Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-10-02

suit, because the party, through the ele-
ments that compose it, morally speaking,
could not pay the debt. Those rebels
would never consent to pay one cent OF
taxes to pay the interest of the debt, ex-
cept on the condition that we assume their
debt. If we consent to pay their debt
the result would still be Reputation, be-
cause it would make the national debt
larger, and it could not be paid. If there
is soldier here to-day who fought to put
down the rebellion, and who is inclined
to vote the Democratic ticket, let me ask
with all due respect, if he is not just now
in very strange company. Who were the
honored members of the convention?
Who received the most attention there
Who got the floor? Who were feted, and
dined, and wined by the leading Demo
Gratis of the city of New York! Were
they Union soldiers? 1t was General
Forrest, Wade Hampton, and Southern
soldiers, who were the favorites, and who
controlled the action of the convention.
Now, let me suppose that the Democratic
party is placed in power, and that there
are rebels in the Senate, House OF Rep
resentatives, the Cabinet, and 80 on,
and suppose that it is then pro-
posed to levy a tax, or make an
appropriation to pay the pensions
of wounded, manned soldiers or to the
widows and orphans of those who have
died would the rebels ever consent to
pay the pensions of Northern soldiers un-
less theirs are provided for also? That
would be contrary to nature. They would
insist that the rebel soldiers should stand
upon the same platform with the Union
soldiers, or no appropriation would be
made. 1t would be contrary to the first
principles of human nature that those men
should consent to tax themselves, and the
whole country, to pay the pensions of
in arms, MANNED for life, and the widows
and orphans of those who have fallen in
the Confederate service were living in pow
erty and unprovided for. Consequently,
the necessary result of the triumph of the
Democratic party will be to place the reb
ell soldier upon the same platform with the
Union soldier, and when he gets there he
will not be an equal simply, he will be-
come the superior under the dominion of
the Democratic party. l do not under
stand how a Union soldier can consent to
become the associate in politics with the
mass of rebel soldiers. do not under
stand how he can consent to rally under
the same banner of that party which was
sustained by the rebels of the South, and by
those men in the North who did not sym
pathize with them during the war, but
who sympathized with those against whom
he was fighting. The Union soldier is,
therefore, out of place in the ranks of the
Democratic party. And l tell you an
other thing: that these men don't love
him, and they will fiatter him for the sake
of his vote, and they may even for the time
being consent to let him have an Office, as
they do for Frank Blair, because he has
promised, if he is elected, to give them all
they want; but they do not love the SOL
dier nor respect him, and they will respect
him far less if he goes on with them, and
votes the Democratic ticket, than if he
stands up boldly in defence of the princi-
Piles for which he fought.
We are now realizing the great mistake
we made in failing to punish the leading
rebels at the close of the war. The very
men who are now stirring up rebellion in
the South and would bring back upon us
all the horrors and atrocities of another
war, are the very men who were chiefly
instrumental in bringing about the rebel
lion, and these are the men who, at the end
of the war, ought to have been tried and
punished, and if we had President who
was friend to the country, and would
carry out the will of the people, for one
would be extremely anxious that Congress
should meet some time in September, and
take such measures as that the writ OF
habeds corpus could be again suspended
and those men arrested and brought to
Judgment. But as we have not one, shall
have to bide our time, and wait un-
til General Grant is elected, and then il
these men continue to be revolutionary,
and shall try to bring upon us civil war
again, to begin the shedding of blood,
hope that such measures will be taken by
which these men will either be brought to
punishment or be compelled to leave the
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