Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1884-12-25
MIR. BLAINE'S SPEECH.
Like It's Author 1t Bristles With
Aggressiveness-
Tho Democratic Responses to Our Late
Candidates. Words-A Chorus of Demo-
cratic Howls. Hut Blaine's state
ments Were True All the Same.

no uO hAAuoCAi ooyo1 PNAHS-J
"instinctively. 1t is a speech which,
like its author, bristles with aggressive
ness. and has already aroused chorus OF
bowls, in which the voice of all the ours
of high and low degree alike may be
readily distinguished. The Louisville
Couyier-JournaI says:
sIt furnishes conclusive proof of his unfit
ness for any confidence or trust. 1t is simply
a declaration of eternal war between the
North and the South. -,..
Ellis reasoning is as false as his spirit is In
cendlary. He shows himself poor, whipped
cur, who has not courage enough TO keep
his mouth shut. The people OF the South sim
ply pity him and feel sympathy Tor the
brave and good men who had the misfortune
TO be forced to support candidate capable OF
making such an ignominious spectacle. Inc
North, which is clear-headed aud sensible,
will spit him out of its mouth and thought as
a wretch, who, seeing the world through MS
own baseness, would betray his country with
the turpitude or an Arnold or the equanlinity
.aThis is ft culmipation of the campaign
of lying and buying inaugurated by Mr..
picture of a sensationalist and an adventurer
unexampled in the political annals or any
land or people,
This Is worth reproducing, and will
fairly stand as a sample of the Demo-
cratic response to Mr.. Blaine's words.
What is it that Mr.. Blaine said? In
brief, it is that the Solid South is in con-
troll of the Government; that it is there
by virtue of forty-two electoral votes
given it upon the basis of a vote which
is not allowed to express itself; that
every Senator in Congress from the
Southern States was an active partic-
-. he Of tho rnhalIinn. that
in the States composing the Southern
Confederacy the one essential to political
preferment is to have served faithfully
in the Confederate army; that to have
been Union man during the war OF
tho rebellion is political disqualifica-
ton; that, in effect, the change accom-
plished by the late election is to put the
men in command of the Government
who did their best to destroy it, and
that this remarkable metamorphosis is
accomplished within the lifetime OF
stru ggle of modern times.
Now, we submit that this statement,
whether true or false, can not be blown
aside by epithet. Chevalier Watterson,
Tray, Blanche and Sweetheart, can not
satisfactorily answer the arraignment
by splitting in the face of the alleged
facts. Are Mr.. Blaine's statement:
true or false? That is the question. II
they be true, then they will, in time
awaken consideration commensurate
with their Importance, and the Demo
cratic party, the party of treason ano
rebellion, will be forced to plead to then
before the bar of the public judgmen
and of history. If Mr.. Blaine's words
be true, then the change sought TO b'
accomplished is as great, to use his owl
comparison, as if the people of Englant
should recall the Stuarts to the throne
or the people of France summon thu
Bourbons to power; or, we may add
as great as if the people of the United
States within the first twenty years o
| tho d0vorr.--,o-,t ,...sie- che OossStitvstio'
should have intrusted the administra
ton to the Tories.
The proper answer to all this depend
upon the spirit and temper of the South
ern people. Are the Southern peopl
themselves so far removed from tn
memories of the war that they are no
dominated by them? Is there any evi
dence anywhere that the Southern pee
pie have reached the conclusion tina
they were wrong in their attack upo
the Government Have they brough
forth anywhere fruits meet for repent
ance? Have they indicated in any dc
gree that they will administer the Gov
eminent along the line marked out b
the result of their appeal to armsP 0
the contrary, it not every shred of ev
dence, that may be fairly called ev
dence, directly to the contrary Ha
there been single act of legislatio
growing out of the war that was ne
met by the determined hostility of til
men, North and South, who triumphe
declared that every vestige of the wa
legislation should be wiped from tn
statute book, and he is at once promote
to the United States Senate. Before hin
General Francis p. Blair said that th
Democratic party should ride throug
Congress booted and spurred, and Owe
throw the reconstruction measures, an
he was at once rewarded with the Den
ocratic nomination for Vice-Presider
of the United States. In the Chicag
Convention of 1884 the Democratic pa
ty nominated Grover Cleveland solel
because it was believed he could carr
New York, and then, pell nell,
rushed into the arms of Thomas 4
Hendricks, an anti-war Democrat of I'll
strictest sect, one who, George WilliaI
Curtis said only eight years ago, ha
done everything in his power to destro
the Government. We submit that thes
cases are not sporadic; they are SYM
tomato, and in that lies the danger
a ''change" which brings into pow,
the same old Democratic party
1860-65, with its spirit and purposes III
changed, its organization in the san
old hands, its Southern and controllin
wing defiantly rebellious as ever, the
hands dripping with the blood of mu
dered thousands of their fellows,
whom was given what has proved to |
but the mockery of equal rights, an
holding their power by majorities tain
ed with fraud and saturated with bloc,
Men are made neither loyal nor mo
al by statute. The incorrigible may
held in check until a new generate
comes up without the old virus in j
blood, and this was the hope, an
the only hope, of n col
tinued and persistent opposition of
solid North to a solid South based upo
fraud, violence, murder and disloyalt
to the new political order. The a
titude of the Republican party, and
thoughtful men, whether in harmon
with all the administrative methods
the party or not, was not maintaine
because of hostility to the South.
was the logical necessity of patriot
belief in the principles upon which ii
rebellion was overcome and the ne
Nation habilitated. The bane of d
American people is lack Of that patieI