Such is the variety of honest opinion among men on all subjects; so different are the degrees of information, and the opportunities of judging with regard to the best measures of government; such a diversity exists in the interests and abilities of a people,--that they may be good citizens without being satisfied altogether with the constitution, or with those who administer its laws. There will be different political parties. It is the glory of a government that the people are allowed to think and vote as they please, and to express their honest opinions. Perhaps with us, expression is too free, especially in regard to public men and measures. We may have diverse views and convictions, and yet feel and act loyally. But men who endeavor by any influence or means to lessen the loyalty of others, to alienate the love of the people from the government, and who signify their own aversion, not by condemning a single statute and seeking its lawful repeal, but by heaping abuse on the constitution and on those who are chosen to administer the laws, by avowing their hostility to the government and its policy, or their purpose to resist and war against it,--are in a posture of rebellion. Those who, being in office, commanding the arms and other property of the government, cause them to be removed so as to weaken its power and strengthen those in actual rebellion, or who are threatening the same; those who aid and comfort a population or soldiery who are in a state of actual resistance, and finally, those who do openly and avowedly renounce the authority of the government to which they have sworn allegiance, or take up arms to attack its strongholds, seize or destroy its property, or injure the soldiers and citizens who are sent to protect it,--are in a state of rebellion against its laws and against the commonwealth over which it holds the shield of its authority.
Korah was a rebel and a traitor, who having, by intrigue, inspired some other leaders with the spirit of sedition, succeeded in drawing from their allegiance to Moses and Aaron, a large number of the people, who came together in a mob to demand a different administration. They were invited to refer the matter to the Divine decision, but they stoutly refused, accusing Moses of assumption, thus endeavoring to destroy his authority over the nation. That was rebellion. Again, in the reign of David, his son Absalom drew the people from their allegiance, then seized the reins of government and pursued his father with an army. That was rebellion against wholesome law, against the will of God.
Now we have the painful fact before us, that rebellion has sprung up against our good government. Men in many quarters have secretly plotted, and openly avowed hostility to our Federal Union. Eight of our States have passed the Ordinance of Secession, four or five others are assuming an attitude of hostility to the General Government, or refusing to comply with the Executive, who calls on them to aid in the defence of the Capital. This state of things has been preceded by acts of treachery on the part of leading men in the States, by seizure of arms, money, and public defences,--the property of the government. A new Confederacy is formed, contrary to oaths and compacts, for the purpose of destroying our Union, and giving perpetuity to slavery. It has attacked our forts, adulterated our coin, stolen our arms, proclaimed piracy against our commerce, set a price on the head of our Chief Magistrate, threatened our Capital, and raised armies to exterminate, if possible, our nationality. And all this it has done without one act of the Government to provoke such procedure; without any oppression; without any threat; but in the face of every honorable proposal on our part, after long and patient endurance of their encroachment and plunders; even until foreign journals deride us for our forbearance, and the rebels themselves insult our delay.
There are those who have compared this rebellion with our revolution of '76. There could hardly be a wider distinction, both in principle and in fact, than between these two movements. The Colonies, had been oppressed by "navigation laws," intended by the British Parliament to crush out their commerce for a whole century, from 1660 to 1775. Their weakness during that period did not allow of resistance. They were taxed oppressively, while they were not allowed a representation. This was in violation of Magna Charta; for the government of Great Britain was representative. Having been aided by the Colonists during the Seven Years' War, in the subjugation of Canada, the Parent Government--without asking taxation through the regular action of the Colonial Government--assumed the right to tax our expanding commerce, and commenced a vigorous enforcement of revenue laws. "Writs of Assistance" were issued, whereby officers of the king were allowed to break open any citizen's store or dwelling, to search for, and seize foreign merchandise; sheriffs also were compelled to assist in the work. The sanctions of private life might, by this act be invaded at any time by hirelings; and bad as it was in itself, it was liable to more monstrous abuse. Then came the "sugar bill," imposing enormous duties on various articles of merchandise from the West Indies, and greatly crippling Colonial commerce: then the infamous Stamp Act, by which every legal instrument, in order to validity, must have the seal of the British Government--deeds, diplomas, &c., costing from thirty-six cents to ten dollars apiece: then the duty on tea; and, finally, the quartering of soldiers on our citizens in time of peace, for the express purpose of subjugating our industry and energy to the selfish purposes of the crown.
It is enough to say, that the rebels against our Government have suffered no oppression. They do not set forth any legal ground of Secession. The government has done nothing to call out their indignation, or to inflict on them a wrong. They have had more than their share of public office; they have had a larger representation, in proportion to their free citizens, than we have; they have been protected in their claims, even against the convictions of the North; we yielding, as a political demand, what we do not wholly admit as a Christian duty. We have assisted them by enactments, by money, and by arms, in the preservation of a system at war with our conscience, and with our liberties. We have paid for lands which they occupy; and after all their indignities and taunts, and attacks on our citizens, their plunders, and their warlike demonstrations, we have been patient; and are even now imposing on ourselves restraint from the execution of that chastisement, which many of their sober and awed citizens acknowledge to be just, and which, if the call were made by the Executive, would at once be hurled on the rebels by an indignant people, like the rush of destiny.
Now, I grant, for I do not wish to make the matter worse than it is against them, that in the North, individuals have demanded more than the South were able, at once, to give. Some have pushed reform faster than it would bear, faster than the laws of Providence would allow; but it was honestly and conscientiously done. We have sometimes in our warmth, uttered irritating words; but all this has been returned by blows, and by savage vindictiveness. We have shown a willingness, of late, to yield some things; to abide by the sense of the whole people; but these States are, by their rulers, declared out of the Union, without appeal to the people; they have commenced the war, and now they are regarded by the whole world as in a state of rebellion, not of justifiable revolution. They would submit to no method of adjustment that we could honorably allow. They desired war, as they have been for years preparing for it, at the expense of the Government, and in its service and trust, drawing their life from the bosom which they now sting; and because freedom will no longer bow, as it has done for a whole generation, to their will, they rebel, proclaim a system of piracy, and threaten the subjugation of the whole American people. It is a deep, and long determined treason, running into the whole national life, and is become to ourselves a question of personal liberty.
III. What then, we ask, is the duty of all citizens when good government is assailed by rebellion?
Doubtless, one duty is to inquire whether they have in any way contributed criminally to the occasion or the causes of such rebellion; whether they have demanded too much of the disaffected, or encouraged a wrong spirit in them by coinciding with views leading to their present attitude; whether they have participated in any way with a policy calculated to irritate, to defy, to provoke honest minds to anger? Whether as individuals, as Christians, they have been bitter and harsh, and vengeful, or are so now; and if they find any such spirit, it becomes them to repent, and school themselves into Christian charity and moderation. But, notwithstanding any possible error in the past, the Christian citizen must consecrate himself to the defence of the government and its policy; for however, there is a distinction ordinarily between the two; in a crisis that involves a nation's life, the policy which would save it, is the spirit of government and order.
The true Christian will pray, and speak, and write, and labor, and die for its success! Will give assurance of his sympathy and support, and refuse to do any act that can be construed into comfort to the rebels. He will encourage troops called to support the government, and its policy, giving them food, clothing, advice, BIBLES AND ARMS. He will rouse their patriotism, and call down on them the benediction of heaven. This is the duty of ministers, and magistrates, of churches and individual Christians. And if the rebellion continue, it is their duty to advocate and help to form armies of sufficient numbers and power to utterly subjugate the rebels, and, if they cannot otherwise be brought to submit, put an end to their existence. That is what God did by the hand of Israel, to Korah and Absalom; and it is the legitimate issue, if needs be, of all successful resistance,--of all defensive warfare. To deny it, is to deny the right of self-defence. It is to put a man in a position where he must love his enemy better than himself and children, which even Christianity does not demand, though it does enjoin forbearance, charity, and sacrifice. To deny this is to condemn the principles of our Revolution, and to sanction the plunder and destruction of national property and being.
What, therefore, is our duty, now that rebellion actually rages against our mild, equal, good Government--the best, on the whole, that the world ever saw? rebellion without cause; with no legitimate ground of offence; rebellion for the sake of a dark and demoralizing system, that has robbed half the nation of its conscience, and cursed it with an inveterate idolatry. What is our duty? What is mine as a citizen, a Christian, a minister of God--as a man? What is yours? Plainly to ask, What have I--either by demanding too much, not in abstract right, but in the light of present possibility--contributed towards this fearful condition? What by my love of money, my sanction of oppression, my apologies for wrong, my complaint against government, my support of wrong principles, my neglect to vote and pray for the right, my boast of national greatness, my worship of power and neglect of goodness, my forgetfulness of God? What by all these, and more that I do not think of, have I done palpably, possibly, toward bringing on this terrible crime against justice, humanity and law? Then it is my duty to repent of all this and deplore it. It is also my duty to strive against personal hatred and revenge, and to pray for my country's enemies just as I would for my own, and because they are my own--not that they prosper in their rebellion, but that they repent and find mercy, and acknowledge the authority against which they are at war. It is our duty specially to pity and pray for the multitudes of good citizens and their families, who cannot escape from among the rebels, and who are in great jeopardy; men who love law and the Constitution, and the whole country; who are either resisting, under the greatest pressure, the evil that is upon them, or yielding through fear and force. We feel for them; we call them our brothers. But it is also my duty and yours to support our government--our administration; to pray for and sympathize with our President and his Cabinet in their most trying posture, in the midst of such perils, and with so meagre means for the moment, of establishing order, and setting the nationality in permanent security. It is our duty to report traitors to the police, that they may be lawfully cared for; to help our militia and volunteers with every comfort and defence; to hold up the arm of government so long as rebels remain.