The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-06-06

LOYAL LEAGUE-TO THE SOLDIERS OF OUR
SECOND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS thou
sand of your sisters, in convention repre-
senting the loyal men of the nation greet
you with profound gratitude. Your strug-
giles, sufferings, daring, heroic self-devo-
ton and sublime achievements, we exult
in them all.
To you, especially, whose terms of SER
vice have expired or are soon to expire,
we desire to speak Of the shifting scenes
war of slavery against freedom did not be-
gin when the slaveocracy brokeaup the
Charleston Convention, in order to secure
the election of Mr.. Lincoln, and thus palm
upon the Southern masses false pretenco
for rebellion. 1t did not begin with the
first shot Sumter; it did not begin with
notification in 1882, nor in the Convention
that framed the Federal Constitution; nor
yet In that which adopted the Articles of
Confederation; but it began in 1920, when
the Mayfiower landed our fathers on Ply
mouth Rock, and the first slave ship land
ca ITS human cargo in Virginia. Then, for
the firsttime, liberty and slavery stood face
to face on this continent. From then till now
these antagonisms have struggled in inces-
SAINT conflict. Two years since the slave
ocracy, true to their instincts of violence,
after long and secret plotting, crowned
their perfidy, by piratical, seizures ofGov-
ernmentproperty that cost S1OO, 900, 900, and
then burst into open rebellion. ~
This war is not, as the South falsely pre-
tends, war of races, nor of sections, nor of
political parties, but a war of principles;
war upon the working classes, whether
Whlte or black; war against man the
world over. In this war the black man
was the first victim, the working man, of
whatever color, the next, and now all who
contend for the rights Of labor, for free
speech, free schools, free suffrage and q
lree Government, securing to all, life, lib
erty ana the pursuit of happiness, ARE driv-
en- to do battle in defence Of these. or to fall
with them, thevictims o. thesame violence
THAT Tor TWO centuries has held the black
man prisoner of war. While the South
has Waged this war against human rights,
the North has stood by holding the gar
ments of those who were stoning 1ibertyto
| death. It was in vain that few at the
| North denounced the system and called
| the people to repentance, In vain did they
point to the progress of the slave power.
and warn the people that their own liber-
| ties were being cloven down. The North
still went on throwing sop after sop to the
Ceberus ofslavery that bounded her thro'
| the wilderness of concession and comprO-
| mise, until the crash of Sumter taught her
that with the slaveocracy no rights are sa-
cred. The Government attacked by assas-
sins, was forced to fight for it's own life.-
The progress of the war has proved that
slavery is the likelihood of the rebellion
proclamation of freedom to the slaves.
| The nation is in death struggle-it must
! either become one vast slaveocracy Of petty
! tyrants, or wholly the land of the free.-
The traitors boast that they have swept
| from the national armament one third of
its stars; but they have only darkened them
with clouds, which the sun of liberty will
scatter, revealing behind them the eternal
pillars Of justice, emblazoned with liberty,
equality, fraternity.
Soldiers of this revolution to your hands
is committed the sacred duty of carrying
out in these latter days the ideal of our
| fathers, which was to secure to all 'life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and
| to every State "a republican form of gov
eminent" To break the power Of this re-
bellion calls for every available force. You
| know how extensively black men are now
being armed. Some regiments are already
IN the field, twenty more are now under
drill. Will you not in this hour ofnational
peril, gratefully welcome the aid which
they so eagerly proffer, to overthrow that
slave power which has so long ruled the
North, and now that you spurn its sway is
bent on crushing you. Will you not ALLURE
that vulgar hate which has conspired with
slavery against liberty in our land, and
| thus roll from the sepulchre, where they
have buried it alive, the stone which has
so long imprisoned their victim. The army
Ofthe North will thus become the angel Of
deliverance, rescuing the nation from the
shifting sands of compromise, and refound-
| ing it upon the rock of justice. III
Some of you have been mustered out of
service; many more are soon to return to
your homes. All hail to you! Honor and
gratitude for what you have done and suf-
fered. Enough if you have only been fight
ing for the Union as it was. But is it
enough, if the work for which the war is
now prosecuted is not accomplished? Your
npQHS nj 1xyo
durance and accomplishment your hard
earned experience, your varied tract and
trained skill, your practiced eye and hand,
in word, all that makes you veterans
ripe in discipline and educated power
Raw recruits cannot fill your places. Brave
men, your mission, though far advanced,
is not accomplished. You will not, cannot
abide at home, while your brethren in
arms carry victory and liberty down to the
Gulf.
With joy and admiration we greet you
on your hon.eward way; while your loved
light and pride. When, after brief So
journ, you go back again, conveyed by the
grateful acclaim and godspeed Of millions,
to consummate at freedoms call her holy
work, the mightiest of all time, and now so
near its end, with exultant shouts your
brothers in the field will hail your coming
to share with them the glory of the final
victory. 1t will be the victory of free gov
eminent, sacred rights, justice, liberty and
law, over the perfidies, perjuries, lying
pretences, and frantic revelries in innocent
blood, Of the foulest national crime that
ever reeked to Heaven-the overthrow Of
the most atrocious yet the meanest despot-
ism that ever tortured the grooming earth.
In behalf of the Women's National Loyal
League,
+. CADY STANTON, President.
SUSAN Z. ANTHONY, Secretary.
This address was prepared by Mrs. An
ge4fna Grimke Weld.
The following, says the Maquoketa En-
celsiOr is the last letter Of j. F. Drips to his
Mother, who resides in Clayton County, in
this State. John was for two years FORE
man of the Excelsior Office, and during
that time won many warm friends. We
were. panied to hear fhis death, but he died
like patriot and Christian.
ADAMS HOSPITAL, MEMPHIS, March Is.
DEAR MoTHER:-It is now a long time
since have heard from home, and L teel
anxious to hear from you. You will De
by the date of this that am in the hosJ.t-