Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1880-09-22
I. L. Tarsney at the Opera House.

this city this campaign was the one
last Friday evening at the Opera
House, which was addressed by 7.
+. Tarsncy, the Democratic candi-
date for Congress from this district.
The house was filled to its fullest CT
pacity, and many went away unable
to find seats. A large number of la
dies were among the audience, and
all seemed to listen to the discourse
with marked attention. Mr.. lars
ney, who has a clear, ringing voice,
and a fine delivery, was introduced
to the audience by Hon. w. L..
Churchill, President of the Han
cock Club, and was greeted with a
grand applause. The manner in
which the address was appreciated
can be imagined from the fact that
Mr.. Tarsney received a hearty APP
plause from the audience fortv-two
times during the evening.
Mr.. TarSncy commenced from the
organization of the Republican par
ty, 26 years ago, in Michigan, and
then traced their history until they
had full controll of both Houses Of
Congress and of the Executive. In
1875 the House Of Congress was
turned over to the Democrats; in
1876 the Democratic party had n
majority of 100000, and in 1878 the
Democrats controlled the Senate.
Why was this changcg What had
caused II majority Of the people to
change their political convictions ?
They had changed because the Re
publican party had delegated to
themselves powers which were not
granted to them by the constitution,
and had become corrupt and UNI
worthy Of support. They saw that
the Democracy believed that all
power should rest with the people,
and the people trusted them. This
had brought about the great change.
The speaker believed that it was the
duty of those in power to act as was
prescribed by the constitution for
them to do. He then told the his
tory of Secession, and how the doc
trinc of Notification had been first
crushed by Andrew Jackson, and
how Secession had been forever bur-
led by the war and the constitutional
amendments. He denied the right
Of the Republican party to punish
rebellion except rs was prescribed by
the constitution. The Republican
party had not punished Secession as
prescribed by the constitution. They
had taken unlawful ways to do so /;
they had blottcd ten bright stars
from our country; they had taken
away the right of trial by jury, the
habeas corpus, the freedom of speech,
they had converted the South into
conquered provinces, and flooded
them with robbers and plunderers
who loaded the Southern States with
enormous debts, and he wanted the
Republicans to show where they
could find their constitutional law
for such pmishments. "Thc South
ern elections have been carried by
the bayonct,' and he wanted them to
"fnd warrant in the constitution for
that" and also for the use of FEEDER
al Supervisors Of elections who
throttlcd freedom in New York and
Philadelphia. He approved of the
action of the Democrats in refusing
to pay the election Supervisors in
the two named cities.
He then related the last acts of
the Republicans when they passed
the salary grab bill, and after speak
ing of how the people, tired of such
scandals as the Credit Mobilier, In
dams Rings, etc, etc, had placed
the Democracy in control of the
Legislative power, he said, ut looks,
tonight, us if it was going TO be
many years before the people would
have anything to do with the Re-
publican party again
About all that the Republican |
party does is to point to the past,
and on this point the speaker paid
them an attention that could not
have been very agreeable to the
dupes of Republicanism.
First, the Republicans claimed
they had put down the rebellion.
Mr.. Tarsney disputed the claim.
Lincoln only had 100000 votes,
which represented the whole Repub-
lican party, and yet the official rec
ords showed that nearly 100000
soldiers fought to put down the re-
bellion and preserve the Union, and
he wanted the Republicans to tell
him how they made 100000 sol
diers out of 100000 Republican
voters. He then showed what num-
Der of soldiers some of the so-called
rebel States had furnished to pre-
serve the Union, and how they conf
pared in that respect with many
Northern Republican States, saying,
"You, my Republican friends, sup
pressed the rebellion YOU put down
the war, yet that rebel State of Mis-
souri, furnished l09,1l1 soldiers, and
Michigan only S9,372' In his ma
tive county, in Michigan, during the
war, the question rs to whether
man was II Democrat or Republican
was not asked when Il man joined