The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1868-02-27
Letter From Speaker Colfax.
Wosb;nrtnn Enb TX

Washington, Feb. Is.
HIS Erceliency Coz. Baker.
MY dear Sir:-I should be glad to
accept your kind invitation, and thus
enjoy the privilege Of looking into
the faces of the representative men Of
our organization in Indiana, when
they come together next Thursday
in their biennial convention. But
the rules of the House does not allow
its presiding officer to be absent dur
ing its sessions, and 1 must, there
fore, deny myself this great pleasure.
1t may not be inappropriate, on
the Threshold Of the important cam
paign before us, to look back for o
few minutes at those deeds and tri-
umphs Of our national history, and
which no defamation by our enemies
can ignore or obscure.
When the Rebellion, with its Dem
ocratic President, Democratic Cabi-
net officers, and Democratic Generals,
threw down the gauntlet at the feet
of the nation they had resolved to
destroy, and when the Democratic
leaders Of the North, in reply, shout.
ed "No coercion" it was the Union
Republican party that wrote on its
banners "The last man and the last
dollar if need be- and the uncon-
querable armies their Congressional
legislation called to the field, finally
sscoerced" the Rebellion into subjec-
ton.
In the darkest days Of the strug-
gle, when at every street-corner we
were tauntingly told by Democrats,
"You can't conquer the South" there
was one party that never despaired
of the Republic; and that party was
the one whose Delegates now meet
in our State Capitol
When unprecedented and onerous
taxation became necessary to main
tain our credit, to pay and supply
our heroic soldiers, and to keep our
flag flying in the fold, we dared to
defy the prejudice which every Dem
ocratic speaker and editor attempted
to inflame against the burdens of
taxation; and thus daring, triumph
ed.
When CONSUMPTION laws became a
military necessity, to fill up our regi-
ments decimated again and again by
the bullets Of the enemy and the dis
case of the camp, the siege and the
march, and when the land was filed
with Democratic denunciations of
these laws, we risked popularity, vic.
tory, and all, by defending them as
bravely as our veterans defended the
country in the field.
When Mr. Lincoln at last struck
Slavery as the cause of all our woes,
as well as the right arm of the Re-
bellion, and when Democratic orators
and wrluers mosG sCandaiousa, cad
persistently calumniatedus as having
converted the war the Union into an
abolition war to free negroes, we fear
lessly allied our cause to that Of the
humble and the helpless; and Previ-
dence rewarded us for our fidelity by
that brilliant succession of triumphs
which gave salvation to the Union,
as well as freedom to the slave.
When the National Convention of
our opponents at Chicago dared to
hang out the white flag Of surrender,
by proclaiming the war a failure, and
demanding an immediate cessation
Of hostilities, we promptly accepted
the issue. And the soldier with his
cartridge-box, and the voters with the
ballot-box, united in stamping their
indignant condemnation on the dis
graceful avowal.
When the Government was COM
PEELED to issue bonds by hundreds OF
millions for the preservation of our
national existence, Democrats ridi-
culed them as worthless, and caution
ed the people against risking their
means in them. But the loyal people
were deaf to their warnings; and now
the same party denounce them as
having made too good investment in
purchase.
When "greenbacks' were author
lied by a Republican Congress, who
can forget the Democratic predic-
tons that it would ultimately take a
hatfull of them to buy a bat? And
now they have the assurance to seek
to make political capital out Of their
popularity.
When the XXXIXth Congress re.
jected the Presidents policy Of recon.
struction, and insisted on one which
should embody constitutional guar.
antees for the future, with full pro.
lection for all who loved the flag and
the Union, our enemies denounced
us as wishing to postpone reconstruc.
ton. Now these same Democrats
with their ally the President, are
striving to put every possible stnmb.
ling-block in the way Of the return
Of these self exiled States.
When 'sthe 'XIVth article" was
proposed as an amendment to the
Constitution-embodying no nanda
tory suffrage enactment, but protect
ing equally the civil rights OF all, ma
tive-born and nauralized; making {
voter in Indiana just as potential al
one in South Carolina, and more; and
barring the door of the Treasury
against any payments for emanci
pated slaves or the Rebel Debt
the whole Democratic party denoun
ced it, and urged the South to spur
it, as they did. Nop the two Demo
cratic States Of Kentucky and Mary
land demand payment, out Of III,
peoples taxes iii the Treasury, fol
the slaves the nation emancipated
and the two Democratic Legislature
f0his and New Jersey endeavor I,
i withdraw the assent OF those State
to this beneficent Constitutions
Amendment, leaving the door opel
for the presentation of these Demo
cratic claims ifa Democratic Congress
could be chosen,
/ | will not extend this letter hy
defense Of the Congressional polio,
| of Reconstruction, for Senator Nor
toms able vindication of it has cover
cd the whole ground unanswerably
Suffice it to say, that Congress, hay
ing authorized the suffrage Of every
free man in the Southern States, Rel
els aud all, except those who, by vic
lating official oaths, had added pei
iurv To treason. and the Democrat