Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1862-10-09
Capt. Heath's Reply, &c.
BUkris HousE, DAVENPORT,
October S,b. 1862.

October s.h, 1862.
MEssRs. RIcHAnDsoN + WEsr:-
Gentlemen structures upon my re.
marks Of last evening at Metropolitan Hall, as
read them 10 your issue this morning. re-
qniree from me. upon one or two points. word
Of notice, and l ask You to allow me the
space in your paper necessary to that Oh
iect.
NY reference to slavery in Missouri. and
the figures l gave, were bassd upon a epseeh
made by the Hon. Senator Henderson, from
thai State, in the United States Senate, du
ring laet sammer's session Of Congress. Not
having Consulted other authority, and pre-
suning upon the correetiveness Of bis fig.
nres. l quoted them. have yet to know
that they were incorrect | stated that II
there were 100000 saves in Missouri at the
beginning of the war. there were not now
80 900 there. and therefore 452,OOO (snd not
$50 900, a. you make out) of them had, with
the exception of . small per cent, who had
been taken south by their masters. became
free. Whether the & gures quoted are cor
rect or not, does not vary the truthful|ness
OF my other remark in the same connection,
that slavery in Missouri is now bu. nomi.
oal insttution-ths masters being more the
slaves of t.e negro, than they are of them.
pass over your several unkind personal al
lusions to myself and my past political
course. with the simple remark, that / have
now been . citizen Of Iowa nearly six years,
most Of which period my political sentiments
have been in coincidence with your own, and
this fact should on your own account, have
deferred you from making the assertion that
iii there is a disloyal or unreasonable Demo-
erat Iowa today. he ~ can take . portion
Of the credit o. Of it to himself" (myeel) for.
ia this sentence you clearly condemn your
selves. for do not perceive any change in
your political course.
Permit me to say that my present position
is the result Of a chanse OF circu m.
stances 10 our national affairs. and am for
putting an end to rebellion. rebels, and all
that pertains to them politically a. speedily
as possible. And my firm cnviction is. that
among the potent msasures adopted to tn
end, ts the Presidents emanci patton Proclama.
ton, and q faithful and energetic action un.
der it, provisions by all concerned.
Respectfully.
II. II. HEATH
RxxAaxs.-With your permission. Captain
Heath. We will say q word or two. Pardon
us il We talk p'ainly-the case demands il.
Your figures betray degree ofignorance
that we should hardly look for in an ex editor
Of yaars' experience, and eent into the State
under the auspices Of Southern influence. You
fall back upon Senator I1end ereon for your da-
e. We have not seen any speech Of his "in
the U. s. Senate" where he said there were
5OO,O 900 slaves in Missouri; We doubt that you
ever did. If, however, YOU will point it out
to us, or tell US where it was made, 80 that we
can look 1t up, we viii excuse you-partially,
and were it not for the good name Of the edi.
torial fraternity Any school.boy
will tell you. that even in 1860, when the
slave population Of the United States culmina>
500, 900 slaves. Virginia had more than any
other State-4o5, ,s26. Missouri had 1860.
We refer you to the reports laid before the
sch Congress by Commissioner Kennedy. We
deny that We misqnoted you. Your statement
that $50, 900 slaves had left that State, vas Of
course il a1sertant; you intended to io form
the people that 100000 had left Missouri,
which was equally ridiculous, coming from an
ex.editor. and an army officer who haa just
spent twelve months In that State, and who
assumss to furnish an intelligent audience Of
ladies and gentlemen Of Davenport. including
the Governor and the Supreme Bench Of Iowa,
with correct information.
You tell US. that in telling you that if there
is disloyal or unreasonable Dem ocrat in
Iowa, to-day. he (you) can take portion o.
the credit (D to himself. (yoursslO. that We
condemn yourselves (ourselves.) Lot US
look into this matter little. with your kind
permission. You also state, in effect that We
coincided with you while engaged in politics i"
THE State. and that you see NO change in our
political course. That, too, we will consider
under the same head.
We accounted ourselves for while Demo.
Gratis, together, and worked together. When
the question Of nominating a candidate for the
Presidency in 1869 came up. you were in fa-
vor OF making Mr.. treckinridgs that nomi-
nee. Hs was also our choice. Thus far we
concided, We had right to our preferences.
Here the coincidence" ceased. The Charles
ton Convention came off. Southern fre.saters
and plotters Of rebellion, when they found
that >tephen A. Douglas was the choice of
majority of the Democracy Of the Union. pro-
cured an ADJOURNMENT to Baltimore, to con-
vene some weeks later. That convention sovk
place The voice ofths Democracy vas still
mere unmistakssble for Mr.. Douglas, and
good round majority nominated him. The
majority rulsd--ws said amen, and went to
work far his election, as . loyal Democrat vas
iu duty bound to do. What did you do. Cap
tain Heathf When that convention declared
Mr. Douslas the nominee, what did JEFF Davis
VIM. L Ysncsy. H. H. Heath, and other dsle>
gates dol You seeded. cir; You bolted the
convention you denied the R1Gur Of the ma
jority to rule you classed yourself as seces
s;onist. and as one Of those whose policy is the
same to day 90 it was then--rw's or ruin You
encouraged the movement; your voice was
loud in the treason able scheme you told them
that secession was right, and % far as
your influence went you taught the people Of
Iowa SO. Will you deny it3 Will you deny
that you used your iudaencs, your energy and
the meaus accruing from the fat Federal office
which you held ~ the price Of your treason
to the party. to force this heresy upon Iowa
Dem ecrats? to encourage the tearing down of
the Democratic party to nourish and foster
the hideous treaeon that WAS right there show.
ing ito poisonous fangsl? You, cir. entered the
campaign and followed 1t up with . deter
mination to widen the breach, and encourage