Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1877-12-03
On. ofthe Most Pslneea speeches ef the
Session.

right. II was not won BY the just and law
full methods known to an elective system Of
government to achieve, but . free ballot was
crushed 10 the iron grasp Of armed forces.
This was my judgmentin February and
March last, based upon. the testimony set
forth in . memorial sent to congress rigned
ov the republican state officers and senators
aud representatives m the general assembly.
That memorial was laid before the presid. n,
Immediately after his ina guration. Gov
ernor Chamberlain filed at the executive
department an elaborate argument in sup
port Of the legal proposition. that it con-
tained, and volumlnous testimony to sustain
its allegations az to matters of fact. When 1t
became known that the president contem
plated the removal of the troops from the
tate house thrill of horror went through
the hearts of the republicans of South Caro-.
lima, and they crowded the national capital
to make a solemn protest and earnest ap.
peal against the act which they were bound
to hold as the foule.t ,reachery aud the
most undeserved and untimely wrong Of
which the history of political parties. fur
nished .nv record. Rude and ignorant
and unletiered "a the mass of South Caro-
lima republicans may be, they were yet
loyal and true to the great principles Of the
republican party, and IN war and peace they
had gathered around the flag Of thus uni IN
with all the devotion with which the devout
Christian cl ngs to the cross Of his Redeemer.
As republicans they had never betrayed
heir trust, and they did not expect to be
betrayed. Through eight long years they
had b. en- hunted for their opinions rake,
but they held 'heir faith unchanged aud
asserted it by their ballots with inflexible
fidelity to their party. We are all familiar
With the incidents of the last memorable
presidential campaign. We all know that
had the electoral vote Of South Carolina
been cast against the republican nominees
democratic president would no. be oc
cupviug the white house, and u democra
would now be presiding over this budy. The
4. ubllcans of South Carolina, then, carried
Caesar and his fortunes" The republican
officials who constituted the board of state
canvassers guarded the integrity of that
ELECTORAL vote with fidelity which neither
threats, personal violence, nor the mandate
of judicial authority could swerve from the
path Of duty. They attested that fidelity.
even in the. dungeons of the common Jail OF
The county, to which they were consigned
for refusing to obey an order which in their
judgu ent was designed to overthrow the
ELECTORAL vote of the state. There was no
hint given then that upon the accession OF
HAYES the presidency he would remove
the troops whose presence alone enable
these officers to which they had been fairly
elected. No such coming event cast its dark
shadow through the iron bars oftheir pris n,
in December, 1876. Verify may the repub-
iicans of South Carolina and the entire south
exclsim. ~ have been wounded in the
house Of my friends" The arm that struck
the fatal blow was nourished by their de-
voted and unsuspecting service. l irresis.
tably here recall the lines OF England's great
poet.
plain,
No more through rolling clouds do soar
again,
Views its own feathers on the fatal dart
That winged the shaft that quivered in his
heart.
Though keen his pangs, yet keener far to
feel
He nursed the pinion that impelled the
steel"
The republicans of that state owe to-day
| to the clemencv of the vctors whatever Of
protection remains to them, and not TO the
administration they believed in, toiled for,
and inaueurated They would have suf
fered in silence and borne the ills that re-
publicanism !s heir to in that region could
they but discover elsewhere in the south
that era Of gold feeling, the :disintegration
OF their opponents, or even the uprising oi
the old-line whig element, which was SO
confidently prophesied and fondly anticpa
ted. The good feeling is confident to ex-
ultation over universal southern. democratic
domination. The south is solid, and the
old line whigs remain undiscovered, except
through the offer Of large premiums in the
shape of lucrative domestic and foreign ap-
pointments. With these strong incentives
to put in an appearance. their numbers can
be counted upon the fingers, and they have
followed so many strange gods since the
death of that noble old party, and been so
frequently rehabilitated in new costumes
that they defy recognition by their mosl
intimate acquaintances. While the presi-
dent was known to be meditating this &C,
which /" let slip tue dogs Of war upon the
republicans OF the south, some republican
senators who now assail me with harst
criticism because vote according to ths
dictates of my judgment and my conscienc.
upon question which is 10 no proper sens,
party question. we're either coldly neutra
or we're actively giving aid and comfort Il
to the Hampton government. ! repudiat
and disown the authority of such as thes
10 pass judgment upon my fidelity to th
republican party. remember, sir, th,
tremendous political crisis of last March
when the fate not only of the republican
party but of this great nation seemed I,
hang in trembling balance. There wer
whispers of holy or unholy alliances then
and it was spoken IN tones louder thai
whispers that the distinguished senate
from New York, now the republican
Achilles of the senate, would either joi
war against republican conpeers or retir
in moody wrath to his tent, bearing q
part In the battle that was big with th
fate of bis party. Yet my voice, sir. di
not swell the current of false surmise tha
imputed meditsted perfdy TO the honorabl
senator from New York. I cannot refrsi
from noticing briefly land justice to myse
demands that should notice it) th
ferocieus attack made upon me by the cent
tor from Vermont (Edmuuds). That sen,
tor read upon the floor Of the senate lai
Monday alibellous article against me writ
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