Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 September 1872 — Speech by Vice-President Colfax. [ARTICLE]

Speech by Vice-President Colfax.

After the regular speeches were coni eluded, at a Republican meeting iii South .Bend, Ind., a few nights ago, Mr. Colfax, who presided, was called upon to speak, and said: , ' AlKof you understand the considerations of official propriety and/'usage which restrain uja from actively participating upon the stump in the strifes {and antagonisms, the criminations Sad recriminations, the personalities and asperities of the present, canvass, either on the offensive or defensive., But all of you know-too, how thoroughly I believe in the Republican principles I have spent so large a part of my life in sustaining and vindicating against all opposCrs, here or elsewhere throughout the country. t While I yield now to this appeal of, my townsmen to speak to them for a few moments, I- shall, therefore, attack no candh,, date, nor party, nor paper, but briefly allude to what is now history; turning our thoughts instead of our backs, toward that past of which, as citixens or this great Republic, as welTas RebuMicauß politically, we have so much right tjfhe proud. . There is eogsethlng grander, my friends, than personal triumphs. There is soiftfetking more glorious than all the political honors you'Could confer toVUfeOiiue. ’ltlslofiSSA:

assisted in elevating and regenerating a nation—in blotting from Its escutcheon a foul shame and dishonor, in trampling down tyranny and wrong, in lifting up the boweddown, in befriending thefnendless, in breaking shackles and fetters that the oppressed might go free, and in making the land to faithful a protector of the poor and humble as to win the approval of mankind and the favor of Almighty God. It is to have helped to make our nation so conspicuous among the family of nations that the whole world can see, as the crowning glory of the Republic, that that banner shields the poorest as faithfully as the most powerful in the laud. It is to have labored for the right as tobave been able to triumph with it, and for it, over the bitterest and most inveterate prejudices of the age. It Is to have won by fidelity, by energy, and by unwearied labors, such a victory that you have absolutely compelled eveiv party in the land to' indorse and ratify what you have accomplished, andthatTionattonal-conventioß-of any party, or any wing of any party, has dared lu this year of grace to take issue with yon and the great principles you have finally embodied in our National Constitution. Wo live too near to these brilliant achievements for humanity, for justice, for liberty, and equal rights to realize their full grandeur. Posterity will appreciate your work even more than the workers can themselves to-day. And, when the United States of 1873 is contrasted with the United States of 18(53, the impartial historian will declare that no party-in any land, in any age of the world, has ever conferred such immeasurable blessings on their country, or achieved so noble a work for humanity, as the everfaithful and ever-maligned Republican party of this decade. Suck is your record ; and I rejoice that, as your Representative, I was enabled, with your constant support, and with your confidence that no calumny could ever shake, to aid in its consummation. Let us value that record as of more worth to us and our children than silver and gold. Let us not dim it by wearying in well doing. Let us honor it by continued fidelity to the organization through which these blessings have been secured. And, coDgratulitlhg you on the auspicious signs of the times, let us rejoice that the victory you hope to win will be, like those we have won together in the past, even more for the prosperity, the honor, the true glory. ana the advancement of the country we love, than merely for the party whose membership we. have always been proud to acknowledge, and Over whose successes we have so often rejoiced.