The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-10-18
Your fidelity to tho Government We would al

your fidelity to tho Government We would al
perpetuate.
Many Of you have been long absent, and We
trust you will not deem It improper or impeftl-
nent in us to call your attention, briefly, to the
great issues involved, upon which you will be
called upon to exercise your Judgment ana 20
ask your co operation in the maintenance
and preservation of those principles, IN the
success Of which, by the elevation OF their rep
resentatives and opponents OF power, We most
sincerely believe reposes every hope for the sal.
walton of cur Government and the restoration
of our beloved Union.
The question to be determined this year at
the ballot box is not one simply of political
power-the issue to be decided by your ballots
and ours Is not one alone of political ascendan-
cy as between Democrats and Republicans tits
far wider, broader, deeper. Forced upon US
and upon the country by that spirit of wild and
wasting fanaticism, North and South, which, in
its mad endeavors to direct, for its own purpo-
ses, the warning and revolutionary elements ex.
listing in the country, we can but regard it's So
luton at the ballot.box, on the side of law
and order and good government, as important
to the success Of our armies in the field.
Conse vatism or fanaticism, one must triumph.
In vain will be your successes on the battlefield
in vain will be that immense sacrifice of life
and treasure demanded by this most iniquitous
and unholy rebellion, if, in the end, with a land
drenched in fraternsl blood, with hundreds oil
thousands of desolate homes and heartbstones,
with a mountain of public debt and all the bit
ter legacies of disastrous civil war, our Govern.
ment, as our fathers framed it, and as we have
learned to love it, shall be wrested by revelu-
tionary schemers from the benifcent aims it
was designed to accomplish, and prostituted to
the selfish purposes of those who, We cannot be-
lieve, from their past history and declared pur-
poses, have its preservation in its integrity at
heart.
The position Of the Democratic party in re-
gard to the war is for it's determined and vigor-
GUS prosecution under the Constitution; not for
purposes of oppression or subjugation, but to
vindicste and maintain the supremacy of the
Constitution; to restore the Government in all
it's rightful authority; to secure the enforce
ment of all the laws; to re-establish, in all its
sacredness, the Federal Union, and to unfurl in
all its majesty, over every foot Of American soil,
q now furnished and insulted Aag-and that
when these objects are accomplished, in the
language Of Mr.. CIittenden, the war ought to
cease.
That policy which would devote million of
our bravest men, and untold millions of the
public treasure, to the prosecution of this war
for the purpose of freeing four millions of ne
groes and thereby bringing free negro labor in
competition with the free white labor of the
North, we most unequivocally deprecate and
condemn. We do not understand this war to
be waged for any such purpose, or that it ought
to be, but with the sole object of restoring the
Union and preserving the Government. In re-
gard to the confscation and use of rebel slave
property by our armies, we hold the position that
wherever and whenever the slaves of rebels can
be made useful in the mental duties of the camp,
in the construction of Notifications and other
wise as laborers, thereby relieving our brave
soldiers of such duties, and leaving them free
to fight the enemies of our common country,
let it be done-vesting discretion in such mat
tiers with the commanders of our armies in the
field We do not desire, however, that the
great question of the preservation of the Gov
eminent in its integrity shall, by any policy, be
subordinated to any other in the prosecution of
this war.
If these are your views, and if you would see
these sentiments triumph at the ballot box, be-
fore such success shall be shorn of it's fruits,
we appeal to you to unite with us in giving back
to the Democratic party its lost supremacy in
the North. ,a s
In every hour of the Governments trial and
tribulation, from its organization until now, the
Democratic party has stood by tit stands by
it and by you now, actively engaged in its de-
fence at the time of its EXTREMIST peril.
Spurning those influences by which some OF
those invested with military authority, and
others having the direction of our national at
fairs are being sought to be corrupted and gov
erned, we appeal to you to lend your aid to those
patriotic purposes for which this war is being, if
we understand it, and ought to be prosecuted,
by giving power to that conservative element in
the country, in the ascendancy of which, we
most firmly believe, alone, there is hope for the
country.
Let the fanaticsms and corruptions Of the
day receive stern rebuke, and Just repudia-
ton at the hands of the people. Let that same
discriminating sense of patriotism which has
nerved your arms and cleaned from your bayou
cts on the battlefield inspire and animate you
at the ballot box, and all will be we'll.
We do not stop now to inquire, nor do we ask
you, as to the causes and influences which have
brought upon the country the terrible calamity
which 80 seriously threatens its destruction
We want the rebellion subdued quickly, in the
name of the Constitution of our fathers and of
the Union, and when subdued We want left to
US the domination of that conservative, consti-
tutional, Union-loving element which will in
sure to US and to our country continual peace
and perpetual prosperity. We would rebuke
the corruptionists in power, give back to the
Government the glories of which it has been
robbed, consign to political oblivion that spirit
of lawless fanaticism which derides the Union
as it was, and scorns constitutional obligations,
and throw the safeguards of governmental pro-
lection once more around our homes and fire.
Sides
Will you mite with us for the accomplish
ment of these purposes, CT do you know of 9th
er objects for which this war should be prosecu-
ted, inconsistent with the success and ascend
ancy of the democratic party? Remember. we
beg you, that the reign of fanaticism, once firm
~ established, inaugurates reign Of terror =
The country has nothing to fear from democrat.
ic rule. That party sustains and upholds you in
your midnight marches, in the sanguinary con.
ficts of the battle field as well as the holy cause
in which you are engaged; it sustains, and will
continue to sustain, the President and the Ad-
ministration in all their constitutional en-
deavors to put down tbs rebellion; it stands
unhesitatingly by the Constitution and the Union
-proclaiming in multiplied forms, as its con.
slant motto and battle cry-7he Consultation