Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-08-06


addressed large audience at Bratteboro,
Thursday night. He first reviewed the his
tory of the Republican and Democratic par
ties since 1856. He next discussed their
present positions and claims, and then passed
to brief consideration of the service and
character and special fitness of the candidates
for the presidency. lie spoke generously
and heartily of Hancock, both as a soldier
and gentleman to Garfield he awarded the
additional praise of being in his judgment
one of the foremost of American statesmen.
Gen. Woodford closed his speech Us follows
THE able lawyer, the courteous gentleman,
who so calamity leads the Democrats to ill.,
evilable defeat in Vermont this Fall, accept
| ed his nomination few days since in pub
lie speech at Burlington. In that he con-
| graduated his fellow Democrats that he be-
| longed to q party which held conventions,
presented candidates, conducted a canvass
and cast votes in every State and Territory
| of the Union. In his congratulations Join
tonight. Free speech and free ballot are
at once the corner stone and cap-stone of free
Government. We Republicans believe in these
things. Can he congratulate you and that
the Republican party has absolute and CON-
plete protection to-Gay, and enjoys free
speech and free ballot in every State of
this Union He seeks forgetfulness of the
past He seeks for reconciliation and a new
distribution of offices. lie asks the Vermont
| Republicans to fall in line under Hancock
and the Democracy. Coming into your State
| for fortnight's canvass. let me frankly and
at the threshold of my discussions accept the
| ,ec,,a (which h., t.p.larc Whap ohal1 "a
as safe, personally and politically, to be a
Republican in Mississippi rs it is to be a
Democrat in Vermont, l will consent that the
past be forgotten and will only discuss with
him new issues which he seeks TO present /;
but as long as the shot gun or the tissue ballot,
or false count disfranchises my Republican
brother in any Southern State, my manhood,
honor and my every instinct of patriotism,
compel me to labor for the maintenance of
the Republican party in control of the Ma
tional Government. You may csllthis waving
the bloody shirt if you will. do not think
it is. You may call this q revival of the
bloody past | do not think it is. Our
| Northern Republicans have heartily for
given the Southern Confederates. We
intend that Northern Democrats shall
practically forgive Southern Union men,
and grant equal and fair play to
Southern Republicans. Any other recon-
Citation than this is cowardly and unmanly
on our part, and deserves and will receive
the contempt Of all just and brave mon.
| There is once sentence in the Democratic
platform of which l approve most earnestly,
and that is the one wherein they declare that
the right TO free ballot is the right preser-
vative of all rights. This good statement
of Republican doctrine. remembered the
| Hamburg massacre, and read it again. !
recalled the wholesale naturalization frauds
| of 1868 in Democratic New York city, and
| | read it again. The doctrine is sound, but
the place and the preacher seem queer. The
prophecy is the prophecy of Bslaan,, but
| they into whose startled ears il fell were
indeed the princes and armies of Moab.
| Had the Southern Democrats believed this
| truth in 1860, we should have been spared
the horrors and untold suffcrings of the war.
Did they believe it to-day, and would they
| act upon il to-day? At least five Southern
States would vote for Garfield next Novem-
t--- LIZ great aud decisive nainritiea The
honest acceptance and practice of this truth
by all Democrats, North and South, would
he not only the sure defeat, but the final dis
solution of the Democratic party. Here are
found the real lines Of the pending political
contest When the ballot shall be as free in
| all the South as il is in all the North, will
be in order for Vermont to seriously consider
the proprieiy of honoring Mr. Phelps with
an election TO her governorship but SO long
as the Democracy enters Presidential CAN
vass with the unfair and unjust advantage of
| 1873 solid electoral votes, the vote of the ell
tire South, made solid by force and fraud,
by the shotgun and tissue ballot and false
count, so long Vermont has neither the
moral right or political excuse for faltering
in her course. Her place and duty are still
at the front of the Republican Presidential
column. She took that leadership in 1856.
For nearly quarter of a century her star
has led the way and guided our people, first,
TO the restriction OF slavery and the free
dom of the territories, then to the preserva-
ton Of our Union, then to the enfranchise-
ment of the blacks, then to the maintenance
of the National credit and the payment OF
the National debt; and last, to the reestab.
lishment of industry, of labor, of business
and of prosperity, upon the firm basis oil
financial honesty. Why should Vermont
falter now We are fighting the last battle
that can ever be fought in this country on
old issues if We are only victorious now.
Republican defeat now may turn back the
hands on the clock for Is years, because Re-
publican defeat now invites and means q
solid South for Is years TO come; but Repub-
lican victory now means that the solid South
will be split, and split forever, before the
congressional election of 1882. Republican
victory now means the death and burial OF
Old sectlonalisn, of slavery in the South and
the coming In of a normal and natural condi-
ton of politics, when men of like judgments,
of like instincts and Of like hopes, North and
South, can act together. wisely, periodically
and as citizens of u common country. We
stand to-day in politics where our armies
stood in military affairs six months before
Richmond fell and Lee surrendered. The
capture of Richmond compelled the surren-
der of Lee and ended the confederacy. Sc
the Democracy is almost at its last ditch
now. The defeat OF the Democracy to-day,
means the final surrender of the solid South,
and forever ends its dream of political power
and rule When the solid South disbands,
there will be no call, no need, for Il solid
North, but on the ruins of sectional CON
tests we may build and have q solid Nation
based on mutual interests, strengthened by
mutual respect and kept by mutual affection