The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-05-18

volve their honesty. That some of these
men were formerly Republicans, as they
say, and were most active, as they give
US to understand, in Haunting the"bloody
shirt in Its most active and useful days,
does not appear to disturb their sense of
consistency.
1t is not true that the Republican party
il responsible for the disturbed condition
of society in the South, any more than it
is true that the Republican party is re-
sponsible for the civil war. The Demo
! Gratis in 1860 talked of the wickedness
! of the Republicans in breeding sectional
J strife, as the Democrats now talk of the
responsibility Of the Republicans for the
absence of reconciliation and harmony
IN states lately in rebellion. 1t is true
there would have been no war had the
Republicans made no contest against the
encIoachments of the slave-power. Had
! the people of the North been willing to
remain slave.hunters at the dlctation OF
the slaye.owners; had they assented to
| see the Territories Of this Union cursed
| with the crime of human bondagei had
they rested easy as the accused institu-
ton spread its debasing power oyer all
| our land; had the freemen Of the North
been altogether deaf 10 the petitions of
those in bonds-in bonds and chains in
this typical land of the free and home of
! the brave;-bad Republicans been cor
tent to see our system of government,
! revolutionized; had they assented to
have the chains forged upon their own
limbs-then, indeed, there would have
| been no war! But the spirit of freedom,
the love of liberty, was not dead in the
land and so the stars and stripes went up,
! and freemen rallied to that standard, and
| the power of the slave-driver Wal washed
| out in the blood Of patriots. 1t is true
| that the Democrats from first to last as
sured us that the war was a failure-that
the South never could be subdued. SO
late as 1854, at the Chicago convention,
they resolved:
"That this convention does explicitly
| declare, as the sense of the American
! people, that. after -four wears OF effort to
preserve the Union by the experiment OF
war, during which, under the pretense OF
a military necessity of war power higher
| than the constitution, the constitution
itself has beer disrcgarded in every part,
and the public liberty and private right
alike trodden down, and the material
| prosperity of the country essentially i'm
.- s,tsn- humanity lharfU and
the public welfare, demand that immedi.
ate efforts be made for a cessation Of
hostilities," etc.
The answer of the American people
need not be repeated. The following
| year the wal closed in a complete triumph
| for the Union arms.
Now, that contest at arms involved
certain principles which the Republic
cans propose shall be maintained. As
there was no thought of surrcndering at
the dictation of the Chicago convention
in 1864, so now there is no thought of
surrendering at the dictation of the Dem
ocratic party of to-day. The Republicans
are charged, of course, with bringing to
the South contention, swindling, petty
tyranny, oppressive taxation, carpet-bag-
ism, the fatal color line, and the worst
side of Grantism." But they were charg-
| ed with more than this during tie war.
They were urged to surrender then;
they are urged TO surrender now. The
Iawless men of the South were excused
then; they are presented as martyrs now.
In fact the contest in principle is not
changed. Republicans during the war
desired a return of peace and the estab-
lishment of good will, but not at the
price suggested by the Democrats and
their allies. Republicans now desire
harmony and complete reconciliation,
but not at the cost of national honor.
While the Republicans of the North
are not altogether wise in their counsels,
and while there is weakness among the
Republicans of the South, there is ample
| room for the conviction that the Demo-
Gratis of the North do much to stir up
the unworthy passions of the ex-Confed
crates, and that the ex-~Confederates are
guilty of gross political and social Of
lenses through their u%nsubdued hatred
of the power that they failed to crush.
In many instances they have conspired
to make their local governments odious
they have formed secret compacts for in
timidation; they have sought to break
down the authority Of the government;
they have sought to demonstrate to the
North that they were always right and
the North always wrong. Still we are
gravely assured by our Northern Demo
cratic friends That "the Southern people
deserve, and will yet receive, the admira-
ton of mankind for the forbearance and
m~agnanimity which they have shown
under such trials" At the same time
we are receiving intelligence that the
political campaigns in the South are being
inaugurated with assassination and muir
der. The other day Hon. NJ. H. Twitchell
a Republican State Senator, of Louisiana,
Mr.. George King his brother-iu-law. and