Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-10-02
Shall the Lost Cause be Regained 4?

1t is sometimes alleged that the Repub.
lican orators and papers dwell too much
upon old issues in this campaign, while
the election is to be decided upon new
ones. But what is the paramount issue of
the canvass, and who raised it? It is
whether the cause lost in the field shall be
regained at the polls And this question
is forced upon the country by the Demo-
cratic party, under the control of those
who frankly declare that the cause of the
rebellion is not lost. Inevitably, there
fore, the characters and careers of those
who hope to obtain possession of the Gov
eminent become the important subjects of
consideration.
If the Democratic party had said that,
acquiescing in the results of the war, and
accepting the reconstruction of the Union
by Congress as settled fact, it would
make the best of it, and had asked power
upon the promise of greater economy,
and of taking no step except in the most
peaceful manner, and had then nominated
men whose names and words were vim
dication of its sincerity, the canvass would
necessarily have been conducted very diff
ferently.
But what are the facts? The strongest
candidate in the Convention was Mr.. Pen
dleton, an original secessionist and repu-
diator. Mr.. Vallandigham, his lieutenant,
one of the most VIGOROUSLY disloyal men
in the country, put Mr.. Pendleton's
scheme of public dishonor into the reso-
lutions. He and his chief opposed the
war, and hoped the rebellion would sue
ced. But it failed, and the next service
they could do for the late rebels was to re-
fuse to pay the cost of subduing them.
This is the financial policy of the party.
Should it prevail the country is disgraced
by those who tried in vain to destroy it.
And of the effort at destruction Pendleton
and Vallandigham are as guilty as For
rest and Howell Cobb-each having
worked in his own way.
What next? Wade Hampton, one of
the bitterest of the late rebels, stops at
General Lees college on his way to the
Convention and says that the cause is not
lost. He comes into the Convention; is
tions; introduces declaration that the re-
dictionary, and void, and the other men,
beers pledge themselves to support the dec
laration to the end. The Convention then
dominates for President an opponent of
the war. who said that the success of the
Government would be as revolutionary as
that of the rebellion, and for Vice-Presi-
dent an ex- Union soldier, not because of
that fact, but because he had just vehe-
mently demanded that the Executive, with
out even consulting Congress or the Su-
preme Court, should by force overthrow
the reconstructed governments in the
Southern States. The Convention thus
absolutely controlled by the most resolute
rebels and the most reckless regulators
adiourns. The Southern States are in
stantly afame with the speeches of the
most violent rebel chiefs, who cannot re-
strain the expression of their intense ha.
tired for the political organization of loyal
men that conducted the war to q successful
end, and which has founded reconstruction
upon equal rights. They exultingly affirm
that the election of Seymour and Blair
will give them the success which they
missed in the field. Raphael Semmes,
Forrest, John Forsyth, Albert Pike-the