Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-09-24
/ SPEECH BIZ SECY SEWARD.
THE RECENT VICTORIES.
Programme of the Chicago Platform.
sORIHRRS DENOCRlE i SOUTHERN RRBgECOSsPIRg

burn, n. Y, on Saturday week when the
news of the fall of Atlanta was received
The bells were rung and cannon fired, and a
large procession formed which marched to
Mr. SEwARD's residence and called him out.
In response the Secretary came forward and
said:
MY DEAR FRIENDS 1t is so that like to
see YOU come marching to the time of nation
al airs, under the folds of the old national
flag. thank you for this hospitable and patri-
otto welcome. 1t proves that though you
deal vigorously with your public servants ex-
acting reasons for their policy, energy in their
conduct of affairs, and explanations for fail
ures, and disappointments in their admins
tratiOn, yet you are nevertheless Just, be-
cause you willingly allow them to rejoice with
you, when you have successes, victories, and
triumphs to celebrate.
The victory at Atlanta comes at the right
place. The rebellious district is in the shape
Of an egg. Ii presents equal resistance on
its whole surface. But if you could break
the shell at either of the two ends, Richmond
and Atlanta, the whole must crumbie to
pieces While Sherman, under Grant, has
been striking the big end, Meade under Grant
was been striking just as hard blows upon the
lesser end. The whole shell will now be easily
crushed, for it has grown brittle, with the ex-
haustion of vitality within.
This glorious victory comes in good time for
another reason. just now we are calling up
on YOU for three hundred thousand more vol
unteers, if you will-drafted men if we mnst
to end the war. You were getting little
tired of long delays and disappointed expec-
tatiOus. In Indiana, portion of the people,
instigated by rebel plOtters, at the Clifton
House, in Canada, we're importing British re-
v0lvers in boxes which passed the Custom
House, as statiOnero, under pretense of arm
ing to defend themselves, but really to resist
the draft and bring the Government down to
ruin, through a subordinate and auxiliary
civil war. True no arms have been imported
here. Yet delegates went out from among
you, and sat down in council at Chicago, with
those Indiana conspirators, and agreed with
them not only that importation of arms
should be defended in the election canvass,
but also to demand the cessation of the war;
upon the ground that success in restoring the
Union is unattainable. Already under the
influence of the cheering news from Atlanta,
all this discomfort and this dependency have
disappeared. We shall have no draft because
the army is being reinforced at the rate Of
five or ten thousand men per day by vOlun-
teers. (Hurrah for the vOlunteers) May
not add that this victory at Atlanta comes in
good time as the victory in Mobile Bay does
TO vindieate the wisdom and the energy of
the war administration. Farragut's fleet did
not make itself, nor did he make it. 1t was
prepared by the Secretary of the Navy, and
lie that shall record the history of this war
truthfully and impartially, will write that
since the days of CarnOt, no man has organ
lied war with ability equal to that of Stan
ton. CHEERS for Stanton. cheers for the
Secretary of the Navy
But suspicious as the occasion is, it has
nevertheless failed to bring out some whom
we might have expected here. Why are
they not here to rejoice in the victories that
will thrill the hearts of the lovers of Free
dom throughout the world Alas, that il
must be confessed,i it is party spirit that holds
them aloOf. All of them are partisans-
Some are Republicans, who cannot rejoice in
the national victories, because this war, for
the life of the nation, Is not in all respects,
conducted according to their own peculiar
radical views and theories. They want guar
antics for swift, and universal, and complete
emancipation, or they do not want the nation
saved. Others stay away, because they want
10 be assured that in coming out of the rev.
dictionary storm, the ship of state will be
found exactly in the same condition as when
tine tempest assailed il, or they do not want
the ship saved at all, as If anybody could
give such guarantees in the name of the peO-
pie of thirty millions. Others are Democrats
Tley received from their fathers the axiom
that only Democrats could save the country,
aud they must save il by Democratic formu-
las and combinations which the progress of
the age has forever exploded. They cannot
come up to celebrate achievements which
condemn their narrow and hereditary bigot-
~.
Others, of both the Republican aud Demo
cratic parties, are willing that the nation
shall be saved, provided it is done by some
one of their chosen and idOlized chiefs, which
chiefs they mutually denounce and revile.-
They cannot honor Grant, and Sherman, and
FarFagut, and Porter, because by such hon.
age they fear that Fremont and McClellan's
fame may be eclipsed.
Nevertheless, there are enough here of the
right sort, (Yes-that's true,l enough of men
who once were Republicans, but who, taking
that word II partizan sense, are Republi-
cans no longer, and men who once were Dem
Oerats, but who, taking that word in its mar
row application, are Democrats no longer
All of whom are now Union men, because
they found out at the beginning of this ire
mendOus civil war, or at some period in its
progress, that no man-no party-nO formula
no creed could save the Union, but that
only the people could save it, and they could
sIye it only by ceasing to become partizans,
and becoming patriots and Union men,
CHEERS for the Union.)
Yes, my friends, when this war shall be
ended in the restoration of the Union, no
man then living will exult in the recollection
that he was either Radical or a COnserva-
tive, a Republican or a Democrat, but every
man will claim to have been throughout an
unreserVed and unconditional Union man.
But why should party spirit, especially at
this juncture, divide the American People.
And why should !, a member of the Execu-
tive Administration, allude to it on such an
occasion as this ? The answer is at hand.
The Constitution of our country commands
that Administration to surrender its powers
TO the People, and the People to designate
Agents TO assume and exercise them four
years. YoI receive the Executive Govern
ment ia condition very different and highly
improved. We found it practically expelled
from the whole country south of the Della
ware, the Ohio, and the Missouri, with the
most OF the army and navy betrayed or fallen
into the hands of the insurgents, and a new
and reasonable Confederacy with the indi-
rect but effective cooperation of foreign
Powers, establishing itself on the Gulf of
Mexico. We cheerfully give the Government
back to yOu with large and conquering armies,
and triumphant navy, with the hateful Con-
iederacy falling into pieces, and the rebellious
States, one after another, returning to their
allegiance.
Regarding myself now, therefore, not as a
Secretary, but simply as one of the people, /,