Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-10-08
Address to the Soldiers.

Address to the Soldiers.
The following is the stirring address OF
the National Executive Committee of Sol
diers and Sailors, read by General N. p.
Chapman, in Philadelphia, on Thursday, the
LIST ins,ant;-
Grateful 10 Almighty God for being per-
mitted To assemble in this sacred spot, we,
the representatives of the survivors of the
millions of Union soldiers and sailors who
| fought against treason In the recent war,
| revcrcntly renew our obligations to rescued
Republic and purified Constitution
Gathering here in the great city pre-emi-
| nent among those communities Distinguished
for their generosity and loyalty in the dark
est hour OF our national troubles, we do not
come as partisans We meet to prepare to
discharge the new duties devolved upon us
in II new crisis more perilous than the CON
| flict from which we have just emerged, and
to call upon our late comrades-in-arms to
co operate with us against our old ADVERSE
ries.
Inllamed by the same passions, led by the
same leaders, exulting in the same name,
these advcrsaries are now projecting another
conspiracy-se seeking to recover by violent
and dish0norable means what they had lost
III lnclr RESORT 10 arms.
We assemble in the interests of peace
alone. We propose no plans of war. Taught
by uwn suilerings and by the sacrifices of
our slaughtered brothers, we keenly apprc-
cate the value and the necessity of peace. -
We know that this great people, through all
their interests, long for repose, yet we can
moi deny that the present peril OF the Repub
| lie is even greater than il was in the darkest
hours of the Rebellion.
| In such an emergency no Union soldier
or sailor can hesitate. He will remember
that Horatio Seymour is as emphatically the
leader of the new Rebellion us Robert E.
Lee was of the old lie will remember
that lloralio Seymour was nominated by II
convention entirely controlled by the off
GERS and politicians who plunged the coun-
try into civil war. He will remember that
the revolutionary part of the Democratic
platform was devised and dictated by n
Rebel general as u condition of the Rebel
support to the Democratic party.
He will remember that the Democratic
leaders, now full of sympathy for the
Southern Rebels, never contributed Il dollar
to the public treasury during the war; never
denounced the savage treatment of the I'm
ion people Of the South or the Union pris-
oners of the North, aud never rei0iced over
the triumph OF our arms.
He will remember that the blue uniform
is a badge Of disgrace in the South. and that
every Union Soldier, from the general sent
to execute the laws to the private in the
ranks has been, and continue to be-, the oh
ject OF the inces.alt assault and persecution
of the Rebel leaders. He will remember
that, since the nominations If Seymour and
Blair, Union men have been assnsinated by
hundreds In the Southern States.
| Ill 4.
teous resentment there are others that in
spirc noble gratitude. We feel that we
are indebted to the Republican party fol
standing by us without flinching through all
our perils and privations; for voting us re.
Inducements and bounties, and for confer
ring pensions upon the widows and orphans
of our fallen comrades.
For organizing and controlling the great
Sanitary and Christian Commission, and d
thousand other noble agencies of patriotic
bencvolcncc. For building cemeteries fol
the illustrious dead For relieving all
branches of industry from taxation. Fol
enforcing by constitutional prohibition the
perpetual rejecrion of the rebel debt. Fol
consecrating by constitutional guaranty the
payment of our own national debt, includ
ing the pensions and bounties to our soldieas
and sailors. But, more than ALL for res
W oui ny
ing our beloved leader, General Ulysses s.
Grant, us their candidate for President O.
the United States.
In view, therefore, of these hostile pre-
parations for new rebellion, with new
profound sense Of our obligations to oul
country and to the Republican party, W,
call upon every citizens who wore the Unior
blue, whether on hand or sea to cast hi
vote in the coming election for the Uniol
State ticket. and for Grant and Coliax
And further, to mark alike the sincerit,
and efficiency Of our solemn declaration, W,
invoke our late comrades in arms to sc
apart the election day us a period of unre
hitting cxertion and increasing vigilance
and we hereby formally announce, that ol
the 18Th day of October next, in the State
of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Ne
: braska, there shall be observed among on
comrades general holiday, and we cal
upon all employers, manufacturers and bus
iness men generally, to relieve their work
men on that day, we have served in tn
Union army, and thus assist in completin!
this patriotic pup0se? Victory ON the 81
of October will be Sheridan's victory of Fv
Forks, marshaling the way in Grants trans
cedent triumph on the Appomattox in No
vember.