Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1868-10-07

the greatest, nODleSt VlcIiu VI IuG nidN t
power; and he thus fell because he was
treacherous to liberty. The fugitive
slave bill became law and went into eft
feet. [ have not time to trace It's opera,
tion; but there is notable instance oi
when all the power OF this great
people was brought to re-
capture Burns. The militia was called
out, and he was marched down State
Street in Boston, amid all the pomp and
panoply of glorious war, moistening with
his tears the very ground stained by the
blood of the first martyr Of the Revolu-
tion-a colored S;man, by name. Chris
pas Attocks [This is historical fact.
The first blood shed in the cause Of
American independence was that of
Irispus Attocks, black man, killed at
th1 head ola procession marching through
State Street, making a demonstration
"a "a nst the tea tax.-ED He was the
first man who fell in the struggle to es-
tablish the principle that all men are
born free and equal. W hat Change had
slavery wrought in the sentiments of
Americans since the days of rs, IS shown
by the capture Of Burns! A fugitive
from cruel task masters, Who's only
crime was the peaceful assertion of those
rights his ancestors died to establish,
manacled by this great Government in
the light Of day aud remanded to bond
age worse than death, on the very spot
made sacred by the blood of those anees-
tors. freely given that men might be
free! History presents but few SO pain
ful and humiliating spectacles. Well,
next in the SHAREHOLDERS programme of
aggression, came the repeal Of the Mis-
souri, Compromise, spreading the blight
of slavery over new. regions they had sol
emnly pledged themselves should forever
be free from it. But they did it, they
played their game for empire boldly from
first to last. Nebraska and Kansas were
opened to slavery and their virgin plains
stained with the blood of Northern men
whose crime was love of liberty. Next
came the Dred Scott decision, which
made every foot of the United States
slave soil. This reused the dormant NOR
al sentiment of the Northern people, and
the Republican party sprang iato exis-
tence. Fremont was the first standard
bearer of this noble party He was de-
feated, and that alone saved the country
from the war which the slave holders had
determined to inaugurate the moment
power should slip from their grasp. They
bad now four more years in which to
prepare for that wal, in which to bank
rupt the Treasury, dissipate and render
useless the army and the navy Of the Re
public They improved the time but too
well. In due course Of time the Repub-
lican party made another effort with
Lincoln to the fore, and succeeded. You
cannot have forgotten that exciting cam
paign nor the sad scenes which followed
fraught as we have since found they were,
with such world of terrible meaning
States falling away, shooting madly. and
wildly from their orbits as meteors in the
starry armament, or as we imagine the
stars themselves will shoot in the ruin of
matter and wreck of worlds when the ell
ements shall dissolve with fergent heat.
Secession followed close on the heels of
Lincoln's election, which the Slavehold-
ers themselves had been the purposed
cause of, and Which they accomplished by
breaking up the Charleston Convention.
So far the Republicans had only opposed
the further extension of slavery. They
had not interfered with it in the least
where it was already an established curse
and protected by the Constitution. Lin
coin was not yet inaugurated in fact when
six States had broken away, banded in a
Confederate league, with a Constitution,
a Congress, a President, an army, capi-
tal-when they blockaded the Mississippi,
fred on the, flag. carried by the Star of
the West in its effort to relieve the starv-
ing garrison of Fort Sumter, seized all
the Government property in the South
except Pensacola and Sumter, which they
had surrounded with batteries, beleaguer-
ed the Capital, and obliged the Presiden.
elect to run the gauntlet of assassns in
disguise to reach Washington at all
And there was scarcely enough life left
IN the Government to inaugurate him
when he had done that successfully. [
say, the shareholders waited for no overt
act. They contrived the election of Lin
coin, and then used it as pretext to
plunge the country into war--~a war to
destroy the Union an! found an empire
IN the South and as much of the North
as possible resting on human slavery as
the foundation and corner stone. This
Was the issue they made with the party
in power. That party had to submit to
the dissolution Of the United States or
fight. They accepted the issue like men,
thank God and your freedom, colored
fellow citizens, is the result. Your form
er owners risked their fortunes, their
lives, and their sacred honor to accom-
plish their purpose, and believe [ may
say, they lost all three. [ shall not talk
to you Of reconstruction. | shall leave
that to ADLER men, With your leave
will refer to the almighty, obnoxious
ever-disturbing element in politics, the
niger. The rallying cry of the Copper
head Democracy, and | make a di8tinc-
ton, is, "Down with the Radicals and
Damn the niger. This is a white mans
Government. . [ do not allude to loyal
Democrats of whom [ know there were
many, very many, who fought for tue
stars and stripes, for Union and liberty
| am speaking to Copperheads, whose