North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1865-09-20
4 SOLDIERS SENTIMENTS.
@PEEOH
CAPT. CHAS. B, BROCKwAY,
AT the Great Mob Mountain Meeting, Co.
lumbia County. ON Wednesday,
August 80, 196S. 0f""

FRIENDS AND FELLOW SOLDIERS 1t NAV
be according to tactics to put raw recruits in
front while these old veterans are kept 10 re-
serve, but the position is painful one. In
ssmuch, howeser, as have been assigned
position in this assault On the enemy, it il
my duty to advance TO the charge, and il
repulsed shall fall back upor the reserves.
We have assembled here, as we have per.
feet right to do, alike % celebrate the es.ab.
lishment Of our party, and to renew among
our people their political faith.
For four long years we have engaged in q
bloody civil war; the garbs of mourning be
frre me, the MANNED soldiers who have met
here prove the desperation of the struggle.
were other evidence wanting. The ques.
t'ons are pertinent what have we ought for 2
Why is this fair land filled with cripplee,
with mourning-snd why are we 40 % nation
overwhelmed with debt These are the
questions which have been assigned me, and
| will endeavor to state what we Tough, for,
what we did not fight for, and what we
should now insist upon. When we consider
the conflicting opinions of leading men, of
different communities, the importance ofa
proper solution of the question will be ap-
parent. The subject is an old one you
have heard 1t day after day for the past four
years and shall not pretend to give You
any original thoughts on the subject, but 10
revive old ones 20 your minds.
The object of the South, take 1t, was to
establish a separate government among
States alike interested in the preservation of
the institution Of slavery, which they Claim.
ed had been illegally interfered with
Doubtless other causes impelled them 10
tn course, but this was the main one. The
object of the West, besides the general ona To
maintain the Union of our fathers. was 20
open and keep open the navigation of the
Mississippi river, that they might, through
It, send their produce to market. The mass.
es of the Middle States we're actuated bv
truly patriotic impulses, though they knew
that upon their borders would the contest be-
decided. The object of the East, however. I
hold, was not the general one TO preserve the
Uniou, though some men within it's borders
may have SO stated. It was the desire Of
vengeance upon the South, and upon South
Carolina in particular. They were not 90
posed to ser ession, because they had been
advocates Of that doctrine from the founda-
dation OF our government. MANY of INV
hearers may be old enough to remember the
Essex Junto aud the Hartford Convention
They may remember the numerous petitions
coming from that portion of the United
States TO Congress, praying for dissolution
ot the Union. For over thirty years they
have declared that "they would have no un-
ION with slaveholders." You have not for.
gotten that General Banks, who has held
heh4civil aad military positions under our
government. man whose name 10 synony
NOUS with disunion and defeat, declared tina,
"he was willing in certain contingencies 70
let the Union slide" You have no. forgot
ten that certain representative in Congress
from that g"dly city Of Boston, and who
now holds high diplomatic position under
The government, declared that "the time had
arrived when we must have an anti-slaverv
Constitution. an anti-slavery Bible and an
anti.slavery God" Gsrrison's Liberotor.
prominent New England paper, and one
extensively circulated in the army by the
Sanitary Commission, hong had at it's head
as motto "The Constitution 10 q covenant
with death-an agreement with hell ;" These
men are types of New England sentiment,
and hated alike the Union and the Consti
tuition. Nor were they sctuated by a desire
to support the laws, because they have been
the first to break them they have refused
to carry out the provisions of the fugitive
slave law, though founded upon a direc,
command of the Constitution, and have set
up their own corrupt consciences as "the
higher law" in following which they claim
the right to break through all laws-alI con-
stitutions. These are the men whom I ar
raign before you as having been dislayal in
the past. and who, when the present war
commenced the irst they ever attempted
to pport-endeavored to pervert it's objects
love Of gain, and they have grown rich by
taking advantage of the nations necessities,
and the knowledge that they were secure
from invasion. ... ... ..a
But, fellow citizens, outside ofNew Eng
land, the grand moving cause was patriotism.
the desire to perpetuate the government of
our fathers, and TO transmit it to our pos-
terity, to resent the insult TO the flag befure
me, which the sun is gliding with bis sitting
rays. We could not bear that one star sho'd.
be taken from its sky. The blood Of our fa
theirs was embalmed in it's red, the purity of
their cause in it's white, and the freedom
they attained in it's blue. These considera-
tions induced me and thousands of my com.
r q A. =