The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1867-08-15

For the News.
The Democratic Party RespQns-
ible for the Rebellion, and for
the Delay i'm Reconstruction.

party-and the recruits from the old
! Wing party whose 'pro-sIavery lean
ings were so strong that they could
not affiliate with an anti-slavery par
, ty-this party, under the lead of the
Thurmans and Vallandinghams, are
gathering their energies to make an
e other effort to recover that political
control for which they have been so
. long waiting in vain. These men
had imbibed the idea that the Govern
ment was theirs; that they had an
.imprescriptive right to its offices and
its emoluments. They had, except
for short intervals, which were only
long enough to enhance the zest of
their return, been the favored deposi-
tories of the power of the people.
The old pro-slavery Wings, who
Joined the Democratic party in its de-
clining stages-in its period ofdecrepi-
tude and emOralization-and who
have been disappointed in their antici-
pations of participating, and availing
themselves of the prestige of that par
ty, in advancing the objects of their
ambition, have remained sour and dis
affected to the cause of the country,
during its great struggle for Hberty,-
This class are now willing again to
rally under that standard, taking ad-
vantage Of the difficulties and di-
versities of views growing out of the
anomalous condition of the country,
and to reinstate in power a party
whose history has shown it so recreant
to that country's cause, and which by
its unpatrfotic course has covered it.
self with infamy.
At the close of the Presidential can
vass of 1860, the Democratic party
invoked a0ar for the recovery of that
power which was lost at the ballot
box. They Immediately began the
work, for which they were not unpre-
pared. A Democratic Cabinet, under
a Democratic President, were either
secretly cooperating in the work of
treason, or with trembling imbecility
watching the torch of incendiarsm
which was being applied to the temple
of Liberty. r..
War was openly begun. James
Buchanan did nothing adequate to
meet the crisis. The poor old man
could not undertake to "coerce" a
State-he 'scould find no such power
in the Constitution" He hesitated.
Meanwhile the rebellion gathered head.
Fort after fort was seized. Custom
houses were taken possession of, treas
uries robbed, and armies of the Z. S.
turned over to the rebels by traitor
Generals; yet James Buchanan and
his Democratic supporters could find
ono power in the Constitution" for
protecting and defending the Govern
ment The word coercion" was not
to be found in the Constitution. Dem
ocratic Conventions were held, declar-
ing against coercion" A Democratic
Convention in the name of "the two
hundred thousand Democrats of OhiO,"
declared that the time for coercion
had not come. Thus was rebellion
fostered and allowed to drift along, un-
til A. Lincoln was inaugurated Presi-
dent.
The course of the Democratic party
during the four years thus opened, let
the history of the acts and the
words of the ValIandighams, the
VOORHEES,, the Woods, the PendIetons,
and the Thurmans answer. The Press,
the orators, and the secret organiza-
tions of that party, were all arrayed
against the Government, and helped
to encourage the rebel party, to pro-
long the war, and thus add thousands
to the victims of the war, and millions
of dollars to the burdens of the people.
Having invoked the arbitrament of
the sword instead of the ballot, and
been defeated conquered, they now
cry out against "military despotism," "
the "centralization of power" "mili-
tary reconstruction" &c. These men,
who thus cry out, never exhibited any
sympathy for the edown-trodden. They |
have reserved all their finer sensibii-
ties for the aristocratic slaveholder-I
The men who worked without wages
who had no civil rights before the |
law-who had no recognized rights
to 'Iife, liberty or the pursuit of hap
piness," never excited their commits
seration. The men who made war
against the Government in order to
make slavery perpetual, the men who
deliberately starved the Union soldiers
at AndersonviIle and other places,
are the ones who engross Democratic
sympathies.
These are the men upon whom has
come at last that retribution which
Democratic tenderness calls "tyranny
and oppression" So may every con-
demned criminal, suffering the just
sentence of the law, excIaim against
their execution as "tyrannical." The
oppressed Union men, hunted and
prosecuted, driven to the caves and
fastnesses of the mountains, rather
than fight against the flag of the ircoun-
try, never excited the feelings Of the
tender-hearted Democracy, in their be-
half. They have reserved all their tears
for the Iordly democrats" who pro-
posed to extend and perpetuate hui