Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-09-10
CHARLES FOSTER.


ing relentless war upon Charley Foster,
the Republican candidate for governor of
that State. They have rummaged in the rec
ords of the past and exposed not only his
personal cowardice at the time of the coun-
try's greatest danger, but his political dis
honesty, stretching over his entire public
career. When the war broke out he was a
patriot to the backbone. He urged every
body to enter the army and fight in defense
of the Union; yet he forgot to enter the
army himself, though he might have had q
commission of no mean rank. He stayed at
home and sold goods to the wives, daughters
and mothers of the soldiers who had enlisted
in obedience to his persuasions, coupled with
their truly patriotic impulses, and pocketed
his cent per cent on every transaction. In
stances are shown and duly attested where
he has, to satisfy bill against soldiers
widow, seized upon every article of value
she possessed. This was Fosters plan of
defending his country at the time that Gems.
Ewing and Rice were fighting in the fore
most ranks for the preservation of the integ-
rity of the Union of States. And yet be has
the effrontery to come forward and boldly
charge that these brave men, against whose
loyalty the tongue of suspicion has never
been wagged, with being in conspiracy to
overthrow the results of the war. A man,
too cowardly and mercenary to risk life or
property on the result of the conflict, charg-
ing two of the bravest officers of the army
of the North with treason! It is a spectacle
that should cause blush of shame to man
tel the cheek of every person who says a
word in his behalf.
Mr.. Fosters inconsistency as a partisan is
az notable as his cowardice in the face of
danger. He ia now one of the loudest-
mouthed of those who are declaring
that the people of the Southern States are
still disloyal, and that their representatives
in the Senate and House are men who should
not be trusted with legislative powers lest
they use that privilege to destroy the gov
eminent While in Congress Mr.. Fosters
vote was uniformly recorded in favor of the
restoration to the privileges of citizenship of
those whom he now so savagely denounces.
1t may with propriety be asked why, if he
believed the Southern people disloyal, he
voted to remove their political disabilities.
If he pursued such q course with a sus-
picion or conviction that the parties in in
terest were other than loyal men at the time,
he was false to the trust reposed in him, and
is unworthy of any further confidence.
Mr.. Foster asserts, and his political
friends assert on his behalf, that there is still
| a political discrimination at the South against
the negroes, and that their rights are not re-.
spected. He has evidently changed his mind
since he wrote his famous report on the
Louisiana election in 1874, at which time he
separated from his Republican associates in
the conflict. The report alleges the falsity
of all the charges he is now promuleatinp
against the people of the South, and alleges
more in their favor than has ever been
claimed by the Democratic press. After re-
citing that the laws discriminating against
the colored people had long been repealed
that the registration was prima facie fraudu-
lent and in the interest of the Republican
party; and that there was no intimidation OF
either white or colored voters on the part OF
the Democrats, Mr.. Foster subscribed his
name to this emphatic declaration:
Against such facts, it seems to us idle to "a
sumo that the disturbances 80 vividly pictured
| by the minority could have kept up through
out the State such feeling of Intimidation a.
would justify the assumption that but for that