The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1869-02-04

'iP ever question was settled, it is that the
nation shall enjoy the usufruct of the war. 1t
has been gathering them up one by one by one.
but perhaps the weightiest sheaf the harvest re-
remains untouched The soldiers bore home
ward on their bayonets universal suffrage. AS an
inherent right, it had been bitterly tagonized,
ana consequently came out of battle the most
clearly defined and best established
The above extract from an article In the
Philadelphia Press is wilful perversion of
the truth of history. 1t is an avowal that
the primary object Of the government In sup
pressing the rebellion was the destruction of
slavery and the investment of the negroes of
the South with the right of the ballet. This
IS in direct conflict with the oft repeated
declarations Of the radical party, and Is at
open war with all the public utteranoes of
President Lincoln, Mr.. Seward, and other
prominent leaders of that party. We all re-
member the celebrated Crittenden resolutions,
which were introduced into Congress on the
second day after the fatal disaster at Bull
Run, and unanimously adopted by that body,
declaring that the war was not waged by
The North against the South for any purpose
OF conquest or subjugation, but to enforce
the laws aud maintain the constitution, and
that when these objects were accomplished
the war should cease without any of the
rights of the States being impaired or de-
stroyed. Without that emphatic declaration
by radical Congress it is morally certain
that the ranks of the Union army could never
have been recruited the battle of Gettys-
burg, which was the turning point in the
war, wo1ld never have been fought, and the
existence of the Southern Confederacy rs a
separate and independent power would to-
day be fixed fact.
Suppose the government Ia 1861, or at
any subsequent period, had put forth the
declaration that the object of the war was
to destroy slavery and confer the right of
suffrage upon the slaves, how many North
ern men would have imperrilled their lives
in such cause? The preservation of the
Union, and that alone, was the inspiring
thought that filled up the depleted ranks of
the Northern army from the very commence
ment to the close of the struggle, aud with
that object in view it was fought to a Sue
cessful issue. TO attribute any other pur-
pose to those who engaged in it is scandal
Gus libel upon the patriotism of the army
1t was not until two years after the failure
of the rebellion that the idea of negro suf
frage suggested itself to the leaders of the
radical party. They knew that the brains
and intelligence of the South would ally
themselves with the Northern democracy,
and in order to enable them to retain posses
sion of the government radicalism first en-
franchised the slaves and then sent its North
ern emissaries to the South to instil into the
minds of the negroes the beauties Of political
and social equality. Thus fortified by the
votes Of seven hundred thousand negroes,
they made their success in the Presidential
election absolutely certain by disfranchising,
by acts of Congress and State Legislatures.
more than foe hundred thousand ,chite men
in the Southern States. They did not calcu-
late without their host. Without the vote
of the negroes in the South Grant would have
beer defeated.
While denying that negro suffrage was the
object of the war we are free to admit that
it is about its only fruit. The union of the
States, fraternal peace and concord between
the sections, have not been restored under
radical rule, nor are they likely to be. Re
construction is failure, and the grand, i'm
posing result of the war is that in the South
seven hundred thousand ignorant negroes are
entitled to vote and five hundred thousand
intelligent white men are not. This is the
sum and substance, the head and front of all
this miserable reconstruction business. The
object of the war has been perverted from
its original purposes-its fruit has turned to
ashes-and all this in order that reckless
party might riot in extravagance and cor
ruptien, and retain the possession of power
which otherwise would have been wrested
from their faithless hands.
The Washington Monument,