Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-09-25

uhu III Impossible, ana lam going away
from them"
And, while I am on that subject Of
personal explanation, let me say that
was too proud a man in all these years
to say that [ was driven out of the Re
! publican party as a . sorehead." When
l left the Republican party in 1866, if
| you choose to place it SO tar back as
that, when taking up the great principle
| Of the autonomy OF the states in the
! south--Or in 1869, when [ separated nv
| self formally from the Republican party
and acted with the Democrats, the SEN
ate of the United States passed almost
unanimously, as [ am told, a resolution
that / should not be removed, noGwith-
! standing the personal enemies I had in
the cabinet of Mr.. Lincoln. And three
or four years after [ resigned my posi-
ton as United States minister at Russia
l was maintained by the senate of the
| United States, constituting, of course,
the majority of the Republican pa ty,
against all of my enemies. 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 Iegislature-the
only position they had to give-and &C
| cepted it. But it took me not
| long to see that if | went to
the Republican party [ would
| have 10 go 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
county: II see you are going to nOmi-
nate Grant, and [ won't vote for Grant"
50 [ came out voluntarily from the Re
publican party. My Democratic friends,
if there are any "mos5backs" here, /
was not driven out of the Republican
party as Q sore-head." [ sacrificed all
of the prospects which whole lifetime
of labor had placed at my disposal. I
sacrificed eighteen Of the best years Of
my life to lift you speaking to the col
Ored meu present out of the spirit of
bsrbarism and to lift you to 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
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 I got back. One
morning when L went out, [ found a
note, written in a very bad hand,
saying that my foreman "a cOlOred MANI
was obnoxious to the ueighbors, and
that [ must send him away OF they
would kill him That was the word.
By the way, that co'Ored man was the
best workman [ ever had, white or
black. The man was not liberated by
the government, but was born free. The
poor African had head enough to know
his business, add he had heart enough to
do it. I called him (Tom Clayton was
| his name), and | S. id: 6 I've received a
letter saying hat 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 XII
klukers were prowling about, and they
meant mischief, and now they say you
must go or must die. Will you defend
yourself, Tom, or will you run for it ?"
Said he: Mas'r Cash for he used that
term as a matter of courtesy, although
he was the slave of nObody-"I will
fight it, if you will stand by me-" l
said: ''Go to your house, Tom; [ will
stand by you; we wilt stand together
and live, or we will die together in
defense of each other. Loud Applause.
Now, my colored friends, you have been
abusing me for the last eighteen years
laug hterl; and [ have been abused by
you in season and out 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
l cOlored men. the carpet-baggers said
He shall not speak; he is a democrat;
he is opposed to the cOlOred race" But
the colored men, who had known me for
thirty years, said: "No, this is Cash
Clay, and he shall speak as long as he
pleases." [ knew time would be my
indicator
1t was a 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
i WHITES, duCl allow cOIOE6u IHen 10 D6
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 the
bill of rights that slaves shall not be
enlancipated without compensation to
the owners. Ny father was one of the
founders of that constitution, and so was
my uncle; and under that clause of the
constitution [ claimed the right to speak
in order that slavery might be abolished.
In 1916 a mob in Lexington thought it
silenced the press, but while the physical
man may be destroyed the great princi-
pies of truth and liberty are indestructi-
BILE l 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 to
change the 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