Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-06-09
Secretary Bristow'. Repubiioanism

~
President by the Republican party,
may prove an apostate like Andrew
} ohnson, and says in the course of
his communication:
AS lifelong Republican, l was exceed
ingly distressed when the Republican Con-
vention nominated Andrew Johnson, Vice
President, with Lincoln. / anticipated
not just his action in character, but all of
the infidelity to party, to principle, and
the North, that he manifested at last His
noble and vigorous course III the heat of
the Rebellion in favor of the Union shone
out as bright, or brighter, than Bristow's
does now, and yet you will remember his
damaging course when in power as Presi
dent. Mr.. Bristow can bring no better
record of loyalty and noble action before
the public than Andrew johnson did, or
of fidelity to Republicanism and the coun-
try than johnson did.
Bristow is vigorous, positive, and eff
Gent man, first-rate for his present place,
but so much the worse if he becomes a
johnson President l don't know but
heaven is agoing to allow us to bring
another curse upon ourselves for our folly.
l dare not trust any man at the head of
this nation who is made up of the slavery
atmosphere of the South.
Mr.. Richmond is the representative
of a class of timorous Republicans, q
class of doubling Thomases, and in
answering him we shall answer them
also. He is mistaken in two vital
points. Mr.. Johnson neue,. was a
Republican, and never professcd to
be. He did not accept the nomina-
ton of Vice President as Republi-
can. He always called himself, and
was always known as Union Demo
crat. There is nothing on record,
either in what he has written or
spoken, which contains formal dec
laration of belief IN Republican prin-
ciples. He was from the outset, and
always, a dyed-in-the-wool pro-slavery
Democrat. He never protested to be
even an anti-slavery man. He was
born and raised among the poor white
trash, and his highest ambition was
to elevate himself into the aristocratic
class of shareholders. lie worked
with his "goose for years to reach
this elevation, and when he had ac-
cumulated money enough to buy a
few negroes his highest earthly
ambition was satisfied. OF Andrew
Johnson's Unionism and devotion to
the country there is no doubt, but he
never was devoted to the Republican
party, because he never was a men,
Der of it. Pro-slavery Democrats are
not usually devoted to the Republi-
can party, as Mr.. Richmond well
knows. When he was nominated for
the Vice Presidency, as one of the
few Southern Unionists, it was never
that he would be President.
No one dreamed that Mr.. Lincoln
would be assassinated, except the
wretch who committed the infamous
crime. AS President of the Senate,
johnson could do no harm, and as
such was selected.
Second, Gen. Bristow cannot be
compared with Mr.. Johnson in any
party respect. Gen. Bristow was
born and raised in an abolition fami-
ly, and was an anti-slavery man from
the outset. His father, and his grand
father, and his whole family, from
revolutionary times down, had been
abolitionists. HIS Republicanism was
not circumscrlbed by State lines.--
His father was an emancipationist,
had belonged to the anti-slavery wing
Of the Wing party, and he himself
sympathized with the Republican
party from it's very inception, and
joined it in Kentucky, as soon as an
was effected there He
has remained steadfast with the Re
publican party from that time to this,
mistaken in his principles and main
taing those principles under Difficult
ties and dangers no other Republican
candidate has been called upon to I'M
dergo. When the war broke out, he
lost no time in declaring his hostility
to the secession movement, and he
showed his faith practically, as no
other candidate yet mentioned has
done, by recruiting regiment and
lighting for the Union in the bloody
contests at Fort Henry, Fort Donald
son, and Pittsburg Landing. When
his regiment had been decimated in
battle, he recruited still another, and
fought with it till the time of enlist
ment had expired. He then served
in the Kentucky Senate, to which he
had been elected, as a Union Repub-
lican. He had no disguise about his
politics. He was Radical, and pro-
claimed it.
When the Emancipation Proclama-
ton was issued he rejoiced at it, &C
cepted it, and upheld it. AS a mem
Der of the Kentucky Senate, he voted
for all the constitutional amendments
reconstruction, opposed An
drew Johnson's policy, and denounc-
ed him when he apostatized. We
quote from one Of his speeches in
Louisville:
Neither these constitutional provisions,
nor any statute passed in pursuance of
them, Expresses or harms any human be-
ing. The penalties of the civil-rights and
Ku. Klux acts are aimed solely at the law
less and violent. No peaceful citizen or
law-abiding: community has.apprehension
Of injury or oppression from them. A
government which cannot protect its hum
blest citizen from outrage and injury is un-
worthy the name, and ought not to COM
mand the support of free people. But
' the wicked flee when no man pursueth;"
and when you hear these statutes denounc-
ed by Democratic speakers, you may be
sure that either they or their friends have
or are likely to commit, the
crimes for which the punishment is pro-
vided.
We now commend the following
extract from another of his speeches
to Mr.. Richmond, and to all other
Republicans who doubt Mr.. Bristow's
Republicanism, and fear that as Pres
dent he would "Johnsonize:"
No man IN this country had more of my
love, respect, and veneration than Mr.
Lincoln. If we must have Mr.. Johnson's
name III the resolution, let us have Mr.
Lincoln's, too. If, as l understand Mr..
Johnson, he is carrying out the policy of
Mr.. Lincoln, am for Mr.. Johnson With
his expressly understood, indorse Mr..
Johnson. Rut will not endorse him in the