The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1864-09-23
A Nation Of Slaves-Branding of
Freemen"

gurated and continued by demagogues,
but it is the spontaneous uprising of
people who, irresistibly impeIIed by pat
riotlsm, are fighting for self preservation.
The war, we are told, is the manifestation
of that instinct for existence which is pos
sessed by everything living it is a peo-
pies conflict, and lis impeIing causes are
those which underlie the integrity, man.
hoe d and life Of nation.
That tLis was true at the moment when
the report of the first gun against Sumpter
went echoiug over the land, will! not be
disputed. Then nation bv spontaneous
impulse, sprang to arms, to avenge its in
suited honor and to preserve its imperiled
| existence. A little later, and the war was
turned from its original object. 1t passed
from the hands and hearts of the people
to the keeping of few fanalical men in
power, and from that hour to this i: has
| been conflict, not in which a nation was
seeking to maintain its solidarity, but one
in which q few men have been laboring to
attain Ubiquitous ends at the expense of the
lives and fortunes of the people.
Al the moment that the war passed
from tie people to Lincoln, the nation
passed in single instant from a nation of
patriots TO one of slaves. The proclama.
ton which announced the change of pur-
| pose IN the var Wa document which a.,
the moment that it gave a theoretical free
| dom TO four million African slayes at the
south, fastened slavery upon twenty mil
hon white treemen in the north. To-day
every white man i'll those portions Of the
states not occupied 10y the confederates is
IN every sense of the word as much the
chattel, the slave, Of Abraham Lincoln, as
was Uncle Tom of Legree. lie owns us
and our property, and can and does dis
pose Of both at his own sovereign will.
That the people are arrested and pun
shed, with no other warrant than Lincoln s
Will ; that we are coLscripted and forced
into the slaughter pens of the battle field,
against our wishes aud to support cause
which is hateful that men are banished
without other form than the mere edict OF
Lincoln; that property is confiscated with
DO other law than is contained in the SIM
pie utterance of one man that citizens
are denied their constitutional right to
bear arms through no process Of law, but
simply through the wishes of an au,ocra,
at Washington; that our armies ale
slaughtered for purposes of robbing plaut.
ers up Red River, or hunting electoral
votes in Florida aud Texas,-are facts
amply sufficient to prove that we are to all
intents and purposes, and in very fact, g
nation of slaves.
Degrading as is the condition of free
people reduced to a slavery which leaves
their fortunes liberty and lives at the mer-
cy of single cspricious will, it is not SC
completely and utterly Infamous as the
position now occupied by this people
PROFOUND as is the ignominy Attending
the condition Of people who have be-
come slaves, there is still a lower deep
and into this we have fallen. That con
dition is that occupied by the galley slave
the criminal Infamous outcasts
upon whom society puts the indelible
mark of its adherence.
That such is the position now occupied
| by men VINO once bore the proud name of
American freemen, let the following tes
tify ;
PRovosr MARSHAL GEN'Ls OFFICE, J
Washington, Aug. 10, 1864. {
"Doct. Z. Ii. Whitmore, Surgeon Boare
Of Enrolment, Springfield, Illinois.
DoCToR-ln addition to my sugges
ton to mark all rejected recruits and aub
stitutes, | would suggest THAT ALL AC
CEpTED RECRUITS AND SUBSTITUTES BE MARK
ED THUS i, IN SMALL OF BACK.
"This will, | think, prevent, to grea,
extent, the practice Of bounty jumping,
lonr friend,
q. II. BAXTER, Surg. u. S. Vols.
"CLf, Med. eff. Prov. Mar. Gents Bur,
eau"
The farmer brands bis cypher upon his
hog, the slavedrlver in case of an incor
rglbie slave, brands d letter upon his
hand the French, in their days of bar
barism, branded the Infamous L. f. ?. up
on the shoulder Of the galey-slave; bu,
to day the only white men on earth who
are forced TO undergo what civilization
long since rejected as TOO scandalcus anc
ignominious are the people who cal
themselves Americans. Is it not utterly
shameful that men to whom was descend
ed the heritage of Washington AID the
patriots OF the revolution should to-day be
not only the abjecl slaves Of coarse, oru
tai tvrant, but that his minors should
brand upon their backs marks which have
ever distinguished the yilest criminals
If the once proud sovereigns Of this coun-
try must become Impoverished and lose
their lives in obedience to the mscreant a,
| Washington, can they not be allowed 70
seek poverty auG find their graves with ou,
! bearing upon their bodies the Infamous
brand of criminals.
Oh, this is ignominy unutterable
American citizens driven to fgb, for an
odious cause, bearing upon their bodies
the brand of the usurper Lincoln Liter
ally branded to mark their identity, a.
men mark their ownership IN cattle, or as
despolic governments once were shameless
enough to do as mothod of distinguish
ing their viIes; criminals.
! i, is this condition which we have
reached in the short space of four years
We have reached the very depths of in,
fanny. We are ahject slaves, and Lincoln
! is our master. We are base cattle, and
Lincoln Is our owues. : Ch'cqgo Times.