The Waynesburg Republican. [volume] (Waynesburg, Pa.) 1867-18??, 1868-03-04
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LETTER FROM SPEAKER COLFAX.
The following correspondence vii
explain itself.

explain itself.
WASHINGTON, Feb. Is, 1868.
His Erce,leRcy, Coz. BAKER.
My DEAR SIR | should be glad
to accept your kind invitation, and
thus enjoy the privilege of looking into
the faces Of our 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 during its sessions,
and | must, therefore, deny myself this
great pleasure.
i may not be inappropriate, on the
Threshold of the important campaign
before us, to look back for a few min
utes at those deeds and triumphs OF
our young and patriotic party which
are garnered up in our national history,
and which no defamation by our enc
mics can ignore or obscure.
When the Rebellion, with its Demo
cratic President, Democratic Cabinet
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, shouted "No con-
Germ" it was the Union Republican
party that wrote on its banners "Thc
last man and the last dollar If need
be-" and the unconquerable armies
their Congressional legislation called
to the field, finally "coerced" the Re-
bellion into subjection
In this darkest days of the struggle,
when at every street-corner we were
tauntingly told by Democrats, "You
can't conquer the South" there wa,
one party that never despaired of the
Republic; and that party was the one
whose delegates now meet at our State
Capital.
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 field, we dared todefy the
prejudice which every Democratic
speaker and editor attempted to in
flame against the burdens Of taxation
and thus daring, triumphed.
When conscription laws became a
military necessity, to fill up our regi-
ments decimated again and again by
the bullets of the enemy and the dis
eases of the camp, the siege and The
march, and when the land was filled
with Democratic denunciationsof OF these
laws, we risked popularity, victory,
and all, by defending them as bravely
as our veterans defended the country
in the field.
When Mr.. Lincoln as last struck. at
Slavery as the cause of all our woes, as
well as the right arm of the Rebellion
and when Democratic orators and
writers most scandalously and persist
emily illuminated us as having con.
Serted the war for the Union into an
abolition war to free negroes, we fear
lessly allied our cause to that of the
humble and the helpless and Provi-
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
onr opponents at Chicago dared to hang
out the white flag of surrender, by
proclaiming the war a failure, and de-
manding 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 theirin
dignant condemnation on the disgrace
tui avowal.
When the Government was com
PEELED to issue bonds by the hundreds
OF millions for the preservation of our
national existence, Democrats ridiculed
them as worthless, and cautioned 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 an investment in their pur-
chase.
When "grcenbacks" were authoriz-
ed by Republican Congress, who can
forget the Democratic predictions that
it would ultimately take a hatful OF
them to buy a hat? 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 guaran-
tees for the future, with full protection
for all who loved the flag and the
Union, our enemies denounced us as
wishing to postpone reconstruction.
Now these same Democrats, with their
ally the President, are striving to put
every possible stumbling-block in the
way of the return Of these self-exiled
States.
When "the XIVth Article" was
proposed as an amendment to the Con-
stitution-embodying no mandatory
suffrage enactment, but protecting
equally the civil rights of all, native
born aud naturalized making voter
in Indiana just as potential as one in
South Carolina, and no more; and
barring the door of the Treasury
against any payments for emancipated
slaves or the Rebel debt-the whole
Democratic party denounced it, and
urged the South to spurn it, as they
did. Now the two Democratic States
of Kentucky and Maryland demand
payment, out of the peoples taxes in