The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1869-03-10

I =
ton of foreign conquests, Of per
sonal ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, and the
desire to WELD additional power.
Let them with justice, consider
that l have not unduly magnifed
mine office.
The public burdens have not
been increased by my acts and
others and perhaps thousands or
ten thousands of lives sacrificed
to visions of false glory. 1t can
not then be charged that my am
bition has beeh that of an ordina-
~ or criminal kind which, to the
detriment of the peoples rights
and liberties, ever seeks to grasp
more and unWarFapted powers ;
and, to accomplish its purpose,
panders too often to popular pref
udices and party aims. What
then have been the aspirations
which guided me in my official
acts!
These acts need not at this time
an elaborate explanation. They
have elsewhere been comprehen=
sively and fully discussed and be-
come part of the nations history.
By them | am ready to be judged
knowing that, however imperfect,
they at least show to the impair
tial mind that my sole ambition
has been to restore the union of
the States, faithfully to execute
the office of President and to the
best of my ability, to preserve,
protect, and defend the Constitu-
ton. l cannot be censured, if
my efforts have been impeded in
the interest of party faction, and
of a policy which was intended
to reassure and conciliate the
people of both sections of the
country, was made the occasion
of infaming and dividing still
further those who were recently
in arms against each other, yet as
individuals and citizens were sin
cerely desirous, as I shall ever
believe, of burying all hostile
feelings in the grave Of the past.
The bitter war was waged, on the
part of the Government, to vim
dicate the Constitution and save
the Union, and if I have erred in
trying to bring about a more
speedy and lasting peace, to ex.
tinguish heart burnings and en-,
mites, and to prevent trouble in
the South, which, retarding mate
rial prosperity in that region, in
iuriously affected the whole coun'
try. l am quite content to rest
my case with the more deliberate
Judgment of the people, and, as
have already intimated, with the
distant future.
The war all must remember, wa!
q stupendons and deplorable mistake
Neither side understood the other
and had this simple fact and its con
clusions been kept in mind, all tina
was accomplished by the acknowledl
ment of the terrible wrong of the ex
pressed bitter feeling and the earnes
endeavOr at atonement shown ant
felt in the prompt ratification OF tn
constitutional amendments by tn
Southern States at the close Of IN
war.
Not accepting the war as contesse'
false step on the part of those who In
augurated it, it was an error Wnlel
none only Time can cure, and which
even at this late date, we should en-
deavOr to palliate, experiencing more
over, as all have done, the frighttu
cost of the arbitramenJ of the sword
Let US in the future cling closer tina
: ever to the Constitution as our onI
, safeguard. 1t is to be hoped that, nc
until the burdens now pressing upo
us with such fearful weight are reno
, we'd, will our people forget the lesson
of the war, and that remem oerlns
: from whatever cause, peace betWee
. the sections and the States may |
perpetuated, the history of the La
> events in our country, as wen as
: the greatest governments OF aneleI
= and modern times, teaches US that
4 have everything to fear from q depa
y ture from the letter and spirit oI u
7, Constitution, and the undue ascei
l dancy of men allowed to assun
c power in what are considered despe
n ate emergencies. Sylla, on becOmlI
; measures to crush his enemies ana
consolidate the power of his party:
Y He established initiatOry coloni
t. throughout Italy deprived OF e
Il full Rnman suffrage, the inhabltan
of the Italian towns, who had oppos
II his usurpation, confiscated their Ian
Y and gave them to his soldiers, al
IF conferred citizenship upon a gre
l. mum Der of slaves belonging 10 thC
who had prescribed him, thus ere
., ting at Rome a kind Of body qua
l. for his protection, After having 81
al en- Rome over to slaughter, and "
n annized beyond all example oN
those opposed to him and his leglo
e, his terrible instrument of wrong, s.
Us ls could yet feel >fe in laying do'
sr the ensigns of power SO dreadful
o. abused, in mingIing freely With [
- families and friends Of his myriads
victims. The fear, which he had
u spired, continued after his volunts
1T abdication, and even in retireme
# his will was law to a people who +
&C permitted themselves to be enSlaY
What but a subtle knowledge a
re conviction that the Roman peo
lg had become changed, discouraged 8
I'd utterly broker In spirit could ht
irduced this daring assumption
What, but public indifference to C
~ sequences so terrible as to leave Ro
1T open to every calamity, which sui
ce quently left her, could have justit
m the conclusions of the dictator and
-, rant in his startling experiment?
oh find that in the time which has 81
IN elapsed, human nature and exigen'
re- in governments have not gres
en- changed. Who, a few years ago
n; contemplating our future, could n
~ : supposed that in brief period Of
ne tie experience everything deman
in the name of military emergency
ON. dictated by caprice, would come Il
o.{ considered as mere matters OF couI
conscriptions, confiscatiOn, loss OF
en- sonal liberty, the subsection of st
he to military rule and disfranchisem
hts with the extension of the right
suffrage merely to accomplish pi
ends would receive the passive
IN mission if not acquie- cence of the
the pie of the Republic? Ithas been cl
nv ly demonstrated by recent occurre