Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-04-24
MACK" AFTER WADE.
Wade DenOunces Foreigners and Eu-
I0Rfses Negroes-Deufes His Speech

Wade DenOunces Foreigners and Eu-
I0gises Negroes-Denfes His Speech
CorTespondenceof the Cincinnati Commercial.
WAsHINGToN, April II, 1868.-Stnrdy
old Ben ia out in another contradiction.
This time it is in relation to a speech made
by him in Marietta last fall, and reported
by me. He made a very unprovoked and
unjusti6able attack upon adopted citizens
of all sorts, using the expression that some
of them "knew lesa than the horses they
drove" Lately German fellow-citizen
called upon sturdy old Ben for an expla
nation Of this remarkable speech, and
sturdy old Ben fell back upon the old tao
tics of saying it was all a id lie. He
never said any such thing, especially about
the Germans. On the contrary, he had al
ways had the most profound respect and
esteem for the Germans, as an industrious,
energetic and thriving people. 1t was the
Irish he meant at Marietta-the id Irish
so he says. Now, if any person feels de-
slrous Of earning something in the way OF a
small bet, perhaps he can do it by accepting
a wager, which / hereby offer, that if
an Irishman will 90 to sturdy old Ben for
an explanation of that Marietta speech,
sturdy old Ben will tell him he never
meant any reflection upon the Irish at all,
but it was the id Dutch he was driving
at. In the course of a tete-a-tets sturdy old
Ben will probably say that 80 far as enter
tanning any hostility to the Irish, he was
very fond of the Irish character, being in
fact an I.ishman himself; and this, / take
il, would be about the worst Islander ever
uttered against the Green Isle, which has
produced great many varieties of the hui
man species, but never yet, thank for
tune, sturdy old Ben.
That Marietta speech was indecent and
inexcusable vituperation-an attempt TO
justify negro suffrage by contrasting the
ignorance of foreigners with the intelli-
gence of the negroes. 1t will not do for
Ne. Wade or any of his friends to say at
this late day that the report was an incor-
rect one, or that sturdy old BEN did not
say precisely what l represented him as
saving. The report was literal and exact
-Seknowled so by persons who heard the
speech and afterward read ii in the Com
nercial. 1t was acknowled so to me by
sturdy old Ben himself week after its APP
pearance. Ihad heard that his friends had
undertaken to deny its accuracy, and / in
auired of sturdy old Ben whether | had
not reported him Just as he had
spoken. He replied unhesitatingly
10 the affirmative but now he
says he never said such thing
as that foreigners knew less than
the horses they drive; and in CONVEX
sation with the correspondent of the Gin
cinnati PoLkSbldh he discovers an attach
ment to, and reverence for, the German
element sufficient to make one believe him
more than half Dutchman, and to entitle
him to be called the Baron Won Ben.
1t is easy to understand why this "cor-
rectiou" is made just now. The Chicago
Convention is soon TO meet, and sturdy old
Ben wants to be nominated for Vice Presi-
dent. His Marietta speech is very we'll re-
membered by the German element, and it
is felt that something must be done to ap-
pease the ire of the German element which.
that Marietta speech excited. Hence the
conversation with the VoIksbIGt correspond
ent. But it won'td do. There are hundreds
of foreigners in Marietta who heard the
speech Of sturdy old Ben, and who will
very readily contradict any attempt to
soften its rudeness or explain away its I'M
provoked insult to every adopted citizen.
| If sturdy old Ben is nominated at Chicago,
neither a German nor an Irishman can
vote the Radical ticket without indorsing
his villanous vituperation. That Marietta
speech lost hundreds of votes to the Re-
publican ticket in Ohio last fall. 1t will
lose countless thousands of them through
out the couBtry next fall, if sturdy old Ben
is put upon The ticket with Grant at Chi
cago. Forewarned is forearmed so let the
Radical MANAGERS select decent candidate
for Vice President Sturdy old Ben, with
all his patronage in perspective, will be a
dead weight which no party can carry.