Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1871-09-27
6npxrillF WeFkly Chronicle,
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER a. ISL
WHAT DEMOCRACY PROPOSES TO Do.
4 Clear EXPOSE of Their Schemes.


Senator Morton, of Indiana, is one of
the most vigorous and forcible speakers in
the nation. He is always eminently prac-
ticai and always distinguished for the sa-
gacity with which he anticipates great is
sues. and for the manner with which he
meets them. In recent great speech at
Cincinnati, Ohio, he made this expose of
the policy the Democracy would carry out.
if once restored to power:
Now, my friends, | want to ask you the
question tonight, what will the Democratic
party do if it comes into power? If 1t sue
ceeds in this it will be chiefly through the
South. The bulk of the Democratic party
will be in the South as it always has been.
The South will control the party in the
future as it has done in the past. When
the great body of the Democratic party is
in the South, they will give tone to and
control its action. That, of course, is in
evitable. Now, if that party comes into
power, selects President and a majority
of the House of Representatives, what will
they do? l will tell you one of the first
things they will do They will refuse to
tax themselves dollar TO pay pensions for
soldiers-for our soldiers, widows and or
phans, without we provide for their own,
and put them on the same footing. They
would say what would do more to console
the people of the South, and to reconcile
them, than to pension their soldiers and
put them on the same level with our own.
and the Democratic party will consent to
it. 1t will become necessarily a part of
their policy. That is one thing you can
rely upon. What is the next? That they
will not consent to pay the interest on your
national debt, unless you make provision,
in some way, to pay them for what they
have lost
They might perhaps ask to be paid the
Confederate debt They invested their
money in Confederate stocks and bonds,
and they lost everything But perhaps
upon would be compensation for their
slaves, and this the Democratic party has
already committed to pay them, The
Democratic party have opposed the aboli-
ton of slavery at every step, and they are
committed IN every shape and form to pay
Southern people for their slaves and | tell
you that whenever that party is placed in
power, they will demand To have that pay
ment made. Why, my friends, | met a
very distinguished Southern man at West
Point some two months ago. Governor
Aiken, of South Carolina, one of the very
best men in the South and the very lar
gest slave owner at the beginning of the
war. He was Union man throughout the
whole war, and is now, and think he is a
very pure man. | have not met man in
a great while with whom / was so much
pleased as / was with him, but he has the
prejudices of his education and his in
terest.
He said: 81 have made out an invento-
ry of my slaves. | have had them all ap-
praised. 1 have taken steps to perpetuate
the testimony, and l expect that the time
will come when / shall be paid for them.
] believe that Mr.. Lincoln's proclamation
was unconstitutional, and l believe the
time will come when a sense of returning
justice will give me pay for my slaves.
may not live to see it, but | will hand this
document down to my children, and they
will get the benefit of it, The same steps
have been taken by men in different parts
of the South, and if you put them in po-
sition where they will hold the balance OF
power, where they can say, PAY us fol
our slaves, or we won't pay you the in
terest or principal of your debt" rely upon
it they will do it. They have never aban.
doned that idea for one moment, and they
will hand it down to their children. Only
the other day, the Richmond Wig de
clared that when the Democratic party
came into power, the slave-Owners would
be paid for their slaves.
You well remember that on the seventh
day of December, 1867, Mr. Johnson ISSUED
proclamation in which he pardoned al
the rebels of the South excepting abou
one thousand men, the officers and agent!
of the Confederate Government. At the
last session of the Forty-first Congress.
there was bill before the Senate TO pro
vide for paying the loyal men of the
South for their property that had beer
taken by our armies. Mr.. Casserly, a Dem
ocratic Senator from California. came for
ward with this amendment: provided
further, That all persons who have receiv
ed a pardon, or whose disabilities hav,
been or shall be removed, shall be held {,
be loyal persons, within the meaning o
of this section.n This amendment pro
vided for paying the rebels for their prop
erty destroyed during the war. What wa
their vote upon it? It received the vot,
of every Democratic Senator present. This
is significant vote, and shows what thai
party will do if placed in power. If prop
erty lost, taken or destroyed is to be paiC
for, why not pay for slaves? Would no
the same principle apply if property de
stroyed by our armies in suppressing tn,
rebels, why not pension their soldiers
Why not put those who were engaged in
the rebellion in every respect and in every
particular, on the footing of loyal men?