The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1870-07-30

w Glla lnG OCu4OCldbAC PnROAS -
we have not paid the debt OF In
diana. They say here is the school
fund-that we invested three millions
and a half of the school fund in our
So we did. We found that
fund was being lent on mortgage secu-
rity, and that a portion of it was be-
it was very expec1ive. We abolished
that, and the Legislature passed an
act under which the interest of that
fund goes to the benefit of our COM
mon schools. The principal is never
to be paid.
The State owes that to itself, Just
as if [ should owe a debt to myself.
The interest simply stands in place of
so much tax that otherwise would
have to be levied and collected for
the purpose of carrying on the COM
mon schools of the State of Indiana.
Now, our State is in a splendid con-
dition. I take pride in saying-and l
think l am authorized to say it-that
since the Republican party came into
power in Indiana, In January, 1861,
the State government has been a con-
tinual and a great success. For four
teen years before the war, I think In
diana was the worst governed State IN
the Union. Every public measure
seemed TO be a disaster. Our debt
got bigger and bigger in a time of
peace, although the State was rapidly
growing and developing. There was
no reason to be given for it, but bad
management and profigacy. / do not
wish al all to impeach Gov. Wright
in saying this. Gov. Wright was an
honest man; he ~endeavored to do his
| duty. but he was powerless In the
hands Of the men by whom he was
surrounded. He tried to preserve the
| Swamp lands to the State; he tried to
prevent the Georgia Land Swindle;
he tried to prevent the plumber OF a
school fund; but ne was powerless ]
the hands of the politicians and State
officers, and the Legislature by which
he was surrounded.
There is a great deal more that L
expected to say tonight, but l am not
able. One word in regard to the
Fifteenth Amendment and L Will
close.
The Fifteenth Amendment is now
q part of the Constitution of the
United States. Neither MI. Hend-
ricks nor all the Democratic poll
ticians in Indiana can pluck that cut
of the Constitution. We have now
said that no State shall withhold suf-
frage from any man on account of his
color-that is all. We have estab-
lished equal rights and impartial
suffrage. Has it done any body any
harm In this State or in any other?
| Will comforting suffrage upon the few
/ 11l0~o1 ~aonla 0P TnIsono 10fr1wo any
white man in this State? | know
that Democratic politicians are cor
stantly appealing to the lowest preiu.
dices of white men on the subject of
color. They degrade themselves and
the audience to which they make
such appeals. These colored men
are every where behaving themselves
well. They are working we'll In the
South-working better than they ever
did before. They are peaceable and
we'll behaved; they are not putting
on airs because of the rights that
have been conferred upon them; they
will make good peacable and quiet
citizens as they made good soldiers.
Why should they not have equal
rights with all the rest? Is there any
reason for it? Has any reason ever
been given except that of mere preju-
dice2
Mr.. Hendricks went to New Or
leans last Winter, about the middle
of February, and there made a speech
to the Democratic party, which was
published, and that speech / have
| here tonight. In that speech he
urged the Democrats of Louisiana
| to cultivate and to conciliate the col
ored vote. He made an argument in
favor of the colored people that was
an honor to his head and to his heart.
He told them how we'll they had be-
haved during the war; how industri-
GUS they were; how they were emit
tied to the gratitude of the white peo-
pie. He urged them to lay aside their
preiudices, and to cultivate and con-
ciliate the colored people. He went
on to make another argument. He
said political equality did not mean
social equality; that the colored peo-
pie did not want amalgamation; they
did not want social equality with the
whites; that they preferred to stay by
themselves, and that no danger was
to be apprehended from that score.
That was his argument in Louisiana.
He does not make that kind of an ar
eument here, as / am informed; but
I have a speech that he made at La
fayette a short time ago, and the bur-
den of it was that the Fifteenth
Amendment had been frauduleDtly
adopted. and the inference, of course,
was that it ought not to be enforced.
In conclusion | call upon the Re-
publicans of Indiana to stand fast by
their principles during the coming
compaign and eleotion-to concede
nothing to the party that has con-
ceded nothing to them or to the coun-
try. IF they could not endorse Dem
ocratic principles during the war,
how can they endorse them now2 IF
they could not associate with these
men during the war, how can they
associate with them nov, when they
do not pretend to have changed?
You have no cause for change.
This Republican party has done bet
ter even than it promised to do, and
better than it hoped to do. I did not
expect that this country would be in
the condition that it is to-day. We
have almost overcome all material
rsvages of the war. The country is
richer than it ever was in the North.
and it will soon be so in the South.
The bitches are nearly filed up. the
embankments are almost leveled, the
war has almost passed away, except
in your memories and mine.
Those of us who lost friends and
relations-fathers and brothers. sons
and husbands-can never forget that
war; We al not forgive the men that
made it, that brought it upon us; they
are not repentant, and therefore they
have no right to ask US to forgive
them. Forgiveness should be accord
ed to the repentant and penitent; but
TINS party is not penitent. They take