The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1865-09-27

lion violating our contract, was the pubIica
ton OF the emancipation proclamation. AT
the lime was confined in Libby prison as
one OF "Pope's ielons,' bot The sufferings
of i'm prison ment were nothing compared 10
noble cause for which ! enlisted de baeed by
being made struggle for giving freedom
TO few degraded negroes. Leading Re
| pnhicans, it j. irue, urged the measure as
! military necessity if twenty millions of
white men could not subdue eigh, millions
negroes. They also promised reinforce-
ments Of while troops. Gov. Yales spoke
OF tie flaming giants" OF The West who
would come TO our rescue; Gov. Andrews
said the streets and highways OF the East
would swarm with patriotic troops while
even Greeley promised his 900 900 more.
! Yet they never came save in The shape of
, some darkies stolen from The South, and
lew needy foreigners imported from abroad.
The natural result o! this ill-timed procla-
m alton was 10 stop recruiting in the North,
and from that lime large bounlss and heavy
while so long as the war was for the Union
more ,ounleers were offered than the ad-
ministration would accept.
Another effect was to consolidate The
South. A; the beginning of the war, ac-
cordng 10 Presiden, Lincoln's own state
nent, we bad majority Of friends there,
but this measure exlinguished the last
spark of unionism South, and united their
people in The attempt TO preserve their pro-
perry.
hold also that the war has been unnec-
essariIy prolonged, that competent generals
have been removed and their places sup
piled by experimental ones; that our forces
were divided where they should have been
consolidated, and that .ovenures OF peace
from the enemy were rejected. The doc
trine was openly proclaimed that the 'last
man aud the last dollar" should be used
in order 10 Iiberate the negroes. Fellow
soldiers, can you affiliate with such men
You and have lost beloved comrades, nay
suffered ourselves yet we must be insulIed
with assurances that these friends died, or
we suffered, not for the Uaion, not in de-
Tense of The Constitution, but TO make the
negro orr equal. That This war was unddly
prolonged | can prove BY The highest Re-
publican testimony Greeley-who,
in speaking of The Niagara Peace Confer
ence said. "AaG this wise and brave course
been taken when Alex. Stephens first
publicly solicited permission 10 visit WASH
iDeton, believs il would have saved qrsr
Ter OF million Of lives, an awfsl amount
OF devastation and misery, and leil our ma
day" The President, in refusing overures
OF peace also forgot that portion of his an
nual message OF 1862, which says: "Sup
pose you 60 TO war, you cannot fight al
ways; and when after much loss on both
sides, and no gain on either, you cease
fighting, The Identical olG questions, as to
terms Of intercourse, are again upon you"
Another result of giving freedom TO the
negroes and placing hem in our army was
the death OF thousands OF our bIethern in
Southern prisons. Our government refused
10 carry out the csrIel OF exchange unless
some negroes then held by The enemy were
liberated What was The consequence 10
one year seventeen hundred Pennsylvania
soldiers died al Andersonville prison. |
know that General Bniler now charges that
Secretary Stanton ordered him to compli-
cate the exchange in order that The rebel
forces should not be strengthened But
what of that! Besides trying CaPiain
Wire, the keeper of the AndersonviIe
prison, I would indicl Ben. Butler and Ed.
Stanton.
how shall We secure the otjec;s for which
we fought? In the first place, we should
return to trial by jury. The lime for courts
martial and military commissions, ! appre
bend, is over, or at least shouid6e Those
OF US who have been in the service know (
something about their constitution and |
powers. While in The army | was several |
times a member of a court martial, and
once Judge advocate, and Ikno,u that, as
Senator Hale declared, ''ihey are organized !
10 convict" Woe be 10 The civilian who !
comes before them. They are allowed no
counsel, save at ;he discretion of the court
in general are ignorant of the charges !
against them, and have no means OF pro-
curing witnesses. The accuser also selects |
the judges OF the crime, and then has The !
approval Of the sentence. There must be |
return to civil law, not only because ths
Constitution prohibits any other means OF |
Trial than by jury, but even military writers |
agree that civilians are not subject 10
military rule. We have sssummsd the |
garb OF citizens. and let Us raint ain their |
rights. Let rs emulate the example oil |
Washington, the frst commsadsr-in-c chief
of our armies, who, though possessed of !