Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1880-07-21

r the 7th OF July, 1868, not only Z
prove my plain duty to Gen. Hancock
as the survivor of this glorious trium
virate, but also the duty OF all the peo
pie of Philadelphia to that incompara
bic soldier. | recall it at once as
personal pledge and promise, and thu
solemn covenant of great community
TO a soldier tla.
Meanwhile, the army of the Poto
mac, suddenly placed under the com
mand of General Meade, whom we ar,
[ proud to claim as a fellow citizen
hastoned Northward, and fell upon tn,
, rash and audacious enemy. Weknov
, the result. Neither our children, MOI
/ our children'S children, to the remoteS
{ generation, shall eUer forget u, or fail I,
{ remember il Dih a thrill Of gratitude ana
honest pride. The rebels were assaileC
with unexampled fury, and the gallant
, General Reynolds, a Pennsylvania
soldier, laid down his lite. The strug
gle ragged for several days, the losses
on both sides was fearful and still The
result seemed doubtful II zoe should
fail, Washington, Baltimore, Philadel
phid, perhaps Neto York, ,could be doom
ed. In this crisis Of the Nations fate Il
loaS Pennsylvania that came to the rescue
T 1T WAS GENERAL HANCOCK, A
! PENNSYLVANIA WHO so NO,
BLY, BORE THE BRUNT OF THE
4 BATTLE ON CEMETERY HILL
! do not stop to debate the other con
siderations that enter into this vital
issue the grave considerations that
demand the release Of my dear native
State from the desperate men who, in
the last ten years, have coldly crushed
out the pride Of our people, and placed
under the iron heel Of brutal inleriority
the hopes of our youth and manhood,
making Of this fair Commonwealth q
vast political Golgotha, and of our
proud city of Philadelphia an offensive
roost for the most desperate and vul.
gar mercenaries since the black days
OF Tweed and Tammany in New York.
| do not stop TO debate these consider.
ations now. 1t is not the time. But
this is the time to open to the common
mind our pledged word to the last Of
our great soldiers who placed us under
obligation that we fastened to avow,
and repeated over and over again My
own pledge binds me as my own note
Of hand. In law If it had been signed
TO promise to pay q money debt |
could be held by it, and my estate il
failed to pay it, In morals 1t is as
solemn as if ] had gone before a
magistrate and sworn to abide by IT,
And what is true OF myself is equally
binding upon others. What my fixed
judgment private or public, is of the
men who saved the American Repub-
lie, have not concealed. 1t is q
passion that grows stronger the more
| see the value of what has been saved
to ourselves and to all mankind. ! feel
IL as the rescue Of human freedom for
the ages to come. Iprize it, this over
throw Of the Rebellion, as the best
blessing to the South which made the
Rebellion. | cherish 1t because the
more | ponder the priceless value of
the enormous destiny saved, the more
eager ] am to convince the South that
they must aid to perpetuate it. When
severed my connection with the
Democratic party tweuty-three years
ago in company with Stephen A.
Douglas, Daniel Dougherty, David c.
Broderick, and later with Daniel S.
Dickinson, Matt. Carpenter John A.
Logan, and many more, it was because
that party seemed dedicated TO the
cause Of slavery and rebellion. With
victory over both, with emancipation
declared and obeyed, with free opinion
all yerthe land assured and sufficiently
established, with Kansas an empire Of
liberty under the resistless doctrine of
popular sovereignty, all my prejudices
against the South vanished, and /,
who at one time have seen the rebels
pursued with all the penalties Of the
law, and all the rigors Of the war,
speedily saw that | might have been
"rebel" II ! had lived in the South,
and that | must, to use Abraham Lin
coins loving maxim, "put myself in
their place" and forgive them, as |
hope God will forgive me my trans.
gressions, Hence, ever since General
Grants first election | labored to con-
vince my old Southern friends that
have been forced to stay in the Union,
that we intend to keep them in by
love; and Grant knows how often j
pleaded with him TO bear with them,
to remember that they were still our
own, that we had both been reared as
Democrats, and that we had known
the South, he in the army in Mexico,
and | in my long years Of residence
in Washington, and must make allow.
ances for them And how willing the
great soldier listened TO mo is proved
by his many attempts to show his
anxiety to aid and help the South /
need not say.
And now the Democratic party
comes forth with fresh gifts of repen.
tance. Now they again profler new
proofs Of their submission to the ideas
that conquered them, and present two
men for the votes Of the people at the
next Presidential election, one Of them
a lifelong friend, 10 phom I hare sho,cn
all Of us in Philadelphia oioe debt that
he made for as, and ohich, il zoe lived a
thousand years, zoe could not repdy. /
accept the responsibility. Twenty-Five
years ago in General Haneock's own
native county of Montgomery, when
he was a very young soldier, l spoke
at Mill creek, Conshohocken, October
End, 1858, and surrounded by thous-
ands of Democrats, | demanded that
James Buchanan should pay his debt
to freedom. He gave me his note that
he would allow the people of Kansas
TO frame their own laws in their own
way and in that movement among
the most active friends of free Kansas
were Hancocks's own relatives. We
forced the payment OF that debt, and
now we are here, in 1880, as Demo.
Gratis and Republicans Of Philadelphia,
to pay our debts to our preserver.
Like that Of James Buchanan TO the
people of Kansas, our debt was not
the result OF chance. II was tho out
growth OF spontaneous gratitude,
freely volunteered, eagerly and pas.
sionately pressed upon others. True,
Philadelphia was in great danger, and
fear sometimes inspires generosity /;
and Buchanan wanted votes, and TO
get them was ready TO swear to any.
thing. The great difference between
tho two was that Buchapan tried to
I n n