The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1880-10-09
Hon. Charles >. Mays Speech.


ut Michigan City, Ind, upon the issues
of the campaign. After briefly consid-
cring the claims of the Republican party
MIR. May said:
The great AMI pressing political need OF TINS
country to-day - complete AMI raoicM
change of administration cba1gc wnlcn
shall clear out every department OF this Gov
ernment from high 10 low, aud give US great
The real mission of the Republican party
was acc Jmplishcd ten years ago, ana since
that time IL has simply been holding on 20 'n9
Offices by good luck and successful fraud.
ask Is IL not best that there should DC announcer
change, that Incompetent ana dlsnonest ON,
cials should be got rid OF, that me DOCKS snuuls
be examined, and the corrupt rings broken upF
The corruptions of the Republican party In
these recent years are not a matter OF deuuc,
ton or Inference, but, OF appaliing Iact anu
over and over again before Congressional In
yestigating committees; they have been con-
fesscd by some of the cbiefest perpetrators
aud culprits; they have been acknowledged Dy
all candid and fair-minded men in the organi-
xation. And these frauds and corruptions
have not been small and petty ones, mere PFC
cad; Hoes of come obscure Official mere ana
there, but startling and gigantic ones, and In
the highest pl lces-perjurers and briDe-takers
I'm Congress, thieves and robbers III the Capi,
net Our country has been scandaized ana
disrrlced by some of these corruptions In tho
ewes of the whole civilized world, and RepuD-
lcan institutions themselves made the yeer
and scott of mocking aristocrats ana uispe
levers in our form of government across the
water. ,,,.
can party, VINO recognize the force OF an tnis,
who realize that their party has grown corrupt
and dishonest, would be inclined to agree that
the time has come to make a change, IL tney
were not deceived and feluded by the idea that
this cannot safely be done on account OF past
transactions and party "records'-an idea
vigorously propagated and wholly relied upon
by the leaders and organs IN this canvass, pc
hiatt "A
10 turn upon the vital questions or to-day,
their party, burdened down 10 the waters
edge with its frauds and corruptions, must go
under. So they ruise the record cry, ana
the war cry again, and talk long and loud
about what happened fifteen or twenty years
Fellow-citizens. I want this Republican par
ty to come out into the open field of to-day
and fight the battle, like men of sense and
courage. on their own merits, " they nave
any and not on the virtues OF their fathers
and NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. which they have
strangely, il not impiousiy, neglected to imi-
tate. Come out and show, II you can, that your
party Is clean and pure, that Onrneid Is bet
ter man than Hancock, and that we do not
need any change. lf
No, fellow-citizens. they do not propose to
fght the battle in this way, but instead they
begin Just twenty years back, and say that the
Democratic party is responsible for the re-
bcllion, and that they put the rebellion down.
This assertion is the very beginning of their
argument this year, the broad proposition npon
which their argument rests. When we ask for
"A change Ia the Government we are met on the
threshold by this assertion, which is every
where thrust In our faces as reason why we
Now, have two conclusive answers to this
Republican stock nrgumeHt of the campaign:
First IL i not sermane 20 the question, IN y
material to the issue, in legssl phrase. For.
even, IL true, IL does not prove that 1t would
not be better for the country to elect Cen
d erssl Hancock and make a.change in the Offices
this year. But, in the second place, it Is not
true In fact. The Democratic party, as aparty,
did not rebel against the Government aud
,hs Republican party did not put down the re-
J1l Let me shoy you that ] am correct in this.
The Secessionists OF the South rebeiied against
. the Democratic party and put up a candidate
I'm opposition to II in 1850, year before they
went into open rebellion against the Govern
ment. They refused 70 support Douglas at
sewithdrew, and aftsfward nominated andvoted
for breckenridge. After they had gone, the
National Democratic Convention reassembled
at Baltimore and nominated stephen A. Doug
las q loyal man and q patriot, and supported
ffnn, as n party, for President that year. When
Mr.. Lincoln was elected, it was the men who
had left the Democratic party and voted for
{, breckenridge that went into rebellion, and
Mr. Lincoln and the new Republican Admins
tration had in their first fearful trial no more
Scred ns 1 Stephen peuEas she @
candidate of the National Democratic party.
Now tell me, by what mean, partisan logic can
y be made out that the Democratic party
left 1t and fought II to the death, and how did
II bring on a rebellion by voting for great
Northern statesman and patriot who stood
like a brother by Mr.. Lnc0n's side in that SUI
preme crisis OF the Government? No, this
reckless and wholesale charge against the
Democratic party will not stand. II Is a false
charge. and respectable Republicans should be
ashamed to make use of il.
There Is one Wow in which Democrats, posi-
bly,, contributed TO bring on the war, which by
comparison is not altogether complimentary
have seen, they resisted and refused 10 COM
promise with the slave-power, ana went brave
ly 20 certain defeat under Douglas rather than
submit to Southern dictation. After Mr.. Lin
coins election, the Republican party I'm Con-
gress voted to abandon their nOn-slavery ex-
tension principle. tho vital plank in their plat
form, and compromise with the South II there
by the war could be avcrted. They. were the
south. 80 -.
No party put down the rebellion. The peo-
pleput II down, the loyal people of the whole
country. Why, fellOw-citizens, look how the
figures brand this faisehood. In that same
election of 1900 which preceded the war, Mr..
Lincoln fthe Republican candidate) bad in
round numbers 1,s0J,U0J votes, while Mr.. Doug
las the candidate of the Democratic party
had I,sU0,000 votes. Now, l take IL that Mr..
Lincoln received all the Republican VOTES, as
there was no other Republican candidate, and
suppose 1t will not be contended that every
Sa re
Union soldiers enlisted In the war-l,00 ,0O
more than the whole Republican vote of the
countryi Now, my Republican friends, will
you tell me where this extra 1,uO0, 900 of Union
soldiers came fromT 1t is mathematically
demonstrated that they could not have come
from the Republican party, and yet evidently
they had something to do with putting down
the rebellion.
: Mr. Lincoln was elected by a minority vote
Tho lacked more than 9D,0D votes Of ma
jority. Had the l.3uO,Oo0 men who supported
Douglas at the North refused to sustain Mr..
Lincoln in putting down the rebellion, where
should we have been? This was nearly half
the loyal vote of the country, and the South
was united against US. No. say, let us be
fair and just. As one who differed from the
Democratic party in those days, IL Is only the
simple truth to say that without their help
this Onion would have been lost.
Again, fellow-citizens, when we demand q
change In the Government, we are met by the
cry that the south is solid Tor the Demo-
cratic party. BY this is meant, l suppose, that
the Southern States are likely to cast their
Electoral votes for General Hancock. This,
presume, Is quite probable to be the case, as
the Republican leaders have declined to con-
test that section Of the country, and practical
lv Withdrew nil OppositiOn to the Democratic