The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1867-07-04
SPEECH OF
Hon. FRED. HAssAUREK.
OF CiNornNATI,


1867.
Mr.. Hassaurek said:
If the Bourbon lenders of the
Democratic party have forgotten
any thing, itis only the great fun
damental principle Of democracy
to which their party owed its ori.
gin aud former strength. They
have forgotten only what they
should have remembered; but with
reference to-all that they should
have tried to unlearn their memo
ry is as tenacious as that of the
Bourbons Of Europe. Our Ameri
can Bourbons are still fighting the
issues Of the first battle Of Bull Run;
but they have not yet learned the
news Of the fall Of Richmond and
the surrender of Lee. They have
not yet realized that tho war has
terminated in the defeat of scces-
sion and the vindication of our ma
tional integrity. They are still con-
ming over an old slavery dis
patch, written by Mr.. Seward ear
ly in the beginning of the war, when
reconciliation was thought to be
possible; but they will not realize
that, ia the mean time, their pet
institution has been swept away
and a new era inaugurated by the
success of the Federal arms. They
went to sleep, like Rip Van Winkle,
years ago, with the resolutions OF
1898 under their pillows, and they
rejust awaking from their dreams.
They can not believe that's Nick.
Vedder and Jacob Stein are dead,
and that the days of poor Rip are
gone. They have again presented
themselves to the people OF Ohio
with platform of political Bour-
bonism. Its outward feature is its
inter minable length. Its intrinsic
feature is disloyalty. tits a rehash
of the anti-war speeches Of Pendle-
ton and Vallandigham. 1t bristles
with notification. Its breath is
reputation. 1t is fraught with
bad faith. 1t spurns the obliga-
ticns our national struggle has de-
velved upon us. .e.r
In the speech which / had the
honor to deliver before the Union
State Convention of last year, |
said that the people of the United
States have assumed two solemn
obligations, one ofprotection to the
nations wards, the freedmen, and
the other of good faith to our ma
tional creditors. IF the Democrat
ic party had had the power, it
would, to our everlasting disgrace,
have repudiated both these obliga-
tions. Whatever the Union party
undertook toward the performance
Of these obligations, met with the
unqualified opposition and bitter
hostility of our opponents. They
opposed the war for the suppression
Of the rebellion. They opposed
the abolition of slavery. They op-
posed all measures for the protec-
ton of the lives and liberties OF
Southern Unionists. And if our
national debt is being paid, it is
done in spite of the Democratic
party. If it were not for the ex-
istence of the Union party, the
true, genuine Democratic idea wo d
now be without a representative
Governments are instituted fer the
protection of individual rights
Whether the power necessary tor
this purpose shall bo conferred on
an aristocracy of a privileged few
or many, or whether it shall be
vested in the whole people, is the
great question which now agitates
the public mind in both hemis-
pheres, in England, as we'll as in
America. Tho history Of the last
few years has clearly marked OUT
the policy which will be adopted
by our people, and this, with your
permission, | shall briefly proceed
to show.
THE EUROPEAN SYSTEM OF PRoTEc.
TIoN FROM ABOVE DOWNWARD.
In order to fulfill our duty to the
freedmen by protecting their lives
liberty and property, several laws
had been passed by Congress which
proved insufficient. The amenda-
tory Freedmen's Bureau Bill was
passed. So was the Civil Rights
Bill. But these laws did not fully.
accomplish their purpose. Their
execution depended on an unwil-
ling President; the machinery ere.
ated by them was too complicated
and unwieldE and their o bject was
defeated by the determined hostil-
ity Of public opinion in the States
for which they were chiefly intend.
cd! Thus far Congress, endeavor-
ing TO protect the persons and pro.
perty Of the freedmen, had acted
on what / might callthe European
system Of protection, which is pro.
lection from above downward
That system proved insufficient,
and it became necessary to resort
TO the American system of protec
too, which is protection from be-
low upward. The European sys-
tenn is the inverted pyramid rest
ing on its apex; the American sys
tenn is the pyramid in it's natural
position, resting on its broad square
foundation. In continental Eu-
rope the government, in order to
protect those under its charge, re.
duces them TO pupilage and leads
them like children tied to it's apron
strings. II interferes with every
thing. You meet it at every cor
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