Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1868-09-23

''iSiSpiSechtdtioHt tHdt the Ingenuity Oh lnOse
who were in rebellion against the Govern
ment, and of all who were in sympathy
with them, could invent
| regret to find in several of your speech
es that you make no allowance for the extra
ordinary and trying circumstances through
which the Government has been compelled
to pass-circumstances that would have
made 1T wise and proper to have raised mon
ey by forced loans, if no other means could
have been found to save the nation life
. You have said truly in your late speech
that the Republican party ''denounces all
forms of reputation as national crime +"
You then try to throw on that party the
odium of a deliberate design to repudiate
the national debt
The repudiation of the national debt is
one of the last acts that the Republican party
will ever tolerate or allow.
have been panied to find in your several
speeches a course OF reasoning that is tend
ing to revive the rebelicus spirit throughout
our Southern States-a course of reasoning
that has already won for you the enthusias-
tic support of those who were most promi
nent in the Rebellion, and all who are in
sympathy with them throughout our country.
j am sorry to see in your speeches an eff
fort to prejudice the laboring population
with the statement that the Government is
introducing a system of unjust and uneq ual
taxation.
1t is certain that our Government could
never stand in the presence of such laws as
prevailed throughout the Southern States
before the Rebellion laws that made it "A
crime to ''unbind the heavy burden, and let
the captive go free laws that made it
crime to teach poor. helpless slave to read
and write, fearing that knowledge of the
Declaration of Independence, that declares
the unalienable right of every man to his
life, his liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,
would make him unwilling longer to remain
a slave.
To talk of such system and such laws as
have prevailed at the South being Demo
cratic, is to talk OF a living body without an
animating spirit.
The Cincinnati Catholic Telegraph, the
official organ of the Catholic Church in the
West, has said, with great propriety, that
'the interest of humanity and the welfare
of white labor, in particular, are involved in
the question of Slavery more than in any
other, and it is the duty of mer 10 prepare
their minds conscientiously that they may,
"a far aSpossihle, maintain what is best for
the people Every one acknowledges that
Slavery is an evil No man who is free
would ever consent to be slave. Il is alb
horrent to his nature. No one can allege
anv right to reduce human being to that
miserable condition. 1t is ietestable to mind
and heart. And moreover he who reduces a
free man to Slavery is excommunicated by
the Catholic Church Slavery was the cause
of our national troubles 1t was for Slavery
that the war was commenced, and the blood
of the brave men who have fallen on both
sides has been shed by this insatiate mon
ster. The hope of its restoration IS not yet
abandoned. There are multirudes of men
who would love to see it in the ascendant as
it was before" Never were truer words
said than that Slavery was the cause of
our national troubles -
Notwithstanding all the misery that Slave
ry and the war has brought on our coun-
try, let us assure all who took part in the
Rebellion that we intend to do them all the
good we can. Wcintend to secure for them
and for ourselves the Constitutional guaranty
of republican form of Government, which
is the greatest earthly blessing our nation
can possess.
1t has been with more than ordinary sor-
row that find among the errors Of your late
speech other grave charges against the Re
publican party. You say it has adopted "a
policy OF hate, of waste, and of military
despotism, in all Of which you are as much
in error as you are when you state that the
Republican party has expended $500, ,O00, 600
of taxes drawn from the people of the coun-
try to uphold a despotic military authority,
and to crush out the life of the States.
The facts, as shown by Mr. Blaine in Con-
gress, that only very small part of the
amount you name was expended in maintain
ing the authority of the Government over
the Rebel States. Let US unite to frown
down that spirit of rebellion that found en-
couragement in the Democratic Convention
that met in Chicago, when it virtually recog-
nized the principle of Secession and Disun-
ion as an established fact. 10y proposing "a
cessation of hostilities' and call for a con
vention of all the States to meet in their
sovereign capacity and deliberate with men
who were then 10 active rebellion, putting
forth all their efforts to overthrow the Gov
ernmeut ty force.
You charge the Republican party with
proposing to deprive the people of the
South Of their right to vote for Presidential
Electors You then say that the first
bold steps are taken to destroy the rights OF
suffrage"
This reasoning is unaccountable in view
of the fact that the Republican party has
been constantly making efforts to extend
the elective franchise on principle of equal
rights to every man without regard to coun-
try, caste or color.