Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-02-29

1 profess their devotion to the Union and
their condemnation of the rebels and
the rebellion, and rush on with al inde-
cent haste to the bitter dennnciation OF
those whom they denominate Abolition
lists. They are men of one idea. and
that idea is the preservation Of the insti-
tuition of slavery. They are the guard
ians of slavery left on dutyin the Free
! States, while the rebellion IS seeking to
work out the destruction of the Govern
ment
In their minds the whole duty of the
Govern nent is summed up in the protec-
ton of slavery at all hazards and under
| all circumstances Unlike other institu-
tions and other property, they are un-
willing that slavery shall run the chances
! of war. However other interests NAV
suffer, commerce be prostrated, horses
and cattle, lands and goods be con6s-
Gated, to pay the penalties of treason,
slavery must be insured against all vio-
lence, from all loss by the contingencies
of war
To preserve slavery harmless is to OBJ
serve the Constitution in all its parts
To injure it in any respect is to infract
! the Constitution in every member Al
a time when eleven slave States have
100000 men in the field to destroy the
Constitution and the Government found
ed upon it, these Northern patriots are
devoting all their energies and expend-
| ing all their breath to protect the inter
ests of slavery in these States. Against
the armed rebellion they have little or
nothing to say Against the murder of
our citizens on the field of battle, whose
blood is spilled that the Union may be
preserved, they scarcely protest. in favor
| of suppressing the rebellion and pro-
curing indemnities against the future re-
currence of like disaster, they utter
not word; but their conversation, their
speeches, their papers, are an ever-as-
! cending petition that whatever calamity
may befall our country, whatever sacri-
! fee she may be called upon to make in
| blood aud treasure, that slavery shall be
| preserved harmless to affect all comiug
/ generators.
The Government of tbs United States
has in a few cases arrested and impris-
oned persons, who, by their speeches and
writings, were striving to destroy the
Government, and giving aid and comfort
to the rebellion,
These arrests have been made a pre-.
text for combined assault upon the
! Government, while the rebellion, with
it's multiplied cruelties and horrors, with
out parallel i'll the history Of civilized na-
tions, is utterly ignored Many thou.
sands of Union men are languishing in
Southern dungeons, treated, not as State
prisoners, but as feious, for no other
crime than expressing their adherence
to the old constitution and the old flag.
Are there no tears to shed over the hor-
rible sufferings and prosecutions of these
faithful men? Does humanity exhaust
! its sympathies upon the few cases where
Northern men have suffered brief con-
finement for the expression of disloyal
sentiments in the encouragement Of the
| rebellion? Are the Union men of the
rebel States who have stood by the Gov
ernment in the hour of trial, and whose
loyalty has been tested by the dungeon,
the torture, and the gibbet, entitled to
no consideration The cruelties of the
! American savages and of Chinese war
| fare fade and whiten when compared
with the atrocities which have been prac-
ticed by the rebels throughout this war
| Union men have been murdered upon
their own thresholds; they have been
cast into loathsome dungeons, where
they have perished from disease and
starvation; they have been hung like
dogs upon trees and sign-posts, and
their bones fabricated into jewelry and
worn as horrible souvenirs and keep
sakes, as the savage would string upon
his girdle the scalps of his victims.
A member of the Kentucky Legisla-
ture, in speech in that body, at for
mer session, declared that after the re-
treat of Kirby Smith from Kentucky he
had seen one grave in which were bur-
ried twelve Union men with the halte1s
still around their neck.
| Where among the politicians who talk
thus is one who has ever raised
his finger in the suppression of the
rebellion? Look about through the
State of Indiana and find one if
you can. When the people have
rushed together to consider of their
country, they have stood afar off with
boding looks, words of i'll omen upon
their tongue, and councils of discourag-
ment for those who were about to enter
the ranks of the army. When the coun
try talked only of war, vigorous, success
full war TO the putting down of the re-
bellion, they pratted only of peace, oi
compromise with the rebels, and exoner-
ated and encouraged the traitors BY the
declaring that the Black Republicans
brought on the war, upon wbou theJ
lavished all their indignation
The army has been raised and organ
lied in spite of them. The young ano
: the middle aged, needless of their coun
sells and their calumnies, have enrolled
themselves among the defenders of theil
country, aud put behind them the civi
spirits of the time 1t is true they havt
hung heavy on the cause; they have
blackened it every step; they have as
sailed all who were urging it onward
they have placed distractions upon tht
track, nevertheless, it has moved on
and it will until it has overwhelmed tht
enemies of our country. While patriots
have thought only Of saving their coun
try, these men have thought only of sav
ing their party. While our soldiers hav,
laid upon their arms to watch and seiz,
. all advantages against their foe, thes,
men have watched only for advantage.
in the next State, county, or township
election.
The Duty Of the Times
f The great duty of the hour, diSplacins
, and putting aside all other considera
tions, is the suppression of the rebellion
f Until this is done all political discussions
J all efforts of rec Instruction, so called
are vain. When the armies of the rebel
r lion are crushed and scattered, and re
sistance to the Government has ceased
s we may then take counsel together as Il
4 the best method of adjusting our difficul
4 ties and starting into motion again tn,
g wheels of government in the rebel States
), 1t would be folly, the most criminal, tn,
: most preposterous in the worlds history