civil organizations. They voted
and elected Legislatures which repealed
the ordinances of secession. They elect
ed State and other officers They repeal
ed the, clauses of their State Constitu-
tlons In regard to slavery, ana adoPt-
OF 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 organized
their State Governments. In official or
corporate capacity, these States stood in
the same relation to the Federal Govern
ment as the States of the North. The re-
bellion ceased to exist, The Constitution
became and was operative in the whole
OUlOn. NOI WCIC bilC dhbhOilJlCoOA VI blO
eral Government inactive. The armies
were gradually withdrawn. Excepting the
arrest Of few persons, the people of the
South were LEFT undisturbed, and were en-
cOuraged in the work demanded by the
Constitution, The action of their State
Legislatures was recognized by the Fed
eral authorities as legally essential and
binding. Their States were recognized as
States In the Union, and their people as cit
izens Taxes were laid and collected off
them. aud the burdens imposed by the Con-
stitution were acknowledged and borne.
The whole people of the South were
struggling to bury their suferings ana
calamities, and had, heartily, yielded them
selves up to full allegiance to the Govern
ment of the United States. Under these
circumstances, and as a still further evidence
of a total repudiation of every other Gov
ernment, they elected persons to represent
them In Congress. This was the cr0wning
duty imposed by the Constitution. This
alone remained TO be done TO bring each
Southern State fully into its old constitu-
tional orbit. The South fully accepted all
the constitutional obligations.
Candor and patriotism require that the
causes of public events should be fairly
probed. The causes of the war are at work
vet, though the war has ceased, and are
more active and provocative of their inevit-
able consequences, by reason of war
engendered passions. A considerate view
Of the past establishes the fact that two
Radical extremes brought on the conflict
that the war was provoked. Abolitionism
in the North, which openly avowed its pur-
pose and for thirty years was
the assailant, was met by a spirit
hostile to it. The latter was broken In the
name OF the Union; but the former remains
blOated aud terOcious with the blood of its
rival. The President of the United States
lately, said: ION this matter the extremists
of both sections, while pursuing different
means, labored steadily TO the accomplish
mert of the same end-the destruction of
the Union. SO far as the dissolution of the
Union is concerned one is as bad as the
other. When the rebellion is put down,
and we find party for consolidation and
concentration, it is the same spirit as rebel |
lion, and leads to the same end-destructiOn
of the Government" The assailing spirit
of AbolitiOnism yet survives. Nourished
into immense proportions and intensity by
the Influences of the war; aggregated in its
strength by causes foreign TO its nature,
and crazed by its power, without reasoning
as TO its own elementary formation, it vain
lyimagines itself superior to the Constitu-
ton. Having, as 1t claimed, fought for the
Union, it is now engaged in systematic
schemes to pre- rent Union. Can those
who deprecated the disunion fanatic
ism Of the Abolition party, before the
war, sustain it now, with that fanaticism
undated and enlarged in its destructive
purposes? Sectional, political and finan-
cial ambition and cupidity we're the
motives and causes of our civil troub-
les, and the successful faction has reaped
wealth aud power. The masses OF the peo-
pie have never been known to profit by
civil disorder, by violations of their fun
damental law, or usurpation. COnstitu-
tional order, while atal 20 sectional aggran-
diZement, Is full of blessings to the people.
So must be speedy recovery from public
disorder. To restore the South to the Union
endangers the power of the leaders and re-
stores equality. To govern the South as a
conquered people and territory, subserves
the purposes of ambition and cupidity,
but ruins the people. The leaders in power
are of the old Abolition party, devoted to
agitation, supremacy and monopoly. They
are the vultures of the late public calamity.
They do not propose to surrender the adj
vantage gained under cover of the war,
though it be at the expense of the over
throw of the Constitution. Their sole pur-
pose and interest seems 70 be to prey upon
the Southern States. To do this they must
likewise prey upon the whole North. The
machinery necessary to accomplish the
A standing army, thousands of salaried
officers, schemes of plumber and rapine,
thefts aud expressions; the prostration
of industry and commerce; the dry
i1E up OF the fountains of revenue; the
iierease~of extravagance; the swelling of
the public debt; the inereaserof taxation
these are the Legitimate results. These
leaders have made immense fortunes out OF
theswar. They own estates in the South
cDAhscated by their own legislation. I'm
mense quantities ofcOttOn have been coined
by their legalized Treasury permits, into
bank deposits, TO their credit, instead of to
the credit of the Government. Whole car
aEans Of Government cattle of every de-
scriptiOu, have been swallowed by these
fierce and overwhelming simoons Of Abo-
litionism. The whole contract system of
the war, created by them, was buta feeder
to this Abolition rapacity. The high
tariff systeln--a legalized piece Of lar
cenyLmade by these leaders, enabled
them to declare three hundred per
cent. dividends In their business, at the
expense Of the masses of the people.
On land and on sea the Government and
fae people have been shamefully defraud-
cd and robbed by these men; and when In
the course of the war, TO meet peculation
and speculation and the legitimate expen-
ses, the Government needed loans of mon
ey, these men banded together, like SO
many Hhyloclm, dictated the conditions OF
the bonds OF the Government, as TO rate OF
e,(o-.tk ana o a., "A fr,r, from, ~ waffct a.