The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1866-09-13

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s-....t q tkeir FsgloU -cilixens Of tie
United States,
The Representatives Of eight mill
ions of American citizens appeal for
protection and justice to their friends
and brothers IN the States thathave been
spared the cruelties of the rebellion
and the direst horrors of civil war
Here, on the spot where freedom was
proffered and pledged by the fathers of
The Republic, We implore your help
against reorganized oppression
who solo object is to remit the con
troll Of our estimates to the contrivers
Of the rebellion, after they have been
ranquished in honorable battle, thus
at once to punish US for our devotion
to our country and to entrench them
selves in the official fortiication of the
government Others have related the
calling st?ry of our wrongs from read.
ing and observation. We come before
you as unchaIlenged witnesses, and
speak from personal knowledge our
sad experience. lfyou fail as, we are
more utterly deserted and betrayed
than it the contest had been decided
against us. For even victorious slave
ry would have found profit in the
speedy pardon of those who had been
among its bravest foes. Unexpected
pertidy in the highest place OF the
Government accidentally filed by one
whs adds cruelty TO ingratitudo,. land
torgives the guilty as he persecuLes the
innocent. has stimulated the almost
extinguishod revenge of the beaten
consprators. And now the rebels who
offered to yield every thing TO save
their own lives, are seeking to consgn
US to bloody graves. Where we eX
pected benefactor we find pcrsecu.
tor. Having lost our champion we re-
turn to you, who can invoke the Pres.
ident and punish traitors Our last
hope under God is the unity and firm
ness OF the States that elected Abraham
Lincoln and defeated Jefferson Davis.
The best statement of our case, is
the appalling yet unconscicntious con-
fession OF Andrew Johnson, who in
savage hatred of hi, own record pro-
claims his purpose to clotbe four mill.
ions of traitors with the power to i'm
poverish and degrade eight millions Of
loyal men. Our wrongs bear alike on
oil races, and our tyrants unchecked
by you will award the same fate to
white and black. We can remain as
ne arc, only as interiors and victims.
We may fly from our homes, but we
should fear to trust our fate with those,
who, after denouncing and defeating
treason refused toright those who have
braveI y assisted them in the good work.
Till We hre wholly rescued, there is
neither peace for you nor prosperity
for us.
We cannot better define at once our
wrongs and our wants, than by declar.
ing that since Andrew johnson affIia.
ted with his early slanderers and our
constant enemies, his hand has been
laid heavily upon every loyaIist in the
South. History, the just judgment Of
the present and. tho certain confrma.
ton of the future, invite and command
us to declare that after rejecting his
own sentiments for restoring the Un-
ion, he has rcsorted to the weapons of
traitors, TO bruise and beat down pa.
triots that after declaring that none
but tho loyal should govern tho recon.
structcd South, he has practiccd upon
tho maxim, that mono but traitors shall
rule that whilc in the florlh he has
removed conscientious men from office,
and filled many of tho vacancies with
tho sympathscrs of treason, in Tho
South, he has removed the tIied patri.
OTIS, and selected the equally proved and
convicted traitors. That after brave
men who had fought for the old flag
hayc been nominated for positions,
their names hayo bocn recalled and
avowed rebels substituted. That every
original Unionist in tho South who
stands fast to Andrew Johnson q coyo-
narts, from 1861 to 1866, has been os
tracised. That he has corrupted tho
local courts by Offering premiums for
tho defiance of tho laws OF Congress
and by openly discouragng tho o6scr !
vanco of tho oath against treason
That while refusing to punish ono sin
gle conspirator, though thousands had
earned the penalty Of death, moro than
q thousand Of devoted U ion citizens
have been murdered in cold blood,
since the surrender Of Loc, and in no
case have thoir assassins boen brought
to judgment. That ho has pardoned
some OF tho worst of tho rebel crimin.
ais North and South, including somo
who have takon human life under cir.
cumstances OF unparalleled atrocity
that whilo donounoing and fighting
tho operations Of tho Freedmnns Blu. |
reau, he, with full knowledge of the
falsehood, has charged that the blacl,
mon are lazy and rcbelious, and has
concealed tho fact that moro whites
than blacks have boon protected and
fed by that noble organization, and
that while declaring that it was corrupt.
" managed and expensive to tho
Government, ho has connivcd at Il sys.
tenn Of proiiigacy in the usc of tho pub.
lie patronage and public money wholly
without parallel, save when the traitors
bankrupted tho treasury and sought
TO dsorganizc and scatter tho army
and tho navy, only to mako it more
easy to capture the Government that
while declaring against the injustice of
leaving eloven States unreprcsented,
no has refused to authorize tho liberal
plan OF Congress-, simply because it
recognizes the loyal majority and 70.
fuses to perpotuato tho traitor minori. |
" that in every State south of Mason
u nixNufa Tina M. 4 -.