Year: 1863

fruits Of our labor, for the purchase
! of negroes, aud the benefit of contr ac-
tors, in its bigotry and persecution Of
men for opinions sake; in its censor
ship Of the telegraph and the press;
in its arbitrary arrests and denial Of
the right of trial by juries; in its en-
dorsing the principles of secession in
admitting the western portion of Vir-
giuia into the Union; in making dis
ordinations in regard to the burdens
of war between poor men and rich
men; and in many other ways not nes
cossary to mention-it has violated
the principles Of our free government
which VIC have given above, and has
thus greatly endangered the permanent
cy of the Republic. Our object is to
bring the Administration back to the
right path and true policy, NOT to
overturn the government or assist its
enemies.


And in doing this, We 30 not propose
to exercise physical violence. That
remedy for our troubles is ono that the
AboGtionists may claim as peculiarly
their own. They alone propose to
establish the correctness Of their prin-
cipIe8 by violence and pcrsecution.-
We arc law-abiding citizens and shall
not follow their example. We know
the constitutional remedy for the evils
that surround us. We will stand by
the law and aid in securing its ehicien-
cy. We ask for nothing but what is
right and Will submit to nothing that
is wrong; and we here most solcmnly
warn those who are striving to excite
the mob spirit in this community to
beware of the consequences Of their
acts lest they raise in our midst a
spirit that will not down at their bid
ding.


Again, it is reported that our Club
| is 8 SECRET organization and has com.
nunication with or forms part Of what
is called the "Knights Of the Golden
Circle. % This charge is hardly wor-
thy Of any notice at our hands, for it
| is as ridiculous as it IS malicious, and
is merely thrown out to divert the
! public mind from the danger to be ap-
pretended from the secret organization
Of the League" We know nothing
Of the existence Of the society to
which they say we belong, nor do We
believe any such organization exists in
our State. Is is not however little
strange that those very persons who
accuse US Of having q secret organiza>
ton, and condemn us accordingly, are,
by their own admissions, members Of
just such an organization as they de-
nounce, an organization which seeks
to substitute for open, manly discus
sion that system which made itself SO
dangerous in the Jacobin Clubs of the
French Revolution, and so odious in
the Know Nothingisn of our own
country.


Socrcsy and cobalistic insignia are
the peculiar weapons of our opponents;
but Democrats discard such weapons,
as they have nothing to conceal
They advocate what they believe to
be the truth, and this they do OPENLY.


But again, it is charged by persons
who have left US, that we rejected GER
tain resolutions which we ought to have
passed. Well, let us suppose for a
moment, that the charge is true, is
that sufficient excuse for q man to
a bandon his principles and throw him
self into the arms Of the opposition?
Did the enemy to whom they surren~
dercd themselves pass thosoresolutions?
e not, should they not abandon that
| party also? If the resolutions were
lost it was for the want Of their sup
port, Why did not they adopt them
themselves? No answers to these inN
| quirjcs are necessary, as We all under
stand the matter.


But the resolutions were rot reject
ed. They were introduced into the
| Club with an IMPLIED THREAT that if
they were not adopted every man
should be marked and held up to the
| public as traitor. The dignity Of
the society demanded the action that
was taken in the premises.


These resolutions, together with a.
mother series, were afterwards taken up
and referred to special committee who
reported our present platform-"The
Constitution as it is, the Union as it
was, and rigid enforcement of all
! constitutional laws" AS including in
brief both the series presented.


! why we were Defeated.