Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-12-14

"STRESE-tili the last armed foe expiresi
SrRIkE-fnr YOUR affairs and Your fires
NTkIAk-Tor ths green efaNts OF your sires
God and your native land ;"

Oar noble soldiers in the field, hear that
shout and il nerves them to victory Our
/ enemies hear it in their strongholds at Pc
tersburg, Richmond, Charleston and Mobile
and they know what it means Even now
their leaders tremb'e and grid thems elvcs
for a last, desperate, hopeless struggle
Our homo traitors hear it and have almost
ceased to hiss Therefore courage brave
patriots \ little longer and the dear old flag
shall wave over every fort nd f;om every
flagstaff in all the land One more reiter-
, alton of offered pardon and then the strong
telling blows of loyal arms, and the thun-
ders of Grant, of Sheridan and of Sherman
will crush and destroy them with fear :
full destruction. Our government is now
terribly in earnest-the people have most
emphatically said go on; and woe to him
who stands on the track -
The Sth of November, 1864, will live in
history as the crisis of this great contest q
the day when the friends and the enemies
of this republic ranged themselves on their
respective sides Children vet unborn
will look back to it and say My father
stood then for his country-my father vo-s
ted and fought to pat down the rebellion. -
Other children of knowing unrepenting
traitors will look back to that day and
hang their heads in silent shame as they
think of the inheritance handed down to
them from that day and that struggle.
have already noticed the fact that the
Institution Of slavery is waning in our
land This thought demands fuller de-
velopment
At the beginning Of this war against the
rebellion, it was no part Of the plan of
the government, to bring this institution
to an end. Very few, if any claimed the
right to legislate against it, and none OF
those in power wished to do so. But it
/ soon became evident that, rs the war was
| begun in the interests of slavery, so both
it and the would-be government Of the so
ca led seeded States, must together
stand or fall with the issues of the war
/ Men were not slow to perceive, also, that
here was the vital point Savery was ut
once the strength and the weakness Of the
rebellion strength if their slaves were
left to them, weakness if we would accept
their services. The Lord "he'ped' us by
failures and rcverses to our arms till the
gigantic proportions of the rebcli,n set
aside the constitutional barriers, oman
! ciPation was adopteda as amilifa1y necessity,
/ Under the proclamation Of January |, 1868
: ~, l. = L
| The work has progressed well, keeping
pace with the success of our arms
! There were vet other states not in rebel
/ lion, to which this necessity did not apply,
and in which Congress had no power over
| the institution Of slavery 1t is now =
cause for gratitude to God that those states
excepted by the provisions Of the Proclaml
alton, are adopting the policy of emanci-
ton by their own act Already is the
work in progress. Maryland has adopted
q Constitution prohibiting slavery on her
soil and wheeling into line has delivered
her first broadsidc Of electoral votes for
him whom Of all others disloyal men hate.
This work so wei begun leaves little
room for doubt, that when the disloyI dis
tricts shall have become free by force OF
arms, these loyal states will be not far be-
hind them by their own voluntary acts
But the great work of the nation now
lies in the direct line Of putting down the
rebellion. Whatever successes we may
gain Of an incidental character, are but
partial and incomplete while the head and
front of this armed resistance to constitu-
tiona' authority is not broken Let US then
ask to what extent the Lord has helped US
here? Do our successes in the field war;
rant the hopes we base on the victories Of
the ballot box What has been the his-
tory of our successes in arms during tho
year? 1t were, perhaps, enough to say,
that through al the important military
operation of the year, our success has been
uniform No great disaster like thosesof
the early part Of the war has befallen our
arms. The victorious march of Grant up
to the very walls Of the rebel Capitol,
around which he is daily drawing closer
his fatal coils, relentless Of death itself;
the triumphant diFducc Oh ',fltEulau tbED
the very heart of the enemy s country, be-
seigine and taking a city, which, from its
manufacturing interests is hardly less i'm
portant to the rebe lion than Richmond
itself-a city so strongly fortified as TO
challenge and defy all onr forces; the
capture Of the fleet and forts guarding the
approaches of Mobile; and the thrice VIC
torious sheridan in the valley Of the She
nandoah these and numerous other lIH-
portant victories give US abundant ground
for hope. and occasion for dcYout thanks
> giving to God the Giver zea
On the sea too has good work been done
The name Of Admiral Farraeut will ever
, recall the almost unparal eled victory OF
fleet over walled ortifcations-whle
Winslow and the staunch Kearsarge will
be remembered while the piratical doinss
: of the Alabama hold page in history.
For this steady, decided Advancement Of
= our cause on sea md land we thank God