-;'
r l ceil m
i I.IUUKCR, Editor and Proirietor.
JjODD HUTCHINSON, Publislier.
I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT THAN PRESIDENT. Henry Clay.
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VOLUME 5.
Address ellvered by Fred.
Jleyers, Esq., before the Ger
man Republican "Union," at
.Washington City, November
21, 1863.
3r. President and Gentlemen : Grratc
lully do I accept your kind invitation to
address you to-night, conscious that how
ever humble my effort, I bear the earnest
purpose to aid the Republic. If ever
there was a time when heroism .and self
sacrifice were needed, it is the present;
and fortunate, indeed; are we, who now
liaveao opportunity, which centuries may
not bring again, to cultivate and exercise
"these great 'qualities which all history
reveres. ,
We need no longer point to the past,
to the revolutionary sires, to establish our
greatness as a nation. It is the glorious
present, in which we are now actors,
which stamps us as worthy of the past ;
and the achievements of our national
childhood have been proportionately ex
'cdled by the deds cf our national
manhood. So great is the preseut so
tofcdcrtul our display of national heroism
and cwer, .and so triumphant our faith
in the future, that millions of aspiring
spirits will sigh, and sigh in vain, that
they were not with us partaking the glory
of the present.
THE PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT.
There are only twd ideas upon which
all human governments are based one is
'the idea of despotism and aristocracy, and
the other that or republicanism and .de
mocracy. The former is based upon th
assumption that one man, like Napoleon
in France, or a particular class of men,
Hke the aristocracy of England, are more
capable of administering public affairs
than the masses "the hewers of , wood
and drawers of water;" while the latter
assumes that the great mass of citizens in
their collective capacity is wLser and more
capable than any one class. Profoundly
convinced that the idea of republicanism
is based upon truth and justice, I hold
that wc ought to maintain ii against all
assaults, foreign or domestic, and by every
acrifice which the occasion demauds.
Kising above all creeds or parties, we
fcmt take our stand upon the broad plat
form that the right of the majority of the
people to rule the nation, in accordance
with the Constitution, mtst be main
tained. SELF -GOVERNMENT A. DCTV.
Self-gorernment is not so much a priv
ilege as a duty, for the correct discharge
tof which wc arc amenable to ourselves, to
the future, and 'to God. We cannot
escape this solemn responsibility. If in
times of peace 'and pr6sperity we must
express our best judgment through the
ballot-box, how much more is it necessary
to do so now in times of great peril ? We
toast not only be willing to die for the He
public, but to slay for the Republic, and
a'oove all it is our solemn duty tothinc
frrthe Republic. .Never did the country
Deed wise counsels more never were
ideas, whether m the field of statesman
ship or mechanics, more acceptable, and
lever was just criticism more necessary
tj enable those in authority to correctly
iWharge their duties. In fact, in no
ffay can we serve the Itcpublic better
ttaa by giving it our highest thought.
THE CACSE OF THE WAR.
It is not the fault of republican insti
tutions that the present deplorable war
exist.. There is nothing in the structure
tfa Republic that could cause such a
?onn'ict. It is the departure froni the
idea upon which the nation was founded
"the willful violation of the fundamental
kw of it3 being which has well nigh
caused its destruction. And it we sur
yive as a nation, we owe it chiefly to that
aiall band of reformers, the Bo-called
Abolitionists and Free Democrats, who,
respite the influences of wealth and power,
prepared the mind of the people for -the
dreadful conflict. . A little less anti sla
terJ sentiment in the North a little more
copperhead sympathy in the great States
f Ohio, Pennsylvania arid New York,
"oold have inevitably ruined public af
fairs. IJe therefore, who strain ed every
tefve to increa?e the anti-slavery senti
ment of the people for the last ten years,
nd particularly during this war, was the
feeing statesman, while those who aided
111 corrupting the public mind, for partizan
Purposes, were undermining the founda
lI of the Republic.
surely T need not prove to you that
Vuy " the cause of tlie war trie whole
it tuQ0WS lt and the South Prclaim3
J The present struggle was foretold by
ay citizens, and the inevitable and ir-
epresstbio conflict pointed out by eminent
atesiuen.
THB JCSTIFICATIOX OF THE WAR.
thJfresent war can be justified before
e tribunal of history and mankind upon
u grouod that a nation, like an individ-
EBENSBUHG, PA., THUKSDAY, FEBRUARY -11 1864.
ual, has the right to defend its own life.
Had the slave-oligarchs proposed peaceful
secession from the "hated and mean
spirited Yankees," by packing up their
"duds" and taking their departure for
Central America or some other hot clime,
we might have said, "Stand not upon the
order of your going, but go at once."
But when they proposed to create a hos
tile nation upon our own territory, when
they claimed a right not only to the
Southern States but to the Territories of
the United States south of 36 deg. 30
min. to the Pacific Ocean, when they
endeavored by foreign alliances to crush
out our power at home and our influence
abroad, the -war became a necessity..
Frederick the Great wasredhe Seven
Years' war,
asraiust
the great powers of
the Continent, .for the purpose of retain.
ing possession of Silesia, a province of so
small a territorial extent that we might
put it into the pocket of Texas and scarce
ly miss it. Yet history has justified that
monarch and the Seven Years' war, tho'
it subjected .the people to extreme priva
tions. If, then, this war were waged
solely to retain possession of our territo
iies, the war would be just.
But we are fighting for a grander object
the inalienable rights of man. We are
endeavoring to maintain the right of the
majority to govern, in accordance with
the Constitution, and the right of the
minority to enjoy personal fieedom. We
maintain that every man by virtue of his
manhood has the right to "life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness," of which
uo msjority can deprive him, except for
crime.
The people of Germany waged war
from 1618 to 1648 to cstablishreligious
freedom. For thirty years the conflict
raged, until nearly one-third ot the cities
and villages were in ruinsand deserted.
Famiue reigned over the land, and in
1629, in the village of Nuremberg, a single
egg sold for a florin. At the end of the
war, notwithstanding the natural increase
of an entire generation, Germany had
lost fully one-third of its inhabitants; and
yet history justifies that most desolating
of all wars upon the ground that the right
of privSte judgment in matters of religion
was worth all the sacrifices. The grand
idea of human freedom and personal lib
erty for which we wage the conflict is
such a priceless boon that a thirty years'
war wagedin its behalf would not be too
great a price. In fact, it ali '6t us were
required to offer up our lives to maintain
this great temple of Republican freedom,
so that the world might have the benefit
of its example, and future generations
secure its blessings, we ought not to falter
or to hesitate.
We, who are the immediate spectators
of this revolution, count its duration by
days, weeks and months, but the historiau
will count it only by years. And on the
15th of April, 1861, only three years
will have elapsed since the tocsin of war
summoned a peaceful people, engaged in
the pursuits of peace, to the arena of
deadly strife. The progress, moral and
physical, which we have made is great
beyond cocception, and the numeration
of a few leading points will convince the
most skeptical of cur final and not far
distant success.
OCR MOTIAL PROGRESS.
Gov. Chase, representing the radical
wing of the Republican parry; begged the
liorder State men in the Peace Conven
tion, to ttay their fratricidal hands,
promising that slavery, within the limits
of the States, should not be interfered
with, but that, if they would give up all
idea of its further extension, he should be
willing to compensate the slave holders
from the public treasury for their losses
in fugitive slaves. Gov. Seward and many
others were ready to go further, even to
the adoption of a new article ir the Con
stitution, eternizing, as lar as human
legislation could do it, American slavery
in the Southern States.
Even after the war broke out, a M'CleU
lan proclaimed in West Virginia, a Butler
in Maryland, and a Sherman in South
Carolina, that slavery should be protected
by the armies of the Republic, and that
the rebel, though he might forfeit his
right to life, could not forfeit- his right to
hold slaves. So thoroughly pro-slavery
were many of our Generals, that in the
West General Ilalleck issued his notorious
Order No. 3, excluding every colored
person, free or slave, from the linc3 of the
Union army, and in the East, the Hutch
inson family those sweet minstrels of
freedom were expelled by military order
from the camps ot our soldiers. And it
was during the winter of 1862, when the
Army of the Potomac was systematically
rendered disloyal to the central idea of the
couflict, that the germs of all its misfor
tunes a&d inefficiencies were planted. Aye
we may thank a merciful Providence that
the army was saved in time from tho
intrigues of military demagogues whose
names are well known, before they had
quite turned'it against our own Govern
ment ; and when the secret history of that
army is published, it will appear that we
made a narrow escape. Our brothers were
even compelled to storm forts, erected by
the hands of bondmen whom we resolutely
refused to absolve from rebel masters.
Step by step au unwilling people and a
hesitating Government were compelled by
the logic of events; by defeats and disaster
to call upon all loyal men, free or slave,
white or black, to strike for the Republic;
and thus the very power and intensity of
the rebellion has worked the destruction
of slavery.
As Moses in the wilderness, wherthe
children of Israel were afflicted with the
plague, set up the brazen serpent, that ali
who should behold it might be saved, so
has Abraham -Lincoln, the Liberator,
planted our flag, that all who rally around
its folds shall be forever free. Though
born in chains, and divgsted by state laws
of all civil and political rights, as soon as
the slave takes refuge beneath the banner
of the free, the chains shall drop from his
limbs, and he shall stand free and disen
thralled by virtue of his humanity. Grate
ful for this boon, the black man to-day
stands shoulder to shoulder with ourselves
to shed his blood for a common fatherland
he is to day fighting for our rights, for
our liberties, and the unity and power of
the nation.
OCR MILITARY ACHIEVEMENTS.
On the 4th day of March, 1861, after
President Lincoln had made his successful
escape into Washington, eight hundred
regulars and some two thousand district
militia were all the military force on hand
to protect the Capital, and to uphold the
dignity of the natiou. No wonder that
Foreign Nations, accustomed to large
military displays, believed that all was
lost ; and that the traitors, whose spies
filled our hotels, held that this nation
would be an easy conquest. Entirely
disarmed, olficers and men alike untaught,
the people commenced the conflict thus
suddenly forced upon them, and at the
end of two years we hold two-thirds of the
territory which the self styled Confederacy
claimed as its own. MarylandDelaware,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas
and Louisiana, one half of Yiipinia and
Mississippi, and portions of the Carolinas,
Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Texas, and
all the Territories to the Paeific, are now
in our possession. Napoleon, the Great,
when lie planted his victorious eagles in
Poland and in Spain, had conquered less
territory than we now hold. Even if we
should not gain another rood of soil, but
only hold what we have already couquered,
the independence of the South could never
be attaiucd. Virginia is a conquered
province while we hold Fortress Monroe,
and our fleet commands the York and
James rivers. South Carolina can have
uo trading intercourse while its commercial
capital is at the mercy of our arms, nor
can any of the Western States lay claim to
independence, while New Oilcans and
Chattanooga are in our possession and. the
navigation of the Mississippi is secured by
our gun boats. The Richmond 'Enquirer.
. fully realizing the truth of this position,
has itself declared : "We may win victories
I npon our own soil, but independence never.
OCR XAVAL ACHIEVEMENTS.
Our Navy, which scarcely deserved the
name at the beginning cf this war, has
risen in dignity and power until it is pre
eminently theJirst among nations. Never
were ourmef?tfaiiical genius and resources
put to a more severe test, and gloriously
have we sustained our reputation.
One single Monitor needs the labor Of
several thousand mechanics, day and night,
for months, with all the advantages of
improved machinery, before the huge iron,
turtle is complete in all its parts. Never
was I more impressed with our wonderful
mechanical genius, than when witnessing
the building of .the 3Ionitors, at Green
Point, near New York. Think of the
thousands of square feet of wrought iron
plates, riveted to tho huge iron ribs, the
turrets, the engines and the armament
all begun in an impromptu manner, and
so little failure .o much success. In
another year our iron-clad navy will equal
jnn strength and general efficiency those of
Irauce and ' England, and our naval
renown, so dearly purchased in previous
wars,-has been augmented by the capture
of New Orleans and the passage of the
Vicksburg batteries.
OCR FINANCIAL TRIUMPHS.
But there if an element, of strength
beyond all these, which most inspires the
hope of success it is the astonishing
financial prosperity of. the nation, dazzling
alike to Europe, and to the rebels, them
selves. 7 ' ,
In times of peace, the main and almost
only duties of the Treasury Department
consisted in collecting the Custom House
duties, aud i iu disbursing the public
monies according to law. : If, indeed, any
financial skill was needed iu the head of
that Department, it was to invest the
surplus' revenue to the best advantage for
the United States. So successful, howev
er, was Howell Cobb in disposing of the
public funds, that no similar . financial
skill was necessary in his successor. Tem
porary loans were negociated at 11 and 12
per cent, per annum, ind the London
Times remarked that "war in the United
States was an . impossibility, because our
treasury was bankrupt, and that we need
not look to England for assistance."
In these circumstances, when the nation
deemed one hundred millions of dollars an
enormous debt, and when confidence in
the integrity of the Union was at its lowest
ebb, Secretary Chase took charge of the
fiuances of the Government. ; lie laid
aside the ease and independence of a
Senatorship, to ehare the responsibilities
of a government whose policy, in many
instances, he could not control, so thafthe
ideas and principles for which he had
made so many sacrifices in the past, might
not be imperilled.
For nearly one year, in the face of the
Rull Run disaster, aud the inexplicable
inactivity of our armies, he maintained
the gold standard in the payment of public
dues: and while he had no control over
the expenditures, made with lavish hand,
upon his shoulders alone fell the responsi
bility of providing the necessary funds,
and of maintaining the national credit.
The Custom House duties were entirely
inadequate ; and direct taxation promised
but barren results. It is true, Treasury
Notes were no new experiment learal
teuder ; notes having been tried iu the
American and French revolutions but
the results were extremely unsatisfactory.
The financial skill, therefore, consisted not
in resorting to them, but in sustaining
their value. The rebels at once issued
Gray Racks," but, like the French As
rignats and the Continental money, a
hatful is scarcely worth a dollar.
The Internal Revenue system, yielding
a revenue of one hundred millions of dol
lars per annum, was created ; and the new
banking law was devised to encourage
capitalists to fund the Demand Notes.
Already 130 banks, with a capital of fifteen
millions, have been organized, and their
prospective increase is so great that the
Five-Twenty bonds are rapidly absorbed in
anticipation of a future demand. Aside
from these positive advantages to the
government, the people themselves will be
greatly benefitted. It cannot be expeeted
that the great mass of our citizens "shall
know the condition and solvency of some
twelve hundred banks, issuing some five
thousand different bank bills. The uew
system will give them, instead, a uniform
currency, based upon the highest security,
which will become so familiar to the eye
that successful counterfeiting will be well
nigh impossible. It is sale to assert that
the losses caused to the nation by the
insolvency of banks, by the circulation ot
counterfeit and broken bank money, and
particalaily by the great difference of
exchange, reaching at times 10 per cent.,
amount to thirty millions xif dollars per
annum, which would pay the iuterest on
five hundred millions ef dollars of the
national indebtedness. The public debt
i? also more equally distributed more can
be absorbed by the people of the West, 80
that the interest can remain in their own
States, and their surplus will not be
gathered up iu taxes, to be disbursed on
the seaboard.
To the people of the West so many new
sources of wealth presented theiselves
mines, manufactures and agriculture
that they borrowed capital from the East,
at the enormous rates of one to tw"o per
cent, per month, aud, although individu
als ia these circumstances failed, the
West, as a whole, was progressive. Now
when the increased volume of currency
has reduced the value of money to six per
cent., the -West flourishes beyond prece
dent. New mines are opened, new man
ufactures are. established, more Boil 13
cultivated by means of the most approved
machinery, colleges and churches rise up
in magnificence, and a much superior
style of architecture has been adopted in
the erection of private buildings. Never
were the creative energies of a people
more aroused, or surplus capital more
rapidly accumulated. I have traveled
extensively in the West, and know that
its progress is substantial. So promising
are the fields of enterprise that capital
borrowed at six per cent, is earning
twenty, and .thus the national debt is
enriching the natiou. .
This brief review of our moral, military
and financial progress assures us of final
?uccess, and the only question that ro
mains to be considered is "how shall we
be able to secure permaneut peace, at thts
least expense to the loyal people." .
A CX1TED PEOPLE.
1. The first clement of sucecsb i a
union of the people for the sake of the
Union. ' Democrats should ' remember
that it is necessary to have a country,
before it lean be" ; ruled, and to hav3 a
government, before it can be administered.
They need not be afraid, that if slavery
dies, there will be no room for political
parties, for new questions will swou arise
and new parties will be organized. . Rut
during the pending contest we must know
no creed or party, but only, our common
country. As in great business enterprises,
to secure colleges, railroads and manufac
tories, tho en masse unite for the common
benefit, so rrnist. we all unite to recruit our
armies, and to uphold the arm of the
government. We must never forget that
this is our tear, that our armies defend
our homes, and that, when they are to ,
longer able to invade the enemy's country,
our own firesides are laid waste.
EMANCIPATION IS THE BOXtDER STATES.
2. Nothiug will discourage the rebellion
so much as speedy measures for the
extinction of slavery in the Border States.
Every rood of soil upon which free
institutions are established is forever
redeemed from the grasp of the rebels.
The anti-slavery parties in" these States
must be encouraged by the influence and
power . of the central government. The
recent victories in Maryland, Delaware
and Missouri, if properly sustained, will
sweep the last vestige of slavery from the
land.
' j, ENLISTMENT OF COLORED MEN.
3. The black population everywhere
must be encouraged to enlist. Every
rebel destroyed by a black man's bayonet,
brings us nearer to peace. If the govern
ment has a prior claim to my son, although
ho owes me service until he is twenty-one
years of age, surely the country has prior
claims to all her sons of whatever hue, to
fight the common foe. Slavery niust not
rob the nation of a single defender in this
war of teif-defence against . the Slave
Oligarchy. The slave-owners of the Bor
der States ha7e no greater rights to the
services of their slaves, tiiau the parent
has to his own offspring.
CONFISCATION JCST AND CONSTITCTION AL.
4. We must have indemnity for the
past and security for the future. If all
the leading traitors were strung along
Mason and Dixon's line, they could not
atone for a tingle life so ruthlessly
sacrificed by their lust of power. The
confiscation, in fee simple, of the property
of the leading traitors the President,
members of Congress, Governors and
commissioned officers is absolutely nec
essary to secure permanent peace. These
men, ruined in fortune and disappointed
in ambition, will never cease. to hate our
government, and at all times plot for its
overthrow. The constitutional power is
perfectly clear, and it is singular that a
provision sp lucid as the annexed can be
open to doubt construction :
"The Congress shall have power to declare
the punishment of treason ; but no attainder
for treason shall woTkcorruptiou of blood or
forfeiture, except during the life of the person
attainted."
The first clause, "the CoDgress shall
have power to declare the punishment of
treason," is absolute. The Congress may
punish traitors by hanging, shooting im
prisonment, the loss of political rights,
and the loss of property. . Congress, uuder
the above clause, may even pas a bill of
attainder, but ito forfeiture must be limited
to the life-time of the person attaiuted, for
the Constitution wisely provides that the
children shall in uo wise suffer on account
of the crimes of the parent. Now confis
cation of property is not attainder, no
more than imprisonment or fine. The
essence of attainder cousists not in the
confiscation of property acquired, but iu
declaring the traitor incapable ot acquiring
by inheritance or otherwise uew property,
and the operation of such a law is restric
ted to the life-lime of the attainted per
son. Do you claim that it is unjust to punish
and disarm traitors? Allow me to relate
an incident. In July, 1802, marched
through the city bf Adrian, Michigan, its
first contribution to the war, the Fourth
Michigan, with the bravo Col. Woodbury
at its head. One ' thousand gleamiug
bayonets, upheld by stout and gallant
hearts our sons and brothers glittered
in the sun.' 1 shall never forget that
parting scene the music, the cheers, the
fervent "God bless you," the waving of a
last farewell by many a" fair hand, the
shriek of the locomotive aud the firing of
cannon. I knew war was no' holiday
frolic. I could sec these noble boys then,
on weary marches, on long vigils, siok in(
hospitals, wounded, maimed and dyicg
and my soul was filled with grief and
indignation, that such sacrifices were de
manded by the iuferual and bloody genius
of Slavery. Where arc they now ? Its
war-worn banuer is scarce upheld by a
seore of the original members, and its
brave Colouel scaled with his life his
NUMBER 20.
devotion to his country. In the name of
these our brothers, and thousands of others
already sacrificed in the name of the
widows, the orphans and the bereaved :
parents, . I demand of the Congress and
the Government, that no measure be
rieglectei that promises security for tho
future.
TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENTS.
5. To the end that all may be secure in
their lives aud personal liberty, lam in '
favor of the establishment of Territorial
Governments, because they give the lar
gest liberty to its inhabitants consistent
with public safety. Many pretended ,
friends of the South prefer Military .1
Governors and a military regime until.,
orocr is restored, fctrange infatuation!
It is only another evidence that the Rad-'.
icals the Abolitionists if you please
have always been, and cow tire, the best,
friends of the South. Surely no loyal'
man would wish to see Jeff. Davis and .
Stevens iu the Senate, nor any other men '
of similar political training, tho' bearing
different names. If then, some strong'
supervising power is necessary, as in
Tennessee and Louisiana, where virtually
there is no .civil Government, surely the
substitution of a Territorial Government'
would be a tstep in the' right direction.
But ll the peculiar champions of the South,'
and the Southern people, prefer the
diciplice Df the camp, the arbitrary ru'.es:
of Military Governors, and the petty
annoyances of Protost Marshals, their
tastes ought to be gratified. But it cer
tainly seems, rising above all party consid
erations, and having solely the safety of
the country and the liberty of the nation
as our object, that Territorial Government
would best meet the wauta of the people.
Seme thcughtless people deal in the
phrase "the Constitution as it is, and the
Uqiou as it was," as if the Republican
party cherished different principles. We
all are for the "Constitution as it is."
The clauses concerning slavery become
inoperative by its extinction, and in every
ether respect that grand instrument has
filled the purposes for which it was de
signed. We all are for -''the Union as it
was." The Union as the Revolutionary
sires designed it, to "secure the blessings
of liberty" to nil the people. We are in
favor of the Union in all its pristine vigor,
when slavery was considered a dying in
stitution as it now really is. As to the
Union of 1850 and 1860 when ,Slave
holders ruled the land it is forever gone.
The dead cannot be restored to life by
human power; and no Executive act or
judicial dictum can ever breithe life into
slavery. That time is part. Justice and
Truth may bs slow to conquer prejudice
and ignorance ; but their conquest is as
eternal as the throne of God itself. ;
ARMED COLONIZATION.
6. We must re-people the South. As
soon as the war is ended European crui-
gration vill pour its millions of people
upon our shores. The expanding power
of free institutions is so great, that armed
and organized colonies numbering five
hundred thousand people per annum can
be planted in every State. They will
carry with them a free press, schools,
churches and all the enterprise and energy
of a free people, and teach the South by
example the advantages of free labor.
They will prove to the poor whites that by
the abolishment of servitude, they have
beeu lifted up in the scale of being to
a position of self respect and independence.
AN AMERICAN CONGRESS.
7. We are the natural protectors of tho
American Continent, and must encourage
the friendship of all our sister Republics.
We ought to have a great American
Congress, for the arbitration, as far as an
expression of opinion goes, of internal
disputes, and more especially for the pur
pose of protecting tho weaker natioua
from European rapacity. Very soon the
Aniericau Continent will be reater in
material power than Europe, for within
the Uuitcd States there is room for 300
millions of people. An American Cons
gross, supported by tbe power of tho
Union, would be as much respected, by
Europe as a European Congress is in
America. We. must also keep alive the
military spirit of the nation as the best
means to preserve permanent peace. L
THE PATRIOTISM OF THE GERMANS. :
This war ia not an unmixed evil, for it
has taught us many a valuable lesson.
Wo have not only become conscious of our
immeuso national power and resources,
but have also learned more fully to appre
ciate the blessings of Republican institu
tions. The American nation has been
true to religious toleration, and generous
to tho emigrants from other lands. There
is no country iu the world where citizen
ship is so fully and freely conferred nor
has that confidence boon misplaced; and
the seed thus tovn has yielded u bounteous
harvest. Upon' tvery battle field thj
r
ii-.