The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1864-09-08

Nashville, Knoxville, Little Rock, and
Fortress Monroe-all the fruits of oul
long and arduous struggle-who imagine:
what Confederate would fear, that we
should ever plunge afrcsh into war, and
try to take them over again !?
1t is q fraud, then-an impudent, wick
ed fraud-for this Platform to talk after
| this, of peace con the basis of the FEEDER
al Union" We have war only because
certain States have repudiated and now
defy that Union. That Union is the
bone of contention-there is none other
How, then, having decreed 'fcessation
of hostilities," are you afterward to have
the Union? You recognize to traitorous
aristocracy who claim to have seceeded as
composing their respective States; we de
ny it, and, counting the whole people, In
sisted that there is a Union majority in
every State On what Democratic prin
ciple can you constrain Rebel States tc
return to the Union?
But ga Convention of the States
nay, can ultimate Convention of all the
States s''-is in your programme. But the
Rebel States had their Convention at
Montgomery nearly four years ago, and
framed there a Constitution wherewith
they profess to be perfectly contented.-
That Constitution ignores ours, super
sedes it, and renders your Convention a
simple nullity. Stop the War now, and
they will laugh your "ultimate" Conven-
ton to scorn They will tell you that
they have first rate Constitution, formed
at Montgomery, and that if you want
union with them, you must adopt that,
and supply to be admitted into their Con-
federacy. Having admitted that the aris-
tocracy are the States wherein they live,
having stopped the War, how do you ex-
pect to unite with them except by creep
ing in at the back door of their Confede-
racy? That is the precise point to which
you are now tending.
Three and a-half years ago, before a
drop of blood had been shed, we Repub-
licans proposed Convention, or rather
adopted the proposition of Kentucky, that
one be called. Had you Democrats then
favored a Convention, we should long
since have held one. But you resisted
it, fought it, voted it down, including
even Kentucky to join you in defending
it, And now, after three years of carriage
and devastation, you come round to our
position, and vaguely recommend a Con-
vention. We stand by it, and will help
carry it; but that will not put down the
Rebellion. We must first have Peace,
then hold Convention.
All the rest of this Platform is wind,
signifying very little. Itamounts in sub
stance to just this: The Administration
has not surrendered tie conntry to the
traitors, North or South. 1t has sup
pressed treason in loyal States not stern
ly nor very consistently; it has not al
lowed those who defy the authority and
trample on the flag Of their Country, to
have everything their own way. The
Bramlette Guthrie party in Kentucky
thought this all right when it operated
in their favor; now that it no longer
does, they unite in denouncing it. We
only wish they had had jackson in the
White House to give them something
real to complain of.
The sympathy" rendered to the sol
diers by this Platform is wanton insult
Every line of it implies that their blood
has been fruitlessly shed, and that they
might better have staid at home and let
the Rebels have everything their own
way. What real sympathy can there be
between those who regard the War for
the Union and unjust and ruinous, and
those who have laid their lives on the al
tar of their country's salvation? What
soldier can desire the sympathy of those
who have no word Of reproof for the cruel
villains who expose our prisoners to die
in open lots, unsheltered and but half fed,
but heap all their 'reprobation" on the
Government. which would protect and re-
lease them If it could?
Unionists of all the States it is incum-
bent on us to beat this Platform and its
backers! Let us resolve to do it, and be-
gin the work NOW!