Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-08-21
CAT the Point Of the Bay0net."

chosen to submit to the public judgment in
this campaign is not one Of administration
merely, but of absolute and forcible revo-
luton. 1t proposes to reverse all the ma
tional legislation of the last three years, to
subvert the reconstruction which the
country has approved, to dispense organ
lied State governments by the bayonet /;
by the same means to reinstate those who
for the highest crime against the Common
wealth have been temporarily disfran-
chised; to deprive hundreds of thousands
of new citizens of the ballot, and thrust
them back into semi enslaved condition
"a project which can not be accomplished
but by the most sanguinary measures.
Proclaiming a wholly arbitrary test OF
citizenship in color-a test involving caste
and inconceivable injustice, which en-
braces the entire disaftected class, and ex-
cludes large body of the loyal people
it announces that if its claim is disregard
ed it will appeal to physical force" and
place it's candidate in the White House at
the point of the bayonet.
1t will not be forgotten that the party
which thus enters into apolitical campaign
with loud threat Of civil war is the one
that has previously made the same threat
and fulfilled it to the letter. In 1860 the
Democratic orators said that "the South ;"
could not be expected to submit to the
election of Mr.. Lincoln. In 1856 Mr.. Fill
more. absurdly called Conservative, had
said the same thing in view OF the election
of Mr.. Fremont. 1t was not bravado
merely. Whatever the Northern portion
of the party may have thought or intended,
the Southern portion was sincere and re-
solved and it was that portion which had
or,firo1xy aOnfrO11o6 tho yQrtu and dictated
its policy, because it was the positive ele-
ment.
This history repeats itself. In 1864 the
positive element was the Copperhead
majority represented by Mr.. Vallandig-
ham, Mr. Vallandigham made the Demo
cratic platform Of that year, which was
merely proposal to succor the rebellion
and secure its success. In any event it
was revolution: and revolution in the in
terest of the Slaveholding oligarchy. The
national conscience and sagacity, however,
were too strong: the Union and progress
i've free society were saved. In 1868 the
same spectacle is presented. The war is
over. But the passion and purposes of
its chief instigators remain. Defeat in the
effort to destroy the Union has not taught
them love of the Union. Profound hos
tility to the principles of society which
have prevailed, and to an Interpretation
of the character of the government which
has triumphed, does not sink into acquies-
cence without further struggle. Fooled in
the field, what chance is there in political
intrigueF Oppressed with debt, strained
by long and severe exertion of every kind,
vexed by the delay of complete paciication,
is not the country an army fatigued after its
victory, sleeping upon the field, and fatally
exposed to one daring, desperate assault?
This was the question with which the old,
positive, ruling element of the Democratic
party entered it's Convention. Part of
the Northern wing, which that element
despises, had suggested in advance some
acknowledgment of actual events. The
war, it said, cautiously, may have been
mistake, but it must be honestly paid for.
Reconstruction may be unconstitutional,
but it is accomplished, and can be reversed
only in the way itself provides. The
party, justly or unjustly, has become such
stencil in the national nostrils that it
may be better to take candidate from
without its lines. Indeed, said this wing
of the party, with an air Of valor, on the
very day before the Convention met,
if the Southern delegates take part in
the action Of the Convention, they must
abide by it.
1t may be imagined with what disdain
the Southern delegations read these words
in paper which their mere distant frown
had forced to renounce its candidate They
came to the Convention led by Wade
Hampton, a relentless South Carolina
rebel, who declared upon his way to take
his seat that the cause Of the rebellion
was not yet lost. Wade Hampton, the
rebel, and Vallandigham, the Copperhead,
combined, and ruled the Convention. In
stead of recognizing actual events, their
effort was to undo the result of seven.
years. The spirit of the two men made
tie platform. Vsllandigham put into it
reputation, which is national disgrace;