Weekly Calaveras chronicle., 1867-08-31
The Election.

people Of the State of California will have
recorded their verdict upon the momentous
questions which are now before them for
decision. On Wednesday next. September
4th, the conflict for which the opposing par
ties have been for months marshaling and
organizing their forces, will be fought and
upon the issue of that contest hangs the
future veal and prosperity of California.
There are but two parties litigant before the
people. The attempt of few disaffecttd
.fring' politicians, of the "rule or ruin
stripe. to distract or divide the attention of
Union men by keeping up a fire in the rear,
has proved unsuccessful and whatever i'll
feeling may have existed in relation to some
of the nominees of the June Convention i'm
mediately subsequent to its adjournment,
has died away. The great Union party.
cemented by the blood and tears of the ma
ton, bound together by the precious mem
| ories'' of its glorious record in the past and
linked by Its hopes in the future, standing
upon the broad principles of liberty, justice
and equality before the law, in solid phal-
anx, shoulder tS shoulder and hand in hand,
will march TO the ballot box on the All of
| September, and record victory as disastrous
to the Copperheads as it will be cheering to
the loyal hearts of the nation. Union men,
| there never has been period since the form
alton of the party when unity and harmony
of action were more imperative than at pres
ent. You are opposed by willy, crafty. un-
scrupulous and well organized foe. Cloaking
their reasonable platform with a mantle of
newborn professions of loyalty to the Gov
ernment. by raising hue and cry about
Chinese and negro suffrage, they are endeav-
oring to mislead you in regard to the real
matters at issue. Their speakers tell the peo-
| pie that the war is ended, and the great ma
tional questions which grew out of it are
settled. They say that the recollections of
the past should be blotted from memory,
the bitter anmosities engendered upon a
hundred battle fields buried in oblivion, and
with no better guarantees that they will be
more loyal in the future than they have in
! the past than their own hypocritical declara-
tions from the stump, are asking you to place
the rens of Government in their hands. Cit
izens of California, will you be deceived by
the hollow protestations of men who have
fought for six years, with ballots and bayo-
nets both, to destroy the birthright bequea;!h?-
ed you by your fathers: Are you willing to
be bound hand and foot and place the Gov
ernment under the control of those who have
struggled. spent their last dollar and fought
so long as they had the strength to pull
trigger, to dismember and rend into insig-
niticant factions the fairest, the freest and
mightiest fabric ever reared by the hands of
man: Do you believe that those who chuck
led and gloated over every defeat of the Fed
eral arms while we were in the throes of
conflict for national existence-those who
spit upon and trampled in the dust the flag
of their country-those to whose ears the
moans of the starving wretches confined in
the charnel houses in Richmond and Ander-
sonvIle were sweet music-do you believe
that they are the ones in whose blood-red
hands the future destinies of this nation should
be placed: VIII you so decide on the fourth
of September nexts No! The great heart
of the loyal people of this State is beating
high with patriotic resolve to stand by their
principles and stern determination never to
surrender the fruits of their dear bought VIC
,ot +bo b,p1s of +ba Co,porba,ID I'm
that day a voice mightier than that which
shook and crumbled the walls of Jericho into
dust before the victorious hosts of the Chill
dren of Israel, will go up from California,
the brightest star in the great Northern con-
stellation, and the glorious intelligence that
the Empire State OF the Pacific remains firm
as adamant, and true as steel, to the princi-
piles of that party which averted national dis
honor, anarchy and disgrace, will fash with
lightning speed across the Continent, thrill
ing the hearts and strengthening the hands
of our brethren in the East. Democrats tell
you that the rebellion is dead 1t is false
hood, and nothing but impudence enables
them to keep their faces straight while telling
you so. Its backbone is broken. but both
the Northern and Southern ends still wriggle.
None of the fruits of the war, except hun
dreds of thousands of weeping widows and
orphans and an incalculable national debt.
have yet been gathered. The questions to be
decided at this election, are these; mark
them we'll: Whether we shall support the
reconstruction measures of Congress, or per-
nit johnson to carry out his policy which
guarantees everything to the disloyal and
nothing to the loyal element in the South !;
whether we shall retain the pcrty in power
which put down treason, or allow traitors to
conduct the affairs of this nation; whether
treason shall be paid premium, or leading
traitors be diSfranchised; whether the Con-
stitutional Amendments shall be ratified and
the rights and privileges of all races and
colors definitely settled. or whether those
questions shall be left open to afford traitors
pretext to inaugurate another rebellion.
| These are some of the matters 10 be settled
at the coming election. The baleful effect
which democratic victory in this State
would exert upon succeeding eections, is
measureless; but consolidated as the Union
party is to-day, that is impossible. The
signs of the times prophesy the doom of the
Copperheads more plainly than did the hand
writing on the wall the downfall of Bette
! shazer. The fires of liberty are burning
brightly from every hilltop. and the star of
prOcress is UuidinJ ne on N the olories of our