Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1876-08-03

wye lOK 11ayeS anu Wncefcr! IL IL
so and ! will work for them as we'll
as vote for them. [Renewed APP
plause.l My Democratic friends
ask me for my reasons. There are
plenty of them, and all of them can
not be told In these few remarks.
And 1t Is not necessary to tell all.
First, let me say that my abandon
ment Of Democracy was not
caused, as has been charged by
the press Of that party, because Of
the currency or tariff question. /
have no objection to those planks in
the st. Louis platform. But my
reasons are as i have already indica-
ted, and will not state further.
The Democrats who press me for
my reasons may know them. On
the road the other day met an old
Democratic friend-one OF the Van
Buren, county Democrats, whom
Dave Steward, in his screed In the
paper the other day, said never had
any faith In my Democracy after /
went into the war. Applause.
Quite excitedly he wanted TO
know If 1t was true, the report
that had really left the Democratic
party. j answered at Is fact"
He asked the reason for 1t. / told
him they were quite plenty and suf-
ficient, and as we had plenty OF time
] would tell him some OF them.
Something Of what have already
stated here was first said, and then
I said that the first thing 1 didn't
like In the Democratic House was
the appointment Of Fitz Hugh, the
sergeant-at-arns of the Confederate
Congress, as the doorkeeper Of the
House, and the displacement OF
Union soldiers-many OF them Grip
pied In the war, with the ex-mem-
beers Of the rebel army. Great ap-
plause. He wanted to know II they
didn't have right to do this. / an
swered that they had, but that ! also
had the right to disapprove and de-
nounce 1t. Another thing 1 didn't
like was Ben Hills rebel speech
and It's bold utterance Of treason, and
didn't like the rebel yell In response
to IL, all over the South, for ] had
heard that yell before, and knew
what 1t meant. Great cheers.
They tell me--the Democrats that
I am scared OF Ben HILL" 1 don't
think / am; j don't think / was
scared Of any Of the Hills when i met
them in the South; / do not remem-
Der that i was. Great cheering.
Then told my friend, how worse
than ALI Of the many bad and un-
bIushing acts Of tho Democratic
House, / esteemed rs infamous the
act OF appointing to the Clerkship
OF the leading Committee of the
House the man Hambleton, who
named his son John Wilkes Booth,
after the assassin Of President Lin
coin. Immense cheering. This
outrageous act, In trucking to the
redel element, the northern Demo
Gratis dare not disown, and for all i
know, this man Is still, the Clerk OF
that Committee. The little child so
dishonored by its name and the
significance OF it, hadthe good sense,
thank God, to die. Applause.
BEN HILLS SPEECH.
That speech OF Ben HIPS, and the
record that the Democratic party
has made In regard to IL, would
have been enough of itself to send
any man who cares for his country
out of all fellowship with il and the
party In whose name and by one OF
whose leading members Ii was made.
Hill in that speech defended Ander-
sonville and the atrocious treatment
OF Union prisoners in the southern
prison bells. Could endorse that,
and still remember my own comrades
who suffered In them more than
death and hell? Can any party sue
coed which even tacitly endorses
sentiments like these? Hill also
said in that speech, 1--WE went GU. of
the Union hugging tho Constitution,
and we came back into tho Union
hugging it," What n hug!
Great laughter. That was what
they went out for, not to be rebels
but to thug the Constitution"--of
the Union they were trying so hard
to destroy. have seen them when
they were doing this ''hugging."
Applause and laughter. / remem-
Der one morning in April, 1862, the
first day of tho battle of Shiloh, as
tho rebel troops came bearing down
upon us, that ! assembled an eleva-
ton to watch then through field
glass rs they came. 1t was grand
sight as they came In columns with
their muskets at fright shoulder
shift"-that form in which an army
looks its grandest, and by which 1t
always appears to have three times
its actual strength. There WAS n
blaze and shine of glory, on those
columns that I took to be
the lustre and shine of bayonets In
tho sun. But / Judge now, since
Hills speech, that IL was not bayo-
nets they were bearing, but Consti-
tons they were carrying along and
huggiug. [Vociferous cheering. |
saw them doing great deal Of
this hugging, these rebels who were
not rebels, but simply "Constitution-
|iuggers." Renewed cheering.
The boys who are here before me,
who were with me at Donelson saw
some of IL there. Laughter, and
cries by soldiers, t"That's 3d." 1--WE
,aw them at 1t in good many bat
4 Al. 1