The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-09-09
VIEWS OF A UNION SOLDIER.


ecientiously vote for Tilden and Hendricks.
nromIsed hira an answer, and | will give
him partial one now, as | consider the war
completely ended
About eleven years and half have passed
away since the armies Of Lee and johnson
surrendered and armed resistance to the gov
crnmen, ceased The southern people ac'
knowledged themselves beaten in the contest
Of arms, and in good faith accepted all the
conditions of capitulation that the govern
meut saw fit to impose. The republican
party had full control of both branches OF
congress, and shaped the reconstruction of
she southern states according to their own
will, and the southern people, although gall
ing under defeat, impoverished by the war
and overrun by horde of inscriptions car
pet baggers, who sought to fatten upon their
misfprtunes, with commendable fortude and
patience bore every indlgnity and submitted
without murmur to every measure OF re-
construction.
The Thirteenth Amendment to the Con.
s,itution abolishing slavery was passed and
made a part of the organic law of the land,
and each of the southern states adopted a
constitution as dictated by congress. The
Fourteenth amendment to the Constitution,
making the emancipated slaves citizens of
The United States and providing that no
claims for confiscated property should ever
be paid by the government, was passed and
ratified, as was also the Fifteenth amend
ment, giving the right of suffrage to all cit
liens without regard to race, color, or pre-.
viOus condition Of servltude. This is estab
lished law, acknowledged and accepted by
all classes and parties south as well as north,
and ah political and social rights are guaran-
tecd to every citizen by ample and sufficient
laws. Reconstruction then, Is complete, and
all the issues of the war forever settled.
Yet the ghost OF the "bloody shirt" forms
the burden Of every republican speech in
this campaign, and it is done tor purpose.
1t is done to divert the minds OF the people
from the real issues, and to cover up their
record of corruption. The republican lead
ers know that their only hope for power and
plumber is 10 keep alIye in the hearts of the
people the feelings OF malice and hatred en-.
gendered by the war.
But they say that by voting with the dem
oCra,s We vote with those who fought us dur. |
ing the war. In answer TO this | repeat the
war Is ended. Not only is the war ended but ,
we ind the worst element of the southern
people today in sweet communion with the
republican party. Such men, for instance as I
NOsby The guerilla, who Is boon compan.
Ion OF President Grant aud one of whose
otScers, Maj. GriswOld, recently received an
appointment in the treasury department at q
SALARY OF 81 so year; Quantrelle the bush f
whacker. Lon gs,reet the rebel chieftain, old Z
Joe Brown, the founder of the Andersonville
prison pen and hos. OF others Of like char
scter But have no issue TO make on this
point. These men, like all other American G
citizens, have perfect right 10 affiliate with }
whatever political party they chose; only
mention il TO show TO what they are driven
Tor argument.
You will fad that as rule TIE men who
ere crying war, rebels and traitors so vehe +
menily in this campaign are those who were
careful to keep few hundred miles between
themselves and rebel bullets. The republl'
can love for the soldiers occurs periodically
Just before an election, but soldiers will re- '
member that it was q republican president /
who vetoed the soldiers bounty bill when AT
the same time he sIgned the salary grab bill II
that put an additional $4,000 "a year In his I
own pocket, and that it was republican 5
senate that left similar bounty bill 10 die I
without even consideration. Reform Is the /
great issue in this campaign Even repub' S
icans who are bound by party shackles and t
bow the knee to BAIL are forced to acknowl- -
edge that irregularities cxis, in their party,
But there are some more liberal ones that call
things by their right names, as the following
from the great speech of Carl SchurZ, dellv.
cred few evenings ago at Cincinnati, Will
show:
81 have deemed 1t my daty, on every prop
er occasion, unsparlngly to denounce the
abuses which have grown and spread under
the last two administrations. That DUTY re-.
mains the same. OF what | have said on
this subject have nothing to retract Those
abuses have injured the country In the opin.
ION OF mankind aud alarmed the American
people. Neither can those who were guilty |"
of corrupt prac tees or those who, in high {
places, permitted them to grow NJ, be excused
AS the mere victims of a vicious system. II
the plea of temptation were always held valid
as a justification of sin, there would soon be
scarcely temptation without a victim, and
such victims would have a pleasant time of
H. No, | believe in personal responsibility.
have to admit that at no period in our his
tory the conduct of some OF those highest
in power has exercised a more dcmoralizing
and degrading influence upon all the spheres
of public life below than il has within the
last few years doubt whether the arbitrary
use of the power of appointments and re.
movals as a means of iavOrtism, and reward
and punishment, has ever been carried to II
more alarming extent. ! said SO years ago
and when repeat il today, do so with the
assurance that large majority of the repub.
liCaH party have in the meantime come To the
conclusion that was right. go further in
saying that the resolution In the national
republican platform EXPIRE ssing indiscrimiaats
approval of Gen. Grants administration WAS
= weak concession to the established party
usage Of courtesy at the expense OF truth,
and misrepresentation Of public sentiment,
felt to be such by large majority of those
who assented."
This is from republican authority, and is
sufficient to satisfy the most skep,cal of the
corruption of the very party whose candidate