Franklin Repository

To the People of Pennsylvania:

Fellow-Citizens: The result of the recent election on the amendment to the Constitution of the State, allowing soldiers in the field to vote, is gratifying, inasmuch as it shows that the great heart of the commonwealth is right, in the fearful and bloody struggle going on to preserve the great republic, and that these brave men are worthy to help govern the country for which they make so many sacrifices and suffer so many privations.

The friends of the Union have brought about this result, while the opposition have used their powerful organization to prevent it, with the evident object of weakening the Union armies by disfranchising the soldier, and thereby strengthening themselves at the approaching Presidential elections; and in connection with this election let us reason together.

The campaign of 1864 is now fairly opened. The issue upon which the campaign is to be made is clearly indicated. The enemies of the government have publicly and authoritatively declared their purpose in the contest. That declaration places the duty of patriots in a light as broad and clear as that of noon. There is no mistaking either the spirit or the object of our opponents; it is the same that impelled the chiefs of armed treason to attempt the overthrow of free government on this continent as 1860-61. Neither time nor reflection, nor regard for the peace of society in the loyal States, nor the desolations which have devoured the prosperity of the south in the grip of war, have wrought any modification of their hatred for a government founded upon the opinions of the people expressed through the ballot box.

It is the part of wisdom to anticipate evil, and to prepare to destroy it before it grows too formidable to overthrow. The attitude of the parties to the Presidential contest gives rise to a serious question--the most serious of any which can engage the attention of the true patriot and good citizen. That question is briefly stated: Shall we have lasting peace, through a vigorous prosecution of [t]his war for national life, or interminable war, through a peace based upon disunion?

The issue is sharply defined. The utterances of the Baltimore Convention decisively declare for peace through effective war; the utternances [sic] of the Chicago Convention as decisively pronounce for the alternative presented in the question stated. They mean that, or they are without meaning. The opposition to Mr. Lincoln contemplates disunion as a cure for the ills under which we lie. His defeat would divide the continent into factious States. Nor is this mere assertion. The political history of the country for the last four years is a mass of overwhelming evidence in support of its entire, its disgraceful truth.

And first, in evidence of its truth, we have the declaration, informal but not less weighty (because reiterated and unvarying,) of the rebel chiefs, that the South will not treat for peace save upon the basis of a recognition of its independence--The press of the South omits no opportunity to impress upon us and the world that peace can only come through recognition. Recognition is but an other name for separation. And finally, every European nation has come to regard the result of this war as certain to be one of two things--either subjugation or disunion. It is the clear conviction which truth brings to every rational, enlightened mind. It is, therefore, entitled to great weight, second only to the resultant fact.

It is due to the opponents of Mr. Lincoln to state that they pretend to believe in the probability of peace and Union through some compromise, the terms of which are not clearly stated.

It will be easy to show the futility of such hopes, if it has not already been done. It will not be a difficult task to show that such a belief does not take root in conviction. The leaders of the opposition are men of great ability and more than ordinary sagacity. They cannot, therefore, be ignorant of the facts which are of public record. Those facts effectually preclude the possibility of peace and Union through any compromise, unless the terms involve recognition; and that would be disunion.

But let us thoroughly consider this question of peace through compromise. It is reasonable to suppose that the chiefs of the rebellion would have accepted terms at the outset, if at all. It is alleged by our opponents that Mr. Lincoln hurried the nation into war, not only without constitutional warrant, but even against the wishes of the rebel chiefs themselves. They reproach the Congress then in session with having refused to adopt the Crittenden Compromise measure, and thus forced the south into rebellion in exercise of the right of self-defence and self preservation. It is unnecessary to pause to show that all this transpired while the reins of power were held by southern men, most of whom are now in arms against the government. Let that pass. The question hinges upon the responsibility of the rejection of the Crittenden Compromise. It was rejected. By whom!

Reference to page 409, part first of the Congressional Globe of the second session of the Thirty-sixth Congress, will place the responsibility for the rejection of that Compromise where it properly belongs. It will be seen that the Crittenden Compromise was defeated by the substitution (in effect) [sic] of what is known as the "Clark Amendment." The record shows that the vote on the motion to substitute was--yeas 25, nays 30. The vote on the adoption of the Clark proposition, taken directly afterwards, was--yeas 25, nays--23. The presumption would be, naturally, that if the south had votes enough to reject the substitute, it would also have had enough to reject the proposition when offered independently. There was a falling off in the negative vote on the proposition, as compared with that on the first motion to substitute, of seven votes. This is accounted for by the fact that Senators Benjamin and Slidell, of Louisianna [sic]; Wigfall and Hemphill, of Texas; Iverson, of Georgia, and Johnson, of Arkansas--six Southern Senators--sat in their seats and refused to vote. Had these six southern men voted "no," the Clark proposition would have been defeated by a majority of four votes, and the Crittenden Compromise could have been taken up and carried by the same majority. It appears of record, then, that the Crittenden Compromise was rejected because six of the leading Senators from the south virtually refused to vote for it. A motion to reconsider was carried some weeks later, and a direct vote upon the Compromise was taken. The proposition was lost by a single vote. But one of the six Senators referred to voted on that occasion, nearly all of them having withdrawn on the secession of their respective States. Had they remained to vote for the Compromise, it would have been adopted.

The chief object in alluding to this matter is to show that when, before the overt act of war was committed, the south had the election of compromise or war, she, through her highest dignitaries, deliberately chose war.

The south would not have compromise then. Is it reasonable to suppose that it would accept such an accommodation now? Her rulers have the southern masses by the throat, and can mould them to their imperious will. They are playing for a great stake. They could not withdraw from the contest now unless forced into withdrawal. Pride, love of power--both inbred and fostered by the institution of slavery--would force them to elect, as they declare they do elect, extermination rather than submission and union.

Early in the struggle--before the government had taken the aggressive--President Lincoln offered peace in most liberal terms. The terms were, briefly, the laying down of arms and the abandonment of their hostile attitude. The world knows how those terms were met. It need not be reported here. The desolation of southern fields; and the vacant seats in thousands upon thousands of homes, both north and south, bear the record. Still later, amnesty and pardon have been offered by the President; still the chiefs of rebellion abate not a tittle of their energy to maintain themselves in their wrong. They demand recognition and independence of a government they hate. Intimate knowledge of the directing minds of the rebellion teaches that they will never abanden [sic] their wicked scheme until obliged to do so by the sheer force of such iron circumstances as control the results of war.

There is no ground then for the hope of peace through compromise; no hope of permanent peace. There is no such discharge in the war. Those who go before the country upon such vicious pretexts, are not deceived themselves, however much they may deceive the ignorant and unsuspecting. To charge self-deception upon them in a matter so unmistakably clear, would be equivalent to charging them with imbecility. They do not deceive themselves. The pretext of seeking the defeat of Mr. Lincoln that peace may return to our borders covers a sinister purpose. If they wish peace they can have it but in two ways--in a cowardly abandonment of the struggle, followed by disunion, or by a more vigorous (if possible) prosecution of the war.

Thus the true issue upon which the campaign is to be made becomes sharply defined. None can deprecate the horrows [sic] of war or desire the return of peace more than do the warmest supporters of the National Union nominees. But they ask for and will acquiesce in no peace that is not founded upon the integrity of the Union and established upon the principles of the Declaration of Independence. They recognize greater evils than war, such as this is in which the nation is plunged. Divide the nation geographically, and to what end do we inevitably gravitate? With the precedent and justice of secession established, who can presume to say that we shall not repeat the humiliating history of Mexico and the South American States? United, the common danger was, and would rontinue [sic] to be, our common security. Divided, the land would groan with the wreaking out of individual vengeance. Divided, the torch and brand would never be idle along the line of division. The country would at last awake to the bitter knowledge that open, vigorous war, prosecuted with a high purpose, is a thousand times less dreaded than an armed peace.

As an example, a little more than a year since, when Lee, with his rebel army, invaded Pennsylvania, and when the fate of the Republic was decided by the battle of Gettysburg, how prompt wicked and designing men were to inaugurate the insurrection in New York city, trusting in the hope that the Government was not able to maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and the laws. It will be long before the blackness of the crimes committed by that conspiracy will be obliterated.

As another example, take the recent conspiracy discovered in the northwest--the banding together in secret of a large number of men, the concentration of thirty thousand stand of arms and a large supply of ammunition. The papers of this conspiracy, which were seized, evidencing too clearly that their design was, and is, the over throw of the Republic, trusting that division and anarchy would shield them from harm, but in utter disregard of the concomitant wrongs to the people--murder, robbery, arson--in a word desolation for the time.

Now fellow-citizens, in both these examples the moving spirits are prominent men in the Opposition, and controlled the nomination and platform at Chicago.

Yet it is to such peace as this that our opponents invite you. They ask your suffrages for a man who either is pledged to such a peace, if elected, or who is determined on a war grander in scale and bloodier in results than the world has yet witnessed. There can be but two issues out of the present difficulty. The intelligent freemen of Pennsylvania need not to be led like children. They will not fail to comprehend the nature of these issues, and to choose between them. In so choosing they choose for their children and their children's children. They can do nothing of a public nature in these pregnant times that shall not cause coming generations either to revere or despise them. The re-election of Mr. Lincoln, and the election of Andrew Johnson as his associate, will indicate to the chiefs of the rebellion that the war for Union and permanent peace must go on until those ends shall be attained. It will also signify to the nations of Europe that the people of the whole United States will, soon or late, become an united people and the government remain, as it has heretofore been, a star of hope to all the appressed [sic] people of the civilized world, and an everlasting monument to the wisdom of the grand old heroes who conceived it. If we could basely afford to abandon the struggle now, the world, mankind, could not afford the sacrifice. If we could afford to bear the shame, and wear the shackles of defeat so cravenly invited, our children could not stand erect under the deathless reproach of our behavior. As men, as freemen, as patriots, we have no choice but to stand by the government as administered. The alternative presented by our opponents is disunion and dishonor, which is national death. If a man recognizes the existence of the principle of Eternal Justice he could not despair of the republic. There may be some in whom the principle of hope maintains but a feeble existence, unless stimulated by uninterrupted success. Such must be encouraged and sustained by the example of the more hopeful and enduring. They must be assured of what the philosophy of history and of events teaches, that danger lies in turning back, as security lies in pressing forward. The desolations, and bereavements, and burdens of war may be, nay, are terrible, but the tempest which ravages forest and field, destroying the increase of labor, and even human life, is also terrible. Yet it is beneficent. With unvarying calm the atmosphere would degenerate into putridity, and the earth would revolve in endless night. So war involves nations in its fearful vortex that social and political renovation may follow. As a fire sweeping over the fields licks up the chaff and stubble, yet effects not the solid earth, so the fiery trial which we are called upon to endure is consuming the notorious crimes of society. The nation will issue out of this struggle stronger and purer than before. Wrong, such as confronts us, cannot drive right into exile. Craft and villainy are not to be the subjugators of wisdom and virtue. And whatever crimes may have been, or may yet be, perpetuated in the name of civilization, it is not now to be proved either a farce or a failure. But these calamities are not to come upon the American people, for the reason that the masses are to remain true and steadfast in this great effort to establish their liberties upon a surer foundation than the anomalies upon which they have hitherto rested.

The victory is to be won by unremitting labor, and a watchfulness that shall be proof against the surprises planned by traitors at home or abroad. We are to look for no fortuitous happenings, no miraculous interpositions. The friends of the government, working together, cannot be overthrown by any combination possible among their opponents. They may seek to divide and distract us as they have done, and they may partially succeed. But not if the people remain firm, calm and self-contented. United, we are invincible against any force that can be brought against us. Divided we should invite defeat, and attach to ourselves the name of having rejected the counsels of experience and enlightened reason.

Our victorious armies are bravely doing their duty in the field. What is required of the loyal men of Pennsylvania is a great victory at the polls In October and November. it is not only essential that the Federal government and the policy required to crush rebellion should be indorsed by the re-election of Abraham Lincoln; but at the coming contest in October it is important that in the election of Congressmen and members of the Legislature, as many districts as possible should be carried by the loyal candidates now in and to be put in the field. We want the moral effect of overwhelming majorities as well as the prestige derived from military power and force. We expect to close the war as much by the influence of the ballot as the bullet. We hope to stop the effusion of bloody by the unmistakable demonstration at the polls that the war is to be waged till the rebellion is ended; and that hostilities will not cease while there is an armed traitor I the field. Such a cessation of hostilities cannot be obtained by compromise or negotiation. It must be achieved by the stern influence of force--by the unmistakable, clear, and well defined proofs of the ability of the government to cope with and conquer all or any of its foes.

Men of Pennsylvania, the issues are now before you for consideration and decision. You must abide the result as you establish it for good or evil. We ask you to support Abraham Lincoln because we believe his re-election will fully vindicate the authority of the national government, and fully establish the fact that the free men of the loyal States are able to sustain the existence of the Union and the government against the hazard of opposition from abroad or at home. We ask you to assist not only in the re-election of Abraham Lincoln, but in the election of all loyal candidates for State and Federal offices, because their triumph will recognize our nationality--a result which must contribute to the maintenance of the national government. It needs no argument of our own to establish this position, because our political opponents now antagonize us to achieve entirely the opposite results.

Can we hesitate--can there be any trust or confidence in men placed in nomination by such men? Men of family, hesitate--men of property, hesitate--young men, who hope to enjoy both these blessings, hesitate before you cast your votes for nominees made by such agencies.

By order of the Union State Central Committee.

Simon Cameron, President.

A.W. Benedict,
Wien Forney, Secretaries.

The enforcement of the draft has developed the desperate treachery of the faithless men of the North. We have now two companies of Franklin county men preserving the peace in Schuylkill and Luzerne counties, and on Monday last, a detachment had to be sent from the border to preserve order in York county.

Need loyal men and soldiers be told that in all these revolutionary districts the vote is from three to five Democratic to one Union? that all these rioters who fight to prevent men from going to strengthen and cheer our brave armies, are willing to do but about one thing lawfully, that is vote for M'Clellan for President? Is comment necessary to point the moral of such coincidences? Let faithful men think and act. Let soldiers answer through the ballot box.

By Magnetic Telegraph.
By the Western Union Telegraph.
Exclusively in the Franklin Repository.
By the Western Union Telegraph Line--Offices at the Railroad Depot.
A Battle in the Shenandoah Valley!
The Rebels Defeated!
They Are Driven Beyond Winchester!
Sheridan In Pursuit!
500 Rebels Killed!
2,500 Prisoners Captured!
5 Cannon and 5 Battle Flags Taken!
Revel Guns, Rhodes, Gordon, Wharton & Ramseur Killed!

Winchester, Sept. 19, 7.30 P. M.

To Gen. U.S. Grant:: I have the honor to report that I attacked the forces of Gen. Early on the Berryville at the crossing of Opequan creek, and after a most desperate engagement, which lasted from early in the morning until five o'clock in the evening, completely defeated him, driving him through Winchester, and capturing about 2,500 prisoners, five pieces of artillery, nine army flags and most of their wounded. The rebel Generals Rhodes and Gordon were killed, and three other General officers wounded. Most of the enemy's wounded and all their killed fell into our hands. Our losses are severe, among them Gen. D.A. Russell, commanding a division in the Sixth Corps, who was killed by a cannon ball. Generals Upton, McIntosh and Chapman were wounded. I cannot yet tell our losses. The conduct of the officers and men was most superb. They charged and carried every position taken up by the rebels from Opequan creek to Winchester. The rebels were strong in numbers and very obstinate in their fighting. I desire to mention to the Lieutenant General commanding the army, the gallant conduct of Generals Wright, Crooks, Emory, Torbert, and the officers and men under their command. To them the country is indebted for this handsome victory. A more detailed report will be forwarded. Signed,

P. H. Sheridan Maj. Gen. Commanding.
Harper's Ferry, Sept. 20--11:40 A.M.

Hon. F. M. Stanton!--Just received the following oficiaal [sic] from Gen. Sheridan, dated 1 o'clock this morning: General: We fought Earley from daylight until between 6 and 7 P.M. We drove him from Opequan Creek through Winchester and beyond the town. We captured from 2500 to 3000 prisoners, five pieces of artillery nine battle flags and all the rebel wounded and dead. Their wounded in Winchester amounts to some 3000. We lost in killed, Gen. David Russell, commanding a division of the 6th army corps, wounded Gen. Chapman, McIntosh and Upton. The rebels lost in killed the following general officers: Gen. Rhodes, Gen. Wharton, Gen. Gordon and Gen. Ramseur. We just sent them whirling through Winchester and we are after them to-morrow. This army behaved splendidly. I am sending forward all material supplies, subsistence stores and all the ambulances.

Jno. D. Stevenson, Brig. Gen.

Coffroth in a Snarl--One of the largest political gatherings of the kind ever held in Chambersburg, met at Brown's Hotel on Tuesday evening of last week, to hear Gen. Wm. H. Koontz, the Union candidate for Congress. Col. Stumbaugh presided, and the Fayetteville Band discoursed choice music adapted to the occasion. Probably two hundred soldiers were present, and manifested the liv[e]liest interest in the proceedings. The Keystone Battery marched into the meeting in column, with a Lincoln and Johnson banner, promising 150 votes for the Union candidates. They stood in line and preserved the best of order during the whole meeting. After the organization tion [sic] had been completed, Gen. Koontz was intruded, and was received with hearty cheers. He spoke for over an hour, discussing the great issues in a more candid, earnest and eloquent manner, and elicited the warmest commendations of his friends, and expressions of respect even from his political foes. He exposed in a masterly manner the treachery of the Democratic leaders in attempting to mislead the people from the interests of the government by a Peace platform and a quasi War Candidate. His review of Gen. McClellan's position was in the highest degree creditable and entirely unanswerable. He indulged in no personal abuse--no low assaults; but stated his positions with the utmost candor, and elucidated them with clearness and force. Being a stranger to most of his audience, he surpassed all expectations as a stumper and cogent reasoner, and left the Union men most enthusiastic in his support and proud of their standard-bearer. We cannot pretend to give even a synopsis of his remarks.

After he had concluded, Mr. M'Clure was called for, and he responded in a few pointed allusions to the congressional record of Gen. Coffroth, the competitor of Gen. Koontz. He stated that the office of Congress was the most important position to be filled at the October election, and urged the people to elect Gen. Koontz because he would vote for every measure necessary to sustain our armies in the field; to pay our brave soldiers; to fill up their ranks, and to maintain the credit of the government. He stated that against Gen. Coffroth personally he had nothing to say; but of his official record he must speak. He said that Gen. Coffroth had never voted for any measure to fill up the ranks of our armies or to raise means to pay them; and said the speaker, I make the statement knowing that I am in the presence and within the hearing of Gen. Coffroth himself. Gen. Coffroth at once stepped up to the outer edge of the crowd, and said--"Col. M'Clure, I wish to say that I voted for every appropriation ever asked for to sustain the armies--I never voted as you have stated." Cries of "turn him out," &c., were heard from al parts of the meeting, as it was not known that Gen. Coffroth was there; but Mr. M'Clure at once said that if he had misrepresented Gen. Coffroth he had a right to correct him, and let him be heard orderly. He said it was true that Gen. Coffroth had voted for all appropriations asked for to pay the soldiers; but you have read that--

"Old mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get the poor dog a bone
But when she went there
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog got none!"

Gen. Coffroth took good care that no bone for the soldiers should get into the cupboard by his vote, and then generously invited them to take all that was there. When the government wanted revenue to pay the soldiers, who were four months without their wages, Congress was appealed to for a revenue to enable them to be paid, and to sustain the government credit. Against this measure--the only one by which the means could be procured to pay our soldiers--Gen. Coffroth voted at every stage of the proceedings. Does he deny it? Gen. Coffroth did not answer, and the vast meeting cheered most heartily and called for his answer; but none come. Mr. M'Clure then said he had charged that Gen. Coffroth voted steadily against every measure designed to fill up our shattered armies so that they might give triumph to their holy cause. The draft was first urged by Gen. M'Clellan as the only means to fill up our armies, and when the conscription bill was before Congress and conceded on all sides to be the only means of saving our brave defenders from utter defeat, Gen. Coffroth voted against it at every stage, and he never voted for any measure calculated to put a single soldier in the field. He then came home and voted against the right of the soldiers to vote at the next election! Does Gen. Coffroth deny the truth of this statement? The speaker paused, but the valiant General had no answer to make, and his signal discomfiture, provoked by his own folly, was hailed with the widest enthusiasm. His opposition to the armies and their sacred cause was thoroughly exposed, and he could not dispute his own record. He left that meeting certainly a sadder, and possibly a wiser man. The meeting adjourned with cheers for the ticket, for the speakers; for the Keystone Battery, for the band, for the Union, and for the Old Flag.