The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1866-09-12


you pretend now TO have great respect
and sympathy for tho poor fellow who
left his arm on the battlefield. l un.
'derstand you, who talk abo ut the duty Of
the President and object to his speech of
the 22d of July, CYoiCe, T22d Of Fcbru-
ary,'D-22d Of February, l know who
have fought the battles of the country,
and ] know who is to pay FOR it. Those
brave men sEod their blood and you spec
ulaied, got money, aud now The great mass
Of the people must work it out. Gap.
plause and confusion | care not for
your prejudices. 1t is time for the great
mass of tho American people to under.
stand what your designs are in not ad.
hitting the Southern States when they
have como to terms, and even proposed
to pay their part of the national debt. |
say, Let them come; and those brave man
having conquered them and having. pros
trated-them in dust with the heel of pow
er upon them, What do they say Voice.
"Wha does Gen. Butler say ?"] Gen.
Butler I! What does General Grant say ?
And what DIES General Grant say Of Gen
Butler? What does Gen. Sherman say?
He says lie is for restoration Of the gov
eminent, and Gen. Sherman fought for
it. " 7'"'1 9.' 'a--
But fellow citizens let this all pass. I
care not for malignity, There is a GER
tain portion Ct our countrymen that will
respect their fellow citizen whenever he
is entitled to respect, and there is another
portion that have no respect for them.
selves, and consequently have none for
anybody else. / know gentleman when
l see him. And furthermore, l know
when Look u man in the fade-tVoice,-
(Which you cant do" | wish l could
SEQ you, | will bet now, if there could be
a light reflected upon your face that COW.
ardice and treachery could be seen 10 j.
Show yourself. Come out here where
VIC can sec you. fever you shoot q man,
you will stand in the dark aud pull your
trigger. | understand traitors. | have
been fighting them for FIVE years. We
fought it out on the Southern end Of the
line, now VIC are fighting in the other di.
r%ection. And those man-such q one as
insulted me to-night--you may say, has
ceased to be a man, and in ceasing to lie
a man shrunk into the denomination of O
reptile, and having so shrunken, as an
honest man, l tread upon him. l came
here to ,niyhtnOt to criminate or recrimi
nate, but when provoked my nature is,
not to advance, but to defend and when
encroached upon, l care not from what
quarter it comes, it will find resistance al
the trcshhOld, AS your Chief Mogis.
trate | have felt, after taking an oath 10
support the Constitution Of my country
that | saw the encroachmcnts Of the enc.
my upon your sovereign rights. l saw
the citadel of liberty entrcnched upon
and, as an honest man, being placed there
as sentinel, l have dared to sound The
tocsin of alarm. Should | have ears anj
not hear ; have q tongue and not speak
when the enemy approaches
And let me say tonight that my heat
has been threatened. 1t has beon sale
that my blood was to be shed. Let mt
say to those who are still willing 10 sac
riico my life [derisivc laughter ant
cheers if you want q victim and m,
country requires it, erect your altar anC
the individual who addresses you to nisht
while here a visitor, ["No, no." an,
laughter, erect your alter il you sill
thirst for blood, and if you want it, TAX,
out the individual who now addresses yol
md lay him upon your altar, and til,
blood that now courses his veins arc
warns his existence, shall DO poured gu
as a last libation to Freedom. | love N,
country, and / defy any nan to put hi
finger upon anything to the contrary
Then what is my offence? Voices
"YOu 'aint n Radical" "Now Orleans,
"Feto."l Somebody says "ycto." We
10 0! what? What is called tho Freed
mans Bureau Bill, and in fine, not to G,
into any argu cent here tonight, if yol
do not understand what the Freedman
Bureau Bill is, | can tell you. Voice
"Tell us."1 Before the rebellion ther
were 4,00O,0 900 called colOred person
held as slaves by about $4,000 peopl
living in tho South. That is 340,6Ol
slave owners paid expenses, bought Ian,
and worked the negroes, and at tho ex
piration of the year when cotton, tobacco
and rice was gathered and sold, after al
paying expenses, these slave owners pu
the money in their ocket-[slight inter
ruption ]-your attcntion-they put thu
, property in heir pocket. In many in
stances there was no profit and man,
como out in debt. Well, that is the wa,
things stood before the rebellion. Tn
rebellion commenced and the slaves wer
turned loose. Then We come to the Freed
!, mans Bureau Bill, And what did tn
bill proposeY 1t proposed toappointa agent
and sui. agents in all the cities, counties
school districts and parishes, with powe
to make contracts for all the slaves, pow
er to control and power to hire them gu
dispose of them, and in addition t
that, the whole military power of tn
Government applied to carry it into exc
%cution. Now, [clamOr and confusion. +
l never feared clamor. l have novo
been afraid Of the people, for by them
have always been sustained. And wbeI
| have all the truth, argument, fact an.
reason or my side, clamor nor %affront, no
animosiIies can drive mo from my pun
pose
Now to the Freedmau's Bureau, VIVA
was it2 Four million slaves were omar
cipated and given an equal chance an