Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-09-29
gplitifal.
TO THE PEOPLE OFF Pennsylvania,
The Verdict i'm 1864.

Will be called upon TO exercise the highest
privileges, and perform one of the most sa-
cred duties of Freemen. One year ago ouI
State was deeply agitated by conflict Of
opinion which was emphatically and unmis-
takably settled at the ballot-box Then the
public mind was thoroughly aroused by the
warmth and ability of the contest. On both
sides were arrayed men who earnestly, and
perhaps in most cases sincerely, endeavored
to persuade their fellow citizens that the tri-
umph of their views was indispensable to the
to the welfare and prosperity of the State,
the peace and enjoyment of the people, and
the duration and life of the nation. After
long, well-contested and thorough canvass
the People of Pennsylvania, by more than
twenty thousand, and the people of the ma
ton, by more than four hundred thousand
majority, rendered their verdict The lines
were plainly drawn, and the Issue clearly and
fully made up 1t is impossible for any one
to be mistaken as to the character of the
trial, or the nature of the verdict.
Thanks to the heroism, courage and skin
OF American soldiers, sailors and officers, and
to the God of battles the war is over, our
nation saved, and the good old Republic
still ives Peace has again spread her gem
tie wings over eur once happy and still be-
loved land. The sound of trumpets, the
noise of cannon and musketry, the tread Of
armies, the victorious cheers of our brave,
soldiers, and the sickening groans of the
wounded and dying are no longer heard in
our borders. The nation. as In former times
comes out of the fiery ordeal triumphant,
and now redeemed and vindicated before the
world, stands forth more bright than ever
| before, as beacon to the down trodden and
| oppressed of all lands, as terror to the ty-
rants of the earth, as an asylum for the op-
pressed of all nations, and as the wonder
and admiration of the lovers of freedom ev-
! erywhere
| The grass which we were told would grow
| in the streets of Northern cities in case of
war, is now growing in the streets where the
prophecy was made The ruin, poverty and
| suffering which were to overtake the people
of the North are resting upon the people
who prayed for such blessings on our heads.
| The new paradise which was to be discover
ed to delight the saints of the Southern
| Confederaey, is filed with darkness and
gloom, with sorrow and woe.
| The large and mighty armies of treason
have been overthrown and scattered before
the larger rnd more powerful armies of the
Republic. Traitors and their friends every
where have been compelled to yield to the
greatness the power, the energy, the re-
| sources of the nation, and the courage, skill
and endurance of her heroic sons.
Some of the leaders of the Rebellion are
buried beneath the soil they attempted to
| desecrate, some ore fugitiyes in foreign lands
and others are swarming the National Capt.
tol, and crawling into the White House, beg
ging pardons from the man whom of all 9th
ers in the land they have most iercely de-
nounced, and most bitterly hate. The chief
of the Rebellion himself, from his prison at
Fortress Monroe, surveys the ruin he has
wrought among his own people, and silent
ly and sullenly awaits the action of the ma.
ton he yainly attempted to destroy, to make
known to him, in its own good time, the
| doom he so richly merits.
In the North we have prosperity and
plenty, all the evidences of increas ng power
and greatness everywhere present, and the
nation surely and certainly advancing more
rapidly than ever before, in the path Of
progress. And, notwithstanding all the ca
lamities and sacrifices of four years of bloody
war (made more destructive by the lnhu-
manity and barbarism of our enemies), we
have just welcomed to their homes more
than one million of brave men who have
saved the nation and made their names i'm
mortal
The Issues of the Present Campaign.
After the settlement of the issues Of 1864,
so disastrously in the field. and so overwhel-
mingly at the ballot-box against our adver
saries, it would seem most singular that the
same questions should be again presented to
the people of the keystone State But
they have selected the ground and we will
lngly and gladly accept the challenge At
the Convention of their organization, recent
ly held at Harrisburg, it was resolved that,
the men and party administering the Gov
ernment since 1861, have betrayed their
trust, violated their sacred obligations, dis
regarded the commands of the fundamental
law, corruptly squandered the public money,
perverted the whole Government from its
original purposes, and thereby have brought
untold calamities upon the country" The
measures of the administration of Abraham
Lincoln, so recently indorsed by so large
majority of his countrymen, are here foolish
ly and wickedly denounced by the members
of this Convention, and the people of Penn
sylvania are grayely asked to sanction the
act, reverse their own Judgment and repu-
diate the verdict of the nation solemniy rem
dered at the ballot-box.
The HSic Semper Tyrannis" of the ever
to- be-execrated Booth, uttered as he rushed
from the scene of the great crime of the age
conveys no greater insult to the memory of
Abraham Lincoln, nor runs no more directly
counter to the feelings and sentiments of his
countrymen than does this utterance of the
late so-called Democratic Convention. Let
the whole army of freemen which marched
to victory in 1864, under the banner of Abra-
ham Lincoln, be again called into the field
and march to the polls in 1865, to resent the
insult tc his memory. Let there be no alb
sentees, no deserters, no stragglers, but let
all the old soldiers, officers and men, with
host of new recruits, be ON hand, ready for
the fight.
But our adyersaries were not content to
stop with this resolution They say in sub
stance and effect that war existed as fact
upon the advent of the successful party in
1860, to the seat of power that 'slaugh-
ter, debt and disgrace are the results of our
late civil war, and that mo more persons
shall be murdered by military commissions.
We had thought that il had been pretty
well settled by the American people that the
war was caused, commenced and forced up
on US by the actions and conduct of traitors,
and that the election of a President aecor
ding to the provisions of the Constitution
and laws of the country was no cause OF war
whatever. We thought too, that success,
the glory, greatness and renown of our COM
mon country, the death of treason, slavery,
State sovereignty, and the right of secession
and not simply debt, disgrace and slaugh-
ter, were the results of the war.
As the action of the Military Commission
had cost only the lives of few of the assas-
,;ns e praasdanf T5neolfa and as onlv faxv