The Portland daily press., 1872-09-21
HORACE GREELEY's SPEECH AT
a... PITTSBURG.
His DenlInciatiOn of the Pitts urg
-r .t.7 .aE Convention. ...


party reached this place at Z o'clock this eve
ming and leave for Cincinnati at 1.30 a. m. Mr..
Greeley was met at the depot by torchlight
procession and escorted to the St. Charles Ho-
tel where he delivered the following address. 2
Fellow Citizens, The wise king says there is
a time for war and a time for peace. The city
of Pittsburg has recently witnessed rehearsal
of the pomp and pageantry, the blazonry and
circumstance of civil war A very large num-
@ IS With the s;nS n,r6o ser o % hin fe
bitterness, the hatred, the animosities the an
tipsthies, the fears and Civilizations of civil war
for the advantage of political party. take
you to witness that the greater portion OF the
Journals of Pittsburg as well as the orators on
the occasion have been trying their best to
make us, the people, to hate each other for the
sake of partisan advantage. stranger would
imagine while reading the journals of Pittsburs
for the last few days that we were still at war
and that their purpose was to revive and to ex-
asperate hatred and luminosity of civil war in
order to intensity their side of the conflict.
They talk about rebels and traitors. Fellow
citizens, are we never to be done with this? We
demanded of our adversaries in the great civil
war that they surrender their arms and go TO
their homes. They surrendered them. Wee de-
manded that they enfranchise the blacks, and
the blacks are enfranchised. No one but white
men stand DISTINGUISHED on the soil of our
country We demanded that they stipulate
for and that the rebel debt shall never be paid
by the government or states. They assented to
that So far as can see, every single demand
made on the part of the loyal states and loyal
people has been fully complied with on the part
of those lately in rebellion. Everything has
been done that we asked. Everything has been
conceded and still they tell us, "Why, we want
them to repent" Have they not brought forth
works meet for repentance and thus coming
together in solemn convention have not the
49, hn
their assent to the platform of the Cincinnati
Convention, which was the most intense, the
most complete Republican platform that ever
has been presented by any national convention
whatever? f..f .-... ...
All this being done we are told by these gem
tlemen who me here "all this is mockery;"
this is fraui; III do not mean anything by
it," and the ef goes on ''rebels aud traitors"
and denunciat N and prescription the same as
ever.
Convention it was declared that this proscrip-
ton would speedily cease. -Four years have
passed and still it is maintained that there are
this day thousands of people of Arkansas alone,
probably the most Intelligent and responsible
people of that state forbidden to exercise the.
right of suffrage, forbidden exclusively by the
party that meets here and shouts for Grant and
Wilson. Nobody else asked for prescription
but them. No party, no men OF any party, but
this the very party that held military parade
Iills Wtth III UIueT W ldTbilcE SepdI-
ate and divide the hearts Of the American peo-
pie from each other. They hold essential to
their triumph that hatred, distrust, suspicion
and alienation should continue. Do what you
will and do what you may they are determined
not to be satisfied.
Now, fellow citizens, it is not enough that
those who fought against the Union should be
prescribed. Those of us who stood for it are
continually denounced if we do not happen to
agree with them in our present politics. Here
yabo I.xyf1 ,o,, hair
secessionist. Could that be true, fellow cit
liens? Look facts in the face. When Linco
was elected and this conspiracy for secess I.
began to advocate itself, we Republicans W e
told by our own men and told still NOR. v
those out of the circle, 'You must surrender
your opposition to slavery or consent to great
civil war" This they said, was the only alter
native. Bloodshed and devastation over the
whole country or you shall surrender the prin-
cipes on which you have just carried the cleo
is no such alternative. 1 denied that the South
ern people, the great majority of them, were
against the Union. 1 demanded that there
should be open, free discussion between the
Southern people, and an honest, unterrified, I'M
constrained vote, and if they approve, if the peo-
pie of the South say they want disunion L will
consent to it. l know they will not. 1 know
the Southern people, The great majority of
them would have voted as they actually did,
not for secession but for clinging to the Union.
perilled and there were just two modes of saw
ing ito trust to the chance of civil war or
trust to the chances OF a free, fair vote of the
Southern people, would very greatly prefer
to take the latter chance rather than the for
mer, for, fellow citizens, they greatly misunder-
stand and malign this American people when
they assume that in cold blood before there had
been any clash of arms the people in the South
any more than the people in the North desired
disunon In this INCEPTION in its origin the
great masses of those who consented to the Sc
cession movement meant nothing by it but to
back down the North, and make us consent to
the extension of slavery. That was their pur-
pose and that purpose did my best to resist
and defeat. Well, the war is ended, and I
think it ought to be. We had great, a terri
BILE, destructive and bloody war Our sue
cess was perfect. The defeat of the adversary
was more complete than any defeat recorded in
history. They have suffered much and they
have conceded all. Cannot we afford to be
magnanimous at last?
They say that the Southern people may vote.
Some OF them may but the instant they vote
the cry is raised, See how these fellows vote;'
they cry, You must vote the other way" Is
that an election? 1t is only the fashion of war
in another aspect:
Fellow citizens you belong to one of the great
hives of - 'erican industry. plead for peace
and rec ~ liation for the interest especially of
this u prosperous, energetic people. How
l have :, npathized with Pttsburg; how have
rejoiced in her prosperity; how have wonder
ed at and admired her magnificent growth you
been dearer to me than Pittsburg. There has