Decatur Democrat, Volume 24, Number 19, Decatur, Adams County, 12 August 1880 — Page 16

welfare ol nil citizens, we have pr< sented to us a ticket for our consideration, and for our support. That ticket was made last week at Cincinnati; and the question is shall it be elected? Os the result, I say to yWu to-night, I have no doubt that General Winfield Scott Hancock and William H. English will be elected. Why, if I had a doubt before I could have none now, when I see this vast crowd of ladies and men here to att**t their appreciation ot the strength and excellence •as that ticket General Hancock is distinguished in war as be is distinguished in Sace. As a warrior he was distinguished in axico; as a commander he was distinguished in the late war. No man stands above him as a military chieftain, and when the war was over and the Administration sent him down to New Orleans in command of Louisiana and Texas, ho attested his qualifl cations as a civil ruler. General Hancock, xn 1867, about the month of November, was lent to New Orleans to aid in the cruel work, as desired by the Northern extreme and Radical party to oppress still further, to subjugate and almost destroy a part of this country; and when he assumed command he asserted the sentiments and principles of American Democracy in the orders whieh he then issued. In the paper of this evening I observe the first order and the second and the third ot the important orders issued by General Hancock at New Orleans. While I read briefly from those orders, because I desire you to understand that General Hancock ie much more than a mere military commander, however great he may be in that respect, I want you to understand that he has those sentiments of free government that qualify and fit him to be a ruler of a free people. In this order, No. 40, issuedin November, 1867, at New Orleans, General Hancock uses this language: “Thf'Gmwßl commanding in gratified to learn ihnt peace and quiet reign in thia department. It will ba his purpose to preserve thia condition of thing*; As a tneaue to this gr-at end ho regards the maintenance of Uie civil authority in tha faithful execution of the laws as the meet efficient under existing circumstances. In war it is indespeusible to repel force by foroe, and overthrow and destroy opposition to lawful authority. But when insurrectionary force Jim been overthrown and peace established, Und*the Cfvfi authorities are ready and willing to I perfornrtineir duties, the military should cease to lead and the adnHUistration resume its natural and lightful dominion. Solemnly impressed with these view*,: he-Getteral commanding announces that the great principles of American liberty are still the law- j ful inheritance of this people and ever should be.” I shall not detain you to read the balance of the order. It is in accordance with the' spirit of so much as I have read. But his orders did not stop there. It turned out that one rfhis predecessors had established rules for the selection of juries that were intended to convict all that the party in power did not like, ano to acquit all who were the favorites of that party in power, and General Hancock at once said that these restrictions upon the jury should be abrogated.! He did not stop there. Thinking men, I dare say many of you have thought that the contest for fair elections was made first at the extra, session ot Congress last year. In that you are mistaken. The fight for free elections is more than a century old among English-speaking people, but in the politics of this < ountry it is older than the extra session; it is found for the first time in Louisiana and Texas, where General Hancock made the contest for free elections. In bis order issued in 1867, he declared the military power in Texas and Louisiana should not at all interfere with the elections, and went further and directed that no soldier should approach the voting place, unless to exercise the lawful right to vote himself. And when any Republcan asks me why I support Winfield d. Hancock, he being a

I am still an Indiana production — a grow t! of Hoosier soil — a native member of the great Indiana household —and I believe then mi high authority for saying that he who pro videth not for his own household is worse than an infidel; so, I confidently rely upon the sympathy and support of my native State. Gentlemen, if I were to consult only ni} ease and comfort and my interests, I should decline this nomination, and there are those within the sound of my voice who know well that, as far as I had any political aspiration, it was not in the directian of a place on the Presidential ticket. 1 stood with the Democracy of my State at Cincinnati earnestly and in good with, as everyone there will testify, in favor of the nomination of our beloved fellow citizen, Thomas A. Hendricks, for President of the I’ n ited States. W e were young men together at the same college; we were together in the Convention which formed the Constitution of this State; we entered Congress together over a quarter of a century ago, and I know him to be as pure a man as lives in this or any other land. Circumstances, which are not at all to Governor Hendricks’ discredit, but which no agency of ours could control, prevented his nomination, it was not bis fault, or the fault of any of bis Indiana friends. But his not being nominated has not hurt him in the least, and he stands today higher enthroned than ever in the hearts of the people, and will undoubtedly stand high iu the confidence of the next Democratic Administration. After his name had passed from before the Convention, and not before, was my name presented for Vice President. How unanimously it was approved, you all know, and I am proud to know that it was most cordially approved by Thomas A. Hendricks himself. Having thus been so nominated, I feel that the unanimous voice of the representatives ot a majority of the American people is not a voice to be disregarded by any mere personal considerations. K Therefore I chooee to say frankly to you. my neighbors and friends, that when the nomination ii formally tendered I expect to accept it, and I have not one particle of doubt that I shall be elected. If I am, I shall ati tend to public affairs as zealously as I ever ■ attended to my own, and it will be the aim of my life to discharge every duty honestly, faithfully and to the very best of my ability, not as a bigoted partisan, but in that broader and better sense of partisan statesmanship which labors always for the right —always for the maintenance of the correct principles . ,of Jeffersonian Democracy; always to promote the happiness and prosperity of the people. I believe that the best way for a party or a man to achieve success is to deserve it, and that ‘'he serves his party best who serves his country best.” For myself, I hope the canvas will be conducted in that decency and order befitting an enlightened, law-abiding, liberty-loving people. I hope weehall have a fair and honest election, and that the fairly expressed will of the people may be faithfully carried into execution. That General Hancock will be the choice of the people for President I have no question whatever. He will be elected because he ought to be elected. I believe the best interests of the country require that he should be elected. He is a man in every way fitted for the exalted position. He has a record as pure as the untrodden snow upon the mountain top. He is a grand, clear-headed, clean-hearted man; a brave soldier, a great commander, a respecter of law and order and civil rights. You could not be in his presence five ajinutee without feeling that

honest mon, soloctixl from the best men in the land and thoy met there simply to inquire what was bet to be done, and after a three days’ session in which as far as it was possible, conflicting personal interests at.d personal ambitious were reconciled, they produced and an nounced to the world the Democratic ticket for 1880: For President, Winfield Scott Hancock, and for Vice President, William H. English. It would have betti r pleased us if they had honored our distinguished Chairman, who sits here, with the place that properly belongs to him — at the head of the ticket —but it was no fault of any Indiana man that he did not receive that high honor. Dissensions in other sections of the country that were held up perhaps threatening the success of the ticket, induced hundreds who were his friends to turn their faces to other candidates, and finally the instinct of that immense Convention selected General Hancok as our candidate. And let me say to you, fellow citizens, that one fact contributed more than any other to his selection was, that when in New Orleans, placed there as a military dictator over the people, he issued orders embracing the prin ciples of civil liberty which your Chairman has read in your hearing. These orders went forth as seed sown in good ground. Years afterward the people came up to Cincinnati to remember with gratitude the liberty he had extended to them on that occasion. Our adversaries say that we have selected a mere military chieftain and they have put before the country a man known for his statesmanship, who has also been a warrior in defense of his country. Now, fellow citizens, I have nothing to say byway of detraction against General Garfield. I never advance my standard by detracting from my adversary, but I stand here to-day to say that General Garfield’s record as a civilian and a statesman furnishes no illustration of sound statesmanship that can be compared with the shert order that General Hancock issued as a military commander from his place in New Orleans. There is more statesmanship in that than is to be found in the whole life of Garfield, because it announces to the people of this country the great principle that governs and controls this great Nation, and that is. that the military is to be at all times subservient and subordinate to the civil authority, and the military man who understands that principle and theory of our Government, I care not how much he may have been a military man, he still has the true principles of Democracy sufficient to administer the affairs of a Government like ours, and the selection made at Cincinnati last week we are not only ratifying now, but Indiana will ratify it by an overwhelming majority at the October election. Follow citizens, the hour has coma when this Republican party must be defeated, and will be. It has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. The handwriting is on the wall, and thus early you are joining your voices with shouts of gratification, with the same kind cf snouts that are going up from all over this land. The Democratic thunder is reverberating through the hillsand valleys, i and the Democratic lightning is flashing all : around, and the Republican party know their hour has come. As a citizen 'of this great State of Indiana, I am proud of the fact that the great charge that is to annihilate the Republican party, to break and to scatter it like chaff before the wind, has been intrusted to the Democracy of Indiana. In October we will lead the charge upon the enemy’s center, and, like my namesake under the great Napoleon, who led the charge i s* Wagram, the Demoerahy of Indiana will

him not to be merely a. hifrh and gallant soldier, as has ridden along the line of battle with thundering artillery belching on his front and the hot rattle of musketry all around at a time when those who now malign him in the columns of the newspapers, crouched in the rear. I know him well as such * a man as that *> and know him as something more; I know his as a statesman by intuition. Educated at West Point let him Le; having a career of a soldier, so be it; incamp, all right, but "with the instinct of popular liberty. The first time the great question of constitutional government, the rights of the citizens, free speech, trial by jury, habeas corpus even come to him, ho knew them, as a mother knows her child, by instinct. Some men have to be educated to questions of that kind. Some men of great honor gain them, because, after long years of civil service, they know the questions by heart. He knew, these questions the moment they were presented to him at once. Is not such a man as that fit to be President? He perceived their true relations, and announced them at once. My fellow citizens I witnessed the Cincinnati Convention. It was a wonderful event. I never saw its like before. I never shall see its like again. We had longed for Union soldiers of the Union, fr>ug lit for the Union. I saw a union in the Cincinnati •Convention. Tliisgn at soldier and statesman when him name was presented, attracted around him those elements which, tor the first time since the close of the war, proclaimed that the war was done. I saw a sight there which I never witnessed before, and which I never expect to again. "When it became evident thut the nomination of Hancock was a fixed ftict, I saw the standards of the States gathered up close together in a little circle like this before me; some of them were borne by one-legged Confederate sol- ' diers, who had fought Hancoc k at Gettys- 1 burg; who had fought him in the Wilder- ' ness; men I knew personally.' 1 saw them ; walking on one leg, some bearing the banner in one hand. I saw soldiers from the North, ! too —from the various N orthern States, coming down to the front, and as they put their ’ banners together it seemed as if those ban- ' ners kissed. I saw General Butler, of South 1 ' Carolina, litftping on one leg, the other he ' had lost on the field of battle fighting Han- 1 cock, placing his banner close up to the ban- ' ner of Massachusetts. It seemed to me that the millennial of the Union had come, and ‘ come in fact at last. Where is the man that J talks of the bloody shirt to-night? Wnere f is the poor, sneering, indignant creature, who * talks to-night about the disloyalty of the South to the union of the State->? When I saw this going on I thought: Can it be possible that I witnessed such a 1 scene? But there arose before me < sights like this I saw. As I f have often talked with Hancock and others * that were with him, I saw a line of batlie fixed by him at Gettysburg. I saw him 1 ride, coolly, bareheaded, down his fine, and t I saw, or 1 seemed to see, at the head of the ( opposing line Gordonand Pickett and Long- * street and Lee, the tide of battle charging 1 against each other. 1 seemed to see him I march in the strongest p< sition in the wilder- 1 ness 28,000 muskets at the shoulders of the troops. I saw that terrible conflict of battle between the gray, commanded by Long- a street, and by him, and when the leaden hail fell like raindrops and I saw at the I head of the surviving shock of battle crowned with laurel wreath of scenic glorv a man whom they have now chosen to be the Cheif Magistrate. Is that a disloyal people? Is f that no act of self-sacrifice? Is that no act yt j;lory o» their part? You tell me that R

people of Indiana that the reason why their lurnaces have been started up, the reason why the laboring men are employed is because of Democratic legislation. Gentlemen, business was paralyzed when the Democratic party adopted their policy in Congress. It restored the silver dollar, and said to the people, no Jmore greenbacks should be destroyed. Their confidence was restored immediately, and the smoke was revived in the stacks, and the laboring men of this country found employment. Notwithstanding these facts, the Republican party has claimed throughout the country that all this revival of business was due to its policy. Can they -point to a single financial measure of theirs | that is in existence to-day? That party demonetized, your silver dollar; that party passed a law through Congress for the destruction of your greenbacks. The Democratic party remonetized your silver dollar, and passed a law for the reissue of your greenbacks, and thereby prevented their destruction. In this canvass we will net be like the Republican party. We will not claim for the Democracy that which does not belong to them. Our p’latfonn is right upon that question. We give the Lord the credit that is due Him. lie has blessed us with abundant crops, and that and the blighting of crops abroad has done more than all the political parties to revive the business interests of this country. In view of the fact that we expect favors in the future, we will not claim for our party that credit which Is due to the Lord. Why was it that John Sherman was only third in the race at Chicago, when one year ago he would have been nominated by the Republican party for President? It was because the people of this country found out that his claim was fraudulent; that the prosperity of the country was not due to his policy, and as his flag went down the Democratic flag went up. At times, in hearing Mr. Sherman make his speech in Ohio, I thought of the devil. You will recollect that on one occasion the devil had tbs impudence to carry Christ on the top of a very high mountain, and claim that all the world belonged to him, and proposed to give it to ; give it to Christ if he would fall down and ' worship him, when at the same time he did ! j owe a foot of territory he was pointing out. j j The claim of the devil on that occasion was 1 < as valid as the claim of John Sherman that ; his policy restored prosperity to this country. I have no fear in this contest. Let me say < to you, the enthusiasm that is here to-night i is spreading all over the country. It was at Cincinnati, and it is visible everywhere since 1 the nomination of Hancock and English. Hon. David Turpie was next introduced, 1 and spoke as follows: *

T — - — — - — - v I. ** < VUIUpS 1 to violate the plain law of the land; the sec- • and was an attempt to ignore it. His last > action was an effort to trample under foot a sacred tradition —an unwritten law as old a* the , administration of the first Presi- • dent, so justly cu.led the Father of his ■ Country. This country needs no step- ■ father like General Grant. It needs • no step-son like General Garfield. It calls to its high service a true son fi om the 1 lineage and loins of liberty, willing to walk in the paths of the great fathers and to hearken to the voice ofthuir commandments. I have said that it was exceedingly proper that General Hancock should suc< eed General Grant in the Presidency of the United States.. You will observe that I have taken no notice of Mr. Huyes. His term of semi, official service, whatever it may be named, can not be called a Presidency. He was never chosen to the position— this term is not a Presidency. It is simply a sort of political parenthesis at: ached to the last administration of General Grant. You all know what a parenthesis is. It is very much like one of the spurious messages of the pseudo President — a cluster of words between two brackets which you can read or or not, as you please. It is not necessary to complete the sentence or the sense. Its entire omission affects nothing. It is very evident that General Gram, took this same view of the service of Mr. Hayes, for he tried the other day at Chicago, and thought that he would be allowed, as a matter of course, to take up the sentence where it was left of .without any regard to what had happened in the interim. His own political friends prevented that, and the people of the whole country hive concluded to read no further in that direction. This is an» w book which they present to the public, containing easy lessens for the American people in the science of personal absolutI ism and central usurpation; and they have a j late edition of it just published at Chicago, with Garfield as author instead of Grant. It is be&utifully illustrated with pictures of General Grant’s ft reign travel and the armorial bearings and cogtume of the anticipated imperial dynasty; illustrated still further with elegant engravings of the delicately tasselated pavementof De Golyerand charming etchings in dissolving views of the ravishing dividends of the quandom Credit Mobilier. But it will not do. The people discard this new book a d tl ese new-fangled masters that cumo along with Unit* d States Marshals and musketry, to teach the boys the rules of the school. Do you think the people of this great Nation are freshmen in the university of civil and political freedom’ They have been students, careful and diligen. •

| •tarty will before Uto Country show the people that sinew the democ ratic party has had control of Congress they have economized in every department; they will show the people that they have saved over $30,<X)O, 000 per annum in expenditures; and. that, too, without any detriment to the public service. .g We will show the people of Indiana t hat in our own State administration we have Saved many thousand dollars to the people, and a more economical administration we have never had. Is not that what the people want? Do you not want economy? Do you not want your business transacted in away that is in the interest of the whole country ? In business affairs w e want a management of our business that is most successful for the least expense. £ We will show that the Democratic party is a party of rigid economy in the management of the affairs of the Government. Moreover, gentlemen, wc I expect to claim for the Democrats what be- I longs to them. We expect to show to the I

deucy, a We owe it to the world and the history of our own future to show the marked contrast between a President who was merely and only a soldier, and a President who was a citizen as well as a soldier ai d a citizen before he was a soldier. General vGrant in his long public career lias never r< membered, and General Hancock, in his public life, has tievbr forgotten that ho was a citizen as well as a soldier. Every man born here is a citizen es the United fchates, and owes allegiance at his birth to the Constitution and laws ofthe Republic. The reigning sovereign of this great democracy, when he becormsa soldier takes upon himself additional obligations, but he is not there by released fromnis obligations as a citizen. General Grant was the great war President of the Republican party. He was encamped at Washington eight years. He commanded there as Gen-eral-in-Chief at headquarters. As a magistrate under the law he governed not at all. His first administrative act was an attempt