Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1868-01-31
: Western Radioalism.

tlOn9ol Speecn TcCently ueiiseIcu ue
fore the Grant Club of Derry NH,
by Coli James lM.cWilson, of Mis-
souri,. Coli Wilson is native of
Derry-an old Democrat, and will be
remembered as a speaker for the
Democracy during the campaign Of
1856:
Ny friend, the President, was pleas.
ed to Introduce me as a "Missouri
RADICAL q / thank him for the COM
pliment. Perhaps you would like to
know what a Missouri radical is, as
contra, distinguished from any other
radical. IF I should ask you what
Scotch Presbyterian was, doubtless
you would reply, the genuine article
Well, a Missouri radical is a ''true
blue; ;" in other words, a feryent pat
riot; one who believes 'Itreason must
be made odious and traitors must be
punished;;" and who believes loyal
NEGRO better than a white traitor
The Missouri radicals, unlike their
enemies, aresnot jealous of the black
man, but they are willing to give him
a fair chance in the race of life. They
believe ID justice to all men; justice
to the slave and justice to the traitor
Still further, they are not afraid of
politics, involving gre a national
ideas, and religion being preached
from the pulpit! The masses of the
people of Missouri may not be a
thinking class, but they feel deeply,
and anything that is thoroughly hated
by rebels they are willing to accept
as sound doctrine. To be true pat
riots they have only to go directly
opposite the course pointed out by
Gopperhead orators and the Copper.
head press. They know sohere not to
go. # Ggr~ .9..
Before the rebellion, l was an ac-
tive member of the Democratic par
ty-and was then known as a radical
! Democrat; but | have been intensely
more radical as a Union man. The
1 party | belonged to before the rebel.
llion had 4 been manipulated into a
mere machine, in the service of a
slave-holding and slave-breeding oil
garchy. Having supported Douglas
| in 1860, | entered the war as Dem.
ocrat.a aCar Democrat. 1t was then
the great Douglas proclaimed there
could be but two parties. Patriots
and Traitors There have been nc
other parties. All great souled men
who are animated by lofty purpose
and heroic deeds are radicals. The
Apostle Paul, Martin Luther, Oliver
Cromwell, Geo. Washington, Andrew
4 jackson, David G. Broderick and
Abraham Lincoln were radicals. In
the stern lexicon of war,-civil war
there is no such word as conservatism
When the heavens were black with
, 1.-THE smoke Of civil war, it was reserv
ed for constitutional Democrats, tC
be Indifferent and imperturbable.
The Copperheads and all rebe
, sympathizers are now crawling around
and prating about "taxes" and "negrC
supremacy" and lying generally
; Did it never occur to you, Mr.. Pres
llident, that the men who have th'
least taxes to pay and who rank near
est to negro level, make the mos
noise? '' ''
Mean and miserable as most of tn,
rebel soldiers were, they are entitled
, to more respect to day than the cold
calculating copperhead Of the North
One had the merit Of fighting openl,
with their lives in their hands, fo
e their principles; the 9th ers lik,
sneaks and towards. Had the rebel
, lion succeeded, these creatures, wit
the balance Of us, would have beel
employed as hewers of wood ant
: drawers of water for the vilest an
c most cruel despotism the world ha
ever knownll Though the cannon ha
ceased to roar, the struggle is still
{ upon US. The cauldron so recent
stirred to its very depths, is still sim
i mering, and it will boil and sceth
V until the pure acid of truth and jus
n tice consume all the poisonous .dross
The Devil, the chief engineer of tn
chivalry, has not abandoned the con
: test, he has only changed his base
What they failed to do by force o
arms; they now propose with the bel
Y of their Northern allies, to accom-
j. plish through ly ing and at the lballo
box. When the immortal Lincoln il
: sued the emancipation proclamatio
the fangs of the serpent of the rebe-
lion were drawn, but the tail Of tn
}, ugly monster is still wriggling. An
i now in this a, D, 1868, it remains 70
!. us to give even, !. the tail deep an
: final burial. If | am not trespassin
too much upon your patience, woul
a like to give you a specimen brick o
It an. Arkansas. radical, and female a
/ that. ..s.s ....-ss a... ,s...s.e
Il In the spring of 1868, when wit
= the army of the frontier, | went on
! evening to visit a train of refugees
women and children, who had arrive
. from Arkansas Each family ha
s their piteous stories to tell. Thei
1t husbands and brothers had been cor
scripted or murdered, and robber
E and the torch had driven them froI
) their homes. Among them was a
q old woman with three daughters an
Z several grandchildren. Two of he
lsons-ih-law had been conscripted, an
4 then deserted from the rebel into th
Il ~ & Al