River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1877-09-27

not be dry TO you my friends, Having
met the president of tie United States
when he first came upon Southern soil
the authorities in Louisville did me the
honor to invite me to Join him there. and
that gentleman himself added to that hon.
or by expressing the wish that | should
come. | went there expecting to remain
few hours TO greet him on Southern
soil as a Southern man, and / recognize
in him a man higher than a party man,
as he rose TO be a patriot Applause
And it has been my additional good for
tune to accompany MIN as he iourneyed
southwark. | think we may say to-day
that he has struck the solid South. He
is here in Chattanooga, standing here up
on your battle-scarred plains looking at
and seeing every hillside crowned with
the evidences of war, remembering that
your soil has been stained by priceless
blood, poured out by brave men who were
fighting honestly for their convictions on
each side. Remembering all that, / am
glad to come here with him and see the
motto that you have written there ofpeace
and harmony once more restored in our
beloved country; and, my friends, in the
| few remarks that / have had the hon
or of making. as / have been
in this triumphant procession of the pres
ident, have studiously avoided any al
fusion to politics and tried to subordinate
them entirely to a feeling of patriotism,
and urge upon you, men of the south, as
far as possible to forget the past differ
ences between our people and to devote
yourselves to developing and opening up
the best resources of the country. | want
to urge upon you this thing and you will
have power and peace and happiness
once more. have not spoken ofpolitics.
II was my misfortune perhaps to differ
| in politics with the President Of the
United States, but Democrat as | am,
Democrat as | have been, there is no man
in America to whom | more cheerfully
do honor than to the Republican Pres
ident of the United States. | do that,
my friends, because he is showing that
he is president of the whole United States ;
do that because he has in the very first
act of his administration lifted that great
pressure which was upon the neck of'my
own people. Many then failed, he but
did his duty. Many of them had never
smelt powder. Show me the man who
will do his duty without fear, and
who Will not do more than his duty, and
| clasp hands with him and will stand
upon the same platform. Applause
He has brought back peace to our people.
| He has shown that men who fought each
other can meet ia peace and fraternity
without any loss of respect. We could
not do it when the State was pinned down
by the bayonet and my right arm
should have dropped from my
shoulder before / would have given
my hand in peace while my
State was pinned down by bayonets. APP
plause. When we felt that every State
was equal, every man in every State was
| equal, white and black, when the great
Republican party, the dominant party,
| the representative ofmen whom we fought.
came forward and said we respect you as
men who fought for your convictions, as
men who fought bravely and as long as
they could fight; when they came for
ward and said that to us of the South and
extended to us the hand of peace
and said, we were only fighting to
restore the union, come back into the
household of states, come back to the
hearthstone of your fathers, felt that
better things would be accomplished. |
felt as a Southern soldier as a rebel if you
choose, could come back. Applause.l
told the men in Illinois that l had
fought them as long and as hard as l
could and would have been fighting them
now if l had been ordered to do so. They
honored and respected me for it ana
that's the way for us to meet you, as
brave men should meet, if not forgetting
the past, and least drawing curtain over
it, looking not at the bloody past which
is full of sorrow to all of us, but looking
forward to a brighter and higher future
when all of us can march on bravely,
honestly, truthfully, each one doing his
duty to the whole country, leaving the
consequences to God. Long and con-
tinued applause