Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-10-27
sidered in Congress on the ground Of its cen.

! act was discussed solely with reference to its
! special influence upon a strictly local institu-
! ton. And yet these men and their biologists
! complain constantly of the Abolitionists who
! never had power in our national councils, and
| VINO even now only appear to have influence
! there, because the action of enemies in one
! section and opponents in another have driven
! a conservative Administration to the adoption
OF measures as 2 military necessity that the
Abolitionists advocated as matters of right.
But should political dissensions at the North,
| or the delays incident to change of policy
| IN the administration of the Government, en-
| able the rebelllOus States to prolong the con-
Pest, until submission on our part or the an
nlhllatlon OF their fighting population become
| the alternatives, it is not improbable that the
most radical party here will terminate the
revolution and perish in its elimination
such are the lessons Of historv-such is the
logic of revolution. = O. E<---1-z- 10
Whoever may entertain the wish, these
croakers alone have power by a course of
persistent selhshness to make their forebod-
lnss prophetic. At the close of the last Ad-
nlnlstratlon, the olgarchy which had so long
ruled the country in the interest of slavery
had intlmldated Congress, pandered with the
Judiciary, and prostituted the President
But 1t could neither terrify or corrupt free
people, who, by the lawful exercise of their
right OF suffrage, condemned the principles
and the policy of this presumptuous faction.
but anticipating the verdict of the nation,
they had predetermined to resist its execu-
ton. Doubling the permanenee of their pe-
htlcal power, they had used it while it lasted
10 prepare Tor revolution; they had scatter
ed our navy and tempered with our army,
and, secure in their wickedness, with fippant
Boosting and unseemly jests entered upon the
lrst act of that bloody drama which was to
bring suffering and death to millions of limo
cent citizens, and lead the grim phantoms of
want and sorrow to revel in the homes of our
broad, beautiful and, till then, peaceful land
Defeated by the ballot, they appealed to the
oayonet; IN the name Of patriotism they in
augurated treason; with liberty upon their
lips but despotism in their hearts they as
sumed arbitrary power and sanctioned rob-
oery. But there was method in their mad
ness, there was logic in their crime When
they drew the sword they threw away tue
scabbard they did not stop fighting to begin
!: negotiating; having appealed to force they
abandoned diplomacy, filled their armies by
CONSUMPTION, fed them by plumber, hunted
with bloodhounds those who sought to evade
their exactions, and hung without mercy
those who would not submit to their usurpa-
tons.
Despotisms in their infancy are favorable
to the development of military power, and
no more formidable or unjustifable revolt
was ever arrayed against a free government
by desperate faction. Iuse the term faction
because would no sooner accuse the COM
mon people Of the rebelious States of the
crime OF treason than | would accuse the
weapon with which the assassin does his work
OF the crime of murder. | know them too
well to make so unjust charge against them
Slavery had destroyed their public schools,
Ignorance made them credulous, and they
were surfeited with falsehoods; the DELAYS
OF an imbecile or traitorous Administration
made them doubtful, and they became vic
tins to the aggressive policy of their unscru-
pulous nelghbors. In almost every town of
the Confederacy is an agent of the Richmond
despotsm, whose business it is to hunt with
pack OF dogs both Union refugees and Con-
tederate deSerters. The best known citizens
cannot leave their own neighborhood without
a military pass, and once conscripted into
the rebel army the death penalty is certain if
they fail In an attempt to escape to our lines
and an indefinite exile equally certain il they
succeed. These terrible alternatives and the
force OF habit hold many really loyal men in
their ranks. Their common soldiers rarely
desire to return when captured, and venture
the success of the Union arms rise from the
cabin-homes of the poor people of the South,
as from like number of the abodes of wealth
in our own favored land.
These years of War have not been unused
to scenes OF suffering, but the saddest sight
/ ever witnessed, was the death of a Texan
Lieutenant, whose legs were broken by a
cannon shot, and who fixed his glazing ewes
upon the Stars and Stripes, the emblem of
our nationality, and with his dying breath
asked God to forgive him for having ever
raised his hand against it.
Recently l have heard dishonest contract
ors and housing party politicians say that
the sentiment of patriotism is extinct in these
latter days, and that men fight as they trade
Or as they run, merely for personal interest.
The men who say so, are as false as they are
Ignorant. Hearts as true as that which beat
in the bosom Of Andreas Hofer, and made his
name sacred on the plains of Bohemia and
in the valleys of the Tryol, have been crush
ed by the power of the rebellion on the prai-
ries Of Texas; spirits as constant as that of
Downward have shed their last radiance upon
the noisome air of traitor dungeons and
souls as exalted and as pure as his who gave
to Switzerland baptism of freedom that has
outlasted five centuries, still struggle against
the traitors usurpatiOn among the mountains
of Tennessee Great and prolonged APP
plause.)
If we are friends to the common people of
the South, we must be enemies to their OBJ
pressors For more than three wears we
have been engaged in an effort to emancipate
them from military despotism, break the
power Of their tyrants, and secure the Gov
eminent of our fathers against like danger
for the future. We have wrested from our
enemies territory enough to form an empire
comprising the best of their recruiting
ground In that which they still hold ali
business is suspended except agriculture,
which to great extent is carried on by slaves
under control of Confederate agents. Droves
of squalid children and wretched hungry wo-
men, crowd the towns and villages and vice
stalks among them in all its naked hideous-
ness. They subsist upon corn which is al
most spontaneous production of the soil,
and the children play at banking with their
worthless currency. They neither possess
nor desire money or goods Of forei On manu-
facture. Even the Government rail roads
have their wood cut from day to day, and the
icy hand of despotism seems to have paralyz-
ed even the energies of those who serve it.
Their generous soil supplies subsistence, and
unprincipled alien traders keep them in arms
and munitions of war. Their strength is in
the army, and it can only be broken by hard
fighting. By sweeping CONSUMPTION they
have placed their last man in the field and
cannot refill the thinRed ranks of their broken
battaiions. They have no hope except from
dissensions among ourselves, and, driven from
point to point, at last the demon power of
rebellion stands at bay, and like self con-
demned criminal without hope of mercy
wears defiant attitude as the relentless min
listers of justice close around it. The crimes