The Hickman courier., 1872-09-28
Isorace GroeIeY,s sneech.

2 him. The following is one Of biz
speeches delivered at Pittsburgh, Pa.
which every Southern man should
read
FELLOW CITIZENs-The wise King
says there Is a time for war and time
for peace. The city Of Pittsburgh has
recently witnessed a rehearsal of the
pomp and pageantry, the blazonry and
circumstances of civil war A very
large number of men were collected at
vast expense, with the single purpose
Of rekiudling the bitterness and hatred
the auimosty and antipathies, the fears
and exultations Of civil war for the
advantage of political party. / take
You TO witness that the greater portion
of the journals of Pittsburgh as well
us the orators on this occasion, have
been trying their best to make US, the
people, hate each other for the sake OF
partisan advantage A stranger would
imagine, who was reading the journals
of Pittsburgh for the last few days,
that we were still at war, and that their
purpose was 10 revive and to exasper-
ate the hatred and auimosity of civil
war in order to intensity and inyigorate
their side of the conflict
They talk about rebels and traitors.
/ Fellow citizens, are we never TO be
( done with this? We demanded of our
adversaries in the great civil war that
they surrender their arms aud go to
their homes. They surrendered them
/ We demanded that they eniranehise
the blacks, aud the blacks are enlr4n-
chised None but white men now
stand DISTINGUISHED ou the soil ,yOf our
country. We demanded that they
stipulate that the emancipated slaves
shall not be paid for, and that the rebe.
debt shall never be paid by the Gov
ernmeut or by State, and they assent
ed TO that So far as l can see, every
demand made on The part Of the loyal
I people has been fully complied with on
he part OF those lately in rebellion.
+ Everything has been done that we ask
ed Everything mas been conceded.
and still ,hey tell Us, Why, We want
them TO repent! Have they not
brought forth works meet for repent
euce?
And then, coming together in sol-
emn convention, the representatives Of
the Southern people have given their
assent to the platform of The Cincinuati
Convention, which was the most intense,
the most complete Republican platform
that had ever been presented by any
national convention whatever. An
this being done, we are told by these
gentlemen who met here, All this l.
mockeIy All this is fraud You
don't mean anything by it And the
cry goes ou, Rebels aud traitors reb
els aud traitors deuuuciation, pro
scripti0n, the same as ever. Four years
ago, iu the Republican National Con
yention, it was declared that this pro
scription should speedily cease -Four
years have passed, and still it is mains
tanned. There are this day thousands
of people Of Arkansas alone prohibit
ed, the most intelligent, the most re
sponsible people Of that State, forbid \
den to exercise the right of suffrage,
forbidden exclusively by the party that
meets here and shouts for Grant and
Wilson Nobody else asks for pro
scription; but then DO one doubts, no
other party requires, that any human
being should stand prescribed on our
soil for rebellion that ceased seven
and a half years ago. No party, 30
men of any party, doubt this but the
very party that held a great military
parade this week, in order to further
and further separate and divide the
j. 4 D.,
each other They hold essential 70 f.
their triumph that hatred should con-
tinue that distrust, suspicion and alien
alton should continue Do what you
will, do what you may, they are deter
mined not to be satisfied.
Now, fellow citizens, it is rot
enough that those vino fought against
the { MON should be prescribed Those
of US who stood for it are equally de
nounced, if we do not happen to agree
with them IN our preseut politics. Here
stands one who Is charged by them with
being a socessionist. Could that be
true. fellow citizens? Look facts in
the face.
When Lincoln had been elected and
this conspiracy for secession began to
advocate itself, we Republicans were
told by our OWE men, and tod still
more by those out Of the circle, you
must back out of your Republicauisml
You must surrender your opposition to
the extension Of slavery, or consent to
a great civil war This, they said, was
the only alternative Bloodshed aud
devastation over the whole country, or
you shall surrender the principles
on which you have Just carried the
election. l was one OF those who said,
No, there is 20 such alternative / de
MED that the Southern people, the
great minority of them, are against the
L Union. l demand that there shall be
open, free discussion before the South
ern people, and an honest, unterrified.
vote. If they approve,
if the people of the South say they
want disunion. | will consent to it. IA
know they viii not | know the South
ern people, that the great majority
Eould have voted as they actually did
hat winter, not for secession, but for
,liDging 10 the Union. And now to-
lay, if the nation were to be imperiled
lud there were just two modes OF saw
ng it, to trust to the chances of civil
var or to the chances of free, fair
'ote Of the Southern people, | would
iery greatiy prefer TO take the latter
'hance rather than the former. For, !
ellow citizens, they do greatly misuu,
lerstand and malign this Amerieau ,
people when they assume that IN cold
blood, before there had been any clash
If arms, the people in the South any
more than the people in the North. de
sired disunion. La its inception, ,
n its origin, the great masses
'es Of those who consented to the Sc
,ession movement meant nothing by il
out to back down the North and make
as consent to the extension of slavery !
That was their purpose, and that pur
pose / did my best to resistant defeat
Well, the war is ended I think il
ought to be ended We had great, a
errible, bloody, destructive civil
sar. Our success was perfect. The
lefeat of the adversaries was more com