The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1876-08-10

| mentS like these ;? Hill also said in that
| speech, 'We went out of the Union hug
ging the Constitution, and we came back
into the Union hugging it." What hug !
| (Great laughter) That was what they
went out for, not to be rebels, but to ''hug
the Constitution of the Union they were
trying so hard to destroy / have seen
them when they were doing this "hug-
ging." applause and laughter.) 1 re-
member one morning in April. 1862, the
first day of the battle of Shiloh, as the
| rebel troops came bearing down upon us
that | ascended an elevation to watch them
through field glass as they came. 1t was
grand sight, as they came in three
columns, with their muskets at "right
shoulder shift that form in which an
army looks its grandest, and by which it
always appears to have three times its
actual strength. There was blaze and
shine of glory on those advancing columns
that | took to be the lustre and shine of
bayonets in the sun. But [ judge now,
since Hills speech, that it was not bayonets
they were bearing, but Constitutions that
they were carrying along and hugging.
| (Yociferous cheering.) l saw them doing
a good deal of hugging, these rebels who
were not rebels, but simply "Constitution-
| huggers." (Renewed cheering.) The boys
who are here before me, who were with
me at Donclson, saw some Of it there.
| daughter, and cries by soldiers, 'That' S
SO. eve saw them at it in good many
battles. y What patriots they were, doing
| so much for "the Constitution of our COM
mon country
DEMOCRATIC BITTERNESS.
One thing | have now come to which is
| painful to speak about, as it is largely a
| private matter. So far from being allowed
to leave the Democracy in peace, as [ had
| hoped and expected, with noise about it,
| you have seen, many of you here, what has
been said and charged against me in the
/ Democratic press. But what you have
| seen is nothing. In the last ten days |
! have received scores Of letters, the most Of
! them anonymous, abusing me without stint,
and charging me with all sorts of crimes
These things, which would annoy any man
who had feeling have simply confirmed me
| in my estimate of many members Of the
party | have left, and have simply intensified
/ my conviction that my course was and is
right. | can see by these an explanation
of one thing that puzzled me in the career
I Of my old comrade in arms, Gen. John A.
Logan Logan and | were together a
/ great deal in the fore part Of the war, and
we talking things over as fellow Democrats,
and i'll every respect nearly we agreed.
/ After the close Of the war we met again.
When | had parted from him he was a
/ Democrat; then he was a Republican and
/ bitterly anti-Democratic. l said to him,
Il can understand your course in changing
/ parties, and [ cannot blame you much but
What | cannot understand is what makes
you so terribly bitter againt the Demo
Gratis" He replied, "You will never fully
understand it till you yourself leave the
Democratic Party, which day will surely
come but then you will see it plainly
enough You will get all sorts of anony-
nous, yillainous, cowardly letters charging
you with all sorts Of crimes and heaping
upon you all sorts Of vile abuse
THE REBEL ABUSE OF THE GENERAL.
l know the public charges made against
Logan, and know personally what atrocious
lies many Of them were, and | could not
conceive that partisan malignity could &C
any further than it went in the coinage OF
them But now | do see. These letters
[ have received charge me with being rob,
Der, an incendiary, and murderer These
charges they make to describe my career
and record as a soldier Can / be blamed
then, il view Of such abuse as this fol
departing from my resolved purpose Of
privacy, and publicly hurting back upor
their authors all such accusations. When
ever you find one Of these men charging
me with these things, scratch his skin, anc
you will find a rebel tremendous ap
piause.) Let me refer to some of these
charges briefly. | will not be long
although | find my time is far too short
for telling it all, and | do not want tC
weary you. They say l stole cotton and
made money by it. It's lie. Applause.
| say it with that word because that is the
word Great applause.) l captured bu
two lots of Confederate cotton, as it was
called-cotton belonging to the Rebe
Government. | turned it over and took
duplicate receipts for it-one of which
sent to the Secretary Of the Treasury
where it is now, and the other | kept, anC
now have it. | never made cent in cotton
and never tried to do it. make shor
work of these charges because that is al
there is Of it.
THE VICKsBURG SOLDIERS GOLD sPECULA
TION.
They say speculated in gold while a
the head of my command. 1t is a fact
Laughter. The Wall street brokers wer
running up the price of gold, speculatin;
on the fast increasing perils Of the Repub
lie, saying that Vicksburg could not b
taken, and that therefore the rebellion woul'
be victorious They did not scruple thu
to speculate even if it was destroying tn
credit of the Government and helping tn
Confederates Wall street and the rebel