The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1867-06-29

The State Convention as Des Moines have
presented State Ticket, which fairly repre-
sents the proclivities and the responsibility of
the party. 1t is not only respectable, but
aristocratic. Every man on it, so far as we
know, is not only personally respectable, but
is thoroughly aristocraic in his manners,
habits, and feelings, and was never suspected
Of a sympathetic throb of the heart in har~
mon ous pulsasion with the masses of the
people. They were ell advocates of slavery,
and upholders Of the slave-ocracy before the
war; they all sympathised with the Rebel.
lious oigareby of the South during the war,
and advocated peace and opposed the war
measures of the Government from the day Of
the firing on our flag at Sumter till the day of
Lees surrender. They are Copperheads of
the first water, with a record which JEFF.
Davi. himself would accept as entirely salts
factory, and in which no myrmidon of his,
however ingenious, could pick flaw. Not
a sentiment, not word was ever uttered by
them from the opening of the war to its close,
even affecting sympathy with the cause of the
country, or those who defendedit. Their voice
and their vote was always for peace with the
Rebels, and for war upon all who opposed
their Southern brethren.
The ticket is unit, it is of piece from
head to tail, and the candidate for Governor
in every respect fully embodies, not only the
spirit of the entire ticket, but 6tly represents
the idea of the party which put the ticketin
the field. The ticket is of the pure and un.
adulterated Copperhead stripe, without the
slightest tincture or pretence OF loyalty.
There is not Union man, nor q soldier, nor
a German, nor Fenian. nor Johnsonite, "nor
any other man. whose name would have the
slightest tendency to mar the harmonious
unity of the Copperhead idea bodied forth in
the ticket and the platform.
Charles Mason began life under aristo
cratic auspices, and in his youth became
pensioner on the bounty Of the Government,
and was educated at the expense of the peo-
pie, ct West Point. Having COM
pleted his education, and obtained
smattering Of law, he was appointed by the
Federal Government to Judicial position in
the Territory Iowa, which he held till the
State was admitted into the Union. Since that
time he has held county Office or two,
couple Of State offices and a Federal Office,
and has been a candidate for some other
Office once or twice year during the brief
period that he was not in Office.
Having been educated at the expense Of
the Government, and held Office from his
early manhood, at the expense of the people.
it would seem that he, of all men, asunder
obligations to use the skill in military mat
tiers which the Government had taught him,
and the influence which official position had
given him, to defend the Union when threat
ened by an armed rebellion. But if any of
his countrymen expected this at the hands of
Charles Mason, they we're wofuly dissp>
pointed.
When the guns Of rebels and traitors
opened on the flag, and the forts of his conn
try, he was advocating peace and compro-
mise And when the war fairly opened, be
and Mahoney and others concocted State
platform in opposition to the war. and he be-
came the exponent of that platform as the
Copperhead candidate for Governor, just as
he is again the Official embodiment and expo
uent Of the same party and the same princi>
plies, and the same spirit, now, that the war
Is over.
The Indignation of the people of the State
was so intense against Mason, Mahoney 4
Co., in 1861, and the enthusiasm for the
Union and the war so overwhelming, that
Mason was forced, after some weeks of
! lingering reluctance, TO withdraw from
| the ticket, and a new ticket was improvised,
with soldier candidate for Govesnor. And
from that day to this, the party leaders have
been running their party under false colors,
and seeking to obtain votes by false pre-
fences. Major Merritt, Col. Tuttle and Gen.
Benton have successfully headed their
"Union ticket, their War" ticket, and
their Soldiers ticket. But now they turn
back to their first and only love, and resume
openly and de6antly their original Copper
head position. and recall to the head of their
ticket the man who was driven from that po>
sition by Che patriotic enthusiasm of the peo
pie of the State in the early days of the war
for the Union.
And now the party demand of the people
Of the State the reversal of their verdict in
favor Of the war, the condemnation of those
who fought for the Union and the approval
and endorsement of the course of the cra~
vens aud sympathizers who .cried "peace,"
while our gallant soldiers were fight
ing the battles of their country against
the hosts of rebellion far away in the
South. And that the people may be
somewhat blinded as to the real and only
great issue, they seek to bamboozle them
with side issues and special pleas, which have
no place in the party politics of the country
or Of the State of Iowa.
At all events, one thing is very certain, that
! there is no earthly chance of electing Charles
Mason, the sympathizer and political and
land Spectator, TO the position Of Governor
now, any more than there was during the war,
and there is no inducement for any loyal man
to throw away, his vote, and at this late day go
back on bis own patriotic record, and endorse
Mason and his Copperhead followers in their
past opposition to the war, and their present
opposition TO the reconstruction of the Union
on loyal basis, with political power in loyal,
and not in rebel hands.
| PASSING the corner of johnson and Fourth
streets yesterday afternoon, our attention was
called to o group of urchns, not one of which
was over twelve years Of age, who were en-