Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-09-29
FFrBu the Cincinnati Commercial. September lsII
IA Confederate Claims and the Centennial
Campaign.
CINCNNATI, septembeE u, "a

n Ele Editor o. the COANEECIALE
In your issue of to-day, you state editori-
lslH speaking Of Southern claims for dam
ages sustained during the war for the Union;
I'm Missouri, State that has been for some
Yesrs under Confederate control there has bean
sovereign State notion
Referung, as take it, to an extract out Of
the speech by General TUTTLE, published IN
your issue-of the 18th inst, to-Wit:
"Why is IT that the State Of Missouri has issued
to every former owner Of slaves in that State q
certificate for 81, 900 for every slave, payable when
fSinS@the totSi amount Of the value Of their
emancipated slayes-is now estimated as part OF
tbs State debt Of Missouri"
Now, I would like to have ths author
iky for the assertion. My friends
and business correspondence in Missouri
Republicans and Democrats alike-laugh at
the story and say they never heard of that
law, never saw such certificate, and never
saw such an item included in a statement Of
the State debt. Yet it strikesm me that it must
be true, as I fondly believe that my
favorite newspaper, the Cincinnati CON-
MERcIAL, would not knowingly utter q
base falsehood, although it seems that you
have abandoned your former proud and inde-
pendent position and taken a leading place in
the ranks of a subsidized press, in the inter
est of the Republican machine politicians Of
the country.
hope you viii be able to publish the law
authorizing those slave certificates, together
with the date and year of its passage, and you
viii secure at least one vote for HAYES and
WHEELER that is now, With many Others, in
tended for TIIDEN and HENDRICKS.
You enumerate twelve special relief bills
for tho payment of Southern war claims that
were presented in the last Confederate House
of Representatives, as you call it, but you
fail to state what became of them. Now
please tell us how many of them were recon-
mended for passage by the proper committee,
and how many actually became law. In
connection with this it would perhaps be no
more than fair to state how many million dol
lars of money were allowed heretofore by Re
publican Congresses for the payment Of just
such claims, and your own valuable files will
tell you what prolific source of corruption
they have been.
The Cincinnati Engairer made statement
recently that General WEITZEL had refused
to allow an examination of Governor HAYES
income tax returns, and that be was acting
under special orders from Washington City.
Is this true, and if true, what is the Objectf
e It right and fair that Governor THDEE
should be charged with defrauding the Gov
eminent out of taxes on his income, without,
ct the same time, making full exposure Of
Governor HAYES conduct, when it is demand
cd; OF are the party managers using their OH
damaging rOorbackf J. G. 8.
P. S.-If not published on Tuesday will
take it for granted that you decline it, snd
VIII have it published elsewhere, with state
nnent that you refused it.
We beg to mention, first, to our correspond
ent that his postscript is not alarming
When we reject communications, it is foI
sufficient cause, and the peril of publication
elsewhere is not considered.
II the second place, we understand our
selves to be in the full exercise of the inde-
pendence of our proud position. The Com
1RRoILL never professed to be q neutral
paper We sit on the fence when we please,
and take sides when we please, as we please
We are as independent now as when we sup
ported GRANT for the Presidency, as when We
supported GREELEY for that position, Al
when we supported COLLINS for Governor, a.
when we supported HAYES for Governor
We are as Independent in supporting HAYES
for the Presidency as we were whom we OBJ
jeoted to nominating him as the Republican
candidate for that Office, and we always tel
the truth according to the lamps by which
we are lighted.
The Democratic party is before the country
with professions that it is eternal and infaI.
hble and alone in its right to rule the cOun
Try. It is the party of iron discipline as vel
e. Of brazen preteRsion. 1t is intolerant. II
offers itself as the great and only party. II
the exercise of our independence we oppose It
Now we remember the old associations o.
this party with the South. We remember
that the great Southern conspiracy, that re-
suited in the Confederacy and wal, wa
hatched in this party. We remember thai
the Southern element absolutely mastered tht
party until 1860, and the signs of the time
are that it has resumed the old relation O.
master and servant-the Solid South the mas
tsr, the Democratic party the servant.
The Solid South to which we refer is no
the whole people of the South. Not at all
We refer to the terminated and reinstatet
Confederate politicians-the same who werl
banded to break up the Union in 1861, and
who made the mistake of seeding, depending
upOn the Democratic party for help. W,
think the country has had about enough Of
them.
The South seeded because IL was NJ
longer able to rule the whole country. Slayery
vas behind the Southern politicians, and they
employed the sOlidity that the peculiar inter
est Of their section gave them as a basis o
operations.
Slavery itself had no interest in the Terri
tories to speak Of 1t was the exercise of DO
Htical power that the Southern politician
wanted. It was political supremacy that the,
fought for. They seek that supremacy an,
its profitable uses now.
They have, for some years, recognized tn
fact that secession was tremendous mistak
for them-that they behaved like idiots i
running away from Washington upon the ar
pearance of LINCOLN when they actually ha
. majority in both Houses of Congress.
They will not repeat that mistake
They ars in their fathers house, a
BEN HILL says, and they propose to sta
there on terms of "perfect equality"-and b
that they mean the equality in rights, intel
ests, memories, hopes, character and fame g
the COnfederates with the NatiOnals-th
equal rights of the conquered with the COZ