Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1880-07-31
BLACK ON GARFIELD,
Il Iers1ble Ercoriation ofJas. 4.
G0rTeld and HIS Party IN 1876.

uotJ'et0 0''1 HIS Party IN 1876
10 Hon. James A. Garfield, Member q
congress from Ohio:
have read the speech YOU sent to me-
l am astonished and shocked. AS tn,
ieaaer OF your party, to whom the candi
dates have specially delegated the con
duct OF the pending csmpaign, YOU sl,ould
nave met your responsibilities in a very
different way. do not presume to lee.
'ure so distinguished a man upon his er-
TOTS; out IT can prevent you, even to a
s"a extent, from abusing the public Gre
oullty, it is my duty to try. Promising
only my great anxiety to preserve the
i"'efhal relations existing between us
i't niilhy years, L follow the Eoratian
RUE and come at ouce to "the middle of
| things"
1ou trace back tho origin of present
parties to the earliest imni grafton at
| plymouth and jamestown, and profess to
ind in the opposing doctrines then plant
ca ana afterwards constantly cherished
IN Massachusetts and in Virginia, the
germs of those ideas that now make Dem
| ocracy and Abolitionism the deadly enc
mes OF each other. The IDEAS SO planted
| III Massachusetts were, according to your
account, tho freedom and equality of all
races, and the right and duty of every
man to exercise his private Judgment in
politics as well as in religion. On the
other hand, you set forth as ir.econcila-
bly, hostile the doctrine of Virginia, "that
capital should own labor, that tho negro
lad no rights of manhood, and that the
white man might bny, own AMI sell his
offspring f"rcver.' Following these as
sertions with Others, aud linking the pre-
sent with the long past, you employ the
devices of your rhetoric to ulorify the
modern abolitionist and to throw foul
scorn, not merely on the Southern people,
but on the whole Democracy Of tie coun-
try.
This looks learned and philosophical,
and it gives your speech dignity seem
lngly above the reach of the ordinary
demagoSue. Happy is he who knows the
causes of things; felic6ous is the partisan
member of Congress whose stump speech
goes up tho river oftime to the first foun-
tains of good and evil. But your contras.
of historical fact IS open to one objection,
which give you in q form as simple as
possible when say that it is wholly des- |
titGte of truth. This, Of course, implies
no imputation on your good faith. Your
high character in the church as we'll as the
State, forbids the belief that you would
1f,-, Il L..
A FUNDAMENTAL REPUBLICAN LIE.
You say that there were two radically
lificrent theories about the nature of our
government "the North believing and
lOiding that we were IL nation, the South
insisting that we We're only IL confedera-
ion of sovereign States.'' 1t is not truo
hat any such theoretical conflict ever
Nisted between tho sections. That the
rticles of confederation first and the
onstitution afterwards united the States
ogcther for certain purposes therein
and thus made us n nation
:nOng nations. was never denied that l
now Of by any party. But this national
haracter was given to the general gov ,
by sovereign States who confed- ..
rated together for that purpose. They
estowed certain powers on the new po- l
tical corporation then created, and call
1 it the United States of America, and {
ley expressly reservsd to themselves all
lie sovereign rights not granted in the
lartcr. Democratic statesmen had no
leory about it. They saw their duty
ritten down in the fundamental law
ley swore to perform it, and they kept n
leir oaths. They executed the powers ~
the general gov crnmcnt in their whole
institutional vigor, for that, as Mr.. JEFF (
rson sail, was ''the sheet anchor of our
ace at home and our safety abroad,' v
I'd they carefully guarded the rights Of
g States as the only security c could -,
we for a just administration of our do -
estic affairs. This was universally as VI
nted to as right and true. No counter -
cory was set up. Difference of construc- Az
IN there might be, but all admitted! %
at when the line of power was accur- ~
ely drawn between the Federal govern ~
ent and State sovc. eighty, the rights on "a
e side were rs sacred as those on the IL
her, But within two or three years last w
st the low demagogucs of your party ''
We got to putting in their platforms w
. assertion that this is Z nation and not " III
confederation. What do they mean? ~
hat do you mean when on endorse and 'e
produce ite Do you deny that the do
ates were sovereign before they united? ~
you affirm that their sovereignty was oe
lolly merged in tho federal government '''
len they assonted 10 the constitution
the tenth amendment q mere q ;lusion?
you mean to assert that the States "