Secrets of the Late Rebellion, Now Revealed for the First TimeFreese, Jacob R.
History
Secrets of the Late Rebellion, Now Revealed for the First Time
Freese, Jacob R.
United States -- Politics and government -- 1861-1865
Again, the men whom President Davis had about him as a Cabinet and as
outside advisers were generally men of marked intelligence and large
experience, one of whom (John Tyler) had been President of the United
States; some had been United States Senators; others, Congressmen;
others had all their lives been connected with the army or navy; and
scarcely one of all but what thoroughly understood the strength and
resources, not only of the general government, but of each State, North
and South. Is it to be presumed that a single one of these men would
have ever thought of rebellion, or said one word to encourage it, _but
for the assurances they had from leading Northern Democrats that the
party, as a party, would sustain them in such a movement?_
If these facts be admitted, and this inference be conceded, does it
not follow as an inevitable conclusion that the _Democratic party, as a
party_, is responsible before God, and should be held responsible before
all men, for the _time wasted, the money squandered, and the lives
sacrificed_ by the South in their attempt to establish a separate
confederacy?
We cannot give the exact figures, for the archives of the Confederate
government were mostly destroyed when the rebels fled and the Union army
took possession of Richmond; but think, reader, think how many weary
days, and weeks, and months, and years of untold suffering that was
caused by that mad and murderous attempt; think of the houses burned,
homes desolated, plantations ruined, by the frenzy and fury of reckless
demagogues; think of the thousands of affluent families made homeless
and penniless by this mad attempt, and of the thousands upon thousands
who were once comfortable now turned out as beggars to die, through the
efforts of a band of conspirators; think of the millions upon millions
of hard-earned dollars squandered, worse than squandered, by this mad
attempt; think of the thousands upon thousands of wives made widows,
children made fatherless, parents made childless, by this foul treason;
and then think--for if you are honest with your own conscience, and can
rid yourself of political prejudice, you must think it--that all this
waste of time, all this squandering of money, all this sacrifice
of lives, all this suffering of wives, of children, of parents, _is
unquestionably chargeable_ to the _Democratic party;_ and, with this
last thought, ask yourself the question, What should be thought of--what
should be the fate of--a party guilty of such unparalleled wickedness?
Of course, to this last question there could be but one answer, and yet
the party feebly lives! Why it lives--for what purpose it lives--would
be the next question which would naturally arise with every searcher
after truth. To these inquiries we will try to give an answer, not an
opinion merely, but an answer founded upon accredited history, as have
been all the answers heretofore given.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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