The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1868-05-30
From the St. Louis Republican,, May IS.
OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN.
Great Democratic Meeting.
ELOQUENT VINDICATION OF DEMO
CRATIC PRINCIPLES.
SPEECH OF HON, W. w. O'BRIEN,
vst OF ILLINOIS.
Immense Assemblage.
lConclnded.l

History has recorded one fact, and that is,
that nations, as well as individuals, are in
the habit OF going on 9 bender, and that,
! while they are In that condition, they act e
good deal like individuals If vou notice.
when a man gets drunk he curses his best
friends and takes sides with his worst ene-
my. He spends his money and he gets sick.
but upon the first CLEAN ofreturning reason,
you will find him rubbing his head with one
hand and the other feeling an empty pocket
Now think 1 can show you that the Ameri-
can republic has been on bender for some
time, and to-day is in the condition of man
who Is getting sober again. We find today,
upon rubbing our heads, that the commerce
of the country is destroyed that the c5nsti
tuition is trampled under foot that the union
ofthe states is dissolved that the restora-
ton of the Union has become a party trick
to break down the government ; to impeseh
the PRESIDENT to place gag In the mouth
OF the supreme court, so that it cannot speak
word in behalf of outraged law or liberty.
We have public debt here reared noun
tam high, to sustain which everything that
the poor man eats, drinks, wears or looks
upon is taxed. We find that his children
and his ehildren's children are mortgaged
and encountered TO pay the price of the folly
and madness and the crimes of this party
that set the country upon this bender But
we find. fellow citizens, that the nation has
been getting sober and it is looking back
upon those who held the bottle of passion
and prejudice TO her lips, and it is deserving
them and coming back to the democratic
party, like the man that turns back to bis
old friends when reason comes to him. The
nation Is getting tired of the party that held
the bottle to its lips and made it drunk
When the American forefathers achieved
their liberty and independence through the
bloody ordeal of an eight wears war, their
ambition was to preserve the freedom they
had achieved and transmit it to future gen.
erations. They prepared form of govern
ment and O constitution which, in their iudg
meRt, was the best calculated to perpetuate
that liberty. Under that constitution for
seventy years the people of this country pro-
crossed in the arts and sciences on the great
highway of national progress, and no nation
on the face Of the earth even equaled IT.
But there was an element in the country
that was not satisfied. That element de-.
nounced the constitution and the govern.
ment as vile thing, in league with hell and
IN coyenent with the devil. The result was
that they so played upon the passion and
prejudice of the people that in an hour of
national deiirium and intoxication the con-
stitution was trampled under foot, and what
was the result? / will not elaborate upon
that now. The radical party passed laws
imposing penalty for acts done before its
passage. They have trampled upon the con-
stitution, and did SO while appealing to the
prejudice and passion of the people and ap.
pealing to them in the name of higher law.
In less than four years from that time you
behold q nation drenched in fraternal blood, |
and marked by six hundred thousand graves
and shocked by the cry of numberless wo-
men and orphans. All this was brought
about for partisan ends and purposes. This |
party made promises OF immediate peace
and smiling plenty by means of which they |
defeated the democrats in 1864. What is |
the effect of that The south, instead of be- |
ing market for the great northwest, is q |
burden to the country; and the manufac. |
lures OF the north, TO great extent, serious |
" crippled All over the country men, wo- |
men and children are crying for work and |
bread, without finding any. On your own |
evee you eau see the evidences of that poll |
y In the great and almost universal depres- i
lion of trade and business. Ii the radical |
party had not succeeded in 1864, st. Louis, |
o-day, would be worth twenty millions more 1
han what il is.
Go down south. to that country that sus.
aimed you, that sustained Illinois and the |
great northwest, and furnished mart for
everything we had tossell, and furnished us
Ill the necessaries of life that we wished to
purchase in the shape of sugar, Gotten and
opaeeo. She took our pork, beet, corn, our
pats, Our wheat, and everything we had to
hspose Of She furnished q mart for our
,ommodlties, and we furnished to her a mart
or hers she gave us her gold and we gave
,er our beef and our grain. She formerly
'aid her share of public expenses; we now
Jay an army of 10000 to keep it in q state
# slavery, so that she will mot be able 70
,ay anything. Cheers.) Yes, air. charos
lpon this party here tonight, and challenee
Contradiction. They are elevatine the ne.
no of the south upon the ruin of the white
nan. /
The speaker then, in whitening terms,
bowed that the policy of the radicals was in
avor of social amalgamation with the me-
roes, and said that if the army were with
rawn from the south, Sambo could not
maintain his position for twenty four hours.
lie drew sketch of the state affairs which |
Fould ensue from negro dominancy,a and