Union County star and Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1859-1864, 1863-10-13
An Address of Democrats to Dem
OCratS.

warning or for counsel A. lifelong
Democrats, who have never swerved from
the principles laid down by the founders
of the party, We, therefore, address those
with whom we have co-cpcrated through
many hard-fonght struggle.
We haze always boasted that the
Democratic party was the party of the
country; that when danger threatened, or
strife arose, it rallied around the flag
which represented the cause of humN
freedom, and that it slralik from no sacri-
fee to secure the final triumph of the
RIGHTS OF MAN in the endless battle Of
freedom. Thus representing tie eternal
spirit of Democracy, 'se attachcd ourselves
to it, and in that holy cause we are rcsol-
we'd to live and die. If that cause is
abandoned by men who change for the
moment to control the party organization,
we are not to be deceived by empty names
into dcserting the principles which We
have hitherto undeyiatingly followed.
When the first gun was fired at Sumter
the uast became blank Fools and par
tisans might wrangle as to the RESPONSE
bility of rebellion, the true patriot could
only recognize that rebellion existed, and
his whole care was devoted to the present,
that in the future his country should
emerge triumphantly from the fearful tri-
al into which it was plunged by the mad
ness of uncontrolled ambition. Then tho
tric Democrat stepped forward, and
whether in the field, the cabinet, or the
humber walks of private life, he devoted
his energies to upholding the laws, and
rescuing the Union, bequcathed by his
fathers, from the pdrrieidal hands which
were lifted to its destruction. The DEM
ocrats Who fll our armies, and whose vol
ces are heard in all the councils Of the ma
ton, show that the teachings Of our sires
were not forgotten; that party ties were
as narght when OUR country was endan-
gered and that the country relied, as Of
yore, on Democrats in the hour Of peril.
Yet, all who called themselves Demo
Gratis were not cast in the same mould
Men there were who had joined the party
from other motives than devotion to hu-
man liberty; from greed or ambition,
CT disappointment. Overwhelmed for
moment, by the spontaneous burst
of patriotism evoked by the assault on our
institutions, these men have recovered
themselves, and vcntured to claim the lea
dership of the party. In struggle with
out precedent, the Administration made
mistakes We deplored them as misfor-
tunes common to all These men rejoiced
and eagerly sought to take advantage of
them, in the hope that by rekindling the
fame Of partisan strife they might dicover
some path, direct or indirect, that would
lead them to power
10th to cast aside the associations Of
lifetime, we have watched, with cver-in- ,
creasing disgust, the efforts to commit our
party to policy of undisguised hostility
to our Government. That in time of war
not against a foreign foe, but a power
full rebellicn--a party can exist in the re.
public which avowedly seeks to cripple
those to whom the nations life is entrust- .
ed, which endeavors to bind their hands
and embarrass their efforts to preserve the .
republic, shocks every conviction which
we have gathered from the precepts of the !
honored statesmen Of the past. Yet to
this has it come, and we can no longer =
sully our Democracy by acting in concert
with those who so belle the name Of which
We have been proud.
We repudiate, as Democrats, those who
,till seek a covert alliance with the South
who denounce, as a heresy, the Coercion"
which alone can vindicate the supremacy
IF the Government; who waste on the au-
.horities of the nation the Indignation that
should be bestowed on rebels; who per-
istently dwell on the wrongs of the South
lntil armed resistance to the laws is palli-
tied or even justified /; who declare that
Pennsylvania should ego with the South"
Who endeavor, by incendiary appeals, to
xcite our people to revolt against our ru-
ers; who proclaim their readiness to act
n open hostility to the government; who
bstruct every measure adopted for the
Of the Rebellion who seek to
anctify slavery, until they evidently pre-
sr disunion with slavery to Union with
ut slavery; who proclaim that the rights
f man, as set forth in the Declaration of
are "failacious and un-
rue;" who find their advantage in every
everse to our arms, and feel their pros
ects grow dim with every victory won
hose success at the polls would be hailed 1
, Richmond as the sure precursor Of {
outhern independence, and whose defeat ;
ould deprive the rebellion of the last
ope on which is now resting its final