Glass. Book. h ^5? .3 3 3^, ADDRE33 BrrH£ LOYHl O&MOCRACy I OF WISpOVSIKl TO THE Peopu OF THE jSTATP ADDRESS LOYAL DEMOCEACY W^X&CON&XN, TO THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE. REPORTED BY ARTHUR McARTHUR, AND ADOPTED IN CONVENTION AT JANESVILLE, SEPTEMBER 17, 1863. MILWAUKEE: DAILY WISCONSIN STEAM PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT. 1863. ' CO [1 . 3 ADDRESS The present unfortunate c'ondltion of our country appeals to the American peo- ple, asking from all a common devotion for the preservation of liberty, and the vindication of the national authority, as- sailed by a civil war that has no parallel in history. Under the most momentous circumstances that have ever befallen any people, it is just and proper, that a loyal assemblage should establish in their own vindication and for all future time, the de- liberate convictions of their political faith, and at the same time recognize as the high- est and most sacred duty which can rest upon the patriotic citizen, that of unflinch- ingly supporting the Federal Government in its perilous struggle for existence. — This expression is also salutary as well as necessary. The powerful political or- ganization with which we have acted has been betrayed into a position destructive of its usefulness, dishonorable to its pa- triotism, and entirely inconsistent with its history and achievements. We are, therefore, compelled to be uneqaivocally explicit in pointing out these infractions upon the faith and honor of our party ,and we would also prove that a loyalty exists amongst democrats as sincere and imper- ishable as was ever felt by any people to- ward any institutions that sway by bene- ficent laws. We cannot be blind to the fact that self-constituted expounders have warranted public opinion in attributing to the democratic party a want of zeal and devotion in a crisis when the govern- ment can only be preserved by force of arms ; nor can we observe, without anxie- ty, the construction which a reasoning world places upon the resolutions and popular harangues which assume to ut ter its sentiments and embody its spirit.-^ It is beyond denial that the burden and substance, during the last twelve months, of all these addresses, resolutions and pseudo-i)latforms are fraught with disaf- fection to the national authorities, and the most terrible predictions of their evil designs. They nowhere invite a generous and hearty co-operation with our defend- ers, in a war aimed directly at our na- tional life. In a moment of the most iminent public danger they have trans- gressed every limit of mere political oppo- sition, and in repeated instances resorted to the language of threat and defiance. — Instead of cheering congratulations and cordial suggestions, as the cause of the country prospered or was overcast, these factionary exponents have dealt in luke- warm patriotism, or rancorous personali- ties. In place of calling upon the people in the old-fashioned thunder tones of the lion-hearted democracy to stand by the government in its efforts to restore our national integrity; or commending any in- stance of its most brilliant successes, these public effusions have uniformly bristled with accusation, hindrance and the utmost vigor of censure. We may ask how deeply do these spu- rious text books, attemptmg to exemplify the democratic creed, enter into the duties we owe our beloved and shattered com- monwealth — what exhortation do they breathe to follow its banner ? What sac- rifices do they encourage for its salvation ? Where do they compare the appalling evils of defeat, to the minor sufferings and evils and trials through which victory must be achieved ? From what stand has a popular mouthpiece uttered a sentence for the last twelve months which betokens an approval of the most fortunate admin- istrative measure or conduct? In what phraseology has one of this class encour- aged, a hope that the rebellion will be crushed by executive or military vigor ? — Or has one of them upon any occasion sug- gested or approved of a single expedient bv which our success has been achieved, our armies advanced, and the south driven to the wall ? The war upon our hands is, indeed, on a scale of unparalleled mag- nitude ; and among the duties of an Amer- ican citizen, the most vital and absorbing one is its prosecution ; and a little more than a year has elapsed since this was recognized by all good men. With a few erratic exceptions, republicans and dem- ocrats outvied each other in the promp- titude and liberality of tl^eir contribu- tions of moral and material aid to the common cause ; and all parties, except a few Breckinridge apostles who had not changed their politics, contended with each other for the palm of devotion. The plan of circumstances remains un- changed at this hour, and our duties and necessities remain asj urgent as at the first outpouring of our indignation. The rebellion still rears its head, and nothing has occurred to diminish the sacred duty of suppressing it. The loyal people of the North stand now, as then, steadfast in their devotion. In the meanwhile disafiected |)erson6 calling themselves by a singular abuse of the term, a "Democratic Party, " and possessing themselves of its organizations, profess to have a sincere dread of the Administration as the real enemy to be most feared and first defied ; and a strange and painful uniformity is appar- ent wherever their popular assemblages are held. The last object of concern is the vigorous chastisement of the rebellion, and the primary one is to spread the fire- brands of doubt, apprehension, and the wildest alienation from our own govern- ment. We hear from them no soul-stir- ring appeals of patriotism that sounded as battle-cries in the democratic camps of the Revolution, and with which we rous- ed and moved the nation in our wars with Great Britian and Mexico. Now the changes are rung upon the danger of con- fiding in the present powers for an in- stant , and while we are fulfilling the most stupendous portion of our destiny and the thunder of its portents covers the land aud the sea, the thin voice of the pseudo democracy whispers only its com- plaints ; and, indeed, so far has accusa- tion extended beyond the limit of fair de- bate, that the last charge heaped upon the national authorities is, thai they forced this cruel war by a dishonorable trick up- on the peaceful inhabitants of South Car- olina. Every point against the Govern- ment is magnified into the most vital im- portance by large conventions and little caucuses, and the great distinguished pub- lic speakers, and the small distinguished public speakers seldom venture from the slimy flow of vituperation and party epi- thets into the broad torrent that rushes with love of country alone, and stops not to spend itself in envious opposition to the difliculties and errors incident to so great a war. All these querulous carpings are not only unbecoming the democratic party in this great crisis, but they breed at the same time a spirit of insubordination ; they are beacons to the enemy, and if they are even false lights, they still cheer and encourage his hopes, they mislead true and loyal men who are taught to be- lieve misrepresentations by their con- stant repetition; while all who are tainted with Southern sympathy, all who are un- willing to bear arms, all who are disin- clined to pursue the only course before us, in re-establishing peace and the na- tional Government by force of arms ; all who have been guilty of the late insurrec- tions and of resistance to lawful authori- ty (although condemned by all great parties alike), take refuge under the a;gis of the democratic party, and dema- gogues, both in the east and the west, have uttered in its name teachings so dis- loyal and inflammatory as not to be dis- tinguishable from treason itself. Those who are more earnest than polit- ic, avow, without hesitation, that they ad- here to it, because they desire peace not even on the best terms, but on the speed- iest terms. There is no fact more apparent than its notorious indifierence to the war. This element in some of the States has already assumed the form of a principle, as in Connecticut, Ohio and Illinois. The prominent leaders and office seekers here, abstain, through prudential motives, from open and explicit avowals ; but the smaller fabricators of public opinion down to the street and bar-room politi- cians, denounce the war,the taxes and the enrollment, with outspoken and steady vehemence. In this we see that the duties of the citizen have become confounded with his f olitical animosities ; and his platforms have moulded him into a state of privy conspiracy against his own gov- ernment and into unconscious alliance with its enemies. How can partisans led by this class of stump speakers con- tribute an enthusiastic support to the country ? And yet no one doubts its extreme peril. No one disbelieves the immense dangers to which it is exposed, and every hour is fraught with complications of in- seperable perplexity, involving its life and death I Yet what is the democratic party doing ; the party to which Jefferson gave his name, to which Jackson left his mantle ? What is this party of memorial history and glorious traditions doing to save the country, to save itself ? It ia erecting platforms full of terrors and fire- brand addresses which nourish its bitter jealousies, and which becalm it "Like a painted ship upon a painted ocean. " There can only be one conclusion drawn from this supine conduct, and that is, that a controlling body of the party in every part of the State are willing to give up the revolted States without an effort, should that effort require any more fight- ing to retain them, there can be no doubt that this wing of the party constitutes so large a proportioU in its ranks as to over- awe the more patriotic and dictate the policy of the entire body. In the present temper of the loyal peo pie our orators, on public occasions, are not yet equal to the statement of the naked fact, but without some powerful agency interposes to check their down ward tendancy, they will soon be forced into its open admission. And so true is this, that even now if a democrat who is convinced that the .vigor- ous prosecution of the war is of para- mount importance to all other considera- tions as the only possible salvation for the Union, and avows his sentiments, he is instantly ostracised by the platform ad- herants. He is thrust from their councils and confidence ; he is pronounced an enemy of his country and consigned to outer darkness and the black republican party. This sort of political jargon is the very provocative to urge people to disregard their obligations as good citizens, and the same mousing after popular bug-bears characterises the "Ryan address" and plat- form resolutions. They are almost one uninterrupted strain of evil forebodings, oblique perceptions and furious denuncia- tions, while the additional resolve of the convention which adopted them, to amend the constitution itself to satisfy unpardon- ed traitors, shows evidently they had for- gotten the prestige of the democratic party, and how ready they were to plunge it into an abyss long ago reached by every body of men in our history, who have endeavored to weaken the faith of our people in the righteousness of a war for the safety and honor of the country. The most noted instances of historic in- famy have been thus acquired, and pos- terity has always looked back to these symptoms of lukewarm patriotism with a distaste that no defense was ever able to ©bviate. The ill-fame which it casts be- hind grows like the shadows of night darker as the world continues its cc urse. Whilst this act of treachery is now new to the democracy, and its perpetrators have sufficient interest to assert its palliations, the imposture may last, but these will soon die from around it, leaving it in naked disgrace before all aftertimes. We behold the soil of our country red- den with the blood of a whole generation, and our soldiers in their graves and our warriors in their blood-stained shrouds — the murdered host of this accursed rebel- lion, — implore us to sustain by voice and deed the cause in which they fell. Shall the democracy, who have ever been the war party of the country, rally unhesitatingly and unconditionally to the front of danger and the protection of the Union ? We look back with reverence to its early history, let us act with the same wisdom, patriotism and unflinching deter- mination to sustain our government al- though we do not administer its trusts. The document commonly known as the " Ryan Address," was incorporated as part of the Democratic creed by the nomi- nating Convention. It is less definite in its recommendations than the resolutions, but when it first appeared, the height of inflam- matory language was thought to have been reached ; and many of the roost unswerv- ing members of the democratic party were alarmed at its tone, and many of the press- es which now endorse it, refused it admis- sion into their columns, but on the con- trary, spoke of it as an insult to the party and the country. The system that has brought all similar productions into the world was cautious and systematic. At first they passed for the spleen of selfish politcians of the New York News and Daily Day-Book school. The popular enthusiasm for some time, kept down the sprouting disloyalty of this class in Wisconsin, and the attacks upon the conduct of the war had called the attention of authority to sev- eral of the most violent and dangerous dis- loyalists in other States. Owing to these facts, the " Ryan Address," and all papers like it, became guarded in their language, and always introduced some patriotic comaaon places as a mask to their real de- signs. By means, however, of newspaper falsifications and public speeches equally disengenious, and the formation of clubs, in which the most Jacobinical outcries were applauded, an open disaffection was created towards our cause, which, in many places, has since been fomented into open anarchy and bloodshed, and even in Wis- consin, we have seen officers obstructed in the performance of their duties, and un- able to execute the law, without the pres- ence of military forces. The bolder ground of the platform resolutions has thus been reached, step by step. This is evident on the most cursory comparison. The Ad- dress deals in generalities, which are after- wards condensed and pointed in the resolu- tions. The former ventured no farther than to say, in the following moderate terras : " We believe that the Executive acts of whicb we complain, were done rather in inadvertance, by subordinate officers, than in the deliberate purpose of subverting the Constitution or with the sanction of the President.'' The resolutions declai*e precisely upon the same point, that — " These Guarantees have been sj'Rtematically viobt d by tho present federal administration. Not by accident, not by mistake but upon the de- liberate assumption of th*? President of the United States and his subordinates, civil and mili- tary, that they may of right violate them v i,.u- ever in their judgment it may seem expedient. " And in the same breath, we have the fol- lowing threat " And we hold that every deliberate violation of the popular liberty or private right by the Presid- ent or his subordinates is a crime against the Constitution which will be followed by just con- stitutional punishment, if peace and constitutional order should ever again reign in our distracted country." The extravagance contained in these ex- tracts would have been out of place at the date of the Address. The people had not yet been tacitly compromised to listen to such rhodomantades, and would have re- jected the whole affair, with such a repul- sive feature in it. Again, the Address says : " Whatever man, officer, or party assumes to be true to the Union and uot to the Constitution, as our forefathers made it and our ferefathers enjoy- ed it, is disloyal tu both. Blind submission to the administration of the Government, is not devotion to the country or to the Constitution. The Admin- istration is not the Constitution, * * * * and when the Administration violates the Constitu- tion, loyalty to the Adininistrdtioa may become dis- loyally to the Union. ' ' The statement in the resolutions informs us that — " The history of the world has rarely shown a grosser or more systematic abuse of delegated and limited powers or a more insolent assumption of arbitrary power by the constitutional servants of the people." The first was, as far as it was deemed advisable to go, at the time of penning the Address. As, however, nothing had oc- curred in the interim to intimidate the dis- loyalists, the charge of the grossest viola- tion of the Constitution ia made in the reso- lutions, and thus the latter present the very case in which obedience to the Ad- ministration is pronounced in the Address as disloyalty to the Union. There are not a few inconsistencies be- tween the view of the same subject in these two wings of the platform. The sketch of our national difficulties • in the I first, declares that •■' There was no reason why the several States in the Union should not have abided together in harmony for all time ;" but the resolutions as- sure us that " the slaveholding States had received long and grievous provocation, by assaults upon their constitutional rights by Northern Abolitionists, the original and ac- cursed cause of the civil war now raging." How likely " abiding together in harmony for all time,'' is to be the result of long and continued provocations by assaults upon their constitutional rights," is a proposition we leave to be reconciled by the democrats who swallowed the chimera. Nor is the Address consistent with itself, as these two extracts will show. The first one is : " That the revolt and consequent civil war were a long foretold and probable result of tjx^ ac- cession to power of a sectional party, becafise their success was the defeat of the spirit of tile Constitution." The same twaddle about the spirit of the Constitution being violated by the election of a President, made according to the forms and obligations prescribed by its own pro- visions, has certainly no right to a place in the platform of a constitutional party, and if it has any force, it applies more strongly to those who voted on the same occasion for Breckinridge, than to any class of men in the country, some of whom are upon the State Ticket. But the other extract traces the giant crime of rebellion to its proper source. It reads as follows : " But the truth is that the apostles of secession were traitors at heart, independent of the election- and that they wanted and used the electiun only as a lever to preciiiitate the South from its allegi- ance. They duped the Houth into the belief that the entire people of the North were infected with the leprosy or abolition." And the resolutions to put both of these statements at defiance, and taking sides with the revolted States, informs us that the abolitionists were the original and ac- cursed cause of the civil war now raging. And the learned and able gentleman who was the presiding officer of the nominating Convention, declared that our own govern- ment drew the first fire from Southern guns by a preconcerted trick to initiate a civil war. Indeed, the Address, through many paragraphs, labors to divide the re- sponsibility of our present condition be- tween the secessionists and the sectional parties in the North. But the account given by the presiding officer of a villain- ous and unchivalric act of the South, goes beyond a mere palliation ; it acts as a justification as it is intended to do, and to throw the casus belli upon the North alone. But these inconsistencies and historical perversions would not have been endorsed by the delegates if they had for a moment thought of the past. Many years before the " Abolitionists" or " Republicans" had a voice. South Carolina (to whom the term " original and accursed cause" of this rebellion is far more applicable than where 8 we find it) refused to vote at the Presi- dential election at all ; and in 1832, this State had levied armies and prepared every thing for resistance to the laws, as much as if a foreign invasion was about to enter her territory. She adopted an ordin- ance of conditional secession, and such was the indomitable spirit that appeared to prevail, and the determination not to per- mit the laws of the United States to be executed, that an act of compromise was effected solely to avert the consequences her threats of civil war predicted. General Jackson was President at the time, and he was about to give an appalling explanation of what he considered " treasonable prac- tices." He considered that Calhoun had incurred the penalty of death, death by the gallows , without an overt act of violence ; and in the presence of the Great Eternal he avowed his solemn determination that he should speedily be brought to justice. He did not stop to palaver with South Carolina through platforms about their having re- ceived long and grievous provocation, by assaults upon their constitutional rights, on account of the revenue laws which they affirmed to be sectional for the benefit of the North. The dispute was ended by com- promising the protective system ; and every national measure for the last thirty years that the South has found too long or too short for their views, has been de- nounced as sectional, and such no doubt do they regard even the bombardment of Charleston itself. General Jackson declared that nullification was the pretext for dis- union then, and that their next pretext would be slavery. The Ryan platform ver- ifies his prediction. But it is a most inde- cent exposition to engraft palliations for unpardoned traitors in the democratic creed. That portion of the address relating to slavery is one of the most singular passa- ges to be found in political literature. It rivals any of the tortured defenses which bondage calls to its aid, for although we are told that " the democracy have no apology for Southern slavery," yet a considerable space is devoted to its vindication. Within a quarter of a century, although slavery had put forth more apologies for its own existence and extension than any other subject of criticism in the circle of human affairs, yet the democracy have never been so unwise as to make a defense of slavery an element of party, wisdom and piety. We have always regarded the institution as within the protection of the constitutional compromises; and even Southern democrats of the most extreme opinions never asked us to defend it outside of the constitution. But while the masters and partizans of sla- very have had no little anxiety in disposing of its imputed criminality within their own conscience, and before the world, the ter- rible question is disposed of by the con- science-keepers of the Wisconsin democra- cy, by declaring, as an abstract proposition " that the proper condition of the African was subjection in some form to the white * * * when brought together, the ser- vitude of the inferior is the best condition for both races." * * * «< Nature has made social equality impossible without fatally sinning against her laws." * * * This state of things is pronounced " a mis- fortune, not a crime;" "a necessary evil resulting from the violation of natural law in bringing them together," «S:;c., &c. This goes far beyond the serious opinions of reasonable Southerners, and the philan- thropist of the address should not have \Yithheld the opinion of Mr. Jefferson, whom we have always regarded as the best possi- ble authority, who, upon this especial sub- ject in the abstract, has said that the Al- mighty has no attribute that can take sides with the slave master. The attempt is now made, we believe, for the first time, to make this dogma not a mere expression of opinion, but an article of political faith ; and perhaps we should not be surprised that the attempt to discredit the war and its active powers should be coupled with a vindication of the peculiar institution our enemies uphold as the basis of their gov- ernment, and which has led to the blood and ashes of this rebellion. As a political organization the loyal dem- ocrats have nothing to do with it whatever. Its present treatment is one purely milita- ry, its future consideration will be urged before competent tribunals, or disposed of by the direct course of events beyond the control of political action. The Union must and shall be preserved, even if sla- very should perish in the dreadful contest. The address designates the present hour "as a time of great trial and calamity;" " of national suffering and sorrow," " and a crisis of fearful peril to the Union ;" and ic might have added infinitely stronger terms to express the appalling dangers of our condition ; yet in such a moment, when it was so necessary to unite all patriotic citizens, it forgets and forgives no differen- ences of party opinion, but it recalls and embitters them all. The " fearful peril" calls for an amnesty of party animosities, and an offer of peace for past differences of opinion. At the moment of its appearance conciliation was the overruling thought of the people. Instead, however, of this, the address becomes a sweeping and ungra- cious accusation against an immense body of the loyal people of the North who, as it would appear from the returns, have fur- nished our armies with so many of our de- fenders. The changes are sounded upon abolitionists and republicans, and the trai- tors of the South may feel themselves compensated for what is said of them in the vindictive abuse heaped upon so large a class in the very armies that are defeat- ing them. Indeed, the document is a "Pro- clamation to a bitter party warfare, and beyond this there is no appeal to our love of country and fealty to our government ; while the whole tone of its phraseology is throughout rueful, querrulous and threat- ening. Its terms are denunciatory and im- perative. Their staple is that the whole war policy of the government shauld be abandoned. To Americans who are acquainted with the fact that this appeal was made to a people who might be invaded and bhot down in open daylight, the principal blemish of its conception would appear to be the utter and reckless selfishness of its points and objects. Its lamentable want of perspica- city in grasping the very clear outlines of our national position, its unpardonable con- cealment of the demands and necessities created by that position, and its inability to instruct a loyal mind, or even cope with the most humble patriotism, should be suf- ficient to exclude it from the confidence or respect of all loyal citizens. The loyal democracy cannot accept it as an exposi- tion of democratic principle while they denounce it as falling far short of the de- mands of this perilous contest. The platform resolutions begin, where the address leaves off, with an evident per- suasion that if the people cf Wisconsin en- dured the first, anything that could be easi- ly written would not surpass their toler- ance. Proceeding upon this plan, the first of these resolutions recognizes as a fact that deubts had existed whether the Fed- eral Government had power " to coerce a State peaceably withdrawing from the Union," but that this had been solved by the South firing the first gun. The infer- ence, however, still remains that unless a State makes open war upon the Union it is doubtful whether the General Government has power to conrpel the several States to remain in the Union. From whence came this paralyzing doubt, and how comes it stamped with democratic authority. If there be anything in the doubt, then the republican resolutions of our State Legis- lature truly condemned in the address are sound. The dogma came from Southern nullifiers, and no cloud of mystification will ever persuade' the clear American mind that they were incompetent to defend their own government, their ciyil institu- tions, and their hereditary franchises. The incompetent powers of the old Con- federation plainly demonstrated the nects sity of a change in this particular, and furnished a cogent reason for the adoption of the constitution. The necessary author- ity of our government in questions of State insubordinations was strenuously afiirmed by the democratic party of this State all through the Booth trials, and the adjudica- tions growing out of that controversy. The constitution is the same now as then, and why should any countenance be now given to a doctrine which we thon denounced as revolutionary. The second resolution commences by ap- proving of " a war'''' for the defense of the Union. The question which these resolu- tions habitually elude is iht present war, with the battles it has fought cince the re- 2 10 bellious attack upon Sumter. jHere is a mighty struggle for national existence, honor and posterity. Are you foi or against it ? If the latter, vrhat boots the extenu- ating and qualifying casuistries with which you seek to disguise a sentiment you dare not to announce. Is the present war that heaven-approved contest upon which you invoke the blessing of Almighty God, or is it "as unholy a war as ambition could de- vise or tyranny inflict?" condemned in the platform. If you do not drop all vague- ness and become explicit on this point, the world will not respect the verbiage which stands godfather for your patriotism. This resolution is followed by laborious diatribes upon the violated constitution, military usurpation, official imbecility, and the duty which some day may devolve upon the people to take the law into their own hands. As nearly two columns of them have been published daily in a Milwaukee organ as the very acme of democratic wis- dom, they must be familiar to all who pe- ruse that respectable journal. (The fate of this journal is a remarkable instance of mutability in political affairs. It has been engaged lately in reading democrats out of the party, and is now excommunicated itself by the potent edict of the author of the platform.) The rabid character of some of the points, nevertheless, entitle them to as brief a repetition as this extended address will admit. Take the following extracts as a sample of the whole : "But that war waged by the federal goverament to reduce sovereign states to provincial dependen- cy, or to subvert rights secured by the constitu- tion to the several states and the people thereof, under a pretence of maintaining both, would be as unholy a war as ambition could devise or ty- ranny inflect. ■!(•**** 3. Resolved, That while we believe that the slave- holding states had receivea long and grievous provocation, by assaults upon their constitutional rights by northern abolitioniem, the original and accursed cause of the terrible civil war now raging yet we believe the revolt. * -x- * * * And that the present federal administration, in conducting the present war, has left the world in doubt whether their principal object is to restore the constitution at the south or to subvert it at the north. The history ol the world has rarely shown a grosser or more systematic abuse of delega- ted and limited powers or a more insolent assump- tion of arbitrary power by the constitutional ser- vants of the people. * * * * * Our fathers founded the constitution, and if those charged with the administration of the fed- eral government should be so ineane and guilty as to turn their power against the rights of the states and the peoplpof the north, we fully believe that they will tind tlie great masses of the northern people without distinction of party, worthy of the constitution by supporting it, and worthy of the fathers who founded it, by imitating their example under lawless oppression. Better liber- ty and right out of the Union than a government above the constitution and the laws. •* * * * * These guarantees have been systematically vio- lated by the present federal administration. Not by accident, not by mistake but upon the deliber- ate assumption of the President of the United States and his subordinates, civil and military, that they may of right viola.te them whenever in their judgement it may seem expedient. * * * * * And we hold that every deliberate violation of the popular liberty or private right by the Presi- dent or hi-f subordinates is a crime against the con- stitution which will be followed by just constitu- tional punishment, if peace and constitutional or- der should ever again reign in our distracted country. * * * * * Many other official acts of congress, the presi- dent and his subordinates, not only tend to show a conspiracy to establish, but if executed, do of their own force establish a military despotism on the ruins of the constitution.' There are attendant phrases clustering a- round these appeals to a spirit of contuma- cy to recommend them to public toleration. This only makes them more dangerous. Now, such are some of the insinuations, which, though not heard of at the time of the Address, have since then dilated into the bulk and burden of political platforms and oratory. If it had been the design to lay our present form of Government aside, a more revolutionary method of preparing the public mind for that event could not have been devised by the ingenuity of our leaders. If the Executive, in the confusion, embarx-assment and bloodshed of this mighty struggle for national existence,com- mits an act, these self-constituted censors pronounce unconstitutional or infractory of State rights, they assume the right to proclaim his efforts tyrannical and " un- holy," and if Congress or the President fall into errors, they are to be denounced as lawless oppressors, and the " great masses" are to imitate the revolutionary example of their fathers. Another conclusion to which we are driven by these fulminations, is, that the war against the revolted States has become unholy and damnable, from some cause or other, in its conduct ; and this is the inevitable inference from the connection of the statement in the second 11 resolution. There is a constant recur- rence of grievances we have never felt, and they are repeated at every breath, as if the people could net otherwise be brought to believe in the truth of the pic- ture. Is this like the calm transactions of men resolved to stand by their rights, their country and firesides, in a moment so hu- miliating to the loyal American heart. It is an often repeated motto that the President is amenable to the laws as well as the private citizen, and a vindictive threat is made of bringing him and his officers to punishment at^some future day. We are not engaged in a defense of that officer, but are exposing these resolutions. The main allegation, in connection with this threat of punishment is a direct false- hood. The President has never set himself above the law, or deliberately assumed that he had a right to violate the provisions or guarantees of the Constitution, as charg- ed upon him in one of these extracts. On the other hand, he has in his acts " assum- ed" to place himself behind the aegis of the Constitution and asserted its para- mount sanctity, and it is well known that he has rescinded in a spirit oi cautious compliance with the general tenor of the Constitution, many acts of his subordinates. It should also be said, for the sake of truth, violated in this resolution, that the corres- pondence, State papers and personal inter views, in which the President and his ad- visers have sp.'ken upon public affairs, they have uniformly contradicted the tact that they followed any other guide than the Constitution and the laws. In this specu- lative opinion he may have been mistaken; but what can be more pernicious than holding a threat of punishment and degra- dation over the head of the Chief Magis- trate for an offense of which he is not guilty, to fall upon him as soon as he shall rescue us all from an almost exterminating peril. But such is the mysterious way of a platform. There is a passing compliment to our soldiers, and the only other object selected for sympathy is a man who is principally notorious for his glaring treason. Vallan- digham is introduced, with a volley of abuse, derogation and defiance to the pow- ers that be, in the implied impersonation of a hero and a patriot, and as the most noto- rious villifier of the war is to be exalted for his misdeeds and the method of their pun- ishment. Without entering into the controversy on this point, we thus see a most contumaci- ous demagogue, who endeavored by every artifice in his power to stir up sedition among the citizens and mutiny among the soldiers, represented as a martyr to human rights, whom the people cannot too much honor. It is simply a tender to every man with the ability and opportunity, to stir up revolt for the sake of civil promo- tion. It is a prize offered for the great- est proficiency in disloyalty and public disturbance. It is made the qualification of the Governor, of a large and powerful State, to have declared void the acts of Congress, the authority of the public servants, and excited insurrec- tion among the people whose government is tendered to him. The example of Vallandig- ham is more depraved than the combined fe- rocity of the New York rabble, because it , leads to such outbreaks. The only compensa- tion in this shocking transaction is that the brutal murderers who are instigated by such teachings, will serve out their period of incarceration and slink out of sight, but the Ohio traitor will never be forgotten as long as the name of Benedict Arnold is remembered. It will retain its bad pre- eminence after his more feeble imitators in Wisconsin shall have perished forever. A lamentable want of political candor is observable throughout all this enormous platform. The Northern or Loyal States have been visited, as we are told, with an experience of woe and danger, of tyranny I and oppression, to an extent seldom found on the pages of history, and the final con- clusion is announced : " Better Liberty and right out of the Union, than a Govern- ment above the Constitution and the laics." This piece of gasconade is not an original conception with the platform. It is an old fire-eaters sentiment, drank too with ap- plause for the last quarter of a century in ! South Carolina and the slave cities general- I ly, from whence it has been transplanted 1 by our Wisconsin oracles. And to give 12 point to this motto, we are further told that in certain contingencies, the masses will be found worthy of the fathers who founded the Constitution " by imitating their example under lawless oppression." That is, the Constitution is to be preserved by levying war against the federal authori- ties as our fathers did against George the Third and the Stamp Act. It is to be de- plored that able men will work themselves up to such a pitch of inflammatory expres- sion at an hour requiring so much deliber- ation as the present, and it is still more wonderful that such Southern exotics should make their appearance in the medi- tations of a modern expounder. To cap the climax, the genius of Wisconsin, in in- fusing hatred of lawful authority, soar to such a height that it declares the history of the world has rarely shown a grosser or more systematic abuse of powers or a more insolent assumption of arbitrary power, and that the Administration, in conducting the war, has left the world in doubt whether their principal object is to restore the Con- stitution at the South or to subvert it at the North. In other words, we are told that the efforts of the Administration to subvert the Constitution in the North, have been equal to all the great battles, and the ex- penditure of a thousand million of treasure, and a hundred thousand lives, engulphed in this war against the South. Is this not the language of insanity ? We are told that the South are destroying the most benignant government on earth, but in another breath we are informed that our own authorities are systematic oppress- ors,insolent assumers of power,and deliber- ate violators of the law,and that no man can tell whether they are attempting to destroy the cons'itution or to save it ; that we are right in defending our country, but that the aduiinistration is not the government, and that we have a right to revolt from it. If we would march firmly against the enemy, we are pointed to a greater foe among our comrades. The broad ground is admitted that the South has robbed us of our fairest possessions, but we are especially instruct- ed that we have been robbed of our most precious privileges by our own government in the North. We are told that most un- 1 doubtedly we should defend the Union of our fathers, and the same breath admon- ishes us that the very means employed to do so are in danger of being used in the most unholy device ever conceived by ty- ranny and ambition. The armies of the South are our enemies on all the battlefields in this war, and on the seas of the earth. They have destroyed our peace, shed our blood, and sunk our ships for two years. Yet we are told that an equal enemy prepares destruction for us at home, and that both of them are foes to us of the greatest magnitude. In a crisis demanding the utmost single- ness of mind, an honest patriotic party ask advice ; they are anxious to do their duty, and they repair to a publicist of note ; he gives them a platform, and their confusion is complete. They are thus imbued with the idea that the national administration and the demo- cratic party constitute hostile elements, and that the latter must find fault with and denounce every act of the former. The safety of the country is at stake, and may be deeply and fatally affected by this ruth- less proscription ; yet the most abject sub- servancy to these prejudices is the only acceptable pledge of party obedience, al- though it banishes justice and patriotism from our ranks, and deprives our couatry of our sympathy and aid in the moment when its life or death hangs upon passing events. Again, an able bodied youth experiences an antipathy towards shouldering a mus- ket, and consequently desires to defraud the country of his enrollment. His politi- cal instructors tell him that the war is a nefarious one, and may become " unholy" in its present hands, and he willingly par- ticipates in these views He and a thou- sand or more like himself finally adopt an address and a string of resolutions setting forth these doctrines, and he stands upon his platform. The laws of Congress, the decencies of patriotism, and the common peril of us will have been superceded by his platform. He lives and breaths under the Ryan dispensation. If he commits treason, well and good, so have his friends and guides. Will the democratic party 13 much longer submit to such guidance, y We call upon them to repudiate this stupendous system of contradiction and selfish abstrac- tions, and once more raise the standard of our former triumph and glory. Amidst all these inflammatory apptals,no word is spoken of the ceaseless cares which weigh down those guidiog our destinies ; no thought is bestowed on the mighty task of a government sending forth thousands to battle who may never appear again among their friends ; no sympathy for the wisdom which has preserved our national capitol from desecration, and which has kept the country unentangled with foreign nations, and unscathed by their hostilities. Ye are not enjoined to admire with grati- ** ude the development of our colossal fi- lances, or the resources and prosperity iijvhich strike other nations with wonder, WiVe are not referred to the material corns ort and increasing independence of almost I'very branch of industry, or the magical ■levelopment of heretofore unknown sour- ;-es of security and power. Why are we lot reminded of the opulence that has set- led upon the cities, or of the auspicious I'ewards that are gathered from labor in ';he country ? Even the narrow partizan cannot offer his congratulations that our .'avorite arm of defense on the sea is now 1 wall of iron that the batteries of the old world cannot indent or deflect from its course. No cheering word escapes from , this mass of animosity, turbulence and re- * morseless egotism ; not an interest or pas- iff. sion is laid on the shrine of our country. Patriotism, affection and self-denial throw no votive garland to their motherland; ithey pass by and leave its altai cold and bare. d Such are some of our reasons for oppos- Jing the platform and the present position of the disloyalists. We cannot defend the latter any more than we can uphold the patriot^ ism of the Hartford Convention, and we rejoice to know that the State and the country abound with a clear- sighted and loyal democracy. The sophistries of prac- ticed debaters, of special pleaders, and technical hair-splitters, have nevtr been able to impose upon them a permanent misconception of public affairs, nor of their public duties. The sober second thought has invariably dispelled the erroas pro- duced by new issues and propagated by designing partisans. And even already there are many indications that public opinion has become in a considerable de- gree disabused of the erroneous impres- sions the address and its accompanying resolutions were intended to produce. A deliberate examination of these cold-blood- ed productions has carried a wide-spread conviction that they were put forth for the ends of a bitter party warfare, and not for the welfare of the whole people ; that they merely deal in the conventionalities of a hollow loyalty ; that their patriotism is one of pretense, and not ardant and spon- taneous ; that they retail the words of an actor, without the inspiration of a patriot. The intuitive discernment of the people has detected the contradictions and eva- sions which these papers impiously set up to meet the great issues of this convulsion, and which are insisted upon as their stan- dard of political faith. The people observe that in spite of the ominous predictions and wide-spread op- pressions which they recklessly claim to exist, that our armies are triumphant, our credit unshaken, public liberty held sacred and universally enjoyed, while all kinds and conditions of men are prosperous and contented. They also know that the very men who have personally confrouted the dangers, and most intimately observed the necessities of the present war, give the most solemn verdict in its favor, and we hear of no remonstrances against its con- duct or continuance from the Stark- weathers, the Barstows, the Sanders, the Braggs, the Fairchilds, the Hen- nings, or the Hobarts. The forethought of the democracy is already beginning to tear the veil from the monstrous fallacies which the platform exalts to the import- ance of democratic truths, and already the enemies of our national integrity, of our Union and our Constitution, appear before the party they have failed to deceive and destroy, to receive their condemnation at its hands. Here, to-day, we raise the old standard, blazing all over with its resplend- ent motto : " The Federal Union : It Must and Shall be Preserved !" ARTHUR Mc ARTHUR. Chairman of Committee. LFJg'IO ^ ••^%-'' ^i. \ s i