Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-08-24
To the Veteran Soldiers and sailors of
MassachuSettS,

our lines and express our political opinions at
the ballot box, as we have, side by side, record
ed them upon the battle Geld. The disloyal
element, which attempted the life OF the nation,
now assumes, through a coalition with some
honest and some disappointed men, under aus
picious circumstances of false pretence, to grasp
all the national powers and defeBces, Old enc
mics of the Union, still determined to rule or
ruin, still uncOnverted from their belief in the
right of secession and under the leadership of a
presidential candidate who hasIrepeatedly com
mitted himself to that fatal folly, again PROPOSE
10 wrest from hands of proven loyalty the ma
tonal government that our living and dead
comrades have toiled through blood and tears
to save Our former antagonist, pro6ting by
severe experience, now attempts to get Possess
ion of the capitol, not, as Of old, under new
flag, but by falling in, almost unanimously,
under the cOlors of the liberal republicans.
National destrOyerS, having failed to sever the
republic by armed violence, now essay to rule
the whole of il through fraud. With them it
must always be disuni0h or empire. Their spe-
cious outcry against Capitalization poorly con-
ceals their hatred of any national existence that
is IN sympathy with the constitutional amend
ments, and that can and will protect the weak in
every state against yind.ctiye outrage
Defenders of the Union, unless we are willing
TO abandon national safeguards TO the care of
enemies who excite our suspicious by their sud
den conversion to doctrines lately loathed, and
by pretended hag of truce, or unless we expect
to re-establish these safeguards BY Successful
war when the army, the navy, the treasury, the
capitol and the government shall be in the
grippe Of the rebel leaders it is our absolute duty
to cast true republican vote in this presiden-
tial contest. The nation has a claim upon our
political support as that of men who have
staked our lives on our political convictions
that the nation, one and indlviSible, must llvei
that the rights Of all citizens must be respected;
and that labor must be iehiunerated and free.
Abstinence from the polls is deSerton from the
batte-delds of peace. The idea that returned
YeteranS-citlzenS who have saved the nation
life-should not take an effective part in poll
tics is perncious heresy, that would make
u.s. who differ from all other citizens only in
having forcibly supported our political opin-
ions, the tools of politicians, instead of being
the most trustworthy custodans of politics.
Men who have asserted on n hundred Battle
fields, and on the decks Of OUT meh-Ofwar their
nobeSt political beliefs, are not mere hireling
butchers and food for powder, as some arrogant
politicians deem them. The notion that absti-
nence from politics confers sort of conserYa-
tive style upon men who have welded sword
and muSket in political wars has ITO place out
side of the army and NAVY, where town meet
ingS would conflict with discipline The noblest
service that a citizen can perform has not dis
tranchised us of our right TO act effectively upon
politics like other bodies of citizens. We are
still bound to do our political duty in the most
effective and honest way known among men.
With these views, and under the conviction
that the highest national interests demand again
our best republican service, the veterans Of Mas
SachusettS propose to organize Grant and Will
son clubs in every town, city and county in
the state, for the purpose of securing Tor the
next four years the continuance of the true re-
publican party in power, and to assure the
largest attendance at the veteran convention to
be held at Pittsburg, Pa. on the tenth auniver-
sary of the battle OF Antietam, the nth day of
September next.
Veterans of every grade and armIwho endorse
this movement are requested to send their
names at once to the secretaries undersigned, to
be placed on the muster roll that the delegations
OF soldiers from the veteran clubs will exhibit to
to the convention. The most earnest and prompt
action in forming veteran clubs and in sending
in your names as supporters of Grant and Viii.
son, is traternally solicited, that the republican
loyalty of to-day may fairly represent the glori-
GUS battalions of the past, and vndicate the
lives and services of the patriot dead.
In making this appeal to you, comrades in
arms, we beg leave to say that whatever men
may think of the remarkable criticisms upon
Gen. Grant, who has either been blessed with
the special favor of Almighty God, or has raised
himself by unusual powers of his own to the
highest military and civil station; and however
glad we should be to clasp hands with many
gallant southern men who once honestly deemed
it a greater virtue 10 be loyal to one state than
to be loyal to thirty-siX-we must all admit that
the election before us presents two, and only
two, paths, widely divergent from each other.
Reconciliation, founded on mistake or false pre-
fences, is hostility in cruel disguise.
The questions are plain. Shall Unionists
under the presidency of the unfuching Union
leader, or unconYerted believers in "the lost
cause, under the rule of Changeable politi-
clan, who has asserted the right OF states to Sc
cede, govern the rescued Union2 Shall our
firm friends, the true republican party, bearing
an honest banner, or our old enemies, sailing
under fraudulent colorS, with igure-head they
oathe, take possession of the army the navy
the treasury and the capitol? Shall we vote
for the quietly determined soldier who carried
us with glory through the war, and who has
had one term OF civil experience, with the adj
vantage of unstinted criticism from friend and
toe,-or for the vacilating politician without eX-
ecutive experience, who was willing to Surren-
der the Union and abandon the wretched slave
when our blood has been prOfusely sacrificed,
but when our hearts were strong and true2
Shall we surrender the loyal white and colored
people of the south-both wards of the nation
to their proven enemies who up to this very
hour refuse to make the constitutional amend
mentS valid and operative by necessary laws
Shall war-worn men commit the peace of the
country to the firm hand of dauntess strength
that can restrain disorders, or to tickle weakness
governed by the very men who create, abet, or
permit them in their states' Shall we imperil
national credit and the pensions of our own
wounded and poor, by yielding the national
treasury to those who will attempt to double
the national debt for the sake Of paying, not the
slaves for lives of unrequited to,-but their in
satiabe masters, and Of pensioning those who
would have murdered the republic. Shall we
remit the great cause and interests of Amer
lean labor to those who have perSistently de-
graded it by the cOmpanionship of slaves, whom
as laborers they have done their very worst still
further to debase2
As citizen-sOldierS who have rendered our lives
for the cause of assured national integrity and
hrm government we cannot fail to contrast
the immoyable steadiness of the victor of Shiloh
with the opposing candidate, who, having done
more than any other American 10 madden sec.
tional hatred, yibrated, through the war, from
ill-tlmed battle cries to abect dispair. In pos
session OF vast power and subjected to a style of
criticism which has hardly been paralleled since
General Washington complained that he had
been assaied in terms unjustifable, even if APP
pled to "a common pickpOcket" and notorious
defaulter, Gen. Grant has remained immova-
bly, loyal to the great republican idea. We
know him to be uniOnist true and firm as
steel. And it, discussing his civil administra-
ton, his immortal military services to the ma
ton do not entitle him TO some respectful i'm
munty from abusive epithets, the services of
every other civilian soldier must pass out of
the pale of charity into contemptuous oblivion.
Believing that southern society cannot ulti-
mately march to reconstruction left in front, we
know that the nation cannot safely march left
in 'front.' under the guidance of the men who
will control the liberal administration, and who
show their impenitence and unftness for great
trust by claiming it with a conscious sham upon
their foreheads. If we have to move alone, let
us march right in front, under our old leader,
to an honest fight, rather than follow any poti-
cal general in surrender to a disguised but I'M
doubted rebel camp.
HORACE BINNEY SARGENT, President.
George S. Merrill, Lawrence, II. p. Shattuck
No. 645 Washington street. Boston, secre-
taries.
Cornelius G. Atwood, box $685. P..O., Boston,
treasurer.
VIM Raymond Lee, Francis A. Osborn,
VIM Cogswell, Joseph Tucker,
Isaac ). Burrill, James L. Bates.
Joseph II. Barnes, George I. Chlds,
VIM. b. Fowle, g. A. Churchill,
George s. Worcester, Edward l.. Pierce,
Lemuel Pope, Isaac II. Hazetine,
VIM. V. Hutchings, B. X. Sprague
Carroll ID. Wright VIM. + Perkins,
Walter Everett, VIM. W. McKim,
w S, B. Hopkins, j. w. Kimball,
S. S. Oliver, A. A. Rand,
Thomas Sherwin, i. George Bidde,
Charles L. Mitchell, c. +. Walcott,
H. S. Briggs, Charles b. Fox,
Horace N. Fisher Edward Sherwn,
Edward o. Shepard, s, NJ Quincy,
A. ii. Quint, A. B. Underwood,
s. May, Jr, Charles II. Hovey
Brownell Granger, N, L. Laid,
Il. j. Jones, Luther Day,
j. d. Thurbur, George r. Delavan,
Charles Fairchild, Robert Dorsey,