The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-10-31

we're IN the nanQS Oh tneIE pMHi StN
hey had reelected Mr.. Hendricks for
our years more. Then came q succession
II enactments by Congress which plunged
he nation into insolvency and aroused
he passions and hatred OF every North:
arm man who was not an the pay OF
he General Government. The SUI
preme Court Of the United States
was reduced to FIVE members, by
of four, and afterwards in
creased 10 nine, by appointing four
men. The constitutional amend
nents abolishing slavery and entranchis-
ing the negro were declared by the court
10 be null and void, because the South
ern States had not been permitted to vote
on their ratification; the officers OF the
army and navy who had resigned in 1851
were all restored to rank; the wounded
rebel soldiers were placed upon the pen
sion list; the negro man who committed
petty crime was sentenced TO servitude at
the hands OF his prosecutor; loan oil two
thousand millions Of dollars was created
to compensate the Southern people for
the loss Of their slaves; the army was in
creased 10 100000 men and placed under
command OF Gen, Mcclellan; Gems. Sher-
man and Sheridan (who you know were
brilliant generals OF the Union army
having thrown up their commissions In
disgust; the old flag was discarded and a
white one adopted in its stead, typical OF
white mans government; and many
other things were done, my son, during
the eight years which succeeded Mr.. Til
den's election, which brought about a con-
dition OF anarchy and ruin.
1t ia nearly twenty years ago that the
largest meeting have ever seen was held
at Independence Square, in Philadelphia,
from which message was sent by an in--
dignant populace to the Northern men
in Congress imploring them to permit the
Southern States TO withdraw from the
Confederation; but there came back,
with m insolent and triumphant ieer,
the message from President Hendricks,
that "the war Of 1861 had established the
inviolability OF the American Union; il
any man hauled down the American flag,
shoot him on the spotw This bold and
defiant message staggered the Northern
people for the moment, and they paused;
but when large bodies Of soldiers who
had served in the rebel army were march.
ed into our midst under the lead OF
Beauregard and Wade Hampton; the
camel's back was broken, forbearance
became a vice, and the Northern peo.
ple seized their muskets and sought to
protect themselves. An army OF quar-
Of million OF men was organized in the
Southern States andmarched into Mary.
land; Pennsylvania was quickly subdued
and placed under martial law; New
Jersey was seized, and from the spot on
which we stand, New York was shelled
and forced to acknowledge her allegiance
to the General Government. Your poor
father fell MORALLY wounded upon that
occasion"
"And was he rebel, grandpa ?" inquir'
ed the youth.
"Thai ia what they call US, my son; and
| supnose they were right, though we al:
ways fought under the old stars and
stripes. Your poor mothers house was
burned TO the ground; you were babe in
her arms, and she and hundreds Of other
women and children fed, as best they
could, toward the Northern States. Your
mother reached Boston only to learn that
sho was widow; bat she found hersel
only one OF thousands similarly afflicted
Well. my boy, there then followed fy'
years OF bloody war. In Pennsylvania
and New Jersey, Illinois and Indiana, thu
elections were carried by force Of MARTA
law-New England still stood firm-NeV
York became the battlefield; yonder
once proud metropolis, for two years wa!
neutral ground, held alternately by th'
North and South-a few years ago sh'
boosted OF great blocks OF storehouses, in
situations OF learning, and museums 0
art; to-day she is simply the seaport OF
single State: whilst once she had great
er trade than New Orleans or Richmond
or Savannah, here to-day"
as it possible, grandpa? And woul'
she have been great as ever il we had no
separated?"
ayes, my son, the greatest seaport il
the world. But am losing the thread
OF my story. As | said, New York be
came the battle-ground, and for five long
years more than two millions OF men hat
commended for the mastery, one fighting
for the Union, US they called ii; tn,
other fighting 10 be released from ;
slavery worse than death. Thousands o
Americans emigrated to other more
peaceful climes; thousands fled to the
northern extremity OF New England
l 4 lie NFa
utterly disorganized, and anarchy reignec
supreme. 1t was in the year 1885, jus
ten years after the election Of Mr.. Tilden
that peace was declared. And what ;
peace! A peace not prompted by frater
nifty Of the two people, but dictated b!
foreign powers. The New England States
glad 10 free Themselves from the yoke o
the Southern Government, became at
tached to the Kingdom Of Canada, which
though now an independent nation
was then colony OF Great Britain
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, I'LL
nois and Indiana remained will
the United States, government
which to-day owes billion OF debt, ant
does not own dollar OF gold TO pay !
with. The extreme Southern States, at
ter driving to the North every infiru
black man, have reopened the African
slave trade, and will, perhaps, soon be
come involved in IN European war il
consequence; the extreme Western States
which in olden times were called the Pa
cifc States-after bloody strife for pos
session oil the Union Pacific Railroad
which was then then the great artery o
communication between the East AMI
West, but which does not exist to-day a
all-fnally broke up into Independent
States and New York, where you and
reside, remains another independent
State, without trade or commerce, with
her people divided as to whether Canad
or the United States is her proper place
and fit subject for another battle.groun,
when the next war comes, as it assured.
will" ,
"And how was all this ruin brough
about? Could it have been prevented, d
you think, grandpa%
"Yes, my son, easily. There was
time when your father and !, and ever
sensible man, could have seen the hand
writing on the wall had we not bee
blinded by the desire for change, an
tickled by the deceptive cry Of Reform
which was then 80 popular. It was jus
after the October election in the oil
State OF Indiana in 1876, where III
Democratic party gained victory. TIL
victory elated the Southern Democrat
IN such a degree that in the streets Of In