Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-07-02
Lopan's Speech.

Senator LoaAN's Boston speech and
the manner in which il was received by
his Republican audience demonstrate
very clearly that the Ohio Republican
idea is not confined to Ohio. LoGAN's
remarks were for the most part nothing
more nor less than an application
of the Ohio Republican platform,
and his most savage periods were
applauded to the echo. He rcsur-
rected the bloody shirt from the recep-
tacle to which majority of the voters
Of the country had consigned it and
waved it with a vigor hardly equalled
by that he displayed when trying to
make himself Vice.P President. lie
ibelled the South in respect ofthe mat
ter Of loyalty, grossly misrcprcsentea
the treatment Of the negro by the
southern people, and made the most
incendiary appeals to sectional preju-
dice. He fought the war over, and did
all that in his power lay to reviyify
dead issues. After being clicked "
into good English by the report
ers his speech was almost as strong
in its meanness and vindictiveness
as was BLAINE's Augusta speech,
delivered while BLAINE was smarting
under defeat. The only reason that it
was not fully as strong in the respects
mentioned as was BLAINE's Augusta
effort lies in the fact that LOGAN has
not the sense that BLAINE has.
1t was evident that the spirit was will
ing, but the brain was weak. And all
LOGAN said delighted the hearts Of his
hearers. Here is mild specimen:
"A man may have rebelIed, or, be-
ing in the North, may have sympathized
with rebellion against the Government.
He may have sought to negotiate with
foreign powers for its overthrow. He
may have striven to 'hamstring' it at
the most critical moment of its desperate
struggle for existence. He may have
attempted to destroy its beneficent in
fluence. lie may have tried to make
our institutions by-word and a mock
cry among the nations. He may have
terrorized voters. He may have sup
pressed or destroyed the ballot, or
fysudulently perverted its true intent
and meaning. He may have assisted
in enacting laws under whose fell
operation freedom became a delusion
and personal liberty snare. But
these do not seem to prove him to be an
offensive PARTISAN provided always
| that he voted the Democratic ticket"
We might ask LOGAN, as we asked the
Republican party of Ohio, What does
he propose to do about this "terror-
izing Of voters " and suppression and
destruction Of the ballot, Fl" which, trans
lstedfrom Loganesea and Ohio Republican
vernaculsr into plain English, means
simply "the inability Of the Republic
can party to bulldoze longer the ne
groes into voting solidly tho Republic
can ticket? We confess We see no
hope for our Republican friends in this
matter, and for the simple reason that
the South is doing for the negro exactly
what LOGAN in his newborn zeal for
the negro "a zeal born since the days
Of the Illinois black laws) declared
in his Boston speech should be done
for them, "The eolored race" he said,
sis entitled to fair chance in a free
field to rise from the slums of igno-
rance and vice, and, through the ele-
waiting influence Of education and fairly
requited labor, to become self-respect-
ing, respected, and useful citizens
1t is because the southern people have
spent millions of dollars annually in
giving practical shape to that idea that
the negro is no longer as potter's clay
in the hands Of the Republican party.
II is because the southern people are
making the negro free in fact that
the Chic Republicans and JOHN A.
LOGAN howl. Either LOGAN is
wsfully ignorant Of what the southern
people have accomplished in the way of
elevatiug the negro or he is taking des-
perate chances in the effort to make the
negro an issue.
However, we have given the spirit Of
LocAs's speech, as we gave the spirit
Of the Ohio platform, for the lesson
TO our people that is in it. LooAS's
speech and its reception and the
Ohio platform and its reception
are fair critsrions by which to Judge
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