The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1868-09-18

the Torres OF 1716-who called a
patriots Yankees.
Abolitionism never elected q Gov.
ernor, never controlled Legislature
unless it were in the single exception
of the Ohio legislature iu ls4s, whicl
was Democratic, but repealed tn
Black Laws and elected Judge Chas
to the United States Senate. 1t neve
Influenced the courts; it was as pow.
erless for good or evil as the gnat upol
the Ox's horn. To say that the proud
and self.reliant men of the South eve
regarded it in any other light, is t.
impeach both their sense and theil
valor. If there were any causes o
Jealousy, they were such as grew on
of the vast superiority OF the Nortl
in wealth, population and enterprise
for. notwithstanding the abundan
fruitfulness of the soil, her genial eli
mate and her tropical products, til,
South was far behind the North
Yet they were not aware of it. The,
had not yet been taught that Egypt
India, and Africa could rival thei
cotton, and might ultimately dethron'
their king; and when Helper TOLD
them that the annual hay crop of New
England was worth more than th,
yearly revenues OF their King Cotton
they said he was an Abolition fool.
But for the rebellion the institu
tions of the South were as secure from
Northern interference as those o
Calmuc Tartary. Barnwell Rhett, ;
bold but candid leader in the great
conspiracy, made the admission in The
Montgomery Convention, that tht
South had no other cause for secession
than that which grew out of her pc
culiar institutions. In the Persian
fable of the Iron Mountain, whose
beetling verge o'erhung the sea, We
are told that such was the attractive
force of the mountain that whenever
q ship came within its influence, its
nails and bolts and stays were drawn
out, and the wreck went down in q
yawning whirlpool. To this Govern
ment slavery has been the Black
Mountain--the whirlpool was typiiied
in the rebellion, and the old ship OF
state was near being drowned in It's
depths. Up to the time of the rebel.
lion the Democratic party dominated
in the South. As its strength increas-
ed there, it became sickly and cadav-
erous, and gave mmistakable signs OF
a speedy dissolution in the North. 1t
was natural that the weak should seek
the protection of the strong.
There was n time when the ambi-
tiOus young men of the country pre-
ferred the Democratic party when
almost every young eagle whetted hls
beak ut the base of the Democratic
column. The custom of the party was
to seek out talent and reward it
Hundreds of these ambitious spirits
found themselves at the beginning oi
the rebellion forced to quit their par
ty, or take part in the rebellion. Oi
the men who had hung their hopes
OH a political career, thus suddenly
forced to AN alternative, either side OF
which might involve humiliation and
disappointment, many of them deter
mined to take sides with the rebellion.
Some of these men, though ambitious,
had neither moral nor physical courage.
They would not risk their lives on the
battle-f field, but they were foolish
enough to remain at home and avenge
themselves in guilty mutterings against
the war, becoming at once profound
expounders of the Constitution and
carping critics of every act of the Ad-
ministration to put down the rebellion.
The forbearance of the Government
towards these men, has no parallel in
history. Open in their utterances
of treason, vile profligate and vulgar
in their abuse of the army and the
Government, with few exceptions they
were suffered to run at large, exciting
n noxious and baleful influence, COM
mensuratory with their talents and
thread bare characters. Like the
young patricians, who held their mid
night conclaves at the house of Marcus
Lecca, they formed the Knights of
the Golden Circle, they banded to-
gether as the Sons of Liberty, they
swore fidelity to each other and took
upon themselves oaths of enmity against
theGovernment, they adopted the man.
ner and habits of the assassin, and more
than one foul murder marked their
guilty career. In some parts Of the
country their influence almost paral-
yzed the Government. The President
tried to win them to its support
High positions in the army were offer
cd, and in many instances accepted
by their leaders. Some have remain
cd true, others have used their official
positions for personal aggrandizement,
and have done the nation more harm
than they could have effected by open
treason. They were found in the New
York Convention, ready to strike
hands again with traitors. They now
ignore tho issue ofthe past and, for the
chances of party promotion, turn
against the cause they but yesterday
supported. They found component
Ohio Convention of the 23d
of June, 1862. In the same year they
carried through the Indiana Legisla-
ture, a resolution declaring: ''That if
an army went from Indiana to assist
in putting down the approaching re
bellion, it must first march over their
dead bodies.'' Their precious bodies,
dead or alive, never got IN the way
of that army. On the sth of June,
1862, at the city of indianapolis, they
Resolved, THAT the South had been
driven into the contest by the uncon
stitutional and wicked aggressions of
the people of the North" They de
clared openly they had no pleasure in
Southern disasters, nor joy for North
ern success. They armed themselves
and collected large stores of military
supplies, with which to aid the re-
bellion. And though the President
of whom it may be said (Justum ct
tenacem, propositi, virum.) Not the
rage OF the people, urging ruin to
the land, not the threatening tyrant
could shake from his resolution, the
man whose purpose was settled, whose
object was Just, had said: My para
mount object IS to saue the Union, and
not either to saye or destroy slacery.-
They denounced the war as an AbO,
lition crusade against the rights and
property of the South. They uttered
bitter invectives against the soldiers in
the field, and printed foul insults to
their families at home. Among the