The Portland daily press., 1872-08-28

| country; neither can Gen. Fitzpatrick cOntro
| any soldiers vote, particularly if he continues
| to indulge in slandering his old chief Th,
| colOred voters are altogether too sagacious ant
| loyal to be led by Mr.. Sumner in wild career
of personal hate and vindictveness. One wore
of explanations Do not understand me a.
CHASING all the Democrats who to-day support
| Mr.. Greeley with the anti-war Democrats
| Thousands upon thousands of honest Demo
Gratis are to-day following the advice Of the
| leaders of the Baltimore convention, but
| firmly believe that large portion of them will
| before the election in November, decide to look
| to the best interests of the country. and cast
their votes for Grant and Wilson; men who
| were always in the advanced line in loyalty and
| courage in the hour of their country's peril
God grant it may be so. There are other gen
tlemsn here comrades, who are more skilled in
presenting political facts to large assembages
| l have tried to talk to you as one comrade
| should talk to another, in sincerity and truth.
| L thank you for your attention and encourage
ment In fidelity to the old flag, L bid you
| goodbye and God speed.
Gov. Perham, on coming upon the platform
was loudly applauded
| The President said:-I wish to introduce to
you the man who declared when called the
Hero of New Orleans" 81 do not claim to be
the hero of New Orleans but of New York. fol-
| gave to New York her first election" Let
me have the honor of introducing the hero OF
New York, Gen. Butler.
SPEECH OF GEN. BUTLER.
The Generals appearance was greeted with
long continued applause. Upon its subsistence
he said:
Mr.. President, Comrades, Fellow-ctizens,
Ladies and Gentlemen:-There is to the Ameri-
can soldier no prouder day than this. look
back upon the past with its sad but glorious
memories. To comrades who sacrificed their
lives upon the me tnorable fields of battle, and
who by thus nobly laying down their lives saved
and gained for us a great and prosperous coun-
try. We are assembled now as citizens, all the
better for having been good soldiers, to decide
6y ballot what we once decided by bullets. We
are assembled to discuss questions relating to
the Union, good government and the future
which lies before us. Let us look at the facts
of history and see what by the war we have
gained. Let us contemplate what peace has
brought to us. A country so vast in extent, ex-
tending over such an area that geography fails
to give its extent. Suppose, now, you were to
look to find our geographical centre, where
would you find it? Why, in Portland, Oregon.
With such country we have shown power in
time 100000 of men, besides deserters, who,
said the General, are all going for Greeley now.
(Applause.) What did we do with this vast
army? We clothed them, we fed them, we
maintained them in the field in manner only
one nation, the German, has ever equalled
We were a nation at peace and developed sud
denly into nation of fighters. We showed
the astonished world what power we pos
sessed. Not even then did we lay out our eff
fective strength. When the rebels find that
they can't conquer us with bullets or ballots
they will rally round the old flag We aston
ish the financiers of the world. Our securities
stand higher than all others in any market
France, by a generous impulse of patriotism,
borrowed largely, but the principle of this loan
is misunderstood. She gave her bond for thirty
years to pay one half per cent. more than we
have put our bonds, larger amount, in the
market for. Here the General was interrupt
ed by an announcement that Gen. Harlan
would speak in the open air, a meeting having
been organized out doors so great was the
crowd)
Gen. Butler said 1.-THE General is much
better speaker than l am and you had better
go out and hear him. which was greeted with
applause and laughter. The speaker continue !:
Our debt is enormous. but we are paying it too
fast. differ from Mr.. Boutwell, ON this point
as you well know. l believe it is enough for
this generation to contract it, without paying
it. CLaughter.) Do we not pay our share in
taxes, now nearly double-nay more, in ago
MES of blood, in deserted homes, in stay of the
mother, wife, sister; are they not millions upon
millions more than our postsrty can pay?
Passing on to some of the charges against the
Republican party, he said :-They accuse us of
extravaganza, yet we reduced our taxes $751;
100000, still paying our debit and the last Con-
gress still further reduced the taxes $50 600 900
more and we still paying the debt. We are at
peace with the world, and 50 strong that no ma
ton dare break it, To-day our jurists are on
the mountains of Switzerland settling by the
issues of peace our quarrels, while our old an
tagonist is looking on with interest. We have
changed the whole current of citizenship. 1t
was once a favorite axiom of a monarch, "Once
a citizen always a citizen" We changed inter
national laws in this regard Under our Re-
publican rule, by treaties, any man may choose
his country and hold allegiance there forever.
No monarch can call him back. Our laws, our
flag, have made themselves known in the East
ern World. Japan and China are sending to
our country their children to be educated. All,
under Republican rule, are prosperous and
happy. In view of such q record we are asked
to change our Administration and put out the
party now in power, giving the Government
over to those who sought to tear down our flag
and dsmember our nation and proved our
deadly enemies in war Now hard words hurt
nobody; if they did L should have been dead
long ago. (Applause.) The proverb has it,
"Cursing never tears a single shirt" came
here to discuss in my plain way this thing
which is before us. 1t is q most solemn duty
for freemen to engage in What laws shall we
enact? What enforce? This is a glorious
privilege not granted to any other people under
the sun. We are sovereigns in our own right,
and it is ours to examine these questions. What
then is it they propose if we change. AT home
we are prosperous; we have glory, honor and
power abroad, an overlooking treasury, laws
obeyed everywhere except in one portion of our
country. They find fault because,
1st-Grant appoints relations to office. Now
some men apologize for this; i do not He
found an old man, his father, in Office and did
not turn him out. What would you say if he
had? A Greeley minister, if such q thing is
possible. (applause) might quote old st. Paul,
He that fails to care for his own household
denies the faith and is worse than an infdel. y
Laughter.)
2d-He is charged with taking gifts. No
now pretends to say that he has received any
since his accession To the Presidential chair
Now suppose he did receive gifts Should he
have flung back the nations gratitude? Wei
lington received millions. Washington died
the second richest man in the country. Look
at FarraSut and Sherman. Should not they re-
ceive of the nations gratitude? The Demo.
cratic party had no great man in it till Sumner
| entered it. l might say of Sumner as is said by
| one of old, "Much learning hath made thee
mad" (Laughter.) The only reason Summer
| could give additional is that my friend here on
the platform wasn't invited to dinner with the
| President They tell us we have lost money by
| defalcation. True, the Republicans discovered
| them Who were the men? They were mer
| long in Office; not new ones, The new ones dc
| not get the ropes all at once and dare not pecu
| late. Greeley wants the civil service reform tt
| keep these men in and turn out the President
| once in four years. Think of the immensf
amount passed through Spinner's hands He
| assures me that all the money lost during the
war was but one 1000Oth of one per cent
|
$13, O00, 900 and they turned him out.
3d-They charged that we are against recon
citation. There is = Misrepresentation of it
| meaning. We simply exclude 200 men, traitor
to their pledges to the Government 1 believe
| in the idea of keeping them out till, like tn,
Prodigal Son, they sue for pardon; then l be
lieve l should hold out my hand for reconcilia
ton. Do they ask to be good and true citizens
No; but they say, "Givc us back power, let
make your laws, administer your affairs an,
zoe will allow you to become reconciled to u.s.
! Not if l know myself.
Sumner in his first epistle to the Ethiopian
the North give Spt up." Xii Xii e exactly! That
what we understand; they want us to surrende
at the ballot-bo1. l am not for doing it; l hav
no feeling of hate. When prisoners laid dow
their arms, they were by me treated with kind
ness, fed, clothed. After the war we hung bu
one man, and he for tearing down the gloriou
flag. (Applause.) We hung him not for reveng
but for example. We confiscated no property
and yet proposition was made in Congress
give up Arlington to the widow of Lee. (Crie
of never; applause.) Then don't elect Creole,
During the war the only men South who wer
outspoken, kind to escaped prisoners were til
colored men. and when say we, mean then
In 1868 the Ku-Klux were organized in Lou
lana. They went through every Southern Stat
Peabody gave millions to build school house
South; they need them. Not alone is the negl
ignorant; not one man in ten can write. Sun
ner's letter will have little or no effect; tt
whites won't read the blacks can't. I'll
| speaker here read some extracts from HI
klux trial in South Carolina L want to sho
you the principles and power of this terrible o
ganization. The General here explained IL
nature and workings of the Ku- Klux, and the
al F.r( al. Al xlA