Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1867-08-15

IL entlre. Our limited space VII
only admit of the following ex
tracts:
THE WAR DEMOCRATS.
In Ohio, as in other free States
the Democratic party could not be
led off in a body after the peace
Democracy. Brough, Tod, Mat.
thews, Dorsey, Steedman, and host
of Democrats of the jackson school,
nobly kept the faith. Lytle, Nc
Cook, Webster, and gallant spirits
like them, from every county and
neighborhood of, our State, sealed
their devotion to the Union and to
true Democracy with their life's
blood
They believed with Douglas in the
last letter he ever wrote, that "it
was not party question, or a ques-
ton involving partizan policy; it
was q question of government or
no government; country or no
country; and hence it became the
imperative duty of every Union
man, every friend of constitutional
liberty, to rally to the support of
our common country, its govern
ment and flag, as the only means Ct
checking the progress of revolution
and of preserving the Union of the
States"
They believed the last words of
Douglas last speech: "This is no
time for detail of causes. The
conspiracy is now known. Armies
have been raised, war is levied to
accomplish it, There are only two
sides to the question. Every man
must be for the United States or
against it. There can be no neu-
trails in this war-only patriots and
traitors !"
EFFECTS OF THE WAR UPON POLITICAL
PARTIES.
AS the war progressed, the great
political parties Of the country un-
derwent important changes, both of
organization and policy. In the
North, the Republican party, Che
great body of the American or I'm
ion party of 1860, and the War
Democracy, formed the Union par
ty. The Democracy of the South
for the most part became rebels,
and in the North, those who did not
unite with the Union party general
ly passed under the control and
leadership Of the Peace Democracy. |
At the beginning of the war, the
creed Of the Union party consisted
of one idea-it labored for one OBJ
.ect-the restoration of the Union.
the rights Of man, the prin-
ciples Of the Declaration Of Inde-
pendence, were for the time lost
sight Of in the struggle for the ma
TONS life. AS late as August, 1862,
President Lincoln wrote to Mr..
Greeley: "My paramount object is
to save the Union, and not either to
save or destroy slavery If I could |
save the Umonp without freeing any |
slave, I would. do its and if I could |
save it by freeing all the slaves, I
would do it; and if I could save it
by freeing some and leaving others,
l would olso do that"
Slowly, gradually, after repeated
disasters and disappointments, the |
eyes of the Union leaders were
opened to the fact that slavery and
rebellion were convertible terms
that the Confederacy, according to
its Vice President Alexander H,
Stevens, was founded upon exactly
the opposite idea" from that of JEFF
ferson and the fathers. "Its foun-
dations," said he, "are laid its cor
ner-stone rests upon the great truth
that the negro is not equal to the
white man; that slavery, subordina-
tion to the superior race, is his nat
ural condition" Mr. Lincoln and
The Union party, struggling faithful
Iy onward, finally reached the solid
ground that the American Govern
ment was founded on the broad
Of right, justice and hui
manity, and that for this nation,
Union and Liberty" were indeed
zone and inseparable."
The leaders of the peace Democ- !
'acy were for a time overwhelmed I
by the popular uprising which fol '
owed the attack on Fort Sumter, {
md were not able, during the year s
1861 or the early part of 1862 to {
mark out definitely the course to be t
But, like the Union party, l
hey gradually approached the posi-
ION Uuey were ulUllHdItIJ w OCCup3'
,EACE DEMOCRACY OPPOSED TO ALL
WAR MEASURES, {
Their success in the Autumn cleo '
ions of 1862 encouraged them to
inter upon the pathway in which t
hey have plodded along consistent
y if not prosperously, ever since. |
opposition to the war measure of 9
dr. Lincoln's Administration, and i
n particular to every measure tend /
ng to the enfranchisement and ele- {
alton of the African race, became f
heir settled policy. BY this policy |
hey were placed in harmony with q
heir former associates, the rebels of (
q