Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1867-09-05


Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again
The eternal years of God are hers;
But error, wounded, writhCs in pain,
Ana dies among his worshipers.
Yea, though thou lie upon the dust
Wien they who helped thee flee in fear,
Die full of hope and manly trust,
Like those who fell in battle hero.
Another hand thy sword shall WELD,
" Another hand thy standard wave,
Till from the ttumpet's mouth is pealcd
The blast of triumph DER thy grave.
This was the creed of Abraham Lin
coin. In its spirit did the martyr-Ppsi-
dent strike off the head of the monster
slavery-shiver to fragments the fetters
of the bondman, and dissever the Hydra
of State sovereignty--secession. The
sword that fell from his dying hand was
caught up by the people, from whom he
had received it, to be again welded by
them, through the hands of their loyal
representatives, the Congress of the Uni
ted States. That sword Is the same with
which Congress is now guarding the
doors of the capitol against the rebels
and desperadoes, who are strivingto to force
an entrance into its honored halls. Shall
we stand idly by and see the sturdy
guardians of our rights overpowered in
the struggle? 1t is i'm vain to shut our
eyest its existence, or to the prospect that
il will be renewed. But, thank God,
there Is n spirit abroad in the land that
will vet find a voice, ever louder than
that heard in the shouts and cheers
which greeted the nations heroes. Grant
and Farragut, during their recent tri-
umphal march from the seato the noun
tains and the prairies of the West. Let
us not mistake its prophetic warning.
The voice of the American people is
the destiny of the nation it may always
be trusted when it is fairly aroused to ac-
tion.
/ The people of the self-emancipated
colonies to whom we owe the great char
| ter of freedOm-the Declaration of Inde-
pendence-that great body of freemen
/ from whom sprung, in their more ma
/ tured wisdom, the Constitution of the
| Republic, consolidated their power when
/ they published to the world, that 1--WE,
/ the people of these States do will and
/ ordain, - &c. Remember, fellow-citizens,
/ not ave, the sovereign States" las Pat
/ rick Henry and many others insisted on
/ its reading,) but 1--WE, the peopleo of these
/ United Statesn is the language of the
/ Constitution. From that period till this
present crisis, eve, the majority of the
united people of these States" have in
variably been inspired with the true
spirit of our institutions and in that
spirit have interpreted them.
The letter of the Declaration says, "All
pie, true to the instincts of liberty and
equality, who have all along unconsci-
ousy given it it's perfected reading, "All
men are created free and equal" !" and,
let me point to the significant fact that
it was during the darker hours of the
war in which freedom became triumph
ant, that the people, through their loyal
representatives, perfected the symmetry
and consistency of the national capital
with its browning beauty and grandeur
the statue of Liberty.
The world has borne witness to the
terrible earnestness of our soldiers and
sailors in the struggle with rebels and
traitors. Let the present crisis be mark
ed toy the same unfliuching spirit in the
loyal citizen, and equal rights will then
be secured for ALL and for all time.
Should the conspirators of the South,
and the wlre-pulcrs OF the "one man
policy" dare to measure swords, with the
strength of the people embodied in the
patriotic majority of Congress; should
they he insane enough to attempt it,
then the loyal people, and you, their
brave defenders, will rally round the flag
once more, and fight it out ION that line,'
which will leave the question forever
settled. at may be that the blood drawn
10y the scourge, has not been atoned by
the blood shed by the sword.' should
| Almighty justice ana vengeance llnpei
us by its inspirations to draw the retri-
butivc blade once more, it will not be
sheathed until the "spirit' of our insti-
tutions is accepted, us well MS the letter,
and the hydra headed monster secession,
with its brood of rebellion and state
rights, will thus bc forever consigned to
that grave in which slavery lies buried,
deep amid the still smoldering ruins o!
the Southern Con!edcracy.
Then may every American citizen lit
his eyes To the statue that adOrns the
dome Of the capitol, in the proud assur-
ance that its permanency is as secure as
its principles are eternal. That noble
statue proc!aims to the world, from its
lofty pedestal, call men are born, not
only equal, but free, from hencctorth
and forever free and equal The great
charter of American freedom and equali-
ty was first given TO the world by the
Fathers of American Independence-but
born into II higher life by the proclama-
ton of Abraham Lincoln.