Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-12-14
M0RNINGLEADER,
BOMBAY DIonNINa. DEC. u, Ises.
Speech Of General Garfield at YoHng'

Youngstown, just before going to Wash
fneton. As many of our resders would
like 70 see where the General now stands
We quote entire. We are indebted to the
MAhOning Register;
General Garfield, after responding
briefly 10 the remarks with which Rev.
Mr.. Wilson introduced him to the audi
ence slluded to the great changes which
had taken place in the past two years and
half, and said that the American people
lived through q more wonderful and vari-
ed history during that period than the en-
tire history Of tht last half century,
Events, rather than years, mark the pro-
grees Of national as we'll as individual
LIE. Our republic has grasped the sub
stance Of century in the short space Of
forty months. How grandly the cspsbili
ties Of our people have been tested One
feature Of cur Government has always
been wonder among the nations. While
France has q standing army Of 100000
men, splendidly equipped and disciplined
in time Of peace, and other Eaoopesn ma
tons a proportional force, the United
States has never had peace establishment
Of more than 5000 men, and scarcely
thousand OF these were ever at one place.
We have not trusted our national sta
bility 10 8 standing army, but have rested
rule Of the majority. However sharply
our pclicical parties might contest the
prize Of Office, yet sll would at once unite
in maintaining the right Of the legally
elected ruler to WELD the power which the
majority had placed in his hand. While
Is this spirit prevailed we we're safe. This
principle was the broad foundation Of our
republic and our shield against anarchy.
It is just principle. If the majority
nay not rule certainly the minority should
not. When the voice Of the people ceases
to be Law, the day ofanarchy and violence
Is ut hand.
The rebellion is an attempt to overthrow
this cardinal doctrine Of the republic. II
It succeeds, the basis Of all our hope is
swept away. No eye can pierce the dark
ness Of the abyss thst yswns before US, no
plummet can sound its depth, no bridge
can span its breadth, and no wisdom dis
cover firm ground beyond the gulf into
which secession would plunge US.
The leaders Of the rebellion do not any
longer disguise their hatred Of Demo
sH7 cratic form Of government. The Rt. Rev.
Il. Gen Polk declared, more than a year
ago, that the South would never again
commit the folly Of establishing q Repub-
lican form of Government but that the
Confederacy was to be made up of gen.
LemeQs 0GuETHl AUdul6f VI D4lEelBslpplr
captured at Chiokamsugs said to the speak
sr that the leading thinkers of the South
hsd come to the full conclusion that uni
versal suffrage was q humbug, and self
government dead failure. The ignorant
masses, he said, still clung to the repub-
Hean idea but the leading thinkers Of the
South would never tolerate it again. A
rebel Colonel stated, recently, that he was
fighting for 3 title which would descend to
his children, and place them in the van Of
sH1 tbsnew nobility on which the Confederate
h1f GoverDm ment was to rest.
The American people should take ithome
to their hearts, that the success Of the re-
belIion will result in the establishment
Of monarchies, or some Of the oligarchio
forms, over half this continent. Hence
the sympsth5 of European despotism with
the conspirstors of the South. The future
Count Bragg, Baron Lee, and Ny Lord
Bsauregsrd, look in that direction for
comfort. No nation, ancient or modern,
ever had more at stake, or had so many
reasons for putting all its strength into
war, as ours now has.
And what are our prospects, after two
and half years Of fighting The speak
er said he had never, for a moment doubt
ed the final success Of cur cause. he be-
lisVed in the justice of God and His benif-
cent designs toward the cause Of humsni-
ty and freedom on this continent and he
could not believe that 6 plot like the re-
bellion, 30 full Of bsleful results to the
world, would be permitted to sue
= oeed. But the prospect is now brighter
than ever before since the beginning of
the war. There are strong military, po-
Hticsl and moral grounds for this state.
ment. The great chain Of the Allegheny
and Cumberland Mountains, which runs
from Western Virginia through Eastern
Kentucky and Tennessee, Northern Geor-
gis and Northern Alabama, and loses it.
self in The sandy plains of Mississippi, has
hitherto divided the contested ground into
two plsins The rebels held one and also
the mountains as its bulEark Of defense
Oar armies had closed them in, held the
western foot OF the mountains, and by
the great Vicksburg and Port Hudson
campaigns had cut off Texas and Arksn-
sss, sRd nesrly all Of Louisiana, from the
COnfedersey, and had reopened the nayi-
cation Of the Mississippi but while the
rebel forces held the great mountain wall
their plain in its rear was safe from hos
tile ineursions, aud they dash down upon
our side af the wall, break our lines of
lE4 communioation, and destroy our supplies,
while We we're concentrating to meet their
stack. In the language Of military sci
ence, they held fhe interior line, while we
were compelled to defend the exterior one.
and at the snme time make the war ag-
gressive.
The l6,e campaigns of the armies Of the
Ohio and the Cumberland had for their d.
rect object the seiEing Of the mountain
ranges, so as to turn all its advantages in
eur favor and against the enemy. This
could only be done by seizing and holding
its two gsteWsys-Cumberland Gap and
Chattanoogs-whieh are not only the
passes but the keys of the mountsins. |
Both are now in our hands. The one cost |
rs Chicksmaugs, but the stake was richly |
f- worth the cost. No loss Of the war has |
been 50 disastrous to the rebellion. Their |
papers acknowledge it, and JEFF. Davis told |
brsggs army he would retake Chstts- |
nooga and East Tennessee, if it cost him |
Richmond and the ses-coast But our
army is now too strong, and too strongly |
fortified, to be shaken off from its hold IN /
the mountains. Aside from the direct |
strategic advantages Of our position. the /
ocDPatien Of Chattanooga and East Ten
nessee is most damaging to the rebels. It 4
cuts Of their main channel of eommupiea-
ton between Richmond and the Gulf
States, and leaves them but single Iinsof
railroad, and that circuitous enc by wav
et Weldon, North Carolina. 1t takes from
tAem their main source Of supply of iron
coal and saltpetre, Whiehthey found In