Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1868-10-01
Young Douglas for Grant.

RoBERr DOUGLAS, son of the late
STEpHEN A. DOUGLAS, made his
maiden speech at Raleigh, N. C. re-
Gently, and declared himself unequiv-
ocally for Grant for President. We
make a few quotations. OF his hon
ored father he said:
Speaking of him, aud feeling that
whatever importance any words Of
mine may have is derived from the
name bear, and the affection many
still feel toward one who through life
proved himself the peoples friend,
few words concerning my father
may not be deemed inappropriate.
1t was with feelings ofsurprise-and
must add, OF indignation that /
saw his name inscribed upon one of
the transpariences borne in the last
Conservative procession / thought
that common decency, at least,
would have prevented them from
dragging from the tomb the name of
the man whom they had betrayed
and denounced through life, and af-
ter his death. whose orphan children
they had prosecuted.
While gazing upon that name / re-
membered the time when these same
men declared him traitor to every
principle of honor, because he pre-.
ferred his country to his party, and
bitterly denounced him for his efforts
to rally the people of the West for
the defense of the Union.
1 remember all these when l am
declared degenerate son; and for
every quotation they give me from
his speeches I will give them dozen.
When the Sentinel parades a SEN
tence concerning a white mans gov
ernment, will remind them of his
dying words. When the wife bent
over the scarce breathing form of
the expiring statesman, and asked If
he had no message to send to his
children, "rell them," said he, in
voice rendered almost inaudible by
the near approach of death, "to obey
and support the Constitution and the
laws of the land This solemn in
junction l intend to obey. When l
see myself personally abused by the
conservative press on account of my
political sentiments, and called
traitor to the State in which 1 was
born, l would recall to their recol-
lection the time when I was declared
an alien enemy. About the year
1862 a bill was filed summoning
Thomas Settle (now Associate Judge
of the Supreme Court aud R. A. Ell
lington to Greensboro to show cause
why they should not surrender the
property of Robert NJ. and Stephen
A. Douglas, alien enemies Of the Con-
federacy; and when am denounced
as Yankee and carpet bagger, /
would remind them of their efforts
to drive me an exile from my native
State and render me stranger to
the soil that gave me birth. AS,
however, have inherited my fathers
name and his principles, it Is natural
that / should inherit their animOsity.
Nevertheless, it is strange that these
men, his bitterest enemies in life,
should now claim to be the truest
exponents of his principles; but not
more strange than that they should
now assert themselves the best
friends of the Constitution of the
United states and the infallible inter
prefers Of its provisions alter they
have sacrificed hundreds of thou
sands of lives and thousands of mil
lions of treasure to trample into the
dust that sacred instrument.
On the negro question he hits
them hard. He says
''Such is their consistency, and such
it is throughout all their political
principles. If a white Republican
addresses a crowd of'colored men,
expressing his honest sentiments, in
structing them in their rights and
duties and advising them as friend,
that action involves social equality
and is disreputablc. High born Con-
servatives, however, can mingle pro-
miscuously among colored men at
barbecaes, cat from the same sheep,
and drink from the same bottle, and
they deserve the praise OF their fel'
low citizens. If colored man, fell
lowing his honest convictions, votes
for the best interests of his race and
as all his higher instincts prompt
him, he is totally unfit to dig bare
subsistence from the bosom of the
common earth. If, on the other
hand, that colored man proves a
traitor to his race-votes to consign
himself, his wife, and his children
to q condition worse than slavery,
for they all say that the condition of
an old free negro was worse than
that of a slave; he is respectable
and his swarthy hand is worthy of
grasping the sweetestfowers pluched
by the snowy fingers of the Caro-
linas' fairest daughters"