The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1862-05-09
EVANSVILLE, IND. FRIDAY NO ORNING. AY. g, 1869.

officers. The men thus nominated, in spit
. OF the vigorous efforts OF the so-calIe
Democratic organization, were elected BY
: very large popular majority.s;q aaaz 2
In the election of members to the Legis
lature, the same patriotic spirit bperVade
: the great body of the people. The Repub
lIcan party in every Senate and Assembl,
district ofthis State; as everywhere through
out the country, stood pledged, alike by ii
> principles and By its responsibilities, for TIA
National Administration which it placed il
5 power, to the support of that Administra
ton IN Whatever measures the emergency
is might require for the suppression of the re
81 bsllion and the Preservation Of the u aion
HI In very many of those districts the Repub
Iicans elected members of their own party
: to the Legislature; while in many Others
whnre they hadth unquestioned power tc
elect such candidates, they waived all such
preferences, and aided in electing men who
have never acted with them politically, bul
whose Loyalty and paramount devotion to
the country had been made manifest b7
1their patriotic and Independent action.
and inlsdltotheE districts, where the Re-
publicans were in the minority, their union
with true Democrats who had been repelled
from their own party organization by its
thinlysdisguiseda sympathy with the po-
litcal sentiments and purposes which
prompted the rebellion, resulted in the cleo
tion OF Democratic Union men. -
In some one of these three ways nearly
| all the undersigned were elected to be-
members of the present Legislature. They
| met st Albany and entered upon their duties
on this common platform of devotion to the
country, the Constitution, and the Union.
They have acted together as Union men,
| ignoring past differences and discarding ali
political distinctions. They organized the
Assembly upon this basis, and their pro-
ceedings throughout the session have been
characterized by harmonious cooperation
in efforts to reform public abuses, to re-
trench needless expenditures, to check and
crush out profigacy and corruption.in all
departments of the Government, and to
strengthen the hands of the General Gov
eminent in its contest with rebellion The
wisdom of this course in this State and
throughout the country, is now apparent.
The heart-burnings and chickering's of party
have been banished. Traitors at home
have been cowed or shamed into silence
and submission. The credit of the Gov
ernment has been sustained, and confidence
in its stability and integrity has been re.
stored. Thanks to the courage and heroic
constancy of oar citizen soldiers, to the
wisdom of their leaders, and the hearty
support of the great body of the people, the |
tide of war has been turned back upon the |
rebellion, its armies defeated, its strong
holds captured, and its leaders are one by /
one paying the penalty of their hideous
crime.
Nothing in the history Of this nation, or |
OF the world, surpasses the patriotic devo- |
ton of the people to the country in this
crisis of its fate. Not only have they offer.
without stint, for the public good, but they /
have surrendered, for the moment, with /
equal alacrity, what freemen everywhere I
deem infinitely more valuable than either /
life or fortune, namely, their personal rights, /
freedom of speech and of the press -habeas /
corpus, and whatever else seemed for the /
time to stand in the way Of preserving the
nations honor and the nation's life. None
but nation whose pillars rest on the i'm
movable foundation of peoples love,
could endure so sharp and severe test.
With every successive step of the rebellion
has the strength of our Government become
more manifest, Despotic Powers have seen
with surprise this calm surrender By q
people living under republican institutions
of the fundamental rights aads immunities
" hich those Institutions were made to pro-
teet. They profess to soc in il indifference
to those rights; whereas, they are sur
rendered for the moment only, as a means
of giving them firm and immovable basis
hereafter. They are waived for the timex
ia order to preserve the Constitution, which
guarantees them, forever; y .sdibaaI 1
But while SO much has been done, it /
cannot be forgotten that mighty work Il
still remains to be accomplished. q While |
the country has been delivered from the
immediate peril by which it seemed few 4
months since to be threatened, it must be
borne in mind that the rebellion has not /
yet been crushed that battles have yet to !
be fought and victories won, and defeats 4
perhaps encountered, before we can safely 4
relax our united eforfain the common cause.
Nor is the emergency any longer purely
military in its character. The dangers
which now threaten the Union are not ex-
clusively dangers arising from military / Z
force. Questions of political principle,
touching the very foundations of the Gov
ernment, and threatening its stability and
integrity quite as really as any menace OF
military power, are rapidly arising or are
thrust into the controversy by designing
enemies of the Union fSF the he nrobIen, Of
fPt9 br6ggfr 11afion. ThA causes which brouobt
On this rebellion, with all their attendant I
perils and evils, have yet to be eradicated
and removed. l- i La sls
A great and comprehensive system of !
financial policy, commensurate with our
present and future wants, must be inaugu-
rated and administered; the re-estabIish= =
ment of the authority of the National Gov
eminent has yet to be effected; and the
mode of treatment toward persons in rebel
liong their property and their slaves, has
yet to be determined. We must yindieatea
the intelligence as well as the patriotism of
our people, and put to shame the tyrants OF
the Old World who laughed at our calaml-
ties and predicted the downfall of popular
and free institutions.
And, what is, perhaps q more difficult
problem. still, the system and machinery OF
a free and representative commonwealth
must be made to move on and work har- 4
moniously with a. heavy National debt, and
an onerous and searching taxation. The
experience of the past, and our own ReVO-
Iutionary history, should admonish uS that
our greatest perils may yet lie hidden in