Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-10-07

founded even upon divine inspiration
would be useless if there were no
country for them to govern.
| What theatre is there for the display
of the energies of young and aspiring
citizen just entering upon the import
ant duties of life in country torn by
civil strife? Well has an eminent
American statesman remarked: f:
'"There is no path of ambition open to
me in a divided and distracted coun-
try"
To prove that the real issue is peace
or war we have only to refer to Frank
p. Blair's letter written with a view to
his nomination, and subsequently en-
dorsed by the very fact of his nominal
ton by the National Democratic Con-
ventiOn.
Blair in his letter says:
| "There is but one way to restore the
government and the Constitution, and
| that is for the President elect to declare
these acts null and void, compel the
army to undo its usurpations at the
south, disperse the carpet-bag State
governments, allow the white people
to reOrganiZe their own governments
and elect Senators and Representa-
tives."
Of course any attempt to subvert the
government of these southern States
by force would lead to war, as the gov
ernor and all other State officers, civil
and military, are sworn to obey, sup
port and defend the Constitution of
the State of North Carolina; and we
will defend it.
| Further down Rlair saws
1--WE must restore the Constitution
before we can restore the finances,
and to do this we must have a Presi-
dent who will execute the will of the
people by trampling into dust the
usurpation of Congress known as the
Reconstruction acts. / wish to stand
before the Convention upon this issue,
! but it is one which embraces every
thing else that is of value in its large
and comprehensive results 1t is the
one thing that includes all that is
worth a contest, and without it there
is nothing that gives dignity, honor or
value to the struggle"
On this issue he was nominated. If
any further proof were needed to show
the revolutionary spirit of the Con-
servative party, it could easily be
found in the violent harangues we
daily hear around us, their bitter per-
secutiOn of Union men, and their un-
relenting hatred of the North and its
loyal people.
This bitterness toward Northern
men who prove true to their principles
and who do not bow in slavish sub
mission to the opinions of these
naughty aristocrats, self-cOnstituted
Judges of honor and morality, know
from personal experience. Though
descended from one of the oldest fami- |
lies of this State, and boru and partial !
ly raised in Rockingham county, !
upon my return nearly two years ago, !
to nv native place, was denounced |
as a Yankee and generally received |
with all the coldness and distrust due
to that detested race. Notwithstand- |
ing NV own nativity and the position |
of nv mothers family, they could |
never forget the Puritan birth of my |
father, whose native State, Vermont, |
with her 10000 majority, so nObly |
leads the van, and, L may add, could /
fence of his country.
Speaking of him, and feeling that |
whatever importance any words of
name | bear and the affection many
still feel towards one who, through
life, proved himself the peoples
friend, a few words concerning my
father NAV not be deemed inapprOpri-
ate. 1t was with feelings of surprise
and l must add, of Indignation
that / saw his name inscribed upon
one of the transparencies borne in the
late Conservative procession. l
that common decency at least
would have prevented them from
dragging from the tomb the name of
the man whom they had betrayed
and denounced through life, and after
his death, whose orphan children they
had prosecuted.
When gazing upon that name l re-
the time when these same
men declared him a traitor to every
of honor, because he prefer
red his country to his party, and bitter
" denounced him for his efforts to
rally the people of the West for the
defence of the Union.
1 remember all these when l am de-
,lared degenerate son; and for every
quotation they give me from his
speeches 1 will give them a dozen.
When the Sentinel parades a sentence {
white mans government, {
would remind them of his dying {
words. When the wife bent over the !
scarce breathing form of the expiring !
statesman and asked if he had no mes
age to send his children: "Tell !
hem" said he, in n voice rendered !
llmost inaudible by the near approach !
# death, "tO obey and support the
and the laws of the land"
This solemn injunction | intend to S
hey. When | see myself personally q
.bused by the Conservative press on
Iccount of my political sentiments, Z
md called a traitor to the State in l
which i was born, would recall to
heir recollection the time when l was /
declared an alien enemy. About the a
ear 1862, a bill was filed summOning r
Settle (nOw Associate Justice v
# the Supreme Court and X. y. FL O
ingtOn to Greensboro to show cause a
Why they should not surrender the 5
of Robert NJ. and Stephen A. N
alien enemies of the COnfed- Il
racy; and when l am denounced as il
Yankee and carpet-baggeT, would d
emind them of their efforts to drive "
ne an exile from my native State and N
ender me a stranger to the soil that a
ave me birth. As, however, 1 have :
Inherited my fathers name and his
rinciples, it is natural that | should
Inherit their animOsity. Neverthe-
ess, it is strange that these men, his L
Interest enemies i'll life, should now ;.
lain to he the truest opponents of his IL
rinciples; but not more strange than o
hat they should now assert them p
elves the best friends of the COnstitu- II
on of the United States and the in g
lllible Interpreters of its provisions, ~
fter they have sacrificed hundreds of u
of lives and thousands of W
lillions of treasure to trample into the ~
ust that sacred instrument. q
Such is their consistency, and such 81
is throughout all their political
If a white Republican
ldresses a crowd of cOlOred men, eX- @
ressing his honest sentiments, in b
ructing them in their rights and in
uties, and advising them as friend, 81
lat action involves social equality
nd is disreputable. High born Con- Al