Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1876-10-04
To Our Former Comrades
AND
BROTHERS.
The Patriotic Union Soldiers and
sailors of AmericH.

AyhtG i AdA Ask AhS hhAvh'AhJ
The Patriotic Union Soldiers and
sailors of !Americn.
W ho would foster better fraternity
and FELLOWSHIP p between all sections
and classes OF our common country,
who detest the practices OF the par
ty in power, and believe with us in
| the necessity tor general and
thorough reform in all departments
Of the government, to you We send
GREETING.
COMRADES For number of years
past, many good citizens, without re-
gard to their former political atlinites,
have seriously deprecated and earnest.
! ly denounced the persistent and dc
ia, onal spirit in which Radical lead
ers have long been and are still at
tempting to rekindle the old war feel
ing Of animosity, and to make use OF
semi military organizations for mere
partisan ends these efforts, tending
to force upon the country the false
impression that Republicans alone
fought the battles Of the Union cause {;
that none of the soldiers of that army
can now be expected to vote any 9TH
er than the Radical ticket ;hat every
Union soldier must still array himself
against a section Of cur country, aud
continue to denounce the people ne
helped to overcome in civil war ; n
people who laid down their arms, sur
rendered to superior power, and re-.
turned to their duty and their allegl-
ance more than eleven years ago ;
while 40 occasion has been lost, since
the war, III which Grand National
Soldiers and Sailors Conventions and
Reunions, swelled by parades Of tae
s'bnys in blue" the G. a. r. and 9TH
er military pOljtico associations and
leagues, that they have not been made
to subServe the purposes OF engender'
: ing sectional strife and perpetuating
Radical Republican misrule.
, Longer forbearance Of this policy
has now ceased to be a virtue. 1t has
been firmly determined that duty and
honor alike demand that we call for 6
general enrolment Of all our old com
= rades who are sincerely desirous o.
the public good, and who, untram
h meled by party dictation, are opposed
to the arttul revival Of the old wal
cries without occasion, and who sec
!, the necessity for the overthrow of the
!, corrupt party in power and the pres
: ervation of constitute, II government
, in the election and t'.umph of Iilde'
# and Reform.
r At the close of the war, in the yea
Il 1866, the Radical party had reached
= the summit of political power, with NJ
d check to its intolerance, save the scru
l. pies OF the President, and this was in
T.; sutficent'to restrain its vindictiveness
W Tn. Congress offered to the peopl
!; the 18th, 14th and 10Th Amendment
!; to the Constitution as the basis OF it
demonstrations These amendment
.. were accepted and were ratified by tn
:" Legislatures of three-tourths CT tn
1t States. The Congressional enact
men,s passed 20 enforce these cond
N tons were submitted to, and acquiesce
d. d, in. in good faith. The southern pee
pie were thus restored to all their civ
i rights by all the forms of law and
4 is now but 4 plockery and repndlailo
: OF the terms Of their contract, at ever
as returning election, to threaten thel
to again with the grim trade of deall
/ and to lift still higher the bleeding te
lament of war. Bloody instruction
+ indeed, which will return but to plagr
"A the inventor.
,t We appeal to yon to take up tn
cd work with ns and assist in carrying
he forward to Il successful issue in evel
State which sent a regiment OF UmC
- soldiers to the war. We wish to 81
the enrollment of every friend OF OF
r cause who served in the Union Arm
) 3 and we urgently recommend the pc
! 1 lection, at the same time, of such loc;
oil congressional and State association
to as shall organize, complete and oriI
II forth to the election, the soldiers AZ
- sailors vote, in a solid column, alol
- the whole line. and throughout q