Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1868-03-19
WASHINGTON, Feb. Ii, 1865.


H.s Err.j,HcQ GatcrH0r Baker.
My DEAR SIR II should be glad to
accept Your kind invitation, and TINS en-
,luy the privilege of looking into the faces
afthr representative men OF our organiza-
tiou in Indiana. when they come together
next Thursday in their biennial conyen-
lion But the rules OF the House does
not allow it, presiding officer to be absent
lurinls it, sessions and | must, therefore.
l,uy myself thi, great pleasure.
1t may not be inappropriate, ON the
tire ~hhuid Of tho important campaign be-
fore Us. to look back for few minutes AT
,l.a,e decd, and triumphs of our young
and patriotic party which are gathered
up in our national history, and which no
i,faInatiou 10y our enemies can ignore or
obscure
When the rebellion, with its Democrat
;n. President. Democratic Cabinet officers,
ul Dmocratic generals, threw down the
gauntlet at the feet of the nation they
had resolved Ia, destroy, and when the
Democratic leaders Of the North, in reply,
shouted ono coercion" it was the Union
Republican party that wrote on its ban
nrr~. e. The last man and the last dollar,
II need be-" and the mconquerable ar
mics their Congressional legislation called
to the field, finally "coerced the rebel
Gn into Suliretiou.
In the darkest days NJ the struggle,
wh,n at every street corner we were
tauutnglv told 10y Democrats, " You
can't conquer the South" there was one
party that never despaired of the Repub-
lic. and that party was the one whose
delegates now meet at our State capital
When unprecedented and onerous tax
alton became necessary to maintain our
credit, to pay and supply our heroic sol
di,rs, and to keep our flag flying in the
field, we dared to defy the prejudice which
every Democratic speaker and editor at
( tempted to iuiiame against the burdens OF
J taxation, and thus daring triumphcd.
When the conscription laws become q
military necessity to fill up our regiments
dccimatcd again and again by the bullets
If the enemy andthc diseases of the camp
the siege and the the march, and when
/ the land was filled with Democratic de.
nunciations OF these laws, we risked pop
ularity, victory, and all, by defending
them rs bravcly as our veterans defended
the country in the field.
/ When Mr.. Lincoln at last struck al
slavery as the cause of all our woes, a>
we'll as the right arm of the rebellion
and when Democratic orators and writers
most scandalnusly and persistently calnm
mated us as having perverted the war fol
the Union into an abolition war to free
negroes. we fearlessly allied our cause
to that Of the humble and the helpless
and Providence rewarded us for our fidel
ity by thatbrilliant succession of triumph'
which gave salvation to the Union, as vel
as freedom to the slave.
When the National Government of oul
opponents at Chicago dared to hang ou
the white flag of surrender by proclaim
ing the war failure and demanding al
immediate cessation of hostilities, VIZ
promptly accepted the issue. And thu
soldier with his cartridge-box, and th'
; voters with the ballot-box, united il
stamping their indignant condemnation
on the disgraceful avowal.
When the Government was compelled
to issue bonds by the hundreds of mil
lions for the preservation Of our nationa
existence, Democrats ridiculed them a
worthless. and cautioned the peopl
against risking their means in them
, But the loyal people were deaf to thei
I warnings; and now the same party de
n6'lnce them as having made too good a
investment in their purchase.
When "greenbacks' were authorize
5 by Republican Congress, who can forge
!, the Democratic predictions that it woul
j. ultimately take hatful of them to bu
. a hat? And now they have the assuranc
: to seek to make political capital out {
, their popularity.
When the Thirty-ninth Congress n
jected the Presidents policy of reconstru,
!. tor, and insisted on one which shoul