Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1866-02-07
THg gAFrsMAn's JOURNAL
"Ocoasionalp on Clymer and Wallace.

WASHINGTON, FEB. I'd, 1866 w Wednes-
days and Thursdays debate in the Senate
of Pennsylvania, on the universal suffrage,
was very pleasant soureatr of the conduct
of the Copperhead politicians during the
war for the preservation OF the Govern
ernment. Nothing could be more useful, as
warning to others, than the ridiculous
explanations Of the Democratic Senatorial
declaimers, MessrS Clymer and Wallace
After having abused the poor colord mau
to the uttermoSt for nearly two full days,
they attempted to defend themselves for
their own assaults upon Andrew johnson
when that fearless patriot, through his
friends, solicited the privilege of speaking
| to the people in our legislative halls. No
| political aspirants We're ever placed in di-
| lemma at once so awkward and so sugges-
| tive. He who reproduces what they said to
| Andrew johnson in the spring OF 1868, will
| smile as he notes how moderate, in compar
| ison, is their present abuse of the colored
man. Mr. Clymer, who is an educated gen.
| tleman and an inceSSant toiler for nomjna-
ton for Governor Of Pennsylvania, was al
most as violent on Wednesday in his denun-
Citations of the black man as he was when he
| heaped his maiedictions on the head of the
white man, Andrew johnson, In the Senate,
on the 9th of March, 1868; but his Phlippic
/
! Politicians like Mr.. Clymer did not then al
low the consideration that Andrew johnson
was white man, to save him from their fes-
tering calumnies. Our President was then
| fighting for the white race Of the United
| States. He was risking his life, as he had
sacrificed nearly all his means. for the pres
ervation of what these selfish politicians call
| the white man Government. Hunted out
of his own State by the white traitors, he
came into Pennsylvania to beg and implore,
at the hands of the people, aid and encour
agement for the prosecuted loyalists Of Eas-
| tern Tennessee. He told them how his fell
low-citizens, with their wives and children,
| had been driven into caves and mountains
by the human blood hounds of slavery how,
to use his own language, his property had
been sacrificed, his wife and children turned
out of doors, his sons imprisoned, his son
in-law forced into the mountains. my
people" he added, are arrested by hun
dreis and thousands, dragged away from their
| homes, and incarcerated In dungeons, and
your only response to their murmurs is the
/ rafting and cianking of chains that bind
their limbs. What" he repeats, is their
condition to-day? They are hunted and pur
sued ike the beasts OF the forest by the Sc
cession and disunion hordes who are enfor
| cling their doctrine of coercion. They are
shot or hung for no crimes save desire TO
stand by the Constitution of the United
| States. Helpless children and innocent ie-
males are murdered in cold blood. Our
men are hung and their bodies left upon the
| gibbet. They are shot and left lying in the
gorges of the mountains, not even thrown
into caves, there to lie, but are left exposed
to pass through all the loathsome stages of
decomposition, or to be devoured by birds of
prey" Here was white man, appealing for
white men, women and children, hunted, tor
tured and murdered by other white men
who had taken up arms against generous
Government And this same appeal acas
addressed to ,ohite men, Ike Messrs. Clyner
and Wallace, safe aatier tie shelter Of q
G0UerTDle,at acItoSe terrible struggles for its
O1rR preservation they looked upon t0itIt ScOrn
or ndiftereace Resident an the midst of
htruIy and plenty, paid by the people for
Their doubtful services IN tie Legislature, they
refused this achite man, AndreW johnson,
thus muoh,ag their aid for his aohite suffer
ing family and friends, and did so aCiM the
most indecent and iasoleRt e6rOntly And
now, after u country saved without them, and
in defiance of them-saved, too, by the assis-
tance OF the strong arms OF the colored peo-
pie of the country-saved by the men whom
they hunted and slandered lite less than
three years ago-they are suddenly brought
to asense of the supreme peril which threat
ems our political and social institutions
through the attempt to elevate the liberated
loyalists of the South by an act of the Con
greSs of the United States Now the white
race Is TO be saved from the negroes If
the honest people of Pennsylvania needed
| anything more to convince themselves of the
utter unworthiness Of these Copperhead pol
iticians, this spectacle should do the work.
It is better than an elaborate argument, and
anticipates and defines their settled policy in
the coming State campaign. When Mr.
Hester Clymer is nominated for Governor
of Pennsylvania he will find that while he is
abusing the friendless colored man and draw
ing picture of the horrors of allowing him
to enjoy the inalienatle civil franchises, he
viii be called upon to reconcile with this sill
ly and juvenile party parrotting his heart
less contempt of millions of white men du-
ring the war for the preservation of the
country, led too as these were. by the white
man, Andrew johnson, to whom he now
tenders such obsequeous adulation. He
will also be constrained to satisfy an intelli-
gent and exacting people, who well remem-
Der what he would now bury in oblivion,
how 1t is that, as he denies the right of suf-
Tage to the worthy colored men, he not on
ly does not refuse it to the blood stained saw
age traitors, but, if he is true to his record,
insists that these baffled assassins should
be clothed with the rights and powers be-
longing to the citizens who fought for and
saved the Republic Now that the Demo
cratic politicians are exuitant at the idea of
making successful campaign upon the ac-
ton of the National Union party in Con
gress-whether that concerns negro suffrage
or apvthino alSa- tba,, cbo,,lJ oo-of,I ,I1,,.,so