Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1868-08-26
SPEECH OF MATT II. CARPENTER
Delivered at the Great Republican Mass
Meeting held I'm Chicago, Wednesday,
August 12th.


l August 12th. .,- ..s..
Mr.. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GEN.
TLEMEN The occurrence of the Presi,
Dental campaign calls out the American
people to the examination of the princi.
pies and the measures which have mark I'd
che administration for the preceding
| term.
Another Presidential election is on foot
another gathering of the American
people from Maine to California from the
Lakes to the Gulf, which may now be
seen in the United States f.. the same
purpose. The precise practical question
is whether We shall support General Grant
or Governor Seymour for President of the
United States, [cries-'' Grant rant !!'']
and this question we are to settle, not as
men worshippers or parasites, hut by rea-
son and judgment, and as American citi-
zens, conscious of the responsibilities
which rest upon us in this choice. Clio
rious as Grant is in his past record, if he
stood to-day do not say with the party,
but upon platform and principles detri-
mental to the best interests Of the Repub-
| lie, pledged to overthrow all The results
of the war, pledged to encourage and
comfort rebellion, or what little rebellion
there is left; or, if we could possibly i'm
agine such Transformation, if Governor
Seymour stood to-day on platform which
would secure us the fruits of our victory,
and which would give to US lasting and
permanent tranquility, there is no doubt
that the American people would, as they
have for the last six years, through all
the trials and bloodshed of the war, sup
port the principles which are embodied
in their hearts and dear as their life,
[great cheers], although it would be
equally difficult for them to determine
whether they would say that the patriotic
Grant had left their ranks, or that the
unpatriotic Seymour had left their stand
ard.
But by examining the platform upon
which these respective candidates stand,
it will be found that each is true to the
principles which characterized him dur
ing the war. It will be found that Grant
is struggling now to secure the fruits of
the victories which he won, and that Sey-
nlour is to-day endeavoring, so far as it is
still possible to do, to thwart the object
which the government had in suppressing
the rebellion, to secure to the rebels, as
much as possible, what they have lost by
the result of this contest, and is pursuing
precisel the same line of policy to-day
that he intrigued for during the war.
The two political parties ''have made
up" as the lawyers would say, "the is
sues, and sent them down to the country
for trial" One Convention in Chicago,
and the other in New Yoi k, have not only
selected their candidates, their standard
bearers, but they have promulgated their
platform, or their principles. There is no
doubt that both parties are seriously in
dead earnest in the issues which they
have made. We get some little light as
to the platform of the Democratic Con-
vention, from the speech which was made
by Wade Hampton after his return to his
constituents. He says that be was on the
Committee On Resolutions. He says that
he had prepared a set for himself, but
found they couldn't be adopted. He lis
tened to those which bad been prepared
by others; and the Democrats on that
committee came around him and assured
him that they were with him, to the ut
most of his wishes, that they would do
all in their power to give the South back
" the Constitution as it was" before the
war and he contented himself with
simply moving an amendment to one res
olution which declared the governments
OF the States, which had been recon-
structed under the auspices and patron
age OF Congress, to be unconstitutional,
revolutionary, and void. .as
He says this announcement was met
with enthusiastic cheers by the committee,
and the Democrats pledged themselves to
him shat they would go to the utmost of
that declaration. What is the utmost of
that declaration We hear so much said
about what is constitutional and unconsti-
tutional, that We are in danger of losing
all the significance of that declaration Of
the Democratic party. If those govern
ments which are now existing in the ten
reconstructed States of the South are un-
constitutional and void, and if these
Democrats mean to carry that declaration
into practical operation, the result is that
those governments are to be swept away.
Another revolution is to sweep over the
South anarchy and bloodshed, and an
other four years Of wasting and ruin, is
| to follow as the result of that revolution
accomplished in the South. s
But the Democrats have cloaked this
matter under the plausible pretext that
these acts of Congress are unconstitu-
tional, and the Republican party in its
convention has espoused and adopted and
| promised to support the reconstruction
policy of Congress. The Democrats have
appealed to the reverence our people feel
for the sacred instrument, the Constitu-
ton, to cloak and cover their design of
revolution again in the South, and thus
it throws fairly upon US the burden of
vindicating the constitutionality of the
reconstruction policy Of Congress- Now
[ am aware how difficult and how unin-
teresting it is to discuss such question
in a popular audience like this, in the
open air, amid the laundering and con-
fusion of great city like Chicago. I
know how easy it is for public speaker
to spend his apportioned thirty minutes
or hour IN cracking jokes which will ere
ate good feeling in the crowd and react
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