human
I'm sorry to have to tell you, the Governor began,
gpt
And therefore?
human
That their interests are antagonistic to New England and in harmony with the South. Another three months like the last six and we are lost, sir--hopelessly lost!
gpt
Is it as bad as that Governor?
human
If you think me a pessimist remember that Van Alen their leader, has just presided over a Democratic jubilee meeting in Ohio which was swept again and again by cheers for Jefferson Davis--curses and jeers for the Abolitionists. His speech has been put in the form of a leaflet which is being mailed in thousands to our soldiers at the front----
gpt
You know that to be a fact?
human
The fact is notorious, sir. It will be disputed by no one. The outlook is black. Meeting after meeting is being held in Indiana demanding peace at any price, with the recognition of the Southern Confederacy--and, mark you, what is still more significant the formation of a Northwestern Confederacy with its possible Capital at your home town of Springfield, Illinois----
gpt
No, no!
human
Your last call for three hundred thousand volunteers, the Governor went on,
gpt
Then we'll have to use the draft,
human
If we can enforce it! the Governor warned.
gpt
A meeting has just been held in my State in which resolutions were unanimously passed demanding that the war cease, denouncing the attempt to use the power to draft men, declaring that our volunteers had been induced to enter the army under the false declaration that war was waged solely to maintain the Constitution and to restore the Union----
human
And so it is!
gpt
Until you issued your Proclamation, freeing the slaves----
human
But only as a war measure to weaken the South, give us the victory and restore the Constitution!
gpt
They refuse to hear your interpretation; they make their own. Van Alen boldly declares that ninety-nine men out of every hundred whom he represents in Congress breathe no other prayer than to have an end of this hellish war. When news of victory comes, there is no rejoicing. When news of our defeat comes there is no sorrow----
human
Is that statement really true?
gpt
Of the majority who elected him, yes. In the Northwest, distrust and despair are strangling the hearts of the people. More and more we hear the traitorous talk of arraying ourselves against New England and forming a Confederacy of our own. More than two thousand six hundred deserters have been arrested within a few weeks in Indiana. It generally requires an armed detail. Most of the deserters, true to the oath of the order of the Knights of the Golden Circle, desert with their arms----
human
Is it possible?