Wilmington daily gazette., 1872-10-01
Governor curtins Speech.
HE FAvoRs LOCAL SELF-GovERSMrSr

We make the following ext ract from the
speech of Andrew q. Curtin, on SATURDAY.
night. We think there will be few who.
after reading it. will believe that Curtin will
vote for Grants election In November
When the war was over belonged to that
class Of men in the Republican party who
Drieved IN general amnesty and the ballot
What could We do? Could we kill the men in
| a voice, take them back."1 The popular
sentiment OF the best statesmen in this land
was that we should take them back into the
Iell0wShlp OF the Union, and il thew rebelled
again teach them again that we would COM
pei them to obey the laws.
believed at that time, and believe now,
that we could have had peace throughout the
the land II general amnesty couid have
proclaimed-and the ballot with it. NV
Fellow citizens, the war came on through the
teachlng or certain Southern politicians. who
supported doctrine commonly called Estate
rights. Now fear that the pendulum has
| swung too far in the other direction. and
while we had just reason to complain Of the
lnsldlous doctrine of States rights we have been
also Just right to complain that there is too
| inuch generalization of government lust now
-overl0Oklng the just rights of the States. |
coLle now to speak of Pennsylvania. NV
friends and neighbors, all your rights of pro.
| =
found protected in the government Of his
State-you scarcely feel the impress of the
| NatlonaI Government. Our courts and our
laws are state; you find your rights and your
interests protected in the government of the
State: Sass: g.. nov a,' am told, nay, was told in
elect q ticket put into the field because II
anected the election of a President | hold
to no such doctrine. would not humiliatr
my State by such doctrine. 1 would pre-
serve to my State all the rights, guaranteed to
It BY the Constitution, and I would accord to
the National Government all the powers
given It by that instrument.
1t is said il YOU vote
for Buckalew you will vote for a traitor you
VIII vote for rebel sympathzers-y you will vote
for men who held back during the war. [
have heard that before. My friends, when
the war was closed by the courage of the
soldiers, it was not by statesmen not by gen
erals. They did their part; but we sustained
our government, and maintained its integrity
by the force, power, and courage of the mei
| who carried muskets and held sabres
Remember, friends, 1t is not generals, colo
nels, captains, or majors that preserved tt
us us this heritage of liberty and equality which
to the common soldier. Where is he? He i,
not elevated He served his country faith.
| fully, and he is now serving the country II,
his labor. We find when the war closed tha
| the men who clamored most that the rebel
| should be shot were the men who surrounde,
| the camps who were quartersmasters t,y pro
fessiOn, who bought oats and horses. i coult
name some of them to you tonight. | coul,
tell you the names of some who fattened q,
army contracts.
Now they call a man who dares to Assert III
independence, or his right as an American
citizen, traitor. When the country wa
bleeding at every pore when every house
hold had lost its favOriteS when there wa
blood on every door sill when the graves Of
our brave men were in every cemetery i'm tn,
State when every breast blazed with en-
thusiasm, AMI when the soldier, to save hi.
Government, marched into the Jaws of death
these men furnished camps with horses. oat,
and hay, and fattened, and they were 70,
hanging the rebels.
OF all Tie men engaged in the war, the mos
forgiving men were those who fought it out
! all advised men to 60 to war did it viii
others. The soldier forgave and forgot-th,
real soldier, not the sham soldier The rea
soldier soon forgot his injuries, with desir,
to make this country prosperous, to return I,
friendship for these warning States, to give n,
peace heaven born and blessed peace anf
never again return to fierce struggle and sec
tonal hate.
The Governor referred briefly II tina i'm.
portation Of negroes. lnto this State for yotine
purposes, and ended by urging on his hearer
the necessity of watching those freedmen VIII,
leave the District of Columbia to work n,
Simon C0merOn's railroad.