The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1864-02-26
THE CAUSE Or rnn nsnRLLror.
The National Republ;ean Union Com

removing the cause OF the rebellion, 10
unite in the Convention to nominate Z
President. And God be thanked there
is no doubt in the mind Of any sane man
as to what was the cause and occasion oi
the rebellion and what is still its life
blood. Nor is there any question that if
slavery be saved, only scotched and not
utterly eradicated, it will be the fruitful
source of other rebellions and bloody wars
and the occasion Of the ultimate ruin Of
the country.
| The time has gone by for concealments
on this subject or for mincing matters in
any nice phraseology or prescribing over
cautious limitations. Slavery is treason
to the fundamental principle Of our insti-
tutions; it is at war with the Law and
government of God; it has been blight
ing curse on the social, moral and material
well-beiug of the South; it has waged An
irrepressible conflict against the well-be.
ing of the North and the Liberties Of the
country for = generation past. And finally,
it wages bloody war for the overthrow
Of the Government, and the establishment
of q slaveocratic despotism on the ruins
of the institutions founded by our fathers.
In the prosecution Of this war it has i'm
perilled the very life of the country; has
consigned hundreds Of thousands Of our
fellow-citixens to bloody gnves; has
shrouded the land in mourning and over
whelnaed the country with burdensome
debt for posterity to meet.
God, in his justice and his wrath. has
called the nation to reckoning for the
open and persistent violation Of his laws.
And the spirits of The nartyred dead Who
have fallsa sacrikee - this var Of siavs-
ry, s we'll ~ the voices Of the living Who
have been bereaved Of fathers, brothers,
husbands and sons, demand the extirpa-
tion Of this great evil from the land. The
lovers of liberty in every land, and all
true patriots in our own country, look
forward with hope and confidence to the
extinction Of slavery rs the end of strife
and danger and the Inauguration Of
glorious era of peace. prosperity and lib
erty for our regenerated Union.
Let no man who hopes for peace and
prosperity and the free Institutions be-
queathed us by our fathers, bate one jot
or title Ct the demand for the utter ex-
tinction of slavery now and forever. The
| "irrepressible conflict" has cost as too
much to admit of our ever honorably or
safely making terms with this, the deadly
enemy of our country. God calls upon
us as unmistakably as he ever did on the
lsraelites, to exterminate this enemy,
which is now in our power, from the face
of the earth, and not spare it to corrupt
us and bring the vengeance Of Heaven on
the heads of our children.
Let the National Union Convention
make thorough work of the cause Of the
rebellion as well rs the rebellion itself, 90
far as their platform is concerned, and
We vouch for it that none but trsitors and
their friends will find fault with it. Our
soldiers who. have fought the rebels hand
to-hand ought to be good authority as to
the cause of the rebellion and as to the
propriety of removing Fshe cause. We all
know the verdict of the army on these
questions, we have heard it in too many
forms to leave any room for doubt. and
the following sentiment expressed by Gen.
Grant, the very head and from. Of the
Army Of the Union, is the mildest form ia
which that opinion could be expressed.
He says in his letter to Mr.. .Washburns !:
'I never was m abolitionist, not even
what would be called ansi-slavery, but !
try to judge fairly and honestly: and it
became patent to my mind early in the
rebellion that the North and Sosth never
could live at peace with each other except
as one nation, and that rithout Slavery.
{. AS anxious as am to see peace estab-
lished, l would not, therefore, be willing
to see any settlement until this question
is forever settled"
4 So the idea that slavery was the cause
of the war, and that it must be extirpated
in order to restore the Union aud secure
. lasting peace, is not confned to so-callsd
fanatios, but is the universal sentiment
Of the army AMI the deliberately formed
Judgment of its great leader, never before
the war Tan abolitionist or an anti-s!avery
tnan even." The pasriotic people OF The
land want tho Union ne-established and
lasting pedoe restored, end believing with
General Grant that slavery standsin the
way Of this "oOnsummation 80 devoutly
wished for" the people have rssslsed 30
remove II, and it will be removed, In spite
of the blubbering and grumblipg d