Year: 1863

VI ..
great idea-The homogeneou.ness of the peo>
I pie of the States. We, however, dissent from
/ the views entertained by Mr.. Lincoln and the
Republican party in this respect. We deny
that the free States were in the least arrested
in their progress in prosperity or happiness by
the servie labor Of the Southern States, and
in support Of our position can safely appeal to
all the history Of the past. fearless of contra
dicton. And no one can have the temerity
to insist that the prosperity or happiness OF
the free States was ever disturbed by the So
cial habits of the people, or the relation Of
master and servant IN a distant slave State
But the homogeneousness which our Republi
can friends require, in order to make the free
States prosperous and happy. is the equality Of
the races,-which the Democratic party regard
not only as uuwise bat absolutely impractica-
ble. On this idea we do now and will forever
disagree. We claim that there is so great an
inequality between the African and Caucasian
races. that not all the military and moral pow
er of the United States can either elevate the
one or depress the other TO a common level.
And the Democratic party can assume this
position without at all advocating the morali-
ty, the excellence, or the wisdom of the insti-
tuition of slavery in the States where it exists.
But this very matter enters, now, as political
element uto the policy Of the Republican par
" in the conduct Of the war, and although il
mas stand directly in the way of a restoration
OF the Union. it has been determined by the
Administration that no citizen shall be permit
ted to fight or command in battle, for the
preservation of the Government, who does not
give the emancipation proclamation of
freedom to the negro his unconditional sup.
port. And if it shall not remain as an ele-
ment in the complications of the war and res
toration Of the Union, the people must arise
and by the ballot-box. turn the Republican
party out of power.


Having explained the general view of par
as an element of the war, we propose TO con-
slider the PRESENT STATE OF THE WAR, AND
THE Position OF The DEMOCRACY IN RESPECT
TO IT:


Secession an Idea, not Principle.


The origin of the American civil war, like
the power and energy with which it has been
conducted, is perhaps without parallel in the
history of nations. Civil wars have rarely
broken out in the midst OF general prosperity
ard social happiness, when the rights of per
son and property were universally held sacred
and protected when the remedies for redress
of individual wrong or grievance were unob-
structed, and when all the citizens were in
position Of perfect equality in the country
We may look in vain to discover a single
principle. in fact involved in the controversy
Immediately preceding the commencement Of
hosuities No substantial right OF individuals
or of communities had been, until then, actual
" invaded. There was no common cause of
quarrel between the people of the different
sections of the country. Friendly intercourse
and commerce were carried on between the
sections without obstruction or dlminutiOn I'D
to the very moment practical secession was
inangurated in any particular State. There
had been no personal strife or mlsunderstand-
ings, except between some of the Abolition
aud Secession leaders at the capitol of our
common country. 1t was long before the
combatan,s in the fields of battle, except in a
very few individual cases. could be inspired
with hatred and malice against each other,
sufficient to fight with wicked determination.
The first battles resembled more in their spirit,
the tournaments of friendly knights, intent
upon the exhibition of their manhood and per-
sOnal proves. The killed, the wounded and
the prisoners were all treated in spirit of
magnanimity worthy Of the highest refinement
and civilization. In McClellan's first battle,
the commander of the opposing forces, Gen.
Garnett, was slain, and his body was taken
embalmed and sent with the greatest care, at
great distance. to the relatives of the de-
ceased, accompanied with words of kindness
from the young victorious chieftan.


The true and only real cause of the war was
an IDEA,-the idea Of empire, of Southern ma
tionaldy and independence. Every effect must
have an adequate cause IN the moral as well as
the natural world. The idea was the growth
of years. resulting from feeling of insecurity
to their local institutions. arising out Of the
organization of a sectional party in the North
based upon hostility to those institutions. ia
king shape and form upon the political dogma
of the homogeneousness of the races and the
idea eliminated aud leaped into active exis
tence, like Minerva springing from the head OF
Jove, at the very instant when a successful
Presidential election placed this sectional party
in possession OF the vast machinery OF powers
of the Federal Government. This idea was
grand conception Of aggrandizement, of glory.
and of power in an empire stretching from the
Missouri, Ohio and Potomac on the North, 10
the Gulf of Mexico on the South, and from
the Atlantic on the East, to the Rio Grande
on the West. with future indefinite extension
towards the Southwest. 1t was conception
worthy of the American mind 10 its very gran
deur. This was the real moral point and prac
teal object Of the struggle. II it had not been
so. the leaders Of the South would have adhe-
red to the old Constitution and the flag. Had
it resulted simply in redress Of grievances, or
as preventive remedy for apprebended wrongs.
the Southern people would have fought with
all their heroism and material power within
the Union, under the Constitution. and beneath
the waving folds of their old, time hoDored
standard.


War, to Conquer the Idea,


This being the real state of the case, the
policy of the war on our part should have been
wisely adapted to conquer the grand idea and
conception which alone gave power and vitali
ty TO the cause OF our opponents. No necessity
existed TO wage war upon the States, or against
any of the local rights and institutions of the
Individual States. 1t should have been waged,
If waged at all, against Southern beAlgerent
power, claiming to be a unit, nationality