The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1876-01-20
THE GREAT DEBATE.

OuI Mlll INV hiiOW No w o. -
full the great debate in the lower House
of Congress on Amnesty, much as we
would like to, On an inner page our
readers will find one days contest pretty
full. On the 1lth General Hill, of tieor-
gia, made his great speech in which he
had tilts with Blaine and Garfield. Mr..
Blaine in his speech had harped upon
the charges of cruelty to the prisoners
confined at Andersonville and Mr.. Hill
showed that the mortality among Con-
federates in northern prisons was greater
in proportion. Mr., Hill also quoted
from the Richmond Examiner which
blamed Jefferson Davis for not retaliating
upon the North. Mr.. Hill closed his
speech as follows:
But why bring up such subjectsP War
is always horrible. War always brings
hardships, death, sorrow, pain and de-
yastation, and he is unworthy to be con-
sidered statesman, looking to the paci-
tication of his country, who will parade
the horrors inseparable from war for the
purpose of keeping the strife which pro-
duced those horrors. My message to the
gentleman from Maine is this; There are
no Confederates in this House. There
are no Confederate ambitions, desires or
purposes in this House. But the South
is here, and here she Intends to remain.
Enthusiastic demonstrations on the
Democratic side and in the galleries. ]
Let fanaticism do its worst, let it pass its
nullifying acts, let it trample on the Con-
stitution, abrogate the pledges of the
fathers, incite raids on our people, multi
ply infdelities until they shall be like
stars of heaven or sand on the
seashore, without number; but know
this, for all your iniquities the
South viii. never again seek a
remedy in the madness of another Sc
cession. Renewed applause. We are
here; we are in our fathers house; our
brothers are our companions, and we are
at home, thank God, Enthusiastic ap-
plause. We come to crafty no ven
geance; to retaliate no wrongs; to resent
no past insults; to open no strife. We
come with a patriotic purpose todo what
ever in our political power shall be to re-
store an honest. economical and consti-
tutional administration of the Govern
ment. We come charging on the Union
no wrong to us. The Union never wrong
ed the South. The Union has been an
unmixed blessing to every section, to
every State, to every man of every color
in America. We charge all our wrongs
to that higher law fanaticism, which
never kept pledge or obeyed law. We
sought to leave the association of those
who would not keep fidelity or covenant.
We sought to 90 by ourselves, but so far
from having lost our fidelity to the Con.
stitution, we hugged it to our bosom and
carried it with u.s. Brave Union men of
the North, followers of Webster and Fill
more. Cass and Douglas, you who fought
for the Union for the sake of the Union,
YOU who ceased to fight when the battle
was ended and the sword was sheathed,
with you we have no quarrel. We felt
your heavy arm in the midst of the
struggle, but above the roar of cannon
we heard your voice of kindness calling,
Brothers, come back" We are here to
cooperate with you, to do whatever we
can in spite of our sorrows to rebuild the
Union, to restore peace, to be blessing
to the country, and to make the Ameri-
can Union what our fathers intended 1t
should be-the glory of America and the
blessing of humanity. But you, gentle
men, who prosecuted us by your infdeli'
ties until you drove us out of the Union;
you who then claimed to be the only
friends of the Union which you had be-
fore denounced as league with death
and covenant with hell; you who fol-
low up the war when the soldiers who
fought it have made peace and gone to
their homes; to you we have no conces-
sions to make. Martyrs owe no apology
to tyrants, and while we are ready to
make every sacrifice for the Union, Sc
cession, however defeated and oppressed,
will confess no sin 10 fanaticism however
bigoted and exacting. Yet while we
make to YOU no concession, we say this:
We come even to you in no spirit of re-
venge. We have but one ambition, and
that is to add our political power to the
patriotic Union men of the North in or
der to compel fanaticism to obey the laws
and live in the Union according to the
Constitution. We do not propose to COM
pei you by oaths, for you never kept
them. The South did the Union one
great wrong and we come, as far as we
can, and repair it. We wronged the
Union grievously when we left it, to be
seized and rent and torn blythe men who
had denounced it as league with death
and covenant with hell. We ask you,
gentlemen of the Republican party, to
rise above all your animosities and to for
get your old sin. Let us unite to repair
the wrongs that distract and oppress the
country. Let us turn our backs on the
past, and be it said in future that he shall
be the greatest patriot, the truest patriot,
the ablest patriot, who shall do most to
repair the wrongs of the past and to pro.
mote the glories of the future! Loud
and sustained applause on the Democratic
side of the House and in the crowded
galleries.
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