Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-06-09

debt. Here he simply says that he
and the South will abide by recon-
struction until the laws which made It
are changed, but declines TO admit that
reconstruction was right.
He 10 much exercised about the poll
ticians Of the country keeping up and
fomenting discord, o. he alleges,
among the people. He expresses .
deep interest in fraternizing al Sec
tions Of the country, and in regard 10
all thie, in order that we may have
thoroughly his ideas, we quote from
bis speech a. follows:
"Now, what l say is this, that we
must, somehow or other, by some
means get away from these politicians
who are in power acquired by the
passions Of the war, who seek to re-
tain that power by continuing those
passions. We must get at the minds
Of the Northern people, that they may
apply the remedy. ] believe they will
do 1t. IhAve faith that never yet
abandoned, that Notwithstanding oil
the wrongs Witnessed for the past Is
years, the masses of the Northern peo-
pie love liberty % we'll ~ we do.
/ believe II wo can ever got st
the minds of the Northern peope,
you will find that they exhaust
every effort to preserve the consti.
tutiOnal character of this govern.
mont. ! believe they have acquissced
In rather than approved reconstruction.
1 believe they submitted TO, rather than
justifled, ali those harsh measures
against the South, because we have
been powerless to reach their minds.
Their leaders have had success In
making the great mass Of the northern
people believe that these measures
were necessary to keep down another
rebellion and bslieve q is true that,
while the northern people love liberty
and love the conatitutiOn Of the .coun-
try, and desire to preeerve both, they
would destroy the Constitution and
everything else 10 keep down another
rebellion! now, th0n, the northern
mind must be reached, and that north
ern mind must be convinced chat We,
of the south, sincerely and truly desire
to live In the union according to the
constitution, and We can fsarlesly say
the south never was unwilling to live
In the union according 70 the oonstitu-
u0n. IS
"Without reopening the the cause Of
our secession, will say that history
will abandantly justify the proposition
that the south left the union with re-
gret, and only because she was made
TO believe the north would not adhere
to the constitution. I believe that
every intelligent man will be compel
ed to sustain the proposition. which
l fearlessly proclaim, that the south
never was an enemy to the constitu-
tionl She was goaded and provoked
into secession by what she believed
was infide:ity to the constitution
But there d not . line, there 10 not .
record In existence to justify the
charge that any southern state was
ever faithless to the union Of our
fathers under the constitution.
Says Mr.. Hill, "Ths South never
wss unwilling.to live In, the Union
according to the Constitution.s Again
he says notwithstanding the secession
and the rcbeliion of four years, ''thsre
il NO record that any Southern State
was ever faithlsss to the Union Of our
fathers under the Constitution" With
such sentiments this man wants to
brush aside the politicians, ~ he terms
them, and get at, the people Of the
North, and oil things will be lovely.
Let us say to Mr.. Hill that We think
he would find In every Republican,
aud indeed many Democrats Of the
North, politician TO meet and hurl in
his teeth such sentiments - the above
as fitting only to como from an unre-
pentent rebel. To have such man
arise and charge that those he terms
politicians In power are seeking to re-
tain power by continuing to inflame
the passions of the two sections Of the
people, Is the height OF impudence in
q man who yet defiantly flaunts his
treason. If the South has never been
faithless to the Union of our fathers,
then Of course it follows there must
be some one to shoulder tho rcspon-
sibility of the terrible war of the re-
bellion. Who is Il? II 10 not the
South, Mr.. Hill says; IL must follow,
therefore, from his premise that tho
North is the guilty party. He feigns
to wish and hope for reconciliation,
but such hope withers to ashes in the
deceit upon his lips.