Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1868-08-12
NEUTRALTTY Is TREASON

0"-AS Hdto oCGu ulFIuGu 1UG lht IdSL
eight years have chosen their battle
grounds for their campaign. As there
can be no such thing as neutrality in the
coming contest, it were we'll that those
who are undecided as to which side they
belong, and under which banner they in
tend to fight, should make up their minds
at once and fall in.
The party that, by the patriotism of Its
members, held the States together when
chaos threatened the Republic, appointed
its leaders and flung its universal banner
to the breeze, at Chicago, on May Fl,
1868.
The other party-an immense majority
of which drew the sword of treason to
discover the States: or sympathzed with
those whose treason assumed the respect
ability of armed resistance-has also tax
en- its position, and appointed its leaders
for the coming struggle, which is to full
fill the prophesy of European monarchists
by proving the instability of republican
ism, or gladden. the hearts of the Cypress
ed of all nations, by placing the United
States beyond experiment.
Grant and Colfax, the champions of
the intelligence and honor of the nation,
the representatives of the loyal dead and
the loyal living, the men who DO the
flag Of the Republic through the red years
of the rebellion, or guided the ship of
state through the dark sea of doubt and
treachery, were placed at the head of the
Union columns, and treason was challen-
ged to match them. The opposition has
taken up the challenge, and returned the
answer, Seymour and Blair.
The serpent tongue Of the Tammany
Convention, in one Of its hypocritical
principles" was patronizing enough to
tell the country that the issues of the war
were decided. That slavery and other
Democratic institutions were no more, and
that they were willing to throw the man
tie of charity ard general forgiveness
over the past. This is like the criminal
who murders his victim and covers his
body with e!rth and leaves. He whis-
pers to the winds "be still, lest ye disturb
the calm" He prays to the skies to with
hold the rain that the buried dead be not
exposed. Oh, but God is looking on,
and the dead will cry out for vengeance.
Forget the past Oh, champions of
Anderson and Sumter, and heroes of
New York riots, it would accommodate
you much to throw the mantle of forget
fulness over the past, that must be SO
haunting to you, but it cannot be done
however much it might be desired
Forget the past, and we have no pres
ent. Forget the past, and we will sal
into the future, like mariners into shore
less seas, without chart or compass For.
get the past Could that be done, you
would have Jefferson Davis and Wade
Hampton as your standard bearers, in.
stead Of their less combative substitutes,
Seymour and Blair.
1t is useless to talk of suppressing the
past, for it is the standard by which to
judge the future. From the battle fields
and prison-pens of the South comes the
protest of the dead against forgetti ng the
past. Men may cry out, as a man when
beaten cries enough, that the issues of
the war are decided but they are not The
war itselfis decided, and some of the issues.
such as slavery, may be partly so,
but the issues Of the war are the issues
that will be decided in the coming cleo
ton.
Who are the men who compose the
Republican and Democratic parties to.
day; and what has been til cir record in
the past?
F" The Chicago Convention represented
the loyalty of the Republic, civil and
military. There were no men there
whose hands were gloved to hide the
blood of the Union soldiers, or of the de-
fenceless negroes. How was it with the
Democratic Convention t? Admitting that
there were some honorable soldiers and
war Democrats in that body, was it not
patent that the rank copper head and the
red handed rebel ruled Were not
Beauregard and Wade Hampton and For
rest there, and many other brave, bad
men, whose highest ambition was the
destruction of the Union ? Were not
the representatives of the New York riots,
the loud mouthed boosters of the conven :
ton, there? Did not Seymour himself
acknowledge the rioters as his friends, -
when he came to bid the rioters strangle
the negroes with less violence Will
not every rebel in the South, every cop
perhead in the North, those who fought
for the rebellion and those who sympath-
lied with it, sustain their ticket in the
coming canvass, as they sustained the re-
bellion in the field Then, why will
men pirate about forgetting the past, and
tell us that old issues are dead, when we
find these same men rallying around their
old standard bearers, and fighting on the
old issues, while protesting against reviv-
ing the past? 1t is but simple change
of base They have failed on the field,
and they now come to the charge under
flags Of truce, and with lies on their lips
Come on, gentlemen. Unfurl the star
spangled banner to the breeze, while you
carry the "stars and bars" in your Dos
oms, to raise over the citadel if the senti-
nels let you pass.
Come on Horatio, but you shall find
stranger things on your road than is
dreamt of in your philosophy. Appeal
to your motley army of riot and treason,
with its mistaken Old Guard of Honor,
who helped to uphold what you wished
TO destroy Appeal to the slums Of the
city, and the great horde of ignorance,
which are drawn to your ranks by the
specious allurements of booty and license: