The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-07-21

pie requires that the public lands of the United
States should be held for the exclusive purpose
OF securing honest ads to actual settlers, under
the homestead and pr -emption laws, subject 10
reasonable appropriations of such lands for ed
ucational purposes.
THE UNION PRESERVED.
Fellow-citizens, when you committed the
Union to the keeping Of the republican party, it
seemed on the verge OF dissolution Many hoped
and some feared 1t had received an incuIable
wound. We resent the Union to you to-day
throughout all her borders; she Is at peace with
all the world. Ber rightful authority is dis
eeverywhers. every she stands in the very % vsns1ard
of sovereign states We challenge history to
from such humiliation TO such grandeur in so
short a time. And this transformation has been
wrought not merely without the aid of the dem
Ocratic party, but In spite Of its utmost hos
tility.
THE OPPOSITION REVIEWED
You have seen the shortcomings of that party
in administration. Its faults in opposition have
been still more glaring. Perhaps they can be
forgiven for allowing the ship of state to drift
so near the rocks. But how can they be for
snatched from that peril? That charity which
delights TO thiL K no evil may excuse their omis-
sion TO lift the country. upon the plea Of incom.
potency: but not charity Itself can see any
Thing but malgnancy in their persistent efforts
TO prevent the country from being lifted. The
!"
helpless crew under whose seamanahip Jesus
sailed for the country of the Nazarenes. 1t is
threatened TO sink the ship. But II they hao
attempted TO throw the Savior overheard when
world would have known no pity for the crew .
And that is the great democratic offense which
still smells to heaven: not that they did nothing
everything that was done for the country. It
would not be quite true 10 say that the demo-
cratic party opposed the national effort to sup
4 would
treason. II would be quite as far from the
truth to say that they promoted that effort.
The rebellion could not have lasted two years
had the democratic party continued in that
patriotic purpose which Douglas or a season in
splred. But douglas died, ana so old that pur-
With sagasity, a steadfastness, and clear
ness of vision which, If employed in good
cause, would be of inestimable value, the DEM
| ocratic party found that covert, narrow, and
devices ways which lay between loyalty ana
| middle Of the year 1862 10 the ell of the wa
| always avoiding the rebuke of their country Is
foes. fS@s ana @'S0 'he repr0aoh OF their country
But even for this stinled measure of loyalty,
there may have been SINE excuse. 1t may have
sprung from lack of faith, and not from want OF
love. They professed to believe the rebellion
linvinciole and, If they really believed so, they
could hardly oe expected to display much zeal
in struggle they believed 10 be hopeless. The
spirits are rare and very choice who lead for
lOrn hope with anything like gaiety. But those
who lead a real hope, no matter how forIorn
and do not merely follow dread, are not APT
10 look SO dismal as these democrats did when
Possibly, however, even that singular Gejec-
tion was but the effect OF modification at Their
own miSjudgment and want OF provision. But
when the rebellion was crushed and they were
invited TO aid in removing it's cause, as well as
a cause for future rebelfions, by abolishine
slavery, they refused TO do thati How can
that refusal be excused or forgivenf The great
history, is also the least expensive. 1t cosi
nothing but vote, yet even this they refused
to Hye- BY simply % WI &Tritippg Ing Yes upon % shei
! give freedom to four millions of human beings
They were sure Of victory tfthey said ayes ,
@No'Hand yet they said "No." 1t was a mer,
! question of volition. The question was squarely
: ing clear through the Red Sea, and stood ary OF
: the other shore-stood, too, in that marvel vi
blaze which irradiates the nineteenth century
as itsinks into the twentieth-they were plainly
asked, "Are you wiling the bond should b,
frees" and they said "No." When is that gen
Grafton coming, and whence is it coming, ina
, shall excuse or forgive that impious refusal?
1 And when, in spite of democratic resistance
the bond had been made free and secured agains
a return to slavery by an amendment TO tn,
! federal constitution, this same opposition wa
asked once more. May the freedmen becom
cltlzens and pe admitteI to c.vi rights? Ant
And when,in spite sfthat resistance, the freed
G men had been made citizens, the democrac,
. was asked, "May these citizens, though they b.
black. have the protection of the ballot whicI
the law benignly grants to all citizens, howeve
4 humble OF e cry other color?" And again tn
answer was "NO."
a And VIXEN the Kuklux armed with brand an,
night, hunted him through swamps and pur
sued him to death-when the local authoritie
{ stood powerless in TIE presence of organize
murder and arson. and this Opposition was an
:, pealed TO to lend the protection of the nationa
u tribunals TO the victims of such incarnate hate
i they still Knocked at such calamities and refuses
4 allrelief
. 1t is often iippantly said that these crime
o and horrors are past, and it Is absurd to al
: tempt TO maintain political party on tn
= memory of them. Perhaps so. But would
J, could so readily forget themP It is not mae rs
= unanimous, ii Is, indeed, hardly manly, to perse
4 cute men for sins of which they have really re
n pented. But that is not repentance; il
q hypocrisy, which processes TO repent of sins an
: does not forsake them, but embraces wors
n ones. Such is the anomalous repentance dis
4 played by the democratic party II neve
:, ceases to denounce the republican party fo
: what II has done or is trying to do, but
J. of what the party has not done and is detel
d mined shall not be done. The moment demo
q Gratis forget 10 decry republican policies, the
= begin to belle republican motives. Por twent
+ years they deemed it sufficiently opprobrious
TO be radicals themselves, and denounce repul
q liCans as rascals
DEMOCRATIC PROMISES.
Since the early part Of 1872 they have bee
n diligently seeking to suborn renegade repul
Is licans to turn states. evidence, and to swes
" that all political virtue is in those discomfite
Ii forces which resisted the progress of the las
1t decade, and all viilainy is in the forces whic
?, they have lavishly offered honors, offices, dis
a. mites, presidencies, everything which could
lie made the subject of a promise. .t.
l. To answer to any name to profess every creed
u to follow any flag; to sleep in any bed to frate
Of nze with all factions, and to offer a salve fc
very sore-such is the mission of the oppostio
le to-day. Never before in politics lie er
L acted so transparent and so audacions ths
k paraded by the democratic party in 1872. whe
E. they gravely introduced Horace Greeley to tn
at people as their representative man. 1t is nc
9S possible such "signs and wonders" can "deceiy
n, the elect" So far they have failed to deceiy
re even the electors.
~ If that party feels 1t to be unkind to remind
h of its past career, how must 1t feel to be r,
lit minded of its prese MT attitude? Once its men
bers professed distinct principles all that coul
IL be objected to them was that they professed th
worst principles extant. But, bad as they wer
they were more becoming than this utter abjI
ration of all principles. You may not like
ne employ, but you do not wholly despise II