The Democratic Leaders

Forney, editor of the Philadelphia Press, a gentleman who acted with the Democratic party until it became demoralized by the slavery question, in a recent Washington letter to his paper thus speaks of his old co-associates, the present leaders of the sham Democracy.  Such utterances have the right ring; like the old bell in Independence Hall, they proclaim liberty to the people:–

“The loyal people of the free States are robbed of their property by rebel confiscation and capture.  Their rents are cut down, their business paralyzed and destroyed, their commerce ruined, and yet, in the face of this spectacle, the only interest that excites the indignation and sympathy of the so-called Democratic leaders is the protection of slavery.  They see the property of the white men of the North and Northwest depreciated and destroyed, with no indemnity to those who uncomplainingly suffer, and yet they throw themselves around the institution of slavery, and declare it inviolable, not to be touched, even when paid for, without shaking the foundations of society and government.  It will require a very little experience of such manoeuvres as these to consign all engaged in them to oblivion and shame.”

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, March 25, 1862, p. 2