The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1880-08-31
day of election. Here, then, were two
Republicans s

Republicans
VOLUNTARILY ABsKNTING THEMSELVES
from their post on election day in order
to make their own act . ground of objec-
tioo by their own party TO defrand the
Democracy of Florida, and they did ii
They did it And when they came to
canvass the vote aud found it for Tlden
and Hendricks they threw out the returns
from Hamilton county, because two Re
publican inspectors had gone out to take
drink and had left the ballot box in the
possession of the Democrats.
These are the people, then, that talk
about fairness at elections and fair count,
or, | would rather say, that upheld and
maintained the infamy Of these visiting
statesmen, dead beats, with the excep-
tion of John Barlow, that honest man
from New York, whose honest heart re-
volted at the dirty work his party asso-
ciates were engaged IN.
Then they needed some military force
there to protect these Infamous statesmen,
and they needed an excuse for sending
them there, and they were sent there I
never felt hard in the least
TOWARD THOSE POOR SOLDIERS,
and could well see, from the manner and
department of the officer who was in
command, that he would have infinitely
preferred to have been called to perform
bloody service on the battlefield than to
be put there to trample the liberties of his
country under foot. Applause.l But the
deed was done, and in order to excuse this
great wrong and to uphold this great
fraud, their continual cry has been that
the South is rebellious. o. yes, fellow
citizens, every man that is an honest
Democrat there is disloyal Whenever a
man makes amends by entering the Re
publican party he becomes a saint
Laughter and applause. And the great
trouble with the Republican party today
is that the majority of the men of char
acter and of property and of mind are
not willing to give up the faith that
warns the hearts of hundreds of men
in this great State [Great applause. l.
Does the Republican party constitute the
United States? Are they the government :?
and have they the right to tell me, born
Democrat as am, that, unless believe
all the principles of Alexander Hamilton
and all the teachings of
THE OLD ROTTEN FEDERAL SCHOOL,
that | am to be regarded as disloyal. Can
| not consistently with my allegiance to
this government support Winfield S. Han
cock for the President? Can not, as an
American citizen, breathing the pure air
of this great land, stand upright in the
presence of my fellow-citizens as law
abiding citizen and at the same time be a
Democratic supporter of Winfield s. Han
cock? Cries of YES" and applause, I
and if you were not permitted to do that
without being branded as disloyal, then
for once we will have to see individual
freedom in this country at an end, and
still this Republican party tells you it is
the great apostle of freedom it is the
advocate Of equal rights. Now, my fel-
low-citizens, you are living here in q
manufacturing community, and have re-
spect for those pursuits because, though
III public kfe NOW, it was once my privi-
lege to be mechanic. And / honor you
and the working men and the whole mass,
and say to you in all candor that our in
terests, as well as the interests of the
whole country, require unity and harmony
and peace. But Garfield promises con-
tinuance of
THE OLD ORDER OF THINGS
He says the South is the factor in this
contest. 1t is no such thing. There is
not that feeling of sectionalism there at
this time, and no man there who has a
voice to give in the Presidential contest
but is willing to do everything in his
power to harmonize and heal the wounds
that have so long divided the common
blood of our common country. [Great
applause.