Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1872 — Senator Morten in Chicago. [ARTICLE]

Senator Morten in Chicago.

Sliutoß MoKTOS t of Indiana, addressed e. large meeting of the citizens of Chicago, a few evenings ago, on the issue of the campaign. The likening Post gives the following synopsis of his speech: He commenced by defining the Confcd crate coalition, the campaign in the three recently contested "States, and Greeley’s reconciliation policy. Speaking of the latter, he said: . Y Mr. Greeley to-day has scarcely a friend in all the South that was not connected with the rebellion. His friends in the Southend let this fact have its full force upon your minds when you consider this question —Ms friends in the SouUi were the friends of the rebellion, the supporters, the authors, and the advocates ofit. A few of those who Wore in the rebellion in the South are upon our side; not a great many; there are honorable exceptions here and there, butthe-great body are against us. Our friends in the South’ to-day are made up of the loyal colored men and of the loyal white men—men who suffered everything but death for their country—and those who are called the “carpet-bag-gers”—that much-abused, that much slandered description of men. . When the war was over there was the question of reconstruction In the South, and the Southern people refused to takq part in It. All they had to do was to accept the terms proposed by the acts of Congress. If they had accepted" what was then offered to them they would have bad the government of their States in their own hands. But they refused to do so, and we had to do the best we could with auch elements as we had. And first we had the colored men, and then we had the loyal white men of the South, who were denounced as sealaw ags. Aud, next, we had to depend upon the carpet-bag-gers, the men who had gone down there from the North—men who had gon# down there with their families; men who had taken capital there; men who had gone there to make their fortunes, some of whom had been there during the war; men who went there just as men go to Nebraska or to any Territory. They migrated South on the same idea of personal fortune as meifmigrate to any of our Territories. Many of them had been there as soldiers, and they were immediately denounced by the former rebels at the South and by the Democratic papers at the North as carpet-baggers. Everybody repeated the cry. In one sense we are all carpet-baggers. We migrate from State to State, and from Territory to Territory; but these men in the South—the late rebels—joined together to drive these men out. They said they went down there to make their fortunes. Well, so they did. But when we went down there we found that the most intelligent men into whose hands we could put any trust were those men from the North. The men had been there, and had remained there, and the colored men resorted to them, and it was found that the men to trust were the so-called -carpet-baggers, or the white men called “scalawags,” and they were men of courage and intelligence, and of capital. And these men have suffered a persecution of which we scarcely know anything. This was the condition of things when this reconstruction , was attempted. Many were being driven out ; many were already driven oat. These men had suffered a fierce and intolerable persecution of which the world now scarcely knows any thing.' This was the condition upon which reconstruction was- undertaken, and a large portion of those men had bech driven out; many of them lost everything that they had; hundreds of them had been murdered; they had been scourged, they had suffered every punishment and ignominy that ostracism and hatred could visit upon them, i hold the Southern people to some extent less responsible for this great wrong than I do the leaders of the Northern Democracy, that from the very first have encouraged them. You may take the Democratic papers all along, and you will find that from the very first they have denounced and have raised the cry of persecution against those who are called carpet-baggers and scalawags. And now' comes the question of reconciliation. Who arc to be reconciled? The men who have been guilty of this persecution ? The men who have driven out the Northern emigrant ? The men who have maintained ~ anarchy, and who have determined that the 'situation should not be acceptedV I say reconciliation will come, but something else has got to. come first. There can be no reconciliation, my friends, without there is security. [Applause.] Security for life, liberty and property, and wherever security is found in the .South, then the people of the North will pour down there with a stream of emigration such as has never been known; then will that currbht of emigration from Europe that noweomes entirely to the North be largely diverted to the Southern States, There must first be security; no man will go there from the North unless he feels that he Is to be safe in his person, and in his family, and in his property, and that he is not to suffer ostracism and persecution. And when that time coincs—and it w ill come under Re publican administration [applause]—when there is security inthc South, when the South is filled up with emigrants, when schools have everywhere been established, when the current of capital is setting in down there, when there shall be manufactures, and railroaas, and other improvements and devel dpraents, such as vou hate in the . great State of Illinois, then reconciliation will grow up, and tve will becoihe a homogenous people. [Applause.] And those who denounce carpet-baggers and Greeley does—those who denounce all interference on the part of Congress to give security to life, liberty and property in the South—those men are the enemies of reconciliation. I am a better friend of reconciliation than any such men. Reconciliation is not to be brought about by a trick, by a mere politi cal maneuver, by resolutions of conventions. Reconciliation is to be the outgrowth of great facts; it is to spring from great conditions that are yet to be developed, and. will be developed, Under Republican rule. ***** # * * - I tell you, my friends, that if that Ku-Klux law should be repealed, or if we should have a President that will refuse to execute it, those outrages will begin again, and be worse than ever. The Ku Klux are there; they are only suspended; they are there with the same parties, and with undiminished numbers; their spirit has undergone no change in the world, and if Mr. 'Greeley should he elected, and they have faith in the pledge, then this thing would spring up. The coals have only smoldered under the ashes. I wiil call your attention to what lie sard a few days ago, in an address after his nomination. It was said -on the "20th of Mat', after receiving the nomination at Cincinnati, t-r a®d he wrote a letter of acceptance of the Cincinnati nomination, and that secured the nomination. He gave to the Ku Klux all the assurance that was wanted; he gave to them the only pledge that they asked, and they will forgive everything also that he has ever said or done;they do not care what his opinion Is on other 6ubjeets, if he wijl but Carry out the pledge in the letter of acceptance. This letter of acceptance is dated May 20, ]B72i He says that: “Subject to our-const!-t riional obligationsTo maintain equal rights of all citizens, the civil authority Should be supreme ovnr the military, and ‘the habeas corpus should be upheld as the safeguard over the Ku-Klux law.” And vet that law, he says, “has done its work,” and the law without that would be inefficient. It was the most vital part in it, and no one justified it stronger than Mr. Greeley.' But, taking it all back, he then says that the writ of habeas carpau should never be sustained, and the Civil Anthorities Act should always remain supreme. But he goes on to say that: “The individual citizen sbtmld enjoy the largest libertyconsistent with public order;” and that—here is the vital point—“there shall be no Federal subversion of the internal policy of the several States and municipalities,” but that .“each shall be left free to enforce the rights and promote the well-being of its inhabitants by such means as the judgment of its own people shall prescribe.” •**__* * # General Grant Uto day a thousand times a better friend of the Southern people and , of Southern interests than Horace Greeley. [Great applause.] If his administration ahull be continued, then the foundations of peace and of reconciliation shall be laid; but if you propose now to conciliate the rebel* of the South by saying to them, “We will give you the government of every Southern State" —that is what Greeley proposes- denying for the- sake of reconciliation that there waftany principle involved In the rebellion; admitting that it was a mere family quarrel, that both parties were In earnest, and both parties right and both PjMiiM wrong—ls you propose to be reconciled on that ground, i aay to you it Is a lalee ground, and there can be no true peace

or reconciliation built upon it. I want the South to understand—they and their uhildrcrr —in kindness and forgiveness 1 want them to understand that we believe, and shall ever believe, that l/v were in the right, and 'hey were in the wrong. [Loud cheers.] I want their children to be taught that treason is a crime—that it carries with it certain responsibilities and consequences. Take this doctrine now that treason iB no crime, a mere family quarrel, and as soon as-it is over we should forget everything and allow things to go on just as it was before, and here is the lesson to future generations. Why, it is saying to them: “If you engage in rebellion hereafter against your Government, and you are successful, that is right; nothing succeeds like success; success always justifies. If you engage in rebellion and fail, why you ate all right anyhow, and things will go on as they did before.” If von instruct future generations in that way, rely on.lt, you will have future rebellions. I want the future to understand, I want our children and those that cotpe after us to understand, that treason against this Government is no light thing. I want them to un-_ demand it is a crime, And T want- it To - Be recorded on the page of history; never to be obliterated, that we who maintained the government and you who fought to put down a rebellion were fighting for truth, justice, liL. erty, and humanity, and that our enemiJs were fighting against all these.

After dealing with th« question of finance at some length, the Senator proceeded to the subject of business stability and said : Now, my friends, in regard "to confidence, f say tn yoahave more confidence in each other than you ever had before. There have been fewer failures in the last three years in this country, than in any six years before in its whole history. Now and then they, would occur, and they always will from improvidence or misfortune, or folly, but there are fewer failures, and you have more confidence in each other, and you have more confidence in the times. Chicago has been the wonder of the world for years, and now more than ever. And how is it? How is it that you pan borrow money to build these houses, "these splendid buildings that are going up almost in a single night? Because men have confidence in next year and next year. You have not got apprehensions of a change and panics,’such as. used to come every ten or fifteen years. Before the war, half orathird of the banks would break up; pur leading men and bankers would break up, and it would take fivo or ten years to recover from it. Don’t you remember it, business men, many of you? Certainly you do; and when the wax was over I thought it would have ■to come on again. I thought it was only a matter of time. There was great speculation during the war, and I supposed this failure had to come again, but within the last two years all fears of that have passed away, and while this Administration is continued, and while this policy is continued, the people will have no apprehension of these convulsions. Why? Because the causes that produced them hate passed away. Now, my friends, what we want is stability. 'We want things to.go on just as They are now going. Yon don’t want to change. Yon don’t want to try experiments. These men that are denouncing Grant and his Administration have no measure to offer. They can tell those most contemptible stories about Gen. Grant’s relations, and about Long Branch, and the military rings, but when it comes to proposing a measure they have nothing to otter. That coalition is utterly bankrupt in regard to policy. It lias nothing to oiler. [Cheers.] It has nothing: to oiler except scandal, scandal. I say you want stability; you want things to go on, as tbsjr are now going.

Mr. Morton gracefully alluded to the prosperity of this-city, and dealt with the specie resumption matter, and referring to the National Banks, remarked: The election of Horace Greeley means a war upon the National Banks, liis friends everywhere are attacking them. And what does a war on the National Banks mean ? A war upon the National Banks means,the Impairment of their credit, and whenever the National Banks are threatened, in order to protect themselves, aud take care of themselves, they must at once contract their Jssugs,;. they must call in their notes; aud when tifSy , call in their notes they make money scarce.; and when money is made scarce you ail know what the cousequences are. [A voice: “We ought to.”] When money becomes scarce"then prices decline; men cannot hire; men cannot pay; men cannot buy, and men cannot sell. No; you do not want the volume of your currency contracted. And a war upon the National Banks at this time means the contraction of their currency. No system of banks can stand aconstaut warfare. Their stock depreciates at once; their credit is. impaired, and when their corporate existence is threatened, the only way that the stockholders can save what they have invested in those banks is by Contracting their issues—taking iu their currency. You all understand that. Should Mr. Greeley be elected, and the warfare upon the National Banks be.eontinued a* it has been commenced, and they should be forced to any thing like speedy resumption, it would result in the sudden aud violent contraction of the currency. " Iu Congress, so far asmy vote and my feeble voice are Concerned,! have steadily resist®! every attempt to contract the currency. I have said the currency was not too great; or'even if it was too great two and three years ago,' the rapid -developmentrandrgrowth of the country was coming up to it, and it is not too great now. [Applause.] No. What we want is Stability. 1 cannot repeat the word too often. Stability involves the financial prosperity and the progress of tßis country. The Senator then tersely reviewed the subjects of the public debt, corruption in the Schtfrg-Truuibull defection, and kindred matters. He reviewed the policy of the present Administration, domestic and foreigu, and paid a high compliment to the cofhmon sense of President Grant. He alluded in an amusing, but not .spiteful manner, to some of Horace Greeley’s peculiar habits and themes; eloquently denounced campaign calumny, and concluded, amid'[prolonged cheering, in the following words:

And now, my friends, iu conclusion, I exhort you, if you w-ould consult your own interests, individually, and the interests of your country, to stand fast by this Administration, to stand fast by the Republican party, to stand fast by its principles, to stand fast by the men that stood fast by you in the hours of trial. Stand fast by these principles, be steady and firm, and go on without variation or shadow of turning. Stand fast by the faithful leaders of our armies, and our great leader, General Grant? and, citizens of Hlinole, stand fast by the gallant soldier and son of Illinois, General Richard J. Oglesby. [Cheers.] Aifd, my friends, I shall conclude my remarks by saying what Horace Greeley said four years ago, when he was entitled to a great deal moire. -credit*®* 11 he is now, that “General Grant hatF’fiever been beaten, and never would be.” *