Wilmington daily commercial., 1876-10-02
THE CANVASS.
Mr.. BIRDS SPEECH.
[Contanlted from Farsi Page.

PLATFORM The speaker read the clause in
the Republican platform Of 1856 advocating
a Pacific Railroad,l Every Republican plat
form, from 1856 down to the day that the
last rail was laid on the Union Pacific rail-
road, declared the same thing. Take the
platform of 1860,-you will find the same
section in that platform. What did they
do? They met and nominated a man that
few of us knew; few men indeed who were
not well read in the political history of the
country did know much at that time Of
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
[applause1 but no man, woman, or childi dithat
lives in this land to-day, or that ever will
live in this land in the time to come, but
that will fondly cherish the memory of Lin
coin. Great applause.] That same con-
vention passed resolution against the ex-
tension of slavery, but declaring against
disunion. Come now four years later, and
the nation met and nominated the same
man.
| Now, let us take the other side. In 1855,
when the Democratic party nominated Jas.
Buchanan, the Southern States, as unit,
were in favor of the extension of slavery.
Has slavery been extended In 1860, after
dissolution Of the convention at Charleston,
they formed two branches one branch in
favor OF the South, nominating John O.
Breckinridge, and the other nominating
Northern Democrat Read the platform of
1860 adopted by the conV nVention that nomi-
mated Mr.. Breckinridge, and, you will ind
what has become of the doctrines as laid
down in that platform. Four years later,
and when every nerve of the nation was
strained to its utmost, when the country
stood almost at the turning point for her
very last struggle, then you ind, that in
/ stead OF the party giving consolation and
aid, they declared the war to be failure,
and nominated Gen. Mcclellan, who as
/ soldier was not success. In 1868, after
having done all they could against the war
Il want to be explicit here-I do not pre-
tend to say that there were not plenty Of
| Democrats in favor of the war, I do
not deny but thai there were thou
sands Of men of that party on
but what do intend to say is, that the ru-
ling element, the intelligent leaders of the
Democratic party were opposed to the war.
and are to-day, opposed to the results of the
war In 1872 you find that party, anything
for success, nominating Horace Greeley.
There is not Democrat in the State OF
Delaware to-day nor was there in 1872, but
knows that Horace Greeley no more be-
lieved in the principles advocated by the
delegates who nominated him, than did
Abraham Lincoln himself.
-FOUR YEARS LATER
they meet in st. Louis. Do they nomi.
nate the man they have at heart
No, gentlemen The Southern States
again, with the same persistence, came for
ward and nominated, not the man they
loved, but the one taey thought they might
elect,-and the man who had stood by
them through all scarcely received hand
full of votes from the South. We are asked,
what has this to do with the issues of the
| TaI,a 111 1a,.+ 1aaf r1aor q
very poor business man, who should go to
my friend, here, Mr.. johnson, and say
here is $10,0 900 for that house of yours, and
after the money was paid and the deed de-
livered--should say 81 forgot to examine
the title to that property" Laughter l
should think him poor business man in
deed who should expend $4,000 in an
improved breed of cattle for his stock
farm, and neglect to ask for the
pedigree of that breed; or should lay out
$4,000 for the patent right OF some new in
| vention and then say / forgot TO ask
how it works" [laughterl say to my Dem
ocratic friends NV dear sir, we may az
well examine the title. We must be guided
in the future, by the past say to you,
Where is your title where is your pedi-
gree How have you worked Have you
been honest We're you honest when you
put Frank P. Blair on the same ticket with
Horatio Seymour When you nominated
Mr. Tilden, a man in whom the Southern
Strtes have no interest 1 can only judge
of what you will do, by what you have done
What pledge can you make to the nation
that the nation can accept as true
None at all The soul of your argument
is that we have been corrupt in the admin
istration of the Government. Well, le us
| look at that. Any man who would under
take TO say that the Republican party in itf
! entirety was perfectly honest, and every
: one of its hundreds of thousand members
perfectly free from ievery faint oi
corruption, would be very foolish man
| There are dishonest men all over the worlC
in every party-attached to every Cour
in Europe, but there are as many homes
y men in the Republican party as in an.
other party that ever existed on earth. lAp
plause. Bring it to your own home, m.
a Democratic friend,- are there not as man.
honest men in the city of Wilmington who
hold Republican views as those who are o
the opposition? Applause say to yol
/ frankly admit there has been corruption
in the Republican party, cay more,-n'
g party could be in power for sixteen year
and have gone through war of the magni
tude we went through without some cor
rupt men coming into power-but the Re
publican party has done more to drive ou
dishonest men from her ranks than an
other party ever did. Applause Ever
dSl VI lHc 1eopuOlAVhu phhOgs SiASo ~ Ia
! been in power, has been
LEvELED AT CORRUPTION.
say, and every man knows it, who read
the papers, that the Republican party could
in nine cases out of ten, have conceale
the Icorruption in Office, had it chosen t
do 40.
say,with all due respect, that the Reput
lican party is the party of reform, OF hon
est and good government, and, so long a
. they continue to administer the law, pre-
. tecting citizens under the law, so long wi
the people uphold that party in the homes
government of the nation. You gentleme
0f the Democratic party, counted a grea
deal. four years ago, on what you called th
''liberai' element. Do you know wher
that liberal element stands, to-day? A
over rus nation, that element stands er
rolled under the banner of Hayes an
. Wheeler [Great applause.l You remen
ber we'll, that, when Mr.. Carpenters tim
expired in the Senats of the United Statei
he was supplanted by the liberal element
= the State Of Wisconsin-by lIr. Cameron
' who il to-day for Hayes and Wheeler Yo
> know very we'll when the liberal element {
the great State of California said you mui