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f07.
BENEDICT ARNOLD I HORATIO SEYMOUR!
THEIR IDENTITY OF VIEWS.
WHO IS TO BE PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES?
Prom the NEW YORK TIMES of September 19, 1864.
Benedict Arnold, on the 20th day of October, 1780, issued the following:
Proclamation to the Citizens and Soldiers of the United States:
You are promised libeify by the leaders of your affairs, but is there an individual in the enjoyment of it, saving your oppressors ? Who among
you dare to speak or write what tie thinks against the tyranny which has robbed you of your property, imprisons your sons, drags you to the field of battle,
and is daily deluging yonr country with blood f
Your country once wns happy, and had the proflFeretl peace been cmbrace<l, the last two years of misery Had been spent in peace and plenty, and
repairing the desolation of the q'l urrl, that would have set the interests of Great Britain and America in a true light, and cemented their friendships.
I wish to lead a chosui bund of Americans in the attainments of peace, liberty and safety, the first objects in taking the field.
What is America but a land of widows, orphans and beggars ? But what need of argument to such as feel infinitely more misery than tongue can
express ? I give my promise of nKwt affectionate welcome to all who are disposed to join me in measures necessary to close the scenes of our afflictions,
which must increase until we are sali-fied with the liberality of the mother country, which still offers us protection and exemptiop from all taxes but such
as we think fit to impoRO upon oursclven.
Oct. 20, 1780. BENEDICT ARNOLD.
Now we defy any man to make out a more complete model of a Copperhead harangue in 1864 Take any of their
set speeches in evidence, we care not which.
Horatio Seymour, in Milwaukee, likewise (using his own words)
makes the following points :
First " The freedom of speech and of the press has been de-
nied us."
Second " It is your property, the property of Northern tax-pay-
ers, which is confiscated."
Third " Men have been torn from their families, and locked up
in prison, and women also."
Fourth " Men are told that they must leave their homes, and
devote themselves to war."
Fifth " The policy of the Administration has placed hindrances
in the way of the Union."
Sixth " The Administration has entered upon a settled policy
dangerous to the welfare of the country."
Seventh " In God's name, are there no means by which we can
save the lives of husbands and brothers 1"
Eighth "We nominated McCLEtuN that we might restore
prosperity and peace to the people."
Benedict Arnold here makes fi^,^^ points against the Conti-
nental Congress and Washington the Commander-in-Chief :
First That freedom of speech and of the press has been taken
away.
Second That property has lieen appropriated.
Third ^That illegal imprisonments have been made.
Fourth That odious conscriptions have been imposed.
Fifth ^That peace, which might have been had, was refused.
Sixth That the first objects in taking the field have been
abandoned.
Seventh That the country has been deluged with blood, and
mudo a land of widows and orphans.
Eighth That it is necessary to join him, in order to close those
afflictions and return to prosperity.
Thus are the points made by HoKATid Seymour against the Administration in 1864, identical, point with point,
with those made bj' Benedict Arnold against Washington and the Continental Congress in 1780. We see precisely what
Mr. Seymour meant when, toward the close of his speech, he asserted, " our views came from our fathers." They are the
views which the Tory fathers, through their executor, Benedict Arnold, bequeathed to their copperhead offspring.
The truth is that Treason, and its twin-brother, Faction, always speak substantially the same language, only just so
much altered as to suit the particular circumstances of each time. The human heart is ever the same, and so are the prime
elements that move human affairs. As long as there is malice in human blood, no Government can be without its renegades
and malcontents; and these are always ready, Judas-like, to 'seize upon every occasion of offenca No matter what the
conduct of the Government may be, or however enforced by necessity, spite will assail it, and often too on very plausible
grounds.
Every condition of civil life has its burdens and evils, and it is always easy for the malignant to turn these to their
own account The state of war especially gives this facility. It, of necessity, involves great expenditures of treasure and
blood ; and is attended with suffering in almost every variety of form. Moreover, the Executive head of the nation, in order
to prosecute it with effect must be intrusted with uncommon powers, and these powers must be exercised as well against
the secret foes behind as the armed enemies befora These have been the concomitants of every great war since time
began. The lact that the war is just, instead of affording relief from them, only makes them the more unavoidable, as it
makes the success of the war a greater necessity.
Nobody supposes that Horatio Seymour, though he imitates Benedict Arnold so closely, is deliberately courting
the scorn of posterity. Yet the political leaders who do the work of faction when the country is in danger, never have been
forgiven, and never will be forgiven, by the American people. The Copperhead chiefs of these times, who draw so lavishly
upon the sophistries and fallacies of 1780 for the furtherance of their factious designs, cannot too well understand that the
sequel of all this is endless disgrace. They must not expect to fight the Government with the weapons of the Tories and
the blue-light Federalists, without sharing the same fata
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