Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1867-09-11
Address of the Union Republican State
Central Committee.


To the People OF Pennsylvania :-Fello,o
Citizens: In a recent address from this
Committee your attention was invited to
sundry issues and principles involved in the
pending canvass and also to the political
opinions and judicial decisions of George
SharsWood A short review of the princi-
pal occurrences, since the last State cam
paign, is now considered proper. The con-
test in 1866 was fought, in the main, upon
the amendments proposed by congress, to
the Constitution of the United States. These
were national issues; and on the one side
were arrayed the Union Republican party
and the ''Boys in Blue )" and on the other
President johnson, the Democratic party,
and all the rebels and their sympathizers
from one end of the Union to the other.
On these momentous issues Pennsylvania
rallied her strength, and polled over one
hundred and forty thousand more votes than
at her preceding annual election. Among
the results were the triumphant election of
Major General John w. Geary for Govern
or, and the endorsement of Congress, by
the rc,urn of delegation more unanimous
for the right than ever known before In the
history of the Commonwealth. Other 10y
al States united with us, and the insane and
wicked policy of President johnson, and
of his new friends and allies, was over
whelmed bY the unprecedented and magnif
icent popular majority of four hundred
thousand Uotes! Every State which had
been faithful to the national government
and the cause of the Union during the war
approved the proposed amendments. Every
rebel State, except Tennessee, rejected them;
and under the rebel provisional govern
ments created by President johnson, rebel
power resumed its authority, and became
dominant in their executive, legislative, and
judicial departments. Vagrant and labor
laws virtually re-enslaved the freedmen.
Loyal men were out-lawed and trampled
under foot, and the revived spirit of the re-
bellion was everywhere triumphant. Riots,
murders, outrages, and assassinations, were
the order of the day, and security for either
the lives or the property OF loyal men was
nowhere to be found. Treason had front
seats, loyalty had been made odious, and
traitorous conspirators against the life of
the nation were vindictive and rampant.
Such was the condition of affairs in the
South when Congress convened in Decem
Der, 1866. This nation had solemnly re-
solved, and voted, that the Union should be
restored on the basis of loyalty and justice,
and to this end was the Fortieth Congress
elected. Hence were passed the Reconstruc-
tion laws, in execution of the recent .popu-
lar verdict The President vetoed them,
refusing to accept or abide by the decision
of the people, to whom he had so often and
SO vauntingly appealed. Congress re-enact-
ed them over the vetoes, by more than the
required two thirds, and they are now the
laws of the land. Under them, including
the amendments of last session, reconstruc-
tion is rapidly progressing, and would doubt
less ere long be successfully accomplished,
but for the persistent distractions of the
President, in defiance of Congress and the
popular will. Justice is being done; loyal
men, white and black, have been protected
from the malice of defeated rebels treason,
in measure at least, has ''been made obi
Gus, and traitors have been compelled to
take back seats ''-as Andrew johnson in
lucid interval, declared they should. Even
the better portion of the retels admit the
justice Of these reconstruction laws, and
cheerfully acquiesce IN their provisions
Gen. James Longstreet, distinguished
rebel officer, in recently published letter
from New Orleans, exp. esses himself as
follows
81 shall set out by assuming proposition
that [ hold to be self-evident, viz The
tablished by appeal to arms. The great
principles that divided political parties prior
to the war were thoroughly discussed by our
wisest statesmen When argument was
exhausted resort was had to compromise.
When compromise was unavailing, discns
sion was renewed and expedients were
sought, but none could be found to suit the
emergency Appeal was finally made to the
sword, to determine which of the claims
was the true construction Of constitutional
law. The sword has decided in favor of the
North; and what they claimed as principles
cease to be principles, and are become td,o.
The views that ICE hold cease to be princi-
Piles because they are opposed to law. 1t
Is, therefore, Our duty to abandon ideas that
are obsolete, and dcontornt to the requirements
are peace offerings. We should accept them
as such, and place ourselves upon them as
the starting point from ,ohtch to meet future
political issues as they artse.
JEFF. Thompson, another rebel General,
in late letter to George d. Prentice, Esq,
endorses the reconstruction laws of Congress
thus: u
s'The Confederate Government wiped out
States rights the first year of its existence,
bloody war wiped out slavery, and wiped
out the Coufederacy, SO they are obsolete
ideas; and the plain question now presented
Is, viii you accept citizenship under our
terms, as contained in this law?' and en-
phatiealy ans,oer, yes p
1t is greatly to be regretted that terms
which are so acceptable to the fighting reb
els of the South, should be SO distateful, and
cause so much clamor, from their non-c COM
blatant sympathizers in the North.
The enemies of the United States having
been finally defeated in battle, united their
efforts to elect sympathizers from the North,
and to procure the admission Of enough
rebels from the South to enable them,
through Congress, to attain what they had