#
am
. lution been adopted, the then vacilating
TF.
The Itluse,
{For the Democratic Watchman,
A VISIOA.
BY J. P. NM.
The mystic, unknown regioz, the dwelling of the
cu . |
The fathom ese Hercafler, where £0 many hopes |
are fled— .
How silent are its chambers, how fir and yet how
near
The shadowy land to which ‘are gone the friends
once with us here ;
A moment, and the living, like a wave upon the
shore.
Sigh out their dying murmurs and are with us
nevermore;
A moment is the distance that hides from us their
face
Yet the eye of "man has sought in vain to pene-
trate the space. :
But tell ine not they never come to view those
scenes again,
Where, with the friends of life, they've been, in
joy as well as pain.
[is sweet to think that thoss I've loved ae some-
times ling’ring near,
That they hover ‘round my pillow and whisper
words of cheer ;
That they see me as L struggle by the world’s
rough tempests tossed,
That they know I still am mourning for the dear
ones I have lost;
That they know I hope to greet them when the
cares of life are o'er, ; -
In a happy, happy country where we'll never sor-
row more.
I have heard they never come but to whisper
words of gloom, .
That they never bring a message but of gortow
from the tomb,
That they only come at midnight, or in the morn-
ing’s gray 0
To tell, in mournful cadence, of joys that lee
away.
* * * * * * * * *
It was by the light of morning when the stars
grew faint and pale, i es
As I tried to read my future in the night-wind’s
d i
ail,
ard a foot-fall, soft as the dawning
it,
When I turued my eyes to gaze upon a spirit clad
in white. .
Surely earth could not produce a being half go fair
As that whose face I gazed upon through waves
of sunny hair;
I thought there was a hale of heavenly light
around,
And, fearing to disturb the shado, I uttered not a
sound.
A moment thus it met me—a time I'll ne'er forget;
Gh, the memory of its beauty is living with me
yet ! "
It varied fike a shadow as transieat as our
breath ;
It spoke no word of sorrow, it breathed no thought
of death,
But often when the shadows stand around the dy-
ing light,
I sce, still smiling on me, that vision of the
night.
Its messages are bright ones—it brings no thought
Methoug
oO
But softly b , «look upward, I hope to
meet, thee thers.”
How I eng to meet that angel where we never
mors shall part,
r the morning it first met me, it stole away my
heart.
Hewarp, PA, March 30th, 1883.
(For de Vemocratic Watchman
A WARKDE RER™S LAMENT.
BY MARY WEAVER.
In this land I am a stranger,
Friends, companions, haye I n®ne;
Q’er the world I am a rawger--
Oh! that I could have a home!
Yes, a home, though poor and lowly,
It would be a home to me;
And my cwu—oh ! “owould be lovely !
In my fauey, it, I see.
Those who hive their homes, I envy,
Though I know it is not right;
All wy lite is but a shadow,
Like unto the deepest night.
Yet a home in Ifsaven there's for me,
Apd T Juek toward the day,
shall § vy upward,
n eluy.
od Til rest forever,
w3 Will ba done;
¢ feeb of Jesus,
blessed hone.
Ber
SPEECH OF HON. BENJAMIN WOOD.
Separation with a View to Reconstruction
PEACE AND FRATERNAL RELATIONS.
During the first session of the present
Congress, and one week before the slanghrer
at Manassas had awakened our people to
the realities ol war, I offered in this House
the following resolution : :
Resolved, That this Congress recommend
the Governors of the several States to con-
yene their wegisiatures for the purpose of
cailing an election to select two delegates
{rem cach Congriseional district, to meet in
general convention at Louisville, Kentucky,
on the first Monday of September next, the
purposes of the said convention to be to de-
vise measures for the restoration of peace tp
our country. ;
That resolution was laid upon the table.
In its place, from time to time, emated from
this and other branches of the Government,
certain edicts, laws and proclamations,
which, while powerless to affect rebellion at
the South, have tevolutionized the political
sentiment, of the North.
Sir, I sincerely believe that, had mv reso-
teeling of the South would have been won
to hoporable compromise, and the blessings
of rk and Union would this day bless the
land. But even if cffectual—looking back
to the period when I presented it, and over
the blood-stained record: of the intervening
time—1 feel that its adoption could have
lent no additional horrors to that fearful
history. If the logic of events should
bring the conviction that the course I then
suggested wight have averted from: our
country the curse of a desolating war, the
responsibility of its rejection will not be
mine
Sir, 1 desire to shun the language of re-
proach, and to avoid any unnecessary retro-
spection. 1 drag the past from 1s shroud
only 88 an imploration for the future. For
We have inflamed oursaslves into the wildest
state of warlike frenzy. In our legislative
halls. in our market places, and in our tem-
ples of worship, we have tumbled the white
image of peace from its pedestal. Upon the
“edge of the sword we have ballanced our
country’s fate. We have rebuked and veri-
fied end chastised and shut out from the
light of heaven all those who would not re-
egho the hoarse notes cf war.
Passion, excitement and overstrained phi-
Janthropy, o false inspiration for the emblem
of our nationality, a heroic but misdirected
devotion to the Union. ail these have had
their sway. Lt is time that reasou should
git in judgement, taking counsel only from
humanity, We invoked the spirit of war to
gave—it came but to destroy. Our treasu-
ries are cmptied. Our posterity will be
cursed with a crushing debt. Hundreds of
thousands of our bravest men rest mn un-
timely graves. As many more, limbless,
with shattered frames or broken by disease,
moan in hospitals, or crave alms by the high-
ways. Everywhere the garb of mourning
ufilicts the eye. -a silent reproach from or-
phans widows and bereaved parents. The
death-blow stcuck upon the battie-field is
felt in the cottager’s distant house. There
you may find the record of the war. You
will trace it in the lines upon the matron’s
brow ; you will sug it in the subdued fones
of the father’s voice, who fuels the staff of
his age shivered from his grasp. Graves in
our valleys, sufferersan cur hospitals, deso-
lation at eyery hearth-stone, distrust in our
rulers, distrust in curselves, bankruptey,
anarchy and cain - these are the triumphs
won by your relentless policy.
All that has been done has been what,
were the past revocable, treason and human-
iy would recall. With all respect for the
valor of our armies, and without reproach
to the capacity or fidelity of our generals,
not one tangle of this Gordian knot has the
sword severed ; not one avenue has it earv-
ed through the frowning und steadily eu-
larging barrier between North and South.
The close of each campuign tells the re-
peated tale of victories barren of all fruits,
or of defeats with an cqual aksence of re-
sult; of advance aud relrogression; of
genersls hurried up to the high post of
honor, and as hastily thrast aside. The
Administration, through its pariisan pres-
ses, cecupies the people with rich premi-
scs of achievements in the future, but
achieves ouly the stale nothings of the
past. Assuming that the reconstruction of
the Union 13 the object of the struggle, I
ask every citizen not wilfully blind to our
present condition, have we not heen reced-
ing from that object 2 Hag all this blood
letting abated one jot the fever of rebellion ?
Has it not confirmed its malignity— deeg-
seated it into the very southern heart 2 Sir,
1t has done more ; it has made disunion the
sentiment of the entire South.
1t is habitual to throw the weight of re-
sponsibility for our impotence npon the ad-
ministration and its generals. Imbecility
ard incompetenee have indeed been sulli-
ciently conspicuous, but not to these do I
attribute the failure—the utter unequivocal,
wremediable failure of our enterprise of con-
quering back the Union. ‘The failure of
the scheme is simply due to the impossibil-
ity of its uccomplishment. We exn never,
Ly force of arms, control the will of a peo-
ple ous equals in the attri butes of enlight-
ened manhood ; and while the will of that
people remains adverse to political compan-
ionship with us, political companionship is
impossible. Bloodshed, destruction of prop-
arty, and occupation of lands are possible;
much suflering, grief, and folly are possible—
we have too sadly proved 1t; but a con-
strained union of sovereign states is an im-
possibility, which, if omnipotence could ac-
complish, omniscicuce would not attempt.
Six millions of Americans, whether they oc-
cupy the North, the South. the East, or the
West, cannot be governed except in accord-
ance with their sovereign will.
Sir, I mean this net as an idle compli-
mert to the American character. The ex-
perience of the past twelve mouths hae re-
vealed in that so much of passion, pride and
bloodthirst, that I am more inclined to hu-
mility than boastfulness. I feel that upon
the fresh, pure coil of the new world we
have thrown the seeds of discord, sad they
will take root. But while my experience,
and the testimony of our fathers through
eighty-seven years of prosperity and pro-
gress, have well established my faith in
the beneficence of a union of the States, I
cannot understand that its blessings are of
a nature to be enjoyed upon compulsion.
But granting it possible, the question
arises of equal moment, is 1t desirable #—
Has not the struggle already been to fierce
to admit of umty and cordial feelng between
a conquering and a conquered section ? Sir,
fear it bas. I believe that, while the mem-
ory of this war exists, the people of the
North and South, united by constramt,
would never sufficiently forgive the past
year's record to admit of friendly relation-
ship in the same political household.
Right or wrong, men will cling to their
own 1m pressions of a great and sanguinary
struggle in which they or their sires have
been participants. Ag the living fathers of
future generations this day feel, so will they
tequeath to their children, avd in natural
course, the North and South will nurse their
awn and separate views of this unparalleled
epoch of carnage and contention,
two years we bave been lengued wiih death.
f
Will the text book of history conned by
the boys of Massachusetts serve hereafter
in the school-rooms or the Carolinas ? Will
the stories of Manassas, of Shiloh. of Antie-
tam, of Fredericksburg, ofa hundred other
battlefields, be told in the same spirit north-
ward and Southward from the banks of the
Potomac 2 Will the winter tales be samilar
when the youth of either section gather
about the hearthstone and feel the young
blood tingle in their veins at the words of
white-haired heroes 2
Will the patrons of Louisina train their
offspring to vencrate the name of Butler?
Will the rememberenceces of Davis, Lee,
and Johnson be identical in New England
and Virgmia 3— No, sir.
consent should reunite us, the pages of his-
tory and the words ot tradition will breathe
of the sympathies that now exist j and th
generations to come will as surely |e
educated to distinct and opposite prejuic s.
‘I'he school-room, the pulpit.aand the press,
would then, as now, inculcate doctrines that
cannot assimilate 3 and in this Capitol the
representatives of the people would be the
representatives of sectional antipathies.
Nir, to avoid this, we must avoid inflicting
the sting of submission or engendering the
pride of conquest.
To me that future of domestic discontent,
of jealousy, distrust and irritation, is so
palpable and painful, that, in place of giv-
ing life and treasure to attain it, [| would
make an equal sacrifice to escape it. Our
fathers gave us a Union founded on mutual
consent, concession, and reciprocal attach-
ment ; would entail upon our children a po-
litical conneetion based upon hatred, suspi-
| cion, and opposivg prejudices: A nationali-
ty thus constituted would be a mockery of
repablicanism end its bane, It would be
as the consummation of a marriage where
antipathy usarped. the place of love. A po-
litical prostitution. The joining of hands be-
fore an altar whose divinity could attest the
heart's irrepressible loathing and disgust.
Had I the faculty to crush with one tlow
the material power of the Soath, I would
not strike. My pride as an American would
revolt at the thought of dragging them, reluc-
tant, helpless and spirit broken, into a fel-
lowship that (hey abhor. Union restored
by subjugation would be but the prelnde of
increasing slicreation. It is not envugh to
air that I would enforce the unnatural
connection : sir, I would not consent to it.
1 would not oppose as a degradation to our-
selves, an insult to our institutions, and a
violation of our principles of seif-govern-
ment. 1 would oppose it us an impediment
to our national progress ; as a perpetuation
of discord and contention beiween states,
and as involving either its own dissolution
or the assumption by the general govern-
ment of military and despotic functions fa-
tal to republicanism. I confess, sir, that I
apprehend no difficulties or misfortunes, in
the event of a separation, at all commensu
rate with those that must inevitably prove
the consequences of 1e-union by mere force
of arms.
I can conceive two great republics, ex-
panding to grandeur, moving side by side,
upon principles almost identical, extending
the area of self government, the one north-
ward and westward, united for mutual de-
fense and protected by a wise and gever-
ous alliance from the jar of conflicting in-
terest. I can conceive them gravitating
towards each otaer, diawing nearer aud
nearer as asperitics and unpleasant memo-
nes soften with the lapse of time, until
when the safe and natural limits of politi-
cal affinity shall have been determined,
the two mighty nations shall emerge again
mito one upon a foundation perfected by the
experiences of the past. But I cannot con-
ceive a happy. prosperous and republican
Jnion, cemented by blood, remoulded in
repugnarce, and prolonged by the submis-
sion of the weak to the dictation of the
strong.
A partnership in our ‘confederacy should
be .granted as a boon, and only to those
that seck it; not enfo ced as an obligation
upon those that ask it not. It should be
held a privilige to be proud of, not at im-
position to shrink from and protest against.
Were I certain that, in a military sense,
this war would prove su3cessful, nevers
theless I would oppose it; for with the
destruction of the resisting power of the
South would vanish every hope of their
existence as equal and contented members
of one household, How much more firmly
then shall I oppose it, when I feel that
as a mere trial for supremacy in arms, it
will result only to mutual exhaustion.
In my view, therefore, this war, nemi-
nally for the Union, has actually been
waged against it. With that belief, rather
than prolomg it, I would concede a sepa-
ration as the only meaps of ‘an ultima e
reunion upon such principles as a true re-
publiean should entertain. Animositics
have been engendered, and couflicting prin-
ciples have been developed by hostilities
to an extent that renders re-union in the
present state of feeling an event to shrink
from as unnatural. Those conflicting prin-
ciples may be reconciled when the smoke
of battle shall have passed away, but sure-
ly ool until then. When every conciliatory
measure shall have beeu resorfed to in
vain ; when negotiation shall have deen ex-
hausted ; when the purpose of the southern
people to abstain from companionship with
us shall have been demonstrated as fixed
and irrevocable, and not the passionate re-
Unless mutual |
NIN
solves of heated blood, then, as’ a neoessi-
ty useless to stragele against, 1 shall not’
cnly counsel, I shall urge s separation.
Sir, it is natural that, for every patriot,
this word of separation should be fraught
with sorrow and’ foreboding. Tt is bard to
realize the sundering of ties that we have
been taught to believe sacred and eternal.
He who beholds the shadow of death hov-
ering over the scene of his aomestic joys
—the husband bending over the form of
his dying wife, the father gazing at the
ashen signs of dissolution that marbles the
lincaments of his favorite child. in his ag-
ony rebels sgainst Providence. But when
the spirit has flown, when what is immortaj
hae gone to ita immortal home, the monrn-
«1 tows before the will from which he knows
that there is no appeal. Let us likewise
bend before an inexorable trath x
1 cannot weasure the affection of my’
countrymen for the sublim® inheritance be-
queathed tous; but I know that there dwells
in my own breast a boundless love and a
great pride for those principles which the
builders of our nationality made the arch-
pillars of their work, In my childhood 1
was taught © love my couniry, ard wy
of my religion, a part of myself, an essence
and a necessity mn all that is spiritual with.
in me.
Here has been a magnificent temple as
perfect in all ifs parts as hunan ingenuity
and labor could make it—admirably snited
to be the ome of a great and happy fam-
ily, impervious to the assaults of foreign
encmies ; the refage of the oppressed: dhe
pride of its inmates . the envy and wonder
of the world. But upon what foundation
was the structure bailt 2 Sir, upon the free
will of the people. Not of one State or of
one section, but of all the States and all the
sections. While that free will existed the
temple was of a nature to withstand the
ravages of time* That free will has ceased
to exist, and the temple bas crumpled into
dust. Itis no more. It sa glory of the
past. What you now conceive to be the
structure is but a memory so intense that
it seems to be a reality, but the substance
is not there. Rebuild it if you can, but you
must first secure the free will of the South.
which jour army and navies cannot do.
If we will cease the mad attempt to en-
force {raternity and cosapel concord, perhaps
the sundered links may be rejoined; but
not one stroke will {all upon the anvil t
the echo of the last gun of the last
shall have ceased to vibrate over ti Let
battle plata. Seif exculpition and reproach
al ko must cease, for the country's salva-
tion lies not in the justification of either
section, but in the mutual remission of of-
| fenses. They have both their fauits, but
tending before hard blows is not among
them. Doubtless wrong ana wjultice have
been done ; but it is for calmer minds and
less excited times to strike the balance and
mete out to either side the measure of its
blame. [Iu is not the original error that we
have to do with now ; it is the present,
daily, continuous crime of multiplying hu-
man sacrifices to the spirit of our national
ity, whose very essence is fruternal love.
It is a spirit that was bora of compromise
aud generous concession ; and now, when
gory hecatacombs are heaped before its
shrine, ows is the fault if it loathe the of-
fering and desert our desecrated temples.
Sir, I appreciate the extent of this Gov-
croment’s military resources. I acknowl-
edge its wonderful strength in ships, men
and munitions. Had we a foreign foe to
grapple with, onc half the battles we have
waged against the South would have decided
the issue to cur triumph. No earthly power
could resist our magnificent machinery of
war, directed in a cause that touched the
people's hearts. 17 thg Confederate armies
all massed together and fired with the lust
of subjugation, should invade one Northern
State, the thought of our violated firesides
would arouse an energy that would scatter
the invaders like leaves before the wind.
Bat mn this war we have no principle that
comes Lome (0 the Leart of the masses; we
are fighting for subjugation ; with a patri-
otic ulterior purpose, perhaps, but still for
subjugation. If that is a principle, it is
one that can never arouse the energies of the
American people.
The foe has us at a disadvantage, sir.
fle believes that he is fighting for the sanc-
tity of his home; for the frecheld of his na-
tive soil ; for social institutions that he was
taught to justify, and for his conception of
self government.
Sir, the American soldier, without sec-
tiona' distinction fights best in such a cause
No dream of lural crowns can make the
notes of war harmonious to his soul ;no
greed of conquest lures him to far-off battle
plains. But where within sight, the smoke
curles from the cottage chimney; where the
corn waves in the farrow where he planted
it, and the pastures and pathways about
him, are his familiar haunts, he stands a
warrior born. He counts not the number of
his foes ; he measures not their strength ; he
knows himselfe indomitable.
Therefore it is that the South has main-
tained itself, defiant, resolute and hopeful,
against the most formidable military opera-
tions koown in the history of war. The
question of superority in skill or courage is
G,
x
APRIL 10, 1863,
3 IR ania
calm, dispassionate appeal to the judgment
and better feelings of the contending par.
ties.
With such convictions, and believing that
every hour of hostilities tends to our farther
estrangements, I have never voted a dcllar
for the war. Asa legislator, asa citizen,
and as a man, 1 claim to be absolved from
all participations in this murderous strife.—
With all my humble abilities T have endea-
vored to arrest it, I shall still endeavor,
and if in vain let my efforts attest befere
(30d and man that [ am unstained with the
blood of my countrymen.
If, by giving all latitude to goveromont,
1 could discover a posibility of effecting a
friendly reconstruction by dint of terrible
encounters betwee armed hosts, I might
look on in silence and patiently await the
end, But even inthe event of the
complete and crushing victories, 1 see ba t
the sullen, forced,aud temporery submission
of the vanquished to a rule that they abhor
Uan this stabbing and shooting and reniing
with shells convince the wrong or reconcile
he anzry, or inspire with confidence those
that distrust.and with friendship those that
hate us! Will time and habit make sub-
manhood Las made that sacred lesson a yar Ljection acceptable to a proud and sensitive
race ¢ At this day Poland. straggling 1m
53!
her chains with desperation, is answering
the question. When 1 look ahout me and
see this spacious hall filled wiihenlightened
gentlemen, cloathed with great power and
with great responsibilities, [ am amazed
that with all this coucentration of intellect
upon one subject, no means can be devised
to accompltsh a political end without conver
ting the country into shambles and its peo-
ple into butcheries.
flow thé problem may be solved I know
not ; bug I know that itis not in process of
solution while armies are in the field.—
While the energies of men on either side are
concentrated upon warlike measures, it is
impossible {or their mmds to dwell with de.
liberation upon expedients for peace. lt is
no time to argue the terms of amicable ad-
justment with a duelist when his finger i
on the trigger; he must first be invited to
lower the instrument of death. The intel-
lect of our statesmen is now preoccupied
with the war; their natures, mental and
moral, are under the control of that fever-
ish excitement created by the contemplation
of the chanaing fortunes of a desperate and
Grant them an interval of
i ; a respite from the absolute tyran-
ny that war exer's over the feelings of man-
kind, and their thoughts will revert into a
aatural channel, and will seck to unravel
these disordered political meshes with the
patient labor of the brain, From vs, a8
being materially the stronger paity, the
proposition for an armistice ean come with
a good grace. Let wise and just men from
all the States assemble in convention; if
ther, sir, no honorable peace can be secured,
my faith in human nature will have passed
away. :
Sir, before that solemn conclave would
come as an advocate the ghost of the bur-
1ed year, with all its mournful memories,
with its hundreds of thousands of ghastly
spectres, with its record of anguish, bereave-
went and desolation ; and its warning finger
would point to a vision of the future, 1n sem-
blance of itself, but more hideous a thousand
fold. They would not dare to mock the
warning. Passion and prejudice would
shrink from the presence of that awful past.
It would not be a gathering of excited par.
tizans, but a council of grave men, assem-
bled in the interest of humanity, in the same
spirit of trathscarching physicians deliber-
ating to chase away a pestilence. Sir, such
a convention would never adjourn to renew
the signal of civil strife. They might fail to
fulfil to the utmost the hopes . of their con-
stituents ; they might coucede tuo much on
one side or the other ; but never, from their
calm judgment seats, would they lauuch
again the thunderbolt of war upon our al-
ready bleeding and exhausted country.
Sir, you may have observed that I have
spoken with regard to the views of other
men, or the doctrines of political organiza-
tions. if 1 s'and alone, my isolation con-
jures up the phantoms of doubt and fear.
While my country groans beneath the
stroke of her own dagger, I forswear all al-
legiance to party, Whatever proposition,
in my mind, shall enhance the prospect of
a peace shall have my vote. Peace is the
goal of my political course, the haven of
my hopes. I care not by whose chart 1
bleody struggle.
rep
“steer, or whose hand shall guide the helm,
so that the compass shall point thitherward.
Whosoever shall raise its standard shall find
me ready to serve beneath its folds. Who-
soever shall blazon the olive branch for his
device shall have me his adherent. In
whatever shape the demon of destruction
shall appear I will oppose him. In what.
ever garb the spirit of peace shall clothe her
radient form I will embrace her. Concilia-
tion, compromise, or separation, each shall
ve acceptable to me if as its consequences
we shall be spared the scourge of war.
Let the most zealous émancipationists sug-
gest a cessation of hostilities and I am with
him. Let the staunchest member of the
opposition uphold the war, and I am against
him. In my view the abolitionist is a more
honest politician and a more conscientious
citizen. He is a fanatic—not a mere time-
servers, wiong, but consistent in his wrong;
uot at issue. In these we stand upon equal-
ity, and man’s power to resist, is greater
than his equal’s power to compel. The on-
ly prospect of accommodation rests in a
. the worshipper of a false god, but earnest
in his adoration. Would that all who de-
nounce him were as sincere and as bold fo
most |
the expression of their opmion, I have
striven to avoid invective, but I cannot re-
press my scorn for that American citizen,
who, at such a ‘time as this, fushions
his words according to the exigencies of
party, or in the mould of popular opinion.
They plead that the people are not prepared
for the ‘naked truth. Sir, in this erisis,
truth may destroy the utterer. but it may
save his country. .
Let the friends of peace proclaim them-
selves as such. Let them not fear to be
premature. This day is not one day (vo
soon for their lips to assert what their hearts
know to be true. If the people aie nat pre-
pared, let us commence the task of prepara
tion. Itis a task already half accomplished,
for iudeed the asses, with their unerring
instincts, have already fathomed the depths
of this great sea of troubles. They wouid
welcome reunion for its own sake and for
the memories of old; or, if inevitable, they
would accept separation, with a sigh of re-
gret, and then push on alone in the broad
path of progress ; for their self reliant Anglo
Saxon natures would spurn the timid doe-
trine that the sturdy North—iheir North.
built by their energies, and with millions of
acres yet unreclaimea from the wilderness,
for expension—is dependent on the South
for prosperity and grandeur. :
Sir, for my country’s sake J have perform-
ed a task that only the most solemu sense of
duty could have induced me to assume. I
have given you my thoughts as plainly as
my gift of 1: nguage would permit, For good
or for evil, to my shame or to future honor,
let my words go upon record, to abide the
test of time. No generous wan will Aecuse
me of aimmg at popularity, fer all must ac
knowledge that I have not modelled my opm.
ions upon the public sentiment; and even
those who think with me will doubtlegs with
hold the present expression of their appro.
bation. Kaltering and cquivocation have
not been numbered an the list of accusations
which my enemies huve made against me,
My motives have been and will be impugned
and probably, for a time, I must submit to
be the object of denunciation; but the
rushing stream of events willsoon efface the
brand, and I can wait, I only ask my coun-
trymen to ajudge me, not hastely orin an-
gor, but after fair consideration. Neither
the ties of relationship nor pecun.ary intei-
est bind me to the South, all that I possess,
and all that 1 bod personally dear ara of the
North. My course has been prompted by an
intense convic ion that the war policy is
rnously wrong. Reason, mstinet, moral
nature, and every faculty of men that create
ithin bis braia a conception, of the truth
inspire me with that conviction, with a rigid
fixed, and unfaltering faith, that kuows no
doubt and fears no refutation. Aud as the
days rush through blood and carnage, they
leave in their desolate path the confirmation
of my creed. Alroady the time seems gen-
erating when patrotism will no longer be
invoked as an incentive tc destruction, when
over the graves of heroes, the. ruins home-
steads, and the dreary wastes off devastated
fields, the North and the Shath shall clasp
their hands, cleansed from the stain of blood
saying each to the other: *-All is forgiven,
let what is terrible of the past be sepulehred
with the ashes of the fallen.”
ree
For the Watchman. ]
To His Royal Highness, Prince Jehn Van
Buren:
My Nore Lorn :—I am an **Old Foggy.”
1 lived at the time your father was tieated
hall,” aud never was a term more appropri
ately applied. I voted for him for Presi
dent and he was elected. 1 pray Ged to
forgive me for it, for he, by bis cunning, de-
feated that great .and good patriot and
statesman, Gen. Cass for the Presidency, by
inaugurating the Free Soil Convention’ at
Buffalo, aud you are a chip off the old block.
You are very smart, but it is such smart-
as grows about the barnyard. You
claim the right to change your opinions
every day, and itis the teachings of such
men as you that has put the hogs in the po-
tato patch. Acd as from Free Soilism that
was handed dowo to you by your father, as
a necessary consequence, has emerged you
into Abolitionism ; and as you, Most High
and Mighty Pree, have had the distinguish-
ed honor of dancing a jig with her most
gracious majesty, Queen Victoria, of Eng-
land, and as we have been taught not to put
our trust in princes, we leave you to wor-
ship the Abolition God, the Abolition Bible
and the Abolition Constitution with Burlin-
game, Wendell Philips, Horace Greely, Sum-
ner, Wilson, Henry Ward Beecher, the clo.
ven footed Thad Stevens and all the rest of
the Union sliders among the nations that
forget the true aud living God; while we
will cling to the advice of the immortal
Washington who, under the God of Abra-
ham, Isaac aud Jacob, founded this mighty
Republic. You are a great historian, in
your own conceit. You have discovered that
in the waging of all wars the North has al-
ways conquered the South ; therefore, you.
have come to the conclusion that the South
n
must be “abolisbed annihilated, wiped
out.” And now, Most High and Mighty
Prince, TI will tell yoa how the thing can be
done : Draw your sword, summons all and
every one of the ‘Union League,” and at
the head of your strong legions attack the
foe, Lreask through their thick array and
charge home upon them, and do not make
use of the Democrats any more as the mon-
key did with the cat's paws to draw the
with the sobriquet of **The fox of Linden. |
chestnuts out of the fire. If you are sin
cere in your principles, why not be wiiling
to sacrifice your life on the battle field, if
nece-sary to consummate the great pro-
clamation of your lord and master Old Abe;
and as Wendell Philips says, the Constitu-
tion of the United States is a league with
Hell, eschew 1t, and go in with your Union
League with the Devil, for a war of exter:
mination, confound the innocent with the
guilty, and say to your legions, come on
then, be men, the southern fs may with
with more safety be cowards, they have
their cwn country behind them, and have
places of rétuge to flee to; but for yeu,
there is no mdlle course between death
and victory... Let this be but well fixed in
your minds. Stand up to the trigger and
I'll be bound the flower of Africa will per-
fume, the North; while the South will
mourn over the joss of that fragrant flower,
the rose—the Negroes.
- JERSEY BLUE.
Heino ve
INsoreNca «F Daesport ar, —When Rov.
Judson 1). Benedict was about to be di
charged fiom his unlawful imprisonment;
Farner, the ‘:Jodge Advocate General,’
said to. him: —There was no reason for
bringing yna here, and it was only necessary
to bring you here to show that the military
law was above the civil one.” If the people
want to know precisely what the Lincoln
dynesty 18 capable of, let them never forget
that this is the ouly reason assigned by
one of its minions for kidnapping a citizen
of New York from under the very shadow of
a Court of Justice which had just decided
guiltless of all offence, putting him in jailg
and prisions, and dragging him across the
Stato to be trust into another and wore
loatnsome dungeon, there to languish for
weeks withont examination and to oe re-
leased without trial, explanatio 1 or redress.
Many a glorious speculation has failed
for the same good reason that th» old Texan
ranger gave wien he was asked why he
didn't buy land when it was doz cheap. —
Well 1 did come nigh onto taking eight
thousand acres’ onst,” said Joe mournful-
iy. ‘You see, two of the boys cawe in one
day from an Indian hunt, without any shoes
and offered me their titles to the vwo leagues
just below here for a pair of boots. “Fora
pair of boots !” we exclaimed. - © Yes for a
pair of boots for each league,” ¢ Bul why
on earth did you not take it ? “Jest because
1 bad no bootsto give them, said old Joe as
as he took another chew of Lobucco, quite as
contented as if he owned two bundred
leagues of land.
mre tt meme
Porites 1x Maine —~The Eastern Argus,
in speaking of the town elections in Maine,
says :
Large Democratic gains have been made
in nearly every town, Tue only town that
was D -mocratic last year and has gorie Ab-
olition this, so far as we have noticed, is
Mount Desert, while the towns that have
changed from Abolition to* Democracy are
reckoned by the score.
lm
[= General Hooker has been vindicated
from the imputed calumny that he has tes-
tified to the War Committee that the failure
of the peninsular campaign was attribatable
to the incompetency of General MeClellan.
The best authority declares that he never
uttered such a statement.
tt pe ii
—Though General Fremont has been per-
tinaciously urged by a crowd of admirers
for a third” important command, the *
President has not favored the claim. The
latter is reported in republican circles to
have said that ** Fremont never obeyed or-
ders.”
ee pent
—11t is stated that the S-cre ary of the
Treasury hes pliced in the hands of the
Paymaster General, a suffisicnt amount of
money to pay the entire army up to the
first of March. Suflictent has also been
sent and reached its destination to pay the
entire army of the West.
ae er
07® In one country in Muylnd there
are seven hundred acres of strawberries, and
two persons in that State kave each one
Taodred and twenty acres, anid thre e others
one hundred acres each in straw berry ficlds,
: —————a te
A gentleman, recently arrived {rom Cana-
da, states that a fee of $1,500 was pmd to
Lim the other day in Quebec, wholly in
American silver. He did'nt want the stuff,
but was compelled to take it, Poor fellow.
ard nies
J57 How does the President's emancipa-
tion proclamation conflict with the tariff, —
The one ir poses a tax on wool, while the
other makes wool free.
AAA emt
The deep-sea telegraph cable between
France and Algiers has failed. It has been
unavailable for three months. and all at-
tempts made to repair it have proved abor-
tive.
AB Apr ne
The New England Pin Company, of Win-
sted, Connecticut, are making pins of iron
instead of brass, They are also made st
Seymour in the same State.
SS aaah
The Abolitionists are going into what is’
called white stavery. Any white slave may’
buy his free papers of Lincoln, if he can
raise three hundred dollars.
er A AA Aree
A letter srom Port Royal says that the
number of freed slaves in that department
is nearly seventeen thousand,