The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-02-22

ISM.
JEFFERSON CRY, Jan. q.
The following magnificent letter
was received from the distinguished
statesman, Hon. Cassius NJ Clay, too
late to be read at the late Liberal Re-
publican Convention held in Jeffer-
son City. 1t will be read with inter-
est by the whole country:
WHITEHALL PosT OFFIcE,|
MADISON Co., KY, Jan. 20, 1872. {
DEAR SIR " our favor of the 1lIh
inst, is received. Iregret that it will
not be in my power TO be present at
the mass meeting of Liberal Republi-
cans at Jefferson City, on the oath of
this month.
In 1861 L was consulted by leading
Republicans, anticipating the over
throw of the rebellion, about the doc
trine which some years afterwards was
developed and known as territorial
izing the States" and later in a letter
published in the Louisville journal,
L protested against the same scheme.
l held that the States were indestruc-
tible, and that when the rebellion was
put down, the States survived in all
their original sovereignty and equali-
ty III the Union. The Constitution
was based upon the vital integrity of
the States, and their unhappy over
throw was not necessary to the sup
preston of the rebellion or to the lib
Grafton of the slaves, the legitimate
purpose for which the war was wag-
ed.
The sad experience, by which elev-.
en- years of proscriptive rule on the
part of the Grant party leave the
North and South in hostility, and the
subjugated States in anarchy, proves
that my fears of such policy were not
ill-founded." No man has made more
sacrifices tor the liberation of the
blacks than 1. IF SO, then [ have
| right to be considered faithful advi-
sor with regard to their future. Lin
coins emancipation proclamation, and
the battles Of Antietam and Gettys-
burg, by which the power of the South
was crushed, made the restoration OF
slavery Impossible, and such was the
thought and ayoWal of the whole
South. 1t was the disfranchising of
the leading minds of the South, and
the fatal attempt to subjugate the Sax
on race-the majority in mum bers-Go
the minority of the African freedmen,
which bred that foulest excressence of
, .l .
remember no instance in all histo-
ry where the servile race has been
successfully set to rule over their for
mer masters; nor do / believe that
now such an attempt will bear any
other fruits than discord and ruin to
one or both parties. q
Governor Andrews, of Massachu-
setts, whose sincere E'abolitionism" no
one will question, was for immediate
and universal amnesty. He held tru-
ly that to conciliate the masses of the
South, you must win over the good
will and allegiance of the leading
minds; that in Republics, as in nature,
''the head moves the tail.v i
The Grant policy reverses all this.
He seems bent, not on restoring to
health and normal action the wound
ed South, but on destroying it.
If the Democrats are wise and just,
the blacks, five millions of the South,
will vote with the South not because
theo are Democrats or Republicans,
but because, they are Southerners. No
man is more an, Unionist than l, yet l
cannot fail to see that there are New
England interests, Western interests,
and Southern intefests-all of which
are and must ever remain distidct-
and yet all, the Constitution being
intact, are compatible with national
unity. AS Southern man in this
sense, have devoted all my life to the
overthrow of slavery-because it was
unjust to the black, and a cause of
weakness to the white.
Slavery being dead, [ resist with
the same earnestness that did it's ex-
istence, the attempt of the Grant con- I
spirators to subjugate the South; and
to make US provincial for all time to
more than Roman imperialism. -
/ denounce the attempt to weaken
US by a studied policy of arraying the
blacks against the whites. l denounce
the designs of barbarizing us by the
corrupt and irresponsible rule of men
from the North, who have no common
interest in onr affairs. who divide our
people, and waste our substance.
L demo unce the attempt to reverse
the natural order of things, by sub
jecting, by constitutional changes and
ingeniously contrived laws, the intel
Hgence and property of the South to
ignorance and pauperism.
denounce the enmity of the Grant
rule to the independence of Cuba be-
cause they know that Cuba must in
Interest finally gravitate towards and
belong to the South.
L denounce the union of the powers
of the executive, judicial and Iegisla-
tive departments, in the military head
of the nation.
[ denounce the nepotism, favorite-
ism and corruption and prescription
of the Grant administration.
| denounce the scheme of subject
ing men and measures to the sole end
of re-electing a military chieftain.
And last and above all. protest
against the unconstitutional and de-
spotic interference with the right of
peace assemblage of the people and
the ballot-box by the frequent use of
the cartridge-box.
The denomination and reelection of
Grant is to consolidate all these usur-
pations and abuses, open up a high
way to the overthrow of all our liber-
ties.
We want new men, with new senti-
ments of good will, brotherhood and
national unity. We want men who
accept the situation, turn their backs
upon rebellion and secession, and look
the toUFnion only for safetvand happi-
ness. The $2,50O,000 worth of
slave property is not lost, but remains
q productive power over the freed
men, stimulated by higher incentives
to action and economy Our political
strength is increased by the addition
of two-fifths of our representative
numbers of all the liberated slaves,
giving us at once seventeen more
members of the House of Representa-
tives. Our vast and fertile lands and
great worldwide staples remain.
With heart and loyalty great future
in the Union lies before us.
We want a man whose antecedents
prove him loyal to the Union and a
faithful defender of the rights of all
white and black. We want not a can
didate, who like Grant, voted for
Douglas in 1860. and who, like Fish,
voted for Hoffman in 1868, with rene-
gade democrats around him, and die
tating partisan policy-but one who,
conserving all the fruits of the war,