Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-11-08
SENATOR THURMAN.
His Explanation of Tuesdays
Democratic Victories.
1t Was a Tidal Wave, Not an
Ordinary Earthquake.

During the Democratic jubilation at
Washington the night after the elections,
Senator Thurman was serenaded by very
large crowd, and made the following
speech:
u thank you most heartily, my friends,
for the honor of your serenade, and the Op-
portunity you offer me to participate in
your rejoicing. And yet, when l think Of
it, is il not a dreadful thing, and calcu-
lated 20 bring terror to every bosom, to see
you here with drum and fife and trumpet
and cymbal, rending the air with your
shouts and ordinations, because the State
of Massachusetts, has been conquered
by the Ku-Klux? EGreat applause
and laughter.] Was it not enough
that those awful fellows, by intim-
idation, so frightened the amiable, the
civil, the peace-loving carpet-baggers and
scalawags, as 10 obtain the mastery over
that fair portion of the Republic? Was it
still necessary that they should come forth,
and by intimidating the Republican party
in the States of Oregon and Ohio, West
Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New
Jersey, and TO cap the climax, overthrow
tine State of New York, and put the State
! of Massachusetts in their breaches pockets?
[Cheers and laughter.l Why, my friends,
the editors and politicians are all scratch
ing their heads to find out the cause Of
what they call 4 revolution, when
every man that has read the history Of
| southern outrages, the manifeStOes of At
torney- General Williams, the proceedings
| of the Chattanooga convention, the affida
Wits of Maj. Murrill, and the kilograms of
| Marshal Packard, knows full well that there
was but one cause for this, and that was
| intimidation. Laughter Yes, my
friends, from SaSSamaquOddy bay to the
Rio Grande, a loyal, peace towing party
called the Republican party has been so in
Inundated that many of them, in sheer ter
ror, have voted the Democratic ticket, and
more of them have refused 70 vote
at all. Now YOU all understand
the cause of our carrying the election, and
When any of those people ask you for that
cause you have only to reply in one word,
intimidation Applause, and cries of
How about Ben Butle:?'l Now, that re-
minds me Of another thing. This election
has been carried by the party which thai
venerable Christian statesman, Geuitt
Smith, calls the deyil-inspired party and
the devil-inspined men have such a large
respect for persons, and such large regard
for virtue, that they dared even to penetrate
the Essex District, and laying their profane
hands on the virtuous Butler Cheers said to
him, with a shrek whose disloyalty makes
me tremble while thinE Of it, Benjamin,
get out ? ILaughter.l Well, now, if any
body were to ask me in dead earnest, What
are the causes of our triumph? If the oppOr-
tuuity were good; If il was not a time of
Notification, but time of serious thought
and reflection. might reply. But let me |
II hor,u rr-in
not-that, because / speak in this |
vein, l am in a frivolous mood |
WHY. nv friends, year after year |
the Radical party have carried the elections |
at the North by the cry of Southern out |
RACES and intimidation at the South. Mem /
Der after member of Congress, duly selected |
by triumphant majOrities, have been turned /
out of their seats in that Capitol, or re-
fused their seats under this false pretense /
of Southern outrages. And this very year,
when the foundations were slipping away |
from under them-wnen their house rocked /
to-its fall, and they felt that an earthquake
was about to destroy them-they set up |
again this mill for the manufacture of
Southern outrageS, with the Attorney /
General of the United States as chief miller.
TCheers.l Now, referred to Gen. Butler,
and if had not intended to do so your
calls would have made it proper that I |
should do so. But there is propriety in
my referring to that man. When he &C.
cepted his last nomination to Congress, he
gave as his chief reason for doing 50, that
he had the will and ability, if be occupied
a seat in Congress, to still further repress
and subdue the southern people. He
raised the black flag Of persecution; aud,
fighting under that flag, he sought to mailr-
tain his power. But the people
raised the white flag, not Of defeat,
but of peace, and said to him, Prosecutor,
stay thou at thy home And now, my
friends, what are the causes Of our great
victory? can tell you, in a single sentence
the cause: Discomfort with Radical rule;
and that cause is universal. 1t is felt on
the shores of the Atlantic and the shores of
the Pacific. 1t is felt in New England. 1t
fet on the borders Of the Rio Grande.
TCh sers, and cries of 'In this district.1
IL is felt in this district; and everywhere,
where there is a heart, native or natural
lied, that beats with American SEN
timents, there is q feeling Of discon-
tent with Radical rule. GCries of
good goodI'l And now If you ask
me whether there are any good reasons for
this discOntent-if you say, Whence comes
this success? / answer you, it is because,
within the last nine years, our Radical
rulers have set at naught every instinct,
every feeling, every habit, every teaching
of the American people and of our forefath-
ers. TCheers.1 The American people are
a notwithstanding people. Show me
one valuable provision of the Constitution
of the United States that has not been viO-
lated by our Radical rulers in the last
nine wears. The American people are
a interviewing people, but liberty has
been trampled under foot from one end OF
the republic to the ether, by this radical
party. The Americans are home-rule-
loving people, and hOme-rule has been
treated with scOrn and contempt by our
radical rulers, and the doctrine is now act
ed upon persistently by the American Con-
gress, that it may exercise as Omnipotent
power rs the Parliament of Great Britain.
The American people are an eeonomy-loy-
ing people; but our expenses are such
that a man looks around in despair
when he sees the face of the tax-gath-
erer. The American people are an
honest-loying people; but Credit AIobilier,
SanbOn contracts, cuStOm-hOuse frauds,
the secret service divlsion-C cheersl-have
made corruption asynonym for government |
in the United States. No wonder there is
discomfort. But, says some one, the great
cause of discomfort is that we are in finan-
cial trouble; many mills and factories are
stopped, or only running on half time;
many labOring men are out of work, or |
working only on half time. That is very
true, and no one sympalhizes with them
more than do. But let me ask of you if
the government is responsible for that condi-
ton Of things. If any party in the countryis
responsible for the want of employment,
for the stoppage of mills, for the laborer's
cry for bread, for his wife and little ones,
what party is il? ICries, "The Republican
party."l 1t is not the Democratic party,
for we have had no power IN the land for
ihe last twenty years. What could such
man as | do for the labOring men? ]