Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1888 — “OLD ROSY” DEALS IN FACTS. [ARTICLE]

“OLD ROSY” DEALS IN FACTS.

WHO SUPPRESSED THE REBELLION? The Gallant Veteran Gen. Rosecrans Shows Up the Falsity of the Claim that the Republican Party Saved thi Union— F rgu r■ s That Don’t Lie. Gen. Rosecrans, the “Old Rosy” of many thousands of soldiers, is taking a deep interest m the progress of Democratic principles, of tariff reform, and has on several, occasions expressed his that the present campaign is ofmore importance to national interests than people generally believe. He is vigorous in body, active and ready m mind, his disposition as jovial as ever.His recollection of war event# is fresh and accurate. Nothing, however, will more quickly arouse ifiis resentment and bristling opposition than t ie 4 suggestion that the republican party of leaders apd. voters can justly lay claim to ing x the In edihrnd^Wh' ftiaav demoertdic generals and wher soldiers of all Grades, he “knows better'himsjdf.’' n i recent conversation he alluded to some figures he himself had prepared in verification of his ideas on this subject, and afterward, referring to them, said: “The figures are based on the officially published records of the adjutant-geafei-al’s office and the tables of '-“lection returns published in the New York “Tribune Almanac” for various years. Time will permit me to quote only a few of them:

“The wMle number of votes cast for Lincoln in 1860, in the oyal states, was 1,864,523. This divided by 21,809,530, the popuh:ion of these states in*lß6o, gives .085, or 8.5 per cent., as the prolortion of inhabitants who voted he republican ticket in 1860 in ;he lot al states. Then, dividing ;he number of white soldiers furnished ly said states, 2,541,662, )y the population as before given, we obtain . 16, or 11.6 per cent, as ;he proportion of people who went to the war from these states. In other words, for every 100 white men, women and children in the oyal states in 1860, there were 3.5 persons who voted for Lincoln, while there were 11.6 white persons who went to the war. Therefore if half the Lincoln voters . f all ages had gone to the front, here would have been furnished ! rom every 100 inhabitants only 4.2 soldiers, while there were actually furnished from every 100 inhabitants eleven soldiers for the Union. How, then, could the republican party have furnished these eleven soldiers from every 100 inhabitants in these states, when the total number of its voters only amounted to four persons in 100 throughout these states ? “It is very evident, however, shat not even half the republican voters enlisted.. On page 28 of the final report of the provost marshal general (Thirty-niuth congress, first session) it is stated that in 1863, out of every 1,000 men examined for admission to the army, an average of 316, or very nearly one-third were rejected on account of mental or physical disability for the service, and, as shown by a former report from the Twelfth district of Ohio, there were exempted for physical, moral and legal reasons, 456 out of 1,060. _ “Physical and mental disabilities alone, to say noth, ng of overage, ek'., would thus take out of the question one-third of the voters, and it is scarcelv necessary to add that in addition to tnose physically or legally exempted, many others stayed at home for prudential reasons. “.Again, there were furnished from the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas—states in which Lincoln received no perceptible vote

a total of 54,137 white soldiers for the Uni m army. “The Lincoln vott in 1860 was as given above, 1,884,523, while those of his opponents in the loyal states alone (exclusive of Tennessee, a battle-ground i i the war, which in 1860 gave a plurality for Bell,the Union candidate) amounted to 1,959,146, or, nearly 100,000 more than the Lincoln votes. It will, therefore, be seen that that portion of the c untry which furnished soldiers for the Union gave over 90,000 majority against Lin coin in 1860, aid all the opposition votes (1,959, 46), save some 340,000, were cast by the democrats. “There is no force in the objection that numbers of the soldiers ■were underage, .1 that this fact will account for tho excess of sol

diers over republican voters in 1860. In the provost marshal general’s report it is stated that among those examined for admission to the service the ratio of rejected on *s was far greater for those under the age of twenty than for any other class, owing to immaturity of development and want of firm powers of endurance. •-“But it must not be forgotten that in any event the se under age were not republican voters, and therefore not the representatives of the republican party, fa fact, as has been seen, the majority of voters in the North in 1860 belonged to the pa. ties opposing the republican party, and therefore if we were to divide the minors among the different parties according to the votes of those of age, the republican party would be the loser thereby, instead of the gainer.”

Then the general, as the memo ries of the war crowded on him waxed eloquent in speech and impressive in manner, as he continued: I believe this to be an impartial verdict on the whale matter: The republican party, founded on the principle, not of opposition to the existence of slavery, but to its extension, found on its accession to power that the horizon of our national History was thick with the on-driving thunder-clouds of civil strife. Scarcely had its president ieen inaugurated when the shock of the thunder-bolt at Sumter tingled along ihe nerves of the country, and, as is sometimes done ly.the magic currents of electricity in the chemical vorld, brought into union and identity elements which were and would have remained united had the ele trie shock not been felt. The compound formed I s this electric shock yas an army of patriots, not partisans. The republican party did not eave the Union—the Union saved the republican party. Let not the saved unduly exalt itself a i s he f avior.

“But,” sail the general, “the war is long since over, and my only reason for mentioning the figures given was that 1 felt impelled to resent the lie, grown hoary in the minds of many people, that the war was a partisan rather- than a national struggle. “In 1865 the real G. A. R. dissolved and joined the ranks of the bread-winners and producing classes, to whom the great mass of our ex-soldiers now belong. To-day, these comrades are confronted by issues affecting not only the safety of their persons, but the sufficiency of their pockets. They are face to face with the question whether they shall help to continue in power an executive who is broad in his administration, conservative but firm in action, and not only the leader in reducing oppressive taxation, but also one whose administration has proven generous to the interests of meritorious applicants fori pensions, as the records prove. TL-.ro. is no successful denying of- the fact, also, that Cleveland personally has signed far more pcmdcr-l ills than ally and almost all. of his predecessors since the war, and thaf-four-fiths of those sent him for signature have received his approval, the others being rejected after careful and conscientious examination.