Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1864-06-15
RADIQALISM.

Webster defines radicalism to be the
doctrine or principles of making radical re-
form i'll government, by oyeltmning and
changing the present state OF things In
this country the term has been made to ap-
ply since the commencement OF the war TO
a political sentiment which favors the most
extreme measures in dealing with Southern
slavery At the outset Of the war it adyo-
Gated the policy Of immediate emancipation
Of the slaves Of loyal and rebel masters as a
means Of crushing out the rebellion, and be-
cause also Of an assumed moral obligation
resting upon the Government TO do justice
TO four millions Of slaves. This policy it
will be observed, was based partly upon the
demands Of military necessity and partly
upon the teachings OF Old style AbolitioniSm.
In time the Government decreed emancipa-
ton but only IN the States then in rebel
lion, and to apply only to the slaves Of rebel
masters. The emancipation proclamation
was also exclusively upon military necessity
/ was decreed solely as a means Of sdciag
the Union.
\ portion of the radicals were not salts
fed. They condemned the President for his
alleged halfway policy as severely as they
previously condemned him for his hesitation
to proclaim emancipation at all. They
charged that his proclamation did not take
high moral ground, and that he should have
declared all slaves everywhere to be free.
These men apparently did not consider that
Mr. Lincoln had done all that the C0nstitu-
ton would permit him to 10, and all that
the public sentiment Of the country, npon
which he depended for moral and physi-
cal support in subduing the Rebellion, would
indorse. They apparently did net consider
that 1t Is one thing to decree and another
thing TO enforce what is decreed. They saw
only the end desirable TO be attained without
considering that that end could only be at
tained under Providence, by patient exCr-
else 0t means, and that one OF the means
necessary was gradual education Of the
people mp to the mark Of general emanci-
patton. They acted, or rather talked with
as little show Of sagacity as the ImpulsiYe
Frenchman in the days of the Revolution,
who rose in the National Convention and
exclaimed at the top Of his voice, Mr.;
President. | move tbat all the knaves and
dastards be arrested the very thing that
all the people wanted done, but the difficult
ty was how to do it. Aud that difficulty the
author of the motion had not considered.
Time has rolled on, and we have witness
ed these men who had once been the pro-
fessed friends of President Lincoln become
his deadliest foes. They have attempted to
defeat his nomination for a second term,
and, failing in that, they are now attempt
ing to defeat his reelection. In other words,
to prove once more that extremes meet they
are moving Heaven aud earth to divide and
distract the Union party, knowing, if they
know anything, that the tendency Of their
efforts is to make the party Of Mcclellan and
Y Nallandigham successful next fall In gaining
control of the Government. And Fremont
the once honored leader of the Republican
party, is their chosen standard-b bearer in
this most treacherous, most selfish and most
uncaled for Of all political movements
1t is well for the people to understand that
elements other and even less creditable than
those we have enumerated have entered in
to the composition of the party that now
styles itself Radical First, we may mention
certain disappointed men, whose inordinate
self-esteem has led them to believe that the
Administration did not rate their services or
their abilities as highly as they deserved.
OF this class are John G. Fremont and John
Cochrane The former without rendering
any service, has been receiving the-pay OF
a Major General for eighteen months because
he was unwilling TO serve his country IN any
other than first class position, for which the
Government and the country did not think
him competent; the latter resigned his
commission as a Brigadier General after the
gallant Burnside had recommended his dis
missa! from the service for insubordlnation
at Fredericksburg. Another class, now for
mally embraced in the Radical party, as or
canized the other day at Cleveland, is COM
Dosed of men who never were Republicans,
but who, for thirty years, have called them
selves Abolitionists. Generally, these men
did not vote for Fremont in 1856 or Lincoln
in 1860, because the Republican party did
not propose to carry out the principles which
they professed. They advocated direct in
terference by the General Government with
slavery in the Southern States; it proposed
to let it alone in the States, but to keep 1t
out of the territories They advocated the
social and political equality of the negro
with the white man the Republican party
contemplated nothing of the kind But the
war and the nrnsncct of ahOlishlng slavery