Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-04-25

| ABOUT this convention in Philadelphia as a
| convention of office-holders. Well, suppose
we say the Cincinnati Convention is to be an
office seeking convention [laughterl; but
will not say it. Laughter and cheers.1 How
ever, you may think what you like about it.
| Laughter. But this much / do say, chat
the National Convention that VIII meet this
| year at Philadelphia will have fewer office
holders and fewer members of Congress
than any that has met for thirtyyears, OF the
party in power. [Great applagse-J Ana now
take this home and remember it. Go TO any
section of our country where there Is little
| in the shape of Governu~nt patronage, and
| you find the Republican party united
and supporting the measures OF the Ad-
ministration, and almost unanimous for
| President Grant 90 to other sections Look
at New York, vhere you have great patron
| age and you nave dissentions and divisions.
I tell you & Is office-helding, office-seeking,
| petty aEibitions, that are disturbing the uni
| ty of me Republican party, and that threat
ems disaster [Applause.l But, gentlemen,
TIE great IDEAS, the policy and principles of
| lApPause You know it, and know it.
We were told another thing at the meeting
q which have spoken. / was sorry that
Mr. Trumbull made such declaration. Mr..
Irumbull is an old friend of u.ine have
honored and respected him, and do not
want to say one unkind word of him; but
must say that he made a speech here which
every man in the country who read it, and
is fair minded man, instantly pronounced it
disingenuous speech: tApplausel Let us
have kept disabilities on men of the South.
Well, gentlemen, / stood up alone in the
Senate Republican caucus, and voted against
putting those provisions in the Fourteenth
Amendment. tApplause.l did not believe
1t was policy to do it, and / have been for
years in favor of letting every body off, and
any man who behaves himself as a patriot
and respectable man, and asks to have his
disabilities removed, will vote for removing
them lApplause.1 / will vote for re-
inridge, for ever since the war has
closed he has behaved himself like 70 fair
minded American citizen, and / honor him
Tor 1t. Applause. Mr.. Trumbull told us
tnat one set OF men in the South were kept
| out OF office, and another kept in. Now,
gentlemen, they have got nearly twenty
rebel Colonels and Generals and men who
served in the rebel armies, whose disabilities
were removed by us, elected to Office, and
they were elected, and General Grant, in his
message, recommended the removal of their
disabilities to the House of Representatives,
ana the House, by an almost unanimous
vote, decided to remove them. 1t came to
the Senate and Mr.. Sumner proposed to put
In the bill a provision for civil rights, so that
when we removed disabilities and gave am
nesty to the old slave masters, we should
give protection to the poor freedmen, and /
voted for it, and others did so, and it was
put in the bill, and when it was in the bill
was lost by vote of 80 to 10, and Messrs.
Trumbull and Upton, whs propose to go to
CINCINNATI for amnesty, there voted against
amnesty, and il thev had voted for it it
would have passed the Ssnate of the United
state. Now, gentlemen, / have another
word on that point. Mr.. Trumbull knew
very well that we have been struggling to
get through the House for several weeks a
Civil Rights bill. and we have both Civil
Rights and Amnesty before the House, and
have been working to put both bills through,
and expect we will do it.. [Applause.l
Will advert to one other matter. Mr..
Trumbull told us he is going to Cincinnati
TO get Civil Service Reform. Why, the Pres
ident Of the United States appointed Com
mission, at the head of which was your emil
nent fellow-citizen, George Curtis. Zap
plause. That Commission has been sitting
for months. They reported partial plan,
| which did not work practically, and now
they have agreed to a practical plan to carry
out those ideas of Civil Service Reform, and
| to-day General Grant has proclaimed them
to the country. [Cheers. These men tell
you they will go to Cincinnati for Civil Ser
vice Reform. / say to you, tonight, that all
through these years past, the Departments at
| Washington have been struggling night and
| day to improve their condition, and they have
succeeded in doing so; and never had we as
good clerks, or our Offices in the city OF
| Washington been as well filled as they are fill
1
matter about which Senator Trumbull told
us. i want to call your attention to that
| too He told you it was contrary to law fol
military men to discharge civil duties. am
sorry he has told you that, for it is not true.
| We did not pass any such law. We have q
law that will allow military men to be ap-
pointed to civil offices, but we have no law
| to prevent men in the army from being de
tailed to civil duties. Mr.. Trumbull com
planned that we have an army -officer that
[Laughter.l If he looked into
the history of the country he would
| find that it has been done before. The
first message ever sent to the Senate of the
Uuited States was on the 9TH of August,
| 1859, and it was borne by Major-General
Henry Knox. tCheers.l That officer carried
one more message from General Washington
to the Senate. He was the Presidents com
panion during the war, and, perhaps, hi:
most intimate personal friend; and when
General Jackson came in he appointed Major
Donaldson Secretary. When Abraham Lin
cold came in he took John Hay, an army
officer, and detailed him for duty in thS
White House [applausel, but when Andy
johnson came in [laughter] he filled the
White House with military men. Gentlemen
Mr.. Trumbull should know all this, and
when Senator of the United States leaves
his post at Washington, and goes up and
| down the country speaking to the people,
he ought to understand whereof he speaks
and be acquainted with the facts of history,
and know what he is talking about. Laugh
| teri In short, gentlemen, / never read 9
a speech so full of errors in the short space
| of a couple OF columns as Trumbulfs
speech. He says, or rather askes the ques
ton: "If Andrew johnson filled the White
House with office-holders and military men
| what would be said about it?" He did. Ht
appointed Colonel Moore, Colonel Morrow
Colonel Leer, Colonel Reeves, Captain Nc
Keever, and Colonel r. Johnson, his owl
relative, and they are officers OF the army
They set about posting guards in and arount
the White House. When President Gran
came in they paid him salute, and he asket
what they meant, and next day he sen
the troops away-the four companies o
cavalry and a regiment of infantry-and TO
three years not soldier has been neare
Washington on duty than Fort Wash
President Grants great onensesg He hat
three men on his staff during the war, whel
he was Lieutenant General. He was mad
President, and they went on Sherman's stan
and they were detailed to go to the Whit
House and got no pay for it, and helpe'
President Grant to do his immense work, ant
that saves so much to the public Treasur,
Laughter That is all there is about II
fApplause.1 Now, my Republican friends
do YOU think you ought to retire to Cincin
natl because President Grant has got a coupl
of his aids at Washington-men who fough
the battles of the country, dangerous men
[Applausel / find men nominating ticKets
and trying to get the boys in gray to worl
for them. They are not afraid OF men II
gray, but they have a terrible horror OF mer
in blue [laughterl-the men who fought fol
the old flag. God bless the men in blue thai
fought for the old flag. lCheers.I Senator
Trumbull told you about the eneroachinG
assumptions of those in power. l am not :
LAWYER; Trumbull is. He is a supporter of 1
Civil Rights bill which went further thai
any other measure We passed, and he comes
here and reproaches us fol. r.encroaching anC
arbitrary power, because we followed tn,
Chairman Of tine Committee on the Judi
ciary.
Now there are charges made Of corruption
as If this was the most corrupt Administra
tion known in the history of our Govern
ment. believe, and l say it here upon m,
responsibility as man and q Senator, be
lieve there has never been, all things con
sidered, q more faithful and honest Admin
istration. Applause.
Mr.. Wilson continued at length, denounc
ing corruption of all kinds. aud said Grant;
Administration has tried and convicted more
thieves than all the administrations of the