Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-08-06
Free speech and Free Ballot
THE ONLY BASIS ron TRUE RECONCILIATION.
The closing portion Of Gen. woodlords Drattleborc
Spppch.1


THE ONLY BASIS ron A TRUE RECONCILIATION.
tThe closing portion Of Gen. woodfords Bratiloboro
Speech.l
The able lawyer, the courteous gentleman,
who so CALAMITY leads the Democrats TO inov-
table defeat in Vermont this fall, accepted
his nomination few days since in public
speech nj Burlington. In that he congratu-
lated his fellow Democrats that he belonged
to party which held conventions presented
candidates, conducted q canvass and cast votes
in every State and Territory in the Union. In
his congratulations l Join tonight. Free
speech and a free ballot arc at once the cor
ner-stone and cap-stone Of free government.
We Republicans believe in these things. Can
he congratulate you and that the Republican
party has absolute and complete protection
10. day, and enjoys free speech aud free ballot
in every State of this Union He seeks for
getfulness Of the past. He seeks for recon-
Citation and a new distribution Of Offices. lie
asks the Vermont Republicans to fall in line
under Hancock and the Democracy. Coming
into your State for fortnight's canvass, let
me frankly and at the threshold Of my discus
sions accept the issue which he tenders.
When II shall be as safe, personally and polt-
ically TO be q Republican in Mississippi as 1t
il to be a Democrat in Vermont, l will con-
sent that tho past be forgotten, and will only
ulhGuhh Win MIN INV ihhuNh WHICH ne btthb
to present; but as long as the shot gun or the
tissue ballot or false count DISTINGUISHES my
Republican brother in any southern State, my
manhood, honor, and my every instinct Of
patriotism, compel me to labor for the main
tenance Of the Republican party in control Of
the national government. You may call this
waving the bloody shirt if you will do not
think it is. You may call this n revival Of the
bloody past. l do not think it is. Our north
ern Republicans have heartily forgiven the
southern confederates. We intend that north
ern Democrats shall practically forgive south
ern Union men, and grant equal and fair play
to southern Republicans. Any other recon
Citation than this is cowardly and unmanly
on our part, and deserves and will receive the
contempt of all just and brave men. There
is one sentence in the Democratic platform
OF which l approve most earnestly, and that
is the one wherein they declare that the right
TO free ballot is the right preseryative of all
rights This is n good statement Of Republi-
can doctrine / remembered tho Hamburg
massacre. and / read il again. / It called the
wholesale naturalization frauds Of 1865 in
Democratic New York city, and l read it
again. The doctrine is sound, but the place
and the preacher seem queer. The prophecy
is the prophecy OF Balaam, but they into
whose startled ears il fell were indeed the
ern Democrats believed this truth in $50 we
should have been spared the horrors and I'M
told sufferings of the war. Did they believe
it to-day, would they act upon it to-day,
at least five southern States would vote for
Garfield next November by great and decisive
majorities. The honest acceptance and prac-
tice of this truth by all Democrats, north and
south, would be not only the sure defeat but
the final dissolution Of the Democratic party.
Here are found the real lines of the pending
political contest When the ballot shall be as
free in all the south as il is in all the north it
will be i'll order for Vermont to seriously con-
slider the propriety of honoring Mr. Phelps
with an election to her governorship but so
long as the Democracy enters a presidential
canvass with the unfair and unjust advantage
Of l3S solid electoral notes.-the vote of the
entire south, made solid by force and fraud,
by the shotgun aud tissue ballot and false
count, so long Vermont has neither the moral
right or political excuse for faltering in her
course. Her place and duty are still at the
front Of the Republican presidential column.
She took that leadership in 1856 For nearly
IA quarter Of a century her star has led the
way and guided our people, first to the restric-
tion of slavery and the freedom of the terri
tories, then to the preservation of our Union,
then to the enfranchisement Of the blacks,
then to the maintenance of the national cred
it and the payment of the national debt; and
last, to the establishment of industry of
labor, of business and Of prosperity, upon
the firm basis of financial honesty Why
should Vermont falter now ? We are fighting
the last battle that can ever be fought in this
country on old issues if We are only victori-
Gus now. Republican defeat now may turn
back the hands on the clock for II years, be-
cause Republican defeat now invites and
means solid South for 10 years to come
but Republican victory now means that the
solid South will be split, and split forever, be-
fore the congressional election of 1882. Re
publican victory now means the death and
burial Of old sectonalism, of slavery in the
south, and the coming in of normal and
natural condition of politics, when men of
like judgments, like instincts and like hopes,
north aud south, can act together, wisely, pat
rotlcally, and as citizens OF a common coun-
try. We stand to-day in politics where QUA
armies stood in military affairs six months be-
fore Richmond fell and Lee surrendered. The
. capture Of Richmond compelled the surrender
Of Lee, and ended the confederacy. So the
Democracy is almost at its last ditch now.
The defeat of the Democracy to-day means
the final surrender of the solid South, and
forever ends its dream Of political power and
rule. When the solid South disbands, there
will be no call, no need, for a solid North
but, on the ruins Of sectional contests, we
may build and have a solid Nation, based on
mutual interests, strengthened by mutual re-
spect and kept by mutual affection.