Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-10-22

that the rebellion itself was unconstitutional.
Applause, Didthev ever argue to you that the
| ASSASSINATION BY armed traitors Of your neigh
ooTs, your friends your near and dear reIa-
yves, was contrary TO the constitution as it
Is" Their sincerity may be Judged by their
acts. They talk about this war as | Should.
II, while your grandmother's clothes were on
tire, and while you were whipping the fire
| out, bundling her in blanket, and throwing
| her on the ground to extinguish the blaze
should say, ''See that execrable cuss he is
striking his grandmother" laughter ard
| applause. While for nurderous wretch.
who had got his grandmother to make her
will in his favor, and had then cut her throat.
and minced her body into small pieces, and
buried them in dung heap, I should have no
word OF blame or detestation. Against the
| rebellion, they have nothing to say. Against
the means used to crush the rebellion, they
are redundant in inyective. We are fight
ing to preserve the constitution. Against
| those who, with murGe cous intent and bloody
hands, assailed it, we levied and will wage ex-
terminating war. lApplause.l We viii pro-
tect 1t; We will defeat the efforts to DESTROY
! It. 10 revert to the grandmother again. we
may, IN the attempt, be obliged to tumble the
CID lady about a little roughly; laughter, but
1t Will be with such roughness only as the
dlrest extremity, under the impulsive die
tates of undying love and devotion. TAp-
plause.
THE UNION AS IT WAS.
And | am in favor of the Union as it was,
II, by that, they mean a Union of free and
sovereign states, the same in interests, the
same IN institutions; their laws, their people,
their elements of power homogeneous
treadlng the same pathway to greatness,
thrilled by the same watchful, constant and
unwaverlng adhesion to the government
(Applause) But as for Union with jeff
Davis and Benjamin in it again, l beg to be
excused. With what will you have the
Union as it was? Will you have Union
with those with whom you crossed bayonets
yesterday? They invoked this war to destroy
the Union. Their hands are red with the
blood of half million lives Murder is in
their hearts, and hatred is on their tongues
They won't have Union as it was, or any
other Union, if they can help it; and they
detest you little more cordially for sneak
ing around and asking it, than they do any
body else The old Union would have an
swered if these folks had let it alone. CAP
plause.) would not have tried to destroy it,
would have been satisfied to have endured
1t with all its imperfections and all the sacri-
fees that it required to its iealousies, to sec
tonal rivalry, to local disatfections, to jarring
| interests, to incompatible institutions-with
all its concessions to their fears, their AFRO
gance, their tyranny. But they broke it, By
them the otfense came. To seek now to re-
store the g Union as it was" is like the man
who went into a cooper shop to get a barrel
repaired, saying he had part of it. s'What
part have you got?" asked the cooper. He
replied that he had "dte 6ung-hole" loud
laughter.) And his proposition to get his
barrel " as it was" (renewed laughter) was
about as sensible as this idea to have the
Union as it was, the way the phrase is under
stood. Between US and such Union as it
was, barriers have been erected high as the
hopes of freedom, and strong as the hate of
slavery. loud applause) But through this
bloody mist. of war, and beyond the clouds
that obscure it, we see Union of Ameri-
can States, strong in unity, vigorous in the
strength created by unity, inseparably bound
together by the constitution which our fathers
made and which is the charter of its free
dom; and the footstep of no slave pollutes its
soil (applause) and against it no traitor viii
dare rebel, for it is protected by the love of
| It's people, and by the power of its defenses;
and It's pathway to greatness and glory is
broad before it, and on its future there rests
| the penumbra Of no eclipse, nor the shadow
of any night of darkness forever. Tried by
| unbounded prosperity, tried by the sorest adj
versity-through the very valley of the
shadow of death-each fresde a desolation,
each home a house of mourning-through
bitter waters and over desert solitudes, our
people will emerge to tie perfect brightness
OF their new glory, and the full proportions of
their perpetual greatness. prolonged APP
| plause.)
THE REAL COPPERHEAD POLICY. e..-
| And now to come to the exact point 1t is
! the direction in which the Vallandgham par
| ty and the Palmer party are drifting that is
the cause for greatest alarm. Opposed to
| the war measures now, they will oppose the
war itself next Their destination is to a
| peace on the basis of disunion. That is what
| they are driving at and, if successful in their
present attitude, they will at once openly as
sumo the other And that is a subject upon
which l feel delicate about talking MUCH
If the people of the North want peace, I do
not believe there is a soldier but what will
peel off his uniform readily and at once. But
| such desire has not been indicated. Till it
IS, L shall support the party in whose success
| shall see the assurance that the war will be
most ettectually prosecuted for the defeat of
| the rebellion. (Applause.) That is not the
Palmer party, this year. They wish the war
ended, are for peace and disunion. Or else,
'iicy 'ue SuliIy " HypocilSy equally as de-
testable as trcason-they are embarrassing
the prosecution of the war that they may win
factional triumph. In either case, they
shall not have my voice, nor my vote. For
this, they may call me false to my party, but
they shall not call me false to my country
Men may call me false in all things evil
tongues may load me with infamy and shame
but they shall not call me false to the flag
that Ihave sworn to protect, which has waved
over me on many fields; and my last aspira-
ton will be for its glory, should it be my lot
to fall in this gigantic struggle to preserve its
emblazoned folds from the pollution of dis
honor. prolonged applause)
AGRICULTURE.