Arizona republican., 1898-04-26

dertake a war. The people demanded in mass meetings, and congress in. sisted, that the alliance should be | made. Washington, who knew better than any one our condition and the conditions on the other side, resisted the effort and defeated the plan. He lost popularity, and if he had not been Washington he might have been i'm. peached. The verdict Of all the his torians is that had the United States entered into that alliance at that time with the events which subsequently, took place in Europe, the young re- public would have been destroyed.
 '1n the early days of the civil war congress and the people demanded ot President Lincoln that he free the slaves. For two years. with great loss of popularity MT. Lincoln resisted this demand. He knew that until the people of the north who were support ing the war but believed in the consti. nationality of slavery, were convinced that it should be destroyed, a daclara tion to that effect would lose the gov. ernment so much support in the north. ern states that the movement instead of being benefit, would prove boom. erang. We all know now that had President Lincoln issued the procla. nation of emancipation a year or two years before he did the victory of the republic, on account of the fire in the rear, might have been achieved. But in the fitness of time the great proc. lamat1on of emancipation was issued and the triumph of union and liberty was complete by the wisdom of Abra- ham Lincoln.
 Alter the war was over there was a wild and almost resistless movement ir congress and everywhere to try tc hang the chiefs of the rebellion, Gen. eral Lee, General Beauregard, General Longstreet, General Johnston and the rest must all be convicted as traitors and executed for treason. Against this outcry stood General Grant, and, nc one but General Grant, with Appo. mattox behind him, could have stayed the vengeance of the passions of that hour. We now know that had those confederate leaders been hanged the southern states would have nevar coma into the Union, and the reunion ot the states which makes us so great and so strong, and which makes our victory so sure in a war witt Spain, could not have been accom- plished.
 We now come to our crisis, and we have president who worthily ucceads Washington, Lincoln and Grant. The republican house of representatives has passed a resolution which embed. ies his views and will enable him to carry out the purpose expressed in his wise and statesmanlike message The senate has passed resolution antago- nistic to the presidents position and assuming the prerogatives which, by the constitution, belong solely to the president of the United States. The question for us in this club, as repub- licans and members of a republican organization of nearly quarter of a century's standing, is whether we shall stand by our republican president, stand by our republican house of rep- resentatives, or join with a majority of the senate, largely made up of popu. lists, democrats and silverites. Shall we stand by the republicans of the senate who support the president? :? Shall We stand by the republican ma jority of the house who support the. president? Shall we stand by William, Mckinley and send him message that so far as this club is representative of public opinion it approves of what he has done; it approves of his great mes sage to congress, and it believes that the mighty issues which are to deter mine SO much for the future of this country, for humanity and for liberty, can be safely left in his hands?"