National Republican., 1885-10-31

PETERSBURG, VA, Oct. 2H-Senator Shcr
man spoke here tonight in the Academy Of
Music to a crowded audience. The stage
was filled with white people while the body
Of the building aud galleries were occupied
by colored people, the outskirts OF the
crowed being fringed with whites Senator
Sherman was introduced by Gen. Malone
MS the foremost statesman Of the country,
to whose warm heart aud love for every
state In the Union and for the whole coua-
try he bore cordial testimony Gen. Ma
hone esteemed Il a great honor to have the
privilege of Introducing the distinguished
senator from Ohio to Virginia audience.
lie came here, he said, to address the reason
and not the preiudiccs Of the people, and
he bespoke for him a cordial greeting and
respectful hearing Senator Sherman was
cordially greeted aud accorded a most re-
specttul and attentive hearing. lie spoke
as followG:
FELLOW CITIZENS: l accepted with
much dillldenco the invitation to speak in
the canvass IN Virginia, chief because /
feared the public prints might. have made
a false impression upon your minds as to
my position in the recent canvass in Ohio
publicans Of that state. | accepted H.,
however, that might, face to face, show
you how unjust is the clamOr evoked against
the Republicans of OhiO--to demonstrate
to you that what the Republican party pro-
fesses in Ohio as to national questions Is
the same that II processes in Virginia, aud
that the practical application of the princ-
pies OF the Republican party would be of
vast benefit to the state of Virginia, while
Democratic success would tend more and
more to harden the times and prevent the
industrial DEVELOPMENT Of Virginia,
A PERTINENT DISCLAIMER.
Not only your newspaper, but the distin.
guiShed gentleman who is the Democratic
candidate for governor Of the state OF Nir.
ginia, has said to YOU that was waving the
bloody shirt while he was contendng under
the Union flag. If he meant by waving the
bloody shirt that sought in any way to
renew the animOsitics Of the war, then he
was greatly mistaken, for In the speech to
which he refers, and In every speech | made
in Ohio, constantly said that the war was
over and the animOsities of the war should
he hurled out Of sight; that would not
hold any confederate soldier responsible for
what he did during the war, and that all
wished was to maintain and preserve the
acknowledged results of the war. Among
these ] claim Is the right of every voter to
that every citizen, rich or poor, native or
naturali2ed, white or black, should have
equal civil and political rights, and
that every man OF lawful age
should be allowed to exercise his
right to vote without distinction
Of race or color or previous condition.
charge among other things that these con-
stitutional rights and privileges had been
disregarded by the Democratic party, es-
pecally in the southern states that at the
last election, in the year of our Lord 1854,
wherever the votes of the colorcd people
would affect the result they were deprived
Of their franchise by one device or other
and thus poiticalpower apportioncd to the
cOlOrCd population was transferred to and
exercised by white Democrats of the south
so as to make their political power greater
than other citizens and, by these means
Grover Cleveland became President OF the
United States instead of james G.. Blaine
1t was upon this declaration of mine, made
with full consideration and with absolute
certainty Of its substantial truth, that the
Democratic press, and Gen. Lee as we'll
declared that was raising the bloody shirt,
when the events to which | was referring
occurred last year, and not in 1861 or 1865;
that they related not to the war, but to
frauds and crimes committed long since the
war; which overthrow the sanctity of the
hallot-boH and upturncd the foundation of
UT IL
was the war upon the ballot-boN, aud not
the war of tue rebellion that | alraigned.
HIS FACTS uNcoNTRovERTED.
The truth of what / said was not contro-
verted by Gov. Hoadly nor Senator Thur
man, nor, as far as | am advised, by Gen.
Lee. / pointed to the public records,
which proved all | said, and especially
quoted from recent leading publications in
the south their full and unequivocal admis-
sions of the facts stated by me so far as
they affected the states of South Carolina,
Georgia, and Mississippi, and their frank
avowal Of and defense of their conduct.
made no appeal to the Union soldiers but
TO all good citizens, south as well as north,
and said ! would do it to the people Of
Virginia Gen. Lee, on the other hand, IL !
ON not mistaken, has conducted his can
vGss almost entirely upon the basis Of an
appeal to the confederate soldiers, to the
pride Of Virginia, for the courage they cX.
hibted in the war, and with military
trappinGs, flags, and cayalcade he tries to
turn the attention OF your people from the
questions of the present time, from your
material development, from protective
tmin, to the memories of war Ia which
Nlrginians fought bravely while there
was hope, and submitted honorably to the
arbitrament Of arms when their cause was
lost.
i
and not Of the past, and said that this evil
of dcpriving legal voters Of their right to
vote was so great, wide-Ieaching In its III
ilueEce, that II would never be submitted to,
but that some remedy would be found to
prevent its success. did not Mt that time
dream that the same tactics of fraud and
violence in the south Of which ] complained
were about to be transferred TO the state of
Ohio. Yet so it was. In the recent elec-
tion IN the city Of Cincinnati, where the
Democratic party had control of the police,
and substantially of the election, they re-
sorted to fraud and violence so gross and
shameless that even among the Democrats
Of Ohio there is an cutlery against such pro
ceedings. | denounce them as | de,
nounced kindred frauds In the south, and
invoke against them the honest indignation
Of Nirginians as did Of the people of Ohio
FcllO3 citizens The great and pressing
Issue of the times, to which | invite the
earnest attention of every Democrat as well
as of every Republican, involves the funda'
mental principles Of our government; that
elections must be free and open and fair
that every honest voter should he permitted
to cast his vote, and every honest vote
should he counted and no Others. II this
principle Is once overthrOwn republican
government is at an end, and the war Of the
Guelphs and the Ghibellines, the war OF
civil strife between factions and of riots
will commence, and there will soon be ar
end Of all elections, In support Of this
might quote what has been said by
Washington and jefferson and Jackson
and all the leading men of the past, who
justly denounced any violation Of the purity
of elections as the greatest crime against i
republic,
An APPEAL TO GOOD MEN.
therefore appeal to men of all parties
In the name of all the great men of Vir,
glnia, invoking your Just pride in yow
history, TO see to It that In the present
election, whatever may be the result Of IT,
that every man entitled by the constitution
aud laws Of Virginia and Of the United
States TO vote shall be allowed freely to
exercise that right and that his vote shall