The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1873-09-11

| Salu prosecute the war TO DndG pOlnG Lnal
is necessary for the salvation of the
Union he most emphatically said
that it could not be prosecuted at all, and
in that utterance laid the strength of the
rebellion not only in this country, but
all over the world. That Administration
further assisted in ''the salvation of the
Union" by transferring to its successor
on the 4th of March, 1861, a plundered
Treasury, scattered Navy, a demoralized
army, dismantled forts, ruined credit and
civil war Thus our country stood, the
very mockery of power and the by-word
of the rulers and tyrants of the earth
who already exulted in our apparent
downfall. Our commerce was paralyzed
our industries deranged and our nation
on the verge of all those nameless hor-
rors which are only limited by the words
anarchy-ruin. The new Administration
sought to preserve the Government.
Lincoln appealed tenderly to the rebels
and declared that there could be no con-
fiict unless by their act They grew bold
er and more defiant. They mistook calm
ness for eowardice. The Administration
appealed to the country and the people
answered. Among others, thousands of
Democrats, in being patriots forgot to be
partisans, and nobly conquered or glori-
ously died under the flag of their coun-
| try, to whom be only honor and graft
tude. But where stood the party? Its
leaders in Congress opposed every meas
ure for the prosecution of the war, OF
even the supply of the army They de-
clared they would not vote "a man or a
dollar" for the defense of the Govern
ment. They brought forward plans for
the dismemberment of the Union. They
derided the national currency, and noti-
fed the world that our national securities
were worthless. Surely these did not
make up that Democracy" which Mr..
Allen assures us urged the prosecution of
the war to that point necessary for the
salvation of the Union" for they opposed
it utterly. In the very darkest hour of
our struggle from the Capital of your
own State went the greeting of 100000
Democrats of Ohio" not to the soldiers
of the Union, but to their rebel "breth-
rem" in arms against the nations life, as
suring them of sympathy, and distinctly
announcing their hostility to the war
Is this the Democracy" to which Mr..
| Allen alludes? While Lee was maxim g
his way through Pennsylvania with his
rebel host in June, 1868, a Democratic
Convention was sitting in Harrisburg
| 1t denounced the "usurpations of the
! President, but not word to RESTRAIN
the unbridled fury of the forbearing
Southern patriots. But these were only
! State organizations of this Union saving
Democracy. Let the party speak as a
unit. In 1864 when light had dawned
upon the gloom of that long night, when
victory crowned our arms, when the Mis-
slssippi was, ours, when Sherman was in
the heart of Georgia. and when the in
vincible Grant was almost ready to lay
his iron grasp on the ramparts of Rich
mond, that party met in National Con-
vention, and sent ringing down the line
| of ages that cowardly and cruel lie that
/ the peoples unmatched rescue of their
imperiled nationality was a failure, and
| demanded immediate cessation of hostil-
| tiles This is the Democracy which Mr.
Allen declares urged the prosecution of
the war. But by what word, or smile, or
platform resolution. did that party, as a
party, ever cheer the hearts of our brave
! defenders, or lift an ounce of the mighty
burden that rested so crushingly on the
nations heart, and for the uplifting of
which the true men and women of the
nation so long waited and watched, and
prayed and fought and died?
But where and how was "the unbridled
fury of the opposition as Mr.. Allen calls
the Government manifested? Was it in
the almost fatal forbearance with which,
for so long, it prosecuted the war? For
nearly two years it temporized, guarded
the enemy's property, and left slavery
standing as challenge to God himself to
make good his great declaration of the
brotherho ood of man. While we trampled
I on Justice we made no substantial tri-
umphs But when at last the nations
great deliverer emblazoned Freedom on
all the folds of our battle banners, we
went on from strength to strength, and
our old flag
! "Though torn by shot and by shell,
Then beaconed us well
| Through the red storm of battle
T. And up from its hell
| For the right and the might
Joined their hands in that fight,
And victory beamed from
That banner of light.
Or was it in the unmatched clemency
that the Government exercises toward
these vanquished rebels, that it most IL
lustrated its ''unbridleds fury?" This
great and generous people, with magma
nimity that has no parallel in history,
have made no inquest for the blood of
their slain England has always brought
her traitors to the block or the gallows.
Such is the custom and law of nations.
The tories of our revolution were exiled
and their estates confscated. But no
man has been brought to punishment for
his share in that rebellion; and the Pres
ident sent his order to our officers
!
ed rebels should be found destitute in
any land, desiring to return, he should
| be brought back at the public cost. Yes,
and sheltered on his way by the flag
against which he had fought? Such is
the "unbridled fury" with which this
party and its administration have pur-
sued the men who, by the Constitution,
were guilty of treason, and who, by the
nations laws would be condemned to
die And such is the reckless disregard
of history by which candidate of par
ty dishonored by its record in this war,
seeks to transfer the odium of its blum
ders and its crimes to its loyal and victo-
rious adversary. But the platform of
that party declares that it is opposed to
notification and secession"
The protest is a trife tardy when these
heresies to which it pandered while they
were practical and bloody issues, have
gone down in the consuming fires of civil
war; but not till they had opened the IA
tai abyss in which was engulphed that
partys honor,its manhood, its strength
and its hopes. g~.r -.
has no need to make platform avowal
of its principles on these questions. The
whole world knows what they are The
rebels of the South and the traitors ot
, the North understand them now 1t has
proclaimed them in the thunder voices
of war. 1t has written them ON the sky
in the smoke clouds of hundred battle
fields. 1t has written them on the earth
with the defiant banner of the rebellion
|, trailing in the dust.
, The Democratic party is still expert
> menting on the credulity of the people
ONLY last wear it professed to have aban