Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-09-06


selves to other pastures for political food
Palmer, finding that he could not be made
Governor by the Republican party, and
having pique, at Grant Sa..Sd and shsridap aS;
erence to the protection given
to Chicago by the troops, and Trumbull, he
lieving that his day had come In the Repub
lican party, he, too, sought its destruction,
and did transfer all his influence TO the
enemies OF the Administration and the party
that had sustained him for so many years,
thinking, perhaps, to lead the Democratic
party as they have heretofore tried TO lead
the Republican party, they holding the high
places, and the Democrats doing the voting.
Laughter and applause.l
You Democrats here tonight, have no
part In this thing, except to play the mere
part of voters, TO give these men position
that they could not obtain from their own
friends. You are sold for small price
very small-and IL only remains to be seen
whether you propose willingly to make the
transfer.
No, my fellow citizens, there is
no honesty In this warfare against the Ad.
mlnistration. Many men of ambition, who
desired to control completely President
Grant, found him made of too stern stuff to
be influenced or moved as man Of wax.
They found him man of iron will, honest
and devoted TO the principles of his party
and the prosperity of his country. They
find in him second jackson, and are at
tempting to repeat on him the same thing
that was attempted on jackson during his
Administration. Applause. When Jack
son, like Grant, was slandered, abused and
attempted to be destroyed politically, as
well as in his private character, by ambi-
tious men, the people rose up in their might
and strength and reelected him President,
at the same time strewing the dead bodies
of his ambitious slanderers along the by
ways and highways from the Gulf to the
Lakes; and from that day to this these men
remain politically dead. So will 1t be with
the maligners and traducers of General
Grant. The people will vlndicate him, and
utterly crush out those who have planned
his destruction. Loud applause and
| cheers
My fellow.citizens, in continuation Of this
| thing, and in order to show that this was a
| conspiracy, and that am not making state
ments having no foundation in fact, will
| give you the history of accusations made by
! Senator Sumner and Senator Schurz against
the Administration, charging it with cor
| ruptly selling arms to the French during the
| Franco-Prussian war. Senator Sumner in
troduced the resolutions making these
charges. A committee was organized for
the purpose of making the investigation,
| Senator Schurz constituted himself public
! prosecutor, and appeared before the commit
| tee, and examined witnesses during the en-
| tire session, which lasted thirty-one days.
| After he had examined all the witnesses that
|
he was through. The committee examined
! the evidence and made their report. That
| report shows that arms were not sold to the
| French Government, but were sold lawfully
and properly by merchants who had right
! to sell them, either to the French or the
| Prussans. A minority report was made by
! Mr.. Stevenson, of Kentucky, who differed
! from the majority of the committee as to the
construction of international law, the ma
! jority contending that the Government would
nVfF Naith thaN
elents, although they didn't do so Mr.. Ste
venson claiming that they hadn't the right.
| But, in his minority report, he fully
and completely eXonerated the Govern
ment and all its officers from any corruption
| or completely with the French in any
way whatever. On the vote being taken on
| Mr.. Summers resolutions, he himself voted
to lay them on the table, which was done.
Notwithstanding all this, Mr.. Schurz, think
| ing he could still prejudice the German mind
| in this country against their own Govern
! ment, persists in the charge of corruption
against the Government in the sale of arms
| to the French Now, of my Germaa fellow
! citizens present, let me ask how it is that
! you can be prcjudiced against your own
! country, and believe that President Grant
was an enemy of your Fatherland during
! this late war, when Mr.. Washburne, the
American Minister at Paris, under instruc
tions from the President of the United States,
gave protection to all the German citizens
| within the city of Paris, aided them in every
way; so much so that he was even denounced
as a Prussian spy by the French APP
| plause. And how is it that prejudice can
! exist against the President because of the
fact that citizens Of the UHited States sold
arms to France, when it is a fact known to
the country that the Prussian Minister was
consulted as to whether Prussia desired to
! buy arms in this country from our arms mer-
chants, and that he said "no;n and that it
is a fact well known that when Bismark was
| interrogaied on the subject by one of the
! United States citizens that he replied we
do not desire to purchase arms OF the United
States or citizens of the United States, for
the reason that we can get them cheaper by
picking them up on the banks of the Loire,
where they are thrown byretreating French
! men," Applause and cheers.
l now desire to call upon Senator Schurz
to explain why it was, during the war of the
rebellion in this country, while arms were
being sold to rebels by Austrians, Belgians,
English and French, matter of public no
toriety, that he and his friend Sumner did not
attack foreign Governments for doing that
against us that they attempt to charge our
| Government for doing against Prussia? Did
he forget then, or has he forgotten now,
that he is an American citizen and owes al
legiance to this Government, and that it is
no duty of his to try to make case against
his own Government when no complaint has
been made by the Prussian Government
itself Does he forget that he is a Senator
of the United States, and out of Prussia!
Or is he acting as the Attorney of Prussia
against his own country? Or does he desire
his Government to be mulcted i'm damages
and costs merely to crafty vindictive feel
ing against the President? Would it not
have been well for him to have allowed
Prussia % have made her complaints, as we
have made against England on account oil
the Alabama and other vesselsg Does he in
tend to attempt to carry the Germans OF
this country against the Government that
they have adopted? Does he attempt to
consolidate them into an organization SO
that he may control them through theil
prejudices? Do they come here to make
war upon the country they adopt, or to give
it the support it deserves? 1t seems to me
that we are all American citizens of the
| United States, and not citizens of Germany
and that the love of country we owe 10
the Government of the United States. Loud
applause and cries of Eve are.hl / have
no quarrel with Senator Schurz. He is q
man of ability, and one of whom the Ger
mans of this country are proud; but his con
duct in this matter has been of such char
acter as to lead many honest men to believe
that he is acting in bad faith, not only to the
| United States, but to his own countrymen
that he is leaving the impression that, by hi;
false charges, he can play upon the preju
dices of the Germans in this country, and in
that way carry their votes in his pocket, oil
hold them beneath the hollow of his hand
Laughter and applause.l The Germani
ought to be too independent and noble peO
pie to allow even such an impression to bC
made on the minds of the citizens of tho
country of their adoption. Does he Intend
to attempt to organize the Germans in
body, so that when German is q candidate
no matter of what party, that they shall vote
for him, merely because he is n German? Il
so, that is upon the principle that the Know
Nothing organization was organized, tC
vote for none but native Americans for Office
The only difference would be that this wal
German Know -NOthingsm, while heretofore
it was American Know Nothingism. w,
ought all to feel, in this country, that we are
Americans No matter from where we came
or what language We speak, we become
Americans as soon as we become citizens
and should all be denominated and called
American citizens. And then every Ameri
can should be on perfect equality, no mat
ter where born, when he becomes a either
of the United States, and on this theory
|, | alone can we live in harmony together