The Washington despotism dissected in articles from the Metropolitan record
Metropolitan Record, New York
.3 t o ,0 o v0 ,IK ^ A^ o <3 ^ o 0 ^1 o ov THE WASHINGTON DESPOTISM DISSECTED ARTICLES C|c |pctrDj)0li(an ^lcc0rir. P DUPLICATE NEW YORK: OFFICE OF THE METROPOLITAN RECORD, No. 419 Broadway, 1 8 (5 3. By transfer DlC 30 1915 Lr consequence of the great demand for the num- bers of the Record containing the articles enumerated in the index, the supply was soon exhausted. As the papers are still called for, the publication of this pam- phlet is intended to obviate the difficulty. It can be had of all newsdealers throughout the country. The United States Converted into a Military Despotism 7 Can a Disunion Administration Restore the Union ? 17 A Great Statesman Speaking to the People 26 Grounds of Impeachment of the President 2$ The Effects of Abolitionism 83 What is a Loyal Leaguer ? 86 Orand Patriotic Demonstration 39 Some Plain Talk 54 " Nobody's Hurt." 58 Peace ! 61 Model Resolutions for the Loyal Leaguers • 68 What the War is carried on for 71 A New Joke — Is it the President's ? 72 "The Abolition Policy of the Administration, and whafc it has Accom- plished 74 The Statesman of the Revolution on the Right of Coercion 80 The Sovereignty of the States 87 The Northern Plague 92 The Letter of Governor Seymour 95 A Poland in the United States 100 The Future 102 Which is the most Humiliating — Peace or War ? 113 The Conscription 118 The Administration Telegraph ; or. How it is Done 121 I i FROM THE METROPOLITAN RECORD. THE UNITED STATES CONVERTED INTO A MILI- TARY DESPOTISM. THE CONSCRIPTION ACT THE LAST DEADLY BLOW AIMED AT POPULAR LIBERTY. (From the Metropolitan Record, March 14, 1863.) The Congress which has so fatally unrepresented the Republic during the last two years has at length adjourned. It expired on the 4th instant, leaving behind it a memory that time can never efface, and fastening indelibly upon the history of the nation the blackest record the world lias ever seen. It found the United States a free country, and it has left it a land of slaves. It was elected to do the behests of the people, and it has converted our ser- vants into our masters, and our President into an autocrat, with power as great over the liberties of the people as that which the Czar of all the Russias possesses over his subjects. All this it has done, and more. It has rendered a union of fraternity an impossibility ; it has again and again passed enactments violating the supreme law of the land ; it has persistently refused to permit any inquiry to be made into the arbitrary arrests of loyal citizens ; it has broken down State limits, and admitted bogus members as representatives who pretend to have been constitutionally elected, and in its last measure, the Conscription Act, it has put the liberties of the people in the hands of a man whose presidential career has proved that he never wanted the will to become the arbitrary master of this so-called Republic. With a persistence that the dread crisis through which the nation is passing could not affect nor alter, it has 8 ARTICLES FROM THE devoted all its energies to the destruction of an institution guaranteed by the Constitution itself; it has made the liberty of the white man only of secondary importance to that of the negro ; it has lent its aid to the suppression of the liberty of the press by silently sanctioning the action of its subordinates in suspending the publication of several of the newspapers throughout the couniy. It has quietly looked on while our citizens have been dragged from their homes at the dead hour of night and flung into govern- ment bastiles ; it has preferred the permanent disruption of the Union to its perpetuity with the institution of slavery preserved; it has knowingly and willfully set at naught the desires and intentions of the great conservative majority of the North, and in the passage of the Conscrip- tion Act it has been guilty of a most criminal violation of the sovereignty of the people as involved in the rights of the States. This is th^record left to us by a Congress which has done more to render the restoration of the Union impos- sible than all the acts of the most bitter and determined secessionists. When the country could have been saved by the adop- tion in the Border State Convention of the Crittenden compromise — a compromise intended to secure to the South nothing but what it was justly entitled to — the leading members of both the Senate and House of Representatives employed all the force of their official character and po- sition to secure the defeat of the measure. In its almost every act it proved to the South that it would be satisfied with nothing less than its unconditional submission and the extinction of slavery. . It falsified its pledges made at the commencement of the war, that the immense military and naval resources of the country should be employed only in the restoration of the Union, and the re-establish- ment of the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. But, as we have intimated, the crowning act of despot- ism, the most atrocious piece of legislation which it has perpetrated, is the Conscription Law, which is hardly less intolerable than that which has driven Poland into wide- spread insurrection. In this measure the radical and fanat- ical policy of Congress has reached its climax. That body, METROPOLITAN KECORD. 9 in its last days, attained the " bad eminence" to which it was so long aspiring ; and its last act is the most deadly blow that has yet been aimed at the liberties of the people ; it is the most envenomed shaft that has yet been hurled at the heart of the Republic, and if the people are untrue to themselves in this dire emergency, the freedom of the nation will be buried in the same grave in which Congress has interred all that remained of the Union. One of the most remarkable features of this last effort to convert the Republic into a military despotism, is the entire abnegation of State sovereignty in the process by which the conscription is to be carried into operation. State limits and State sovereignty are ridden over rough- shod, and our Governors, the freely chosen magistrates of a free people, are to be treated as mere ciphers by the General Government. In a word, all the citizens of New York liable to mili- tary duty under this law can be called upon by the Presi- dent whenever he shall deem it necessary, and on the refusal of any one of these to obey the call, he " shall be -deemed a deserter, be arrested by the Provost Marshal, and sent to the nearest military post for court-martial." If this is not the establishment of a military despotism, then we should like to know the true meaning of the words. We have no hesitation whatever in saying that this law is unconstitutional, and, of course, not binding upon any citizen of the United States ; and since the mis- called National Legislature has so far exceeded its powers, the people must, under such circumstances, look for pro- tection to the only authorities that can grant it, the Gov- ernors of their respective States. We owe allegiance as citizens of the State of New York to the constitution of that State, and in the exercise of his lawful authority we are solemnly bound by that obligation to sustain and sup- port its Chief Magistrate, whom that constitution declares is the Commander-in-Chief of the military and naval forces of the State. If allegiance belongs to that regularly-con- stituted power which, in the general community, affords protection to life and property, then we say our loyalty is pre-eminently due to the State government. As to tho Constitution of the United States, that instrument no 1* 10 BTICLES FROM THE longer affords protection to its citizens, and the only bar- rier which now interposes between the liberties of the people and the consolidating power of a centralized des- potism at Washington is the sovereignty of the State. Let not the willing tools of the recently initiated tyranny in this country imagine that the Press is to be deterred by the threats contained in this unconstitutional law against all who interfere with its operation. We have too much faith in the Executive of the Empire State to suppose that he will ever allow an Administration which is sapping the very foundations of constitutional freedom to seize upon his fellow-citizens as the Russian autocrat has attempted to do with the ill-fated victims of his fiendish rule in Po- land. The moment such an assault is made upon citizen rights, the last links that bind the States together will be rent asunder like so many cobwebs. The Administration will then find, when it is too late, that it is the States which constitute the Republic, that they are sovereign, that it is the powers which they have delegated that make up what is called the General Government, that they are as the pillars which support a grand dome, and that the moment their support is withdrawn, that part of the edifice must fall to the ground. Of course the enforcement of such an act, with all the rigors of the despotic power for the furtherance of whose policy it was concocted, could not be accomplished with- out providing for the punishment of all offending against its provisions. This was fully understood by the men who framed this most tyrannical of all the tyrannical acts of that notoriously tyrannical body — the last Congress ; and bo they inserted the following impotent threat : Sec. 25. And be it furtfier enacted, That if any person shall resist any draft of men enrolled under this act into the service of the United States, or shall counsel or aid any person to resist any such draft ; or shall assault or obstruct any officer in making such draft, or in the performance of any service in relation thereto ; or shall counsel any person to assault or obstruct any such officer, or shall counsel any drafted men not to appear at the place of rendezvous, or willfully dis- suade them from the performance of military duty as required by law, such person shall be subject to summary arrest by the provost marshal, and shall be forthwith delivered to the civil authorities, and, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding two years, or by both of said punishments. METROPOLITAN RECORD. 11 If this were really a war for the Constitution and the Union, and not for the military subjugation of a portion of our fellow-countrymen, there would be no occasion for a conscription ; but we tell the Chief Executive at Wash- ington that the conscription will fail, miserably fail, and that its failure will be produced by the very influences evoked by his emancipation policy, and his other uncon- stitutional acts. We do not think so meanly of the American people^ despite of their long patience and forbearance, as to ima- gine that they are yet ready to tolerate a military despot- ism; neither do we believe that they are in favor of the still further prosecution of this war, to carry out the designs of a radical Abolition minority. For our own part, we never could convince ourselves that the Union would ever be restored through such an ordeal. We always re- garded it as a union of free-will and not of force ; and we have never entertained any other belief than that which we now express, when we say that the sword will inevi- tably prove the cause of its disintegration. That the Conscription Act is unconstitutional is evident from a perusal of its provisions; but the manner of its passage is no less unconstitutional. If the reports of the closing hours of Congress be correct, it was carried in the Senate by a trick, a vile fraud upon the people. This i& apparent in the following extract which we make from the report : Mr. Powell spoke until half-past three o'clock in the morning, when he moved that the Senate adjourn. Motion rejected hy yeas 4, nays 32. Mr. Bayard commenced speaking against the bill, and spoke until half-past four o'clock, when he yielded the floor to Mr. Powell, who again moved that the House adjourn. Motion rejected by yeas 4, nays 33. The question then recurred on agreeing to the report of the Conference Committee. The vote was called, and the Chairman, Mr. Pomeroy, declared the report agreed to. Mr. Trumbull moved to take up the act relative to the validity of the deeds of public squares to the city of Washington. Motion agreed to. Mr. Powell — I hope that the Senate will proceed with the consideration of the report of the Conference Committee. Mr. Grimes — That bill is passed. 12 ARTICLES FROM THE Mr. Powell — Oh, no ! The Senator from Delaware (Bayard) is en- titled to the floor. Mr. Trumbull — / call the Senator from Kentucky (Powell) to order. I am on the floor t and I moved to take up another bill, and that motion has been carried. Mr. Bayard — Neither the manner nor thev language of the Senator from Illinois (Trumbull) will cause me to yield my right to the floor ; U> which I am ent itled. Mr. Powell — Do I understand the Chairman (Pomeroy) to say that the bill is passed ? The Chair — The bill is passed. Mr. Powell — By what kind of jockeying ? Mr. Trumbull — I call the Senator from Kentucky to order. Mr. Bayard — Does the Chair decide the report of the Conference- Committee to have been adopted by any vote of the Senate ? The Chair — I understand that the report has been adopted. Mr. Powell — Did I not most distinctly state that the Senator from Delaware (Bayard) only yielded the floor to a motion to adjourn ? The Chair — I did not hear the Senator from Kentucky say t/iat the Senator from Delaware yiel/ied (he floor for any particular purpose. Mr. Trumbull — I believe that I am entitled to the floor. The Chair — The Semior from Illinois (Trumbull) is entitled to the floor un- less he yields it. Mr. Powell — I desire to ask the Chair Mr. Trumbull — I do not yiehl to the Senator from Kentucky to ask any question. Mr. Bayard — I desire to appeal from the decision of the Chair. / desire to ascertain wl\eflier the minority have any rights remaining here. Mr. Howard moved that the Sena.te adjourn. Mr. Richardson moved to reconsider the motion by which the bill was claimed to be passed by the Senate. Mr. Grimes — Did the Senator from Illinois (Richardson) vote with the majority ? If he did not, he could not move for a reconsideration. At a quarter to five a.m. the Senate adjourned. It appears from the foregoing that Mr. Bayard, after- speaking at some length against the bill, yielded the floor to a motion of adjournment made by Mr. Powell, as such motions are always in order. In the event of the rejection of the motion, the right to the floor reverted to Mr. Bay- ard according to the rules of debate. But before Mr. Bayard could resume the right which he had only tempo- rarily yielded, a vote was taken on the bill as reported by the Conference Committee, and the Chairman declared its adoption. Such a nefarious transaction was never perpe- trated upon the liberties of a people, if we except that by which the nationality of Ireland was filched away by a corrupt legislature, acting under the direction of a ma:* METROPOLITAN RECORD. 13 whose name will be infamous throughout all coming time, and whose death was a fitting termination to a life of the blackest crime. Never had a legislative body such a glorious opportunity of saving the life of a nation and the liberties of a people, as that which the last Congress was presented ; but instead of using its power and its influence in the form of mild and conciliatory measures to win back the love of the Southern people to the Union, it did all in its power to render the very name of Union hateful to them by the adoption of a policy which has resulted in uniting the whole South in one compact confederacy, with a thoroughly organized Government, with an army whose bravery and heroism can not be doubted, and with statesmen at its head to whom the petty politicians at Washington are pig- mies in comparison. The people do not forget that it was through the compulsory influence exercised by this Con- gress upon the Administration, that General McClellan was removed, and it was also through its sectional and abolition legislation that a wide-spread discontent has been created in the Union army. They know, also, that it was in com- pliance with its demands the President issued his last proclamation, and we think they are by this time convinced that they will be satisfied with no other submission on the part of the South than that which would lay her prostrate and bleeding at the feet of the newly-created American despot. If this is the union in which this war is to termi- nate, then farewell to the liberty of the people. The once free, happy, and prosperous nation known as the United States will pass away as did the republics of ancient Greece — flashing like a meteor across the sky of time, and light- ing up with a dazzling brilliancy the surrounding nations that gazed with wonder on the startling phenomenon. Is this really to be the fate of the great Republic? The people alone can answer that question, and upon their answer depends the future destiny of the New World. We know there are men in our midst, for we lately had disgraceful evidence of the fact, who would aid the newly constituted tyranny at Washington in riveting its fetters upon the people. Such men assume to be the mouthpieces of the conservative masses, but they will find, when too ARTICLES FROM THE late, that the trickery of the demagogue to which they have resorted will not save them from the judgment of an incensed and outraged people. Such men may imagine * that the liberty of a nation is a thing of trifling value ; but as long as the great heart of the people is right, their in- trigues in the interest of American autocracy will prove a wretched failure. These are the energies against which ' the great statesmen of the Republic have warned us again and again ; it is they who are ready to assist in undoing the work of the patriots of the Revolution by ignoring the Constitution, and handing over the rights of the people to a military dictator to put under bolt and bar. Such men can see no harm in the suspension of the habeas corpus, in the suppression of the liberty of the press, in the over- throw of State sovereignty, in the arbitrary arrest and incarceration in government dungeons of loyal citizens, in proclamations placing loyal and sovereign States under " martial law, and in investing the so-called President of the United States with supreme power above the Constitution, above State rights, above all law, over the personal liberty of the citizen. Such things, in their estimation, are a mere bagatelle. The liberty for which the infant Republic waged a seven-years' . war against Great Britain is to be ' bartered away, and for what ? A military despotism — not even such a despotism as they have in some parts of Europe — but a despotism directed by men who have proved themselves weak in everything else but the will to destroy. They are ready to carry out the conscription ; but so long as they are the owners of three hundred dol- lars, not one of them, we venture to say, will take the field. They will leave that for the poor man, whose family is de- pendent upon him for support. They are the heroes of the rostrum, and not of the battle-field, whose dangers they are satisfied to view at a safe distance. They are the men who will 44 look into Catholicity when slavery is disposed of,55 for to them religious freedom is of still less importance than civil rights. But they must be blind to the evidence, which is grow- ing stronger day by day, that the people are opposed to a war waged for emancipation — to a Avar which, if success- ful in that object, will flood the labor markets of the North METROPOLITAN RECORD. 15 with black competitors against the interests of the white industrial classes, or clot our Northern land with poor- houses for the support of an indigent negro population either unwilling or unable to work. Despite of all this, however, their voice is still for war, but while they talk of the carnage of the battle they act peace. They urge others into the field, but they are con- tent to stay at home that they may add new force to the blow that is aimed at the liberty of the people. They accuse the advocates of peace with treason, while they act treason by declining to fight. They can see no danger to popular liberty by intrusting the President with supreme control over the sword and purse of the nation. They approve the act of Congress by which nearly two billion three hundred millions of dollars are put at the disposal of the Chief Executive — a sum more than half the national debt of England. Do they expect to be paid a portion of it for their support of a centralized despotism ? In this State, however, we need have no fear of the re- sult, so far as the rights of the citizen are concerned, for we have a Chief Magistrate who has pledged himself to their defense and support, and whose inaugural message contains the folloAving solemn guarantee against the en- croachments of arbitrary power : While our soldiers (says he) are periling their lives to uphold the Constitution and to restore the Union, we owe to them who have shown an endurance and patriotism unsurpassed in the history of the world, that we emulate their devotion in our field of duty. We are to take care, when they come back, that their home rights are not im- paired, that they shall not find when they return to the duties of civil life that the security of their persons, the sanctity of their homes, or the protection of their property have been lost by us while they were battling for the national interest in a distant field of duty. The following extracts from the same important docu- ment are particularly applicable at the present time, and in view of the unconstitutional course of Congress, and the violation of the supreme law of the land by the so- called President, we submit them to the consideration of our readers : The rights of States were reserved, and the powers of the General Government were limited to protect the people m their persons, pi^operty, and consciences in times of danger and civil commotion. There is little to fear in 16 ARTICLES FROM THE periods of peace and prosperity. If we are not protected when there are popular excitements and convulsions, our government is a failure. If presidential proclamations are above tlie decisions of the courts and the restraints of the Constitution, then that Constitution is a mockery. If it has not the author- ity to keep the Executive within Us restraints, then it can not retain States within the Union. Those who hold that there is no sanctity in the Constitution must equally hold that there is no guilt in the rebellion. We can not be silent and allow these practices to become precedents. TJiey are as much in violation of our Constitution as the rebellion itself, and more dangerous io our liberties. They hold out to the Executive every temptation of ambition to make and prolong war. They offer despotic power as a price for preventing peace. Wh&y are inducements to each administration to procure discord and incite armed resistance io law, by declaring that the condition of war removes all constitutional restraints. They ccdl about the national capital hordes of unprincipled, men, who find in the wreck of their country the opportunity to gratify avarice and am- bition, or personal or political resentments. This theory makes the passion and ambition of an administration antagonistic to the interest and happiness of the people, it makes the, restoration of peace the abdication of more than regal au- thority in the hands of those to whom is confided the government of the country. After perusing the foregoing, our readers will, we think, agree with us that liberty of speech and of the press are secure under a Governor who appreciates his position and is determined to maintain the sovereignty of the great State at the head of which he has been placed, not by a minority, but by a majority of its citizens. We believe that our right as a journalist to utter, and print, and cir- culate freely and without danger of arbitrary arrest and incarceration, whatever we find to criticise in the acts of the Administration — we believe that our right to do this will be maintained by the Chief Executive of the Empire State, and it is in this belief that we now exercise that Constitutional right, despite of the threats of a military despotism, and its base and venal adherents. If the people are not fully aroused to the dangers by which their liberties, not to speak of their sovereignty, are beset, they may soon lose both the opportunity and the power to preserve those priceless boons for which such great sacrifices were made. METROPOLITAN BECORIX 17 CAN A DISUNION ADMINISTRATION RESTORE THE UNION? FACTS THAT CAN NOT BE CONTROVERTED, AND THAT EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW AND UNDERSTAND. {From the JVIetropolita^ Record of March 28, 1863.) We believe that all unbiased and candid minds will agree with us, that the Union might and could have been restored by any other Administration than that whose term of service will unfortunately not expire for two years lon- gerf but whose exit from office would be the greatest ben- efit that could be conferred upon the country. We are aware that this assertion will be combated most vigor- ously by those who sustain and advocate the policy of the so-called national Administration ; but we shall appeal to their sense of impartiality and justice while we present for their consideration a few facts and observations on the course which it has pursued since the commencement of our present fratricidal, unnecessary, inhuman, and aboli- tion war. Our jocular and anecdotal Chief Magistrate., in that ex- traordinary advance of his from Springfield to Washington two years ago, made quite a number of humorous little speeches, in one of which he pleasantly informed the public that a nobody was hurt." His entrie into Washington, it will be remembered, was made in disguise — a Scotch cap and military cloak being used on the occasion for the better concealment of the newly-elected magistrate of the great Republic. It was a mean disguise, unworthy of the Executive of a free peo- ple ; it was like the manner in which Kossuth left this country, under a false exterior. This was a bad beginning ; slight as the incident may appear, it wore a bad aspect. Why should the President of thirty millions of freemen slink into the capital of the country in a manner that was calculated only to excite contempt and ridicule ? Why did he not boldly and fear- lessly proceed on his journey as if he had nothing to dread from his fellow-citizens — as if he had a full reliance on their is ARTICLES FROM THE sense of right and justice ? If he intended to act in ac- cordance with the Constitution — if he intended to deal im- partially between the North and the South — if he did not design to force upon the country the peculiar policy of the minority by which he was elected, why did he not boldly, and frankly, and manfully enter the capital of the nation ? Ah ! that beginning, without significance as it may ap- pear in the eyes of some, was painfully suggestive to all who desired the future happiness, prosperity, and freedom of the country. Such was the advent of Mr. Lincoln into Washington — a city where his illustrious predecessors in office w^ere in the habit of appearieg in public unattended except by ad- miring friends, but where he the latest (and we hope not the last) President seldom makes his appearance in public except under the protection of an armed guard. His inaugural informed the country that he would con- duct the affairs of the Government on national principles — that he would not interfere with the peculiar institu- tion of the South. " Apprehension," said he, " seems to exist among the people in the Southern States that, by the accession of a Republican Administration, their property and their peace and personal security are to be endan- gered. * * * * I do but quote from one of my speeches when I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so" This is pretty plain; there is no misunderstanding its meaning, that is if words hgve riot changed their significa- tion. Mr. Lincoln then said that he had no intention to interfere with the institution of Slavery ; but how have his subsequent acts redeemed his promise to the peoj)le ? Did he give any encouragement to the objects of the Bor- der State Convention? Did not the party by which he was supported and placed in office refuse to agree to any terms of conciliation or compromise with the South ? Did they not treat with scorn and contempt the policy of the greatest statesmen of the country w^ho knew and who stated again and again that the Republic could never be held together except governed by the spirit of mutual con- METROPOLITAN RECORD. cession and forbearance ? Were they not aware that the Constitution itself was a compromise ? and were they so blind as not to see ^hat a President elected on the princi pie of geographical distinctions and sectional considera- tions must pursue a thoroughly constitutional and national course if he would preserve the integrity of the nation ? All this was patent to the most superficial observer, and yet with all this knowledge in their possession — with all these self-evident facts before them — they have pursued a course at once subversive of the Constitution under which they have pretended to act, and ruinous to the interests of the great nation which they so falsely claim to represent. It was through their machinations that the objects of the Border State Convention were defeated. They were such firm and fast adherents to abolition principles, that they would not compromise with slavery, although no men knew better than they that the immortal Washington himself was a slaveholder. With a pharisaical assumption of superior moral excellence, they haughtily declined to make any compromise with their Southern fellow-citizens ; and in their acts, if not in their words, they scouted the memory and the truly national policy of the great man who had in his day saved the country through such conciliatory mea- sures. What more did the leaders at the South require than this — than the proof thus afforded — that the party which supported the Administration was inimical to every- thing that looked to a friendly adjustment of the great questions in controversy ? What, let us ask, could the North lose by compromising with the South ? Was she asked to give up any of her rights ? Was any material injury to be inflicted thereby upon Northern interests ? Certainly not. In giving to the South all that section de- manded, we should only yield that to which she was justly entitled. What, then, was the great obstacle in the way of compromise ? " Principle /" The Northern repre- sentatives at the Border State Convention were actuated solely by their adherence to principle ! If it were not for the terrible tragedy which has formed the historical sequel to that Convention, this pretension to principle might be laughed at as farcical. The Border State Convention was " a mockery, a delu- sion, and a snare," and the majority of the men who went there from the Northern States did so with the deter- mination to oppose every measure that was calculated to re-establish friendly relations between the two great sec- tions of the country. It might have saved the Republic, but it failed, miserably, ignominiously failed. What was their next step ? The war having com- menced with the attack on Fort Sumter — which was noth- ing more nor less than the culmination of Northern aboli- tionism and John Brownism — a requisition was made upon the country for seventy-five thousand men with which to put down about one third of the population, and to accom- plish this in the remarkably brief period of three months. The Government issued a political promissory note pay- able in ninety days, in the shape of a submissive and re- pentant South, and one of its cabinet officers indorsed the paper to render it acceptable to the shrewd money-lenders of the country. Unfortunately, however, the promise to pay was not redeemed. The end of the three months be- held the South more defiant and less submissive than at the commencement, and so a further extension of time was required. Three months more were necessary, and the country, again deluded, once more yielded. The six months flew by— the seventy-five thousand men were in- creased to five hundred thousand, and the Congress which has so fearfally misrepresented the people voted five hun- dred millions of dollars — for what ? The abolition of slavery and the overthrow of State rights. The five hun- dred thousand men and the five hundred millions of dol- lars "have gone in the wind." The country is more di- vided than ever. The South has assumed the form of METROPOLITAN RECORt)* 21 a compact nationality, and the confidence of the loyal people of the North has been so far betrayed and im- posed upon by the men who have ruled only to ruin, that they have lost all trust in, and have long since learned to look upon, the authorities at Washington only with con- tempt and distrust. What followed the immense out- pouring of the people into the ranks of the volunteer army ? Nothing but defeat and disaster. That grand army was broken up and scattered in detachments along the line of the war ; it was defeated at several points ; but the greatest disaster of all befell it close by the capital of Virginia, and subsequently in the near vicinity of Wash- ington. The South was a unit in its opposition to the ill- judged invasion from the North. Its people had been forced into a unanimity of feeling by the abolition legis- lation of a sectional Congress. But what was the course of the Administration during this period ? What return did it make to the loyal North for the immense army and vast sums of money which had been placed at its disposal ? What return did it make for all this ? Let us enumerate : Freedom of speech and of the Press placed under censorship; the arbitrary arrest and incarceration of loyal citizens; the conversion of forts, which were intended for defense against invasion by ARTICLES FROM THE a foreign foe, into bastiles for the imprisonment of free- men ; the overthrow of State rights, and the breaking down of State boundaries ; the flagrant and unnecessary violation of constitutional guarantees ; the fiendish frauds practiced upon men who volunteered for the defense, of the Union and the Constitution, but who had been sacri- ficed to Abolition designs. These are some of the returns which have been made by the Administration to the people for the trust and confidence which was so freely given, but which has been so vilely abused. Having failed, even through the aid of a draft which in- creased our army to eight or nine hundred thousand men, to bring back the South, the President resorted, in the last extremity, to his Emancipation Proclamation, threat- ening the seceded States with all the horrors of a negro insurrection in the event of their continued obstinacy. It was a desperate expedient, and could have its conception only in the brains or the perverted imagination of an Abolition fanatic. It declared the slaves of all the States in rebellion free after a hundred days ; but his declaration of freedom has had no more effect on them than that mythical " bull against the comet," which, with the jocularity that charac- terizes even his most serious moments, he compared it with. But this was not all ; for that " bull" which he issued against the South has only returned to gore its owner. It was not enough, however, that he should increase the bitter feeling in the South, he must also insult the loyal North by placing it under martial law, and annulling, thereby, the supreme law of the land. We say that this was not only an insult, but it was worse ; it was the subjection of Northern citizens to military authority ; it was the overthrow of State rights, and the beginning of a system of consolidation which, if permitted by the people, must inevitably result in the establishment of a permanent military despotism. We ask any candid reader if, in the foregoing review, we have not presented a truthful statement of the policy of the Administration and its ruinous effects upon the present condition and future prospects of the country. Is it possible, after the sad experience of the past two years, METROPOLITAN RECORD. that any man can believe the present war will result in the restoration of the Union ? Are we not farther from this consummation than we were two years ago ? Have we not in the Administration the same tools to work with that we have been using so ineffectually during that pe- riod ? Has not that Administration been furnished at various times with armies amounting in the aggregate to fifteen hundred thousand men, and with the sinews of war to the amount of one thousand millions of dollars ? What proof have we that another thousand millions of dollars will not be as recklessly squandered, and another fifteen hundred thousand men as fruitlessly employed in binding together with the sword the severed members of a broken Union? Has the Administration not furnished us with sufficient evidence of its own incompetency, and the utter impracticability of the desperate undertaking in which it hai so recklessly engaged ? For we insist that the work of subjugating the South is an impossibility / and when the Administration called in the aid of negro slaves by a vile and infamous proclamation, a proclamation that should make the blood of every freeman tingle in his veins, that ■.. should mantle the temple of every American citizen with. '.he crimson blush of shame — when the Administration did this, it afforded to the world an admission of its impossi- bility. What a disgraceful avowal was contained in the bill presented in Congress for the enlistment of three hun- dred thousand negroes ! What a fiendish expedient with which to make war upon the defenseless women and chil- dren of the South, and to rouse against the Republic the indignation of civilized humanity ! Did those recreants to their own race think of their wives and children as they sat brooding in demoniac council over the fiendish plot that was to bring massacre, and rapine, and outrage into the homes on Southern plantations, sprinkling their hearths.. with the blood of gentle women, helpless age, and inno- cent childhood ? Never was a blacker crime sought to be committed against nature, against humanity, against the holy precepts of Christianity, and against all principles of manly and civilized warfare. There is no language suifi- • ciently strong to brand this diabolical measure as it de- serves. But it will fail, as it has failed already in the first ARTICLES FROM THE instance, and as we trust for the honor of the country, for the honor of the American name, for the honor of our com- mon humanity which has been outraged in its best in- stincts, we trust such measures will always and ever fail. This may be construed as treason ; but we are utterly indifferent to the charge. We have not yet learned to speak of the powers that be with bated breath and whis- pering humbleness. We are, as we have ever been, op- posed to this war. We are for peace, and to secure this end we are in favor of an armistice. We have had two years of war without any result, so far as the restoration of the Union is concerned. Let us try peace, and a Con- vention of the States. We have had enough of blood, and only the cormorants that surround the White House, and that are to be found in the purlieus of the Capitol fatten- ing on the public treasury, growing rich as the country grows poor, heapiug up their ill-gotten gains which aug- ment with the increase of taxes that are already crushing down the industrial classes of the country ; only such as these will oppose the demand. The man who insists upon the prolongation of this war should do that which he wants others to do ; he should not wait for the conscription ; he should shoulder his musket and march to the battle-field, where the deadly rifle-ball is the only argument with which he will have to deal. Yes, this work of blood has gone on long enough, and it is time to understand the lesson which we have been taught by the last two years — that the military subjugation of the South is an impossibility. We are told that anything is preferable to a divided country, but a Union under a mil- itary despotism would be still worse. Besides, how is it possible that the representatives of a party which has been actuated and governed by the spirit of division and dis- union from its very inception can restore the Union ? Are figs of thistles, Or grapes of thorns ? Has not the Abolition party been the party of disunion, and has not the President adopted their policy in his Emancipation Proclamation ? The Abolitionists are to this country what the Orangemen are to Ireland. They feed and live upon dissension. For our own part, we have Metropolitan record. 