The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1863-07-02
Wisconsin Democracy.

| place Tic Idllh anu hlC Vi bidb PeIlbJ VII q
platform of decided and outspoken hostility
to the Government and the Union. At the
breaking out Of the Rebellion the great mass
Of the people of Wisconsin were thoroughly
loyal. The majority of the Democrats were
unconditional Union men, They did not hes
itate, when their country called, to rush to
her defence The Republican party then in
power in the State, knew no party, in all mat
tiers pertaining to the defence Of our common
country Our hitherto political opponents
were met with the open hand Of fellowship,
and offered afull share of the honors and respon
sibilities of office and station The only ques
tons asked were, is he capable ?-is he loyal ?
Of course, the leaven that has since nearly
corrupted the Democratic party was then diff
fused through the mass The few Breckin
ridge Democrats with few nominal Doug
las Democrats who adhered to the 'Iittle Gil
ant, because it was popular to do so, but
who were really rebel sympathizers, constitu-
ted that leaven. Some of them pretended to
| be great lTleIuS VI GlC Cii1Oli, anu NSlO
ready to go all lengths to put down the re-
bellion, C0nStitutioaaHy But the great diff
ficulty was the constitution made no provis-
ion for preserving the Union by force Of arms.
Those Democrats prevented a Union of all
parties of the State on an unconditional 10y
atty Platform in 1861, in our State election,
and they have been busy ever since, in strength
ening party prejudices, and bringing the par
ty up to its present position Of open enmity
to the Government.
The mass Democratic Convention that met
at Milwaukee last week Thursday was the
elimination of the disloyal teachings Of the
leaders. The Convention, we learn from the
Milwaukee papers, was in point of numbers
failure, but it nevertheless accomplished its
task Of committing the Democracy of Wiscon-
sin as party to a disloyal platform. 1t
would seem as if what the convention lacked
in numbers it made up in spite bitterness and
disloyalty.
The Resolutions adopted as the platform Of
the party are remarkable for lucidity contra
riety and double entendre, and remind one
forcibIy of the truthful saying that 'you can
not serve two masters" though they were
evidently gotten up to show that that could
be done. They are numerous and lengthy,
occupying nearly two columns Of the Wiscon-
sin. They commence with the old formula,
that the Democracy of Wisconsin ''renew their
historical pledges of loyalty to the Constitu-
ton and the Union" Pity they have moth
ing but historical pledges Of loyalty" Would
it not be well fer the Democracy of Wiscon-
sin, to leave for short time the realms Of his
tory and come down to the things Of the pres
ent The Historical pledges, are not APP
plicabIe to the civil war; and the national con-
vuIsions ofso-day. Those Historical pledges"
were gotten up by jeff Davis, Gov. Wise, A.
H. Stephens, Toombs, Mason, Slidell, and a
host of others whose loyalty to the Union"
is Historical, and nothing more"
No | one of the Resolutions declares that
under the provisions of the Constitution no
state has the right to withdraw from
the Union, and that secession is the highest
crime against it; that constitutionally consid
ered the present war, on the part of the Fed
eral Government was in it's inception defen-
sive war, but like all defensive wars may be
aggressive in its conduct, and is, Or ought to
be, carried on by the Federal Government
against the revolted States to restore the I'm
ion and maintain the Constitution through
out the whole Union as it was; and that as
such it is clearly within the powers of the
Federal Government"
We copy No. two entire as follows:
,. Resoloed, That war maintained by the
Federal Government in defence of the Union
as our fathers established it, carried on under
the sanction and subject to the guarantees OF
| the Constitution, is war enlisting the holi
est sympathies of mankind, and meriting, as
far as mortal work can merit or mortal man
can see, the blessing Of the Almighty God of
battles. But that war waged by the Fede-
raj Government to reduce sovereign States to
provincial dependency or to subvert the rights
secured by the Constitution to the several
States and the people thereof, under a pre-
tence Of maintaining both, would be as unho-
ly war as ambition could devise or tyranny
inflict
Here is the whole gist of the matter. The
balance of the Resolutions are devoted to the
object of showing that the present war for the
preservation of the Union is the one describ-
ed in the latter clause of the resolution.
No. 8, resolves that while Wisconsin DEM
ocracy believes 'the slavehoIding states had
received long and grievous provocation, by
assaults upon their constitutional rights by
northern abolitionism, the original and &C
cursed cause of the terrible civil war now rag
ing" yet it holds ''the southern revolt to have
been from the beginning wholly unjustfabIe,
a crime against the laws of God and man,
against the best Government ever established
by human WISDOM" &c.
This would be all right, if it were not all
knocked in the head by number 4 which de-
clares that 'the end does not Justify the
means" that 'the present federal administra-
ton, in conducting the present war, has left
the world in doubt whether their principal
object is to restore the constitution at the
South, or subvert it at the North"
The 9th resolution is rather ambiguous.
1t declares that the Democracy twill consent
to no dismemberment of the Union, and then
as an offset to that, closes with the following
patriotic declaration Better liberty and right
out of the Union than government above
h, H.,
We should say that this latter clause look
ed decidedly toward ACKNOWLEDGMENT of the
Union, and further it looks as if the Wiscon-
sin Democracy were in search of some excuse
for such ACKNOWLEDGMENT"