Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-10-22

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tending to save it. Take heed, Americans.
and beware Trust not this light Of peace
This light is false There is no harbor he.
hind it. nothing but rocks, reefs, breakers
shipwreck, and ruin
Such is their cry of peace But what shall
we say of their patriotism? Patriotism and
that platform IF the rebel emissaries ct
Niagara Falls alone had made it--for they
! certainly had their share In making it-if the
! friends of the rebels in England had made i
that we might understand. But that
| American citizens-sons of the great and
| happy free States-should have made this
can that be conceived by true American
heart?
That platform and patriotism Show me
| the man who hates US most, he will like if
best Show me the bitterest enemy Of this
| Republic, he will crave a chance to vote for
it = Show me the vilest villain in all rebel
dom, who never prayed before; he viii sink
upon his knees and pray for its success
| loud cheers and applause.)
When we want to designate all that was
humiliating to our patriotic pride, all that
was ruinous to the honor anu safety of the
| Union, all that was contemplate and bastard
" and treaeherous in the conduct of our pub
lie affairs; if we want to designate all this
with one name, we call it James Buchanan.
daughter and applause.)
| We thought the period of our history which
is represented by that name, was finally alb
solved; we thought it might be consigned to
oblivion, as il was consigned TO shame. But
alas although Buchanan is dead and buried
those who INDUCED in the soothing delusiOn
that such man could leave no progeny, find
| themselves mistaken. Behold, a whole brood
of young Buchanans has risen up and met in
convention at Chicago. Continued laugh
teri The laurels of their father do not let
them sleep. l see again the cunning twinkle
Of the eye, see the white neektie again.
(great laughter;) they try to adjust it like
halter around the throat of the Republic, to
throttle her to death. Continued cheers
Truly the sons are greater than the sire. For
what he did, we may say he did as a weak
old man, whose life had been spent in a con.
slant exercise of his kneejoints; and who,
when the rebellion first raised its Gorgon.
head, had neither the frmness of a patriot
nor the courage of a traitor. But what they
do, they do after thousands of noble men
have stained the battlefelds of their country
with their precious blood; after the people
have poured out their money like water to
save the Republic; after an invincible navy
has battered down Southern forts, and Is
| commanding the Southern waters; they do
it when the hero of Vicksburg is laundering
| at the 9dteE OF Wuc0 our YIctOrl-
Gus flag waves over the ramparts of Atlanta
and Victory is the cry! Nongcontinued
cheering) All poor old man. hide thv head
in shame, for thou canst no longer claim such
proud pre-eminence in baseness. There are
those that are greater than thou, and whose
yaulting ambition laughs thy iniquity to
scOrn. Those are the men who made that
platform. tremendous applause.)
MCCLELLAN.
And upon that platform they placed sol
der by profession as their candididate-a
General who once commanded the armies OF
this Republic Was there ever a man So
cruelty insulted by his friends? Was there
ever irony more cutting? A General nomi-
mated for the Presidency for the distinct pur-
pose of trading away other Generals scto-
ries A soldier appointed to make the sue
cesses Ofother soldiers useless And he did
not resent it by finging platform and nomi-
nation into the faces of those who had made
it, without losing single moment Alas
he did not. He waited. He endured this
most outrageous insult-this mortal offence
without saying a word Meanwhile muir
murs of indignation arose, like black cloud
from the army, against him who was once
their communication every corner of the
country cries of anger and contempt burst
forth against the infamous Chicago surrender
But that was not all A thrill of iOy and en-
thusiasm flashed through the heart of the
nation when the word came: ATLANTA IS
ours :" And, then, surrender loud APP
plause.)
But now, at least, when the promptings of
prudence came TO the aid of the voice of Just
resentment, now, at last, he spurned the plat
form, and he scorned to be the candidate of
the men that made it, and of the party that
adopted it Oh no. For him, regret to
say, the opportunity for show the metal of a
great character was lost He chose middle
way. He did not repudiate, nor did he ap-
prove, but he ignored the platform and took
the nomination This has, at least, the
charm of novelty. The candidate wrote a
skilfully worded political letter, showing that
the art, How not to say it, can be brought to
as high a degree of perfection as the art,
How not to do it. daughter and cheers. J
1t is upon record. But that was not the first
political letter of his life The General had
written one about year ago, before he was
a candidate. That letter was endorsing the
principles and advocating the election of
Judge Woodward to the Governorship of
| PENNSYLVANIA. And that letter is on record
too. Who was Judge Woodward? You
know better than can tell you, that he went
as far as any of the class called peace-copper-
neadS dared 10 gOi peace az any price, sur
render, and all. And when was this letter,
endorsing his principles written The cir
cumstances are significant. We had Just
then suffered very disastrous defeat at Chic;
amauga, our Western army was in a most
critical situation, in Virginia the campaign
had come to a complete stand-still, the affairs
of the country looked dark. And then tn
| General endorsed the principles and advoca-
| ted the election of peace-man. This is most
interesting for the people to remember
Thus we know how he Is capable of speaking
after defeat. This gives US the advantage,
since he has now somewhat changed his tune
after victory, to conclude with safety how
he is likely to speak in case Of defeat again.
| 1t is far from me to insinuate that the Gener-
al was dishonest il writing his war-letter; nor
was he dishonest in writing his letter for the
peace-man. He means what he says now; he
meant what he said then. The General is a
gentleman, and / sincerely believe he was
honest both times. But this kind Of honesty
is a fair indication of the policy we may look
for from that quarter. While / detest that
sort of peace-spirit. am afraid of that sort
of war-spirit. And this is the war spirit of a
party which deemed it necessary to postpone
its convention from the fourth of July to the
twenty-ninth of August, to give events time
to develop themselves, and to shape their
| policy accordingly.