Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-10-27
[Laushterl Manhood and not money must

is worth preserving. And IL IS perhaps wise
ly ordered by that Power which DEGREES the
destiny of nations, that all people shall
bear part in this contest, SO that there may
| be no preference or prejudice in the distrlbu.
ton OF the Fl uits Of the yictorv, but that all
may be united when peace returns; ard with
one heart and mind perform the labor OF
planting those benifcent institutions which
shall be at once monuments to their founders
and blessings to posterity.
Empires, which are but another name for
military despotisms, may be founded in &
single campaign. Kingdoms, which are but
a union of privilege and oppression, may be
won or lost in a single battle. They are both
parasitic in their nature, and fasten them
selves upon the outside Of the body polite,
and flourish or decay in the lights or shadows
of single human genius. Having no claim
but force, they rise without the consent and
perish without the regret of those they gov
ern. But a Republic, founded on the princi-
pies OF Justice, Equality and Liberty, is of
slow growth and costly nurture. 1t places
within reach of the people every good gift
vouchsated by a benevolent Creator, and in
time Of danger justly demands the greatest
sacrifices Some of you have answered these
demands, and made such sacrifices. MANY of
you wear the garb of mourning for loved
regarded as a mark of distinction for those
who have been ennobled by suffering-the
only aristocracy worthy to be recognized by
citizens of Republic. The Roman women
once cast their jewels into the public treas
ury in time of need, and history never wea-
ries with applauding their sacrifice The
American women Of this age cast, not the
baubles Of their fancy, but treasures of their
hearts, into the crucible Of civil war to save
their country, and in coming time our Ian
guage will be deemed too weak and poor to
pay the debt of gratitude and honor. APP
plause.
After an existence of but little more than
the time allotted as the age Of man, the gov
eminent founded by our fathers is threat
ened by power strong enough to Lave rev.
OlutlOnlZed the most stable constitutional
monarchy, or broken into pieces the most
consolidated despOtism, in single year.
Hereafter, let not the parasites of crowned
heads prate of the imbecility of Republics
A deadly exotic, a upas tree, transpanted
upon our shores by alien hands more than
two centuries ago, from the fetid atmosphere
OF the tropics, withered by the moral sun
light of this age, lies PROSTATE before the
breath of truth borne on the whirlwind of
revolution, and most unworthily we struggle
to determine whether we shall leave it to
dlStll those poisonous influences which have
brought commissions upon the body polite, or
bury 1t forever from the sight of men
lCheers Never was greater responsible
lty placed upon any people. Our conduct is
now to determine whether the suffering
which as Il nation we are called to undergo,
shall prove the agony of dissolution or the
pangs of new birth. 1t is well for US to
" +hn
brought upon us these conditions, and thus
be guided to lasting refuge from the calam-
tiles they threaten.
BY an irreyocable law of that Divine DOW
er which governs the Universe, every wrong
Is oVertaken by retribution, and every I'M
just system bears in itself the elements of its
own destruction. When class of people in
tins country fostered the institution of slave
ry upon their soil, they quickened in their
own minds the germs of qualities destined to
effect Its overthrow and bring punishment
upon its upholders. BY wrong acting they
lost the power OF right reasoning, and mental
deluslon kept pace with moral obliquity. Ac-
customed to the enforced toll of slaves, they
learned to regard labor with adherence, and
Incidence the parent of vice, became the dis
tlnguishing character of their class Exer-
cising unquestioned authority over their linn
tied domains, and isolated from frequent con-
tact with their equals, they lacked standard
for selt-measurement, adopted that of their
bondmen, and looked upon themselves as
superior class, fit rulers for their fellows, and
rightful arbitress of the destiny of their race.
Haunted by the guilt of constant robbery,
they sought relief in that obscurity of moral
sense which follows indulgence in material
pleasures, and since Rome was debauched be-
fore being destroyed by slavery, no people
have been so tempted and none have been
guilty of so great excess. To purchase such
Indulgence wealth was needed, and avarice
took possession of their souls, bidding them
breed men and women for the shambles, sand,
too often for the credit of our common ma
ture, leading them to sell their blood kindred
for price in the market. Thus with every
one of Gods blessings that they wrung from
the Gervile race, they gathered to themselves
the seeds of lasting and bitter curse, and
schooled from the cradle in the practices of
despOtism they protested but to peryert the
principles of Democracy. Condemned by the
conscience of the civilized world, they sought
to dictate the policy of the Government, and
to recite their success in this, and note the
arrogant spirit it engendered, is but review
of political history.
In the Constitutional Convention they de-
manded and received a three-fifths represen-
tation for the slaves, and one class acquired
power to legislate not for, but against anoth-
er, III their mixed society, degrading the right
of suffrage from its high Office of ameliorating
the condition of the humber class into an in
strument Tor its oppression. They insisted
upon the perpetuation of slavery in the Dis
trict of Columbia, and for more than three
quarters of a centurs, barbaric system that
was only tolerated in the dark ages, but fled
like foul exhalation from the advancing
light OF Christian civilization in the monar-
chies OF the old world, found shelter and
protection under the shadow of the Capitol
in the free Republic of the new They asked
protective duties for their sugar plantations,
and the price of that staple was nearly
doubled. while with an inconsistency only
eQualled by their selfshness, they refused
protection to home manufactures, preferring
a slayish subservience to European policy,
rather than an independence that would give
precedence to free labor, forbidding us to
bend the mighty powers of nature to our
work, unless we would degrade our opera
tives to the level of the factory slaves of
England, and deranging our currency, by
sending the bullion dug from our mines to
pay for goods of foreign manufacture, and
swell the bloated fortunes Of British monopo
lists They feared the growth of that class
of small freeholders, which has proved the
bulwark of the nation against their treasona-
BILE assaults, ard the tide of emigration was
checked, Goods acres" lay untitled and the
working millions waited until their influence
was withdrawn from Congress for the passage
of the Homestead Law. Internal improve
mentS of the most necessary character were
delayed by the jealousy of the commercial
superiority of the free States, the mud of St.
Clair Flats was left to obstruct the carving
trade Of our great lakes, and the subversion
of a sister ReDuhIic and the nossibla al;o,o