The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1863-09-04

appeal In Justlhcatlon OF the action oil
the rebels. The document asssils the
conduct Of our Government in the most
virulent manner, and denounces it %
guilty of all manner Of wrong, usurpa-
ton and tyranny. If half it's charges
bear the semblance Of truth, then indeed
are rebels justified in their rebellion. and
the Copperheads in the aid and comfort
which they render them. No traitor in
the South ever made SO strong an appeal
in behalf of resistance to the Govern
mont ~ is contained in this address OF
the Executive Committee of the Demo.
cratic party of Iowa. If their friends in
the South believe these statements of the
Copperheads of Iowa, they cannot fail to
regard the cause of rebellion n Just
and holy one, nor can the sympathisers
OF the North fail to be inspired by the
Address with more determined opposi-
tion to the Government.
The first charge made BY the Address
is that the wrongs the South suffered
from the Government and at the hands
Of the political Abolitionists Of the Ad-
ministration drove the Southern people
into rebellion.
| This is going further than the traitors
themselves in justification of their trea-
son. Alexander H. Stephens, vice-Pres-
ident of the Southern Confederacy, who
had better opportunity of learning the
wrongs of the South" thnn this Byipg-
ton Committee, said in . speech against
the secession Of Georgia in January,
1861:
"Pause, entreat you, and consider for
moment what reasons you can give that
will satisfy yourselves in cslmer moments
what reasons you can give your fellow
sufferers in the calamity that it will bring
upon US. What reasons can you give 10
the nations Of the earth to justify it -
They will be the calm and deliberate
Judges in the case. And to what cause
or one overt act can you name or point,
on which to rest the plea Of stifcatione .
What right has the North assailed What
interest of the South has been invaded !?
What justice has been denieds And
what claim, founded in justice, has been
withheld Can either of you, to-day,
name one governmental act of wrong.
deliberately and parposelv done By the
Government OF Washington, of which
, the South has right to complain?
challenge the ansrcr
II Leaving out of view, for the present,
the countless millions of dollars you must
expend 10 war with the North; with
tens Of thousands of your sons and bro
theirs slain in battle, and offered up al
sacrifices upon the altar Of your ambition
l and for what, We ask again? Is it for
the overthrow of the American Govern
$ ment, established by our common ances-
9 try, cemented and built up By their sweat
, and blood, and founded on the broad
principles Of Right, Justice and Human
/ lity. And as such, must declare here,
as have often done before, and which
! has been repeated by the greatest and
!, wisest statesmen and patriots in this and
! other lands, that it is the best aud frees
government-the most leniens in its meas
ures, and the most inspiring in its princi
: pies to elevate the race Of men, that the
. sun Of heaven ever shone upon.
: "Now, for you to attempt to overthrow
4 such government as this, under which
!, we have lived for more than three-ouar
o ters of csutury--in which We hav,
+ gained our wealth, our standing as ma
d tion, our domestic safety while the ele
: ments of periIaround US, With peace AM
tranquility accompanied with unbounde
prosperity and rights unassailed-is th
e height of madness, folly and wickedress
u to which can neither lend my sanction
o nor my vote"
Il Up to that time, and after sewers
q States had seeded and raised the star
dard Of rebellion, Stephens, now Vic.
President of the traitor Confederates, pull
licly announced the bene6cence of th
Al Government, and declared that no rigl
e. Of the South had been assailed.
y On the 2lst Of March, . few days aft.
i / Mr.. Lincoln had been inaugurated, an
d before any action Of the new Administr
le ton, Mr.. Stephens having, in the mea
le time, yielded to the pressure Of tho Re-
olutionists, made his famous "corn,
,sl stone'' speech in defence of the Confe
Ill crate Constitution. In that speech, NJ
p Stephens declared that slavery was Il
" motive and the cause of the war:
r.. "The new Constitution" he say
us "has put at rest forever all the sgitatil
ri questions relating to our peculiar instit
tions-African slavery as it exists amol
us-is the proper status Of the negro in 0
IT. form Of civilization. This was the imu
lot diate cause Of the late rupture and pr,
in sent revolution"
:. Aud again, speaking Of Thomas JEFF
'' son, he said:
ich "The prevailing ideas entertained
q r