Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-10-06

,IN
and liberal is the wiser as we'll as the
more honorable policy. We are more
likely to restore our. erring brethren in
heart and feeling to the Union, and to
heal the wounds caused by the late ter
rible conflict, by the observance of strict
good faith, and a conscientious observ-
ance Of our constitutional obligations
toward them, than by assuming superior
ity over them, heaping on them con-
tumely and reproach, and sending spies
among them to slander and misrepre-
sent them. You cypress fears that 1t
Seymour and Blair are elected, they aoiH
reinatiate secession, and that ace shall lose
all ace hare gained By the a0ar. As a
reasoning man, do you think so? Do
you think the intelligent men of the
South are in love with secession and its
consequences, under which they have
endured such terrible calamities, or that
because they are treated with justice and
mercy, they will Immediately rush into
another destructive war; I for myself
think that the only danger Of another re-
colt lies IN the continuance of, the present
party IN poaoer, and of their laaoless poll
cy made mp Of fmingled insult and oppres-
sion such as men Of ordinary !sovit, aozo
haze once been .treemen, aoould die sooner
than endure. Men who have been free
will not submit to permanent degrada
tion and political servitude or even
iweriority. When this is known to be
the fixed, stern and relentless policy,
they will resist by force of arms,
and in that event their resistance
will be justified on the univers-
ally acknowledged principle of the
right of revolt against intolerable op
preston. Had the same cause eristed IN
1861 aoAicA no,o erists, no Northern army
acould hare crossed the Ohio river to put
down tie revozt. You express fears that
the North will countenance secession if
Seymour and Blair are elected. In the
present state of things, and the present
party permanently in power, that were
possible; for, the fierce passions of
conflict having subsided, the mass of
mankind sympathize with the conquered,
especially if insulted and oppressed; but
elect an administration disposed to re-
store them where they were before the
revolt-and see see no rational proba-
bility that the 100000 majority in Ohio
which recorded their votes against Sc
cession, and in favor of subduing it at
any cost, will at once change sides, with
out the shadow of reason, and sustain
it. Er- --'-.E .iusI .s. tHs r....
1 have looked the condition of things
full in the face and write down my deep
convictions. There IS danger of another
civil war. 1 deplore the threatened
mischief, and have done ali 1 can to
avert it, and still hope the bitter cup
will pass from US. But the party in
power are resolutely fixed in exciting to
the utmost, and keeping up to their
highest intensity, the fefce and angry
passions of men, and it were vain for
them to expect ferocity on one side, and
calm endurance on the other. Their
policy continued will force on collision,
which let them in prudence avoid. The
moral and physical power of the nation
is against them; they can prescribe vo-
ters and manipulate elections, but their
power will fail against men, embodied
and under arms, where each man counts,
whether cheated of, his vote or not; and
in this arbitrament they would be but as
one to three. The war,if they really force
it on, will not be strictly section against
section-the South will be united, the
North divided-it will be like the
war between the Guelphs and Ghibil-
ines, which, for more than two hundred
years, desolated Italy, and in which
Cesare Borgia practiced the lessons in
political morality which Senator Morton
has been taught to adopt and practice,
by our FIVE years of war. If he had re-
vised hisreading of Machiavelli's Prince,
it would have deprived his lessons of the
charm of novelty, as he would have
found it in full practice many hundred
years ago. and by looking little further
he would have found Chat it peopled
Dante's hell even to its ninth circle,
with more than half its tenants. 1t
were better for the country, better for
the party, that Congress should not re-
assemble on the 18th. If they meet,
they can not possibly abstain from in
terfering in the Southern elections, un-
less, indeed, they be overawed by a
strong Northern vote; it is the sole bus
mess for which they are to be called
again together, and they will feel bound
to act.
There are some things in yourletter moi
quite worthy of you or of the subject We
discuss. You say my suggestion as to the
|. power of the Senate to prevent legisla
ton, is the same as contained in Sey
mour's "begging letter"-an insinuatior
that l borrowed the opinion from him
whereas you well know that mentally
never deal in borrowed capital. The
truth is, 1 had written down the passagt
referred to, just as it now reads, weeks
before 1 saw Mr.. Seymour's letter, and
the thought does not suffer(do you think
it does y by occurring to two indepen
dent minds at the same time. You cal
Seymour's begging letter. Yor
must be at a loss for something to object
to; it struck me as in decidedly gooc
taste-unexceptionable in matter ant
expression. 1 know little of him
personally, but, if in all else he is equa
to this, he will do. You certainly have
no warrant for the opinion that he will
fall under the influence of Toombs anc
Hampton. He certainly never yet acted
under their inhuence-as General Grant
did under that of Stanton and Wade
when he gave Stanton file of United
States troops to enable him to "stick'
and bayonet the President if he SHOULD
attempt to enter the department. There
is no more reason to suspect Seymour o.
subserviency to disloyal councils thar
any other, the best man in the nation
On the whole, would rather have you
opinion two years hence on the present
political condition, than now.
remain, very truly yours,
T. EWING.