St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1862-08-07
WHOLE no. ';2l0.

strongest testimony to/the wisdom Of our
opposition in the past to the extension Of
an institution capable of yielding such re.
suits. Any other course on our part
would but have prolonged the day Of its
expansion and power, to leave the nation
eventually more completely and helplessly
at It's mercy.
Nor must it be forgotten that # we, AZ
a party, were prompt to resist at an early
day, the extravagant demands of that in
stitution, not less ready were our fellow
citizens of the North to oppose those de-
mands, when compliance with them inn
piled the degradation of the great party
to which they belonged.
The translation from constitutional Of
for to armed rebellion was marked by the
distrganization Of the Charleston Conven-
t;on When both the Republican party
and the Democratic party of the North
refused 10 obey the extreme demands of
the shareholders, then, ana not till then,
was tue insurrectlon organized.
If to day two parties are in the feld, it
is because Of the existence, among tha
people. of two phases of sentiment upon
this war ;-one determination to sustain
the government and preserve the unity
Of the nation, at all hazards and at all cost
the other, desire to regard any and
all side issues as paramount to the govern
ment and the Union. Your organization
to-day is rendered imperatively necessary
by the existence. Of an organization, al.
ready in the field. whose announced plat
form is simply bill Of grievances and Of
crimes, s,-charged against thu government
in this the EXTREMIST hou, Of its peril.
You cannot, as loyal men, permit the na-
ton to fall under the control Of men who
would place it, bound hand aud foot, at
the mercy Of les enemies
am glad that you have spoken out
boldly on the question Of confscation.
There has been too much tenderaess-
too mnch fa!tering and hesitating. Our
people have been slow to recognize tho
magnitude and the desperate earnestness
of the rebellion to meet it with au
equal ea' nestness.
We must teach this generation and all
posterity that insurrection against just
asd benefcent government is the most
hidcous Of all crimes, and deserves the
most terrible Of puntshments. We must
strip the olive branch of its leaves and
scouree these men back iuto obedience.
Our gallant soldiers must no longer be
used az municipal police force to guard
the property Of traitors. Where the
wrath Of the nation falls it must fall as Of
old fell the wrath of God, in Ere and in
ashes. We must make rebellion synony-
NOUS with desclation and the track Of
our armies must be shining track Of ru.
in.
We are engaged, Mr.. President, 10 a
struggle for perpetual national life on the
one hand, or individual sukjugation and
de- radiation on the other. There is not
in all the ample page of history single
instance in which victorious people halt.
ed with magnanimous spirit at the bound
Larry line of defeated notion and hesitated
to impose upon it the bonds and shackels
Of conquest. Does any one doubt the
dark aud unhappy character Of our future.
should our manhood prove unequal to this
great trial?
Before such terrible possibility, who
will dare talk of tenderness and timidity!
In the name of the nation, all human
institutions that stand in the Way of the
nation must be swept to atoms. The
right Of nation to life is above and
beyond all human rights, even as the val.
ne of the nation is above, and beyond the
value Of any OF all its citizens.
| Shall We who send into this whirlpool
of destruction the best beloved Of eur kin
d:ed-shall We who are willing to give
life and limb for the preservation Of the
nation-hesitate to destroy the property
and the wealth of the enemy? Let the
stronghold of the enemy be assaulted
wherever or whatever it may be; and it
in subduing armed insurgents vast pop
ulation are restored to the simplest rights
of humanity, let US thank God that under
his wise providence SO much good has been
made to result from SO necessary aud 80
just an act.
II is not necessary for me to enlarge
upon the relations Of this struggle to the
whole human family, here and in other
lands; te ourselves, to our poseerity, and
to all the countless generations Of mon.
Your own minds have already grasped
this subject. Let US then rise to the q
mergency a. a chosen generation upon
whose shoulders have ta1leu tho tolls aud
honors Of great era. Let us 80 act that
after ages will delight to revert to US a.
one Of the shining examples Of history,
Let US make our mark on the face Of the
! world that the blessings of our work may
live when We have all perished, 49,.
There was rumor in Memphis, when
the last dispatch boat from down the river
| IL Abnk fha Rokal A RE q