Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1874-10-08
A Speech by Senator COnkling.


Senator Conkling was called upon to
address the recent New York Republi
can State Convention and did so at
length. He said:
One of the catch-sayings of our opponents
has long been that the mission of the Repub-
lican party is ended that is, its work was
done when slavery was abolished and the re-
belion was put down. Have you ever thought
how senseless this assertion is now? Look
abroad in the land. Take up one by one the
grave public questions, and tell me which
one of them would be safe withoutthe Repub-
lcan party and a Republican President
Look over the South from the border States
to the Gulf You see prostration, demoralza-
tion and discomfort. These things are in part
the effects of vast, sad war; a war forced on
the nation and brought on themselves by the
white people of the South, misguided and de-
| ceived by the leaders OF the Democratic party.
say the existing troubles of the South came
| of the war and its changes and hasocs in part
| and only in part Much of the difficulty has
| a more recent cause. The worst of the present
woes of the Southern people came from the
lamentable and suicidal course of men who
have been freely forgiven by the nation for
one of the bloodiest crimes in the book of
| time When the armies OF the South had
surrendered, and State Governments had
| been again set up, no man, not eycnJ jeff. Davis,
| was denied the right to vote. All could vote;
all could take part in the rebuilding of their
| shattered interests Indeed, the fact that all
could vote was grievance to all those who
| still hated the Union. There was still another
cause of complaint. By the votes of three
fourths of all the States in their Legislatures
amending the Constitution, the ringleaders
VINO had taken and broken an oath besides
committing treason were not allowed to hold
Office unless relieved by Congress And let
me here remind you that not one who asked
| 20, hn ra1i. hos nx.or haa of sad n,,f
| even this, even postponement OF the time
| when those who planned the rebellion might
resume their places in Congress, was deemed
| an atfront too gricyous to he borne. Such, at
least, was the pretext, and they set to work
to make the worst of their local affairs. They
refused to help; they refused to aid in elect
| ing reliable men to their Legislatures and to
public offices; they exerted themselves to de-
ter capable men from accepting office or TAX
! ing the part that citizens owe in free Gov
eminent Social ostracism, persuasion, and
still worse means were brought to bear to
prevent all who had sympathized with Sc
cession from joining in restoring order and
prosperity In the reconstructed States. The
ayowed purpose was to leave everything to the
carpet-baggers and the niggers Gas they called
| the victims of their long oppression), in hope
that in this way they might bring such odium
on the measures which had given the black
| loyalist the ballot that a political reaction at
the North would again seat them in the places
| from which they vaulted in rebellion, and
make them again masters of the situation
Thus far the plot has failed. The obstinate
obstruction policy Of the Southern leaders,
missing its aim, has wounded its inventors
Ignorant men, weak men, venal men, have
seized the opportunity to work thir way into
places OF trust and power Bad legislation,
excessive taxation, unwise and protligate adj
mnistration, with their trains Of evils, have
ensued. And now what do We see? Do the
authors of this mischief relent? Is it pro-
posed by lawful and peaceful means to right
these wrongs? Not at all; but violence,
boodshed and revolution are the attempted
remedy. White Leaguers, Ku-klux klans, a
war Of races; these are the remedies, sort OF
despotism tempered by assassination. Look
at Louisiana and the uncounted murders
| which have stained her soil since last July!
What is the special complaint there? Why
that Kellogg was counted in as Governor
when in truth McEnery was elected. Suppose
he was. We have in New York known equal
| wrongs. 1t is an open secret that John I.
! Hoffman was counted in as Governor when
John A. Griswold was elected.
Mr.. Conkling then institutes comparison
between the course Of New York then and
| Louisiana now; speaks of Grant as firm sol
der and quiet magistrate, who, when the It'd
ngs reached him OF the doings in Louisiana,
n n few words gave the insurgents five days
to undo their work as far as their deeds could
| be undone, and at the same time made such
orders for the disposition of troops as gave
grim warming that at the end of five days the
beak and claw OF the National Government
would tear in pieces the fabric Of lawlessness
| and riot. This warning was enough The
rebels know Grant, and they did not wait for
even "A regiment; they were willing to take
his word for it, and stop. Had insurreetion
triumphed last week in Louisiana there is not
a Southern State in which white mems
leagues a war of races, and bloody grapple
for the ballot box and State Government would
not have been the order of the day.
Next door to the matter of good order in
the South is another question, even yet more
direct in its relation to the interests of every
taxpayer in the land. | alude to claims on
the Treasury for damages done. War claim
ants and claim agents, multitude which no
man can number, are swarming in the South
and at Washington with demands for the loss
and destruction Of cotton and other crops;
of timber, buildings, and other property; and
for the occupation OF lands by the
army during the war. 1t is proposed
to get through Congress an act re-
funding the war tax laid on cotton in
the early part of the rebellion. An organized
attempt is to be made to have the debts Of
the States lately in rebellion assumed by the
United States. These and other raids on the
Treasury are aHoat. Who Is to resist them?
Would the Democratic party do itg Look at
the Democratic record, in Congress and out.
Southern representatives Of all parties, as a
rule, support every bill for Southern war
| claims Northern Democrats do the same,
and even Northern Republicans sometimes
yield to the opportunities Of petitioners
| of questionable loyalty, whose losses
appeal rather to then sympathy than
to law and justice. Bills have been
passed, not so important for the
thousands they involved as for the prccedents
they set, opening the door for unnumbered
| Others. When they reached the White House
for Executive signature. bad they found there
Democratic or Liberal President, think you
! they would have been vetoedy They have