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NATIONALITY vs, SECTIONALISM. 
 
 ^iN" j^t':b:eij^Xj 
 
 LABORING MEN OF THE SOUTH 
 
 Published by the Union Kepuhlican Congressional Committee, Washington, D. C. 
 
 Though it is believed that the conflict of 
 arms has closed forever, the contestof prin- 
 cipkfi began long since in the press and le- 
 gislation, and continued on the field of battle, 
 still remains a subject of discussion in some 
 esvsential features. The settlement which 
 has grown out of the victory of the national 
 arms, and has been enacted into laws, aim- 
 ing only at an equitable readjustment of the 
 relations of people and State, and of the 
 States and General Government, upon the 
 basis of equal rights and protection to all, is 
 still disputed by men at the South who led 
 in the late struggle, or in the North tried to 
 hinder the progress of the national cause in 
 aid of armed rebellion, and who would again 
 plunge the country into turmoil and war. 
 
 The Reconstruction laws, and the policy 
 growing out of them, left to the Southern 
 people the right of reorganizing their local 
 governments, adjusting their educational 
 system, and fostering their industrial inter- 
 ests, subject only to the single restriction 
 that all the people shall share alike in their 
 benefits, and have an equal voice in their 
 fonHation. And this is the penalty, and the 
 only penalty, imposed for the great crime of 
 rebellion. 
 
 The contrast between this result, so desir- 
 able to all just-minded men, and the facts 
 which relate to the condition of tlie section 
 lately in rebellion, are so striking and as- 
 tounding, that it is believed that in a state- 
 ment of those fhcts will be found the best 
 argument for the objects aimed at and the 
 purjyoses sought in the Eeconstruction policy 
 of Congress, and the principles of the Re- 
 publican party. 
 
 Before the rebellion begun, fifteen slave 
 States, having an area greater by two hun- 
 dred thousand square miles than the former 
 free States, were controlled in all their pub- 
 
 lic policy, in all their interests, by a slaTe- 
 holding class, numbering in 1860 less thsR 
 350,000 persons. Hereafter they are to bs 
 controlled by the millions by whom they are, 
 and shall be, inhabited. It is to those mil- 
 lions, whose interests are most deeply af- 
 fected, and who in the past have been useS 
 only for the building up of a small class, that 
 the following comparisons of the two systems 
 and examination of the motives which hav« 
 controlled the actions of the advocates <oi 
 each, is submitted. 
 
 HOW A SECTIONAL rOLICY FREVEXTED PRO- 
 GRESS. 
 
 To arrest the mental, moral, or spiritual 
 development of an individual is a crime, 
 if not before man, before God. To steal a 
 child from the surroundings in which it would 
 be morally certain to grow up possessed of 
 education, refinement, and moral worth, and 
 place it in circumstances where it must be 
 either a criminal, an outcast, or a pauper, is 
 an offence of the most henious character. 
 If to destroy the means of mental and moral 
 growth in a man be such an offense, ho-sr 
 much more terrible must be the nature of 
 any social system which not only hinders 
 but pervei-ts entirely the character of a whole 
 community, giving to millions a collective 
 life of a much lower and more degraded 
 type than that which others in not more fa- 
 vored circumstances have reached. If in 
 our land there be found sections where the 
 mental and moral surroundings are of s, 
 widely different char.icter, without any too- 
 great diversity in the physical circumstancea, 
 we must look to their political and social' 
 institutions and influences for an explanation 
 of these diversities. If we find one sectior- 
 steadily improving in all 'that goes to make 
 up civilization, and another almost UvS ste-.itJ*- 
 

 ■ly retrograding, or at Le.'t standing still, 
 we may he sure that causes exist which can 
 be removed. Especially Mill this be true if 
 ehe section which halls or retrogrades is 
 found to be blest -with more than abundant 
 sources of material wealth, and a high order 
 CI industrial developmen.t. 
 
 This is exactly what has resulted in the 
 CTnited States. There are two sections— 
 not properly so distinguished by any physi- 
 cal difierences, and without such barriers as 
 mark natural boundaries — but si ill diverse 
 iti their public life, difi'ering widel^v in the 
 character of the communities which inhabit 
 ihem. These difierences are in no sense 
 organic, and can all be obliterated by an ac- 
 ceptance of the fumlamental principles of 
 national growth and life v.-hose wonderful 
 results in the more prosperous section, attest 
 so fully their correctness, vitality, and ener- 
 gizing capacity. Let us, then, examine the 
 records for proof of our assertions. 
 
 The first thing which meets us in the dis- 
 CKKsion is the fact that we have to go back 
 'to illustrations so long fomiliar to one por- 
 tion as to be v.'itli its people nlmost proyer- 
 foial. The nearly hermetlcal sealing of all 
 avenues of information by v/hich compari- 
 sons could be entered into with a system dif- 
 ferent frorathat which prevailed in the South- 
 ern States, renders it essential to lay before 
 you the facts which it vrasthe interest of the 
 small minority, which so long ruled in your 
 caidst, to entirely misrepresent or entirel}' 
 exclude. Has the fact been presented to you 
 tkat the Southern States, v/ith an area orig- 
 ir^ily much greater than the Northern, "with 
 a, population nearly as large, and with 
 greater sources of national wealth have, af- 
 ter eighty years, seen the poorer section 
 gxC'W so rapidly as to nearly double in wealth 
 •and population the originally richer one ? 
 It has not. There must be reasons for this. 
 .^.nd those reasons are easily found. They 
 &r« in the character of the different ideas 
 which governed the two sections, and one of 
 •«?lii<;h, though overthrown, is still, with open- 
 !2<3uthed passion, declaring its right to sti- 
 premacy, while the other, not so demonstra- 
 cive, perhaps, is yet irresistibly pushing its 
 way to entire and absolute control of the 
 r.ation's destinies. The one system degrades 
 — the other elevates. The one uplifts the 
 isiasses — the otlier oppresses. Let us turn 
 •■;0 records which will irrefraga>Ijly establish 
 •rhis — we mean the national census. That 
 .f:ives us in results of most startling direct- 
 ii-ess the proofs of our assertion that south- 
 fro class rule — the cdutrol hi/ three Jnmdred 
 ff.fid fifty thousand slaveholders of over eight 
 mUUons of lohites and ntarhi four millions 
 ■^f blacks — jiroduced nothing but degrada- 
 tion to the manv, while in no ennobling 
 
 sense did it elevate the few — is in every sensa 
 just and truthful. 
 
 Let us see, then, v/hat it offers in illustra- 
 tion of the argument. The census publishc' 
 in 18G0 is our guide. The examples selects . 
 are from products and industries in whic!; 
 under a system of forecast and energy su^' 
 as a thoroughly free society brings, the Sout., 
 would have been eminently successful. 
 
 THE COTTON' IXTEREST. 
 
 Take the manufacture of 'cotton goods as 
 an illugtratioii. The South commanded the 
 markets of the world by her production of 
 the raw staple. Her planting interest grew 
 fat and insolent through this result, and 
 with insane pride conceived that the centu- 
 ries might be sot back, and a Christian civ- 
 ilization made to sustain the imperious ir- 
 solence of a slave-breeding empire. _ Ther 
 was no reasonable excuse for allowing an- 
 other section to obtain a manufacturing 
 monopoly of this staple, except that which 
 arose from the depressing influences of an 
 industrial system, which set at defiance ali 
 laws of political economy. Slavery ha-^ 
 no room for intelligent industry, and wa^ 
 therefore, given over to communities nc. 
 charmed by the growth of education, anJ 
 refusing to welcome any new form of^ pro 
 gress. The ideas advocated by the Repub- 
 lican party have thrown down such barriers, 
 and in their certain march will create man- 
 ufactures, build factories, and rear a race of 
 skilled and intelligent artizans, the product 
 of whose labor will bring not only material 
 comfort, but in the social and mental v/ant? 
 that create, plant a high civilization, upli!' 
 the now depressed Southern masses, an.: 
 supply their demands for education. The 
 triumph of the national policy over the 
 still defiant sectionalism of the past will be 
 insured when the skill of New England 
 possesses the South, and the intelligence of 
 her people shall be equalled by those who 
 are not now to be placed in comparison 
 A simple and rude form of civilization is th ■ 
 certain result to a people wholly devoted ,t 
 the culture of a few leading staples, such a,i 
 the cotton, sugar, and rice of the Souther:; 
 section. A complex civilization, with man;- 
 wants, growing constantly with the demand 
 is the result of a society where industry i • 
 diversified, labor subject to economical (iivi 
 sion, and a high degree of material comfor:. 
 is realized for all. 
 
 But, to return to the manufacture of cot- 
 ton goods. The total value was, in 18.30. 
 $(;5,G0Lr.87 ; in ISfiO, $105,137,920. Of 
 this the Nevv- England States alone are cred- 
 ited with $-1^,785,990 in 1850 ; with $80,- 
 o01,535 in 18G0, an increase of $3G,615.- 
 545. New York. Pennsylvania, and New. 
 
^ : r 
 
 ,j_ Jersey produced J in 1850, cotton goods to 
 
 ^tte value of $12,121,097 ; in 'I860, $22,481,- 
 
 *'731, an increase of over ten millions. The 
 
 CL^fifteen elavo States and the District of Co- 
 
 ,>,}umbia manufactured cotton goods to the 
 
 ^'^^ralue. in 1850, of $8,913,736; in 1800, of 
 
 ill, 810,173, an increase of but little more 
 
 :.han two and a half millions of dollars. 
 
 In this manufacture alone the free States 
 paid for labor, during 1860, $21,149,786, 
 '.vhile the slave section paid only $2,310,- 
 -\)2, a difference of $18,839,49-1 in favor of 
 such skill, enterprize and industry as free 
 labor promotes. The same striking coii- 
 trasts run through all the census reports. 
 Yet the South is far more than equal to the 
 North in all facilities for this or any other 
 " manufacture. 
 
 It is within the power of the Southern mil- 
 lions to transplant all of wealth, culture, and 
 power free labor has brought to New Eng- 
 land, and even to give them a grander and 
 richer future. Shall this be done ? Its ac- 
 complishment lies within the purpose of the 
 National Republican party. 
 
 THE MAKUFACTUHE OF MACIIIXERY. 
 
 All the machinery manufactured during 
 the year 1860 in the slave section, was val- 
 ued at but $7,750,050, while in the remain- 
 der of the States and Territories it was val- 
 ued at $39,351,500. New England manufac- 
 tured machinery valued at over two million 
 dollars more than that of the entire South. 
 So also with New York and Pennsylvania, 
 each State manufacturing as much as all the 
 slave States. Kansas, which in 1853 had 
 no white inhabitants, in 1800 manufactured 
 machinery to the value of $40,000. North 
 Carolina, one of the original thirteen States, 
 having immense commercial advantages, 
 with a fertile eoil and boundless mineral 
 wealth lying unworked in her mountains, 
 mamifactured machinery to the value only 
 of $92,750. Arkansas, a State for over 
 thirty years, teeming with natural riches — 
 a soil as fertile as a dream, navigable rivers, 
 abundance of timberand rich with unbound- 
 ed mineral resources, manufactured ma- 
 chinery to the value only of $21,750. The 
 lowest amount of machinery manufactured 
 in 1860 in any one of the free States, (Kan- 
 sas was a Territory then,) was in far off 
 Oregon, which foots up $71,000, more than 
 three times as much as Arkansas, twice 
 as much as Florida, and one-third more than 
 Texas. 
 
 WAGES PAID AXD VALUE OF FKODUCTS. 
 
 To sum up and present the contrast in its 
 most suggestive light, the census of 1860 
 gives an approximate estimate of the value 
 of all products of industry and- of the wages 
 paid for labor performed. By that estimate 
 
 the former slave section employed, during- 
 that year, 163,028 males, and 35,477 females. 
 The then free States and Territories em- 
 ployed 930,972- males, and 249, 523. females. 
 The New England States alone employed 
 and paid wages to 204,185 more persons 
 than were employed and paid in the entire- 
 South. 
 
 The total amount paid as wages was, in 
 1860, within the free States, $1,316,812,000, 
 while the slave States disbursed but $283,- 
 188,000. This was a surplus in favor of fre? 
 labor of about five and a half times as great 
 as that paid in the South. The New Eng- 
 land States alone paid for wages $210,887,- 
 498, or only seventy millions less than was- 
 paid in the fifteen former slave States. Tlie 
 white population of these States wa.? aboizt 
 eight millions, while that of the free States 
 was about twenty millions, or only two and a. 
 half times larger. 
 
 By a table compiled in 185G for the United 
 States Treasury, it appears that the average 
 of wages paid ^^er capita in the then free- 
 and slave States was as follows : Massach'c- 
 setts, $166 60; Rhode Island, $164 61: 
 ^Connecticut, $156 65; California, $149 6GJ. 
 'New- Jersey, $120 82 ; New Hampshire,. 
 $117 17; New Y'ork, $112 CO; Indiana, 
 $99 12 ; Vermont, $96 62 ; Pennsylvania, 
 $90 30 ; Illinois, $86 94 ; Oliio, $75 SS ; 
 Michigan, $72 84 ; Maine, $71 11 ; Wiscon- 
 sin, $68 41 ; low^i, $65 47. 
 
 In the then slave States and the Federal 
 District: Missouri, $88 06: Maryland,. 
 $83 85; Kentucky, $71 82;' Mississippi, 
 $67 50; Louisiana, $65 30; Tennessee,. 
 $63 10 ; Georgia, $61 45 ; South Caroline.', 
 $56 91; Alabama, $5o_72; Florida, $54 77; 
 Arkansas, $52 04 ; District of Columbia. 
 $52 00 ; Texas, $51 13 ; North Carolina^. 
 $49 38 ; Delaware, $35 27.^ 
 
 In the case of Missouri, first on the list, 
 the rate of wages was largely controlled by 
 the influence of free labor then so rapidly 
 growing in that State, and especially in SV. 
 Louis. 
 
 THE CO.VOITIOX 
 
 AND VALUK OF THE LAND 
 
 TEST. 
 
 There are other and even more Btrikirij 
 tests by which to measure the relative con- 
 dition of the different States. Take, for 
 instance, the area under cultivation in each 
 section. In 1860 the amount of unimproved 
 arable land within the slave State.^ was 
 162,233,121 acres. In nineteen free States 
 there was 71,871,951 acres not under culti- 
 vation. This shows a difference in favor of 
 the latter of 87,461,170 acres. At least one 
 half of these unimproved lands were situated 
 in the Western States, not long opened lor 
 Ecttloment. During the ten years preceding- 
 
6 
 
 etrictly agricultural region, only one-tenth of which is 
 iniproved." 
 
 By the act of March 21, 18GG, the 51,398,- 
 £44 acres of public lands enumerated above 
 were placed luidcr the operation of the 
 Homestead law, the divisions bqing restrict- 
 <;d to eighty (80) acres each, thus .providing 
 homes to nearly 050,000 families, v.-hich, at 
 the usual average of five persons to each 
 faniily, would support o, 250, 000 persons. 
 Besides this beneficial act, measures are now 
 pending, proposed -by Republicans; which 
 T,-ilI restore to settlement by the ' people 
 r.bout eight million acres of the best land 
 in the States of Florida, Mississippi, Ala- 
 bama, and Louisiana, originally given to 
 railroad corporations and forfeited by them 
 in consequence of non- completion of their 
 roads within the time allowed by Congress. 
 These lands are to be taken from rebel specu- 
 ■ lators, and applied to the benefit of the la- 
 boring men of the South. 
 
 What slavery did for the South ; how it 
 sapped its' prosperity and drained its vitality, 
 these pages have in a small degree shown ; 
 ■what the policy of Freedom as represented 
 by the RepiAlican party can do there has yet 
 to be shown. What that policy has done for 
 the North is exhibited in the striking con- 
 trasts herein presented. 
 
 THE REPUBLICAX TARTY — IT.S POLICY. 
 
 The Republican party favors internal im- 
 provement ; encourages emigration ; gives 
 the public lands to the industrious settler: 
 builds the Pacific railroad; comes to the 
 South and provides, both by national appro- 
 priations and individual contributions, for 
 the encouragement of education, the feeding 
 of the famine-stricken, and the protection of 
 the poor. 
 
 But the chief charge against the National 
 Republican party is that it has enfranchised 
 the colored man ; that it is the special friend 
 of the negro. The only reply needed to tliat 
 is found in the words of one of its earnest 
 friends: '■^ Being the party of all men., itis 
 Uic parti) of the black man.''' It seeks to 
 protect tlie Avhite as well as the black man. 
 The rights it accords to the latter strengthens 
 those of the former. Justice always pays. 
 Equity is a good investment. The Govern- 
 :uent that accords equal protection to its 
 Immblest citizen insures thereby that its 
 highest and most influential shall be made 
 more secure in all that they hold valuable. 
 To do this is the aim of the National Repub- 
 lican party. Inequality and injustice is the 
 basis of sectionalism. 
 
 Look for a moment at the diverse condi- 
 tion of those portions of the country over 
 which these two policies have held sway. 
 In the one is activity, in the other, stagna- 
 tion. In the one the masses are Icccnlv 
 
 alive to every new policy or enterprise. 
 Nothing which affects the remotest corner 
 of the Republic is without its interest to tliem. 
 In the other there is great indifferer^ce to 
 what concerns any one beyond the i>.arro'w 
 limits of town, county, or State. Capital is 
 eagerly welcomed in the one State ; no ques- 
 tions are asked as to its opinions ; and act- 
 ive public sentiment prevents undue >^n- 
 croachment on its part upon the rights of 
 commuuity ; while it is true nov/ as it ^ras 
 in the past that, in any State v/here the ceo- 
 tional policy has ruled and still rules, the 
 stranger capitalist is regarded with suspicion 
 unless ho feigns subserviency to the clafs 
 rule that prevails, while the political crir- 
 ions of the laborer even are made a test. If 
 he agrees v/ith those that prevail, he ha'? a 
 meagre welcome ; if he does not, he can re- 
 main only under great disadvantages. On 
 the other hand ideas are welcomed : free 
 speech is protected, and all things are, under 
 the healthy influence of a prevailing national 
 sentiment, subject to the test of reasonable 
 discussion. But is this true of States where 
 sectionalism prevails ? The bludgeon and 
 the bullet have too often been the answer to 
 distasteful argument, and the time has been 
 that only in the presence of the Federal bay- 
 onet men could find safety in the advocac-y 
 of principles which, as v.'e have shown, are 
 i for the benefit of all classes. 
 i It is to the interest, as they conceive, of 
 I the old Southern leaders, to keep alii'e the 
 sectional policy under which they so long 
 ruled. It is to your interest, as these pages 
 have shown, to identify yourselves in the 
 future with the spirit and party of Nation- 
 ality, Liberty, and Progress, and leave ''the 
 dead past to bury its dead." The opportu- 
 nity now oflers. 
 
 The Reconstruction policy of Congress 
 has become a finality in seven of the States 
 over which it was extended, and Avill gcion 
 be in all.- State governments are in full 
 operation. They will be maintained by all 
 the power of the General Government against 
 violence from the interior or exterior. By 
 the security they will ofl'er and peace they 
 will establish, business will revive, Ir^bor 
 again find profitable employment, produc- 
 tiveness be increased a tliousand fold, capi- 
 tal with its hundred legs will travel into every 
 corner of the South, and the highest pros- 
 perity of the slave system shall be but rags 
 and patches along side of the constant gi-owth 
 in wealth, education, liberty, and all that 
 befits a free community, which will surely 
 follow the permanent successof the wi?e Re- 
 construction policy of Congress. 
 
 The aim of the Republican party is best 
 expressed in the words of the wise c'^zpn 
 and sagacious soldier, whose name i:^ r:.™ 
 
Vorinted toyou as its candidate for Presi- 
 ■\en;, General U.S. Grant, when in his let- 
 ter accepting the Chicago nomination he 
 'f.'.sed by saying, -'Let x;s have teace." 
 the triumph of the Republican party in the 
 ■jloctiou of November o, 18G8, will insure 
 peace, permanent, just, and profitable to 
 both North and South alike. The Demo- 
 cratio party offer only war. This is its whole 
 Dolicy. To tear down and overturn accom- 
 plished facts is the only aim it presents. Its 
 candidate for Vice President, Frank P. Blair, 
 of ?J:"ssouri, in a letter announcing his viev.-s, 
 thus demand.^, that in the event of the elec- 
 tion of the Democratic candidates, a new re- 
 bellion shall be inaugurated. Under date of 
 Ji:n'3 oOj Gen. Blair says: 
 
 ■■:i" the President elected by tho Democracy enforces 
 or j-,er:)iit3 otbera to enforce those reconstruction acts, 
 the iladiCRls by tlia accession of tvrenty spurious Sen- 
 ators and fifty Kepresentatives, will control botli 
 brarjrhes of Congress, and his administration will be as 
 po^frkcS as the present one of Andrew Johnson. 
 
 '•There is but one way to restore theGoverununt and 
 the Constitution, and <Vifi is for the rresident elect to 
 dcd-art ikesi acts nitU ami void, compel the army to undo 
 its iijur]:ations,disperse the carpet-bag State governments, 
 allovj tht vihite people to reorganize their own 'govern- 
 ments, and elect Scr^aiors and Representatives, .'jhe 
 Hcure of Representatives will contain a majority of 
 Denjccrats from the North, and they will admit the 
 Kepreeentatives elected by the white people of the 
 Sootb, and with the co-opeiation of tho President it 
 will not be difficult to compel tho Senate to submit 
 onjs n;or3 to the obligations of tho Constitution.-' 
 ■f * » ' * * * --s 
 
 " 1 repeat that this is the real and only question 
 which we should allow to control us : Shall wo submit 
 to the usurpations by which the Government has been 
 ovfrthr'Dwn, or shall w^ exert ourselves for its full and 
 coir.plete restoration? It is idle to talk of bonds, grccn- 
 baciCB, gold, the public faith, and the public credit."' 
 
 ""We s-iiist restf re the Constitution before we can tho 
 f-u'iLie;, and to do this wo must have a President who 
 will execute the will of the people hy trampling into 
 dujt '\c usurpaiions of Congress, known as llie rccon- 
 Structicn acts. I ^vis'i to stand before the Convention 
 vpon this issue, but it is one which embraces everything 
 (Iseihct is of valuein its large and comprehensive rc- 
 stUts, It is the cue thing that includes all that is wortli 
 a ccDtest, and without it there is nothing that gives 
 dissity, honor, or vaUie to the struggle. 
 
 "i'oiir i'liend, 
 
 FRANK P. ELAIK. 
 
 T'h? real issue is before yon, laboring men 
 of the South, with the success of the Kepitb- 
 lican party sectional stniggle will bo settled, 
 and peace and prosperity dawn on the land. 
 With the triumph of the Democratic candi- 
 dates, Seymour and Blair, sectionalism will 
 be revived, civil war again be .opened, and 
 your blood will be demanded in sacrifice for 
 "the interests of a sectional policy whose 
 chief aim has so far been but to degrade you, 
 and "shose only res'jlt can be a continuance 
 of the same. Your duty is pltlin, the prin- 
 ciples involved are simple. On the one side 
 the jid class leaders and politicians seeking 
 on^y '.0 maintain their control, appeal but 
 to -fusions and hatred. "The Lost Cause" 
 
 is paraded before you at every turn, but yo"-. 
 arc not told that the canne thus lost in blood 
 was not your cause, but their' s. You arc no* 
 told it was the cause of the few against many. 
 You are admonished of the past pride and 
 glory of the South.— WhatT.share of the glory 
 was yours? AVhy should its memories be a 
 source of pride to you? The answer is eas- 
 ily given. The future of the South, as you 
 may make it, will indeed be glorious. The 
 courage exhibited by you in the field 4; suffi- 
 cient proof of that. ''The Lost Cause;" the 
 re-establishment of the narrow policy of State 
 sovereignty, and the maintenance of class 
 distinctions and legal inequalities, arc all 
 that sectional policy offers. 
 
 On the other hand, what is it tho National 
 Union Ptepublican party offers? Its princi- 
 ples are announced in the platforms of its 
 National and State Conventions, and they 
 are guaranteed by the lofty character of the 
 Presidential candidates [t places before the 
 people. General U. S. Grant is a soldier 
 of the highest ability. Always faithful to his 
 trust, he lias never been ought but magnani 
 mous to his enemy." Men of the South, who 
 fought against hinr unto the " bitter end,'" 
 well know how brave in the field, how saga- 
 cious in council, and wise and merciful when 
 defeat came, our candidate, Ulysses S. 
 Grant, ever proved himself to be. The 
 Hon. Schuyler Colfax, Republican nomi-^ 
 nee fer Vice President, Is now Speaker of 
 the House of Representatives, and is recog- 
 nized by all parties, friend and foe, as a 
 statesman of wide experience, ripe judg-^ 
 raent, and fine intellect. In private life of 
 irreproachable character, his public career 
 has been wholly unstained. 
 
 The platform upon which these candidates 
 stand declares fully the object of the National 
 Republican party. Let us see what they 
 propose : 
 
 Equality of all men before the law — the 
 protection of the humblest citizen in the 
 same rights as those which belong to the 
 highest. This does not mean white man or 
 black man. It means all men. It does not 
 mean social but political equality. The for- 
 mer regulates itself by the wishes of each 
 individual, and not by the laws. 
 
 The perpetual maintenance of the union 
 of these States : the payment of the debt 
 incurred in its defense, and of the obliga- 
 tions which the nation owes to itsdefender.s. 
 A system of equal taxation in tlic States, so 
 that no longer shall commerce and labor pay 
 two-thirds of the burdens of government. 
 Slavery necessitated large landed estates, a^ 
 you who have been driven from the lowlanda 
 to the more sterile mountain sides know to 
 your cost. Slavery controlled the legisla- 
 tion of the States, and relieved itself of 
 
8 
 
 the burden by unequal taxation of other in- 
 dustries. 
 
 An equal .v/stem of common schools, with- 
 in which all children in the State may receive 
 the advantages of education. To maintain 
 those scbools, the Republican party will tax 
 the property of all equally. With equal 
 taxation and a common .school system, how 
 long will the great estates of the South be 
 maintained ? You who are in great part 
 denied even the poor privilege of buying 
 lands, can comprehend the advantages at 
 once of a policy which will make it to the 
 interest of the landholder to subdivide the 
 soil. The land owners have a strong motive 
 in again seeking your support to maintain 
 their power, because they know that by re- 
 taining the land of a State they will surely 
 obtain and maintain political control there- 
 of. It is your interest to join the party 
 which oilers you through a policy of justice 
 not only the education of your children, but 
 the opportunity of obtaining homes by legal 
 means. 
 
 The Republican party in every State favors 
 internal improvements ; it protects and en- 
 courages emigration ; it will aid the develop- 
 ment of the great resources, mineral, agri- 
 cultural, and commercial, of the Southern 
 States. The homestead of the poor man 
 will be secured. Capital will be encour- 
 aged by the peace its success is sure to 
 bring. 
 
 The issues are before j-ou. The result is 
 in your hands. Wise men do not stand 
 mourning over what cannot be recovered, 
 but calmly and soberly looking the facts in 
 the face, endeavor to gain all that is possi- 
 ble and work for better things. The Repub- 
 lican party is not the party of proscription. 
 It believes in its principles. All history vin- 
 dicates them, and civilization rises as they 
 are recognized. The spirit in which the 
 Republican party works ; the temper in 
 
 which it appeals to you, fellow-citizens of 
 the South, and the purposes it aims to achieve, 
 are most wisely and solemnly announced in 
 the closing words of the second inaugural 
 address of the martyred President, Abraham 
 Lincoln. Himself a man of the people, 
 born in the South and from among those we 
 are addressing, there can be no more fitting 
 a,ppeal presented for a permanent peace 
 based on justice. No nobler vindication of 
 the nation and party he represented than 
 these sentiments, uttered as they v/erc v/ithin 
 the shadow of the Valley of Death. We 
 commend to you these remarkable words : 
 
 '■ KcHhrr ■party expecttd for the war the magnibide or 
 the dural'mi-which it has attained. Xeither ard.cipated 
 t/iat Vie caune of the conflict might cease with, or even 
 brfore, the conflict iti-elf should cease. Each looked for 
 an easier triumph, and a result Jejss fundamental and 
 astounding . Both read the same Bible, and pray to the 
 same God; and each invoices His aid against tM other. 
 It may seem strange tiiat any me7i should dare to ash a 
 just God's assi.tianct in wringing their bread from tiit 
 sweat of other men^s faces ; but let us judge nr>t, tliat we 
 he not judged. The prayers of bo'h could net iw an- 
 swered ; that of luither has been answered fully. The 
 Almighty has IRs own purposes ' Woe unto the world 
 because of offences, for it must ?ieeds be that offtnce co'me; 
 but woe to that ■man by whom the offence cometh .' If 
 we shall suppose that American slavery is one of tht 
 offences which, in the providence of God, must needs 
 come, but whicJi, having continued through his aj-pointed 
 time. He, now wills to remove, and that He gives to both 
 North and Siratli this terrible war, as the ii'm due to 
 those by wliom offence came, shall we discern therein any 
 departure from those divine attributes which the believ- 
 ers in a living God alivays attrfibe to Him I Fundly do 
 weltope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge 
 ofivar may speedily pass axvay. Tet, if God wills that 
 it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's 
 two hundred and fifty year's of unrequitted toil shall be 
 sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash 
 shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was 
 said threi thousand years ago, so still it must be said : 
 ' The judgments of the Lord art true and righttous alto- 
 gether.^ 
 
 "With malice tottari) N0^^!, vith charitt for all, 
 
 VriTH FIRMNESS IN THE BIGHT, A3 GoD GIVES D8 TO 8EZ THl 
 RIGHT, LET US STRIVE ON TO FINISH THE WORK WE ARE IN; 
 TO BINB CP TE-E NATJOK'S TTOnNDS ; TO CABZ TOR HIM WHO 
 SHALL HAVE BORNE THE BATTLE, AND FOB HIS WIDOW AND 
 HIS ORPHAN ; TO VO ALL WHICH SIAT ACHIEVl AND CHIRISH 
 A JUST AND LASTING FSACB AMONG 0UR8ILTE8 AJTD WIIE 
 ALL NATIONS." 
 
 PRINTED AT THE GREAT REPUBLIC OFFICE, WASniNCfTON, D. C. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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