The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1866-08-09

Government, filing up the armies ana
prosecuting the war to successful CON
clusion, how long, l ask, could il have
lasted? Certainly not more than two
years; probably not more than one.
Now that it is over and the Internal his
tory of tbs rebellion is laid bare, we
know that the last two years ofthe strug
gle existed entirely upon hopes OF relief
and victory from the success of the Dem
ocratic party in the North. They had
friends and correspondents in every
Northern neighborhood They were IN
receipt of all our newspapers, and thus
perfectly informed of every political
movement in our midst, and of the ten
deney OF public sentiment They were
assured by every Democratic speaker of
sympathy and support, and strengthen
ed by the declaration that the Democracy
everywhere recognized the war as wick
ed and unconstitutional on our part, and
would, when it came into power, withdraw
our armies and acknowledge the Confed
eracy.
The success of the Democratic party
in the election in 1862 filed the rebels
with high hope that it would succeed in
the Presidential election in 1864, and
the Chicago Convention declared the
war a failure and demanded immediate
peace leaped with joy and believed that
the hour of their deliyeance was at
hand
But when Mr. Lincoln was re elected
by overwhelming majority, and the Dem
ocratic party was everywhere overthrown
the hopes upon which they had lived at
once expired, and from that hour all re-
garded the cause as lost.
Hence we say to the Democratic party
you have levied these taxes, you have
created this debt you have inflated the
price OF gold, and if you were placed IN
power this day, you have no remedy
against the high taxes you have levied
but reputation.
When a Democratic politician comes
around you clamoring about high taxes
you can turn to him and say, as Nsth an
did to David, Thou art the man The
encouragement you gave to rebels first
levied these taxes. The assistance you
gave to rebellion continued them, and
the persistent and devilish malice with
which you traduced the Government, the
army, and the great cause for which We
struggled, swelled them to what they are
and now you go about as public distur-
bers, by falsely ascribing to others the
direct consequences of your own wick
edness.
DAMAGES TO RESULT FROM DEMOCRATIC
SUCCESS.
And now let me invite your attention
to the danger which threatens the nation
should the calamity happen that the
Democratic party, or the party to be
formed out of it in Philadelphia, comes
into power. In that case we are able to
predict with alb :olute certainty their first
measures, and to survey in advance the
sued. The right of State secession
would be at once asserted as the funda-
mental law of the Constitution Every
rebel clings to it to day with the tenac
large proportion of Northern Democratic
politicians proclaim the right, while
there are none who deny it heartily and
in earnest. The fruits of victory would
be surrendered, and the glory of our
arms tarnished by the final dishonor of
the cause in which our soldiers fought.
The rebels would at once be restored to
political power, and rewarded by the
highest positions in the Governm ent,
while Union men would be driven from
an official place and subjected to every
ignominy which could be inflicted by
their vindi ctive enemies.
The valor, the endurance, the uncquaI
ed heroism of the Union Army would be
systematically degraded, and their sue
cess ascribed solely to overwhelming
numbers and brute force; while the
"chivalry'' and the story of the exploits
of the rebel army would be magnifed
through every medium, and exalted by
every means that power exercised by
treason could devise.
They would place rebel officers and
soldiers upon the same equality before
the law with those of the Union armies,
pay them and pension them the same,
and make like provisions for their wild
ows and orphans. They would assume
the payment of the rebel war debt, and
decree compensation for emancipated
slaves. They would make payment for
Southern property destroyed during the
war, and compensate for all damages in
hicted by our armies, upon the ground
that they were ruthless invaders of South
ern soil.
They would repeal or nulify the oper-
alton of the Civil Rights bill, leaving