The other day we said . . .

. . . we did not know of a single loyal Democratic paper in Iowa.  Since we wrote that paragraph we have received a number of the Cass County Gazette from which we cut out the following article.  We are satisfied the writer is loyal and as long as he utters such sentiments we shall hail him as a loyal and true man.  If there are any others we shall rejoice to know it.

AUTHORS OF THE WAR. – The attempt to saddle the whole responsibility of the rebellion upon the Abolitionists of the North is destined to prove a complete failure   It can’t be done without obliterating the memory and records of stubborn facts.  Abolitionists it is undeniable, did much to create disaffection toward the Union in the Southern States and to excite jealousy and hostile feelings between the people of the North and South.  But they did not cause the War.  Secessionists, the extreme opposites of Abolitionists, conceived and matured the plan of disunion, and they deliberately went to work to execute that plan.  They took up arms and began the War for the destruction of the Union, hence, they are directly responsible for it.  Another fact – the secessionist can stop this War as suddenly as they began it.  The moment they lay down their arms and submit to the laws, they will have peace and enjoy all the rights which they possessed from the foundation of the Government to the time they seceded.  Then, what cause have they for fighting?  None at all.  They have been deprived of no right which the Constitution grants them.  Although they have shed the blood of thousands of our fellow citizens in their wicked efforts to overthrow the Government of the United States.  That very government is ready to extend its mercy and protection to them the moment they return to their allegiance.  Then who is to blame for the continuance of this War?  Not the Abolitionists for they have not the power to stop the war.  It is the Secessionists who are whole to blame for they alone have the power to stop fighting against the Union.  When they do this we shall at once have peace.  As long as they continue to fight in their unholy cause, so long will the war last.  If they will not submit they must be conquered, if necessary, subjugated, and all parties in the North as well as the South may as well settle their policy with a view to this great fact.  The Union, it must be preserved, said Jackson in 1832.  “AMEN!” say the people in 1862.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1