The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1858-10-23
Club Meet,ns-Mond.y Evening.

Club Meeting Monday Evening.
Mr.. Cushman had been selected as the re,
ular speaker at the Club meeting on Monda
evening, but was prevented by indispositior
from attending. However as there was, no
withsanding the drenching weather, fu
, attendance, it would not do to allow tn
t audience to be disappointed Of a speech, an
Mr.. Reddick was, amid enthusiastic cheers
, forced upon The stand. He had come t
hear and not to speak he said; but as ou
speakers seemed to be absent doing goo
service in the other part Of the connty, b
hoped) he would give the best talk he could
Mr.. r., without much preliminary, then pro
ceedsd to take up the leading points of Mr.
.. c. Gray's Speech at the Republican CIui
on Saturday evening. Mr.. Gray had mad
long speech and touched on a hundred
points, and as the orator Of the "all the de
cency party" had used some choice figure.
and remarkably eh-ste language, which
among "rough democrats" would not beal
repeating but the point in his speech wor
thy Of notice were very few. Mr.. Gray hac
attempted, said Mr.. r., to pull the wool owe,
the eyes o. the abolitionists, By undertaking
to assail Mr.. Douglas construction Of the
Declaration Of Independence. He had gone
into long argument to show that where that
declaration says ''all men are created equal,
&c, it meant negroes as well as white men.
The intention Of Mr.. Gray was, to bamboo
zle the abolitionists into the belief that the
republican. Of Ottawa were great friends Of
the neero-were for giving them equal
rights &c. Yet these republicans all pro-
fessed TO stand on the same gronnd with Lin
coin on the negro equality question-and let
the democrats charge Mr.. Gray or any Of
them with desire to give the negro equal
political right with the white, and they at
once fare up and say they mean nothing Of
the Kind. With Mr. Lincoln at Chicago
they say the negro is the equal Of the white
man, but " hen asked whether they are for
giving him the right 10 vote, hold office, sit
on juries, &c, they fly the track, and with
Lincoln at ChGrlestOn, that OF course they
mean no such thing-tiiat the negro is Of an
interior race-the white man the superior,
aud the negro mast be Kept under Mt. L.
dwelt with great force on the shameless hy
pocrisy and double dealing Of all this, and
contrsstci it with the outspoken, manly
language of Judge Douglas, between whom
and Lincoln there was really no difference
on this question.
Mr.. L next took up knd ri,iculed the
fiernsy apology Gray had made for Cook,
for voting against Gen. Shields in the Hin
ois Legislature in 1858. Cray had said
Cooks reason was, because Sl.ields had vo-
brssha bill. Mr. Il. gave the histery OF
that amendment, and showed that both
Shields and Douglas had voted against it
But even if they had voted foT it, what
would haze been the sin: That amend.
ment required that foreigner should be nat
uralized before They should have the right
TO vote, and Mr. r. said so far as his ac-
quaintance with our foreign born citizens
went, and it was pretty extensive, he be-
lieved they ali hold II to be no more than
right, that foreigners ought TO be natural
lied before they voted. Much unjust preiu-
dice had been excited against foreigners by
corrupt politicians frequently trying TO get
them to vote before they were naturalized,
while the mass Of them abhorrcd such
things. Mr. T. would DO Mr. Cook the jus
tice to say that he was influenced in his
vate against Shields by no such absord rea-
son. Nr. c. although elected in 1862 as
the fre.d of Shields, under instructions to
vote for him, had come to the conclusion.
in the winter Of 1855, thai the popular
breeze in his district was asans: Shields,
and had therefore preferred to sail with the
breeze and vote against him. rather than
kill himself politically for the times by vo-
ting for him. This was Cooks true reason;
and the only motive he could imagine in Mr..
Grey for concea!ing this and giving the
feu sy one alluded to, was that Grey was
jealous of Cook and tried, under the guise
Of friendship to hold him up in as redicu-
lousa light as possible. Our limits will not
allow Us to follow Mr.. R, further in his re-
marks, which were to the point and pun
gent throughout, and received with contin-
ued applause.
Mr.. H. X. Leland was next called out, and
made short and very effective speech. ex
posing the dishonesty and sophis,rv of Mr..
Gray's exposition of the Dred Scott decision,
and the legislation of the country on the
slavery question, and concluded with with
ering implement of the Otter Creek hero
for his denunciaton of tho Great Statesman
and Patriot Clay, in his Saturday evenings
trade.