Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1862-12-27

In removing from our midst that which
has been the great cause of all our ma
tional troubles, until it eliminated in
the slave holders war, we restore un-
ion that will be real and lasting. We
shall become homogeneous people,
with a unity Of interests, with common
aims and aspirations, with no evil in
our midst with sufficient power to dis
turb our harmony, so as again to in
volve us in a war. With the crushing
curse of slavery removed, our country,
under the influence of freedom the
free institutions of the north gradually
spreading through the entire south, we
will be blessed and prosperous in the
future far beyond anything we have ev-
er known IN the past.
We should unalterably oppose the
dissolution Of this Uuion in any posi-
bic contingency that can now be con-
ceived of. Not a single star should,
with our consent, be ever blotted from
our national constellation not a single
foot of our great domain ever surrend-
cred to the rebellious traitors who are
now seeking our destruction. Our
whole land has been consecrated to
freedom: let us see to it that no por-
ton Of it is deprived Of its blessings.
And then let us remember that dis
solution Of the Union is no remedy for
the evils under which we are now suf-
fering. We are now a great nation,
one of the great powers of the earth,
fighting to sustain the honor and integ-
rity of our Government against horde
OF rebel traitors who are seeking its
overthrow. Should we consent to a
dissolution of the Union, and a conse-
quent recognition Of the Southern Con-
federacy, we should lose our position
as one of the great nations of the earth
and drop to the level of third or fourth
rate power, while scarcely year could
roll round before we should find our
selves again engaged in war; not as
now, with traitorous rebels, but a great
nation, one that would be recognized
and sustained by the nations Of Europe.
We should equally oppose any com.
promise whatever with rebels in arms
against a government that has never
done them aught but good. Until they
lay down their arms and submit unqual-
ifiedly to the authority of the govern
ment they are now seeking to destroy,
let there be wal to the knife, an / the
knife to the hilt: as the best and short
est way of restoring peace to our now
distracted country.
In the present day, men are spoken
of as either Radicals or Conservatives.
These terms are freely used by thous-
ands who have no definite or distinct
idea as to their real meaning. In the
true sense Of the terms we ought to be
both conservative and radical. To con-
serve is to preserve, to hold, to keep,
TO guard, to save from ruin, innovation,
injury.
We should conserve and guard the
great truths Of our glorious Declaration
of Independence and do all in our pow
er to extend them, not only throughout
our own land, but throughout the en-
tire earth. We should conserve and
guard the Constitution of the United
States, and labor to the utmost of our
ability to give it such a construction
that it should accomplish the objects
for which it WAS ordained and estab-
lished, to wit: "To form more per-
feet union, establish justice, insure do
mestic tranquility, promote the general
welfare and secure the blessings of lib
ertV to ourselves and to our posterity"
We should guard and sustain the Con
stitution just as it is; just as we have
received 1t from the noble statesmen
and patriots who framed and adopted
it, and we should unalterably oppose
any amendments to the instrument, un-
less they are made in the interests of
freedom, and made with the design of
carrying into effect more fully the OBJ
jects of the Constitution, as set forth in
the preamble which l have Just quoted.
We should conserve and guard the free
principles and free institutions of our
land, which arc the pride and glory of
the nation. and are the very things the
slave-holding rebels Of the South arc
seeking to destroy. We should be SO
conservative as TO conserve, guard and
protect everything that is good, and
everything that is calculated to promote
the welfare of the people-everytEing
that is designed to spread the blessings
of liberty and free institutions-every-
thing that will increase the intelligence,
the morality and happiness Of the ma
ton. But while we should be thus con-
servative in the true sense of the term,
we should also be radicals. We should
have fixed principles and should have
courage boldly to proclaim and defend
them. When we are satisfied we are
right, we should be radical enough to
90 forward and act up to our conyic-
tions, wherever they may lead us.
On the question of slavery we ought
to be as radical as was Geo. Washing
Ton, when in letter to Robert Mann,
written on the Goth day of April, 1886,
he said: 81 can only say that there is
not man living who wishes more sim
cerely than | do to see plan adopted
for the abolition Of it,
We should be as radical as was
Thomas Jefferson, when he penned
these memorable words: "And can the
liberties of nation be thoncht secure
when we have removed their only firm
basis-a conviction in the minds of the