Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1867-08-22

come passive. The bow of the proud |
spirit could not always remain unstrung,
and when bent again it must twang more
swiftly and strongly by reason Of its tenn
porary relaxation. They had shown the
temper Of their steel, the steel of the
spirit, when, all unarmed and unprepar-
ed they twice met the invading fiends in
this hall, and twice drove the double
armed assailants back to the vestibule
by means Of no other weapons than the
legs of stools, the broken rounds of BAN
nisters, and their strong right arms
They looked the hero when they march
ed through the maniac crowd and met
their taunts, jeers, Kisses, curses, blows,
with that silent, fixed, and stern glance
which can look death right in the eye.
They and those who sympathized with
them in sentiment did not forget that
they were men. They walked the streets
from day to day erect in the dignity of
their manhood and the proud conscious
ness that they were right. They felt that
they had something better to do than to
sit down supinely and bemoan their lot.
They had the dead to bury, the wounded
to relieve. They had the wrongs of
bleeding country to redress. The only
revenge they desired was that noble re-
taliation which does good for evil. They
wished to benefit their assailants, in COM
mon with all other members of society,
by the restoration of law and order.
The blood of the martyrs proved In
deed to be in this case the seed of the
church. Forth from this scene of
violence, flashed the truth along the
telegraphic wires, to all the extremities
of our broad land; forth from this desc
Grated hall of liberty went band ofmen
called contemptuously by the rebel press
"itinerant loyalists )" forth from their
mangled remains went the spirit of the
martyrs, riding on the wings of the wind,
and mighty nation of freemen was
aroused. The Presidents lawless course
had reached its eliminating point. The
sworn executives opposition to the law
had acquired itsgreatest momentum, and
must begin to subside. If the President
was not privy to the plotted massacre be-
fore it took place he became its apologist
afterward. If he was not Immediately
responsible for the great crime, he was
remotely the cause, for the massacre is
clearly attributable to his sin of omission;
not keeping his official oath to enforce
the laws and to his sin of commission; /;
active resistance to the execution of the
statutes of Congress, and persistent re-
placing the enemy in power.
When the rioters spilled the blood of
DR.. Horton, Berquier, Duval, Auguste,
Loup, Lacroix, Henderson, and many
more, they sowed the seeds of the mill
tary bills. They planted to raise the
breadstuffs on which Thad Stevens feeds.
They cut out the patterns from which
Congress has made a straight jacket for
Johnson.
When AneXagerss had seen meteoric
stone fall from the sky, he came to the
! conclusion that the heavens were COM
posed of rock. When the rebels had
! found what sort of material Johnson was
made of, they concluded that the Govern
ment was made of the same stuff. In
| deed, they thought that the President
was the Government. He was vain
enough and weak enough and bad enough
| to believe that he was the Government
or at least that he could soon make
himself the only power. He thought
himself inspired with the spirit of Jack
son; and he supposed that he would have
Jacksonian sway over the hearts of the
people. Andrew Jackson! Andrew
johnson! Hyperion to satyr!"
He thought himself Caesar and so he
was, not Julius but Claudius. He had
heard of Safnpson-and how the mighty
son of Manoah slew his thousands with
the jawbone of an ass so he made wordy
warfare upon Congress. 1t was the beg
gar Irus graphing with the disguised
King of Ithica in his own palace. 1t was
Don QuiXote attacking the windmill
He imagined himself another Pericles in
architecture; like Achemiah he would
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem; but he
called for his workmen in reconstruction
the very men who had torn down the
wall; such men as Burke has described
as "The architects of ruin"
From the day of the massacre here the
| ! E,II nf I,n Inn mo iaY
empire commenced. The itinerant 10y
alists did not appeal to the loyal North in
vain. The Phifadelphia Convention ol
Southern Unionists did not hold its ses
sions for any idle purpose. Another
"great awakening" of the people a:
grand in moral point of view as thai
which shook the continent in 1861 made
the demon of rebellion quake again with
fear. The loyal people opened their eye'
to see that q recreant President had per
yerted the uses of Government. They
opened their minds to the conviction thai
the repeated stories of persecution in the
South were not fables but most startling
facts. They saw that, however good the
laws, they were of no avail II not eXecu
ted. They saw that, however able thu
Government to protect its citizens, thu
whole civil system was farce If the Ad
ministration abused the power by per
verting it to wrong use. They sen
representatives to Congress whom the,
believed to be able and willing to remedy
the evil.
While the Presidents assaults upor
the legislative department have been fu
tile, vet they have served the purpose o
putting that body on the defensive. Ill
has made the sword thrusts; that depart
ment has merely parried the strokes. L
is contest between dogged executive
and an amiable Congress. All that Con
gress has yet enacted in the way OF CIV
ing us enabling acts to help US to form
State Government here has been done II
defense toprevent the usurper from crush
ing not only the South but the who'll
country under his feet. 1t is not onl.
proper but it is the bounden duty OF Con
gress thus to defend the loyal people AM
hthe liberties of the nation.
But our legislators should not STAN
merely on the defensive. They have
sacred duty of most positive characte
before them, and the people demand II
performance. Our system OF Govern
ment is not farce If all the cogs an
wheels of the mighty machine are KEEP
in good running gear. The Constitute,
has provided remedy for the great Pres
dental crime of obstructing the execu
J ton of the laws. That remedy Congres
must apply or it, too, is failure.
| II wifi NOT do 10 saw that the PreSfden