The Vinton record. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1866-1891, 1866-08-30
OPPOSITION ARGUMENTS.
Prepared by one Of their number.
tF0r tho ViRton Record.
THE LAST CALL. =.
To the Soldiers and Sailors of the
Union Army and Navy.

soldiers and sailors.
1t is signed by few respectable General:
Of the Union army, with many who lefl
the army In disgrace. No Grant, or Sher-
man, or Thomas, or Sheridan-no great
and good man, whom the soldiers love tO
honor is found signing 1t. But, while o
few Generals Of some respectabjlity are in
the list the majority are second class Gen.
erals, who hare no political or military
standing But enough Of those Generals
When the great leaders call for us, let us
follow; but when disgraced and dlsap-
pointed Generals call us, let us look before
we leap.
The call Is made to rally the soldiers
around the Johnson-Butternut party, and
before we go over body and soul to the reb-
els, let us see what the cali has to say.
1t claims that CONGRESS wishes to keep
out the Southern Representatives until the
States adopt the Constitutional Amend
ment, and that johnson wishes them ad-
mitted Immediately to all their rights and
privileges. We will say this is the propo-
sitlon in the call, and we will not argue 1t,
hnt propose to look at the argument Of the
"call." The call says,
III there were no other reasons why the
Southern States will reject 1t, (the Constl-
tutional Amendment) it Is enough that 1t
proposes to dlsfranchise nearly all the men
In the South who have influence over the
masses of the people. If none were to be
disfranchised except officers of the rebel
army we still could not expect the South
to adopt It; for a large majority of men in
the lately insurreotionary States from COM
pulsion or choice, served in the rebel ar
mics, and their votes alone would over
whelmingly defeat it, How can we ex-
pect Southern soldiers to disfranchiss and
degrade their old commanders2 AS there
is no probability that the amendment will
be ratified by three-fourths of the States
the plan of restoration which Congress ap-
pears to have determined upon, Is at best
impracticable."
\ There, fellow-soldcrs, is the old tune
Observation-Disclosures your armies"
Cried the Butternuts, in 1928 aid a, ''you
can never whip the South" Impractical
Bile say the Butternuts. Why impractical
BILE? Look at the "call." 1t says: because
the South won't agree to it. Why won't
the South adopt the Constitutional Amend
mentP Because the soldiers of thc rebel
armies 1would overwhelmingly defeat it.n
1t degrades confederate generalsi
There is the whole matter in q nutshell,
The rebel soldiers-not the Union soldiers
are to be consulted. What the rebel SOL
diers like, is to be done. What they dis
like, Is to be left undone. They control the
South; the South proposes to control the
Government. They have secured the SER
vices of several Generals who left our ar
my In disgrace, and few who didn't so
leave 1t, but who have sold their political
integrity for price; and, by the aid Of
these Generals and the Butternuts, you are
to be driven in to give the South your
vote, TO aid them in controlling the nation.
If there is any thing that makes the re-
construction, as suggested by Congress.
't"practIcable' 1t is the puppyism of the
North, just as in '63-4, we had more to fear
from traitors at home, than we had from
traitors In front Of us. So, now, we have
more to fear from the coitemptible, un-
manly, cowardly course Of Northern milk
'ops, than from the rebels-Of the South.
The call says those who went into the
rebel army from "compulsion," will not
vote to degrade their old commanders IL
Away with such boshi
one-third of the rebel army (the pri-
Vates) was conscripted and is to-day more
loyal than one-half of the names signed to
this great CALI They would readily vote
to disfranchise rebel officers, if allowed to
10 so. The leading Johnsonites only fear
hey will have that privilege. The Con-
Iederate Generals, from JEFF Davis down to
The cruel, inhuman Forest, were all Demo-
'rats before the war, and are the same to-
lay They cry, "Ngreatis Johnson!' Only
few days since great johnson meeting
was called at Memphis, (many Union SOL
iierS remember Memphis y and over that
Johnson meeting at Memphis, Gen. Forest,
" Fort Pillow fame, presided!
Andrew johnson once said: "Treason is
crime and must be made odious. Trait.
us must be punished and impoverished"
md loyal men and the Union army respon-
led amen! At another time, he said IL
Traitors should take a back seat in the
work of reconstruction" Yet, taking IL
III back, he takes course most pleasant to
he South; courts their favor and their
'otes, and receives the endorsement of the
nhuman Forest and the mass of rebels who
lonor him, and sends out over the land soft
words and glittering phrases, formed into
IN address to the soldiers of the Union,
igned by second class Generals, asking us
% come up in concert with Forest and his
mass Of "gory-locked" murderers and as
assins, to the support of him, Andrew
Johnson and his "policy."
un,, sooJ,v ,rIJ.a-.