The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-11-19

exerting just double the political power of the
whites III the Northern States. l submit, my
friends, that such condition of affairs IS extra
ordinary, unjust and derogatory TO the man
hood of the North. Even those who are vim
dictively opposed to negro suffrage will not deny
that if presidential electors are assigned to the
South by reason OF the negro population, that
population ought to be permitted free suffrage
in the election To deny that clear proposition,
to affirm that Southern white man in the
Gulf States is entitled to double
the political power of a white man in the North
ern lake States ls to affirm that confederate
soldier shall WELD twice the influence in the Ma
ton that Union soldier can, and that a perpet
nal anG constant! increasing superiority shall
be conceded to the Southern white man in the
government of the Union. If that be quietly
conceded in this generation, it will harden into
custom, unit i the badge of inferiority will attach
to the Northern white man as odiously
as ever Norman noble stamped 1t
upon the Saxon chur This subject
is of deep interest to the laboring men of the
North. With the Southern Democracy triumph
ant in their States and in the Nation, the negro
will be compelled to work for just such wages as
the whites may decree; wages which will amount,
as did the supplies of the slaves, to bare sub
sistence, equal in cash to perhaps thirty five
cents per day. if averaged over the entire South.
The white laborer in the North will soon feel the
destructive effect Of this upon his own wages.
The Republicans have clearly seen, from the
earliest day of reconstruction, that wages
in the South must be raised to just recon-
pensc of the laborer, or the wages IN the North
would be runously lowered, and the party has
steadily worked for the former result The re
verse influence will now be set in motion, and
that condition of affairs produced which, years
ago. Mr. Lincoln warned the free laboring men
of the North will prove hostile to their nde
pendence and will inevitably lead to a ruinous
reduction of wages. mere difference in the
color of the skin will not suffice to maintain
entirely different standard of wages in
contiguous and adjacent States, and the volun-
tary will be compelled to yield to the in
voluntary.
so completely have the colored men in the
South already been deprived by the Democratic
party of their constitutional and legal rights as
citizens of the United States, that they regard
the advent of that party to national power as
the signal of their re- enslavement, and are af
trghted because they think all legal protection
for them is gone. Few persons in the North
alize how completely the chiefs of the rebellion
WELD the political power which has triumphed
in the election. 1t is portentous fact that the
the States of the late Confederacy.
all-and | mean ALL without a
single exception-all personally participated in
the rebellion against the national government
1t is a still more significant fact that in those
States no man who was loyal to the Union, no
matter how strong Democrat he may be to
day, has the slightest chance of political promo
tlon. The one great avenue to honor in that
section is the record of Jealous service in the
war against the government. 1t is certainly an
astounding fact that the section in which friend
ship for the Union in the day of it's
trial and agony is still a political disqual-
ifcation should be called now to rule
overt the Union. All this takes place during the
lifetime of the generation that fought the war,
and elevates to practical command of the Amer
lean government the identical men who organ
lied for its destruction and plunged us into the
bloodest contest of modern times. have spoken
of the South as placed by the late election in
possession of the government, and mean all that
my words imply. The South furnished nearly
threefourths Of the electoral votes that defeated
the Republican party, and they will step to the
command of the Democrats as unchalenged and
as unrestrained as they held the same position
for thirty years before the war.
Gentlemen, there cannot be political in
equality among the citizens of free republic
there cannot be minority of white men i'll the
South ruling majority of white men in the
North. Patriotism, sef-respect, pride, protec-
tion for person and safetysfor countryall cry out
against it. The very thought of it stirs the
blood of the men who inherit equality from the
pilgrims who first stood on Plymouth Rock and
from the liberty loving patriots who came to the
Delaware with William Penn. 1t becomes the
primal question of American manhood
1t demands a bearing and q settlement,
and that settlement will vindicate the equality
of American citizens in all personal and civil
rights; it will at least, establish the equality of
white men under the national government and
will give to the Northern man who fought to
preserve the Union as large a voice in its gov
ernment as may he exercised by the Southern
man who fought to destroy the Union. The
contest just closed utterly dwarfs the fortunes
and fate of candidates, whether successful or un-
successful
"Purposely-I may say instnctively-I have
discussed the issues and consequences of that
contest without reference to my own defeat
without the remotest reference to the gentleman
who is elevated to the Presidency. Toward him.
personally. have no cause for the slightest i'll
will and it is with cordiality that l express the
wish that his official career may prove gratifying
to himself and beneficial to the country, and
that his administration may overcome the en-
barrassments which the peculiar source of its
power imposes upon it from the hour of its
birth"
At the conclusion of Mr.. Blalnes speech he in
vited large crowd into his house, and for nearly
an hour an informal reception was hed hun
dreds of people passing through the rooms. The
greetings were especially friendly and cordial