The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1868-04-02

NO. 81.
70 our aasandsrd in the time Of orr
greatest e heed, and it is right tha. thew
should share ia the liberties they helm.
ed Us to preserve. A multitude Of ne'
groes fought faithfully and braveIv in
the = Union armies, aud throughout the
South they wept over our defeats and
't3o'eea In our 'riumphs; they fed
ana relieved the starved and SUFFERING
o"'o" prisoners to the utmost Of their
p0~s'' and l will add that they have be-
n'ved with unexamplcd forbe,r,cc.
toward their former oppressvrs. /, is
c'''e't from the behavior of the whites
toward them, that they cannot long re-
tam even personal freedom after the
military are Withdrawn, unless they are
'llo%eo voice in the making and exc
cutlon of the laws. To abandon them
latter having solicited and received
1he,r aid, to the cupidity and revenge
OF their former masters, would leave 9
deep and inefaceable stain upon the
national honor, and is repugnant to the
sentiments Of every just and generous
mind: 1t is necessary that the freed
men nave the right Of sutf: age, because
a counterpoise is needed in the so,,th
against the disloyal feeling of the ma
Jority Of the white residents, who have
yielded only to force and who slll cher
ism an llI-concealed hatred of the Up-
lon. The terms offered the South bv
Congress are reasonable and just, and
1t Is most unwise and factious for the
Democracy to oppose them ; for We
have no right, political or moral, to
thro" away or imperil the results of a
complete but hard earned triumph.
bought with the blood of hundreds Of
thousands ofbravc men. Furthermore.
1t is not to be dissembled that the ex-
treme section Of the Democratic party
Is resolved if it can obtain control O,
the government, to repudiate the na.
t'onal debt, and should that party pre-.
vail in the coming election, this dis
graceful and ruinous measure will GER
talnly be attempted. By all your hopes
tor the prosperity and reputation of the
country you have selected for yourselves
and your children, it is alike your duty
and your interest to assist in preserving
the public filth inviolate, and in ward
ing off the misery and shame of repu-
diation.
Ut President johnson I shall say
little, for at this date it seems probable
that this faithless and wretch, d rene.
gade will soon receive the punishment
OF the law for his crimes, and be remov-
ed IRON the Office he has disgraced. Ir
the present crisis of our history. to
whom can ne look for a standard bear.
er but to that great soldier who con-
Quoted our armies to final victory, whose
Integrity is without stain, and whose
military record is equal to that of Wei
liogton or Butcher.
There is another view of tho case
which 1 approach with reluctance, but
shall not pass over, because 1 am per-
suaded that if rightly treated it may be
like "word fitly spoken and tend to
good. Most of you are members of the
Roman Catholic Church. Thouch an
American Of unmiz ed English descent,
born and reared in an exclusively Prot
estant community, early embraced the
Catholic faith from sincere conviction
and to it I have for nearly eighteen
years faithfully adhered. I am there.
fore connected with you by the tie Of
religious brotherhood, and in common
with you cherish an ardent attachment
to the ancient faith of Western Europe.
1t is therefore with deep sorrow that I
see you pursuing course which must
and does reawaken the half cxtineuish-
ed prejudices of the American people
against our faith, and which if persisted
in will infallibly operate powerfully
against its diffusion. 1t is as certain
as the universal testimony of history
can make it, that our church is the "a
rent Of modern civilization, and that it
was owing to her glorious aud benevo-
lent influence that slavery was Danish
ed was the soil Ct Europe. More clear
ly and absolutely than any other COM
muoion, our church ignores the dis
tinctions Of caste and proclaims the
equality of all men ia the sight of hca-
ven. So much is this the case that in
some OF the countries wherein our faith
stands established, social distinctions
cease upon entering the house Of Goo.
and the rich and the poor, the prince
and the peasant, the lady and the SER