The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1876-09-21

Suppose those gentlemen also carry
New York and Indiana. Does thu
gentleman believe that a northern
minority of the democracy will con
troll the Administration? Impossible
But if they did, would it better The
case? Let me put the question in IN
other firm. Suppose, gentlemen o
the South, you had won the victory
in the war; that you had captured
Washington and Gettysburg and Phil
adelphia and New York; and we OF
the North, defeated and conquered
had lain PROSTATE at your feet. Dc
you believe that by this time you
would be ready and willing TO intrust
to us-our Garrisons, our Phillipses
and our Wades,and the great array o.
those who were the leaders of oul
thought-to intrust to us the fruits Of
your victory,the enforcement fyoul
doctrines of State sovereignty and
the work of extending the domain o.
slavery? Do you think so? And il
not, will you not pardon us when VIC
tell you that we are not quite ready
to trust the precious results Of the
nations victory in your hands? Let
it be constantly borne in mind that
| am not debating a question of equal
rights and privileges within the
Union, but whether those who sc
lately sought to destroy it ought tc
be chosen to control its destiny tol
the next four years.
| hope my public life has given
proof that | do not cherish a spirit
of malice or bitterness toward the
South. Perhaps they will say | have
no right to advise s.cm; but at the
risk of being cons. .yred lmpertlnent
| will express iiy conviction that
the bane of the southern people, for
the last twenty i've years, has been
that they have trusted the advice OF
the democratic party. The very
remedy which the gentleman from
Mississippi Mr.. Lamarl offers for the
ills Of his people, has been and still
is their bane. The democratic party
has been the evil genius of the South
in all these years. They yielded
their own consciences to you on the
slavery question, and led you to be-
lievc that the North would always
yield. They made you believe that
we would not fight to save the Union
They made you believe that if we
ever dared to cross the Potomac OIL
Ohio to put down your rebellion, we
could only do so across the dead bod
les of many hundred thousands Of
northern democrats They made
you believe that the war would begin
in the streets of our northern cities
that we were Il community Of shop.
keepers, of sordid money-gctters, anC
would not stand against your fiery
chivalry. You thought us cold, slow
lethargic; and in some respects We
are. There are some differences be
tween us that spring from origin anC
influences of climate-differences no
unlike the description Of the poet
that
Bright and fierce and tickle is the South,
And dark and true and tender is the North
differences that kept us from a gooc
understanding.
You thought that our GOODNESS, oul
slowness, indicated lack of spirit
and of patriotism, and you were en-
couraged in that belief by most o.
the northern democracy; but not by
all. They warned you at Charleston
in 1860. And when the great hour
struck, there were many noble dem
ocrats in the North, who lifted the
flag of the Union far above the flag
of party; but there was residuum
of democracy, called in the slang o
the time "copperheads," who were
your evil genius from the beginning
of the war till its close, and ever
since. Some of them sat in these
seats, and never rejoiced when we
won victory, and never gricveC
when we lost one. They were tho
men who sent their Vallandigham:
to give counsel and encouragement
TO your rebellion and to buoy you W
with false hope, that at last you woulC
conquer by the aid of their treachery
| honor you, gentlemen of the South
ten thousand times moro than
honor such democrats of the North
| said they were your evil genius
Why, in 1864, when we were almos
at the eliminating point of the war
their Vallandighams and Tildens
(and both of these men were on tn,
committee of resolut;ons) uttered thC
declaration, as the voice of democ
racy, that the experiment of war tC
preserve the Union was a failure anC
that hostilities should cease. They
asked us to sound the recall on oul
bugIes, to call our conquering armies
back from the contest, and trust tC
their Vaccinations to save their party
at the expense of a broken and ruin
cd country. Brave soldiers of The
lost cause, did you not, even in tha
hour Of peril, in your hearts loathc
them with supremcst scorn? But fol
their treachery at Chicago, the wal
might have ended and hundred
thousand precious lives been saved
But your evil genius pursued you
and the war went on. And later
when you would have accepted The
constitutional amendment and rcsto
ration without universal suffrage, the
same evil genius held you back. Ii
1868 it still deceived you. In 1877:
it led you unto
A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog
Betwixt Damieta and Mount Casius old,
Where armies whole have sunk.
Let not the cloquence of the gen
tleman from Mississippi Mr.. Lamar
lure you again to its brink.
Mr.. Chairman, it is now time t.
inquire as to the fitness of this Dem
ocratic party to take control of oul
great nation and its vast and impor
tant interests for the next four years
| put the question to the gentleman
from Mississippi [Mr. LAMAR wha
has the Democratic party done t.
merit this great trust? He tried t.
show in what respects it would no
be dangerous. | ask him to show il
what it would be safe. | affirm, anC
| believe | do not misrepresent th'
great Democratic party, that in the
last sixteen years they have not ad
vanced one great national idea tina
is not to-day exploded and as deaC
as Julius Caesar And if any Demo
crat here will rise and name grea
national doctrine his party has ad
vanced, within that time, that is now
alive and believed in, will yield t
hear him. Ia pause.] In default o
an answer, l will attempt to prove
my negative.
What were the great central doc
trines of the Democratic party in thu
Presidential, struggle of 1860 5? Thu
followers of Breckenridge said slavery
had right to go wherever the Con