American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-09-28
purposes. We say, we are not your


we will not be your Op-
pressors; we will not, though you
have done us injustice we will try
as well as we can to have your child
rem educated, enlightened, so that
mistakes you have made can't be
made over and over again. That is
where we stand.
Now, fellow citizens, why do we
CONDEMN PRESCRIPTION?
They mistake who say that there
are only two or three hundred left
now forbidden to exercise the COM
mon rights of American citizens. It
is not SO ; there are thousands dis
franchised in the State of Arkansas
alone, and the men who hold them
DISTINGUISHED expect to carry the
State against us by virtue of that
disfranchisement. But it is not the
number of prescribed the men who
are not under this ban feel them
selves prescribed because others
are for an Offense which was their
offense as well. So long as YOU
have a prescribed class i'm the
country, men all around them, hon
orable, generous men, will feel "I
ought to be prescribed the same as
that man. The difference was only
by accident he happened to take
an oath or fill an office before the
struggle that l did not, but his
guilt was no more than mine. Ac.
cident only makes him prescribed,
and leaves me free.n So that so
long as there shall be a prescribed
class in the country, prescription
will
RANKLE IN THE HEARTS OF MIL
LIONS OF AMERICANS,
who feel that they themselves are
condemned and banned in the act
which doom their leaders. 1t is not
for the sake of the prescribed alone
that l speak. Every community
has a right to the best services of
all its citizens. Men say to me,
Why; you don't wish to elect Gov
Wise, or TOombs, or somebody else,
do you? No, 1 don't want to elect
any of these men, but suppose other
people dOe Who are you, who am
L, to say whether they shall or
not =? 1t is not question for me,
whether American citizens, whom
you say have the same right to vote
and hold office as you, shall be at
liberty to vote for the men they
prefer, or shall be compelled to vote
for men you prefer. The question
reaches not several hundreds, but
several millions of our people.
Well, they say, what do the people
care about this; the banks are
making money, the people are
prosperous, the manufactures are
thrifty; who care that a few hun
dred or thousand men are disfran-
chised? care. I say war which
ended nearly eight years ago, ought
to have nearly all it's
BLOODY TRACES WIPED OUT
before this time. 1 say that While
we have often been amused with
promises of general amnesty, the
government OF the country has
practically been controlled by men
like Senators Morton and Chandler
and Butler. They say: Well, all
may forgive rebels if they will, but
L never can. Now. that spirit is
not one which should rule a repub-
lican country. A republic should
be generous and faithful generous
to forgive wrongs, whereof the very
last evil consequences have long
since faded away. Grant that Sc
cessiOn was wrong, indefensibly
wrong, the attempt has been nobly
battled down and defeated. Grant
that the whole Confederate move.
ment was a heinOus crime, still it
was utterly defeated and there is
no more probability, and l might say
no more possibility, of another seri-
Gus attempt to divide
THE AMERICAN UNION
than there is of an attempt to dis
rupt and destroy the solar system.
Never before did the Union stand
SO strong as to day; never was it's
future so assured as to day, and
never did any movement result in
more complete and utter discomfit-
ure than the Confederate movement.
Then, l say, seven and a half years
after the last shot was fired in be-
half of that movement, it's time for
amnesty, complete and perfect; it's
time for oblivion of offences that so
long since passed away. Fellow
citizens, we stand on the principles
embodied in our platform. Those
principles our adversaries do not
assail. They confess judgment but
they insinuate that a purpose is
therein indicated which is not our
real purpose, and that we mean
something utterly different, and
thereupon they proceed to attribute
to us purposes which we never cher
ished, which we positively disfavor,
and which they ought to know are
utterly absurd. The most import
ant of them are utterly forbidden by
the Constitution, and they know it.
No man can go to Congress or be
chosen President without taking a
solemn oath to sustain the Consti-
tuition, which absolutely forbids the
payment of the rebel debts or the
payment of emancipated slaves. l
my cause to
THE SOBER JUDGMENT
of the American people, and ask
them to Judge us without prejudice,
without passion, and with spirits
by wrath and ven geance.
L ask them TO judge us as citizens
who are sincerely irving to do what