The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1862-05-09
Union Legislative Address.

! TO The Electors Of The State Of Nese York
The undersigned, members of the Legis
latnfe, feel it incumbent on them, on clos
ing the session of 1862, to submit to tht
electors Of this State come considerations q
to the present condition of the country
and the political duties which it devolveI
upon them. Fra = q -E1s 5szo
i III. When they assembled here, the great re-
! beAion, whose rising clouds had SO long
darkened the Southern sky, had already
| burst in desolating fury upon the land
4 The bad passions Of ambitious and unprin-
/ cipIed men, embittered by the teachings
and spirit of an Institution which has long
been our shame and our reproach, and poi
soHed by party hate and lust of power, had
Anally eliminated in open madness, and
hurled upon our country all the calamities
/ and dangers we had feared 80 long, and had
sought so earnestly by concessions and COM
promises to avert and avoid. It had be-
come the duty of this generation to meet the
] most fearfal peril our institutions have ever
been compelled to encounter. That duty
had been rendered doubly difficult by the
magnanimous and con6ding ineredulity Of
the loyal people of the Northern States,
who steadily refused to believe their South
ern brethren capable of the greatest crime
ton, and who resolutely shut their eyes to
the movements of organized conspiracy,
and even to the marshalling of armies, in
open prelude to its preparation. It was not
until the -bombardment of Sumter an
nounced the actual outbreak of the rebel
lion, that the North could credit the possi-
bility OF such an act. Then they awoke
from their delusive dream, and began to
realize the fearful dangers that menaced
them on every side. They then saw the
Constitution rent and torn asu1dA., the na-z.
tion stabbed IN q VITAL part, the whole fab
ric and foundation of the Government
broken and shaken from its center to It's
circumference, treason in the army and ma
w, and in every department of the Gov
srnment, and foreign nations looking scorn-
fully on and gloaring over the apparent
and well-nigh accomplished ruin of the
Republic. $50
Never was there a period in the history
of the world so well adapted to try the
strength Of free institutions or to test the
courage and patriotism of free men, and
right well did they vindieate the one, and
assert, in manner never to be forgotten,
the truthfnlness of the other.
Though they found themselves without
military training or organization of any
kiud-with. new Administration just
elected, and unused to the responsibilities
of power-with bankrupt treasury, and
our little army and navy scattered to the |
four quarters of the worId-yet, with de- |
votion and determination worthy the heroic |
days of the Republic, and without paraI- |
lei in the, history of nations, they sprang to
arms, and rallied as one man to the sup
port of the Constitution. From mountain |
top and valley, from the lake, the river,
and the oeean, from the city and from the |
plain, from all the walks and trades and
professions of life, without distinction of |
caste, or birthplace, or sect, or party, they |
stepped forth upon the same common level,
side by side, TO battle nobly for Freedom, |
Order, and Constitutional Law. a.atl f-r |
In the political world, the crisis produced |
changes almost as great, and quite as hon.
orAble to the patriotic loyalty of the Ameri- |
can people. To a very great extent in all
the Northern States mere party organiza. |
tions dissolved and melted away in the |
presence of this fierce and flaming peril
In this State, as elsewhere, the popular inn !
pulse demanded that patriotic men of all
parties should lay aside, for the time, their !
differences Of political sentiment and unite
in support of the National Administration |
in its efforts to maintain the authority Of |
Union. The great body of the people were
ready for such q union, and nothing but |
the obstinate resistance of G powerful organ
ixation, claiming to represent the Demo-
cratic party, and controlling all its organ |
lied means of action, stood in the way of
its contamination. This organization, act
ing in the name, but belying the spirit and
temper Of the patriotic masses of the Demo-
cratic party, went into the State contest of
last fall upon the avowed basis of hostility
s=tba National Standardization and to
nsarIy every one of the measures which,
under the pressure of imperative necessity,
it had been compelled to adopt for the sue
cessfuf prosecution of the war; and the ar
rest of measures in progress within the linn
its Of our owa State to afford aid and COM
fort to the rebellion. A strong feeling Of
dissatisfaction soon made itself manifest
among the great body of the Democratic
marty. whose patriotic sentiments and pur-
poses were thus misrepresented, and who
protested Indignantly against thus be-
! inc made the instruments of sacrificing the
very honor and safety of the country to the
| resentunents and ambition Of political parti-.
sans: and, joining others of their fellow.
citizens not connected with them in party
associations, they met in Convention in
| Syracuse for the nomination OF a State
| ticket upon the broad platform of loyalty
I to the Constitution and the niops and the
Support of the Administration which had
become responsible for the fate of both.
! The Republican Convention, which had as
senbled Ut the same place, in thesame spir-
! il. and for the same patriotic purpose,
uromptly laid aside for the time all thought
of independent action, and joined the Union
1 Convention in its declaration of purposes,
and in its selection of candidates for State