Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-08-17

Wnen inc war broke out, ana men Were
called to the field to enforce the laws ano
to prevent the Union from being disrupted
lit was with distinct understanding
given in the form OF pledge by Congress
4 on the 22d of July, 1861, against the pres
ept doctrines of the Radical party. Tha
pledge was as follows:
7 Resolved By the House of Representatives O
Ithe Congress of the United States, Inat Tn.
/ ,lpresentdeplorable civil war has been forcet
Iupon the, country by the disunionists o
the Southern States, now In arms agains
the constitutional government, and In arm
Iaround the Capital; that In this nationa
emergency, Congress, sbanishing all feel
lings of mere passion or resentment, vii
recollect onlv its duty to the whole c0un
try; THAT THIS WAR is NOT WAGEL
| ON THEIR PART IN ANY SPIRIT Ot
OPPRESSION. OR FOR ANY PURPOSE
OF CONQUEST OR SUJUGATION, OF
PURPOSE OF sOVERTHROWING OF
WITH THE RIGHTS OF
INSTITUTIONS OF
THOSE STATES, BUT TO DEFENL
AND MAINTAIN THE SUPREMACY
OF THE CONSTITUTION, AND TG
fPRESERVE THE UNION. WITH ALI ALI
1.-THE DIGNITY. EQUALITY. AND
RIGHTS OF THE SEVERAL STATES
and that as soon as these
tobjects are accomplished the war ought te
cease.
How terribly every promise and declar-
alton in the above has been repudiated BY
the party in power.
When the MANNED and crippled soldiers
of the War of 1912 had pensions allowed
them, and the few Survivors of the Revo-
lutionary struggle were voted by Congress
the pensions that were to provide for theiI
wants in age and poverty, It. was with 9
distinct understanding that the amount wa,
to be paid in gold or its equivalent. They
were paid In greenbacks, the party in power
|repndiating the debt due these gallant men
by paying the pensions in a currency worth
onetthird less than that in which it was
promised.
When the men of the West, in obedience
to the Gallo tho President, volunteered un-
der the belief that the war was not to be one
Of 'subjugation," but alone to s"defend and
to maintain the.supremacy of the Consti-
tuition and to preserve the Union" = the an
Iderstanding was perfect that the miserable
pittance allowed them, was to be paid in
gold or its equivalent. That contract was
repudiated, after the men were enlisted,
and the soldiers were paid in greenbacks.
When Gen. DAWSON, of Pennsylvania,
actin e for caucus of the Democratic mem
bers, introduced a resolution in Congress,
to right this wrong, the attempt was
laughed at in very scorn by the Radical
repuliators, and the resolution to pay the
soldiers in gold, as promised, was sum-
marily voted down and the Radical repu-
diators paid the soldiers in greenbacks
when they were promised gold or its
equivalent. s@s
AT time when the Radical leaders were
anxious to get others to the tented field as
common soldiers-themselves and their
sons and relatives only enlisting as officers,
suttlerss and Tcontractors-provision was
made by law of the Ohio Legislature,
to raise by taxation fund to sustain the
widows and the orphans of those that fell in
battle and to furnish food for the manned
soldier, feft of his limbs or otherwise in
capable of earning by the sweat of his face
the bread that sustained his life. When
the war ended, this fund, thus raised by
grateful people by taxation and solemnly
pledged by law for the relief of the widows
and orphans, was rudely seized by the last
Legislature-eyeryD Democrat
voting against the repudiation-and used
Ior other and different purposes than that
by the law, and for which
he Constitution of the State said
llone it should be expended. At
he time of the seizure of the Relief
Fund, over six thousand persons in the
families of soldiers incapable Of earning
iving,I or those of men who had perished
n battle or died in the, hospital, were in
circumstances. The money
ihus seized and thus diverted from its le-
Ultimate purpose, was in law the property
# f-those families, but their claims were
'epndiated and these victims of Radical
left to starve or seek refuge
n the county poor houses, because they
we're robbed of their money, and their
lain to sympathy and support was repu-
lated by the very leaders who claim to be,
"a, excellence, the soldiers friends.
At the time the law making greenbacks
! legal tender for all debts was passed by
congress, all debts, no matter how con-
racted, or even if the bond stipulated that
t was to be paid in gold, was held by
Radical courts to be payable in greenbacks
Cases were innumerable of gold being de-
posted in banks, and certificates taken
hat in gold the banks were to return the
amount to its owners, yet Radical Judges
,verruled the plain reading of the con-
;ract, and decided that, as greenbacks, and
yfeenbacks alone, were the legal tender in
payment of debts, that the innocent suffer-
rs. who believed the banks could be made
% live up to their contracts, were forced to
AXE depreeiased currency, which could
be bought from 331s to 40 cents in gold for a
1ollarin paper. These bank repudiators and
heir eiraccompIices, the Judges, who decided
,hatpthe law could date back to cover con-
tracts to the detriment of the creditor
made before its passage, are now holders
IF Government bonds, covenanted to be
paid in greenbacks, which they demand be
paid in gold.
To pay these bonds in coin, at the ruling
rate of gold, would add nearly one third to
,he vast debt which now crushes the in
iustry of the people with its great weight
Because the Democracy wish to pay it in
the kind of money in which it was con-
tracted, and in which it was distinctly un-
derstood that it was to be paid, they are
branded as favoring repudiation, and the
press Of the party that has vio-
lated every promise it has ever -made-has
the debt due the soldiers. their
widows and orphan children-repudiated
debts contracted by the States, by causing
the interest and principal to be paid in a
deprecated Ncufrency-repudiated debts
due from man to man, by passing retroac-
tive laws making different and depre-
ciated currency a legal tender for debts