Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1862-08-06
SPEECH OF COL. JOHN w. FoRNEY,
At the Union Convention In HARRISBURG {
the 18th Of Julv


of the Committee on Resolutions to second
their adoption, and said
The resolutions. Mr.. President which have
! just been read comprise in brief terms the
! duty of the loyal men of Pennsylvania and
they Will go To the countr, as an utterance
| mat must produce healthfu consequences.
! Ihere are elements in this assent blage which
nave never been combined In any former pc
rlod OF our cOuntryS issue. We have here
! representatives Of the Republican party, the
| Peoples party, the American party, and of
the loyal men OF the Democratic party.
notice mat at least tJCeHty counties Of The State
! hardseA Democratic Delegates 10 his Conrention
Ihe heavy gloom which seems again TO have
settled upon our unhappy country has had the
effect of eXtinguishing many dissensions
Men who have differed radically in former
| years now stand together like band of broth
ers But one motive animateS this splendid
! Orgamzdtlon-t that of devotion TO country and
rmluation o maintain the Union. There
is no spectacle, says great poet, more nspir-
ing than great people struggling with their
enemies The fend Slavery, which is the
beginning Of all our troubles, in tearing itself
! rom the Republic, seems determined to tear
the vtals Of The Republic away with it. For,
however men may differ, Mr.. President, this
is not merely struggle for our existence as Il
free people, but ii is struggle between iber-
| ~ aud slavery. All others issues have sub
sided before this issue. Slavery in beginning
| the war to perpetuate itself, has laid strong
| hand upon our free institutions, and is resolv-
! ed, failing itself, to bury them in one common
! ruin. Those only deny il who themselves
! pray for the success OF the rebellion, and those
! only believe what | have said who earnestly
! pray for the triumph of the Union arms. And
| IT is fact well calculated TO agOnize the soul,
! that bitter aud dreadful as have been the gen
| eral sufleringS i'll this extraordinary strife
| Notwithstanding thousands OF homes are Gov
/ rad If III
tears are shed over the freshly heaped graves
of those who have fallen in defence of our
flag, yet all these terrible lessons produce no
impression upon many who live among and
around US. These men see their country
bleeding at every pore, and have no word of
nope or comfort to give TO her. While we,
forgetting all old antagonsms and parties
while we throw off the cloaks of former or
ganizations, and reveal ourselves only in the
Garb OF patriotism II hey clUthe themselves with
all the hatred, and ranchor, and uncharitabe-
ness for which they have been so distinguished
before, and prepare to strike at their country
ii not in the name, at least in the name of the
doctrines of that candidate for the Presidency
who, less than two years ago, marshalled the
hosts of disunion at the ballot-boX, and now
leads an army OF traitors in the battle tie ID
If, Mr.. President, slavery is the cause Of this
great crusade upon human liberty, its imme-
diate agents and ministers confess, by all their
Of this assertion. They have pursued the tell
purpose. which has now ripened into war, with
Il persistence which can only be explained by
the close sympathy with the rebellion itself,
and their sincere hatred of the Government of
the United States. Calling themselves Dem
ocrats, they banded together in favor of
Slavery and Aristocracy. Let me take a
prominent example of the schoOl-the old man
who lives in neglected solitude, within an hour
and half ride Of the Capital of Pennsylva-
MIA. He is now beyond the PSalmiSt's age.
He entered the Presidential chair more than
five years ago, with fair opportunity to
serve and save this country as ever had been
presented to man. He was elected upon a
distinct and voluntary pledge that he would
give to the people Of the unhappy Territory
OF Kansas the right to dispose of their own
affairs, IN their own way. Had he been true
to this We should have had neither secession
nor bloodshed. The history of this uDpara- |
leled treachery is written-wrtten, sir, in |
carnage and in shame. 1t ought to be sup |
posed that now, looking over this history, he |
would seize the occasion to ripat ehis mighty |
crime by some manifestation of public peni !
tence. 1t might be supposed that now in his |
old age, he would secure the favor aud for /
giveness of Heaven by appealing to those he |
still controls, to rally to the common defence,
and to shun his fatal example. But no, gen
tlemen so far from this, the animatng soul |
of the rebellion in the Southern States is not /
more Jefferson Davis, than the animating soul
of the rebe lion in the free States is James /
Buchanan. He seems to desire the immortal .
infamy of dragging our glorious Union into /
the dishoDored grave he is himself soon to fill.
Around his own home, proved by the Con-
vention which assembled in his own county a
few weeks ago, and by that which disgraced
this hall on the 4th Of July, his former follow
ers, doubtless under his lead and counsel,
mock at the peris of the nation, and delight
in nothing 50 much as to embarass and retard
the operations of the constituted authorities.
Is il possible that this man and his parasites
can rally any portion OF the people of Penn
syvana to their standard Monuments
themselves of the mercy of the Government,
permitted to live in comfort under the flag
they toiled to defame and to dshonor, shall
these men be permitted to go on in their work
of treason
They proclaim that this war is ar abolition
war-a war for the emancipation OF the slaves
"a war Tor negro equallty-a war In which
the white man is to be driven out Of the fields
of labor by the colored race. This is the sta
pie Of their creed this is the burden of their
cry. Will James Buchanan, or any one OF his
creatures, here elsewhere, inform me
whether it was the Abolition SITS that framed
the Lecompton Constitution, and forced it up
on the people OF Kansas Whether ii was
the Abolitionists that fabricated the English
bill measure even more Infamous Was it
the Aboitionsts that prosecuted and pro-
scrbed Walker and DoCglas and Broderick
Did they murder Broderick Did they retain
in the Buchanan Cabinet the incarnate tral-
tors who robbed the Federal Treasury, deci-
mated the army, sent our navy to distant seas,
sacked our arsenals, and sent to Southern
ports incalculable supplies of the munitions of
war Was il the Aboitionists, in word,
that prepared the way for the elimination OF
war. leaving TO Mr.. Lincoln bankrupt and