Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1871-1872, 1872-09-23


perate the hatred and luminosity of civil war
side of the conflict. They talk about |
"rebsls and traitors"
Fellow citizens, are we never TO be done |
with this? We demanded of our adversaries !
in the great war that they surrender their |
arms aud 60 other homes. They surrender
ed them. We demanded that they enfrAn-
chise the blacks, and the blacks are now
enfrap chised. None but white men now
stand disfrsnchised on the soil Of our coun-
try. We demanded that they s,ipulate that
the smancipated slaves shall not be paid for,
aud that the rebel debt shall never be paid
by the general Government or by the States.
and they asssnted to that. So far % can
see, every demand made on the part of the
loyal States and loyal party has been COM
Piled with by those lately in rebellion. Ev-
erything haI been conceded and still theystsll
s:"Why,we want them TO repent" Have they
not brought forth works meet for re pentance?
| And thus coming together in solemn con-
ventiop, the representatives. of the Southern
people have given their assent TO the plat
form Of the Cincinnati Convention, which
was the most intense, most complete Repub
| licsn platform that had ever been presented
by any National Convention whatever. All
this being done, We are told by these gentle
men who met here, GAN this is mOckery
4 This il fraud. You don't mean anything BY
it, and the cry goes on, "rebels and traitors"
"rebels and traitors" denuneiAtion, and pro-
/ scription the same as ever.
| Four years ago, in the Republican Ma
tional Convention, it was declared that this
prescription should speedily cease. Four
/ h.va passad and Still Is -,a,rta,pad
that there are this day thousands of people
of Arkansas alone prohibited, the most in
telligent, the most responsible people of that
State forbiddeA to exercise the right of suff-
rage, forbidden exclusively BIZ the party
that meets here and shouts for Grant and
Wilson. Nobody else asks for prescription
but them. No other party requires that any
human being should stand prescribed on our
soil for q rebellion that ceased seven and
hale years ago. No party, no men of any
party doubt this. The very party that held
great military parade here this week in order
to further and further separate and divide
the hearts of the American people from
each other; they hold essential to their
triumph that hatred should continue that
distrust, suspicion, AID alienation should
continue. Do what you will, do what
you may, they are determined not TO be
satisfied.
Now, fslow-oitizens, is it not enough that
those who fought sg&inss the L uion should
be prescribed? Those of US who stood for
il are equally denounced if we do not hap
pen to agree with them in our present poll
, tics. Here stands one who is charged by
them with being 8 sscsssionist. Could that
be true, fsllow-citizens Look the facts in
the face When Lincoln had been elected
and this conspiracy for secession began to
develop itself, We Republicans were told
q by our own men, and told still more by those
: out of the circle, You must back out Of
your Republicanism you must surrender
! your opposition to the extension of slavery
or consent to q great civil war; This, they
T said, was the only Observation-Disclosures d
: and devastation over the whole country, Oh
you shall surrender the principles on which
you have just carried the election. l wa
, one of those who said mo; there ia no Guel
| alternative" / denied that the Southern
, people, the great majority of them, wer,
e against the Union. I demanded that Their,
} should be open, free discussion before tbs
NJ Southern people; an honest, uuterrifed, ant
o unconstrsined vote. If they proved tina
. the people of the South wanted disunion,
d would consent to it. l knew they woolt
. not. knew that the Southern people, tha
. the great majority, would have voted rs the
~ actually did that winter, not for secessio
~ but for chnging to the Union.
% And now, to-day, if the nation were t
2 be imperiled, and there we're just two mode
nj of saving it, to trust to the chances of civ
% war, or chances of free, fair vote of tn
~ Southern people, l would very greatly prefe
20 to take the latter chance rather than til
I'd former. for, fellow-citizsns, they do great
10 misunderstand and malign this America
es people when they assume, that in cold blood
before there had been any clash of armi
is the people in the South, any more than th
IN people In the North, desired disuuiou.
D its origin the great masseE of those who COZ
be sented to the secession movement NEAR
Is nothing By il but TO back down the Mort
and make us consent to the extension {
slavery. That was their purpose, and thu
purpose / did my best to defeat.
st. Well, the war is ended. think it ougl
to BIZ ended. We had g great, o terribl
a bloody, . destructive civil war. Our su,
cess Was perfect. The defeat of the adve
! sary was more complete than any defeat r
corded in history. They have suffered muci
! They have conceded all. Cannot we affor
to be mAgnanimous? At least, they Sc
fellOw-citizens, they see that the sOn,her
people may vote. Some of them may, b
. the instant they vote the cry ls raised, Isl
how these fellows vote They CRY, "YC
must vote the other way" Is that an ele
% ton? 1t is only the fashion Of war in a
:. other aspect.
A Fellow citizens, you belong to one Of u
great hives OF American Industry. plei
here for peace and Cancellation, and for q
interesta especiaily. of this busy prospeFo