The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1872-09-12

| tO-Qay ana Cn6 nepuUiiCduS vi
the whole Union turn with hope and
confidence to you, men'of Indiana,
to win glorious victory for our
cause in October next. sWell dc
it,.
WHAT REPUBLICANS HAVE ACHIEVED.
Gentlemen, standing here to-day,
in this presence, among these liber-
ty-loying, patriotic men and won en-
of Wayne county, l want to call
your attention tor few moments to
what we have struggled for in the
past.
Nearly forty years ago, when the
slave power dominated the country,
when the dark shadow of hum an
slavery fell upon US all here in the
North-there arose body OF con-
scientious men and women who pro.
claimed the doctrine that emancipa-
ton was the duty of the master and
the right of the slave; they pro.
claimed it to be a duty to let the op.
pressed 60 free. Rewards were of.
fered-they were denounced, mob.
bed-violence pervaded the land
Yet these faithful ones maintained
with fidelity, against all odds, the
sublime creed of human liberty
The struggle, commencing forty
years ago, against the assumptions
and Nominations of the slave power,
went on from one step to another
the slave power went right on to the
conquest of the CONTEMPORARIES
were broken without regard to con-
stitutions or laws of the human race.
The work went on, till the people,
in their majesty, in 1850, went to
the ballot box and made Abraham
Lincoln President of the United
States. Cheers. Then came a
great trial; that trial was whether
we should do battle for the princi-
pies of eternal right, and maintain
the cause of liberty or surrender ;
whether we would be true to our prin-
Piles, or false. We stood firm
stood by the sacred cause-and then
the slave power plunged the country
into goddess rebellion.
Then came another trial, testing
the manhood, the courage, the sub
lime fidelity of the lovers of liberty
in the country. We met that test
as We had met every other test
Trusting in God, trusting in the peo-
pie, willing to stand or fall by those
principles. Through four years Of
blood we maintained those princi,
pies we broke down the rebellion,
restored broken Union, and vindi-
Gated the authority and power of the
nation. In that struggle Indiana
played glorious part in the field I,
and her voice in the councils of the
nation had great and deserved in
fluence. Cheers. gs 1EEE&
| Now, gentlemen, measured by the
high standard of fidelity to country,
of patriotism, the great political par
ty to which we belong to-day, was
as true to the country in war as 1t
had been in peace-true to the coun-
try every time and on all occasions.
[Cheers. s-
Not only true to country, but the
Republican party was true to liberty.
1t struck the letters from the bond
men, and elevated four and a halt
million OF men from chsttlehood to
manhood gave them civil rights,
gave them political rights, and gave
them part and parcel OF the power
of the country.
Now, gentlemen, here to-day, l
point to this record-this great rec.
ord-and say to you, that measured
by the standard of patriotism,-one
of the greatest and grandest stand
ards by which to measure public
men, political organizations, or ma
tions-measured by that standard
which the whole world recognizes,
the Republican party of the United
States stands before the world
with none to accuse it of want of
fidelity to country. Cheers.J
Measured by the standard of liberty,
equal, universal, impartial liberty
liberty to all races, all colors, and all
nationalities,-ths Republican party
stands to-day, before the country,
pre-eminently the party of universal
liberty. Loud cheers. Measured
by the standard Of humanity,-that
humanity that stoops down and lifts
up the poor. and the lowly, the op-
pressed and castaways, the poor
struggling sons and daughters of
misfortune -measured by that stan
dard, the Republican party
stands before this country to-
day without peer in our history,
in the history of any other people.
Renewed aud general applause. +
We have gone further, embraced
more, lifted up lowlier men, carried
them to higher elevation, labored
amid obloquy and reproach to lift
mp the despised and lowly nations
of the earth than any political organ.
ization that the sun ever shOne up.
on.
And then, gentlemen, tested by
the support of all the great ideas that
tend to lift up humanity, to pull none
down, to lift all up, to carry the
country upward and forward, ever
toward God, the Republican party
of the country has been, and now is,
to-day, in advance of any political
organization the world knows. APP
plause.
Gentlemen, / am not here to main
tain that this great party, with its
three and half millions of voters,
tested and tried as it has been dur
ing twelve years, is faultless. | am
not here to say that it has made no
mistakes. We have committed err
rors. We could not always see
what the right was. We failed,
sometimes; but, gentlemen, take
our record-take it as it stands--it
is a bright and glorious record, that
any man, or set Of men, may be
proud of. We have stood, and we
stand to day, on the side OF man,
and on the side of ideas God has
given us in his Holy Word. APP.
plause. There has not been a day,
since by the labors, the prayers and
the sacrifices of the old anti-slavery
men and women OF the country, from
1880 to. l635-during> twenty-five
years. say to you, gentlemen, here
to-day, that this party the product OF
these prayers, and these sacrifices,
and these efforts-with all its faults
has been true to patriotism, true to
liberty, true to justice, true to hu-
mainly, true to christian civilization.
| [Cheers.]