Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-09-24

forbearance and the ballot box-the only
proper corrective of such evils under the
Constitution, unless they become unbeara-
! BILE
Adding the aggravation Of civil war in the
| North to the rebellion of the South, what
must be the political and social consequent
! ees? The overthrow of Republicanism, sub
! lection to the South, and personal discords
and dissensions which must continue to agi-
! tate and waste us until our fate shall have
been typiied in that of unfortunate Mexico
Apart from the Importance of concord and
harmony among loyal Americans as a cond-
ton OF success in putting down the rebellion,
tits of greatly enhanced Importance in view
| OF the pOrtentous events now transpiring in
Mexico. What do we see there A people
| oVerrun and a government overthrow, be-
| cause the dissensions Of the one and the fee
bleness of the other tempted the ambition of
the French Emperor to the work. An alien
| dynasty Is transplanted into vassal and hum
oled Mexico, to rule over strange and IN
homogeneous people and already we begin to
near OF the new rulers intention to recognize
the so-called Southern Confederacy Next
we may hear of both Mexico and the Southern
Contederacy becoming dependencies of France
| as return for her protection and thus by
the practical development of crafty and
ambitious policy both the Monroe doctrine
and our Union subverted.
Is this time, while these events are threat
enlng us-is this time for party strife and
paralyzing the arm Of the Government? On
| the contrary, our cry should be ''To YOUR
tents, Israel p grid on your armor," and
rush to the rescue as the Gallo Saldunes,
bound together by hooks of steel. The Phil
lstlnes are upon US, we must awake arise :;
or be forever fallen"
| Are you stirred, my friends? l am glad of
it. Oh! that, like Demosthenes, 1 could in
| spire you with the utterance, Lead as against
Phillip-lead US against Louis"
But, returning again to the rebellion, what
| provocation was there for it? Had the South
been oppressed or injured? Had she been
excluded from fair and equal participation in
| the honors, offices and administration of the
| Government Had she been curtailed of
her domain Or circumscribed in her limits :?
| Ear from it she had furnished six of the ten
| Presidents that swayed the Executive for the
| first sixty years of the existence of the Gov
eminent, and had enjoyed corresponding
excess Of all the great domestic and foreign
| Offices. Her territory had been expanded BY
| the acquisition of Louisiana, Florida and
! Texas, slave territories; and by the prodigious
| enhancement of her planting interest, and
| staples had become rich, luxurious and AFRO
| CANT; and aspiring to be all, when being equal,
| she should have been content, fell and great
| is her fall.
| She no longer boasts and brags that O ne
| Southern man is equal to five or three North
ern men in combat. Belmont and Donelson,
! Shiloh, and Pea Bidge, and Arkansas Post,
| and Port Gibson, and Champion Hill, and
| Big Black Bridge, and Vicksburg, and Port
| Hudson, and South Mountain, and Antietam,
and last but not least, Gettysburg, have dis
PEELED that illusion. | allude not to these
| battles in any boastful spirit, but in defense
of and in justice to Northern men.
Have | not seen them bear the old flag up
rugged heights and down broken slopes, dar-
ingly, desperately; with eager bound under
the wasting fire of hostile infantry and ar
| tillery? Have l not seen the brave men of
| Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana,
| Iowa and Missouri rush upon death as upon
| some Intoxicating joy? Oh! there is a mad
dening transport when battle RACES; when
| the warriors muscles harden as knots of wood
and his sinews as rods of steel, and when
| anon through the smoke and roar of the fierce
| conflict the old flag flashes its light and the
shout of victory is heard Great and long
continued applause.)
And what have these brave and hardy men
| not done Have they not wrested Kentucky,
Tennessee, and Missouri, and parts of Ar
| kansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi from the
| grasp of the rebellion-a vast region more
extensive than the organized limits of the
original thirteen states. Have they not re-
moved the blockade of the Mississippi river
and restored that river to the wonted uses of
lawful domestic and foreign commerce have
they not done all this; and are they not to-
day pushing on the column of success to-
IL, fl,oh cf tbn nla11i
soon be crushed.
Returning to the Democratic party, l wish
to and that the true men of that party never
can aud never will sympathize with this re-
bellion. Of all men they have most personal
cause to antagonize it. What are the facts
The leaders of the rebellion have BETRAYED
TIM Democratic party as well as the Union.
They wilfully and wckedly betrayed its faith,
its nationality and its unity, and that, too,
after that party had honored them and long
shielded the South as well as the North
against the violence of faction and fanaticism
Taking part in the Democratic convention
at Charleston and Baltimore, they seeded
from it twice, because Northern Democrats
would not repudiate vital principle of their
acknowledged creed, and succumb to their
dictation and finally bolted the nomination
of Douglas, the champion of popular rights,
anu illus ny ulNluluS Ilc DculOCfdIlc party
insured the election of Lincoln.
And when the result had transpired, what
was their clamor and cry? Have any for
gotten? 1t was that they would secede from
the Union, too. Yes that they would Sc
cede from the Union for a result which they
indirectly and Intentionally brought about
themselves-for a result which they hailed
with bonfres and salvos of artillery, and yet
hypocritically bewailed as a necessity for dis
union. Have any forgotten that? Never
can or will l forget it, or pardon it, Never
can or will I forget that these same men
stabbed Douglas, the Democratic party and
the Union Never! Never!
The speaker referred to Gen. Jackson's
mode of dealing with notification. Some
said that it was compromise that did it, but
it was in reality the terror of Jackson's
threat to hang Calhoun and crush out resis-
lance, and the preparations he was making to
carry it out. (Cheers.) jackson then pre-
dicted that having failed to dissolve the Union
on account of the tariff, they would next
make slavery pretext for revolt On this
subject though he had been one of the most
rigid Democrats, ready to grant every consti-
tutional protection to Southern property, he
would say that if slavery stood in the way of
the Union, let it be swept away. Great
cheering) The Butternuts might preach on
this homily, but slavery was dead tree
(Cheers.) Its roots had been severed by the
sword, its branches torn away by shells, its
trunk girdled by the fires of war (Renewed
applause) Whether the proclamation had
aided or retarded this result was a question.
One chapter of American history, however,