Year: 1862

uneoualled condemnation" yet some of
thes. citizens have been in the habit
Of hurahing for JEFF Davis in the vii:
lage streets and wishing that brave colonel
, who had lost his leg in battle had lost his
head instead Of his leg.


Such is a record of facts--and upon it
feel called upon to place myself right upon
the record rs one of your representatives III
the convention.
have first to remark that the president
of the convention has been lieutenant governor
of the State, and as such, the presiding Off
Ger of the Senate and was, and is still. a
| GOOD parliamcntarian. lie knows well that
any member of deiberative body has
| right to have any proposition read before he
| can b. called upon to vote upon it. Second
| ", this convention met at n crisis most disns-
trous and appalling Of any through which the
country has over passed.


A gigantic rebellion. numbering its well Or
ganized and disciplined troops by hundreds
Of thousands, has trinnphantly driven our
armies upon the capital, defeated. dispirited,
and greatly oralized-outnunbcring us
in every field.


The president, forgetting party dogmas
and party lines. stands with ono arm out
stretched graphing with this mighty foe
struggling to repel tho invader and to save
the capital and the government. With his
present forces the prestige of victory has de-
parted from our standard, and the nation is
gasping in the death struggle with these
/ mighty and insolent foemen


| Our fathers. husbands, brothers. sons have
been slain and wounded by thousands. that
have supplied every door sill with coffin
! as when the Lord visited the first born Of
Ervpt-aud every fresidc with a sick and
wounded friend. Aud those who survive in
the field are struggling still to maintain the
urro,,al contest until their brethren at home
can Ay to the rescue. The President has
| issued his call for these much needed recruits.
| The great heart of n great people is stirred to
its inmost depths. The masses are moving
| Martial strains rsound from Maine to Cali
fornia. The whole land has become camp
and men rusl, to the field to rescue their kim
dred and compatriots.


| Such is the time; such are the circum-
stances. All patriots suspend the ordinary
pursuits, to lend helping hand in forward
ing these recruits; and forgetting all else,
with feeling painfully intensified. they cry
constantly one to another. Watchman, what





morning p The president is calling for re-
inforcencns. and nothing but the sound OF
the busy preparation of war is heard over tho
land


Great God are there those in the land
grown rich and prosperous and happy under
the fostering care of this beneficent govern.
ment-who will abandon her in this her hour
of peril or throw stumbling blocks in the way
by fault finding speeches or otherwise to dis
suade or hinder others from rushing forward
to answer the call of the government and
rescue their bleeding country aud their sink
ing friends 10 their eternal shame be it
spoken, there arc such to be found who have
SO done and are doing. At such crisis, and
under such circumstances the Democracy V)
of the country met in convention. And what
did the country expect! Why, that the first
resolution would have been ono Of encour
agemcnt to the President, thanking him for
his untring eforts to uphold the government
against this invading army and all its foes,
secret and open-as he has done-with one
hrnd holding in check the armed enemies of
the nation, and holding back with his other
hand, that determined, fanntical set, that
would prrvcrt the powers Of the government
to its destruction. And the second resolution
we expected would have been one pledging
our lives. our fortunes, and our sacred honors
to aid him in the last penny and the last drop
of blood, in his great and untiring efforts to
preserve tho government, tho constitution
and the Union. Under God we owe it to tho
president and the army, that we have this
day government. and Union ut all. And
to them We shall bc indebted for the preserve.
ton Of both.


We should bc willing to turn the whole
male population in mass into the army, it
needed, and there die in the last ditch. and
leave to our wives, mothers aud sisters the
last sad rites of burial.


But instead Of these and similar resolutions
Of encouragement, and proffar Of support, what
do wc find Resolutions that the constitution
is the supreme law Of the land that the ex.
else is unjust in some Of it's features that the
people had prohibited negroes from coming
into the State Of Illinois, and that law ought
to bc enforced; that economy is advisable
officers ought to b. content with their salaries.
and hand over to the treasury any excess
above tho sum fixed by law, and taxes ought
to be collected in treasury notes. What
great crisis in public affairs demand the as
scmbling Of the Democracy to declare axiom
attic truths at this day. If this is all the
help that can b. rendered to the President,
how long will jeff Davis and his traitorous
compeers leave US a constitution to be a
law property taxed or State for negroes
to enter2


!
I confess with shame and modification this
day, that part of those who were once Dem.
ocrats and with lis. have forgotten their prin'
cinles. their duty and their aliegiance and are