Year: 1864

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overwhelming military force, to destro
the military power Of fhs-GRnfederacy
While you destroy the aTy power
protect the people in their sfoperty--pa
for all you get, be kind to the people. d
notmeddle with Slavery; then when the,
see that the war is closed, that their mil
itary power is broken up; they all acqui
esce in the sway Of your power Wa
he not correct in this2 Do you no
, know that all history presents thes,
truths; that the mass of people Away
submit to an ascendant power, that they
may pursue their business while enjoying
security and prOtectiOn2 Do you no
know that this is the case with yoursel
yes? Are you satisfied with the way il
which your government is acting now
By no means, and yet you all submit
you all acquiesce. 1t is the nature Of
masses of men to do so, and we would
not change this if we could. If we had
pursued the object then proposed, of en-
ding the war in one campaign and resto-
ring the government, success would have
been ours long since. But tits not worth
while to speculate upon what might have
been done or not done, it is enough to
know that we are in the midst of war
such as the world never saw before. Such
numbers of men, such military array,
such provision for maintaining an army
we're never gathered before in all the
wars Of the ancients Such desperate
encounters, such terrible destruction,
such utter annihilation were never known
before in the history Of the World. For
400 years the nations have been amelio-
rating the conditions aud the laws Of
War, until the laws Of civilized warfare
had become as fixed and definite as the
rules of that great code of Common Law,
which regulate the rights of property
But in the face of this we have gone
back more than three centuries and re-
sorted to Spoliation and Desolation as
jGstifable means Of ending this contest.
You often hear Of outrages on property
north committed by the rebels, but you
never speak or believe of like outrages
committed by ourselves, even though the
details are given. The course Of our ar
mics is marked by the confagration of
private houses, and where that is not
done the worst destruction is committed
such as tramping in the lids Of pianos
and then using the fragments as fuel
Within a week past it is announced in a
paper printed under the eye of govern
ment at Washington, that steamboat
had arrived there with the whole furni-
ture of an elegant private residence
feather beds, mattresses, bedsteads, mar
bic top ttbles, a refigerator-and also
an elegant piano, and fine set of music
inscribedsEjth the name of the young
lady Bho'owned it-and that this was to
be confseated and seld. Why? because
they say it is necessary-because they
owe obedience to us as citizens of the
United States, and they have resisted
authority. The most temperate among
these fierce champions of Desolation, say
that We will hang these people-strip
them of their goods-confsCate their
property, and turn them out naked upon
the world-that they are rebels, and reb-
els have no rights. And this is to sup
port the Constitution! Is the Constitu-
ton binding only one side? Does it
give US only power to Oppress and de-
stroy? Has it no protecting arm for the
weak2 Is it for a majority only and not
fer a minOrity7


The President of the United States has
told you that Slavery is the cause Of the
war, and a great many will naturally be-
lieYe him If is the cause Of the war,
lit is because it has been most improperly
meddlcd with. A VOICE That is Il. ]
Have the South ever sought to introduce
Slavery into these States? Have they
ever invaded you for such a purpose
What is the history of the matter? Two
years before the election Of 8Ir. Lincoln,
the present Secretary of State, Mr.. Sew
ard, made a speech in New York declar-
ing that there is an irrepressible conflict
between slave labor and free labor
that the States must be all free or all
slave It required immense hardihood
/ to make the assertion in the face Of his
tory for fifty years, which proved it ut
terly untrue. Before your Constitution
was formed it was the practice Of the
New England Colonies to deliver up fu.
gitiye slaves 1t was the law in every
Colony that slaves might be held: and il
Is the law now, except where it is abel
Iished and prohibited.


Mr. Lincoln before his nomination
made a speech at the Cooper Institute il
New York, in which he told the assem-
bled masses that the trainers of the Con
stitutioh intended that Slavery should bc
abolished. say that they had no such
purpose-and this 1 am ready to main
tain against all eomers, by the History