Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1869 — THE ISSUES REFORE US. [ARTICLE]

THE ISSUES REFORE US.

Governor Palmer, of Illinois, delivered a speech bqfbrc-tko Gount y Re publican C«hv*»lknj, hMd at Springfield on the 10th of August, from which wo take the following extracts: aWRKMMaa the Democratic party, to which others ol us adhered, passed under the control of secessionist* and traitors. There was no party in thls£buhlgy organised to meet the dangers that threatened the very life of the Republic. Then the people of the country—not the politicians, but the people of the country—rushed together to (Organize this Republican party. Not only did they organize the parly, but they created a leader for the occasion. The great men, and experienced statesnicn of the country, were Tejecfod; and they. took *n obscure man, in this obscure town, in this State—almost, the most remote from the theater of national politics—and made him the leader of this new party of the people. This party, under t hat leader, accomplished more for "the well-being of the country, and for the permanent welfare of mankind, than has been accomplished by any other party in our national history. [CheersJ. I have adverted to the danger •which threatened this countryt what way it? The IJhig party had ceased to exist; the .Democratic party had passed under the control of the men I have described. They threatened either the subversion of liberty or the overthrow of the Government—indeed both, because each depended upon the other. The Republican organization, when it sprung into life, pledged itself to the country, that it shqgld be an rad ; and has it not kept that as well ad every pledge made then In its name? At the election of 1860, after a severe and stern struggle, we elected Mr. Lincoln President, and on the 4th day of Mareh he was inaugurated in Washington. The powers of the Government, the army ami navv, were in Un-

hands of men who have since been demonstrated to be either the tooty or allies of secession and treason. tlyougli Mr. Lincoln, the Republican party im plored our Southern brethern, who were then organized, to withhold the blow, and it assured thetti that their rights under the Constitution were safe; and they were warned at the same time of the miseries that would follow a civil war. They were told_ that the American people would not surrender the Government, which had been handed down to there* Iron* their fathers, without a straggly. Mr Lincoln, the Republican President, called for 75,000 men to enforce the authority ol the laws. That call, which was intended a« a mere indication of the purpose of the GovcrnTTK%r,innPT&*4Ml ftpdlfo assembled traitors at Montgomery with shouts of derision and laughter. Mr. Lincoln called for 300,000 men, and the Republican party, speaking through the President, frankly told the American people that the preservation of the Union would cost a long, bloody and expensive war. Armies were organized and went to tligJleJd. There was no disguise, no attempt to mislead the people of the count rv put Airy* wir*e fold too that the money rpqilired so dnpport these armies would make onerous and burdwisonie taxt’g necessity. They were op lit# character wotllrf be required'to maintain the Government through this struggle. At everv step the Republican party dealt frankly, sincerely and honestly with the people of this country. There was no at tempt made to Conceal the magnitude of the contest. No-attempt wasmade to disguise the vast expenditure of blood and of the GoveniiuetA VvMfl prohal>h'.r<iquiA\ We inscribed upon our flag the simple words, “ Liberty and Union ” —one and inseparable, nowand forever—we voted, we reasniaad, taking as was prudent; we.finight and we conquered under that banner inscribed with these simple words. [Cheers.] And the rebellion was overthrown. [Cheers.] Ogr purposes were simple, distinct, well-defined, honestly avowed, and bokUfkaittiwUuawi! -TiieAvar wueover; tlm Republic rarne. saved t and* hew duties devolved upon the Republican party. We said to our Southern- brethren, “ We have waged this war sot you as as for ourselves; we sakl in the beginning of the po-jnjrpfSe6Tconquest; our purpose was to maintain a free government for you and for all;, we hadobserved du ring the course of the war that your institution of slavery stood in the pathway of the - Republic; we smote- slavery, not—to injure you, but that the Republic might livW’c. WwaaiAto them, then, “Re-estab-liskrtte governments that you yourselves have overthrown: let the "true" men, the

men ■who love their country, reorganize these States and come in upon the principle of equality with us, retake the rights that you have thrown away or disregarded, and come in and share the glories of a restored government with us.’’ They refused ; the men who during the war had said,,“All your efforts must fail,” whispered again to them to stand out. We passed reconstruction acts, we passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which declared that all men in the United States were citizens ; we passed the fifteenth article, which gave to every man the right to defend himself by his vote ; and we carried on the contest" until now, and to-day the Democrats of the Southern States, and the rebels of the Southern States have admitted the Correct ness of the Republican doctrines, and to-dav it is the Democratic boast thatjthey have triumphed by an election conducted, as they say, to give effect to Republican ideas. I ask the question again■’ Why, then, shall not the Republican ticket succeed ? What can be promised by any other political party * When the war was over, as I have„said, other duties devolved upon us. The public <Jebt was pressing upon us. We felt the taxes that we had imposed. Our Democratic friends say that the Republican party have -imposed taxes upon the country. It is true, wfc imposed .those taxes upon ourselves that we might save the country. We would have imposed taxes double in arflount; we would have given twice the number of precious lives and twice the amount of treasure, to save the Republic. We take the responsibility distinctly and boldly of all those acts. [Applause].

Well, the country was free, and the question came to be, what should e done w.th Aw ]JuMfc det*? Our Democratic friends figured with, injurious - schemas seeking some mod£ bv which “they could escape the responsibility of their position and were lillrtiguhe country with fruitfui suggestions as to the mode of discharging 4hevM4Mffflebt, without adopting the. simple, rational Republican method of rff&ikt Si Government; this debtmusi bepaici, and that is all there is of it;" and’ every expedient that fell short of that, we under-stofjLr-wa* *r<kJur»ioa- and a fraud that could-, only, postpone > the evil, and not on T " it ’ bufr aggravate it. We said, “Pay the debt;" gfitf arfiat was the result? Ido not go back to the close of the war; but since the 4th of March, nearly fifty millions of the National debt credit*#** iWWf jAiaps" '~d that mr* the capitalists of the w»r are offering you their money at reduc 1 rates of interest, and so your burden are being reduced; why? Because the Republican party shrink from B« responsibility, beta* Just to the people, frank and honest, arid have said to the world, “ This debt shall be paid." We meant to pay it; and when the capitalists of the country and of the world perceived that this party bad again

secured the confidence of the American people, at onhc yohr ifebt becume comparatively less; it became easier of management," because all those who held the debt knew that their debtors were honest, and meant to paw. We might luivc adopted seme of the numerous d<*tgos proposed U fore lhiJast oieetioo ; we might ■have lost standing and character, and as Vlebtors might have increased our own dirficnltlee by subterfuges and dishonesty. But the Republican party held in that, as inwall other things, that honesty was the l»est policy. We determined to pay our debt, and the world understands us os meaning to pay it. What then? Then, I say, ray* fellow citizens, the Republican party has kept all its pledges to the people of this country. We tola them we would put down the rebellion, and we hnve done so ; we promised to overthrow slavery when we thought it wns necessary, and we have done so; we protnished to establish equality and Justice throughout the land, and we have done so; we promised to restore these States'll) republican government, and it has been done ; we promised to pay the public debt, and it is in rapid process of extinguishment. We have the strong est claim upon the confidence of the Amer-

ican people. Those that oppose us, what is their commission ? I need not ask what they will promise, but J ask What they have not promised, and I also respectfully ask what promise have they kept * {-Cheers. | Look over the history of those that opjiosc its. Wliat have they done? Tlmy-have promised everything; they liavedone notlring* and they will promise ip future quite as much, and they will aeehnipKsli in future just as much ns before. flUmghter and cheers. J But with all these claims of the Republican party upon the onnfidenee of the country, you must remember that a party likethis, including within its bounds millions of intelligent men, cannot live upon the memories of the past, For I nay state to you that .the people of this country will sustain no party on account of its past deeds alone. The people of this country regard the Republican party wit lutßerti'tfU they regard its sqryjcel <m pitrfcfiT Qif inheritance of tne nation, and wfll always tfodshre' them ; but If the Republican party is to live, it must live because it labors for the welfare of the country. As much as we esteem our party, our party is infinitely less than the country, owf parly fs hut an agency for the public goon, (Mulvmfess that agency Is not thus employed, it will perish as all parties have in fh< past. ' * »dvr I*4 *s * it* * 1 t J

Perhaps I may just as well say here that one o£ thecr eat,crimes of .the Democracy -4-thfttr 6rimc for wffleh, next to secession olAdortrlpc ofState rights, which is hut thcooernn? or*Htatc duties, into the pur pose of secession and disruption, they have finally degraded the States'until the peoflU *pt kritß&ffcl iritirtlitaftt sion from every quarter to duties that pertain to ti*c-Ststes thermrivest Our system, so admirably arranged, so harmoniously adjusted, consists of the National and pf the State -Governments. It is essential to the welfare of tire people of the country that each part of this system moves in its true orbit; that to the jfcwtoe b« left their duties under the Constitution, and that the General Go VArniuwU. djechafga itsrinties. The I{opul>l'K»wp«rty ha vetforer ent (retained those feelings of bitterness against the National Government that characterize the Democratic party. The Republican party have never been jealous of the Federal system; they litive siipply regarded them ns co-ordinate parts of thfe same system of adnthrijllMttfoft,' And -have supposed that our government was as nearly perfect as a human government may he and tlat thf rights of the }x*>pl6 are best foe plitlifu] execution of each dejartteealf or tueisyirteni offts own propt*ir duties. But the Denioorcicy, in i*g the heresy of secession upon the old doctrine entertained bvsuch as John MarJefferson, the doctrine of the Tight ol State* to control their own internal affairs, have rendered State rights odious, and lave really robbed the States of all power and of ail respectability. It is one of the functions of the Republican party to restore those different systems to iiannouious action, and acting through the State governments, secure the rights of the jxiople that have been entrusted to the keeping of the State, and to see that from lhiv highest to th 6 lowest of the men cn* trusted with the administration of the btate government, there shall be the most rigid responsibility. * * * * Our Democratic friends, I think, will soon disband their organization. Did I say disband their organization ? It is disbanded now. They will soon cease to attempt to reorganize, because that party needs reconstruction worse than Texas, a govuiaerel [cheers] —witli this difference, that Texas may hope for resurrection, but there is no resurrection for the Democracy. They are now busy seeking for candidates tor Republicans that will consent to serve as their candidates in Uie States, and they'are now seeking for some Republican who may be their candidate for the Presidency. Democratic eyes arc turned toward eminent Republicans, some of them occupying distinguished situations, and it iswud that the best and wisest of the Democracy think their great mistake at the last 1 residential election was not to have taken that old, double-dyed Aboli-tionist,ClHef-Justice Chase, and made him Democratic candidate. [Laughter.] Although I am no prophet, let me tell you to-day that a large number of Demoer'itic iwhticians are employed in putting Chief-Justice-Chase on the track foY the Presidency. He is the bright star to which all t heir eyes are directed, and you old Abolitionists four years hence will be compelled to carry certificates in your pockets to prove that vou were Abolitionists at all. I he -Peace Democrats and the War Demo, erats wdl vie with each other-os to which will best establish their claims, not onlvto good Republican record, but they will" be

busy in taking these colored fellow-citizens of ours round the neck, and assuring them l/iv. 1 1 , ™t re *?!?£inally digger-lovers. (Cheers.) The fifteenth Amendment is adopted, so far as this State is concerned; probably it may not be adopted before °r r ,K™ S^ nt ?,, e ? tlon ' bu t before the election of 1070 it will be adopted, and the negroes will be voters throughout the Republic • and you, my fellow-citizens, win, before the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, 1870, observe Democrats of t#day. Democrats of good -atandifir,-confine States dcctibneering with the negroes and urging them to vote the Demticket. I would not be surprised if, we shall elect our ticket at lh>4 Scotian, the Democratic party will put the negro oh some cohsplcuouaphi-e on their ticket -t [ laught?r]-—afid they will be insisting. tbem Irol u running the negto befiwe, was that it was not accordche<^J« e Constitution ’ [Laughter and G4nU«jn&»vif tke Convention, t hhve kept you as long as I desire. [“ Go on.”l tb»t there are abuses to be corrected, there are reforms to «“ (I . abo je all that the Govern ment of the Lnited States, and of the State must be made adequate to give protection to every man within the limits of the Republic. It must also be understood that the great object of government is not to confer rights. You and I ask nothingfrom the Government by the seme of right The great object of the Government is to protect us in what we have, and wTiat we “By acquire by honest-and honorable esWe expect nothing from h beyond thta. We know that in everyVjy-qt’nmeat

like our* there arc infinite shade* of opinion upon an infinite number of questions There are men who entertain their own views in respect to monil dude*; with these Government has no concern. It is the business of the Government to protect every man in the enjoyment of lii* rights, and let me say to you that government best realizes my ideal of perfection which impartially protects all men,-and which leaves to afl men the pursuit of their own happiness in their own way, without molestation or hindrence. That is my idea of a perfect government. Let the Government repress crimes and punish wrong, and with ail our difference* of party interests let us understand that this is essentially a free country. Let us tolerate every shadow of opinion and every harmless "practice-; let us feel that the mission of the Government is *imply to protect and preserve order and quiet ( peace and prosperity, reputation and life, leaving all men to pursue their own hnppiness according to the dictates of their own consciences. The Itcfiuhlicuu party, whatever may he the preudices of Its individual * member*, Is denied the luxury of living upon prejudices that our Democratic friends enjoy. We recognize the right, of every man to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness; the object of our efforts a* a political party is to secure these tilings to all men everywhere within the limits of the law,* in every portion of our Republic. [Okecrs.J .