Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-09-24
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IlrOuSn lVS pOsltlOu hlOuo HES ilS Only IOpo VI
success. l make no apology for putting the
perilous national issue now joined above all
State issues The Republican party be-
ieves, first of all things, in the abso
Lutte supremacy of the constitution and
the laws of the nation We are thus
early, by the action of the Democratic party at
the last session of Congress, forced upon the
first line Of the Presidential canvass of next
year. The rebuke Of that revolutionary action
by majority of the people of this State,
speaking through their ballot-boxes in Novem-
Der next, will be the assurance of the complete
overthrow Of this new attempt to subvert the
constitution. The Democratic party lacks now
only the executive department. to control the
Government. The Congress has already passedto
the absolute rule of that over mastering South
ern section of the party which. by a more than
two thirds majority, chosen always for its con-
spicuous fidelity to the Rebellion, dictates the
action of its Northern followers. 1t is OF this
Democratic party I am speaking to-day, which,
despite all debate upon the question of North
ern or Southern responsibility for the initia-
ton of any given measure of Govern
mental policy, can alone control and
does fix the final impress and give it
effect This ascendency in the House of Rep
resentatives has been gained by clutching the
increase of representation given by the Four
teenth article of amendment to the constitu-
ton, meanwhile exhausting the catalogue of
crimes to defraud the class who form the basis
of that increase of the benefit which should &C
crue to them and, by thus arrogating to them
selves double the legislative power to which
they are entitled, curtailing the just influence
of other States in the making of laws and the
administration of the Government. In the in
science of power thus gained the Democratic
party becomes defiant in it's denial of the right
of the Government to defend itself by regulating
the national elections or by enforcing Its
statutes for the protection of its citizens Ell
w the
It denies the Government any participation in
the control of proceedings which affect the
common defense" and the general welfare"
Anarchy may reign supreme on the day of an
election involving the interests of the whole
people, but the Government has no power to SUBJ
due it. DENYING with deadly determination, as
Just now at Yazoo, even the right of candidacy
to one differing from the dominant jority,
this solid South asserts its right in carnival of
rites, shot-guns masks, red shirts, and tissue
ballots to elect its own Congress, which shall
enact the laws-revenue, commercial, financial,
and others-affecting and binding the persons
and property of the whole country. Such is
the party which, intrenched in Congress and
solid South, proclaims it's purpose to turn back
the finger on the dial and to reverse the egisla-
ton of the nation for the last eighteen years.
THE DISHONORED SOUTH.
Who are these demanding that their states
manship and patriotism shall shape and con-
troll the destinies of this nation? In the knowl-
edge of every man of ordinary intelligence in
the land, they are minority of the legal voters
of the United States, making up in force what
they lack in numbers; suppressing by fraud
and oppression the vote of the emancipated
citizens of the South; standing always across
the pathway of the progress OF the masses;
despising the rule of the MAJ ority; educated to
despotism and violence, and impelled by one
controlling purpose born of their barbaric in
stitution-to rule their section in their own way
They are party led and dominated by those
whose violated constitutional oaths and for
sworn allegiance to the Government are the
only testimonials Of their fidelity to the Union,
and whose contempt for the Government and
law-defying spirit are shown by their neglect,
in their entire domains, to bring to justice even
one of the numerous foul assassins of United
States officers, guilty only of attempting to
discharge their duty in executing the laws
of the United States-a party whose leaders
launched the spurious Confederacy, with ne
| gro slavery as its cornerstone, and which was
| buried in the abyssmal depths of that out
| growth Of treason, but which, resurrected by
| the beneficence OF the Government, rewarded
its clemency by resisting at every step the work
of reconstruction, the amendments to the con-
stitution, and the legislation necessary to give
them effect Who are those who demand to be
made the sole custodians Of the national faith?
| A party which, on it's dismissal from power in
| 1861, left the credit of the Government dishon-
ored; which, during the war, flooded the South
came as plenty as the drifting leaves of autumn,
and as worthless as the waste parchment
| signed at Montgomery; which, since the war,
has been engaged in the South in the open work
of scaling down and repudiating its State and
municipal mum OBLIGATIONS by the whole
upon the obligations of the nationi which,
| in National Convention and Congress,
has resisted to the last the great measure of re-
sumption-the browning achievement of the
Republican party, and the first instance in the
| worlds history in which nation has redeemed
| its forced loans on demand, without discount
and in the money Of the world, and under the
influence of which every PROSTATE industry in
| the land is throbbing with new life, and the
whole country entering upon career of I'M
| precedented prosperity. This solid South, to
| whom our obligations are the irritating token
Of their subjugation to the national author,
| ity, now demands that it shall be invested
with the sole power OF regulating, collecting
| and disbursing the revenues of the country,
upon which its faith rests, through which
we saved the Government, and which,
| perverted or abused, would cripple and
| or even it's own existence. Who are these
who, to infame the partisan Ignorant conjure
| up the use of the army as an instrument to
| o7erawe State authority, and shout themselves
hoarse over the phantom? 1t is the party OF
Jefferson Davis, under whose order, as Secre-
| tary of War, in 1856, United States dragons
rode down and dispersed the free-State Legis-
lature of Kansas. Who are those who pirate of
the freedom of elections and the sanctity of the
ballot? 1t is the party which, by the denial OF
free discussion, by, lawlessness, violence and
assassination, ballot-box stufing and the in
vasion of meetings and polling places by bands
of armed rufians, has Knocked the sanctity OF
| the ballot, and has made, in the South, the re-
| publican form of Government guaranteed BY
the constitution by-word and farce.
| REPUBLICAN RIGHTS AND DEMANDS.
| To these demands the Republicans Of New
York make this answer: We love honorable
peace and hate contention; but we put the SUI
premacy of the constitution and the law, JUS
tice and our own equality in the Government
before cowardly peace and craven submission
We acknowledge the sovereignty of the people
within the rule of the constitution. The wa,
of the rebellion was fought in vain if it failed
to establish the doctrine that the will of the
majority, fairly expressed, shall be the SUI
preme law CT the land The majority have
successfully asserted their fidelity to the Unior
upon countless battle fields, and at every fail
trial by an honest ballot and, despite the mach
| inations and revolutionary aggressiOns OF