The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1871-08-03
AoHhtal.
COL. McCOOK ON THE STUMP.
HIS OPENING OF THE GUBERNATO-
RIAL CANVASS AT ASHTABULA..
THE NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITIES
OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
TO RESTORE PEACE AND
PROSPERITY.
The Hope of the Country I'm the As.
tendency of the Democracy.

tendency of the Democracy.
Cor. GEOsGE W. BIoCOoK, the Democratic eandi-
date for Governor OF Ohio, commenced the active
work of his canvass of the State the 25th, by
addressing the Democracy of Ashtabula county
at the town of Ashtabula- Colonel McCook spoke
as follows:
| TIE TEN YEARS SINCE SUMTER.
| 1t is more than ten years since the gun at
Sumter plunged the country into war, always ter
rible but this in its most hideous shape, civil
war. We told, and doubtless those who told
us so believed it. that it to have its limit, like
| won by a levy of seYenty-6Ve thousand men, and
| at cost much less than that incurred by the
peetation, in its duration, expenses and sacrifices,
| at last came to end, as all wars must come. 1t
| the moment of last exhaustion OF the weaker
| combatant, in peace, peace without treaty, be-
cause they were then and at all times, only States
| in revolt and it only on this principle that
| the could have lasted for day. and upon
1 this theory there was party with whom we
/ could contract; peace, toe, will admit for the
| argument, without condition, although do not
| forget and history will never allow us to forget
| the terms vouchsafed by Grant to Lee and his
| soldiers sathat they could depart to their homes
in peace and never be called in question for what
/ had been done before" Peace then, without con-
| Jition. but at cost in conducting the war which
nc nation had ever spent in any war; and in addi-
ton, leaving behind II a debt which no nation ex-
| eept one ever aggregated so large one, and in
that case by hostilities of one hundred and twen-
| ty wears; peace after lapse of years which made
the hearts OF those who had ssh or brother there,
/
| ferred. But monstrous as has been the expense
| to us, and to generations yet unborn, the burden
is insignificant compared with that cost not to be
| measured, for which time brings no restoration,
| OF the hundreds of thousands buried on the bat
tlefeld, alas, so often in unknown graves and OF
the hundreds of thousands scarcely more fortu-
nate, who bear ho aorable and disabling wounds;
and as many more, broken n health by the sick
| ness which hung like pail over our camps.
| HOPES OF THE COUNTRY AFTER APPONATToX.
| But notwithstanding all these losses, the coun-
/ try was full Of hope, and when instead Of break
ing up into guerilla bands, as SO many feared in
voving an expense scarcely less than actual war,
/ we saw that army after army surrendered, then
| hope became assurance and from the heart Of the
nation there sprang TO all lips the sublime words
| ofthe christian doxology, Praise God from whom
all blessings flow" "EOf course, there were private
/ griefs which could not be assuaged and sorroWs
Tor which in this life there could be no eure but
i the sufferers full of patriotism, and their
losses were not thrust in to danpen the ardor of
| those who were to receive husbands and children
back again o love and life
/ To the nation it gave hope, nay, trust that
/ with peace the ways of peace and her works Wo'd
| return; and now that war, the great master, was
ended financial men felt that as the strain upon
our resources was to cease, the nation would soon
i recover from the discredit which had almost
| crippled our arms, and the merchant felt that
i business was more TO be wild and gambling
speculation, but that the laws Of trade, untrani-
/ meled, were once more to have sway, and the
/ merchantmen who believed that II Ras.only Reb-
| el cruisers like the Alabama and her consort
| which kept his ship IN port, or compelled him to
/ transfer to foreign nag, believed that the old
/ times were to return with the close of the war,
/ that he WAS to have his good deck under him
1
flag of his country, and feet of American ships,
| mAnnei by American seamen. There were nsen
/ of intelligence, too, many Of whom hope are
here to-day, when passion had cooled, began to
reflect that legal, and especially constitutional
| principles were saved, that without obedience to
tben IN the Seai Of their protc impIs.s foP
/ measures they deemed necessary to sustain the
| war unconsciously, perhaps carelessly, commit
/ ted themselves TO violations of the constitution
/ and of the very principles Of civil liberty older
| than constitutions which they now repent, and
/ for
which is trying, in the spirit which Retuated our
! fathers TO store the Government to an honest
| and constitutional administration Of all its de-
| partments. And this represented at that time the
| feeling Of ali good men over the country inciu-
| ding the South ITSELF and without distinction of
party in the North for men then for while felt
| that the country was higher than party, and that
| the Constitution, as construed by statesmen and
| jurists was indeed the law of the land. There
| were bad men in the South who had mostly been
| sheltered through fayoritism, in bomb-proof ap-
| pointnents who, by trade, had absorbed the prop
| erty which belonged to soldiers in the field ana
| bad men in the North who cried fei vengeance on
| the people who had laid down their arms. They
| were men whose vehemence was only equaled by
| followers who knew how to gather what brave
| men left in order to keep with their colors; or
the broken disappointed men who went South
to get into offices which they did not deserve and
| which they won by proving, under pretense OF
/ friendship, the worst enemies of the coored men,
| and whose hope of continuance lay in keeping
| up and fostering strife And 70 hold these, the
| carpet-baggers, all of them without conscience,
/ and many Of them criminals who spell pray with
| an Sc" and never practice it under any other
Orth biography, whom Mr.. Greeley has so recently
ana Justly denounced- Fesce IN tle Seuth, ana
| element in which their foul lives could survive.
There are coubtless here and there in the South,
| Northern men who went with honorable purposes
| and with designs to make home amongst the
people, but they viii be found opposed to the
foolish system of Captaincy," as il called in
| the days of Elizabeth and now adopted; foolish,
because partial, unjust md oppressive.
| THE REPUBLICAN, PEETY-ITs NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITIES.
| 1t seems to me that there was q time in the his
sI.s
ninity the part of the North would have Sc
| cured country once more united in sympathy,
| as in territorial connection lGeneroslty by the
| vietors to the vanquished was never thrown away,
and the gratitude would have been for the Re
| publican party, the party in power, and already
| and the bench, and the administrative depart
ments also. had they acted wisely and justly
| They would have won to themselves the support
of the South, secured for the future an immense
| body of Democrats who had acted with them
politically during the war, and they would have
| retained.With them great numbers of Republicans,
| wis hold the opinions delivered by the saints OF
their honored old dConstitution-loving Whig party;
! enough, had they been wise and just, 10 have
continued them in power for administration amer
administration.
| the principles on which our governments, State
| and Federal rested orcareless of the obligations
which they imposed, or, in love with the central
! ization of all powers in the Federal government,
| were ready for the coming "of the man on horse
| back" Knowing~the best, they chose the WOrser
part; there were no necessities of legislation TO
| yield to amendments, for they had tWo-thirds in
each body Ihe power was supreme TO 90 as
they listed, for they judiciary fnterpeslng
the limitations of the Constitution. And SO this
party was and is and is to be- responsible for the
| condition into which the country has been
| brought by the unconstitutional and oppressive
| measures which they have adopted; measures
| destructive TO the interests of the whites who
owned the of the property, and of the blacks
who owned all the labor OF the country Nor can
il be said they had not time for the task. OF the
ten years 81 which spoke, four were spent in
| war and six in peace-long enough 70 give time
for trial of measures even If they were tentative
only; but no man can look over them fairly with
out believing that they were experiments, not to
| ascertain what was best for the people Of the
| South, black and white, bat how far they dare
| trust the people of the North with these meas
| ures, nearly ali of which were in derogation OF
| what had been common right in the minds OF
all our people
MILITARY GOVERNMENT.
Ihave gone into no,detaIls as ts thisiegislatiOn.