The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1870-08-12
AD D R E S s
OF THE
Republican Congressional Com nittse
TO THE
Re pablicaus OF the United States.

TO THE ..
Re pnblicaus OF the United States.
The Executive and Legislative Departments
OF the national government and two-thirds of
the State governments have been committed
to your keeping. Such power carries with it
grave responsibilities. The people, as is their
right, will hold you TO strict accountability
for the exercise of this great trust. Elections
are soon to be held for the national House of
Representatives. These elections viii deter
mine the political complexion of the popular
branch of Congress. They will, too, deter
mine the political character of several State
governments. And these results will be ac-
cepted as the verdict OF the people upon the
ideas, principles and policies of the Republi-
can party, aud upon the measures and char
acter OF the national administration. To these
responsibilities, and to the gravity of these is
sues, your thoughtful consideration is in
voked. l ... .
In the present juncture it behooves the Re-
publican party not to forget its origin, nor its
history. Amid the difficulties that beset it,
and the responsibilities and labors which the
needs OF the country in the new and untried
condition of affairs imposes, it should remem-
Der that it was born of the nations nccessi-
ties, and thus far it has grandly met the ext
gencies for which it was formed. Having
passed triumphantly through three great eras
OF its history, it is now summoned to enter
upon its fourth. Gathering, therefore, inspir-
alton from past successes, it should grapple
hopefully and with unshrinking confidence
with the duties OF the present aud near fr-
ture.
Recurring to their origin Republicans will
remember, when the land was the theatre of
a stern and irrepressibe conflict between the
demons of slavery and caste and the spir-
it OF liberty and equality, when the slave pow
er held great interests and powerful organiza-
tions in its grasp, and ruled the nation with
imperial sway, that the founders of the party,
instructed by passing events, with convictions
deepened and zeal quickened by the teachings
of history and OF holy writ, and inspired by
the deathless words OF the patriots, statesmen
and heroes of our earlier time, rose to the ex-
igencies of the hour, opposed the baughty
ambitions, the maddening passions, the cruel
prejudices ard the disorganizing theories of
the domineering majority, and, although long
OverbOrne by numbers, still struggled on amid
jeers, insults, mobs, blows and assassinations,
| till under the lead of Abraham Lincoln they
achieved success and grasped the sceptre of
| political power. f ID
Entering upon its second cra appalling re-
| sponsibllIties at once arose. The slave mas
| tiers, in the pride and arrogance of power, in :
stantly plunged the nation into the fire and
blood OF civil war. But the Republican party
rose with the crisis. 1t raised money in un-
| stinted measure, organized vast armies, Great
ed powerful navies, fought bloody battles,
| crushed the most gigantic rebellion OF all re-
corded history, and saved the nations life. 1t
was then, amid the clash of arms, that the
RepuDlcan party saw that slavery was the
relentless and unappeasable foe of the
country, was the inspiration, the heart
and soul OF that civil war, and that
| its death would be the humiliation
of the rebellion, the unity of thesrepublic
and the development of free institutions.
Against cOwardy fears, selfish instincts un-
reasoning passions and preiudices it pronoun-
| ced the doom of that hideous and horrid sys-
| tenn of human bondage, though it was upheld
| by the aggregated interests of three thousand
| millions of dollars, hedged about by the accu-
mulated passions and prejudices, prides and
| ambitions of seven generations, and iatrenched
| within the social, political and ecclesiastical
| organizations and affiliations of life. BY Sc
ries of executive and legislative acts it broke
| the chains, and lifted iIOm the depths of chat
| tlehood up to the summit of manhood, four
| and half millions of hapless tondsmen, and
| stood before the nations with their riven fet-
tiers i'm one hand and their title deeds to free
| dom in the other.
The war ended, the rebellion subdued, the
bondmen emancipated, the republican party
| euGeTtu upon lue Jullu era VI ltS cNcHllul HIS
tory. Though conquered by arms the rebels
did not accept the just, humane, and generous
ideas OF the victors, nor did they return to
their proper allegiance and loyalty to the gov
ernment, but still bemoaning the "lost cause"
they remained unsubdued in will ahd unre-
pentant in spirit and purpose. Though made
free the bondmen were homeless, without prop
erty, without employment, subject to the cru
ell laws against free people Of color which had
81. Iauic MI
the midst of people eXasperated by defeat,
and maddened by their loss of power still Ion
ger to hold and oppress. Property was swept
away, Industry dsorganized, society disinte-
grated, and States were without lawful govern
ments.
Upon the republican party devolved the
task of reconstruction. To its intrinsic diff
culties were added the intense hostility of the
ex-rebels, the lingering prejudces long engen-
dered by the slave system, the timid counsels
OF conservatism, and the apostacy of the exec
utive. Great interests and powerful combi-
nations sought so to reconstruct the South as
to place the power in the hands of the late
slayeholding class, and leave the helpless freed
men in the abject condition OF practical serf-
dom. Seldom i'm history has there been i'm
posed upon any body of men work of great
er magnitude or difficulty. The republicans
might have shrunk from and avoided it.
They were sorely tempted to do so But they
| resisted the temptation of official power and
patronage, the threats OF executive dictation,
and all other adverse influences, and with
sublime fidelity and courage addressed them
selves to the herculean task.
10 aid in reorganizing disoIdered industries,
| caring for, protecting and instTucting the
emancipated bondmen in the new duties of
| their changed condition, the republicans es-
| tablished the Freedman's Bureau, (which, by
| the wise expenditure OF few millions of dol
| lars, did an incalculabe work for order, peace
| and the rehabilitation of Southern society.
| To reconstruct rebellious States on the solid
BASIS of equal rights, they gave suffrage to
I the freedmen in the reconstruction measures.
| To secure citizenship and civil rights to a
| wronged and hated race, they proposed ana
adopted the Fourteenth Amendment, ara
| enacted the bill of civil rights. 10 estap-
| lish, by irreversible guarantees, equal P9-
| litical rights and privileges, they adopteu Tue
| Fifteenth Amendment; and as crownln9
| act for freedom they provided by law Tor the
| enforcement of these amendments thus new
| Jv enshrined within the Constitution. Ihus
| ,be Rennblicans, against the sternest opposi-
| tion. against Misrepresentation, against APP
Mailing obstacles, have struggled on until the
| rebel States, reconstructed on the basis of i'm
partial liberty, have been restored, and the
sublime doctrines Of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence made assured and practical realities.
In the progress of the ages it has been given
to few, in any form Or by any modes, to
achieve work SO vast, SO grand, so benef-
cent, so sure to be recorded by history and
appiauded and remembered by coming gener-
ations.
Having achieved this grand work, having
passed through these three eras OF its history,
the Republican party. entering on its fourth