The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1868-10-02
The Aantnfk Ssffetsoniat,
For the Jefereenl an.
THE WAR AND IT'S RESULT.


,fDemocrats stih inauire who caused
war. We answer, the rebels by
passing ordinances of secession in
eight States, by firing into the Star
Of the West, January 9th, 1861, by
taking United States ships, forts and
stores, by passing acts, and taking
oaths dissolying allegiance to the
Ulited States, by forming a confed-
Grafton of States within the United
States jurisdiction and swearing al
legiance to 1t, and finally by the at
tack upon and capture of Fort Sump-
ter. Except the capture ofSumpter'
all this was done before Lincoln's in
aupuration, and all was done before
the government resorted to hostili-
ties. u is true that to nation too
cowardly to claim their constitu-
tional rights, and ready to cringe
to every foe, none of these would be
q cause of war. If Democracy make
for themselves this plea, we have no
answer. To friends of the rebels,
those who wished success to the
Confederate cause, or like Seymour,
thought their Constitution BEST the
above would be no cause of war, and
ttds Is the :Vallandigham, Wood,
Seymour and PendletOn plea, il they
would speak truly.
The single object of the war was,
as stated in one of Gen. Grants re-
ports, to force upon rebels ''dn equal
submission, .eith the loyal portion Of our
common country, tothe Constitution and
la.cs." In point OF law we never had
any other object than this. For the
attainment of the object we were
forced to do the great act OF right
eousness which directly freed mil
lions of men from bondage, robbed
the Confederacy of its greatest
strength, and greatly added to our
strength, We may be foolish enough
toregret that we could not conquer
the South without this act; and GER
tainly we tried hard enough to do SO
but sman's extremity was Gods op
portunity." The one good act We
did was done from a selfish motive
It was not that we sympathized with
the slaves, or cared for their suffer
ings, that we freed them, but W.
needed them to help force obedience
upon rebels. This was the only
reason given, and with as, all ths
reason that existed; and the rebels
had one hundred days notice that th'
means would be used.
szDemocrats tell US that the rebe
States were never out of the Union
because the acts of secession DC,
were void
; But in fact those acts were moi
void there is great difference be
tween illegal and void a murder il
illegal but not void. Our declaration
of Independence was illegal, and ye
it separated US from Britain and be
came the foundation of a new system
of government. So the rebel secess
ion acts separated them from US; lille
gally as judged by our laws, but none
the less actually; and the question
was submitted to the sword whether
the new Confederate Government OF
Che United States should have juris-
diction of the people and territory.
During the arbitration we treated them
= equals. We treated prisoners as
members of q Government whose
laws protested them and prevented
us from having right to hang theE
ss murderers. If these laws of their.
we're an absolute nullity, each of theil
soldiers was q murderer, and could
yet be hanged for the crime. But il
is folly to talk Of laws governing and
formed by ten millions of people and
extending over ten great States being
nnliity. Under them marriages
were contracted, property bought
and sold, crrmes committed, ant
crimipals we're punished; and shall
we now allow those criminals te
persecute the officers who punished
them? Shall transfers of property
be rescinded, when the buyer car
no more restore the price, and chill
dren by thousands be declared lille
gitimste The South dare claim nc
such, thing. The Confederacy was $
grsat reality and not nullity; and
the Confederate States were not only
out of the Onion, but were never in
Their old State Governments, which
had been members of the Union, were
dead. Their officers had betrayed
and forsaken them there was not 6
shred of them left. They had nc
officers, no courts, no laws, nc
subjects. This had to be 80 for the
protection of rebels themselves; for
their old governments being under
and subject to the United States Con-
stitution and laws, were in their ma
ture as much adverse to rebellion as
the laws of Ohio. On principle their
old State Governments must have
been defunct, for under our political
system, government exists only by
theeWiA Of the people, and when all
the people forsook their old State
Governments, and formed new ones,
under new jurisdiction, the old, Of
necessity died.
By the war we gained what we
fought for-jurisdiction of the peo-
pie and territory of the South. In
lawswe, always had this; but in fact
and by Southern law, We had host it.