Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1867-11-28


On those questions you, who were FORM
erly officers and soldiers, but are now citi-
zens, should form and express your opin-
ions as freemen, unbiased by the clamor
of the hour, and should leave TO others
an equal right, bearing in mind that
there Is room for doubt, and that men
may differ, and differ widely, and yet
be honest but when a conclusion is once
arrived at by due course Of law the sub
ject Is no longer an open question for dis
cussion, but should be submitted 70 simply
because ii is the law Of the land. Each
and every one Of you supposed those in
authority were acting wrong; but by
patient, silent discharge Of your own
clearly-defined duty, you saw these
doubts and conclusions clear away like q
mist cloud, and reveal to you the truth
triumphant. So will IL be in your civil
experience, when similar acquiescence
in events will produce the same results.
But, for q more comprehensive under
standing of these important questions,
we must turn from our limited expert
ence to that of Others recorded in his
tory. DIR. Draper, an eminent American
author, has likened the growth Of peo-
pie or Of a nation, to that of the human
body, and has shown that its intelligence
and political development are governed
by natural laws as clear of demonstra-
ton as those Of any physical science
He also likens our system of government
to that of the sun, which first i'm the
beginning was mere confused mass of
nebulous matter and force. By natural
operations a condensation ensued, and
one after another, with mathematical
precision, orb after orb was cast off from
the revolving mass, and a family of
worlds, the solar system, arose. Round
the central sun these obedient worlds
with all their servitor satellites, pursue
their courses. There was no hanging
back in the movement, no vagrant wan
dering, no revolt. Through unutterabie
ages this Union was, as now, an exhibi-
tion of inconceivable energy, mathemat-
ical precision, paramount and predomi-
mating law. He futhsr pursues the COM
parison, that inasmuch as every atom of
matter has its just influence in the sys-
tenn, so every State, every County, every
man, woman, and child, and every con-
ceivable human interest has its just in
| fiuence under our system. But, unfor-
tunately, man, in the individual or in
the aggregate, is not mere passing sub
| ject. Though endowed with vitality
capable of infinite good, he is liable to
wide alterations which often lead him
astray, and he is brought back to his
true OTDlt only DN SLOW PROCESS, Or Dy q
sudden shock such as war.
need not attempt to apply these prin-
ciples to the history of our own country,
with which you are as familiar as am,
but will simply recall to your memories
that, in the beginning of colonization.
Slavery on this continent was universal.
Fertile lands and rich mines abounded
everywhere, and compulsory slave labor
resulted, as q matter of self-interest not
confined to the colonies of England alone,
nor to those of France, Spain, Portugal,
Sweden or Holland. AS general rule,
the colonies resisted as far as they were
able to do, but they were always over
ruled by the merchants and proprietors
abroad, who demanded quick ard large
returns for their money invested AS
early as 1851, hundred years before our
civil war, Virginia, under the influence
of Richard Henry Lee, attempted to stop
the importation of slaves, by a prohibit
tory duty, but her action was vetoed in
England. In South Carolina similar
attempt was made, with like result
In Georgia Gen. Oglethorpe began his
colony for the express purpose of limit
ing the extension of Slavery in that di-
rection. Still later, at the time Of Our
Revolutionary war, the sentiment op-
posed to the institution of Slavery was
J 81 co tlat thC
slave trade was prohibited after 1903, and
the word slave was not written at all in
our Constitution.
Slavery would surely have been extin-
guished in this country by gradual and
natural process, and we might have been
spared our civil war. had not other caus-
es came into play. 1t was found that the
soil and climate of the Southern States
were admirably adapted to the growth OF
cotton. The power of steam was discov-
cred and applied to machinery of all
kinds, especially in Old and New Eng
land, and Eli Whitney Of Massachusetts,
invented his cotton-gin. These created
an immense demand for the staple, and
seem to have changed the whole current
Of public opinion. The invention Of the
cotton-gin did more to fix Slavery upon
us than any amount of prohibitory legis-
| lation, or any amount of anti-Slavery
agitation, so that have always felt that
both Old England and New England had
much to do in fastening Slavery upon us
as people, and should have just share
in the responsibility for its baneful result.
Under these influences cotton became a
power in the land. 1t was proved arro-
CANT, and claimed to be king. It dicta-
ted its terms, and threatened war unless
its imperious demands were granted. II
claimed the right to 90 where it pleased,
and to extend itself over lands, such as
Kansas and California, not adapted to il
or slave labor at all ; and at last it rebell-
ed, and set up q Government of its own,
whose very corner-stones were Cotton
and Slavery. Nothing on earth could
justify such rebellion, and only men,
tion these facts in the past to show that
others than the people Of the South were
partially responsible, and should share
the natural consequence of their own
acts. And 1, born ofConnecticutparents
bearing in affectionate remembrance the
virtues of my honored ancestors, and
yielding to no man in admiration of the
intelligence, refinement, industry and
thrift of the people of New England, dc
honestly believe that they, in common
with the great North who shared in the
original causes and enjoyed a large part
of the profits resulting from cotton and
slave labor, should be charitable and lib
erai in the final distribution Of the natu
raj penalties.
II Slavery, then, was the real cause Of
our civil war, or even the pretext for it
and if children must inherit the sins oi
their fathers, even in the third and fourth
generations, then none of us who trace
our origin back to the earlier days Of this
Republic can escape this mathematical
and philosophical conclusion or In the
/ n - ls.t Ifxy