The Portland daily press., 1872-05-31

ED BY THE PEOPLE.
An enthusiastic meeting was held at Spring
field, ILL.,, on Wednesday last, to ratify the
State nominations. Richard ]. Oglesby, the
Republican candidate for Governor, made a
powerful speech on the occasion. from which
we extract the following:
l am satisfied with my country. have
faith in it. | have faith in our grand old
Constitution. l have faith in the intelli-
gence and the heart of the great American
people. In my heart, before my God, love
my country and I love its institutions. am
willing to give my blood for it. 1t has made
Inc prosperous and a happy man. 1 wish
it to endure for generations to come, and to
be handed down to endless pOsterity as a
grand fabric of human liberty to last, and
bless mankind and make them happy. am
willing to make sacrifices, and, therefore,
when | see this party spring up like mush-
room, charging all kinds of crime and vii
lainies upon our form of government be-
come decided in opposition to it.
L know our national Congress means to do
right. Our simple hearted President means
to do right; he is not gaudy President, such
as Andy johnson was; he is not a dignified
President, in the sense generally used in
speaking of persons of dignity. He is
plain, simple man, with an honest heart: he
has been tried on many field amid the dark
est clouds and led on our hosts to victory.
he conquered what was assumed to be the
unconquerable host of the enemy. He
brought back the flag and laid it down, and
then In the kindest words he said to the reb-
els, the vehement, hard-hearted, stiff-necked
rebels, now go to your homes take your
side-arms and your personal property; 90
back to your own States and live obedient to
law, and that is all that will be required Can
you call that man hated tyrant?
LII this great nation turns its back on Gen.
Grant after the triumph he has achieved, it
will do wrong. To defeat that man now and
senc him back into the walks of private life,
with the condemnation of the American peo-
pie upon him, would be an act Of ingratitude
not to be forgiven this side of the great shin
ing throne OF heaven. 1 ask you to go to any
soldier of the United States and ask him if
In the fearful ordeal of civil war, he ever re-
celved an unkind word from that man. He
Is plain, simple little man, poor as poverty
could make him, poor in everything but that
quiet, solemn mein that God gave him; new
er heated, ever ready for the worst crisis, he
leo us on to victory and brought us back to
security and to peace. He has been Presi-
dent for four years, and the great American
people lndorse and ratlfy him, and we see by
the sentiment of this grand old Convention of
to-day that the people will elect him for four
years more Enthusiastic applause.)
lie is not a bellies lettres man; not at all.
ne Is man of no very great accomplish
menus; neither was the immortal Lincoln.
he is plain man, scarcely able to defend
himself in common speech. He is not flip
pant with the tongue, nor glib in speech but
deprived OF that great comfort of being able
10 make a stump speech. Laughter and
applause. Occasionally we have all taken
the liberty to make criticisms upon him. We
have said if we had been President we would
nave done so and so, but the trouble is we
were not President.
The politicians have been decidedly severe,
and the papers have dealt with him severely
we permit these American papers to say
what they please. Some of them are very
ably conducted, many of the articles are well
written, and we obtain from them a great
deal OF information, but still we have no more
idea OF letting them run this country than
we had OF Andy johnson. The mistake they
made is that there is nobody to reply to the
morning issue, until the editor begins to be-
lleve he has the thing all his own way, and
thinks he can march out and take this Re-
publican party on the wings of his little kite,
and make any concern of it that he has a
mind to. Here let me tell you that beyond
the politicians, beyond the papers and beyond
the statesmen, there is a great under current,
consisting OF the masses of the American
people, which spring up when danger threat
ems, from farms, precincts, and villages, and
meets in convention, and there takes hold of
these fellows and shakes them back into their
propriety. Laughter.
how came thls grand convOcation here to-
day? 1t makes the hearts of the Democrats
and Cincinnati folks sink. How came this
hoary-headed gentleman here? A distin-
guished, warm-hearted, sensible old man, pro-
found in the law. How came he, one of Hi
nols' distinguished citizens, to preside over
this Convention to-day? [Applausel That
venerable old man is one of the parents of
the laws of this State. Read the reports of
the State and you will see his learning shin
ing upon every page of Illinois jurisprudence
and laws. He has not attended a political
meeting before for ten years. How came
these people marching up here to-day in such
numbers? 1t is because they believe that
something more than usual has stirred the
quiet waters of the surface, and they came I'D
to lay their hands upon it and settle it back
again.
Some OF you fellows here doubted whether
it was best to name candidate, for President;
IN TACT, 1t was suggested that it was best not
to name Gen. Grant for President at Phla-
delphla, as perhaps some other man might be
taken; but they despaired when these vener-
able men arrived. You do not know how |
you did it. You cannot find any one in Hi
nus efeh expressing une possibility OF doubt |
OF the nomination of Gen. Grant and the GER
tainty of his election. Nobody ever did I'M
derstand what common sense is lit is like the
spirit of life. No one can tell what it is You
can dissect the system from the epidermis
down to the toe-nais, take out the heart and
discourse upon it; but when you ask the
learned men as to the principle of life, they
appeal to God. So with this principle of
American common sense. Who can tell |
where it comes from? 1t takes hold of us
and makes us better and greater for coming !
in contact with it, This American common |
sense says Gen. Grant shall be President |