The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1864-02-08
KEOKUK:
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8.
SPEAKING our IN q. EeUIs.

SPEAKING OUT IN 30 LOUIE
There was tremendous meeting in e.
Louis last week to rake sfssneemsns
for giving the returning vatesass . grand
reception. Gen. Grant and Gen. Rose
Grams were expected to be present, and Of
oourse, al the soldiers in the city were
anxious to be there to zee them.
Gen. Mcneil was called out and made
patriotic speech, closing with the fol-
lowing very decided sentiments:
The "minions Of Lincoln" have been
two and half years in the 6eld--wba.
should St. Louis do for them upon their
return home Great God What do you
owe to the soldiers in the field? What
does St. Louis oweg The great uprising
which has saved the country did not be.
long to Missouri. am ashamed to say
the greater part Of the State was disloyal,
and great many of my fellow-citisens
we're disloyal. Some Of them, if not will
ing to act, we're mean enough to stand by
and encourage active disloyalty. But !
say, to the honor Of Missouri and st.
Louis, there Was noble little band Who
stood mp to their duty, and when they
spoke about hanging the first "Lincoln
hireling" who should desecrate the soil OF
Missouri, We said to them s'come on, and
we will see you through )" and by the
help of Almighty God, and protecting
Providence. we we're enabled to hold this
city against the most outrageous, the most
wicked conspiracy that was ever Matched
in any place. In doing that, we were
sustained by our neighbors of the North.
They are going back, having established
their reputation for bravery upon the soil
of every rebel State. They have driven
back the rebellion until it is almost moth
ing, and it is only necessary for these men
to hold their places little while longer,
and to use vulgar phrase, the thing is
gone up.
When these men 60 through St. Louis
to their homes, / ask my old neighbors
who have remained civilians, to treat
them kindly, to treat them well, and let
every man go home, saying St. Louis is
the most loyal city in the Union.
When this is done, and when this war
is over, as l believe it soon will be, will
come back to ST. Louis, where l have
lived for twenty-eight years, more salts
fed with it as my home. as the birth place
of my children, than l should have been
before.
Fellow soldiers, you that are here who
have re.enlisted az veterans, | have no
terms to greet you; Icould not command
the language to do it fitly. There will be
men here to night who will do it grace
fully and properly. ! say to you this,
that all the rewards offered by the Gov
ernment, and all the bounties paid, had
very little to do in reckoning these men
back into the service-they did not ask
it-they would have gone for nothing.
They are fighting for principle, and
every man is man of opinion. This is
a war of principle, in which men are
pledging their lives, their fortunes and
their sacred honors in the defence Of
liberty.
Nearly one thousand years ago men
swarmed over the plains of Europe, and
Europe shed tears over what vas called
the holy war. This is holy war, which
is to shake off the last shackle from the
dowatrodden slave. | and many others
have stood here, the faithful sentinels
over every mans negro. They dared
this rebellion in order to open the slave
trade; they we're afraid of the growth Of
population in this great read-growing
country, and broke the contract under
which We worked faithfully, and when
they broke that contract said We would
make a new contract which would wipe
out slavery. Cheers.] never should
have interfered-l was conservative in
times Of peace; always have been con.
sentative. thank God my father gave
me trade, and when he cent me out h.
said he was putting loaf of bread under
my arm. | never asked for public Office;
| felt conservative; felt like sustaining
everything that kept peace and quietnesi
between our neighbors. When this wal
came said we will have . new deal en-
tirely, and before this war is done we vii
do away with the cause of it. You may
suppose am diverging into the line Of
politics, but in this war soldier canno,
talk without getting into politics; every.
thing is political, and bayonets are radi
cal call upon every man to fight unit
the great cause Of the war is wiped GU,
forever
The Hon. C. D. Drake followed him in
fine speech, from which We make the fol
lowing extract:
But | want you to bear in mind, now
that we Lave in this State to contend with
what is worse than the power of slavery
and that is the restoration of these blood
stained rebels to public equality. [Cries
ofnever. never Say never-say never
my fellow citizens! | warn this vast as
sembly Of it. If it were left to you,
know it would never be; but, left tc
these low, dirty, detestable Conservatives
who want to be raised into Office on the
shoulders of these returned rebels, it will
be. But that isy your danger; and there
is no greater danger than, as the rebel
hon dies out. these rebels may return and
control the destiny Of this State, aud, per.
haps. OF the United States.
For my part | say that the man who
has raised his hand in parricidal anpe,