The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-10-29
DEMOCRACY AND THE SOUTH
Gen. Lew Wallace Discusses Political Is
sues in a New and Striking Vein.
The Betrayal Of the Democratic Party in 1860
BY Its TreasOnable Leaders, and Why 1t
Should Now Be Deprived Of Power.

On Tuesday last Gen. Lew Wallace delivered
a forcibls and eloquent speech before old friends
and scausintsnces. ct Wingate. Montgomery
county. the text of which is appended:
Fellow itizens-There is no Office or nomi-
nation for Office in your gift which | want. II
then you ask what | am, and WHY here. this is
nv answer-I am an American OF the class that
believes with all my heart and soul that our
country 9 the greatest that is or has been-of
the class which does not allow q day TO pass with
out thanks for birth and life a freeman Of the
United States. There Is no country like our
country; and Ia anticipation Of election, the
morning of which may be almost seen in the
sky, am here TO speak for II regardlessly.
l wish to be brief. and for that purpose, after
not = little thought, have determined TO confne
myself 20 one topic-the Democratic party and
the Solid South.
was once q Democrat OF the straitest sect.
For thirteen years as q Democrat l made battle
with every lem that showed q hostile pennon In
the opposite horizon Recollection OF those
years. and OK the many who were my friends In
that time, some Of them now dead, will keep me
10 respectful speech. While Indifferent to DO.
litieal honors, 1 beg you all to understand that
am q candidate for the good will and respect OF
everybody. remember also that at giving con-
sent 70 speak Cd this occasion. 1t was on condi-
ton that my old Democratic friends should be
specially invited To come and hear me.
The origin of the Democratic party Is not al
together clear in history. Thomas Jefferson 10
Its reputeG fatner. Let u % SO Eolu. 4nefo
were Federalists and anti-Federalists Each
n;ek-named the other. The anti Fedsraiisrs
called their opponents Aristocrats, and were IN
turn branded Jacobins. The Feceralists disap-
peared with Aaron Burr; after which we hear
certainly and distinctively of the Democratic
party. And IL satisfies me now to
divide its existence into two sras. 1861
being the close Of the first aud the beginning OF
the second.
IL il DO true that political parties. like men,
sre good or bad according to their deeds, then,
speaking judicially, / am bound to say that,
while amenable 10 objections, the Democratic
party was great and fairly representative OF the
Americso people daring the first era of it's life
Indeed. / am bound to 60 further. and say That,
In my opinion. 10 was necessary to our country.
My Repu blican friends may be astonished ct
my liberality. and want an explanation.
There we're three events. each Of infinite mo-
ment. In shaping our affairs nationally, and
each to be set down TO the credit or the Demo-
cratic party. The first che was the purchase. in
160c, of Louisiana from Napoleon. The move
ment was bitterly opposed By the Federalists.
mocracy in ard out of Congress-, succeeded.
The amount paid was $l5,O 600. The
advantages have since proven unreasonable
We obtained oy it first the Mississippi river
entire; next q stretch of country Indefinitely
vast came to us pescsably, and out Of it we
have since created the States OF Louisiana, Ar
kansas, Missouri, Minnesota. Colorado, Nevada
and Oregon. with five Territories remaining. In
that day Napoleon Wae planning a french col
onial dominion in the West, aud actually set
about its achievement, beginning in ST. Domin-
60. His second step was to have been in Louisi-
ana TslleyraDd, writing By bis Inspiration,
ssid: "We shall find in the Indian tribes lad
jacept to the OHIO, Mississippi and Missouril an
army permanently cantoned 10 most convenient
stations, endowed with skill and temper best
adapted to the nature and the scene Of the war
AGAINST the United states), Spd armed and i'm
PEELED with far less trouble and expense than an
o0ual nurahor NJ mr. fr0onR Sueh
will be the power we will derive from q military
station and a growing colony on the MlssipplP
Could anything be more explicitl
Imagine 30, 600 Indians west of the
river led by Frenchme n like Montcalm
and Duquesne, and armed and supplied by
Francel
The second great dead to which l have refer
red was the war OF 1872 England concluded
one revolution, you will remember. by acknowl-
edging our ipdependenee. She even embodied
the acknowledgment. in q formal treaty. Yet
we were not free in fact We wanted to engage
10 manufacturing and Europe was
only %neutrsls; SO that the tims was favorable TO
our ambition. Put the old enemy, true to his
everlasting policy of holding the whole earth as
o market to be supplied by him, and knowing
perfectly the principle that no people can rival
him N manufacturing for expectation except
they be master of q marine for carriage on their
own account, repudIated the rights of neutrals
as defined by the law OF nations, boarded our
SHIPS on the niRn seas, ana piunCereu tnom at
pleasure; nor stopping there, he bore our sea-
men, native and foreign-born, from their decks,
and mustered them at his guns. At last
the condition became intolerable. A war party
asserted itself in Congress- Calhoun against
John Randolph, Henry Clay against Josiah
Quiucey-the West and South against q faction
10 New England. James Madison, a Demo
cratic President, approved and published the
declaration of war. Then. for the first time,
appeared the motto emblazoned on our flag
Free Trade and Sailors Rights" Tho free
trade Of that day, however, 10 not TO be con-
founded with the free trade of the present 1t
meant, simply. as Madison and Perry under
stood IL, the right Of our people TO send ships 10
duties upon imports for purposes of revenue
and protection was not In the consideration.
The end was glorious. Our real Independence
must be reckoned from the date of the treaty Of
Client, Dec. "a, 1914. not from Sept. 3, 1888. the
date Of the treaty OF Paris. by which the revo-
lutionary war was finished.
The third great event which include in my
reference was the war with Mexico. / am aware
OF the prejudice existing against that measure
upon the part of many good and wise Americans.
Still / insist that the war Was inevstabls--some-
thing bound 60 come-if not in 1916. then later.
1t vas the logical consequence OF the annexa-
ton Of Texas. III the Rio Grande, q rushing
torrent from Its first fountains TO it's final plunge
into the gulf. Is now a boundary limo OF difh-
cult observance, what would the unsettled line
terminal on the south by the Nueces have besnl
III - rue tnnt the mcJiNo OF tho Democractlc
majority In tue annexation Of Texas was indie
fensibie. The extension of slavery cannot be
separated from slavery; but after our govern
meut committed itself 70 the measure, the ques-
ton changed; the soil became ours; We bad TO
defend r.; the people of Texas became our
them. In dealing with foreign pow
srs, / reserve the right TO oppose a policy down
TO the moment when the national sanction is at
tested by the national seal fixed fast to the
$1,000 ~.,rAnf. than am an Amarican
against the world. The unrighteousness Of the
policy disappears 10 the light Of the stars upon
the flag, and where the flag is ordered 1 am
ready to 20, though il be up the Thames 10 rhe
heart Of London. I followed il q soldier across
the Rio Grande; and now, forty years after, |
look upon the map. and in a vain effort to esti-
mate in dollars and cents the value OF California
alone. / rest, thinking of the future that was Sc
cured. Slavery is dead; bat the right Of way
between ocean aud ocean survives, a fee simpls
70 our people forever.
These. L repeat. are the special glofies of the
Democrats party. and / call upon you to
observe that they were all Of occurrence
during the first era, ending in 1851. | pass now
TO the second era.
Up 10 this point, at least. my Democratic
friends cannot complain of me; and as, in what
II TO come, | shall try 10 be not less considerate
OF their feelings. let me hope to have their con-
tinued attention This Is the time for them to
hear; the time for them TO think of what they
have heard. and to digest IL is when they are at
home in the quiet OF their families.
Did you never ssk yourselves. nv friends.
why, with such mighty things as those / have
mentioned 10 mark its history, there should have