Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-01-17

| We take The following extracts from the
speech of Hon. Q. P. Morton, delivered at
Washington last month, before the Sol
diers' and Sailors Union League;
GENTLEMEN OF THE UNIoN AND Eel,
Low CITIZENS: In accepting the invita-
ton to address you this evening on the
great political issues involved IN the Pres
idential campaign the coming year, had
| intended to carefully prepare my address,
but i'll health and the pressure or o1ncial
duties have prevented my doing so, ana l
shall be obliged to deliver my views In an
of. hand manner, and the remarks VIII be
confined as to what regard the Issues 10
be decided by the American people at the
next p Presidential election .r>rr = i
Il AS consider the subject there are two
ideas uppermost in the minds OF the Amer
lean people at the present tine, both
struggling for supremacy. The first is, the
justice and right on the part of the Gov
ernment and people in putting down the
late rebellion BY force of arms ! the second
is. the Justice and right of the rebellion
and the cause for which the rebels fought.
All the Questions with which we will have
to deal ID the contest will be but the ema.
nations from those two leading ideas. In
other words, the struggle in 1868 will be on
heuuestion of the rightof the rebellion, and
the right of the United States in putting
it down, as in 1864, - +
The man, therefore, who votes for the
candidates of the Conservative or Demo
cratic party, as it may be called, whatever
may be bis intention to the contrary, viii
certainly record his vote in favor of the
right Of, the rebellion and the man who
sustains the Republican party will unmis-
takably record his vote on the side of the
Government, and its right In crushing out
by force O. arms armed rebellion.
If the idea prevails that the Govern
ment was right in putting down the rebel.
lion; if it was right in putting thevery
energy that could be suggested for the &C
complishmRnt of this purpose, then you,
soldiers and sailors who bore a part in the
struggle for the preservation of our nation
al existence, will certainly feel that you
have not only acted wisely, but that you
have borne an honorable part in the ser
vices rendered your country III the hour
of its peril
But, the other hand, should the Dem
ocratic party succeed, and trust in God
1t may not-that the people of this great
nation will avert such calamity by ;helI
votes in that campaign--then Will it be to
you disgrace and a dishoner to have
been member of the Union army, and
the places of trust will revert to the rebels,
and their names occupy the position OF
honor in the pages of history.
One question we have yet to meet III this
campaign is, the manner in which the
Southern States shall be fully restored with
all their political rights and privileges as
States. and the manner is which These
blessings may be fully enjoyed by all.
The question is not whether that power
shall be divided between loyal and dis
loyal men-whether it shall be conferred
upon black and whites, or upon whites
alone. fourteen-ffteenths of whom are
rebels, and bore prominent part IN the
war against the Union but we must in
! sist that the power, when it is conferred
should be SO divided that its preponder.
ance shall not be on the side of disoyal
men. Nor do we ask all we should even
in granting this, for it does not exclude
those who have borne arms in the late war
against the country; but we do demand that
the power shall be conferred III such Il
manner that blacks and whites may have
voice in the State government and on the
question of reconstruction. a.
1t is true the present law OF Congress
disfranChises only o small number OF those
who engaged in the rebellion. II does moi
disfranchise the petty officers Or soldiers
but thatclass of men who had once swor1
allegiance to the Constitution in offices o.
trust, and this CLASS cannot exceed forty five
thousand persons. ill.,
When President johnson issued his
proclamation DISTINGUISHING those who lao
participated in the rebellion, it included
not less than fourteen classes, numbering
between 100000 and $4,000 men but the
Congressional system OF dsfranchisement
will apply to only $4,000, and not TO ex
coed $4,000 men. sa .... I. /
We have heard of late much about al
oppressed people. We are told by Demo
cratic orators, and by the Democratic par
ty in all parts of the country, that the
people of the South are downtrodden ano
oppressed. Do they who pirate about OPP
1 preston bear In mind that these are the
very people who, but few years since
arrsyed themselves in arms against the
natiOn-Whose actions have cost ua over
half million of lives, the very people
who developed the war that has left us as
legacy debt of thousands OF millions o
! dollars, with an almost incalculabe amount
yet to liquidate, not to speak of the ll1tolC
suffering and sorrow that has been thrust
upon the people of the North AnG nov
we are charged with being oppressors and
tyrants because they have not been ad
mitted to full political rights. And dOyou
call this oppression? Can you ignore the
fact that they were the projectors of re
bellion, guilty of treason, and plotters
4 against the life of the nation? And are
these the men who are To be welcomed
back as citizens of the United States
4 Did they have the right to run from the
Z. battlefield to the ballot-bOx, and declare
who shall be their representatives in Con
gress--to abandon their arms, and Tesung
the rights of loyal citizens--to WELD again
tie control of our National Government
Yet these are the people whose agony ii
In the Threats Of the Democratic party
and l take it upon myself to say there il
neither sense nor justice in 1t. Wher
they talk about oppression they forget they
are favoring those who brought on tbs
trouble, and bathed the land in blood.
y y
/ The struggle, therefore, on the part o.
the Democratic party, North and South,
as have spoken, will be in $685. for the
restoration Of these States into rebel hands
and the administration of the affairs o.
those States on that basis 6
x g
There are numerous other question:
wrapped up in these leading ideas l have
4 announced. The first one l shall mention
is the payment for slaves emancipated our
ing the war. And though this has moi
been declared ss yet to be question O
the issue, am as firmly convinced that il
| Ia To ha as thOuph I read IL In tho writer