The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1864-11-23

Na 1E .
Those who will look upon the contes'
just closed rs simply political one in
which two great parties had differed
about measures best promotive Of the gen.
eral veal Of the country, have had bat .
limited appreciation Of the nature Of the
struggle and poor estimate Of the sacred
principles involved. Il was NO mere po.
litical warfare, but was one waged for the
life Of the nation on the part of those do
termined, with patriotic zeal, upon it,
preservation.
After ordinary elections when the ar
dor and zeal has cooled down and there
is submission to the triumphant party, /,
oil animosities engenderod by ho, parti-
san zeal are measurably forgotten. In
this case it is not SO easy TO forget the
soormitics rerpetrated nor the measures
resorted to in order that the patriotism Of
the country may be hushed and its power
paralszed. Patriotic men every whore.
whose souls yearned that our country
might survive the shock, and whose pres
ent and future hopes for the Union and
universal liberty in the land, we're the en-
crossing thoughts by night and BY day,
were assailsd by attacks the most remorse-
less and unmitigated that could be con-
c-ivsd OF by the malevolent aAd vindic.
tive hearts aud minds Of the opposition,
aud were the truthful exponen,s Of the
bitterness of our traitor enemies.
But ss if to cap the climax Of their
back enormities they assailed with ribald
abuse the most Implying and unsparing
the very men who left their homes. fami.
lies, farms, workshops. with all the com
forts and endearing relations Of domestic
life to defend the Liberties OF their country,
which. next to peaceful Immortality, was
dearer than all ese-the Union and the
Government under whose beuef cent in
slisutions and laws they had received pro-
tsction and upon which they rested their
hopes 10 the future. To lower these in
tie estimation of the world, to degrade
an! disgrace them Was part of their
traitorous programme. One rebel pa per
in the North used the following language:
ut 1.-THE Admid istration) has pu. arms in
the hands of outlaws. thieves, murderer-,
and traitoss-" The same paper de-
nounced them a "hired Hessians.' An.
o'her said that the money spent BY the
Government "was to employ Eve hundred
thousand men to steal negroes from their
Southern masters A traitor of Ohio
when addressing Democratic associa ton
said, 'You have scot your hell hounds
down South to devastate the coun,ry."-
A member Of the United States Senate
from Illinois said "You cannot win yiclo-
ries with hired soldiers Take into con-
sideration the solemn circumstances 10
which the people are placed, AID that the
public heart palpitates with the great ef-
fort now making to crush out this rebel
lion, such language used toward our suf-
ferlug, bleeding and dying soldiers re.
quires philosophy tempered by the pure
religion Of our divine master, to endure
This feeling Of chagrinsnd modification
is exaggerated to the very highest pitch
of endurance when we turn our ears to
the plsintiye wall of the hne widow, to
the cry OF the fstherless, to the agony Of
that mother whose first born is "sleepine
his last Sleep" the unsurpassed aud un.
dying sorrow Of that father for the loss Of
. son upon whom he doated, and Who wa.
the prop aud support Of his declining
years.
Yet all are but "hired robbers, thieves
and llandcrers," in the estimation o.
these Northern traitors, who when they
return will viud;case their names and de
fend their honor. L.
~"From the oldest 10 the ablss
General in the world" Thus the hero o
Lundy's Lane and Mexico endorses tn,
Lieutenant General. I,is no small praise
and the people will endorse the endorse
ment. The reader..will doubtless remem
ber the nearly similar words which Fred
eric the Great wrote upon his pic,ur
| which he sent tn WASHINGTON -.Erop