Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1884-07-05
LOGAN, TOO.

IL Is UellS uTScu oSoiioe oShSaoA
Bayard that he ought not be elected
president because in 1861 he made q
speech in which he took the position
that it was better to permit the southern
states quietly to depart, rather
than to plunge the country in
to civil war. He was for the
union, but at that time opposed to CO.
ercive measures. 1t seems to be for
gotten that Seward, Chase and most OF
the republican leaders of the day shsr-
ed Mr.. Greeley's belief that it was best
to let the s'erring sisters go in peace"
But they did. And if Mr.. Bayard is
to be arraigned for his ideas prior to
the final joining of the issue in arms, SO
should they be, and SO should Mr..
Logan be.
On December 9, 1859, Mr.. Logan,
then a member of the house of repre-
sentatives from q district in the south
ern part of Illinois, made a speech in
congress in which he said
"Does the republican party of Illinois
obey the laws? Does it yield to the
constitution of the country !? l say it
does not. 1 say to you, gentle
men of the south, that you
need not think that the republican
party of nlinois-where l reside and OF
which I am proud to say l am a native
are for the constitution. They are
not and never have been its friends.
They are not law abiding people, and
never have been. They are not consti-
tuition loving people, and they never
have been. The northern
portion of that beautiful state is now
bIighted by the communicating touch Of
abOlitionism SO that it almost refuses
to produce fruits. In Illinois,
in the state from which l come, in
Chicago, there was q sympathizing
meeting held in favor OF John Brown,
and ministers OF God, Or pretended
ministers of God, attended the meeting
and passed resolutions OF sympathy
with that traitor, thief and scoundrel."
Beside thus generally describing the
republicans of Illinois, MIR. Logan Sc
lected for special condemnation their
acceptance OF the 'firrepressible con-
fict" doctrine as enumerated by Mr..
Seward and Mr.. Lincoln, saying:-
elm the republican portion of Illinois
they advocate the same doctrine that
Seward advocated, Abraham Lincoln,
when a nominee of the republican par
.ty OF Illinois for the senate of the
United States, declared that this Union
could not exist halt slave and half free,
but that the conflict would go on until
this country was composed OF ull free
or all slave states; that it must become
the one or the other"
And then on January "a, 1860, Mr..
Logan made another speech, in favor
of the passage of a law by congress to
make the advocacy of this doctrine a
penitentiary offense, and send "Sew-
ard" and "Abraham Lincoln" to pris-
on. He said:-
"Let me tell you that this law, ifit is
passed, will put in the penitentiary
your 'irrepressible conflict men, who
have engaged, it not directly, indirect
ly, in murder and everything that is
disreputable, dishonorable, ~disgraceful
and shocking to humanity"
Slave trading and slave catching
were never reputable occupations, even
in the south, and yet Mr. Logan in his
speech of December 9, 1859. said
"Every fugitive that has been arrest
ed in Illinois or in any of the western
states-and / call Illinois q western
state, for l am ashamed longer to call
1t q northern state-has been made by
In Illinois the democrats
have all that work to do. You call it
dirty work of the democratic party to
catch fugitive slaves for the southern
We are willing to perform
that dirty work. I do not consider it
to perform any work, dirty
not dirty, which is in accordance
with the laws of the land and the con-
stitution of the country"
Evidently Mr.. Logan did not go into
the war to free the negro. Indeed
his inclinations seem at first to have
been to enlist on the part of the south,
but it soon became apparent to him
that the men, money and guns were
the side of the north, and he fell into
line on that side.
After he did so he did good service
a soldier. After war became inev-
liable, Mr.. Bayard served his country
ably as q statesman.
There is only this to say: If Mr.. Bay
ard was disloyal, SO was General Lo-
gan. If one deserves punishment SO
does the other.
The sensible view is, that the issues
of 1o59-64 are dead, and that men who
now attempt to live upon them are
also ready for burial.