Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1864-12-15
Banauet TO Speaker Coifax I'm
I'hiiadelphia - MY. COifaHs
Speech.

corded by some OF our patriotic citizens to
Hon. Schuyler Colfax, OF Indiana, Speaker
Of the United States House Of Represents
tives. A sumptuous repast was served at
the Assembly Buildings, aud appropriate
speeches, DC, made. ......
Morton Mitchell, Esq, presided
Mr. Colfax on rising was most enthuhas-
ticaIly received, and spoke rs follows:
MR CHAIRMEs AND FRIENDS: l thank
you for the greeting with which you have
welcomed me to the City of Br0therIy Love.
rejoice with you over the victory in No
vember, and particularly because IT was
victory, not OF party but OF the county,.
The bonds of party aud .partzanshlp fell
from the limbs Of thousands Of patriots
We won our victory in Indiana with one
watchword -'Staud by the Government.
That is the first and last duty Of pstrlotsi 10
this hour of national trial, the alpha and
omega Of the patriots obligation, the crown
ing duty of the American citizen. For
when rebel armies are iu the field, and I'M
ion armies, filled with the patriotic aud the
good, are opposite to them, it IS the duty
of those who remain at home to maintain
the Union and stand up for the Constitution
and the laws. Applause. Our opponents
had weapons which would have oyerwhelm-
ed any mere political party. To one they
held the horrors Of the draft to another,
our vast national debt; and TO a third, ex-
cessive taxation aud its burdens. A fourth
was regaied with an account OF the high
prices of all the articles and necesssries Of
life. All we presented in reply was our
country, our flag and devotion TO our land,
aud with those planks we won this great
victory.
And, now, when you ask, "Watchman,
what of the night" the answer comes back
that the night is far spent, the day is at hand,
and the light of dawn is nigh.
Our country is dearer in affictiou than
when gilded with the sun OF prosperity /;
more to be cherished in adyersity than 10
uninterrupted prosperity. Intbe calm which
has eHsued since the late election it is well
to consider what the late great national de-
cree means. First. The people having do
clared, as in 1860 Abraham Lincoln the
duly chosen PresideHt of the United States,
he is to remain in the Executive Chair till
every rebel shall bow the knee in allegiance
to oar Government. Applause la the
second place, it was decreed that the war for
the ULion was not failure, but was to be
prosecuted with unceasing yigor aud deter
mutation until our flag shall wave triumph
antly aud unassailed from every headland
fort, and bastion, within the national limits.
Loud applause.
1t was Gecreed, in the third place. that in
this Union, formed by our fathers aud be-
qucathed to US, as from sire 10 son, shaped
by the geography of the continent, which
has written upon it, what God has Joined
together let no man put asundsr, no sword
1 OF rebellion shall flourish, but it shall be
I a.. ,sx h.
ed to us by our ancestors. Loud cheering.
In the fourth place it was decreed that the
doctrine of secession was utterly abhorrenl
to an overwhelming majority OF the Amer
can people, and that that people were unsl
tetably resolved that no alien flag should
ever wave over a single grave in which was
buried one of the noble dead of the nation.
| Renewed cheering. Never should the
tomb Of the hero of New Orleans or the
ashes Of Washington'be covered by a foreign
hagi but one Constitution, ohe Flag and
one Country should be etsrnally decreed for
the United States of America. Greatap.
pause.
It was deereed, in the fifth place, that as
slavery was the cause of all the evils now
affecting our nation, that that, institution
should be forever extinguished in this Re
public, Long and continued cheering j
Both as penalty for the past, and a secu-
rity in the future, its destruction was de-
creed How forcibly has this war displayed
the footsteps of Providence When trai-
tors lit the South in civil war in Charleston
harbor they lit the funeralpyrs Of their own
cherished institutions. Again. it was de-
creed that it it was great to found nation
it was greater still to sace great and en-
lightened one like that under whose pro
tecting agts we live II it costs much, al
it will to save this land from destruction, il
would cost still more tolose it, Applause.
And if we cannot live in peace as one ma
tion, we viii never be able to do so in two
Mr.. Colfax continued with eloqueuce ant
force. Phe extreme lateness OF the hou
nocessitates an abridgement Of his remarks
lie said we were much given in these day
to talking about terms OF peace. Wha
! more equitable terms Of peace could b
imagined than those now propounded b.
our representatives in Congress? Next wee
. the Congress of the United States woui'
$ have before it proposed amendment to tn
t Constitution which declared in four line
: that hereafter neither slavery or inyoluh
i tsry seryitude, except for crime, should e1
J, ist in the United States The members
the opposition party would have ehanc
| 10 ulsDhy tHClI DOdstCu
popular will, as expressed at the late eiet
ton, by voting for this amendment,
passed the Senate last winter by a nearl
n unanimous vote. In the House Of Repre-
i sentativos it was defeated by eleven votes
s Since then forty-one districts, Iepresente
q in the House by gentlemen who, vote
+ against the pryposed amendment, had n
/ pudiated the action OF their Ccngrsssmel
o and declared in favor Of the platform {
o adopted by the Republican Convention
, Balhmere r95 1 4
q y It is now to be hoped that these gentl
Z men will profit by the decision of their co
:" stituents, aud reverse their action ecu
=, 10 anything be fairer than the terms of 81
:. mission We offer the rebels ? We a
- nothing of them to which We ourselves
, mot submit. viz, allegiance to,the Cover
!; |; ment, freedom to all inhabitants Of eve
State, and an acknowledgment of the Go
!, y stitution as the supreme law OF the land.
= = The SO three points we voluntarily submit
-, - Yourselves, and we merely ask themlto do lib
- !; wise, When they struck at the count
w. which had always protected slavery, {
country had the right to strike back a
annihiate the institution which sought
ON life. [Long continued cheering.JI q ia,
as Hon. Wm. D. Kelley was introduced, a
a q III j. nId dRAa al