The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-01-11
CANTON, OHIO, JANUARY II, 1871.


but a question Of the spoils of Office
They have so long held the reins of gov.
ernment that they have come to believe
the government is their property, and
that it is treason for Democrats to aspire
to power. If it was understood that they
were willing to abide by any law, or
conform their conduct to any principle.
the country would have little to fear,
But their history proves that nothing is
too inconsistent or too unscrupuous to
be attempted when it serves their ends
During the war they claimed it was car
ried on simply to restore the Union, with
the rights Of all the states unimpaired,
and yet the moment the war was over
they robbed states of their rights without
stint. Declaring during the war that the
states were all in the union, and even
allowing Virginia, Tennessee and Louisi-
ana to be represented in congress, while
they we're also sending representatives
to the confederate congress at Richmond,
no sooner was the rebellion conquered
than they drove these states from their
places on the floor Of the federal congress
and, required them to pass under the
yoke of Reconstruction" resolving in
their presidential convention of 1868
that each state must regulate suffrage for
itself, in six months they adobted the
fifteenth amendment. Declaring in the
convention that nominated Grant that
the public bonds were payable in green
backs, the first act of congress signed by
Grant declared them payable in coin
Claiming the right to determine whether
states shave legally voted they threw out
as they listed Georgia, Louisiana and
Arkansas, and now the voice Of South.
ern returning board is in their ears di-
vine oracle. Enfranchising the negro
in the name of freedom they now deny
him his rightto vote any ticket but theirs
Claiming to go behind the great seal of
Oregon the great seal of Louisiana is held
to sanctify the fraud Of the returning
board. Claiming that the face of the re-
turns is final in South Carolina they
throw out thirteen thousand Democratic
votes in louisiana. DenounciRg the
returning board of Louisiana two years
ago as infamous they now proclaim it as
paragon ofpurity and uprightness. In
the face of the speeches Of all their lead
ers at all times heretofore, claiming for
Congress the supreme rightto canvass
the presidential count, they now Insist
that the president Of the Senate has can
vassing omnipotenCe. There is not a
promise they ever made that they have
not broken; there is not principle they
avowed that they have not dsowned.
Such are the leaders whom the honest
masses of the Republicans allow to lead
them to the very brink of he unscrupu
lous usurpation now threatened Think
not, my republca friends, that they will
pause unlesSyour displeasure give them
Cause. They do not admit that we have
any rights. The more violent of them
would inaugurate war rather than sur
lrender power to US. To the conscience
OF the Republican masses then our ap
| peal is made. You have seen the army
used without warrant Of law to influence
elections you have seen the purse of the
republic opened to defray political cam
pagn expenses you have seen the In.
terror department turnedin into an election.
eering machine, with its headquarters in
New York, and its chief levying contri
buttons on federal officeholders for elec-
ton expenses; you have seen the depart
ment of justice itself using the quirks of
the law to procure the triumph of a party.
You have seen the representatives Of
state driven from their own senate house
in time of profound peace by federal
interference. And even now you behold
the chief executive quietly coiing round
the national capital the folds of military
power.
! J. The divine right Of kings was the myth
of tyrants. The sovereignty Of the peo
pie islthe ever living gospel of liberty.
Though natural freedom is the gift of God
constitutional liberty has been wrested
from the minions of power by the strong
hand of the people and preserved and
handed down to,us by the valor and wis
dom of our forefathers. The Democrat
ic party has ever been the great apostle
of the people. 1t batled forthe guaran
tees of personal rights when the constitu'
ton was formed" 1t opposed the alien
and sedition laws at the beginning of the
century, the dark lantern crusade against
religious liberty in the days the Know
Nothings and the arbitrary arrests and
illegal imprisonmeats of the late war. 1t
clamored for rtherights ofthe masses and
the interests Of labor against oppressive
tariffs and moneyed monopolies and
government subsidies, and it has ever
stood as a wall of fire against the inva
sion by partisans and bigots of the free
dom of speech, the liberty Of the press
and the rights of conscience.
Inspired by these great ideas, clinging
to the constitutional Union of our fathers
and walking in the footsteps of law and
precedent, we denounce this thrtatened
usurpation. Letthe people rise up with
out respect to party and demand that
Justice and the popular will shall be res
pected, that fraud and double dealing
shall-be rebuked and the reins of Gov
ernment placed peacefully in the hands
of their president Samuel Tllden-
whose election has been certified by the
law and authenticated by the great seal
of the people.
Hon. John G. Thompson read tele
grams from the Democratic State Con-
ventions Of Indiana and West Virginia,
and letter from Hon. R. P. Spaulding
of Cleveland, was read and greeted with
applause. ".'''''"-,'.'."....'
Hon. George H. Pendleton's able and
acceptable speech will be given in our
next weeks issue. .... ......i-.t
RESOLUTIONS. ga1a8
At,the close of Mr.. Pendleton's speech
Hon. J. F, Mckinney, chairman of the
committee on resolutions, reported the
following, in reading which he was fre.
quently interrupted by loud and long
cheering and other demonstrations of