Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1872-07-24
NEW SERIES--V0L. l3, NO. 20.

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and the followers of the Grant admin.
istration, the issue is now clearly made
up. 1t is Grant or Greeley. I'm
mensc cheers and cries Of Greeley,
Greeleyl]
While these events wer passing, the
Democratic Republicans, whom we
represent, held their Conventions in
all the States. The Liberal Repub.
lican movement, the example of Mis-.
souri,, the Cincinnati Convention, its
platform and its candidates, with their
letters OF acceptance, were all before
these Conventions, which were very
largly attended by their ablest men,
and the paramount questions before all
these Conventions were shall we &c
ccpt the invitation to cooperation
with tho Liberal Republicans? Zap
plause) Shall we adopt their plat
formg Loud cries of yes, yes. aud
some cries of neverl] Shall we nom.
mate the same candidates, and shall
we elect them? [Cries of yes, yes,
and chcers Or shall We refuse to co.
operate? (noD Nominate other can.
didates (Greoly! GreeleyD and strive
TO elect them over both tickets already
in the fcld2 Gentlemen, these are the
questions which you arctic decide
now and here. That you will decide
them wisely | cannot doubt, nor can
any one doubt, who looks over this
body Of men, representing as they do,
5000, 600 Of citizens, and who feels, as
every one here must feef, the high
and patriotic purposc which inspires
you. Gentlemen, what means this
great and rising movement which we
every ywhcre seer What means this pro
posed union of 100000 of Dem.
ocratic Republicans, with million,
IL may be, of Liberal Republicans Z
What means this union on q com.
mon platform, and this proposed union
on the same candidates. union so
sudden, so compact and so earnest
as to surprise its friends, and con
found its enimies-which comes as the
winds come-whicb, to borrow fig.
ure, overwhelms the ordinary current
of public opinion, as the great storms
always run counter 10 the surface cur
rentsl What means all this! There are
some things, gentlemen, it does not
mean 1t means no abandonment OF
what is just, of what is good in human
government, 1t means no union OF
the dead upon dead issues, but nnion
of the living upon the living issues OF
the present. [Cheers
1t means no union for the spoils OF
Office [cheersl, but IL means union Of
men with the same faith upon the
great and paramount issues of the
present hour, frank, manly, honora-
bic and equal union Of men who have
the sagacity to see and the moral
courage to accept the situation. 1t
means union of men who have the
sagacity to see what is past, and to deal
with the issues of the present, and for
the future to do their duty to their
country, their God and their fellow
men. The issue of today is not the
repeal Of the Missouri compromise,
nor the question of slavery in tho
Territories, on which alone the Re.
publican party was organized in 1856.
1t is not upon that which followed
when the Iecompton constitution for
Kansas divided the Democratic party
in twain, and elected Lincoln to the
Presidency in 1860 1t is not the
question OF war to put down rebellion,
nor tho abolition Of slavery in the
States by military order or by consti-
tutional amendments, upon which Mr..
Lincoln was reelected in 1864; nor
yet is il the question of reconstruc.
tion, or Of the Fourteenth, or of the
Fifteenth amendment, nor the ques
ton of negro suffrage, nor of the os-
tablishment by federal power, of uni
versal negro suffrage, as u second pre-.
cedent TO the States Of the South hav-
ing any rights or any existence even
as States in the Union 1t is none oi
these questions that is now in issue.
All these have been issues in the past,
great issues, sufficient in themselves
to create and to dissolve poltical par.
ties, but they are all past issues They
have been fought out, and fought 10
tho erd, in the forum or on the field
and they are no more in issue TO day
than the Mexican war, or the war oi
the rebellion. We could not reopen
them if we would, and they falsely
misreprcsent our purpose who say that
we would re open them five could
This great union, therefore, means nc
step backward. Forward is the word
[cheers]; and first OF all, il means to-
day for all the other States of the
South, what it has already done in
Missouri. Instead of prescription
test oaths, suspension of the kabeds
corpus and military dcspotism, il
means personal freedom for the indi
vidual, and Republican government
tor all. Instead of negro supremacy
upheld by prescription and the bayo
net, it means equal right TO all men
white as well as black Loud cheers,
Instead of thieving governments, or
ganized to plunder subjugated States
IL means the dominion once more o
intelligence and integrity. Instead o.
strife, hate and robbery, it means jus
tice, liberty, peace, loyalty and good
will. And, gentlemen, for our whole
country--IEast, West, North and
South--instead Of war President
trained only in military school, and
whose whole character has been form
cd in the ideas, arts, habits and des
potism of military life-instead of this
it means the election of peace Presi
dent [cbecrsl, trained in the ideas
arts, blessings and Republican sim
plicity Of peace and universal freedom
of peace not enchained, OF liberty no,
undor arrest awaiting trial, sentence
and execution by drum head court
martial, but that liberty and tha,
peace which the Constitution secures
by placing tho civil law above the
sword [loud applause by preserving
in full yipor tho sacred writ of hdbcd,