Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1866-07-19
A Grand Speech.

There was great gathering of the sol.
ders and sailors Of Illinois at Salem recent
ly. 1t is estimated 10000 people were
present. Gems. Sherman and logan, with
Gov Oglesby, made addresses From what
Gen. Logan said we extract few notable
passages:
Would you have believed two years ago,
when certain great man of this land said
treason must be made odious and traitors
must be punished, and not only that, but
that they must be impoverished, and that
their property must be distributed among
the loyal people, that he would declare that
they were entitled to representation in the
United States? No If he did, he had
a very strange way of expressing himself
That is all | can say on that subject. -
Laughter. No, Sir the work Of restora
tion in this country belongs 70 loyal men,
and not to traitors, and while loyal men are
engaged in performing this work and restor-
ing this country, they must say to these
traitors: "Genttcmen, Ue intend TO confer
hese rights upon yOu rhenerer nee nre mind
ei 10. IL is not for you 10 sag tie time UheA
ii shall be done but ii for us 10 say. 1t is
in our hands in our power. We hare the
right and you hare no priUiIeges IN this
country. Good, good That's so. The
only acts that they can perform are such
acts as we recognize as being lawful by our
recognition The acts that we say to them
they shall not perform, they cannot perform
until we say they shall
Oh, but some Of the opposition say, why
if you do not allow these people to be rep
resented there is onc.half Of the Union un-
represented, and the laws that you pass in
Congress are unconstitutional because por-
tion of the country is unrcpreacnted. -
Laughter
Well. | presume upon the same hypoth-
ess all the laws Tint we passed during the
war are unconstitutional because Jeff
Divis's part of the country was not repre-
sentcd. Laughter. So 1t might be in
reference to this representation if the doc
trnc now enunciated by the opposition to
the Union people in this land is correct ;
that is, that these people, the very moment
they laid down their arms, although they
had forfeited their lives, although they had
forfeited their property. although they had
forfeited their rights, civil and political, all
those rights came back to them, and that
they were as fully restored, as fully entitled
to the rights and privileges of American
citizens in representative as well as in any
other capacity, as any other people in this
land.
am willing that the people shall have
their property, or the little they have got
left, though think they have good deal
more than they ought to have unless they
behave better than they seem to. But
care nothing about that. If the people are
willing, have no objection. do not want
to be their executioner; but do want to
do few things as one of the American peo-
pie, as one Of the loyal citizens of this land.
| want to be recognized in this land as
soldier of the Republic Of the United States,
and not disgraced man. want to be re-
cognized, at the same time, as n man who
has done more for his country than traitor.
Applause. | want it to be so in this land
that Gen. Sherman may stand here to-day
before the American people in prouder
light. higher socially. politically and every
way, than does Joe Johnston the man who
fought against him in the armies of treason.
Applause.
After touching impressively upon the
rights of the freedmen to Government pro-
lection, Gen. Logan alluded to the dishonor-
ing of loyal graves at Augusta:
Hence want him to have the protection
VI tn0 iuW. hu III ldNOT VI MS uhNlUE lt'
| ask you, my countrymen, ask you, moth
ers, who are sitting around in this little
group, that have some fond sons that lie
away far off beneath the hot burning sands
of Georgia, whose faces you will see no
more on earth, whose graves you can never
visit again, perhaps, aud tho old fathers,
too, and the little prattling babe, that often
asks his mother, "Mother, when viii my
father again return to me 2" to have the
laws of this land so modified that while
traitors in the South have their gatherings,
d y after day, to strew garlands of flowers
upon the graves Of Rebel soldiers, that they
may live in their memory as long as life
shall last, if some poor, old, decrepid negro
who has gained his liberty by the march
aud prowess of American arms, shah come
along with basket Of flowers, TO strew up
on the grave of some poor loyal soldier, that
he shall have tho right to do it, and that no
person shall have the right to interfere, and
that he is to be protected Emotion,