Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-06-06
SPEECH OF HON. r. ]. OGLEsBY.

nominations for State officers made on
that day by the Illinois Republican State
Convention, Hon. Richard ]. Oglesby,
the nominee for Governor, delivered a
lengthy and able speech, from which we
make the following extracts:
AFTER THE WAR.
At last the stronghold of
the rebellion gave way, and the proud, boast
ing spirits that led it at last yielded to law
and order. Their extravagant expectations
were abandoned, and the old Union was once
more preserved. [Applause.l l remember
the day, and you all remember it, when the
grand sunlight of liberty once more shed its
genial rays on our unhappy country. The
poor old father, who had given up his son;
the humble, weak-eyed mother, who had
parted with the partner OF life, with her best
loved offspring; sons and daughters all over
the land; everybody forgetting the frightful
past, Joined hands and wept as they returned
thanks before the throne of God that the
temple of liberty yet remained to man.
kind. Applause.
Then thoughtful men began to look in
every direction to see what was to be done.
A nation destroyed, a nation to be recon-
structed. We selected the best men that
could be found in the country to represent
us in our national councils, and they went
to work to reconstruct the shattered old
Union. Not satisfied with that, the people
said: This great man, who has led us
through the war, this great friend of human
liberty, whose character mas Deen aSSalleQ
and reviled as tyrant, as distributor of
public patronage as triher with the liber-
ties of the people-this lover of liberty, the
noble minded man, shall again be elevated to
the Chief Magistracy of the nation ap-
plausel while here and there vile opposi
ton, originating in New York City, organ
lied in squads for the purpose of defeating
the reelection of the immortal, martyred
Abraham Lincoln [great applausel; while
men were found ready to assail him, and say
he was unworthy to be chosen President of
the United States; while he was opposed by
men in squads and communities, and in or
ders from secret corners, and these men, too,
in the Republican party, the people rose
above them and said: This great and good
man shall be President again. [ApplaHse.l
This convention to day is held within the
shadow of the monument that has been
erected over his remains. He has passed
away forever. We shall never cease to sound
the praises of this sainted man to the world
Applause. We to-day gather inspiration
from the tomb of Abraham Lincoln; we are
renewed and purified in the presence of its
shadow. Shall 1 be unfaithful to this great
party of liberty? Shall turn my back upon
it in the presence of that monument? Shall
1 hesitate Dare doubt my duty? How
fearful a step that man takes who seeks to
break or destroy this grand old party, un-
der the shadow of that monument! Jap
plause.
Next to my country-next to the Union of
the United States-1 love the Republican
party. TApplausel Outside of it there is
no safety. Outside of the wisdom and purity
and patriotism of that party to-day there is
no security for the Republic. Enthusiastic
applause.
THE QUESTIONS OF RECONSTRUCTION.
After the reelection of Abraham Lincoln,
momentous questions met the people. We
were in circumstances such as never sur
rounded us before. We wished to bring the
Southern people back to their rights. We
wished them the greatest possible happi-
ness and liberty. We said: Men of the
South come back into the Union, and be
with us and of us. They turned deaf ear
upon us. We were taunted, and our over
| lures rejected.
/ said momentous questions met us. They
| were momentous, and greatly affected the
| good of the people. What was past had been
done to re-establish law and order. The
| same people who had given freely of their
wealth, freely given the best blood of their
! families, were not to be doubted as to their
| sincerity in the reconstruction of their Gov
| ernment. They never stopped moment,
| but chose representatives to the national Con-
/ gress, to go and do their bidding and bring
| the Government out of its trouble. There
! sprang up before us a frightful debt, terrible
| in its amount. The next question was,
will the people be honest and pay 1t 1t
was no news impaired to us by the Demo
cratic party that the bonds were sold for less
than their value in gold and silver. We
| knew it. The question was: VIII we pay
them now, after our creditors took them
! from us doubling our ability to pay? viii
we pay them? was the question, and there
| was a universal voice all over the land say
ing, "We will" How beautiful it was to see
great nation of Republicans responding to
| its just obligations. 1t was great burden
| to us, but there was the integrity of heart in
| this American people that said these obliga-
| tions should be paid. We had currency
floating all over this nation. 1t had been ex-
| temporized for this occasion, to lift us over
| the chasm of destruction. The question was,
| Shall we make that god? And the people
said, We shall make that good. Shall every
| dollar of it be made good in gold and silverg
And the American people said, Yes, if it
| takes quarter of century to do it. Pro-
| longed cheering.l And stand here tonight
as your candidate for Governor, telling you
that every dollar of it shall be redeemed. [Ap-
| plause.l No great people can ever live and
| succeed who are not honest. What grand
tep it was The bonds are floating around
the country to-day. Well, let 'em float.
| [Cheers. You and /, and every father and
mother, and son and daughter, are pledged for
| their honest redemption. Don't be uneasy,
Democrats, they shall be redeemed in gold
and silver. [Cheers. And we have the Ma
| tional Banks, and we shall have more of
them. [''Hear," "hear."l This great Amer
| can people have plenty of currency, and we
have that which Is just as good as gold Zap
| plause. You have it to-day, and the Repub-
| lican party gave it te you. Thus far we have
done splendidly well. Tremendous laugh
| ter and cheers.
Then we reconstructed those troublesome
States down there, and the question arose
who should write the reconstruction laws.
| We had to depend on our representatives in
Congress, picked up all over the land. They
| were just about as sensible and honest as we
are. We had to depend on these men, under
the light of Abraham Lincoln and his able
| Cabinet, to devise and construct mea-
sures to keep the thing going, and
we flooded the country with green
backs and national bank notes, spread every
where, so that every man could have from a
| dollar to a thousand in his pocket. 1t is
out to-day, a respectable, solid, good cur
rency, and the American people like it. 1t
| passes everywhere. 1t answers all the de-
mands of trade. 1t accommodates every
| individual. 1t accommodates the banks and
| all the agricultural, mechanical and COM
mercial interests of the land, and we propose
to keep it afoat and keep it good: Tire
mendOus applause So far, so good.
We finally got these States reconstructed,
but don't know just how the laws are
written. / have read them al, believe.
| There is not a gentleman here who can tell.
Even Mr.. Cullum cannot tell. We recon
| structed these States-brought them into
| the UAion-and to make the matter short
and simple, so that the Democrats cannot
| deny it, we say it was all right. Laughter
and cheers.] Now, If anybody in Illinois, or
| lHe OnlVeu states, says IL Is WFOnS, let Inelu
put their finger on the spot where 1t is
wrong. But now it is all ratified and in
dorsed, and you and and this Republican
party bore the knocks, and bluffs and rebuffs
of getting the Union right, and these sap
| suckers come in and say, "Its all right,
| lapplausel, and they endorse it, and ask us
now to respect them because they do in
dorse it. Laughter.l
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE.
| Well, the States were brought back, the
currency was circulated, the greenbacks
were paid out, the bonds were all over the
world, and the national character was pre-
| served; and then we commenced levying
I taxes, as we had been forming a system OF
taxation, and it was pretty rough, too. We
| took hold of the tariff, and we increased II,
increased it, and increased it. We took hold
of the whole substance of the people inside
of the Government, and levied uponi excise
and stamp acts; and there was not man,
manufactory, an institution, a corporation,
nor woman, nor anything in the land that
was not taxed. Laughterl We just beat