The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1869-11-11
Relknap'S Speech.

R. Briggs, Assistant Librarian of the
House of Representatives; John Boyd,
Assistant Doorkeeper Of the House
OF Representatives; Colonel ]. A.
Graham, Assistant Register Of the
United States Treasury; Hoa. Haw-
kins Taylor, Colonel Josiah Given,
Deputy Commissioner of Internal
Revenue; Colonel George Cow;e,
Colonel Scott Hon. J. s. w. Tabor,
Fourth Auditor of United States
Treasury; Judge Fitzpatrick, Colonel
sprague, U. s. Army; Major F. M.
Clarke, J. P. G. Poulton, Captain
Morrison, and many others, called on
Mr.. Secretary Belknap at his tempo
rary stopping place at the house of
Col. Dayton, of General sherman's
staff.
Justice Miller gave the large crowd
an individual introduction to the
Secretary, after which Re addressed
him as follows:
GENERAL: The citizens of Iowa, at
the present time, have called here, on
this occasion, to express to you the
satisfaction that they feel in your ap-
pointmen: and acceptance Of the Of.
fee OF Secretary Of War, and to bid
you cordial welcome to Washing
ton.
To us who are familiar with your
history this acton of the President
| needs no comment.
Coming to the State of Iowa at an
age which could hardly be called
early manhood, and entering, as you
did, upon the practice of the law,
your skill, your care, and your attep-
| ton in your profession, obtaining for
you the reputation ola skillful law.
yer, pointed you out as proper per-
| son to serve tho citizens of your
strife as a legislator, and your service
in that capacity was the commence
ment of a career-I must say bril-
liant career-which has ended in your
being called to this city as the conf
dental adviser OF the Chief Magis-
trate ofthe nation.
Among the first to march to the
field of battle in the war of the re-
bellion, the impression which you
made upon those most calculated to
form a correct judgment of your SER
vices in that relation is evidenced by
the position to which you are now
called. A corresponding imp ession
was made upon the public mind
equally creditaole 70 your ga.lantry,
your courage, and your endurance in
The field.
If, Sir, these remarks may be sup
posed to be attributed in AIRY way to
partially of personal regsrd, I must
adm;s that it mas some basis, at least,
in an acquaintance and intimate per.
sonal friendship Of twenty-one years
standing; but I claim, sir, at the same
time, that the testimony is none the
worse because the witness knows that
of which he speaks.
In behalf Of these gentlemen pres.
emit, all citizens of Iowa, we welcome
| you to Washington and to the dr.ies
of the position you now hold, with
no misgivings upon our part that The
honor of that position or the good Of
the public service will suffer in your
hands.
/ At the conclusion of the above re-
marks, Secretary Belknap responded
as follows:
l thank yoa, sir, most gratefully
for your kind words, and it is with
upfeigned gratitude, my fellow-citi.
zens of Iowa, that Ileceive this COM
pliment from you tonight, for I take
it as u compliment that the sons of
our noble state resident here, gather.
ed from all points within her borders,
should make this call on one who es-
teens your friendship and regard as
his high honor. Your hearts must
beat with pride, indeed, when you
think ofyour home beyond the Mis-.
sissippi-a State whose population
has increased from 195, 900 in 1851 to
over 100000 in 1869 whose prair-
les, as they stretch far away to the
West, are rich enough in soil to fill
with tieir productions the granaries
of a world whose system ofcommon
schools, extending TO every hamlet,
offers freely to all the beneficient
blessings Of free education; whose
people, increasing from year to year
in that knowledge which is power,
have, from the feeble commencement
of a few colonies of pioneers, increas-
ed to the extent and measure of q
strong Commonwealth, illustrating
in its growth the progressive char
acter of the American people. A
State, too, my friends, whose record
in war is as bright as the brightest :;
whose $4,000 troops inspired by no
feeling of resentment toward the peo-
pie of the South, but actuated purely
by love of their country and it's I'm
ion, fought on almost every field
from Belmont to the end ; whose reg
iments gave Kinsman and Mills and
Baker and Redfeld and Wentz and
Worthington, and hosts of private
soldiers to the cause of freedom. And
STATE, too, which, honoring itself
by giving 10000 majority tor the
great Captain who led our armies to
victory, opened wide the door of suf
fcage to every American citizen, and
but three short weeksago Reimbursed
the great principles of the party of
progress by majorities large and de.
cided.
Honored, gentlemen, as 1 have
been by the President, with a posi-
ton conferred upon me without 60
licitation, it vii. be my endeavor,
with the enforcement of rigid econo.
my, so to conduct its affairs as to
command the approval Of the coun-
try.
Relying on that patriotism which
has ever guided the American peo-
pie, with the great examples Of q
Stanton and a Rawlins before me, it
the result should indicate that your
kind congratulations have not been
misplaced, shall DO fully satisfied.
Aloo1~