Year: 1872

rs AT the Louisville Jubilee.


. The greatest question possible
n American politics and American hi
If tory is now to be solved, and that que
K tion is this Can our free institution
: survive the shock of arms? In ordC
" to determine that we must determin
c another, and that other is this: Can
S Union of consent be continued afte


force has been applied to maintain it


These two questions, my fellow coun
y trymen, 70 to the very bottom ofAmeri
= can politics, and he is little prepare
c to comprehend them who does not bot
q understand and love the America


Government. AS this was formed.


was Union of consent, for otherwis
it would have been impossible for thi
9 Union to represent free Governmen;
For many years, to a large portion o


this country at least, this has not bcci
a Union of consent. A war was wag
ed to maintain it, and the result o
that war has been to establish the I'm


ion as a fact. But Union of fact il
not real Union-it is not the Unior
which your fathers gave you, and it il
not what will preserve your freedom
The great question is, how can thi,
Union which the result of the war has


preserved as a Union of fact bccom,
as it was intended to be Union o
consent, and thereby a Union repre-
, scnting free institutions?


Do not imagine, my countrymen, thai
this is a question for the South
and not for the North. Tho
question am going to discuss i,


not one that concerns the South more


than the North, for / tell you you car
never have a free Government at tho


North and an oppressive Government
at the South. / tell you you can not have
a union of consent for the North and
a union of force for the South. / tell
you you can not make a Hungary OF
the South until you have first made an
Austria of the North. You can not
make a Poland of the South until
you have also made Russia of the
North. This country - this whole
country must be again one of free men
and not of slaves. 1t is freedom for
all, or despotism for all. 1t matters
with me very little who for the time
being wields that power. / am free to
confess to you that / am one of those
individuals who have long believed that
a Republican Government like ours
could never undergo the ordeal of civ
il war, and above all, could never be
preserved from the effects of section
al war. Therefore it was high above
all questions of property, / opposed
to the very last the idea of secession,
and therefore it was after secession
came that / opposed the coercion OF
one section by another, and therefore
] opposed under all circumstances
and in all forms, the reconstruction OF
the Union outside of the Constitution
I have had very little hope that our
free institutions would be finally
! preserved. j confess to you frankly !
!, had almost given them up. acquired
hope. have now new hope, and
that hope have entertained, because
| have lived TO see two things of mod
crn occurrence which have startled the
politicians Of this country, which |
never expected to see. | never was a
partisan myself; | never did approach
anything like the worship of but one
man, and that man was Henry Clay. |
; have never seen such another man
since. He is, in my opinion, the only
first -class statesman the American in
stitutions ever did produce. Zap
plausc. L say am no partisan. |
have rather contempt for party. Nor
do / care much who is President OF
/, the United States. That is very
small concern with me, ifhe represents
a correct principle.


! say two things have occurred
which / never expected capable of oc-
curing. In the first place, | have seen
u large portion of an intelligent party
in power, and the leaders of that party
while in power, abandon that party
while welding power, and having in
all probability the power in their hands
for quarter OF a century, ] have seen
Il large portion of the leaders of that
party abandon it, and absolutely move
for the organization of new party, or
as it might be called, uniting with an
old party out of power, for the pur.
pose of rcscuing this Government from
the dangerous centralism to which ]
have called your attention. | never
expected TO see that. | never expect.
ed to see such men as Trumbull
Schurz, Sumner, Horace Greeley
never expected that that large body OF
Republicans would abandon their par
ty in power and form {. new party, and
that before they knew whether they
would be supported by another party
or not We saw that in Cincinnati. ]
say | certainly never expected TO sec
that The other thing never expect
ed to see was the Democratic party
voting for Horace Greeley for Presi-
dent of the United States. Ap
lplausc.


When the Cincinnati Convention
met, framed platform, and nominated
Horace Greeley and Governor Brown
for President and Vice President, !
looked on in amaZement.


1t was a wonderful exhibition Then


the question came up, will the Demo
cratic party coalesc with the move


ment? l hoped it would, but | con-
fess to you that | had very little faith
that it would. But | lived to sec the
day when this old iron.ribbed Domoc,
racy assembled at Baltimore in con.
vention for intelligence unprecedented
in its history, and with unanimitl
. and enthusiasm unprecedented in the
history of any party. absolutely adOp.
ted the platform and the candidates OF
the Liberal Republican party at Gin,
cnnati


These arc two things that never ex,


pected to sec. They have occurred
and both of them come tous in langu


age which | can not misunderstood,


see that this people hold this Govern
iment. its liberties and its institutions
high above the mere triumph of par
lty Applause 1t is "A tribute to pa
Ltrintism which no oYcnts i'm human his