The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1880-09-29
CONKLING's SPEECH.

i On the evening Of the 18th Sep.
TENDER Senator Conkling made his
llrst speech of the present Presiden
tial canvass. II is notable for its
abuse Of the South, and its remarka-
bic silence as to the fitness OF Mr..
Garfield for The position to which he
has been nominated. The New York
San in alluding to Mr.. Conkling's
speech says:
It has no grace Of style, no fine, pc.
etical and sonornns passages. There
is nothing III f1,is speech except at
elaborate assault npon the Southern
States, their population, their poy erty,
their Insignificant commerce., their al
legged lawlessness. the criminal spirit
and designs attributed to them by tie
speaker. Indeed, this is the whole of
the speech. 1t is the bloody shirt and
nothing else. 1t is confession that
the wal of the rebellion is still tire
ouly hope and the only political CAPT
tai of the Republican party. If the
position and argument of MIR. Conk
| ling are sound, the Southern States
ought not to DO tolerated in the Union,
and civil war ought to be prosecuted
against them without truce and with
tout quarter until their people are en-
tirely exterminated; every merchant
who sells goods to a Southern custo-
.nler should be- punished, and every
politician In the South who is not a
carpet dagger and an open and avow-
ed public robber should he cast into
prison for life. za ss.e'.ss'
This is the whole doctrine of the
speech, and upon this doctrine Mr..
Conkling goes on to contend that Cen
eral Hancock should not be elected.
In behalf of General Garfield, how
ever, he has nothing to say, except
az Insignificant generality. He thus
shows himself unwilling to degrade
himself by entering into auy defence
of such record as the candidate Of
the Republican party is blackened
with. This is to his csedit. But, on
the other hand, he bestows a hearty
eulogN upon General Grant. Mr..
Conkiing is still for the third term and
for imperialism. He is still willing to
violate the most sacred traditions Of
the country. He would still advocate
the renewed promotion to- the Chief
Magistracy Of the man who at the end
of 1876 collected troops at Washington
in order, in case of need, to determine
a disputed election by the bayonet.
This is something that Mr.. Conkling
dues not disapprove, but the contrary,
and yet such fact is far more danger
ous to the peace, the welfare, and the
permanency Of the republic, than any
thing the Senator so violently denoun-
ces in his accusations against the
South. s
1t is pleasing to turn from such a
speech as this, with it's elaborate array
Of perverted statistics, with the malig-
nifty of its temper, with its unstates-
manlike and unpatriotic effort to re-
new and perpetuate the passionate
hates of civil war, with it's calumnious
imputations and it's frantic logic, as to
the cheering and prophetic spectacle
just presented by the people of Maine
in their overthrow of tue Republican
party at the polls.
No, Mr.. Conkling, your ferocious
speech is in vain. The people of the
United States mean to have peace, and
not the rRuc0r Of fraternal hatred.
They mean to turn out the party Of
the electoral fraud, the party of impe-
rialism, the party of boundless corrnp-
ton. You and yours must step down
and out!