Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-09-25

u say tnat l was driven out of the Re-
publican party as a " sorehead." When
left the Republican party in 1865 il
1 you choose to place il SO far back as
mat, when taxing up the great principle
OF the autonomy OF the states in the
south--or in 1869, when / separated my
SELF formally from the Republican party
and acted with the Democrats, the SEN
ate Of the UAited States passed almost
unanimously, as | am told, a resolution
that | should not be removed, notwith-
standing the personal enemies / had in
the cabinet OF Mr. Lincoln. And three
or four years after / resigned my posi-
/ ton as United States minister at Russia
| was maintained by the senate of the
United States, constituting, of course,
the majority of the Republican party.
agalns. all of my euemles And what
more? Before / had got back TO Ken
/ lucky, while | was yet in New York, the
| Republicans of my native county all
/ got together in convention and unani-
mously invited nae to run as their candi-
date for the Kentucky legislature-the
only position they had to glve-and ac-
cepted it, But it took me not
long to see that if went to
| the Republican party would
have 10 60 to Grant, and to his policy
was opp sed, not that I was opposed to
the Republican party, but had found
! that they were with Grant in all his
movements. And | had the right, the
! Democrats say, to vote for whom
| chose, and did not choose to vote for
/ Grant / did not go into convention;
and | said to my friends in Madison
4 county: i see you are going to nomi-
nate Grant and | won't vote for Grant"
So | came out voluntarily from the Re-
| publican party. My Democratic friends
/ if there are any mos backs" here,
was not driven out of the Republican
party as a sore-head." | sacrificed all
OF the prospects which whole lifetime
Of labor had placed at my disposal.
sacrificed eighteen Of the best years of
my life TO lift you speaking to the col
ored men present out of the spirit of
barbarism and to lift youto the equality
of union.
What was the first demonstration I
| saw in the democratic party? After an
absence Of nearly nine years | rode
through the gate Of my own native
| home, and looked once more on the
! broad acres of grass and on the splendid
/ trees. green from time immemorial,
among which | had played in infancy.
/ Before | had entered the domicile of my
! fathers, found forty or fifty horses tied
! to the fences, without any owners, The
| Kuklux had met at the house Of Cash
| Cay the night before ! came in, Laugh
! ter. Yes, sir; the Kuklux Were in full
force there the night | got back One
morning when | went out, ! found a
note. written in a very bad hand,
saving that my foreman ga colored man.
was obnoxious to the neighb0rs, and
that / must send HIM away or they
would kill him. That was the word
| BY the way. that co.ored man was the
best workman I ever had, white OF
| black. The man was not liberated by
! the government. but was born free. The
| poor African had head enough to know
/ his business and lie had heart enough to
do it, / called him Tom Clayton was
4 his name), aud / sid: " I've received q
! letter saying that you must leave me or
must die. / am but one man, and sew
eral weeks ago | saw forty or fifty rider
less horses tied TO my fence: the ku-
/ klukers We're proving about, and they
meant mischief, and now they say you
must 90 or must die. viii you defend
yourself Tom, or will YOU run for it ? y
Said he: Mas'r Cash for he used that
term as a matter of courtesy, although
/ he was the slave OF nobody will
fight it, if you viii stand by me-"
said: Go to your house, Tom; ! will
stand by you; we will stand together
and live, or we viii die together in
/ defense of each other Loud Applause.
Now. my colored friends, you have been
abusing me for the last eighteen years
/ flaug hterl; and | have been abused by
you in season and ont of season, and
YOU ought to be ashamed of yourselves.
| Renewed laughter When / went
! down to Mississippi where this poison
was not implanted in the souls of the
/ colored men, the carpet-baggeis said
He shall not speak: he is a democrat
! he is opposed to the colored race. But
the colored men, who had known me foI
thirty years. said: No, this is Cash
Clay, and he shall speak as long as he
pleases." l knew time would be nay
vindicator.
tt was long time before the Ken
/ lucky Legislature would conform to the
three amendments to the United States
/ Constitution giving the colored people
political and civil equality with the
/ whites. and allow colored men to be
placed upon a jury Why gentlemen
there is in the constitution of Kentucky
a clause no doubt many of you have for
gotten This constitution says in tle
bill of rights that slaves shall not be
emancipated without compensation t.
4 the owners. My father was one Of the
founders of that constitution, and so was
my uncle; and tnder that clause Of the
constitution | claimed the right to speak
in order that slavery might be abolished
In 1915 a mob in Lexington thought il
silenced the press, but while the physical
man may be destroyed the great princi-
pies of truth and liberty are indestructi
BILE / came back after ! moved my
press to Cincinnati, and remained until
every press in Kentucky was free. The
next move of the slave-owners was t.
change Inc constitution Of our fathers
by which you would have been brought
out Of slavery They didn't want that
subject of slavery any longer to be dis
cussed. They went into convention tC
change the constitution. ] went on THE
stump in Madison county ia favor Of
emancipation-in favor of putting an
emancipation clause in the constitution
"a i