The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1868-09-18

Il
other things that Convention resolved
upon peace with Great Britain in very
nearly the same terms, in which the
Chicago Convention resolved upon
peace with Southern rebels. And
among other resolves of the Hartford
Convention was "that the States rep
Presented, take measures to protect
their citizens from forcible drafts, con-
scriptions, or imprisOnments, not au-
thorized by the Constitution of the
United States" And here probably
originated the question which Horatio
Seymour told the New York mob he
was going to have settled by the
Courts, before his State should be
drafted. These Hartford Convention
lists regarded the blood that was shed
at Bunker Hill and Lexington as the
Chicago Conventionists did that which
was split at Gettysburg and Chicamau-
ga. That political party which as
sumes the responsibility OF war, how
ever just it may be, may expect un-
popularity with the coward and the
traitor. / am perhaps not warranted
in saying that every man who opposed
the war, was coward or traitor,
but / am authorized to say, (for a
greater and wiser has said it before
me) ''that in such a struggle as ours,
there could be but patriots and trait
ors.' The man who stood shivering,
appalled,, afraid to speak and speak
aloud for his country, was coward.
The man who spoke, and acted, against
his country was traitor, and there is
no other word in an English vOcabu
larry that describes him. Without
saying, that the Democratic party
were traitors, simply mean to say,
that every traitor, | ever saw upon the
battlefield OF elsewhere, dead or alive
belonged to that party. And having
seen so many of them, it may have re-
suited in some confusion i'll my own
mind if so / have done the traitor
wrong, l beg his pardon.
Having placed before you this my
imperfect cartoon of political parties,
the one assuming the sublimely grand
and noble attitude oflts country's deten-
ders, the other skulking and scowling be-
fore thestorm of civil war, fleeing their
country, or striking for the enemy, no
man can be mis-led. And to the young
men of my audience who are about to
assume the responsible duties of cleo
tors, would say to you, in the Ian
guage of warning. Make not your
selves accessory after the fact, to the
crimes of traitors. Their record is be-
fore you, and | feel l am discharging
a sacred duty when L unfold to you its
pages. Upon the proof before you
they are convicted in the judgment of
nations. Yea more; they are convict
ed in their own hearts and are there
fore ever asking that their records be
forgotten. Nothing is so painful to
them as the memory of their past i'll
our great National struggle. ''The
CALLED jade will ever Vince" and when
you touch them upon this plague-spot,
they cringe as if you had put fire upon
their backs. True, there would be no
necessity of recurring to these things
yet so fresh in the memory of all, were
it not for the contemplate equivoca-
tions and Misrepresentation to which
they resort. They tell us we are like
the Bourbons-that we never forget
nor ever learn anything; but L tell
them we both remember and learn,
and weintend to teach the generations
that are to follow us to remember
their crimes, take warning by them,
and next to their God to love their
country. Our fallen brethren shall
not have died in vain their graves
shall not be outraged; their patriot
ism shall not be m0cked; their living
comrades shall not be insulted. This
government for which they gave their
precious lives shall never again be put
in jeopordy by the restoration of rebels
in power. "The tree shall be known
by its fruit" and while this Democracy
continues to bear bitter fruit, / will
exhort my countrymen to flee from it
as from the fabled Upas. The men
who counselled separation of these
States, peacable or forcible-thOugh
they may rise in favor with traitors,
though they may have pet names and
be escorted through the country-their
crimes will ultimately bring confusion
upon their followers. Though the man
who forsook his country for his coun-
try's good-or rather was driven out
of it in 1868, now stands for seat in
the next National Legislature, with n
reasonable prospect of securing large
number of Democratic votes in the
Third Congressional District, yet it
is perfectly apparent that decent men
of his own party viii no longer be
found associated with him, and even
such a God-forsaken demagogue as
Sam Cary will not speak from the same
platform; and though the champion of
the New York mob, the man who,
like the traitors OF the Hartford Con
vention, wanted the constitu,ionality
of the conscriptiOn laws settled before
his State could be drafted, may have
his name inscribed upon the banners
of the party he represents, as the can
didate for the highest honor on earth,
he will find that the murderers of or
phan children, the destroyer of pauper
asylums cannot carry him into the
Presidential Office. Though he be the
Sir Jasper Goldtharp of the bondhold-
ing ariStocracy, this nation is not yet
in the condition of the man who went
down from Jerusalem to jericho.
Ihave just read speech made by a
man who travelled seven hundred miles
to make it, without time to rest or re-
fresh himself. My eye was caught by
the announcement that c. l.. ValIan-
digham had made a speech at St. Par
is, ON the 9th of August in the year of
Grace, 1865, and knowing the man,
my thoughts REQUIRED to Milton, and
that one of the fallen spirits whom he
calls Belial.
ION the other side up rose Bolial,
In act more graceful and humane,
tairer person lost not heaven;
He seemed for dignity and exploit;
But all WAS false and hollow
Though his t9ngue dropped manna-
And could make the worse appear The bet
ter reason
To psrplex and dash matursst cOnncils,
For his thoughts wers low, TO vice inclined;
But Ia Noble deeds timOrous and siothiui
Yet he pleased the ear and with persua-
sive accent thus beSan:-
''One question is that of the Public
Debt. 1t is a fact-if it were true,
which it is not, as the Republican par
ty say, that the Democratic party was
the cause of the Public Debt, it would