Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1879-10-09

that we know of on the great issue of
the day. As in the case of Garfield and
Blaine, the people were not OtdiSappointed.
They heard some grand speaking at
Bridgeport, and went away feeling that
it was indeed good for them and for
everybody else, to have been there. 1t
fell to Captain Danfords lot to precede
Messrs. Fostor and Gibson, and although
his voice is familiar to the people across
the river, yet as even they heard him
gladly, for his remarks were full of good
reasons why they should rally in their
strength to the support of the Republi-
can ticket at the great contest on the
14th. -t
There was, of course, great curiosity to
see and hear Foster, the next Governor.
The boys saluted him as Governor as he
came ON the stand. Everybody seemed
to welcome him as Governor. They SEEM
ed to look upon him as the fOrordained
Chief Magistrate of Ohio, and to regard
the vote at the polls as simply a formal
ity that had already been anticipated by
the in stincts of the people. There is so
much of "Tippecanoe and Tylor too" in
the present campaign in Ohio that the
result seems plainly indicated in ad-
vance. Victory is in the air for the Re
publicans, unless all atmospheric signs
are to fail this exceedingly dry weather.
Charley Foster is fine looking man
hale, hearty and compact; his head and
body well put together. He is just in
the prime of life and has served three
terms in Congress, and is therefore a
man of large experience in public af-
fairs. His practical characteristics as a
legislator secured for him place on the
most important committee i'll Congress.
that of Ways and Means. He is very
calm. matter of fact speaker, resembling
President Hayes in the method and eX-
actneSS of his statements, us well as in
the hard horse sense of his views of the
business relations of the country. We
should say that he has first class qualifi-
cations for the GovernorShip of great
and prosperous State like Ohio. All
that he said Saturday night (and he was
very hoarse and almost unable to speak,
WAS so straightforward, plain, unOsten-
tatiOus and easily understood that it
went right home to the intelligence Of
the people and commended the speaker
to their confidence and esteem. To hear
such man is to feel that if elected he
will prove to be the right man in the
right place. We trust that the people
of Belmont county will see to it that no
effort on their part is wanting to secure
the services of as fit a man us Foster for
their Chief Magistracy.
Of Gen. Gibson's speech to that i'm
mense audience, no pen can give any ad-
equate report or description. As Il
stumper he is simply a marvel of elo-
INIrI
ment. He is the modern Tom COrwin
of Ohio with perhaps as much power to
move and control an audience through
| all the shades of human emotion as ever
that wonderful man possessed. He was
a brave soldier in the war. Served all
through it and was severely wounded.
He led the first regiment that crossed
the Ohip river into Kentucky. Speak
| ing Of the "bloody shirt" he said that his
own shirt had been bloody in battle, and
he had not forgotten who was response
| BILE for it, and that he did not intend
that the party that had harrassed the
rear of the Union army and protracted
the war; pronounced it a failure, and that
had needlessly made SO many bloody
shirts and shrOuds, should throw dust
in the eyes of the people and disguise
their attempts to revive the Self-same
issue that let,d the war, and secure by
legislation what they lost at the can
mons mouth. He meant to keep the
people in mind of their duty, to keep
and guard the results of the war, and to
warn them against putting the power of
this government in the hands of the
men who had on all possible occasions
shown that they were hostile to those
results, and who had even gone so far
as to declare in their National Conven-
tiou that said results were unconstitu-
tlOnal, revolutionary and void.
AS word painter Gibson is wonder
fully endowed. He drew a picture of
the rebels firing on Fort Sumter, which
he said was an incendiary attempt to
burn the Temple of Liberty on this con-
tinent, and he pictured Abraham Lin
coin ringing the fire bells, calling on all
good and true men to assist in putting
out that fire. He said that the fire was
put out by the blood drawn from the
veins of the million and half of men
who had responded to the call of the
great fire bell ringer. He drew a graph
ic picture of the assault upon Fort Wag-
oner, in which the colored troops per-
formed a prominent part, and paid a
glowing tribute to the negro color-bear-
er, who, with one arm shot off and leg
mashed to a jelly by solid shot, still, as
he lay upon the field, held up-the colors
with his remaining hand, and told his
comrades that his orders were never to
let the cJlOrS touch the earth, and they
never had. "NOw, | don't say" said
Gen. Gibson, that the negro troops are
the best troops in the world, but do say
that Il race that can produce heroes like
that ought not to be bought and sold"
He drew a picture of the varying for
tunes of the war until Abraham Lincoln !
issued the; Emancipation Proclamation,
and until we were brought to inscribe |
justice to a wronged race on 0ur ban
ners. Then, said he, the God of Isreal |
led our armies to victory, as He did those |
of his ancient people, and was our cloud |
by day and our pillar of fire by night |
Looking up to the sky he spoke of "Abra-
ham Lincoln, the martyr President, !
standing now before the throne of Jeho- |
yah, holding up the shackles that had |
been struck from the limbs of four mil
lions of Gods poor" In that greatest |
and grand6st deed of all history the
Democratic party had no lot or part. 1t |
would stand forever as the inspired act
of the Republican party. He said that
the history of the Republican party was
a succession of great deeds for the eleva-
tiOn of mankind, through the develop
ment of the country, the progress of the
arts and the spread of intelligence. He
the Democratic party to a
man riding backwards in the cars. They
had never recognized anything for the
last eighteen years until it was past.
They had opposed everything and been
defeated and defeated time after time,
up the path of progress. Their
whole career, beginning with Buchan-
ans administration and continuing on
down to this time, had simply been one
series of mistakes and fail
ures. What do we want to put such