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

Inc opponents Oh COIlSresS are uoiii-
fed at the spectacle of twenty-six States
legislating for eleven. Mr.. Seward thinks
this policy destructive of the symmetry
of the Union. Possibly. But If Mr..
Seward were to lose leg, or an arm, as
many of you boys in blue have done, he
would probably find that the functions of
digestion and nutrition were not necessa-
rily suspended. and that his existence and
identity might legally be preserved. The
question of proportion is NOT vital one.
But our national existence depends upon
the mutual faithfulness of Congress and
the people.
Let every loyal citizen vote to strength
EN- the hands of Congress in the pending
struggle, while Congress SHALL by using
the power of the people to prevent the
intended usurpation Of the Government,
avert from the nation the threatened
evils of n policy dictated by the rebels
and fraught with the danger of civil
war quote from the October number
of the Atlantic Monthly: "The seizure
of the Government, in the manner con-
templated by Mr.. Johnson and his ASSOC
ciates, destroys at once the public credit,
renders the public securities worthless
for the time, overthrows the banking
system bankrupts the trading class, pros
trates the laborers, and ends, finally, in
general financial, industrial and social
| disorders" My friends and hearers, do
! you not, i'm this presentation, acknowl-
edge the full force of the threatened dan
ger? These words of warning deal i'm no
| fiction; they are the language of sober
| ness and truth. Our prosperity as n peo-
| pie, to say nothing of the danger to re-
| publican institutions, hangs trembling
| in the scale. There is but one way to
avert the impending calamity. We must
present an unbroken front to the oppo-
! nents of our loyal Congress-that noble
| body of men who have been so fOully ma
! ligned, and even stigmatized from the
porticOs of the White House, as traitors
| traitors, forsooth, because they have
! fearlcssly executed the will Of the loyal
people. If they are traitors, then must
we bc traitors also, my friends.
I believe, fcll0w-citizons, / speak the
sentiments of every loyal man in the
country when I affirm that Mr.. johnson
| in thus attempting to brand Congress
with infamy, has insulted every patriotic
citizen, sailor and soldier in the great
! Republic. Let the voice of honest in
dignation be heard throughout the land,
speaking in thunder tones to a recreant
President, bidding him remember there
Ia n power in the land more mighty than
even that embodied in the high Office he
fills--the great tribunal of the voice OF
ave, the united people" The ballot.
box is as inexorable i'm rebuke as the
bayonet Is merciless in its chastisement
Soldiers and sailors, | blush with
shame when ] reflect what it is whicl
these expounders of the Constitution
these apologists for rebellion, these sym
pathizers with an humblcd hut still bitter
foe, arc saying to you. They are saying
"The question of the Southern cause was
n dehatable question, growing out of the
ii many of the best men differ, therefore
the war on both sides was unjustiabl,
and wrong"
They are saying: "The Southern sol
diers died i'm defense OF constitutional
rights, and should, therefore, he mourn
cd hy the lovers of Constitutional libcr
ty."
They reduce war fprinciplcs, unpar
alleled in history, to the dignity of Il see
tional quarrel, by removing from it it,
ground work of eternal Justice and right
They take from you the honors, so nobly
so clearly won, to divide them with The
myrmidons of the slave power. They
tear the laurel from the brows of our dcaC
heroes to cover the infamy of their owr
leaders. And, seeing how the soldiers
are supporting Congress, and that Con
gress ns it ever has. and ever will do, il
sustaining the soldier, they dare to SAY
that you are in combination with Con
grcss to break up the Union and Consti
{ tuition you have periled everything I,
save. Shall these things go unrehukcd by
the American people? No. 1t had beer
better, aye, n thousand times better, fo
us to have failed in the conflict of arms
} than to sit down supincly under such aI
insult to our brave defenders, to our saint
, ed dead. | say again, no. The time h;t
gone by for us to be intimdatcd will
threats OF civil war. Before poIitica
combinations have crushed the peopl
, into such shameful silence, before tn
, legislative,hal are disgraced 10y thc,pres
: ence of men whose necks have scarcel.
slipped from the hangman's Moose W
, will swell your patriotic ranks with ney
/ recruits, we will rally again around th
, flag you raised from the dust In whicI
rebellion had trailed II. While the SUI
shines in that heaven from which il
1 stars were plucked, that flag shall neve
: he lowered before the colors of Southern
/ rights and Northern sympathi2crs.
We are now in stage OF reaction fron
; the strain and pressure of the war, am
, the softer feelings of humanity begin I
; take possession of our hearts. 1t is no
, the vindictiveness of passion, which bid
us beware of that false sympathy whicl
) levels just distinctions, and which ma
lead our soldiers to feel that there il
( standpoint from which they may com
to be regarded as spoilers and invaders
5 Let them feel that the army hlue is
: passport to the society ofluwloving, law
abiding men, to the society of patriot
! and all true lovers of human liberty
: Let us have public opinion so strong
= SO based in justice, that no man who In
, ever worn the eAgle buttons will dare +
: appear among the nations enemies.
/ The duty of every man in the presen
crisis (for crisis has arrived in the re
r lations of Congress and the Executive
o Is to Danish from his mind all sclfishness
: all mere party and sectional prejudices
G and consider how the country Is to b
# best served, its security and prosperit
a placed beyond peril; how treason ma
i be made the bulwark against future treG
Q son, and tho repetition of this fratrlcidl
. struggle prevented for all future time.-
Y II from an overweening love for the lei
@ ter Of the Constitution, the country
= again put In jeopardy, remember thu
}, Constitutions are not swaddlng band'
: to cramp and restrain the national life
IS and II Is our happy fortune to possess
v remedy for the unhealthy pressure in on
}. Constitution, in the provision our father
h have left for this amendment. And why
!, | LET ma aaix wns I N IL nrnyisinn far nm, ,an,