Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1864-07-08
LETTER FROM CLYDE.

Mr. EDIToR:-War battles and bloodshed are
still unhappily the order of abe day. And tho
the issue is growing less doubtful every day,
still the morn that will usher in a day of peace
is yet somewhat in the distance. The abilities
of Grant and Sherman, with their ipdonlitGble
soldiers and our inrincibIe Macy inspire every
loyal heart with great faith yet we should re-
member that there is One greater than they to
whom all our thanks are due. Our army and
navy have already gained for themselves pres
tige which were it directed to foreign shores
would make nations fear and kings tremble;
and by the exercise of even tolerable statesman
ship on our part we are now doubtless fighting
our battles both at home and abroad for many
years to come.
Though we have done much towards bring
ing this terrible strife to a close, yet the work
before us is vastly formidable. Our present
expenditures in treasure and blood are appalling.
Here doubtless those southern Lucifers see a
point on which to pin a hope, that is to compel
us to keep up these expenditures until we, as
England in 1915 will be glad to give up the
strife and let them go. But this is not in the
programme; the country has deliberately made
up its mind to push this contest to the "tGSt man
and last doNdri" Hence the awful and terrible
necessity of making it swift and decisive.
How absolutely astonishing it is that such
men as H. j. Raymond of the New York Times
(see Times of March "a, 1864 can recommend
or even suggest gradual ending Of this dagtid
todT, when the object is only TO prevent too
great arrangement of the finances and business
of the country which a sudden termination of
the war would doubtless bring. What an offset
to place in one end of the balance TO weigh
against the blood and treasure of single MONTH
May the Lord save our President and all in au-
thority from that evil genii that has all along
been whispering in their ears gradual grad
udl!!" "NOt too fdstl not too fGSti!' Why was
Fremont set aside? Because he ordered that
rebel property should be confscated and guer-
rillas shot. Mr.. Lincoln says mot so fast
must not shoot, if you do the rebels will also
shoot man for man..
Well, what less have they done now, since our
humanity was interposed to appease their fieDd
ishness? Why there is 1S6 helpless victims of
the Lawrence massacre; "a refugees fleeing from
Arkansas, consisting of men women and chill
dren, shot and cut to pieces; men trying to save
their lives by swimming from burning steam
ers have been shot as though they were so many
vipers; every black teamster, laborer soldier
that has been captured since the war commenced
has been shot or butchered with most of their Of
ficers, the bodies of many of our wounded and
dead soldiers shot and mangled to shapeless
masses; thousands of union citizens in the South
have been wounded, shot, manned, burnt hav-
ing their women ravished and their infants
brains dashed out; the Fort Pillow massacre and
the msny thousands of our brave and noble SOL
diers that are now and have been rotting in their
loathsome pens at the South, by exposure and
starvation, all stand boldly out as evidence of
the appeasing policy.
Curtis, also, was too fast, but Schofield was
not. Hunter, Phelps and Pope were two fast
but Mcclellan, Halleck and Buel were not
Butler, the beast, was also too fast, but Banks
was not. Commodore Wilkes was too fast for
arresting those arch traitors Mason and Slidell
but the Government was not when instead of
swinging them from traitors gallows it deliv-
cred them up to pursue their journey to inveigle
the courts of Europe against us with cunning
and subtility before which the very prince Of
devils might well stand abashed. Ifthe flash
ing wires one of these days shall tell us that jeff
Davis has hitched his confederacy on to Maxi
MILAN s Mexico, and that France and England
guarantees the act, you may credit that also TO
the not too fast policy.
But SAYS one, ait will not do for the President
to be radical" Why not? Because if the Pres
ident should take the radical ground the eoun-
try would not sustain him. BAIL you semi
copperheads. Between whom will you choose,
McCleual or Ofa0I, CurllS or SclOQel0, ChaS6
or Blair, Butler or Banks Ashley or Vallandig-
ham? Butler and the radicals early recommend
ed the recruiting of negro soldiers, but the SEM
ibreve, semi and demisemi copperheads, yes,
and the union 9graduals," said no. "The negro
can't fight" "They are towards" "For every
black soldier you recruit, ten white ones viii
throw down their arms; the white soldiers will
never consent to be put ON an equal with negroes.
And this copperhead howl kept the negro sol
diers out of the army nearly two years to the
expense of thousands of lives of our Northern
soldiers and millions if not billions of money,
And after proving themselves on score of bat
tie fields to be good any soldiers, they still
go unrequited in wages and bounty; and grave
Senator'S yes, even one from Ohio, have recon-
mended that such negro soldiers as survive after
fighting through the war should be remanded
back to slavery, provided they belonged to 10y
al masters. o, Senators, where is your human
ity, or where is your shame? Justice humani-
ty, reason, common sense and success all demand
that in this contest and the questions which
grow out of it we should be radical. Show me
a man who is opposed to radical course and
will show you man that is a nuisance to his
country and from four to eight years behind the
time in which he lives. If this country is saved,
God, and the radicals Gas His instruments) must
save it; else ''graduals" traitors copperheads
and devils will seal its dooml W. L. G.