The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-03-28

licanism, would have crawled to its guilty and
dishouored grave. Only by persistent fidelity
to our principles could We hope either to break
down the power Of our foes or maintain real
U:ion movement This We already had in the
Republican party. II there is anywhere .
Republican who is not Union man would
be glad to know where he may be found This
accursed war is upon us to-day because the
policy OF the Government, under the rule Of
slave-breeding Democracy, has SO long been
drifting from the principles of our Republican
fathers. - re affirmed in the Philadelphia and
Chicago platforms. The rebellion is fulfilled
prophecy Of Thomas Jefferson, and Of all the
leading anti slavery men of later generation;
and nothing. certainly, should have been fur
Their from our purpose than to rush with inde-
cent haste into the embrace of unrepentant
Democratic, when the very life of the nation
had been brought into deadly peril by their
systematic recreancy to the principles of real
Democracy. @
Sir, Democratic policy not only gave birth to
the rebellion, but Democrats, and only Demo-
Gratis, are in arms against their country
Democrats fred on its flag at For: Sumter
Jefferson Davis is Democrat, and so is every
God -forsaken rebel at his heels. A Demo-
cratic Administration was in power when the
President, who could have nipped it in the
| bud, allowed onr Navy to be sent to distant
seas, our fortresses to be occupied, our arsensls
and navy yards to be seized, and our arms and
munitions to be stolen. Democrats clutched
the Treasury of the Government and robbed it
Of its Indian bonds. The distinguished thieves
and cut threats who are known as the leaders
Of the rebellion, such as Floyd, Thompson,
Yancey, and Cobb, are all Democrats. Not
only is it true that rebels are Democrats, but
so are rebel sympathizers, whether in the
North or the South. On the other hand, the
Republican party, so far IS can learn, has
not furnished single recruit to the ranks of
the rebellion. Loyalty and republicanism 60
hand in hand throughout the Union, as per.
fectly as treason and slavery. ~
| In the light of these pregnant facts Mr..
Chairman, We find no occasion for q new party,
What We should work and pray for is the sue.
cess Of our principles, and this can only be se-
cured by stesdfastness Of purpose and associa.
ted political action We need something of
permanence in our movements, stunning that
fckleness and instability that would form a
new party, with q new name, for every cam
paign, and thus fritter away our strength in
the fickleness of our schemes, instead of nus
banding it for effective service Republican,
ism is not like a garment, to be put on or laid
aside for our own convenience, but an endur-
ing principle which can never be abandoned
without faithlessness to the country. 1t is not
succession of 'dissolving views" brought on
to the political stage to amuse conservative
gentlemen, o., to dazzle and bewilder the PEG
pie, but the fixed star which should guide us
through the shifting phases of American polls
tics and the bloody labyrinths of war. Sir,
! NOT 20 &ha Ir,1
blessings of peace would we forsake its light.
1t is because we loved our principles more
than peace that we are now in the midst of
war. We demanded Union under conditions
that would make it the servant of liberty, and
not the handmade Of slavery, and the rebellion
is the result. Let US accept it; and when we
are charged with producing it. let US reply
that the charge, if true at all, is true in sense
which makes infamous the men who prefer it.
In the sense in which the opponents of pagan
ism caused ..martyrdoms in the early days Of
| the Church; in the sense in which the enemies
| OF the papal power In the time of Luther caus-
ed prosecutions and death: in the sense in
which Thomas Jefferson and fathers caused the
war of our Revolution, we, who are called
Republicans, caused the rebellion of which
pro slavery Democracy is pre.eminently guilty,
If we had allowed slavery to tako root in the
the soil of Kansas, without resistance or pro.
test; If we had permitted it, through the help
OF the Supreme Court, to fasten its fangs upon
all our Territories, so that neither Congress,
nor the people, nor any human power could
remove it; if we had allowed it to 90 freely
through the non -slaveholding States, and set
up its habitation in defiance Of State enact.
ments if we had consented to tie revival Of
the African Slave trade, and that our lips
should be sealed against the right to talk
about it, except to talk in its favor; if, in q
word the people of the free States had been
willing to trample under their feet the institu-
tons Of their fathers, and to dedicate this con-
tinent to slaveholding and slave breeding for.
ever, then We might have had peace to day,
and an unbroken Union. But our Democratic
peace would have been the peace of the pit,
'tstifing, suffocating, sultry"-a peace inf
nitely more dreadful than the war We have
chosen to accept in the maintenance Of our
principles; and our Union would have been a
confederacy Of corsairs, devouring humanity,
defying God, exalting the devil, and gladden.
ing the heart of every absolutist and tyrart
throughout the earth. Sir, rejoice greatly
that Republicans had the courage to throw
themselves between their country and the
eternal damnation to which Democratic policy
was about to consign it; and that now, stand
ing face to face with the dread realities of war,
they are still resolved to stand together by the
flag staff of freedom. No step backwards is
possible, nor was there any hope for the Re-
public so long as the Government and its ad
visers failed to realize this fact.
Mr.. Chairman, have indicated, in general
terms the mistakes of Republican policy since
the beginning of the war. Many of our trust.
ed leaders have lost their way, while the Ad.
ministration itself has not been thoroughly
Republican in its policy. Forgetting the
mere negations Of our creed it should have
plan ed itself bravely on its afirmations, paus.
ing not moment to apologize, or deprecate OF
explain. The crisis called for absolute cour-
age, and the time had gone by forever for any
policy savoring, in the smallest degree, Of
timidity or hesitation. The..disasters of this
war, and the perils which now threaten the
country, find their best explanation in the
failure of the Government to stand by its
friends, and its readiness to strengthen the
hands of its foes. To fearful extent Demo.
cratic ideas and Democratic policy have ruled
this Republican Administration from the be.
Ic;o ro1,ov ,fto