The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1866-09-06
SPEECHES OF ,n.,
Col. Sam. Mckee, Of Ky.
Hon. A. ]. FLETCHER, of Tenn.
AND
Hon. IL. w. CLARKE, of Ohio.
Delivered at HittS5oro, Aug. 20, 1866.
SPEECHES OF
COL. McKEEs SPEECH.

that he felt flattered by the invitation
10 address the Union men of Ohio
But why had he come here? He
came not to aid the people of this
State, but to ask the Union men of
Ohio and the entire North to stand by
the true and faithful Union men of
Kentucky and the South, and not to
turn them over to the mercy of rebels.
What was the great issue now before
the people? 1t was the same as dur
ing the war--it had only been trans
ferred from the battlefield to the bah
lot-boX. The great question now is,
whether, after having crushed the re-
bellion, we shall turn the Government
over to those who sought to destroyiR
There were still but two great parties
in the country-the Union party,
which had supported the Government
through the war, and the Democratic
or rebel party, which opposed it.
What were now the differences be-
tween the Union party and their oppo-
nents, or between the policy of Con-
gress and that of Mr.. Johnson? AS a
member of that body, he could speak
of its acts understandingly. The loyal
majority in Congress are denounced as
,tsuypers--they are charged with en-
acting unconstitutional Ldaos, and inn
posing harsh conditions on the people
of the South. He would briefly dis.
cuss the leading measures passed by
Congress, and let his hearers judge
whether these charges were true OF
not. But first he would ask a0hO are
these men who are denouncing Con-
gress and demanding the immediate
restoration of rebels to power without
any conditions for the safety and fl-
ture peace of the country ? They are
the same men who denounced the elee-
tion of Mr.. Lincoln as 'ssectional
victory; and who said it was a just
cause for war. They are the same
men who, with Breckenridge, Toombs
Davis, and other leading rebels, de
nounced Mr.. Lincoln's call for $4,000
men as usurpation and tyranny-tht
same men from the North who sat in
Congress and refused to vote "a man OF
a dollar" for the war; and even when
Lee was invading Maryland declared
the war ''unconstitutionar' ;-the same
men who denounced the Emancipation
Proclamation who assembled at Chi
cago, when but little more effort was
needed to secure the success of our arm
les, and denounced the war as efail
ure" the same men who always re
Ijoiced over rebel victories and Fedora
defeats. These were the men who arr
now denOuncing Congress, aided by {
.fetO Others, who were true to the Unior
through the war, but after all was ovel
and the victory won, had sold them
selUes for a .feIC petty offices While
the war was in progress how did W.
meet these denunciatiOns We me
them by furnishing men and money
to carry on the war; we met them OF
the battlefield and crushed then
then, and we are not afraid noao of thei
denunciations. t .'f -h.lia.fs
President johnson had basely de
serted the Union party, and was to
day heading an army of traitors. A
first it was hard to tell what he meant
but now there was no mistake-h,
was no longer with the great part!
which had elected him and saved tn
country. ..f r..g ..' .s el..s .ao
What were the measures in regarC
to which differences have sprung VI
between the President and Congress
They Were--s nus. s4rru,s
1st, the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, OF
as our Democratic friends call it, tn
"Great Free Niger Boarding House.
What is this bill? 1t was simply
measure necessary. and indispensable
for the care and protection of tn
freedmen. When the war ended, the
were in a worse condition than tn
whites, for they had no land or othe
property to support them. Ther
: were no Southern laws to protect then
but on the contrary there were law
unjust and oppressive to them as
class. The bill was therefore necessi
ryat the time, but it was only intende
as a temporary measure, until tn
Southern States should themselves OF
act laws for the protection of the freeC
men, and they should be able to tax
care of themselves.
But the operations Of the bill ha
not been confined to the negroes.
had also extended relief to- the poo
iphtteS of the South, Democratic orr
tors and newspapers are very carefI
) never to mention this, but always r
! fer to it as a Niger bill. What are I'll
facts2 1t was true that at first the /
sue of rations to, blacks was larg
than that to whites, but the ratio lia
steadily diminished in favor of ii
blacks, until at this time the whit
aretreceiving -four times as many as Il
blacks In Virginia during the q
months from January 1st to July Is
j of this year, there were issued gi7S,O
: rations to whites, and only $4,000 Y
blacks. D In Tennessee, during. Ia
May and June, $4,000 to whites al
) only 5000 to blacks, In Arkansf
D. nom January to July, 29, 900 to white
e. and only 5000 to blacks Shown
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