Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-02-26
From Senator Conkling's Speech.
Democratic Use Of the Military In Times Past.
THE KANSAS RECORD.

OF manklnd, are threatened with destruction
because those whom Gov. Kellogg summon
ed, and those who responded, were soldiers
and soldiers Of the United States hire
Lngs" they were called. The Senator from
Maryland Mr.. Hamiltonl said they were
=" hired, and withered them by adding that
they received only " eight dollars month" "
The words do not appear, I believe, in his
printed speech but they were among the
liyeliest that he uttered.
HireliDgsl" But for such - hirelipgs''
there might not now be a Senate Chamber to
echo with the eloquence of the honorable
Senator from MARYLAND. But for these
hirelings" We might not now &c breathe
the free air of a Republic 1t is certain
that, but for such I" hirelings." we should
not breathe the air of free Republic.
These 90 hirelings" have less place to rest
their feet than the birds of the air or the
beasts of the field. If they remain soldiers
they must be somewhere, and wherever they
are, south Of Mason and Dixon's line, they
come betwixt the wind and somebody's no.
bility. If they dotf their knapsacks, and
with honorable discharges in their pockets,
and, wearing the scars received on stricken
fields. melt away into society and locate
anywhere in half the Republic, they are
loaded with opprobrium they are stigma
tized with the epithets of - carpet bagger, -
" scalawag,"" white niger" and the like
Their lot is hard. They have earned these
revilings in recent years. One political par
ty never called soldiers - hirelings' until
they were marshaled to trampls down a re-
bellion which lifted its bloody hands to stab
the Republic to the heart IL is a curious
coincidence that hatred Of soldiers blossomed
out about the time they were hurrying to
the burning battle-felds OF the rebellion. 1t
was not always so. The Democratic party
was once the soldiers party and the war
party. 1t applauded soldiers in former wars.
1t sighed for new wars, for Cuba, and for
conquest. Bat this was in - what was once
free America''-I quote the words Of the
Senator from Ohio; it was when slavery
needed room to expand. The Democratic
party applauded soldiers when they dis
persed Legislatures, when they thronged
and overawed courts, and did other odious
behests.
In 1911, when Andrew jackson ordered a
military guard over both houses Of the Leg
stature Of Louisiana when the Governor of
that State stationed military guards at the
doors and shut both houses cut of their
chambers, believing that jackson wanted
them shut out, when in truth he wanted
them shut in : when al the same time Gen.
jackson put a habeas corpus in his pocket,
and drove from his home and his court the
Judge who issued it, the Democratic Party
glorifed Jackson and made him President.
When Democratic President, a Demo
cratic Secretary of War, and military Off
ser, at the point of tie bayonet and the
mouth Of the cannon, on the ith Of July,
1856, dispersed and humiliated both houses
of Legislature, Congress and the country
rang with Democratic plaudits. This abom-
Unable proceeding hlls page in one of the
most odious and revolving chapters in the
history Of human tyranny and wrong.
! Many into whose faces | now look remem
Der the event i'd Kansas, and the SCOTS and
taunts with which they were belittled and
denied. When violence, intrusion, and out
rage. carrying the banner Of slavery, stalked
high-headed in Kansas. trampling law and
right under foot, did the Democratic leaders
and the Democratic press apologize for ruff
ans and homicides ? Did the predecessors
OF these Senators apologize for crime Oh.
no, they would have been as indignant as
their successors are, had it been said that
they apologized for bloodshed in Kansas.
They only sought, As Senators DO now, to
cover the naked truth with an eclipse Of de-
nunciation. ridicule, and denial. - Bleed
| ing Kansas have yOn forgotten how that
mocking motto few at the masthead of
Democratic papers? - Bleeding Kansas
was the catch word and hy-w0rd then, Just
as the - Southern outrage business" the
= Southern outrage mill, y are now. Apollo
| gy for crime and violence oh, no-Oh,
no Border rufianiSm in Kansas was denied
in this chamber as Southern rufianism = de-
MED now II did not receive open, bold
apology. The honorable Senator from Ohio.
skillful and practiced as he Is. would not be
50 rank and bungling, however he might feel,
a. TO make open apology ior brutal violence
| in his followers. The c0arseSt instinct would
revolt at this-the homage which vice pays 10
virtue would rebel against ii. Gros> indeed
must be the sense which would not
sicken with safety At the naked indecency
Of apology for murder unshaded even by Il
phrase or blush. Drapery in such cases
is essential to effect In 1856 border ruff
anism and its diabolcal work in Kansas was
not the subject of apology more than are
| White Leagues and masked riders now. Yet
we cannot forget the tone of Congressional
! discussions then. nor can we restrain the eX-
clamation, How history repeats itself
Here is n cold record, the annals Of Kan
sas, compiled after the din and horrors it
narrates had passed away Here, and in
many another book, it stands recorded that
the election preceding the erowning wrong
to which | first referred, was controlled al
mos entirely by residents Of Missouri whO
| came into Kansas in large bodies. took pos
session of the polls, drove away the regular
" appointed Judges of election. set up Others
to besray liberty and right, elected to Office
| persons who were not and never had been
citizens of Kansas, and committed other
atrocous crimes the details of which are too
disgusting TO relate.
The Legislature of Kansas attempted to
meet on the nations birthday. to meet quiet
| " in the two legislative halls, and Colonel
Sumner, commanding squf drors OF cavalry
commanding a detachment of artillery which
trained its guns upon the doors, command
ing men whose sabres and bsyonets flashed
in the sun, entered the building in which
the Legislature had met. declared his act the
most painful of his life, and by force COM
PEELED the dispersal and degradation of the
Senate and the House Of Representatives.
So thorough were the preparations that ar
nv surgeons attended and opened their cases
of implements more ghastly than the sol
diers' instruments of death.
On the 7th of January, 1875, the day On
which the Legislature of Kansas again met,
the United States Marshal, with troops at
his back, arrested seven members OF the
Legislature, and appreciation covered him.
On the 18th of July, 1857, Gov. Walker OF
Kansas, by proclamation ordered the citizens
of Lawrence to desist from acting under the
municipal charter. saying that if they did
not obey he would use the troops of the
United States to compel obedience. All this
was the work of Democrats, and to criticise
was treason to the party.
At municipal election here in Washing
ton on the lst of June, 1857, under Dem
ocratic Administration, United States ma
rines from the navy-yard fred on a crowd,
killing Ave and wounding seventeen and
we had not even g an investigation into the
affairs of the district -
On the 9th of March. 1859, Gov. Cum
ming, of Utah, protested against United
States troops surrounding the court house
} during the session of the court but the
heart of Democratic Administration beat
+ no response -
In the autumn of lS6l Gen Geergc B
Mcclellan, through Gen. Banks, arrested a
many as he could of the Legislature of Mary
land not being State declared in insrIrrec
tion and the Democratic party at the hrs
opportunity strove to make Mcclellan PreSi
dent-President on a peace PLATFORM
platform made by sticklers for the Constitu
ion, who hurled the whole Constitutions
ar rory at the national authorities then crap
Min with the rebellion, and assailed Mr.
Line, In with all their hurtling arrows anc
all the ir virulent vocabulary. The Demo
cratic party always was the keeper of th'
Constittu,. on The Constitution all througl
the war was in the charge Of the Democrats
party of the North and South and thu
Northern wing and the Southern wing vi
with each other row, as they did then, IN tn,
zeal with which they keep watch and ward