Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1868-09-04
GRANT AND COLFAX.
speech OF Senator Yates, OF Illinois

Z IPCent arrival there rom washington.
We publish the concluding portion Of his
speech:
The occasion, low.citizens, upon
which we meet tonight Is one Of remark.
able interest We are here to fight the
same battle which our brave boys in blue
fought-as they bore our unconquered
banner and planted II upon every strong
hold whence rebel hands had pulled Il
down. [Applause ! It is the same fight
now, between patriotism and treason As
Stephen A. Douglas remarked "There
are but two parties In this country !" pat.
riotism on the one hand and treason on
the other Applause1 l wish to say to
you tonight, fellow-citizens, that the tri
umph of the Northern Democracy. In the
next election, would he the triumph Of the
rebellion II would be the reopening Of
every question which has been settled by
the war; 1t would be placing In power
again the Toombs, the Wade Hamptons
and the FORESTS; It would place these
men again in the Senate and House of
Representatives, and they would resume
their ancient sway over the destinies and
liberties of this country. Yes, fellow citi-
zens, it would be placing these, the men
who worked and voted for your country's s
! murder; men who filed our land with the
weeds of mourning for our lost and loved
ones men who by starvation--si0ao star
oation-of our young men and our old
men, in their dens and prisons of Ander.
sonville and Belle Isle by piracy and by
plunder; by arson and by murder; men
who by every cruelty and barbarity shock
ing in the eyes of God and man, compassed
the life of the nation and aimed to over
turn the Government. Fellow citizens,
arraign the Northern Democratic party as
the men who are responsible for the war ;
for the blood that was split in the war; for
the treasure that was expended In the war
There was no time before the war COM
menced that the Northern Democratic
party might not have prevented it alto
gether Voice-"That's sow] and they
now call upon you, and complain so loud
ly of the taxes which they never pay
laughter They are the men who are
responsible, wholly, entirely responsible
for the war which the country has had to
fight They were in power, and, with
Buchanan, said, in Congress, in their mass
meetings, in their National Conventions
at their firesides, upon the street, eDery-
1otere that the Government of the United
States had no power to coerce a seeding
State. They furnished the South its lead
ers during the war; they furnished it all
the aid and sympathy necessary to resist
the power and authority of the United
States Government, and | say to you now,
fellow citizens, before God that the rebel
lion could not have stood upon its legs six
months but for the encouragement, the aid
and sympathy it received from the North
ern Democracy. Cries" "You are rightp
and great applause.
They talk to you about debt and taxa
ton, Tell them to produce their receipts
to show where they paid one single dollar
of the public debt. Has Col. Logan and
the other officers Collectors and Asses
sors, or anybody called upon you to pay
any part of thepublic debt? He calls upon
nobody who does not receive more than
1000 income, and those men who pay
the taxes never grumble But these poor,
miserable scabs, who pay no taxes, who
belong TO what we call the Seymour-D De.
mocratic party laughter and applauseb
and who suffer so amazingly from these
taxes which they never pay, they cry out
"bloated bondholdersp ASK yourselves
how many of you have paid any part of
the national taxes. Who have paid it but
the bondholders and the men of wealth
and capital in the cOuntryP We do not
propose any system of Democratic taxa
tion by which we will tax everything as
though it was equal; by which we will tax
the poor mans COW when we tax the rich
mans golden watch. But the Democratic
policy would tax the poor widows cow,
instead of allowing her the exemption
which has been given by the Re-
publican Congress, that she shall
not be taxed unless she receives an
income of more than $1,000 the
poor widow who has given her husband
and her son to her country, and they per
haps sleep beneath the sod away down on
the banks of the Cumberland or Tennees-
see, upon the heights of Missionary Ridge
or in the swamps or bayous of the Con-
federacy. Why, my fellow citizens, look at
this Itrembled for time for fear might
have to leave the Republican party upon
the question of taxation.
Now how was this debt created? | tell
you, fellCw-citizens, it was in self-defense; /;
in the preservation of the life of our ma
tion. We were struck and we had to
strike back again or give the nation up.
Our flag was fired upon at Fort Sumter
These traitors left the Congress of the
United States and went out to organize a
government of their own. They set
themselves up against the Government of
the United States which they had sworn a
hundred times to preserve, maintain and
respect; they organized civil war, they
made your rivers flow with blood, they
saturated the very earth with the blood of
our murdered countrymen. 1t became
necessary to prosecute the war. The Re-
publican party was in power, and they
would have been cowardly and recreant
to every duty of statemanship, of patriot
ism, of Justice and of allegiance to your
country unless they had carried on the
war. They had not the money to do ii
with. They had to clothe our brave
boys in blue they had to equip them to
furnish them with arms and munitions of
wer; with tents to transport them over
railroads, and rivers, and by every sort of
conveyance, and the debt which none of
us liked to make became an inevitable, ter
rible necessity. None of us like to make
debt, but our Government was com
! PEELED to say TO our men of capital, our
| farmers and our mechanics, even to our
widows and orphans and any one else
who had any money to advance, "COme
forward, lend us your money, and We will
/ give you our note and pay you interest
upon it at six per cent" Our countrymen
all over the land came forward, they with.
drew their money much of which was
| bringing ten Per cent on mortgage securi-
/ ty, and lent it patriotically to the Govern
ment at six per cent. Uncle Sam, with his
broad hand and seal, signed and stamped
these notes, and said, 81 will pay you
every dollar, principal and interest that
| you have lent us to prosecute this war,
/ and, low-citizens, by the Eternal ~ so
far as | am concerned, that promise shall
be maintained Good, good" and tre-
mendOus applause
! The word ofa great nation must be kept.
/ If nation shall not keep its word, who
may not break hisg If make debt and
| give my note bearing ten per cent interest
and if the Government breaks It's word, as
the Democratic policy would have it do,
may not | Justly say that | viii issue a
note bearing no interest, in place ofpaying
my debtY Is not that repudiationS If
say will only pay you so much OF the
debt Is not that repudiationY And shall
the Government of the United States thus
forever blacken its escuteheOnI and dis
. / knnnr 20 - v,ufinpal