Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1864-10-13

! intentions are, and whom | shall support.
expected, when the Democratic Conven
tiou-as they called it can't call it that
but they do-assembled, il would break up
or they would present something which
would look like they were for sustaining the
Government but | was doomed to disap
pointment..
defy any man, I care not how artful he
may be- to take the platform of the ConveD-
ton at Chicago, and find anything in it but
Opposition to the Government. The second
resolution reads as follows:
/ "That this Convention does explicitly
declare, as the sense Of the American peo-
pie, that after four years of failure to re-
store the Union by the experiments Of war,
during which, under the pretense of Il milf
tary necessity, or war power higher than
the Constitution, the Constitution itself has
been disregarded in every part, and public
: liberty and private right alike trodden
down, and the material prosperity of the
country essentially impaired. justice, hui
manity, liberty and the public welfare de-
mand that immediate efforts be made for q
cessation of hostilities, with view to an
| ultimate convention of the States, or other
/ peaceable means, to the end that at the ear
lest practicable moment peace may be re-
stored on the basis of~the Federal union of
I the States" a4a a3 81 81 m af.i ..r-
+ Now | want you to give me your atten-
ton while examine this platform, and see
what it means. The first proposition is,
that after having prosecuted the war for
-four years, for the purpose Of putting down
this rebellion and restoring the Constitu-
tuition, it has proved failure What are
the facts? Has this war proved failure |?
Nearly four years ago our armies were first
put in the field. When they were ready,
what did we find. We found the. Southern
Confederacy, as it is called, standing in op-
position to this Government with an army
of over 100000 men. A larger army than
vas ever thought Of being organized in this
country. How far South could you travel
then? Not further than Cairo. They held
the Tennessee river, they held the Cumber-
land river, and nearly the whole of the soil
of Virginia, nearly up to very gates of
Washington City, and every part of the
Southern States in defiance of the Govern
tnent They had the Mississippi river, and
you could not pass down it asa Citizen
You could net pass up the Tennessee or the
Cumberland without being shot. The rebel
flag foated all the way down the Mississippi
from the mouth of the Ohio. 1t floated all
along the banks of the Ohio, and upon the
soil of Virginia almost within sight of the
capitol. Their cannon stood upon the banks
of every Southern river, and upon tho sea-
board clear down to the Gulf Our COM
meree was destroyed by pirates upon the
high seas.
How is it now? Yet the war is failure.
Let us examine and see how the country
stands now in contrast to it's position at
that time. Instead of the rebel flag float
ing as it did then, you see that proud
old banner streaming out proudly to the
breeze inviting all citizens to come and
repose under its folds We found the Ten
nessee commanded by Fort Henry. Now it
is swept away. No longer does there stand
there fort occupied and manned by rebel
officers and men. Fort Donelson. which
stood on the Cumberland defying all river
craft and the land forces, is now occupied
by the Federal Government. and the star.
spangled banner now floats over it. On the
Mississippi river orr victorious army and
navy have travelled and now hold it through
its entire length. Only last fall they held
Tennessee, -ilabama, Georgia and nearly the
whole of Virginia. Have the soldiers and
all of US worked in, vain? Is it not true.
that Sherman's army has travelled over two
hundred miles, driving the rebel horde be-
fore him like so marry cattle and strewing
their bones along the whole line. And is
the war failureY Has not Grant driven
Lee from the banks of the Kapidan? Does
he not seek shelter under the Notifications
around Richmond, outside Of whose gates
JEFF. Davis dare not go? Did not Atlanta,
the heart of the so-caled Confederacy fall
by the prowess of the American army 2.
= Then, when they declare the war Is a fail
ure, ask you If it is not false on its
I very face | want to know how many men
there are here-old men who have sons
sleeping in Southern soil, or who have bro
theirs sleeping the sleep of death beneath
the sod of the South How many women
who have lost their loved ones, who have
passed the bourne whence no traveller re
turns, because they followed the rebels to
their Southern home, and fought the trai,
tors to restore peace to this happy land, in
obedience to the calls of their country, and
their conscience and because they believed
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