Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-07-25
The Crime of Striking at Nations Life.

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the severest possible punishment.
Nor does it matter by what means
the attempt is made. 1t may be by
armed rebellion, or by secret conspir-
acy to overthrow the institutions of a
country. And the guilt is the same,
when by majorities obtained by fraud
or violence, or both, the reasonable
end is sought through the enactment of
laws by which the existing Government
may be overthrown.
To frame mischief by law is as
criminal as to work iniquity with pis-
tol or with soldiers and cannon.
There are forms of treason which,
under our Government, are more dan
gerous than any army in the field, be-
cause the plot may be perfected and all
things prepared for deadly blow be-
fore the overt act is committed which
renders the conspirators amenable to
law.
The chief actors in the great rebel
lion were as truly traitors while plot
ting treason in Congress and elsewhere
as when they plunged the country into
actual war; and exactly the same spirit
which preceded then the terrible con-
flict of arms is manifested now, in Con-
gress and out of it, and naughty threats
and bitter words are fast bringing the
country to the state in which it was
before Sumter was attacked, and in
which, as then, spark would kindle
universal conAagration.
There is no spectacle of earth that
can compare in grandeur with the un-
folding of the life of great Nation,
advancing with steady progress to the
maturity of its powers, and extending
its territory toward the limits pre-
scribed by Him who sets beforehand
the bounds of the Nations. Gradually
it acquires national character distinct
from all others. it perfects language,
it produces literature, it creates po-
etry, art and eloquence peculiarly its
own. 1t frames a body of laws and
civil and religious institutions, it arms
itself with an army and navy, and when
it strikes foe it is with the concen-
trated force of all the millions of its
population.
Such Nation extends its Influence
far beyond its territorial limits; it be-
comes one of the great forces which
shape the destiny of the world. Loyal
| ty to such power ennobles its citizens.
They receive a portion of the grand
national life into their own souls, and
feel themselves exalted. The glory of
the common country fires them with an
enthusiasm which makes them capable
of grander thoughts and nobler deeds.
The life of such a Nation does not
wholly die. The spirit of the great
powers of antiquity did not expire with
that decay. Something from each has
come down through the ages, and is re-
embodied in the institutions of this
modern world.
Such considerations will help us to
measure the guilt OF those who, having
once failed to destroy the American
Nation with traitors stroke, are now,
with intent as deadly as before, aiming
a second blow.
Our country has now mostly recov-
cred from the exhaustive and all the
varied forms of destruction brought
upon her by great civil war, and is
assuming the attributes of a Nation,
and beginning to bring forth and ar
range for use such rich and varied re-
sources as God never bestowed on any
other people. The future opens to us
with grander promises than ever before
invited people to noble achievement.
| The foremost thinkers of Europe, after
having carefully examined our ma
chinery and our productions, declare
that in inventive genious we surpass all
others. We are gaining possession of
the markets of the world, the Ameri-
can name is becoming name of power,
and our flag is already regarded in Eu-
rope as a symbol of what is soon to be
the mightiest and wealthiest Nation
upon earth.
Now, what terms can fitly describe
either the guilt or folly of the men who,
from petty local ambition, or for the
spoils of Office, or because they cannot
! themselves rule in their own way, be-
cause the naughty swagger no longer
alarms and threats no longer intimi-
date, propose if possible to destroy the
| National power and authority, to strip
the Government of every proper attrib-
ute, to break into fragments this struct-
ure which the American people have
reared, and so render impossible the
great future which genius and industry
and integrity and union have opened
| before themP
Independent States, each isolated
from each, each sovereign, with no
common life or common purpose or in
terest, jealous of each other, antago-
nizing instead of giving mutual sup
port, incapable of progress or self-de-
fence-this instead of great American
Nation is what these narrow-minded,
short-sighted consplrators are prepar-
ing for our people. Whatever the in
termediate steps may be, this is the re-
suit to which the Estate rights doc
trine inevitably leads, and every move
ment of the Democrats shows that this
is their purpose so plainly that no man
need mistake.
They have assailed the National cred
it, the National executive, the army,
the National laws and authority, and
have attempted to destroy the jurisdic-
ton of the National courts in matters
essential to the National life. If they
should succeed, not a single attribute
| of proper National Government would
be left. Even the external forms of
supreme central authority would soon
disappear, and the American republic
would be resolved into comparatively
petty principalities, incapable alike of
progress and of self-defense. Foreign
powers would be only too happy to
avail themselves of such state of
things, and then some form of union
would be necessary for self-defeAse, and
that reheading would be under mill
tary power and a crown, because this
constitutional union once destroyed,
would never be restored.-C Cincinnati
Gazette.
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