Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-03-30

real heart and brain of the whole country
are satisfied 10 try this policy, so far as i
has been developed. They are satisfied t.
stand by the President in this matter. The,
know that this policy is only the means to al
end; and if this policy fails, | tell you to
night that the Pres dent has got the brains
and he has got the pluck to change his policy
Just as often as the end to be attained 10
qnires change. [Great applause
THE nouEBoNs AMI HE rMrLACAELEs.
Of course, there arc men South and North
who can never be conciIiated. They are the
implacahles in the South-the Bourbons in
the North. Nothing will ever satisfy them.
The lmplacables want to own negroes and
to whip them; the Bourbons never will be
satisfied until they can help catch one.
Bourbon in the majority is an lmpacable.
An lmplacable in the minority is Bourbon.
| We do not appeal to these men; We appeal
from them. But there arc in the South
thousands of men who have accepted in good
faith the results of the war. There are
| thousands of them who admit that they were
not successful in the late civil strife. There
| are thousands of these men in the South
who wish to preserve this Union. They are
tired of strife. They are longing for II real
Union, based upon mutual respect and con-
colored man should be free. They are will
ing that he should vote for the Government
of his choice; willing that his children should
be educated; willing that he should have all
the rights Of an American citizen. There is
air enough for us all, let everybody breathe.
There is water enough for us all, let every
body drink. There il liberty enough for us
all, let everybody be free. The man who is
not willing to extend to every other human
being every right that he claims for himself
is dishonest, mean, and selfish man. Zap
plause. The men, North and South. who
still love, this country, are tired of the In
placables, they are disgusted with the Bour-
bons. These men wish to unite with the
patriotic men of the North-with the men in
the North who have an interest at stake il
the great work of establishing Govern
ment law. For my part, call me OF what
party you please. am willing to join hands
with these men, without regard to race, color
or previous condition. (Applause.l These
men of the South have already made us their
debtors.
WHAT SOUTHERN coNGREssMEN DID.
Let me tell you something If the High
JOINT Commission had failed; if the Vice
President had never counted the vote; if the
election had been thrown into the House of
iAtpithtutatNts, Shuuti d. llluen WOulu not
have been elected, but Rutherford b. Hayes
would have been elected by Southern votes.
[Great applause | know what am talking
about. During the last Congress the South
ern members-not all of them, but enough
of them. men who had fought upon the field
OF war against the life of our country-then
held III their hands, so to speak, the destiny
OF the United States. With one word they
could have plunged us into the hell of civil
war. We were not saved by the Northern
Democrats; We were not saved by the great
host of honesty and reform. We were saved
by those who once sought to destroy the ma
tion, because they had had enough of war.
[Applause.l They refused to act with the
Bourbons Of the North. They said: 1--WE
like this country; We know what war is; our
land was laid waste; our homes and towns
and cities were reduced to ashes; there shall
he no more war that we can prevent A
President shall be chosen, and that Presi-
dent shall be inaugurated." Men, l say who
had fought upon the field Of battle against
our party, stood up in the caucuses Of the
Democratic party in Washington and used
those very words. [Great applause To
them We are indebted for the peaceful solu-
ton of the question. They gave us peace:
they preserved it, so to speak, and am
willing TO unite with them to preserve that
priceless gilt forever. [Applause.l Why
should We live in enmity? Ii there is any
way to settle this question by reasoning, by
argument, by compromise, let us settle 1t in
thnt way. When the President delivered his
he knew exactly the position that
had been taken by these Southern men. lie
must have know it. He knew the patriotic
stand they had taken. He knew the oppor-
tunity had been presented to the South to |
: haf h.N ttI1
be knew the opportunity had been grandly |
by them. Knowing all this he ex- |
tended to these men, to the entire South
not the word of war, but the olive branch of |
peace.
hUBLiMITY OF THE PRESIDENTS $ COURSE.
In the political history of the world there
has been no grander, no sublimer act. Re-
now, that this WAS done in the
midst of political excitement, when the
storm of hate was at its fiercest; when the
Democratic party of the North was denounc-
ng the President as a fraud and cheat; when
t WAS demanded that Mr. Tilden take the
'ath of office and unsheath the boisterous
sword of civil war. Recollect, this was when
hey resolved IN Congress that the decision
If the High Commission was illegaland void,
when Senators III their places were charging
Judges of the Supreme Court with perjury,
Silliul and corrupt; when men in high
llaces were predicting the downfall of the
Republic; when the Democratic portion of
he Legislature of Ohio publicly renounced
IL confidence in God, the President, rising
hove the passions, preJudices, and hatreds
# the hour, above every confederation ex-
ept the honor, the glory and prosperity of
he whole country, SAID: "Let us be broth
rs; let us forget the past; let us forget every
hing except the debt we owe to the brave
nen who saved our nation. Applause. ! Let
IS dig grave. and dig it wide, ard dig it
eep. and let US throw into this sepulchre
he chains and whips and auction blocks; let
s leave there our prejudices. the hatreds,
nd heart-burnings OF the years that are
cad, and let us bury them out of the sight
+ men, and over them all let us write this
pltaph,
Sacred to forgetfulness'
We have fought and hated enough. Our
ountry il PROSTATE, labor is in rags; energy
as an empty hand; the wheels of the f.c-
'ry are still; in the state of prudence mon
y lies. locked by ths key of fear. Conf