The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1865-11-09
AN GRAFTON
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
MERCER COUNTY AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETY,
At MlIiersburg, Sept. %, 1868.
BY r. H. SPICER. ESQ.
(Coucluded.l

upon another, IN winch INC iueas Vi 'u0 past
will no logger NJ.
lstioos, are destined to pass rapidly into
new phase. under the powerful stimulus OF
new circumstances, wants and passions
If this enormity is to be perpetuAted, II
the ideas of the past upon this AFFECT are TO
prevail, while other ideas give way and yield
To the new phase of thiags, 1t must be per
petuated at your hands and at your sanction.
You constitute four fifths of the population;
you hold the destiny. of the nation In your
hands.
You can make and unmake presidents; you
can fill the halls OF congress with representa-
tiyes selected from your own numbers, obe-
dent to YOUR own vail, or you eau fill 1t with
representatives of another class, obedlent To
another will, You can be a power within
Yourselves. controlling aud shaping, not only
your own destiny, but tho desuny OF the ma
ton, for good, or you can be power, IN the
hands of others. receiving, ike the plant
slave. YOUR instructions from other lips. You
can cast your votes according to their dIcta-
ton YOU can fall upon your knees. mental
like, aud do their bidding; and when they
have robbed you OF your heritage and thrown
you aside as useless lumber. you will cry out
with joyous accents, ell done thou good
and faithful servant.
Farmers. mechanics and working men -
when will you recognize the fact that you
are men? Are there other men cast In supe-
rior mould or nodded OF some finer clay that
they, and they alone, should have the ability
and right to govern
Though you and your fathers have acted
upon that theory too long, IL Is due to your
children, if not to you, that your disaouse
Yourselves of the fallacy. When prominent
msn-statesmen-addr you on occasions
like this they tell you how you should edu-
cate your sons, and what you should do with
them. | tell you what you should DO with
vourselves-take care Of your owa Interests
and the Interests of those ,ohom God has
trusted to your keeping.
If parties or party leaders, run counter to
those Interests dissolve your connection with
them, and declare your independence, or ;lc-
knowledge their supremacy and bId adieu, q
lingering, last adieu to all your foud hopes
to all your bright snucIpatlon5 Tor the fu-
ture.
The nation has passed through the crisis of
war. If TO do that required men OF iron
nerve aud will, ready TO confront danger and
death with NO thought but TO maintain their
own aud their nations honor 20 how much
more do we require men OF like nerve and
like will to carry Us through the crisis which
is now pending over the nation, and not Oni Y
reconstruct and restore its dIsorganized con-
dition, but also TO reconstruct and restore its
financial coalition, and place it upon 4 basis
that shall insure its honor and prosperity -
Its honor and prosperity can ORly be restOr-
ed by the enactment of equa. laws, imposing
equal burdens upon all. regardless Of locality
or calling. Can you hope tor such laws while
the mass Of the men VINO represent you are
either interested In promJtidg their own in
terests or the interests OF classes with WHOM
off In. nv
their education and habits, are wont to sell
their services for a consideration?
The committee on the conduct Of the War,
together with prominent generals IN the field,
attribute the disaster and failure of the charge
in connection with the explosion of the Pc
tersburg mine to the forty days previous
training of the troops. For forty days they
had been behind their parapets. within reach
of the enemy's sharp shooters, continually ex-
posed TO fire, and were constantly in the nab
it Of lodging and seeking cover for protection.
1t was urgsd by Gen Burnside that the ha bit
of lodging and seeking cover had become SO
confirmed that the men would not stand fire
when required to confront the enemy, ous
by instinct would yield TO their old habits
The prediction proved but too true
The result was q terrible disaster and q
surrender of large number OF our noble
troops. If habit can be so formed in forty
days as 30 render men incapable of maintain
ing their own and their country's honor win at
Can be expected of men whose whole educa-
ton, whose whole practice through lite, for
subsistence, has been one continued lodging
When you bring such men up to confront
the spindIes of Massachusetts. or the blast
furnaces of Pennsylvani and require them
to charge, that they may be made to yield
their hold upon the purse-strings of the
workings men of the country-down they 90.
That their hands, we'll flied, 60 down into
their pockets at the same time, is too unna,
tural to believe.
But one thing is certain disaster and de-
feat are the results of previous training, and
you are the victims ignobly surrendered to
become the life long helots of the victors
need not tell you that to meet that dan
ger in the future you require men who will
stand firm. Men who have been injured to
toll, and who, knowing the right, have the
will and the courage TO maintain it, Men
who when required to charge upon the para
sites who have fastened themselves upon the
productive classes and are sapping the vital
juices necessary for their existence will yield
not until their Ill gotten hold is relaxed and
the great element of the nation's prosperity
is freed from their paralyzing grasp. IL is
but just to remark that, since writing the
ioreg1lnR, pickeu up at tue state 1alr, tue
pamphlet of +. b. Ward. of Detroit, which
was scattered broad cast though it was
the great address of the occasion; making an
appeal to the people of the northwestern
states and the farmers IN particular, to sup
port by their votes aud their influence q pol
ICY the opposite of the one indicated by nv
remarks. Urging, that if you would increase
your wealth, and surround yourselves and
your families with more of the comforts of
lie. you must pay more for what you buy
In ad yocacy of his tbeory tba chocolate 60,