Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1882-10-05

friends for that season, and gave Breugh
several hundred majority in the county.
: The next year Mr.. AleXaI der was for
} peace at any price" still, and cordially
supported the peace at any price" can
didate for President against Mr.. Lincoln
And so on, tc the end.
II l assert without fear of successful con-
tradiction, that at no time after the
spring of 1862 did any Union man of
st. Clairsville for moment doubt that
all his sympathies and hopes were
with jeff Davis and the rebel cause,
and against President Lincoln and the
i Union cause. Whether or not ne pro-
posed the atrOcious sentiment, ITO the
unreturning braves-may there he II
million of them," not Union man of
st. Clairsyille of that time doubts those
were his sentiments. 1t has been charged
upon him for many years, and only af-
ter eighteen or twenty years comes Il
public denial of it. That he WAS a
member of secret Oath-bound organ
izatlOn pledged to resist the draft no
one doubted, but when drafted his
courage oOZed out at his fingers ends,
like it did when called to account by
Mr.. Campbell
This is the manner of man Republi-
cans are asked to vote for Representa-
tive in Congress. Are men prepared so
soon to pat above Abraham Lincoln and
George II. Thomas, the jeff DaviSes and
Lees, and to write upon their ballots that the
young men of Belmont county who fell in
battle died in vain? This is the logical result
of supporting this blatant apologist of the re-
bellion for seat in Congress. No patriotic
man, no man who stood by his country
throughout the great struggle of 1S61-5 can
afford to do any such thing. Suppose one of
us had gone through the camps of the Fif-
teenth, the Twenty fifth, the Forty>third,
the Fifty>second, the Ninety>eghth, and 9TH
er regiments which mustered so many Bel
mont county men, and had said to the men,
'1ou are good, brave fellows, 90 ahead and
put down the rebellion, and in the year of
grace 1882 we will send Ross Alexander 10
represent Belmont county in Congress" and
thence had gone into the hospital or on to the
cannon-ploughed field and had taken by the
hand Joe HewetsOn, or Stacey Craft, or
young Danford, or Ramage, and had said to
him, ''1o ou are dying for your country and its
tiag-God bless you forever. We will strew
your graves with flowers for few years, and
then forget your marches and battles and
death, and return Ross Alexander to repre>
sent US in Congress" What would have Geen
thought of such a man? Would he not have
been hooted from the camps, and would not
the eyes of those dying men have blazed with
the old light of battle?
Ross Alexander and men like him are di>
rectly responsible for the war of tine rebellion, }
and fer all it cost In blood and treasure. But I
for northern men like him, the south would |
never have fired gun at the flag. And yet, |
some people would have US forget all this, |
and send him to Congress to make laws for a
country whose cause he forsook in the hour
of its sorest need. l repeat, let those who be>
lieved in JEFF Davis and the rebellion vote for
him, if they will, but surely no man who
stood by his country during the rebellion
can do so. JUSTICE.