Year: 1866

AuOUu6T w DIE


We find the following item going the rounds
of the Copperhead papers


q Hon. Montgomery Blair made speech at
Reading, Pa, on the 18th of July, in which he
predicted, that should the Radicals carry the
October election the result would be the estao-
lishment of two Presidents and two Congresses,
for the Radicals would then Immediately inn
peach President Johnson and turn him out, while
on the other hand the Democratic members OF
Congress would unite with the regularly elected
members from the South. That the battlefield
would be in the North, while the South would
remain unit"


If it be true that Mr. Blair made such state
ment in his Speech he seems disposed to set him
self up as prophet of the sraw-head and bloody
bones y order and, as he is politician, and
claims to be a shrewd and intelligent man, it is
not probable he would predict anything so start
ling, and so much to be deprecated by all good
men, and by all sincere friends of free and pop
ular government, as another war, unless he could
see unmistakeable indications of its approach
The conclusion, then, is, that Mr. Blair recogni-
yes as his prospect for war, determine
ton of a faction to resist certain governmental
measures of policy, should they be demanded by





free citizens of the loyal States. He assumes to
be dissatisfied with the policy of Congress, and
announces, as a warning to the people, that If
majority sustain it, the act will instigate war;
and that the only way to preserve peace is for
the people to surrender their principles, compro-
mise with imperious usurpers of power, and sub
NIT to the domineering arrogancy of that spirit
that has been for years striving to overturn our
free national institutions and sap the foundations
ofour republican government. This announce
ment of Mr.. Blair is suggestive.


There is disagreement between the Executive
and legislative branches of the government upon
the question of the reconstruction of the rebel
States. To " avoid war;" the Constitutional
powers of the representatives of the people must
be ignored, and the autocratc power assumed by
the Executive adopted. Laws Of Congress, de-
signed as landmark to guide the Executive and
protect the rights of the people must be annulled,
or suffered to remain dead letter upon the stat
ute books and u one-man-power must be
acknowledged. The life-giving principles of the
Declaration of Independence, which have been
recognized heretofore in the management of the
United States government, must be sunk in the
vault of infamy, and tyranny that will bind the
consciences and minds of men and mould them
to become its subjects, must be installed as
controlling power. The insiduous death-spot
which so long gnawed at the genius of popular
liberty, and which was supposed to have been
exercised by the events of the war, in order to
preserve peace must be so far restored as to give
it increased power for evil, and the plighted faith
of the nation must be violated, its solemn obl-
cations repudiated, and its honor forfeited. In
order to assure peace, the national authority
must be subjected to the plotter of treason; the
soldier of liberty, who dsarmed the insurgent
must bow to the unrepentant rebel, and the vir-
tue that sustained the nation through the slaugh-
ter of the battlefield, must cringe to the lcen-
tious tyranny of rapine and kiss the unwashed
hand that sought its destruction. In order to
secure peace, the spoiler and murderer must go
unwhpt of justice; the traicker in the lives, lib
erty and happiness of his fellow-beings must be
honored the reckless spoiler must be inducted
into places of trust the mountebank must be
pensioned upon the public treasury the plum





Constitution and laws designed to govern the
nation must be sustained the perjured official
must receive increased confidence; not only the
deprayed but the profigate must be nurtured by
the nation or admitted to the management of the
public business. The soldier who, at the call of
his country, was manned in defending its honor,
must be passed by, or share his modicum of ma
tion's need Of justice with the insurgents who
sought his life lin short, human liberty, based
upon truth and justice, must be prone in the
dust, the many must become subject to the few,
and anarchy and the tyranny of oppression must
be elevated to the pinnacle of glory and reign
triumphant over subjugated nation.


But it may be said that this is an overdrawn
picture, and that Mr. Blair does not contemplate
carrying his war to such extreme results. Let
us not misunderstood the question. We have
only stated what these insurgents require of the
freemen of the nation in order to the prom
ise off future peace. The picture is not over
drawn it is simple portraying of the condi-
tions by which Mr. Blair says another sanguina-
ry struggle may be avoided


But Mr.. Blair portrays certain disastrous re-
suits to follow 1" if the radicals carry the Octo-
ber elections Then the Constitutional express
sion of the honest views of the free people of
Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, for they hold
their elections in October, if opposed to the cap
tious dogmatism of Montgomery Blair and his
master, is to be the signal for an onslaughtan a
seizure of the Capitol against the rightful posses
sion of Constitutional and loyal Congress-
The sage prophet supposes the radicals will car
ry the October elections, but, notwithstanding
their verdict will be the will Of the majority
another war is to be the result, in which !" the
battlefield will be in the North, while the South
will remain unit" Does he suppose that the
+" Boys in Blue = have forgotten how to fight,
and that they will hold back when Constitution
al liberty and the social rights of man are inva-
ded, and their own inherent and blood-bought
privileges are assailed Does he suppose his puny
threats OF another rebellion will deter the veter-
ans, who barred their breasts to the serted ranks
of armed rebels, from doing their duty to their
God and to their country at the polls To be
fore-warned is to be fore-armed, and Mr.. Blair
and bis associate abettors of treason will learn to
their cost that if Congress finds it necessary to
call for military force to protect the liberties OF
the people, the instigators of the overt acts will
be held to a strict accountability, and will be
dealt with so that loyal men will have no cause
to complain. Officially, Congress is the nations
voice, and Congressional laws are the peoples
mandates. The President is the officer required
-sea these mandates executed, and to transcend


usurpatiOn Of power. For all his