Year: 1868

I federate Generals and their Northern


allies of the Democratic party, for the


purpose of laying plans for the second
campaign of the Lost Cause champions


against the Union. 1t at once became


evident that in the prosecution of this


new war, strategy must be resorted TO;


The Republican party had emerged


from the smoke of battle, flushed with


victory, and receiving the plaudits of a


nation which it had saved from ruin.


Its future prospects seemed as glorious


as its past experiences. In the couutry's


darkest hours il had never failed to


support the flag, and the nation had


learned to trust it and to lean upon IL


as its strength. The Generals of the


Coniederacy and their allies had matter


for deep consultation in the question,


as to how they should again obtain that


control of the Union which they had


before the war. Although the Ku


Klux by their outrages, the Southern


Generals by their speeches and the un-


reconstructed press by their fire-eating


leaders, were keeping the old issues of
the war before the people, and in effect


continuing the contest between the


North and South, it became evident that


such a contest would result in that same
defeat TO the Democratic party which


betell it in the rebellion. y diversion


was therefore necessary, and the finance
question was thought to answer the
purpose. BY this means it was proposed


TO divert the minds of the people from
the real issue, cause them To forget
the contest between the North and
South set the West against the
"bond-holding East" if possible. and
thereby produce chop sea upon which
the ship of Democracy could ride into
the port of political preferment. Such
was the plan, but like the strategy of
the Great Unready,it has failed to prove
itself a success. Notwithstanding the
admonitions of the northern strategists
to keep quiet until after election, the Hu-
kluxes continue their assassinations,
Wade Hampton loiN have "his say" and
the Mobile Register riU keep the Lost
Cause before the people. Even at the
beginning, Frank Blai=, who, as the tail
to the Democratic dog. had no business
TO do anything else save to wag assent
when the head spoke, made terrible
mistake by usurping the functions of his
antiPodes, and with more candor than
discretion, barked out TO the world
the real issue involved in the contest.
To make matters worse, the Seymour
friend of the financial policy, advocated
in the platform, and was therefore con-
strained to sit still and hold its tongue
and let Frank go ahead. But, despite
all these misadventures the Democratic
party still clings for dear life to the
financial plank of it's platform and seeks
to preserve itself from destruction by its
shouts about the "bloated bond holder"
Vallandigham's cries for "hard money"
ars drowned. Belmont the "bloated
bond-holding" Chairman of the Nation-
al Democratic Committee, is kept as
quiet as a mouse, although his extensive
knowledge on financial questions would
seem to suggest that he should be heard.
and the wire pulling generals of the
North strive TO keep the question of
finances before the people. 1t is all
in vain. If there could be a giant


all built up between the North
ern aud Southern States, or If
river of fire could be made to run be-
tween the two sections as suggested by
some loyalO traitors. it might be possi-
BILE to carry on the campaign in the
South upon the issues of the war, and
in the North upon the financial ques-
ton, but so long as steam and lightning
bring to us the campaign speeches and
documents of the late Confederacy, it
will be impossible to conduct the contest
on any such two-f -faceo principle. The real
issue of the campaign, and one which
has been forced upon the nation by the
South itself, is essentially the same as
that which was at stake during the re-
cent war. Frank Blair states the case
plainly. He declares that the laws of
Congress must be trampled into the
dust, and that we must have another
revolution, or, as the Southern press
more pointedly put it, the rebels must


gain in the success of the Democratic
party all that they fought for in their


rebellion. Whether the cause once lost


and once conquered shall now be gained


and become triumphant is, then, the


real issue. The Democratic press and


the Democratic speeches of the North