The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1872-09-12

!, so little as they count low. Why, d
: IS just as plain as the track of the SUI
, across the heavens We now hav,
2 the people in the United States. Since
s the war, we have a people who cal
nobody slave, and nobody master
| This people, like the school boy:
e whistle, runs itself. Laughter and
applause
They do not ask their leaders whai
r they shall do. They do not care 8
. continental about their leaders,
] Cheers and laughter They lead
t themselves. They read the newspa-
3 pers, and they agree with the newspa-
D pers when they please, and disagree
! with them when they please. LCheers
! and laughter. They support this,
that, and the other public man, when
T they go as wish them to, and they
: turn their backs upon them when
! they do not 60 as they wish them to.
J That Is one thing which some news
papers and some politicians have for
. gotten, if they ever knew it, but I am
of the opinion that they never knew
it. The truth about this country is
that it has changed in the last dozen
J years Our people now do their own
: thinking and their own voting, and
they are not scared at anything. They
went through fire-hell-fre itself-in
the war. Cheers. They stood
against any and every storm, and
they were never scared, although con-
ventiOns declared the war a failure.
and certain men went up to the bOr-
ders of Canada to shake hands across
the Niagara River with rebels.
Why nrnnfiar1nn II haforo H., rn-c,-
We had had fire such as that ct Chi
cagO, we should have had universal
panic, universal suspension, universal.
bankruptcy all over the United States
But, l tell you now, we have got a
great nation, free nation of think-
ing men, men who know what they
are about, and do not fear anybody or
anything; and the idea that such a
people are going to be led by any
politicians, from their convictions. is
perhaps, the most foolish thing on the
face OF the earth, excepting the idea
that few half-starved, petty office
holders run such a people.
| Why, gentlemen, thirty or forty
years ago public offices amounted 20
something We had not much else.
| What did they have in Virginia but
office holders? Laughter. What
do they live on but past recOllections?
LLaughter.l They had no commerce,
no manufactures, no great material
/ interests. So in other States. But
now, gentlemen, the great professions
Of the country offer the highest re-
ward to really able men. Your great
railways command the services of
men of the highest capacity; and I
say to you tonight that the men who
want to make money, who want good !
houses, large libraries, horses, car
Tiages-all the eOnveniences and lux
uries of life-are wise if they keep out /
of public affairs. There is not one /
man in a thousand who holds Office /
under the United States that can /
make or lay up any money in the /
public service; and the idea that these |
petty office holders dictated our nOm- /
inatiOn, when there were only dozen /
of them in the convention, is a wick /
ed slander upon the American people. !
DEFENSE OF THF ADMINISTRATION !
Now, gentlemen, we hear a great !
deal said for the purpose Of drawing /
US away into this new movement. l /
am not here to tell that believe this /
administration Is without faults. / |
do not believe it. There never was l
an administration that did not make /
some mistakes. There never will be, /
and can not be, an ADMINISTRATION that |
will not make mistakes. Why, we |
have GO,O00 Office holders; 5000 less
than we had when Gen. Grant came /
in. But l say to you now, if these Of /
flee holders were all saints, or were all |
recommended by the first men and 1
women of this country, some Of them /
when intrusted with power, would /
waver, falter, and fail. We shall always |
have some such men. Why, we did /
not have much else under Andrew /.
Johnson. Laughter We 1Uere able
to keep few of LincOlu's appOintees
in office, but look at the condition of /
the country four years ago When /
we came into power appointments
made have been good men. Further, /
1 say here, that the men and the ]
women who hold Office under this I
administration are better officers, per-
sons of more intelligence, intellect,
and moral worth than ever held office
under any administration in this
country. There are a few in office
whom / believe to be worthless beings
in your State, in my State - ali over
the UniOn-are honest, fair-minded,
upright men.
Now, these deseTters do not like /
Gen. Grant. A great effort is being /
made to prejudice the old hero in the
minds of his supporters. Like the Re
publican party, Gen. Grant has
made some mistakes, committed some 1
errors, and has some faults. do
not know a public man in American
who is without some faults. If any
body in the world should tell me that .
l had no fault, 1 might not see it, but
l believe all the world would see that / /
was bigger fool than lever was suppOs |
ed to be. Public men, gentlemen, are
just like you. They have their virtues, /
they have their strong and their weak /
points. They sometimes do grand /
things, and they sometime err. Now, !
want to say a word about Gen /
Grant, and it is this: / believe there /
treads not the soil of this republic a
man of more purity Of life and char /
acter, a man of more devOtedly, than .
Gen. Grant. He is a man unUstenta /
tiOus, a man without pretensiOn, mod |
est, reserved, never talking of himself, |
never bOasting of his deeds. Such is /
Gen. Grant. 1 wish 1 could say as 4
much of many of the men who are
denOuncing him.
Look at his history, gentlemen /
They call him q weak man. Why, |
gentlemen, he has performed greater |
deeds than any living or dead Ameri- |
can. ICheers.l He fought nineteen |
battles for his country, and captured /
more men and more guns than Ma
pOleOn ever captured. Cheers. He |
is to-day the greatest military COM I
mander, ineomparably, that this /
country ever knew. Cheers Sher- /
man will tell you so. Every General /
of the war, whose opinion is worth /
taking, will tell you so. History will .
so consider it, and it will be written |
80. And this man with these illus
triOus achievements behind him, is /
pronounced by few men-men who /
know how to construct sentenes-men l
who know how To make speeches /
filled with "glittering generalities"-l
men who never did anything that /
was Of any account, who never said .
anything that anybody will remem-
ber Icheers and laugh, a failure. /
These men think tia OIg thing 70 in /
troduce a bill into Congress and to
make a speech in favor Of it or in Op- /
position to it. They think it a big !
thing to go up and down the country /
and make 4 few stump speeches.
Well, gentlemen, l suppose it Is big. /
[ ought to think so, perhaps, for i I
have introduced more bills into Con- |
gTess than any man who is there to- |
day. have made a great many speech /
sand not very wise ones. Laughter /
have made looked in the faces OF /
more Of the American people than any /
public man living to-day, out do not 1
expect history TO take much note OF I
it. 1 candidly give you my opinion 1
that the surrender of Vicksburg will 4
fill larger space in the history Of the 1
country than all the bills | even in-
trOdueed, or all tie speeches ] ever l
made in Congress, or all the stump
speeches I ever made before the Amer I
lean people; and what say OF myself
l am certainly ready TO say Of those
associated with me.
In word, gentlemen, say that
/ eandidly thinks hundred or a thou
sand wears hence when the history