Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-10-01
save ths country, te save itself? It is erect
inS platforms full Of tsrrors and fge-brand
addresses which noarish its bitter jealousies,
and which beealm it -

! There can only be one conclusion draw
from this supine conduct, and that is, that
controlling body Of the party IN eaery part Of II
State are ceiling to gre up the revolted Stat:
,cattom an effort, should that effort require an
more fighting to retain them there can be n
doubt that this wing Of the party constitute
so large proportion in its ranks as to over
awe the more patriotic and dictate the polio
of the entire body.
In the present temper Of the loyal people
our orators, on public occasions, are not We
equal to the statement of the naked fact, bu
without some powerful agency interposes t.
check their downward tendency, they vii
soon be forced into its open admission.
! And SO true is this, that even now if dem
ocrat who is convinced that the vigorou
/ prosecution of the is of paramount i'm
portance to all other considerations as The
+ only possible salvation for the Union, anC
avows his sentiments, he is instantly ostra
cised by the platform adherants. He is thrus
from their councils and confidence; he il
pronounced an enemy of his country and con
/ signed to outer darkness and the black re
! publican party.
This sort of political jargon is the very
provocative to urge people to disregard theil
obligations as good citizens, and the same
housing after political bug-bears character
ICES the Ryan address" and platform resolu
tions. They are almost one uninterrupted strain
of evil forebodings, oblique perceptions and
! furious denunciatons, enbAe tie odditionm re-
srkre Of the congeation aeleich adopted them, to
aplF1sd tie constitution itself to sahSty anpaydou-
ed traitors show evidently they had forgotten
the prestige OF the democratic party, and how
ready they were to plunge it into an abyss
long ago reached by every body of men in
ON bO
the faith of our people in the righteousness
of a war for the safety and honor Of the
country. The most noted instances of his
toric infamy have been thus acquired, and
pOsterity has always looked back to these
symptoms of lukewarm patriotism with dis
taste that no defense was ever able to obyi-
ate. The ill-fame which it casts behind grows
like the shadows of night, darker as the
world continues its course. While this act
of treachery is now new to the democracy,
and its perpetrators have sufficient interest
to assert its palliations, the imposture may
last, but these will soon die from around it.
leaving it in naked disgrace before all after
times.
We behold the soil of our country REDEEM
ed with the blood Of whole generation, and
our soldiers In their graves and our warriors
IN their blood-stained shrouds-the murdered
host OF this accused rebellion-mplore us
to sustain by voice and deed the cause in
which they fell
Shall the democracy, who have ever been
the war party of the country, rally unhesita-
tlngly and Internationally to the front of dan
ger and the protection of the Union? We
look back with reverence to its early history,
let us act with the same wisdom, patriotism
and unfinching determination to sustain our
government although we do not administer
its trusts.
The document commonly known as the
Ryan Address" was Incorporated as part of
the Democratic creed by tbs nominating Con-
vention. 1t is less definite in its recommen-
datIons than the resolutions, but when it Fl. st
appeared, the height of infammatory language
was thought to have been reached; and many
OF the most answering members of the dem
ocratlc party were alarmed at its tone, and
many of the presses which now endorse it,
refused it admission into their columns, but
on the contrary, spoke of it as an insult to
the party and the country The system that
mas brought all similar productions into the
world was cautious and systematic. At first
they passed for the spleen of selfish politicians
OF the New York Ne0s and Daily Day Book
school. The popular enthusiasm for some
this class in Wisconsin, and the attacks upon
the conduct Of the war had called the atten-
ton of authority to several of the most VIC
lent and dangerous disloyaIists in other States.
Owing to these facts, the Ryan Address,"
and all papers like it, became guarded in
their language, and always introduced some
patriotic common places as a mask to their
real designs By means, however, of news
paper talsiticatiOns and public speeches equal
ly disingenuous, and the formation of clubs, m
Whjcb tie most Jacobjnic0l Outc1'ies uele appIaud-
ed an open dsaffection Was created towards
our cause which, in many places has since
been tomented into open anarchy and blood
shed, and even in Wisconsin, we have seen
officers INSTRUCTED in the performance of their
duties, and unable to execute the law, with
out the presence of military forces. The
holder ground Of the platform resolutions
have thus been reached, step by step. This
is evident on the most cursory comparison.
The Address deals in generalities, which are
afterwards condensed and pointed in the reso-
IutlOns. The former venture no farther than
to say, in the following moderate terms: eve
believe that the Executive acts of which we
complain, were done rather in inadvertance,
by subordinate officers, than in the deliberate
purpose of subverting the Constitution or
The resolutions declare precisely upon the
same point. that
These guarantees have been systematically vi
olated by the present federal administration Not
by accident, not by mistake, but upon the deiiber-
ate assumption of the President OF the United
States and his bordin civil and military, that
they may of right violate them whenever in their
Judgment it may seem expedent."
And in the same breath we have the fol-
lowing threat:
And we hold that every deliberate violation of
the popular liberty private right by the Presi-
dent his subordnates is a crime against the
Constitution which will be followed by Just consti
tutional punishment, if peace and constitutional
order should ever again reign in distracted
country;
The extravaganza contained in these ex-
tracts would have been out of place at the
date of the Address The people had not
yet been tacitly compromised to listen to such
rhodomantades, and would have rejected the
whole affair, with such repulsive feature
in it.
Again, the Address says:
Whatever man, officer, or party assumes to be
true to the Union and not to the Constit ton, as
our toretathers made 1t and OF forefathers enjoy
ed it, is disloya TO both. Blind submission to the
administration of the Government, is not devotion
to the country or to the Constitution. The Admin
istration is not the Constitution. = and
when the Administration violates the Constitu-
ton, loyalty to the administration may become dis
loyalty to the Chton.'
The statement IN the resolutions informs us
that
The history of the world has rarely shown
grosser or more systematic abuse of delegated and
limited powers or more insolent assumption of
arbitrary power by the constitutional servants of
the people,
The first was, as far as it was deemed advisa-
bic to go, at the time of penning the Ad-
dress. As however, nothing had occurred in
the interim to intimidate the disloyalists,