Year: 1872

o. the Senator from Massachusetts,. Jd,n,t
| believe that any ons who reads the g, ,,,che,


OF Secretary Stanton during that Ii n, can
oel!eve the statement of the Senator. lam


incllnsd to take charitable view of it. if wa
are allowed to view such statements with


charity. 1t is the only thing that can ex-
cuse nim from being false in his statements


before the country.


Ihe history of the world would write the
american people down as people not whorthv


VI srus'' as people without gratitude, as a


people who had seen a man hew his wav II,


fame by his own strong arm, and then aIjov-


ed an ambitious politician to strike him dov,,


with merciless blow, and no one To stand hr,


and to say, "The blow is too severe +" and


say to ths Senator from Massachusetts that


wnile ne has struck this blow, as he believes


neaVy one, on the head of the political


prospects OF General Grant, he has made him


friends by the thousand, strong ones. too.


tnas were merely lukewarm yesterday.


lie mas aroused the spirit Of this land that
cannot be quelled. He has, in fact, inaamed
the old war spirit in the soldiery of the ooun-
try. He has aroused the feeling of indign.-
ton in every man that warmed his feet by a
campfire during the war. He has sent
through this land thrill which will retur.
to him in such a manner and with such foroe
as will make him feel it. For myself. 7 vim
say that have sat quietly here for months
and had not intended to say anything Ihad
no argument to make, intending to await
the nomination Of the Philadelphia Conven-
tion, be it Grant or be it whom it might. be-
ieving, however, it would be Grant; but
when I heard these vile ISLANDERS hurled like
javelins against the President of the United
States, it aroused feeling in my breast which
has been aroused many times before. I am
now ready to buckle on my armor and are
ready for the fray, and from now until No.
vember next to fight this battle in behalf of
an honest man, good soldier, and faithful
servant. Applause in the galleries.


You will hear response to this every
where. As said the other day, it will be
heard from one end of this land to the other.
The lines of blue coats that were arrayed upon
the hill-tops and along the valleys, with bur
nished bayonets, ready for hefght, the same
men, although they have divested themselves
of their battle array, yet retain their warlike
spirit burning in their bosoms. They will
respond to this challenge; they will say to the
eloquent Senator from Massachusetts,, "You
have thrown down the glove and we will take
it up" I tell the Senator he will find re-
sponse in his own State that will not give his
slumberings much quiet. He will find re-
sponse everywhere. The people of this coun-
try will not see man sacrificed to vile calum-
ny. I would be willing, and 1 believe every
one else would, to allow the contest to be set
tied fairly and justly. Let the people select
whom they desire to have for their President
or for any other position. And when the Sem
ator from Massachusetts, with his laundering
voice echoing in this chamber proposes to ex-
clude every man who fought for his country,
every man that has been a soldier, from civil
office, and claiming that the right to hold Of
fee belongs alone to men like himself, say
he will find even poor but honest, hard-work-
ing men saying to him the time has not come
in this free Republic of America for such
doctrine to be tolerated on the floor of the
Senate or on the floor of the lower House of
Congress, and if so, it will not be taken and
relished as sweet morsel by the people of
this land.


No, Mr.. President; when we are challeng-
ed to the contest, and when we are told that
soldiers are only made to be soldiers, and
educated civilians only should hold high po-
sitions of trust in this country, 1 am sorry to
say to the Senator, unfortunate man, you
were never born to be President of the United
States; you will never be the President Of
that grand party which you claim to have
originated and organized. No man with such
aspirations and such views and such feelings
for the common people of this country can
ever succeed as a politician or statesman
in the midst of people devoted to republi-
can institutions.


President Grant has made an honest Presi-
dent. He has been faithful. The affairs of
the nation are in good condition. We are at
peace with the civilized world. Notwith-
standing the Senator said we were in a mud
die with every nation, we are at war with
none. Every State in this Union is quiet;
the laws have been faithfully executed and
we have quiet and peace
throughout our land. Such blessings we
have not had since the war until recently.
But the Senator from Massachusetts, would
turn the Government of the United States
over to the hands of our enemies. That is
what we do not desire. If he desires not to
accomplish that, let him be faithful and stand
by the old Republican ship, in which there is
life, and outside of which there is death.
But whether he does or not, success will be
ours; this Government will be peaceful, the
people happy and prosperous, harmony and
unity will prevail, to the great advancement
of the material interests of this great nation.


Mr.. President, let me ask Senators here
who stood anxiously waiting at the close of
this war to see the very state of things brought
about that we see to-day-peace, comfort,
quiet and prosperity. as they looked out upon
the boisterous ocean of secession and saw the
raging and fierce pillows of angry strife, if it
was not the prayer then of every PATRIOTS
man, woman and child in this land that the
angry pillows should cease, and that we
should once more have placid seas and as we
looked out upon these angry waves of rebel
lion and strife and saw the old ship of State
struggling to make her way to harbor of
safety, and saw this man, now President,
then guiding and commanding the crew that
managed this craft, when at his command our
guns ceased their thunder and erything
was still and quiet, the old ship, manned by
her devoted crew, came safely into the harbor
of safety, freighted with the hopes of man
kind, where she is moored quiet and peaceful
to-day? Who is there that can describe the
outbreak of overjoyous hearts in strains of
praise for the safety of our Republic that
went forth on that day of triumph? Sir, that
feeling still is in the bosom of patriots, and
though slumbering, will break forth again,
having been aroused by the blast of the
enemy's bugle.


Who is there among the Republicans that
desires to set the old craft adrift again into
the boisterous seas of tumult and confusion?
presume there is not one. Then let us, as
quiet, law-abiding, peaceable citizens, desir-
GUS of doing the best we can for our country,
go straight forward in the execution of the
proper plans and designs for the accomplish
ment of the objects for which republican in