New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-04-28

TIC IOW3 L1Oef0l8-C0U II OOvcWs
psrt-Speech Of b.. Gratz Brown.
r Iron the st. Louis Republican,
DAVENPORT, April 49, 1872-To.day has
been Of memorable Importance to the PEG.
pie of Iowa. One of the largest Liberal
conventions ever held in tho State was held
in. this city this~afternOon. Men of promi-
hence frem all parts of the State. were pres
ent, and took great interest in the proceed
ings. Our whole State is aroused, and will
work to defeat U. S. Grant. We have had
enough Of Grants carper-bag government.
Many speeches were made looking to the
interest of Liberal Republicanism. As your
and her citizens, he therefore gives the out
lines Of Governor B. Gratz Browns speech
made here to-day: -
Governor Brown remarked that he felt
as though it was scarcely necessary that he
should be introduced to an Iowa audience.
From the time, twenty years since, wssn
the free flag was planted on slave soil to
the day when he made the canvass in be-
half of Liberalism along the southern bor-
der of that State, he never failed to have
words of good cheer and encouragement
from the people of Iowa No note Of free
dom ever echoed across the border that was
not responded to with emphasis. There
fore it was that he felt he could talk with
the men of Iowa without any formalities.
And now what was this Liberalism of
which so much had been said9 AS one of
those who had first advocated its policies,
he felt in some measure bound to make it
good before the country. ~.
The gravest question before the nation
was the reconciliation of the whole country,
and in that behalf two great policies had
been presented for the consideration of the
country, between which they were asked to
choose. The one was the policy Of the ad-
ministratiOn, the other that OF the Liberal
party. The one had its best representative
in the State of North Carolina, which had
been reconstructed according to the most
formal ordering of the President; the other
was the State of Missouri, which had been
restored to peace and amity and good will
upon other and entirely adverse policies.
Now, what was the intrinsic difference be-
tween the two? He was not prepared to go
into an extended and elaborate argument
to-day, but would put the plain facts before
them. North Carolina has been carpet
bagged. 1t has been plundered, without
stint OF question, of millions of dollars !;
the alienation of races has been intensified
there to the highest point; all the vioences
of military law have been evoked; ruined
hearths and desolated farms make q broad
swath across the State, and it is to-day q
question whether the general government
can maintain order and prevent the COM
munity from taking law into their own
hands, visiting vengeance upon the per-
petratOrs OF these Outrages. Now look at
Missouri. There the reign of peace has
all at good will and turning their attention
to industrial pursuits. There ia no strife;
there is no pillage; there is NO thievery;
there is no piled ny taxation to impOverish
future generations. The smoOthest order
prevails every where, and even politics can
scarcely make ripple on the surface
Have you, men Of Iowa, any choice be-
You ought to know what a carpet-bag gov
ernment is. When Kansas and Nebraska
were applying for admission, don't you re-
member that it was then the attempt of the
federal power to make of them subservient
appendages Of party cOntrOls Don't you
know how governors were sent from Wash
ingtOn, and legislatures of carpet-baggers
were furnished from Missouri, to make of
those States the servile instruments Of I'D.
that the Republican party had its very
origin and foundation in the protest that
went up from the common country against
such rules and are you prepared
to-day to see the Republican party
converted into the mere instrument of fast
ening on the South the self-same system
that we resisted so strenuOusly in Kansas
and Nebraska Have you any blood in
your bodies. and can you tolerate to see the
South thus longer put in the crucible and the
last ounce of flesh exacted do not believe
it of the men OF Iowa any more than the men
of Wisconsin, and do know that there are to-
day fifty thousand Republicans in my State
who will not stand idly by and zee this
great wrong perpetrated.
But, my friends, there is cry that goes
up wherever this reform is moOted, that
seems to be all-powerful with certain class,
that desire to cOntrOvert it seriously be-
fore you to-day.
1t is said that Liberalism is virtually a
Democratic victory. Now, want to sub
NIT to you certain facts of what Liberalism
has accomplished, and ask you how much
OF Democratic victory there is in that. The
question before the people of Missouri was:
Shall we incorporate in our State cOnstitu-
ton, as part and parcel of our fundamental
law, that all colOred men shall be entitled
to the suffrage! That was agreed to by
vote of 100000 to 5000. Was that Democ-
racy! Again, it was submitted: Shall col
ored men be entitled to hold Office and
that was assentcd to by an equal plurality.
and the only vote against it was that OF the
Radical party of the State. Now, ask you
frankly if we have the fundamental cOndi
tons Of equal suffrage and equal Office
holding Incorporated in the c0nstitu
ton Of our State; if We have equal
freedom for all classes and all condi-
tons, if we have the broad basis Of equal
ity of citizenship established-I ask you
what there is to fasten the charge that Lib
eralism is Democracy l am perfectly will
ing to admit to you that the administration
which has resulted has been without parti-
sanship; l have not hesitated to appoint
Radicals to office or Liberals or Democrats,
but l can say to you on the word of an
honest man that whenever they have been
so appointed they were men of integrity
and purity of character. Now, if You can
frame Democratic indictment from that
account, would like to see you do it.
am Republican from the bottom of the
heart upward; l have no sympathy that
does not lie in the direction of freedom,
and l am for the freedom Of the South just
as much as l ever was for the freedom of
the North.
But, fellow citizens, did not come before
you to-day to make anything of speech. l
merely wanted to say that the opportunity
now offered for the great West to present
itself to the nation in a solid front and to
ask from them the acceptance of its plat
form Of universal amnesty and universal
suffrage.
We are not men of many words we only
say to you that we will do what we promise.
And we do say to you that while We recOg-
nize the Cincinnati movement as great
achievement. and while we propose to unite
as one man against the tyranny that has
been achieved at the White House, that
when we move to that deliverance it will
be as Birnam woods moved on to high Dun
shane hill 80
We propose to make a complete victory.
We are going to transfer the seat of power
and government to the valley Of the Missis-
sippi, where of right it belongs, and we are
going to make for you such nation as you
will be proud to claim as your own.