Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1872-10-05

measures designed 10 keep u nv
Shareholders. anxious "tO 20 out"
but drcading the "cOercive measures"
read Mr.. Grceley's pledge repnblisIed
in every Sonthern paper Its effect
is well known. Among the infn-
ence that changed the dOuhting and
hesitating white men Of the South in
to firm aud ardent scccs>ionists, none
was more effective than Mr.. Grcelcy's
pledge to "resist all cocrcive
mcasmes." Whether that pledge was
the means Of turning the scale, and
giving the active scccssiOnists their
majority, We may not certainly know
until the day of fnalle kJning. Bat
this we do know, that for all the rria,
desOlatiOn and III scry Of the ecccssiun
war, no man, North or South, is
more respo Jsibie than Mr.. Greeley.
1t is worthy of note that Mr. Gree
ley admitted the WqgHHy of seces-
sion. lie admitted the right Of the
Cover. .mcnt to save the Union by
''cOcrcive m'asu. cs,' but Insisted that
NAlN ObNNl HuDfilAN H'bI tAtltlFt
that right. If he had thought the
Union had ~ right t. defend itself,
he would have takrna IA position where
a brave man, entertaining that opinion,
might sorrowfully stand. But admit
ting the right to defend the nat on's
life, he insisted that il should not lie
defended, but he baselv surrendered
without a blow The treason of his
position was only surpassed by its
cOwardicc.
Mr.. Black president Bnchanam's
Attorney Gcncral) saw this dastardly
plank in Mr.. Grecley's platform, aud,
under his Twice given November q,
1860, Mr.. Buchanan, IN MS last a.
nual message to Congress, took the
ground that the Government had no
right ''to coerce' seeding State
Observe the dates and the langua"e,
and you will see thu, under Blu ks
advice, Buchanan adopted Greeley's
secession doctrine, all Int the coward
ly par of il. The vennmnus abuse
with which Mr.. Greeley fullowcd
President Buchanan to his gave, and
Mr.. Black up to the year of grace
1872, may lie explained by the fact
tha, their rejection of the pusillani-
nous plank of his secession plat
form exposed him 10 universal con-
tempt.
When he found his secession prin-
ciples unpopular, and the subscription
list of the I, Lunc falling off, that
paper suddenly advocated an ex-
terminating and merciless prosecution
of the war, Notwithstanding a vast
majority OF the Southern whites, en-
couraged by his solemn pledge, had
"deliberatel v resolved to go ont"
Suppose he hired 20 mel oly else to
write. the Tribune articles advocating
the prosecution Of the war. Is he
irresponsible for hiring somebody to
write what he was ashamed to write
himself. ] will do him lao iniusli e.
/ have no doubt Ire did employ some
body else to write articles in his paper
advocating the USE of "coercive
measures" lie is, in principle,
secrssionist to-day, as he was when he
wro tEat article of Nov 'ml'tr 9,
1860. l ol serve lie is s umping tie
county in lis own hclalf. Wien he
ma c. his ext stump speech, let any
one ask him, in the face of the world,
if Le still holds the doctrine of seccs-
sion as stated 10y him on the 359th
page o his "llistory of the American
Conflict" and he may try 10 evade
the question; but if he is compelled
to give a direct. manly and true
answer, EYES, or ''No," he will an
swer" "Ies." His secession faith is the
basis of his whole political character.
On that b, sis he urged the taxation of
the county to pay the slavehol iero
for their slaves, when he knew they
wou'd not sell them. That plan VAS
part of his system calculated to
encourage secession hy convincing
the South that the North was trembl-
ing with terror, and would do any
thing but fight for natiuual existence.
"Whenever any considerable sec
tion of our Union shall deliberately
resolve TO 90 ont, we shall resist all
coercive measures to keen it in, says
Mr.. Greeley. "Whenever" includes
the four years ofthe next Presidential
term. Suppose that during that term
"a considerable portion of our Union
shall deliberately resolve to go out"
Mr.. Greeley stands pledged ''to resist
all c. erci>e measures designed to
keepit in." How much the election of
such a man to the Presidency would
stimulate secession, we shall never
know, because the honest masses Of
the people will never allow such a
man to he elected. They will never
put the Government into his hands to
enable him to redeem that pledge,
This doctrine of secession is the
only article Of political faith TO which
he has shown any disposition to ad-
here. He was supposed to be an un-
hinching ligh-tariH man; but, to get
iree.trade votes, he pledges himself
to smother and suppress his opinions
on the tariff question, aid 10 give no
advice aud use no influence on that
question, which he has pressed as of
the most vital Importance to the
country. He has given no pledge to
smother and suppress his opinions or
the secession question. What such Il
pledge would he worth, while his
pledge "to RESIST all coeroive meas
nres" remains unredeemed, you can
Judge as we'll as 1.
If such a man could be elected
President, what would he do when
his secession views had encouraged
the South to secede againY He
would, of course, again offer to hire
them IN remain by having for their