Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1868-10-23
THE ISSUES OF THE CANVASS.
ADDRESS ny THE REV. HENRY WARD
BEECHER.

sic, ON The Issues of the Canvass" He
spoke as follows:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN When, next
March, the President to be elected by the
people shall take his place in Washing
ton, 1t will have been four years, lacking
a few days, since war in its active form
was closed. During that time the country
has gone through vast deal Of excite
ment, run rapidly forward, question fol-
lowing question, until now the questions
are not the same; only the principles are
the same The issues of 1868 are not the
issues of 1865, but the principles that un.
derlay the one underlie the other. Par
ties are substantially the same as they
were in 1865, and further back, as they
were in 1860; because in 1860 the Repub.
lican party, then young, achieved its first
victory II was new and unpractised. 1t
went before the country claiming the ad-
ministration of the government from the
hand of an old, expert party, which had a
long record of early glory and of late
eclipse. The Democratic party began by
being friend TO the whole people. Cor.
rupted by power, it abandoned this prin-
ciple of faith to mankind and humanity,
and became substantially the instrument
of class. That was the damning sin of
the old Federal party, that 1t represented
class and not the whole people; and
that, to q certain extent, was also the sin
and weakness of the Whig party, and the
Democratic party slew them because IL
did, in its better day, believe profoundly
in the common people. 1t slew these par
| ties, and has now itselfstumbled into their
grave. In 1864 the two parties argued
their claims to the administration of this
| government before the people second
time, and the people determined that the
Republican party, by its principles, by the
record of its deeds, and by the men who
chiefly shaped its policy, by its tendencies,
in short, by its past and by its future,
ought to administer the government of
this nation. Now, in 1868, the question
is once more to be determined by the peo-
pie. Shall the Republican party be in
structed to carry on to completion the
work of the past ten years, or shall that
! work be repudiated, or shall the Demo
cratic party be installed in power charged
| to complete the work which the Republi-
| can party has begun? Look at the mean
ing of the last ten years of American his.
tory. The letter and spirit of our insti-
tutions, and the character of our people
made it sure that sooner or later there
would arise a moral and then n political
protest against slavery. 1t was impossible
| in such a nation that slavery should exist,
|
| died in the bosoms of men. The anti -slav-
cry agitation was the logical sequence of
American ideas. Men did not make
that agitation. 1t lay in the very frame
and structure and genius of our American
| institutions and government, and men
were the instruments of causes deep as
everlasting principles. Against the influ-
ence of this protest the South at last COM
mitted the supreme blunder of the cen
tury, and drew the sword The issue in
evitably involved the question of liberty.
The Republican party at an early day
sought to avoid the true issue of the war
and to maintain the Union without med
ding with slavery. But Gods logic pre-
vailed, and the Republican party were
driven by events that were mightier than
they to emancipation, which was the logi-
cal sequence of their position. The first
step was to confer citizenship upon all
that dwell under our flag, without distinc-
tiOn of color or nationality. Applause. |
The principle of liberty inresistibly car
ried the party forward, and partly by its
own intelligence and partly by thelogic of
events, the Republican party has passed
upon the doctrine of the inherent right of
all men to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness" 1t is living question. 1t has
gone through fire and been baptized in
blood. 1t is the faith of the Republican
party. / do not undertake to say that
that party has committed no error. 1t is
made up of men. Political parties do not
represent celestial things in this world
Laughter. But admit that the Republi
can party has stumbled and hesitated,
does it follow that the people are no longer
to repose the government in its hands?
They are not errors in principle. They
have been faults in the bark and not in
the heart-wood. In the same length of
time it never was given any other party
to perform so many illustrious deeds, to
associate its name with changes so pro-
found and that are to be so illustrious por-
tion of our history. 1t has revived the
original doctrine of our fathers which had
been in Babylonish captivity, and achiev-
ed an emancipation second only to that of
the Russian serfs. In 1860, when the South
made war, the Republican party carried
forward the war to victory and saved the
nation. 1t has settled the question whether
this people is a great nation, or only a
temporary council OF separate States
And the Republican party has made itselI
responsible for the repayment in the
standard currency of the world of the
money that was borrowed to feed the sol
dier and to defend the government. Ap,
plause.l There is but one competitor for
the place of the Republican party. l ask
you tonight, has the Democratic party
earned the right to administer this govern
ment! Has it earned the right to admin
lister upon the effects Of the Republican
party? Has 1t been the party of freedom 2
1t is not TO be denied that it was pdrticeps
crimiRis antecedently of the war, with all
those counsels which brought ON the war
The Democratic party were in sympathy
and but for the assurances given to them
by its leaders, the South never would have
ventured into the monstrous blunder oi
that war. When war came, such was the
spirit of the Democratic party that the
truly loyal members in it, and there were
) great many such men, found it impOssi
BILE to maintain their standing in the party
and while in name they were War Demo
Gratis they became substantially Republi-
cans. The Democratic party opposed the
war, either openly or insidiously. Give
me the man who strikes fair blows in the
face, Deliver me from the man that takes
me by the hand and says. "How art
! thouY while he strikes me under the
fifth rib with hidden dagger. [Applause.
At every step gained in the progress OF
the war by the Republicans, emancipa.
ton, the enrolment, of colored men in the
army, their self-protection by suffrage
the Democratic party hung heavily upon
the wheels, not Of Pharaoh, but of the Is
raeltss. If you are to select party Ia
carry out the great work of rendering lib
erty to every man in the land, if you were
to search the world over it seems to me
you could not find party less calculated
T to do it. On the one side stands party
made up of men loyal to principle, and
) to their country, and to libertyi and on
, the other side there comes a party that for
L.. LII rs..I A.
undermine the cause of liberty, and at the
last moment they claim the privilege oi
taking possession Of the Government Dc
you remember that when the bridegroom
came the five virgins that were wise had
) their lamps trimmed and were ready to
! meet him? But now come the i've Demo
, cratic virgins, saying; "Giye us your oil