The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-06-24

scale on the side of the enemy. In
stead of supporting the Government
in the prosecution Of the war. they
pursued a policy evidently designed
! to stop and abandon it; of course
! there were many exceptions, but
speak of what / believe to be the
real power of the party. The next
Congressional elections were disas-
trous. The Presidential election
came on. sauE 4sov
s91 hM'cLELEAN's NOMINATION.
They met in National Convention
and nominated for President worthy
man, soldier of the Union, once Of
great popularity, a gentleman always
| honorable In my eyes-I mean George
b. Mcclellan. He was compelled to
! repudiate the party platform, and de-
clare that the war for the Union must
never be abandoned. But we were
defeated. Notwithstanding such evil
dent disgust by that party for the
principles we cherished. still, with
other portions of the Union people of
the South, the Union Democracy of
Kentucky gave its support to the
Democratic party of the North
throughout the war.
aE KENTUCKY REBELS.
The war terminated at last, owing
to the valor of our soldiers and the
genius of our commandments spite
of all opposition, covert and open-in
favor of the Union. Now, mark what
followed, you that have any hope of
comfort or honor In the Democratic
party. In Kentucky, men left the
State and swore allegiance to for
eign, rebel power, but left their wives,
sisters, daughters, and property be-
hind in our midst, under and to our
protection; and these men continu-
ally invited and brought war around
our firesides and 10 the p1idst of their
own families, plundered our fields and
stables, massacred our inhabitants,
and burned our towns; at last, con-
quered in battle, they returned to the
homes they had abandoned. The
Union party in power in the State of
Kentucky, In a generous spirit, de-
sirous of healing all the wounds of
the body polite, and restoring a solid
peace TO our afflicted Commonwealth,
forgave them all the penalties of the
law, and restored to them the fran
chise. $ soub x0razlHsk
MEN ALWAYS TRUE TO THEIR SYM
Eas fsiiG .PATHIES.s aH
They were scarcely in their seats
before that same Legislature was
urged, by ambitious aspirauts among
them, to call a State Convention. By
a voice almost unanimous it refused
to do so, pronouncing instinctively
against its policy, for reason they
| did not fully recognize at the time,
but which must now be apparent, viz.
in such a convention, the sympa thies
of rebellion and those of Unionism
would never tremendously interview
and fuse together. If called, there
must be disintegration of the hete-
rogenous elements that composed it.
So the convention was refused. Then
these enfranchised rebels and their
sympathizers who staid at home and
lenttheir aid as they safely could, to d.
vide the Union, called a State Con-
vention, not of the Union Democratic
party that had voted for Mcclellan,
but called a Democratic Convention |
proper of the men who were fresh |
from the rebellion, who had voted for
Jefferson Davis editors, ex Congress-
men and officers in the late rebel |
army, who had been for five years de- |
nouneiBg the Democratic party. while |
the Union men of Kentucky gave it |
their support, calling it very vile |
names indeed who had been denounc-
ing the Union and fighting it with fire |
and sword, and had declared if we
would give them a blank sheet of /
paper on which to write their own
terms, they would not live with us
Tkoco lnd 49, |
Convention and made q nomination
fer 0clerk of the Court of Appeals,
and county officers of pure unadul- |
terated Democrats and opponents of |
the war. ao.ter 10 fr
NoRTHERN DEMOCRACY TESTED.
Now was the time to test the fidelity !
of our late Democratic allies North I
to test the sincerity of their sympathy |
with the. Union men of the South, +
and the cause which they loved. We
were entitled to their sympathy and
support in this contest with those
who came fresh and red from the
criminal rebellion. Here was the
crucial test which was to prove wheth-
er the Democracy of the North was a
Union party and would support the
Union Democratic party or the rebel
Democratic party of Kentucky.
THE MASK THROWN OFF.
You know the event. We we're de-
serted. The Democrats of the North
would not go forward, and taught by
the war to something better than the
resolutions of '98 and slavery, they
gave up the Union and the future:
they embraced the past. and returned
like dog to his Tomit. They entered
4he contest on the SidC Of thosa 1vbo