Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-03-13


their ewn Government withholds from
them; and we shall then present to the
world the strange spectacle of nation,
banishing by persecution and tyranny its
own citizens and at the same time extend
ing its sympathies to those struggling for
freedom in other lands. Nature has, in
deed, been most prodigal in bestowing her
gifts upon that portion of our land; but all
this will avail those people little under
such oppression. Disheartened and dis
couraged by the loss of their liberties, the
energies of those people will become para
lyzed, Indifferent to the natural advan-
tages by which they are surrounded,
their blooming gardens and produce
tive fields will be converted into
barren wastes, and the gentle breezes of the
South wind, and the genial rays of South
ern sum will tall and shine upon the land,
not of freemen, but of slaves. But this is
not all. The evils that will arise from fet-
tering the energies of the people of this
portion of our land, by thus degrading and
depressing them, will not stop here. In
depriving them of their liberties, we must
suffer also. This injustice to them, SO far
from working advantage to US, must prove
most injurioust to our interests. Do you ask
me how? 1 will tell you. Before the war,
the South was the great market for our
Western and Northwestern States. En-
gs ed themselves almost exclusively in the
cultivation of the cane and cotton.i her
people depended upon us. in great meas
ure, for their supplies, and there, year after
year, our farmers could transport their
products, and find ready and profitable
market for them. But now, impoverished
and exhausted by the ravages of war, and
unable to regain their former prosperous
condition, so long as this military despot.
ism shall last, the people of the South will
become disappearing, and we shall be de-
prived of our best customers. Then, the
Representatives from those States, in the
Congress of the United States, acting in
unity with our own, enabled us to resist
the encroachments of the monOpolists and
manufacturers of New England. Now, New
England controls the Government, and her
inhabitants live in luxury and ease, at the
expense of the toiling millions of the West.
Besides, an army OF fifty or seventy
five thousand men will be required to keep
these States subjected, and to carry out
these measures, and this will involve an
expenditure of tens of millions of dollars
every year, in addition to the countless
sums that are now being squandered by
this Radical party, nearly all of which will
have to be paid by the laboring men of the
West, as the South in its i'm poverished con-
dition can contribute but little, and as the
bondholders of New England are free from
taxation. - .i'ie
NY fellow citizens, have now discussed
briefly, the one great question which is
agitating the minds Of all true lovers of
their country-that of Reconstruction
and before leaving you, let me say to you
that its importance cannot be overestimat-
ed, for as we determine it we will decide
for or against the preservation of that Con-
stitution under which we have lived and
prospered for more than three quarters ofa
century. Let us not permit ourselves to be
deluded with any expectation that we
can deprive the people of these Southern
States of their liberties and retain our own.
For, already have Congressional commit
tees been appointed to inquire whether
Maryl land and Kentucky, States that made
no attempt at secession, have republican
forms of Government. Already have those
two States been partially deprived of their
representation in Congress, with view, it
may be, to subject them to military rule.
Let us, considering the responsibility
which rests upon us, work with an eye sim
gle to our success in the coming campaign.
Let no internal dissensions distract or di-
vide US. Let no failure to secure positions
for ourselves or friends, no matter how
much we may consider that we or they may
be entitled co them, as a reward for past
services, slacken our energies. Let US re-
member that our success as a party is at
this time indispensable to the future pros
perity and welfare of our country. And
remembering this, let us go into the COM
ing contest with determination to uphold
and defend the Constitution of our fathers.
If we do this, victory will perch upon our
banner and the new era which has just
commenced in the history of our country
will be as bright and glorious as that which
has past aud gone. 1t we fail to do this,
we will cast aside the Constitution; we will
surrender our liberties; we will invite these
men to plant the iron heel of despotism
upon our necks; and we will proclaim to
the world that this, the last and greatest of
all efforts to establish Government of the
people has tailed, and that man is incapa-
BILE of self government. G