The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-07-28
THE ONLY ISSUE.
BIalr's Letter to BrOadhead.
RESPONSES TO THE SAME FROM
THE SOUTH.
TIE LOST CAUSE RESURRECTED

The following is the letter of
General BLAIR to Mr.. BRoADHEAD
which secured the former the nomi-
for Vice President:
WASHINGTON, June 80, 1868.
Dear C0lOnel-In reply to your in
q%uiries, / beg leave to say that / leave
you to determine, on consultation
my friends from Missouri,
whether my name shall be presented
to the Democratic Convention, and to
submit the following as to what /
consider the real and only issue in
this contest:
The reconstruction policy of the
Radicals will be complete before the
next election; the States so long ex-
cluded will have been admitted;
negro suffrage established, and the
carpet-baggers installed in their
seats in both branches of Congress.
There is no possibility of changing
the political character of the Senate,
even If the Democrats should elect
their President and a majority of the
popular branch of Congress. We can
not, therefore, undo the Radical plan
of reconstruction by Congressional
action; the Senate will continue a bar
to its repeal. Must we submit to it2
How can it be overthrown? 1t can
only be overthrown by the authority of
the Executive, who is sworn to main
tain the Constitution, and who will
fail to do his duty if he allows the
Constitution to perish under a series
of Congressional enactments which
are in palpable violation of its funda-
mental principles.
If the President elected by the
Democracy enforces or permits others
to enforce these reconstruction acts,
the Radicals, by the accession of
twenty spurious Senators and fifty
Representatives, will control both
branches of Congress, and his Admin
istration will be as powerless as the
present one of Mr.. johnson.
There is but one way to restore the
Government and the Constitution,
and that is for the President elect to
declare these acts null and void, COM
pei the army to undo its usurpations
at the South, dispense the carpet-bag
State governments, allow the white
people to reorganize their own gov
ernments, and elect Senators and
Representatives. The House of Rep
resentatives will contain a majority of
Democrats from the North, and they
will admit the Representatives elect
ed by the white people of the South,
and with the cooperation of the Pres
ident it will not be difficult to compel
the Senate to submit once more to the
Obligations of the Constitution. 1t
will not be able to Withstand the pub
lie judgment, if distinctly evoked and
clearly expressed on this fupdament-
al issue, and it is the sure way to
avoid all future strife and to put the
issue plainly to the country.
/ repeat that this is the real and
only question which we should allow
to control us: Shall we submit to
the usurpations by which the Govern
ment has been overthrown, or shall
we exert ourselves to its full and COM
plete restoration? 1t is idle to talk
of bonds, greenbacks, gold. the public
faith, and the public credit. What
can a Democratic President do in re-
gard to any Of these, with a Congress
in both branches controlled by the
carpet baggers and their allies? He
will be powerless to stop the supplies
by which idle negroes are organized
into political clubs-by which an
army is maintained to protect these
vagabonds in their outrages upon the
ballot. These, and things like these.
eat up the revenue and resources of
the Government and destroy its credit
make the difference between gold
and greenbacks. We must restore
the Constitution before we can restore
the finances, and to do this we must
have q President who will execute
the VIII OF the people by trampling
gress, known as the reconsideration
acts. L wish to stand before the Com
vention upon this issue, bnt il Il one
which embraces everything else that
is of value In its large and canine
hensive results. 1t is the one thin
that includes all that is worth a con-
test, and without it there is nothing
that gives dignity, honor, or value to
the struggle.
Your friend, FRANK P. BLAIR.
Col. JAMES O. BRoADHEAD.
RESPONSES.
The following responses to the let
ter and nomination of General BLAIR
we find in our Southern exchanges.
In a speech at a ratification meeting
in Mobile Hon. PERCY WALKER, who
earned his title in the rebel service,
characterized General GRANT as a
human donkey, and CoLFAx as a
man without character. But this is
nothing; his exposition of the views
held and maintained by his party is
what we desire to call attention to.
On this point he said: 4
This was the first time since the
day when Robert Il. Lee, the great
commander Of our armies, was COM
PEELED to give up the contest gallantlv
waged for four years, and rendered to
the enemy that sword which flashed
VIGOROUSLY over so many battle
fields, that he saw a light in the
clouds handing over the South.
Since the termination of that contest,
mighty wrongs, hard expressions,
Dltter notifications and humiliations
nave been our lot. At last the great
J American heart seems to have been