The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-09-15
Speech of Mr.. Key.

Postmaster General Key was
present at the Soldiers Reunion, at
Marietta, Ohio, on Friday, 18th inst,
and spoke as follows:
FelLoaU- Citizens-I appear before
you under peculiar circumstances.
You have assembled here to recite
the victories which you have won in
former days, to recount the trium-
phal results which you have achieved.
l appear before you as one of the
soldiery from whom your victories
were won, your triumphs achieved,
but, my friends, the cordiality with
which 1 have been received makes
me forget that we have ever been enc
mics, and l assure you that would
much rather meet you here to-day,
as friends, than in the conflict of arms
as you have been met heretofore.
Applause. My friends, the flag l
fought for four years has disappeared
from the face of the earth; the gov
eminent 1 attempted with my COM
peers to establish is no more. We
have but one flag, and that floats
over every foot of our territory. We
have but one Constitution, and that
is the Constitution as it is. Cheers.
Our quarrel, my friends, was inner
tied. Slavery Was established by
our fathers. 1t was established by
the men of the North as well as of
the South. 1t wasa relic of former
age. AS the ages progressed, as the
country progressed, the free States
became profoundly impressed with
the idea that slavery was wrong !;
that it was a sin against Heaven and
liberty A voice-"And it was.'
The people of the South had been
educated under different ideas. Their
statesmen upon their platform de-
Tended it, and their ministers before
holy affairs taught the people that it
was right, and the people of the
Southern States believed it was right.
A conflict from time to time, a con-
flict of opinion grew up. We had
adjustments; we had the Missouri
Compromise, the compromise of 1850,
but yet it would not suit. At last
free ideas so far prevailed that Lin
coin was elected to the Presidency
of the United States. The people of
the South, afraid that the institution
of slavery was in danger, said "We
have debated this quarrel in legis-
lative halls, on the stump, in the
judiciary tribunals, we have debated
it every where. Now let US fight it
OUT" and then took up their arms
and they said, we leave these debat-
able questions to the power of arms
and the sword, and we fought and
fought brayely. Each section of the
country fought for what it thought
was right. What was the result?
Why, the South was defeated, and
as men and soldiers they were bound
to submit with good grace to the re-
suit and admit that the result was
right, that the tribunals they had Sc
lected had decided the controversy
against them. Sirs, this is the vic.
tory, this is the triumph. The ver-
dict was against US, the judgement
was pronounced against us, and what
was it? 1t was put in the three
to the Constitution.
The first declared that slavery should
never exist anywhere in this broad
land, the second declared that every
man who was born in the United
States should be a citizen of the Uni
ted States. All men, white or black,
were made equal before the law-not
only this, but they declared that the
public debt of the United States
should never be repudiated. They |
declared that no claims should be |