Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1866-08-22
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST %, 1866.


than the difference between the seces-
sion you and l risked our lives to sub
due while Hester CIymer opened up
nre IN our rear, and the thing he de-
nounceS as secession in his speeches.
When rebel bullets were flying thick
around US, and our comrades were fall
ing on every side, or if captured were
reserved for fate more horrible than
immediate death in the prison-pens of
Libby, Belle Isle and Andersonville
what mockery it would have been to
tell US that the sole or principal object
TOR which we were confronting danger
was that the enemies firing into our
ranks might he again installed in the
Federal Capitol to make laws for, and
with the aid OF Northern Copperheads,
TO rule and persecute the loval people
OF the whole United States! If that
was so, we might as we'll have staid at
| nome, for 1t was scarcely worth while
to fight to tasten chain around our
own necks. No. We fought to estab.
llsh the authority of the Federal Gov.
! ernment over the seeding States, and
when this was accomplished, and def
ant treason crushed, our hope and ex-
| pectatIon was that loyal men should
! govern the heritage we had regained.
| But the rebels had no sooner been van
| pushed in fair warfare than the treach-
cry Of Andrew Johnson, and the prom
lses OF their Northern allies, inspired
the hope that by new flank move
ment the lost cause might still tri
umph, and, after losing Richmond.
virtually remove the capitol of the
Contederacy to Washington. That's
the plan now, as plain as the nose on
your face; and there is not a rebel in
the land, North or South, that don't
chuckle over it and work hard for its
success. As they combine to support
1t, we should unite to crush it, if we
wish to perpetuate the fruits of our
Victories
THE Southern States ought to get
back IN the Union some time, though,
tor all that, and we've no right TO keep
them out
They could get back easily enough
if they showed sincere repentance for
their treason and gave guarantees
against a repetition of their war on
loyal men and loyal interests. Let
them pass the constitutional amend
ment, and form loyal State govern
ments, like that in Tennessee, and like
her they can gain admission for their
Senators and congressman
L don't believe in tinkering at the
Constitution. Why do you want to
change it?'
Because that is the only practical
way Of making a permanent treaty of
peace with the rebel States, and the
only way of adapting the government
OF the country to the changed condi-
ton produced by the war. You know
that while we were in camp, Hester
Clymer and the Copperheads in Penn
sylvania tried to prevent us from vo.
ting at all, and the State constitution
was changed TO give soldiers the right
OF suffrage. If the Federal Constitu-
ton is not amended now and the reb-
ell Congressman are admitted, each
rebel soldier will have twice as much
control over the Federal Government
as you or l. If you are ready to sub
nit to that, | am not
That's rather hard, must confess.
| don't know but what it's right to
make that change; but then your par
ty asks other changes, too
None that are not just and necessa-
ry. Only guarantee that the rebels
shall not rob the treasury with claims
for their debt and damages that their
worst men shall not be Immediately
restored to power, and that civil rights
shall be extended to all American cit
izens.'
l don't want to help pay the rebel
debt any more than you do; and it
would not be pleasant to think that
the men who shot down our compan-
ions should step into the front seats of
politics. too suddenly; but the civil
rights clause has got niger in the
wood-pile, and Pm against negro equal
ity, and especially against giving them
the right to vote
1t says nothing about suffrage one
way or the other. But it provides
against their oppression. The war
showed how little the rebels cared for
the health or lives of white prisoners,
and they care less for the rights of
freedmen. They have so long been
accustomed to treat colored men as
brutes that it will require sharp laws
sharply administered to teach them |
better. The negroes are human be-
ings entitled to our protection under
any circumstances, and certainly since
they acted as our faithful allies against .
the cruelty of common enemy. Of
all the bugbears ever invented to
frighten fools, negro equality is the .
your manhood don't depend upon the
rnnmar of rahal IN Aannc To cheat a.