The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1875-04-21
ALEXANDRIA, La WEDNESDAY, APRIT q 1873

KING when ne was about to depart OF
an expedition East and was diyidin!
his private fortune among his friends
When his steward asked what h.
would have left to himself, Alexan
der responded: Slope, and that il
enough" I then proceeded to sa,
we were about to enter upon the en-
terprise of saving the institutions O
our country. | said we were beref
OF all power; we had not Democrat
ic State in the Union, and had ne
power in Congress. We were moth
ing but a limited mass Of private in
dividuals, and I asked, when speak
ing of the forlorn position of the
Democratic party, what has that par
ty to expect going into a contest
against such odds. 1 responded by
saying that though destitute of all
power they still had a mighty powe,
in their hands: "Hope, and it is
enough" We went into the war,
and seven years after that, when the
Democratic mind Of the whole coun.
try was depressed, when Democrats
were secuted as rebels, traitors and
ICopperheads, we resolved to prose
cute the war with 10 arms, ammuni-
ton or baggage wagons, but with
hope. was called out of my retire
ment of twenty.four years to CON-
mand. / was placed at the head of
the forlorn hope and ordered to storm
the enemy's works. Applause.] A
breach was made, and through that
breach the next year the whole
Democratic party rushed and made
the enemy surrender theirguns. APP
pause. That shows the power of
hope.
Well, as soon as we turned these
fellows out at the last fall election
they said it would do to trust to the
little hole in the ballot box. Here
were sixty or seventy men who had
been outlawed and told to scamper.
but they had three months of power
yet. One was to detect and punish
the rogues who extended from one
end of the country to the other; an
other was to economize in expendi-
lures, and the other to reduce taxes.
This would have soothed the rage
against their bad conduct. Instead
of that they increased expenses and
and taxes, let the public debt 90 up
instead of down, and went to work
to hamper the ballot-box. They be-
gan by applying the law to the whole
United States, but they REDUCED it to
four States. can not go further in
to detail on all their measures. But
you will hear it. said by the late Re
pubiicans that they are not third
term men but Grant men, and so
Congress thought when it met; but
what did Congress think when it adj
journed2 1t is sufficient to say that
thirty three Senators, after Grants
conduct in the Louisiana matters had
been condemned over and over by
Congress, solemnly declared Grant
had done a good thing in using the
bayonet. They told Grant by their
endorsements to do the thing over
again as often as he pleased. By
that time they learned that Grant
had the Office and the power to hold
it so far as their party was concerned
the power to be nominated for the
third time. Grant has the office
holders, three or four millions of
money, the army and navy and the
party machinery, and when the Con-
yention meets it will nominate Grant
for the third term, and hoist his
prospects on the point Of the bayo-
net. Then these men will say we
must take Grant and the bayonet.-
Democracy represents the ballot, and
they are opposed to the ballot. 1t
will then be the ballot On one hand
and the bayonet on the other, that's
all there is about it. We don't in
tend to allow any gouging. They
can't rely on the men who formerly
constituted the republican party
: We will get one-half Of them. We
have made room in our ranks for
about million of men. They have
got their bellies full Of Grantism and
will come into our party. What
could explain this tremendous SWEEP
!, of the peaple against corrupt powers
What could explain this tremendous
revolution? Nothing but the recti
tude of Democratic principles, ant