Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1880 — LANDERS AND GRAY. [ARTICLE]

LANDERS AND GRAY.

terd ay nominated Loader* end Gray, the first for Governor aod the second for Lieutenant-governor. The combination was unexpected, bnl it is a natural one, and probably as strong as any they could have made. The contest between there two men land tbeir reepeotive following* was vsry bitter, and* it was a happy thought to aettle the matter by uom mating one for Governor and the other for Lieutenant-governor. It might be called a patent reversible doable-ended ticket. The nomination of Mr. Lander* is a triumph of the Bourbon element. During the war he wae a etay-at-home and a rebel sympathizer, while Colonel Gray waa so Indiscreet as to show his sympathy with the Union cause by entering the army. He didn’t serve long, bat the fact that he served at all has been nsed as an effective argument against him- Besides, during his brief service be gutted a Democratic printing office and threw the contents into the Ohio river, and for this he will never be forgiven. The wonder is that he has been able to make any headway at all as a Democratic politician. Mr.* Landers has no such drawbacks. He not only did not enter the army, bnt during the war he remained at home and did what he eould to discourage enlistments and weaken the government cause. He represented the counties of Johnson and Morgan in the famous, or infamous, disloyal Legislature of 1863, and in that position he repeatedly placed himself on record as a sympathizer with the rebellion. For instance, on the 14th of January, 1863, he voted for a resolution declaring that “while the President persists in his abolition policy in the conduct of the war, Indiana will not voluntarily contribute another another dollar to be used tor such wicked, inhuman and unholy purposes.” Two flays later, when a petition was presented from Democrats in Sullivan county, asking “that not one man nor one dollar be voted to prosecute this infernal abolition war,” Mr. Landers voted tor its respectful reference to a oomraillee; while a memorial from twenty-two regiments of Indiana soldiers, containing nearly 20,000 voters, asking that no armistice or truce should be m'ade with rebels, was denounced as “an Insult to all Democrats,” and was rejected. About the same time he voted against a resolution that “whatever is calculated to create divisions in the North and please the rebels should be c>nderaned by every patriot in the laud.” A little later he voted that the war on the part of the government was “an unnatural civil war, repugnant to the constitution, and in open violation of the rights of the several States.” Ten days later he voted for a proposition to make an armistice of six months with the rebels?: knowing full well that this was just what they wanted. On the 29th of January, 1863, the war being then in progress, he voted for a resolution declaring that: “We hereby, in the name of the people of Indiana,invite each and every State in the Federal Union, including the so called Confederate States to meet delegate from the State of Indiana in convention at Nashville, Tennessee, on the Ist day of June, 1863, each Sta’e to send as many delegates as shall equal the number of its Senators and Representatives in Congress.” The object of this convention was to bring about a dishonorable peace, and Mr Landers voted to pay the Indiana delegates to it five dollars per day and their traveling expenses. He also voted in Democratic caucus for the bill prepared by the leaders of the Sons of Liberly to take the military control of the State out of Governor Morton’s hands and put it in the hands of four Democratic State officers, three of whom were Sods of Liberty, wbo had taken a eeoret oath to assist the rebellion. He also introduced in the Senate a bill to disarm the Home Guards and place all State artns under the control of the Sons of Liberty above re: ferred to, to be used only on their order." We have cited only a part of Mr. Landers war record, but quite enough to show its quality. Many more votes and acts of a similar character might be cited, and will be hereafter. *

In 1874 Mr. Landers was elected to Congress from this district, serv* ing one term. He made no mark there except by his refnsal to vote for the Hon. M. O. Kerr, the Democratic caucus nominee for Speaker of the House, and by hit advocacy of unsound financial theories. The former lost him the confidence of the leading Democrats of the House, and the latter earned (or him the condemnation of honest men of all parties, so that when be dropped oat at the end of one term he was neither regretted nor missed. He is a main of modetale ability and limited education, bnt of tireless energy and industry and considerable low ounning in polities. Tbs convention renominated the present State officers exoept the Superintendent- of Public Instruction, and for this position it nomi-nated-Pro£ A- C. Goodwin, of Clark county. The ticket wiH poll tbe naked strength of the Democratic party, but n> more; and can and will be beaten if (he Republicans do their duty.