The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-10-12

dS iii PEI IdllSm III lOOO, anu Tue duhpIlOH
of the XVIII and XIVth amendments.
speak now what know, anG testify in re
gard to what [ have seen. !
In the fall of 1868, during the presi
dental campaign, I had the sat sfaction
OF holding three Joint discussions with
my friend. His alarm then was just as It
now is, and his fear was then that this
government was about to become q cen
tralized, despotlc power.
In those discussions he asked the same
question that he does now, as to what the
great issue was. He answered the ques
ton by saying that it was whether we
should be allowed to force universal SUI
! frage upon the people Of the south against
their will" In his speech at Milwaukee,
August 3D., 1868, he said "what is the
great and paramount issue which now di
vides the country, and demands aud will
have an answer to it the coming election?
[ will state that issue as simply and con
cisely as | can. Upon the re assembling
! of COngress in December, 1865, radicalism
seized control Of congress, under the lead
of Stevens in the house and Sumner in the
senate. Since that time but ore idea, one
purpose. one sentiment, one passion, one
is to force universal negro suffrage upon
the people of the south against their
will"
To accomplish that object lie goes on
to enumcrate what we have done and pre-
sents IL very long Indictment Of charges
in regard to nearly all OF which he enters
a nolle prosequi at this time. Among the
atrocious things that he said in 1868 we
had done to accomplish our purpo.e, l
enuhe ate few in his own language :
"They have kept down the credit of the
government during these years of peace
to point so low that to the shame ofev
cry American, the six per cent. bonds Of
he United States sell for only 70 cents in
gold" Now beg you to take notice
that at this time when our six per cents
were selling for 70, gold, the administra
ton was that Of Andy Johnson, which in
all things had the hearty support of my
friend. How is American credit nOwl?
Instead of our six per cent. bonds selling
for 70, as they did when General Grant
was elected, our five per cent. bonds are
now actually selling for 100 in gold, al
advance, when you take into account the
! difference between d five and six per
cent bond, of at least 80 per cent. No
wonder, then, that he drops this count ID
his indictment, for instead OF the fact he
then brought forward as cause5fofense
| being one now, it rebounds to the highest
! honor of the administration.
Again, he said then that We chad keep
the Union divided" Inasmuch as every
state is in its proper relations to the gen
eral government, he drops that subject.
He said, further, that our policy had pro
vented the restoration of Industry" How
Just was this accusation you will see when
1 tell YOU that The colOred labor of the
South the first year Of Grants administra
ton produced more cotton than ever pro-
duced before, with the exception of a
single year preceding the war. So we
hear no more on that point. He no more
tells YOU as he did then that our course
constantly called to his mind the Spanish
Inquisition. Nor does he tell the people
of the South now, as he did then, that the
Republican party was practicing upon
them, crueitles more terrible than those
of the Duke of Alva on the people OF
Holland. When you now reflect for o
| monent that pot rebel has been punish
| ed for participating in rebellion and the
I
YOU Will readily see the Justice of the
comparison then made by your former as
sociate and political friend, when | tell
you the moral monster, with whom you
were then compared, sent to the stake
and the scafold in cold blood 10000 of
the first citizens of the low countries, with
in few months. Says the historian,
The cord, the axe, the stake, the rack,
the dungeon knew no rest"
{ These terrible accusations are heard
no more from the lips of my friend. In
stead he says that the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Amendments, which he as
serted we did the atrocious thing to Sc
cure that I have enumerated, are no
longer questions st issue, That they are
accomplished facts, and are to be &C.
cepted as such. He says that there are
but three ways in which they can be
avoided, all of which he declares to be
impracticable. These methods he enumer-
ated in hisspeech of acceptance, at Mad
ison. taa
They are as follows, Wis
1st. By obtaining a decision of the
Supreme Court declaring them void
Cd. By proposing new amendment
to set them aside directly.
| Sd. By using the army to change the
| Constitution.
To obtain a decision of the Supreme
Court, as now constituted declaring these
amendments void, he says, would be
impossible, and no Democrat would pro
pose to reconstruct that court to obtain
reversal of its decision. While I don't
accept my friend as authority as to what
the Democratic party may or may not
do in the future, propose to show from
his own speech that q reconstruction Of
the Supreme Court 10 not necessary to