Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-09-23
THE CHRONICLE.
Speech of General Palmer,
OF ILLINOIS.

OF ILLINOIS.
70 Gen. John NJ. Palmer, Republican
d candidate for Governor of Illinois, is
y = one of the strongest popular speakers
'r in the West. We give liberal extracts
from recent great speech he deliver
ed on the stump in his State:
BLAIR's PROPOSED REVOLUTION.
Now it is a part of the theory of our
q Government that its power Is divided
< into three departments: those which
II are Executive being given to the Presl-
l. dent; those which are Legislative TO
4 Congress: and those which are Judi
cial to the Courts. The Legislative
I Department, by an immense majority,
has enacted these laws. General
Blair admits that you can not, by the
ordinary course of legislation, escape
from them. He comedies that is a
fact. He, therefore, suggests the rev
olutionary policy of calling on the
I President, in defiance of the other
two departments of the Government,
to interpret the Constitution for him
, self and declare all that has been done
: to be void, and then to march the
7 army into the Southern States and
: compel them to disperse these State
: Governments. II there shall be re-
sistance in the name of fthese State
governments, or for them, what is the
consequence? General Blair proposes
; to overthrow these State governments
by force. If that force shall not be re-
sisted there will be no blOOdshed. But,
; if that force shall be resisted what is
compel" the army to undo what it
has done; compel the army to dis
. perse these State governments. En-
ploy the army as the agent of the EX
ecutive power; Then if those State
governments shall resist, that army
must overcome that resistance by
force, anarchy and blOOdshed is rein
augurated in the Southern States, |
ask YOU when it will cease. That is
the policy of the Democratic party
What is the policy of the Republican
party on the other hand?
POLICY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
We have adopted these reconstruc-
ton measures under the belief that
they were the best that the circum-
stances allowed. They may not be
, perfect. No man can tell in advance,
when measures of political legislation
are employed, with absolute certainty,
that they will accomplish all that even
their most sanguine supporters may
promise themselves. We found in
the beginning of the war the power
of these State governments i'll the
/ hands of usurpers men who had
thrown off their obligations to the
Federal Government. We found the
powers of the States employed against
the General Government. These men
had overthrOwn the governments of
the States. So far as their existence
may be said to be in harmony with
the General Government, the people
were without government; the men,
the people that adhered to the Nation
al Union, their governments were hos
tile TO them. Our first duty was to
wrest the powers of the State govern
ments from the hands of the usurpers.
To accomplish that long and bloody
war was necessary. In addition TO
! that the institution of slavery which
existed in the South was overthrOwn
by the rebellion itself, because upon
! principles of national law, universally
recognized, every citizen is necessari- |
ly the enemy of every rebel and
/ traitor.
THE SLAVE POPULATION AFTER THE |
WAR.
At the close of the war We found |
this slave population in the South, and |
these people had become part of the |
general society of the Southern States, |
part of the general community or |
body, if that is preferred, owing duties |
and having rights. The Federel Gov
ernment then, as proper measure of
reconstruction, accepted the fact that |
three or four millions of slaves had |
become free men and citizens, and |
was compelled to look out for their
protection. 1t would have been in
human, it would have been disgrace
ful to any government, much more so |
free government, to have abandoned |
these men again to the control of their
masters. The government was, there
fore, prepared to secure their freedom. |
THE REBELLIoUs STATES.
The Government, in addition to all |
that, was compelled to look out for
proper repositories of the powers of
those States, which were in allegiance
The Federal Constitution requires that
the United States shall guarantee To-
each State Republican Government,
and that devolVed upon the Federal
Government the provisional duty of
providing for the protection of life and
property, and devise means by which
these people might again organize
governments and obtain representa-
tiOn in the National Congress. They
were in the Union, but that govern
ment which connected them with the
Union was broken up; that voice
through which they could speak was
silenced, and this provisional organi-
zation was necessary for temporary
protection, and as a means by which
State governments might be formed.
1t became necessary to include this
new people in the State government.
1t was first q duty. Secondly, ii was
necessary, because the General Gov
eminent, in seeking for proper tenn
pOrary repositories of the power of
these States, trusted friends, 1t was
not fit that those men who had been
in arms against the government should I
be again entrusted with power. The
wise course was to entrust the power I
of the States to the friends of the gov !
ernment. If there had been no black ,
men in the South the duty would I
have been a very simple one. There /
is no man in the country who would !
have claimed that the Federal Govern
ment should have placed the loyal |
white men South under the control of [
a rebel majority. The loyal white I
men felt this difficulty. They implor- ,
ed the National Congress to include :
with them, in this deposit of power, .
the loyal black men. 1t was done, ]
and who will say it was not wisely ,
done? I
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
During the war 1 had occasion to
see black men. If they had good
officers, they always did good service. ]
l had on q certain occasion a good
opportunity of realizing the exact
value that sort of help afforded. L
recollect one particular occasion, 1
was engaged in resisting a rebel adj !
vance. / recollect we had first all we ]
could do. The fight was earnest and !
they were pressing US hard. Our men
were fighting with the highest cour- !
age. / sent back word that needed
some help. / was told two regiments {
were coming. Hooked back, directly, !
and saw them. They were two regi- !
ments composed of all the colors that
prevail among the black population of
the Southern States, and you know I
that was a pretty broad comprehension S
Of color ,auphtPr I Some Of tbam {