Ex-gov. Austin Blair

On Friday evenir)? oí' last week tho sourt house was filled to overttowing with people - men and woinen - anxious to hear ex Gov. Austin Blair, of Jackson, discuss the present politioal issues of the day. And not one of the number wcre disappnintid, for they heard a live, wido awake, Eiblo rcproseutalion of rcpublican principies. In introduciiig the speaker, John F. Lawrenoe, Ksq. , paid a glowiug tribute to his worth and reputation, whioh he said was not confined to our state alono, but was broad as the uation. In onr trreat peril, tbr his intelligent, patriotic, efficiënt management of the uffiiirs of' our stHte, we owe him a debt of lading gratitude. Tlie governor comnienced his speech by D'initratulatins the audience upon the favorable aspect of aftairs, and said "it almost secuis to me that this campaigti has passed out ot the douiain of discussion or unergetic action. The drift of public opinión is in the direction of right, patriotism and justlce, as we believe it to be." Tho news froin the great states of Ohio and Indiana was still grandly rolling on, encouraging the party as it did in the perilous years of the past. The speaker then reforred in sacastio terms to the democratie dirty job of pla-.tcring 329 over wulks, doors, and buildings, in scathing terms. The American people are an intenscly practical people. The voter does not liko to put bis vote wliere it will do no good. We are an iutenxely constructivo people and not iiisily divertcd by dreamers who can not show us any practical results ; the people ask what results we can accomplish and the means used in securing them. All partios are founded upon ideaa, and though it is asserted that the distribution of public plunder and pap is the main idea of every party, there is not cohesivo power sufficient in that alone to hold any party from falling to pieces. These great ideas are continually directing the niovement and policios of partics. Ile referrod to bis old friend Charles S. May, who asserted that "he didn't believo in this nonsenical business of hunting up the records of partios." lie couldn't blame May much for the words. A record that is good OM not fear being brought out and rohearsed. If a party says to the people, trust us, but not our adversarles, we naturally look to sce what tho record of that party has been ; wc ask about its past conduct, and if it is all right we may give confidence, if not, we don't. So the reoord of a party is the most important thing to be oonaidered, and he feit disposed to look at the reoord of the two great parties. The democratie pá tv is ncarly as old as the govemuieiit itself; it has survived all changos, all hocks of defeat, all disasters, and is still before the poople. The repubIfoan party ia comparatively young, but it has inaile such a record that if itshould be ilisi-dUed to day, its record could not be blotted out. It was organized in 1856 to antagonize the democratie party at every point, wbich at that timo was asserting that we had no ri;ht to speak, no right to thiuk, even, of human slivery ; it said slavery was proUcted by the constitution, and any one who attempted to questiou that right was not a friend to the republic. The speaker then read one of the fainous Kentueky and Virginia resolutions of 1798, wlneh embodieJ the Jetfersonian doctrine, on which the democratie party was found-i, . .ut. r;shto. The state had a right to take such action on any question as it pleascJ, aud tlie general goveruiueui liad no power to hinder it. Tliat was the creed, the stone, on which the democratie party was fbunded ; and that was the doctrine on which was based secession and rebellion. It said this is not a natioD, but a simple compact between several states ; the general government ia not a judge of its own powers, but the states theuiselves are the judges. Buchanan when atked to take action to prevent the rebellion, replied : "I find no power in the eonstitution to coerce states." What is meant by the charge of establishing a despotism at Washington ? Did you ever hear of a despotism with universal suffrage ? Is the general government any the lessa republican form of government than ours at Lansing? We do not undertake to say that states have no rights, but that wherever the two clash the national authority is supreme, and that states have no business to resist. The republican party was organized on the thcory that liberty was national and slavery was sectional. The only seotionalisui in the country then comes from the south, noi from the north. He did not wish to do the demócrata injustice ; many of them united with the republicans, and did excellent service in the war, but the party asa party hardly did that, for it will be remembered that in 1864 they met in convention and resolved that the war was a failure. What we mean by the republiean party carrying on the war is that they were the only party that was entirely friendly ; that the democratie party occupied an antagoni.-itio position, and believed still that there was no power to coerce states. In 1868 they did not iay the same for it was a little too late, the war had ended, and gloriously ended. Then they found fault with our reconstruction policy, it was too severe. They said if we fought to preserve the union we had no right to keep the south out of the union. The speaker then hhowed up Gen. Hancock's famous order No. 40, analyzed his course throughout, and conclusively proved to the audionce that Gen. Hancock had been from the first a believer in the old and exploded doctrines. The republican party is a party of movement, a purty of great purposes, the party of nationality, the party of the people. It believes in government by the people ; believes that this is a sovereign nation ; and that it has power to protect its people and itself. It cmues not as a soli t north, not apH:ilii]g to any particular portion of the country, but upon these great principies. The lit-eral repubücan moveinent of 1872, in whioh Horace Graeley, and hosts of other republicans- including the speaker- joined, conscientiously believing that thcir own party was ovorstepping their rights, and that the democratie party had in good faith acceptcd the results of the war, was dwelt upon. The democratie party then voluntarily adopted the liberal republican platform and ticket, but one half of its rank and file proved traitorous, and did not vote, so the election was lost. It gave that party a grand opportunity to throw aside all of their f':illacu:s, but they could not get out of the old rut, the fountain can not rise above its soiiree. The ipMker th'ii referred to the Tilden campaifin, and the policy of reform which he promised the people, and its outcome. Coming down to the present campaign be read a portion of their present platform; they now thought themselves able to stand alone, and were independent in their avowals; thero was no sop thrown to the great body of liberáis now ; they pledged tbemwlvea inew tO the eonstitutionul trim h and traditinns of tha democratie party, as taught by a lng line of democratio patriota, mmmenoiag iih Thmiias Jefforson, and endino witli .James lïuobanan- "the Jast that thcy had, and plewu God the laat they ever will havo." There are no referenocs to the war and t results; the whole teodeney d reaetiooaiy and baokward. Tbc repuhlieun party is ever onward and progressive ; it stiil lias a great work to do in educating the met) bred by the war, and should pot stni nntil every partiële is accomplished. It ba been said that a Bourbon is one who iwver learns aoything or ever foreets anytliini?, but always stands in his trackn. It peeibfl to U9 that a man eannot stand sti'l exactly. The democratie party as a reaetioimry p irt , is not one that appeals to the good sense nt' the people, or the best interest of the country, and he adjured tlie youtiK men to look at the principies underlying these two great ;mrtios. You might as well try to oppose the stars in tbeir courses as 10 oppose tho onward puogress of the nation. The great improvements of the day are in themselves eentralizers. He referred to the great system of railroads and tletrraphs and asked who will deal with them '. Can Michigan, Indiana, IIHrtÓlfl, or any single state make the laws for their government? No. This great network can only be controlled by the nation, and at the national capital must be fixed the laws lor the whole country. VVhoever was with the republican party in 18fiO, ought to be with it now. The demócrata had been drives s that they had recognized the hand of Providi-nn-, and they were in a tight place when lny did that. Tho present adminútratioo liad been the purest, and hethought tho wisent since the early days of the nation. Our democratie frionds say thcy don't like the way Rayes got into power ; but who is to blame for that? They had the power to count tho votes, why didn't they do it ? They were not obliged to pass the electoral comminsion bill, why did they do it? They wwa u blame, ifanyone, for notdoing what itwis their duty to do. Hehcathcd the party lor its cowardly actions at that time, and said "it don't Ho in the mouths of the demo crats in the house of representativos, or their t'riends in the country, to coiuplain of" the way Hayes got in." The reform Tilden desired has been aecomplished. Ourbond.sbearing4 per cent. interest are selling at 10 per cent. premium ; the legal tender note has had its promise kept ; the fundingoperations have all been aeeomplished, and the administration has met every domand. They say "we demanda oh ange of the tari ff." With both houses of congress in their hands ibr four years, why havo they not rclurnied the tariff ? The only article they have touched has been quinine. How lonK will it take at that mie to rcach the 4,000 anieles on the tho tariff list? About the civil service reform. Hsyea was sincere in desiring it. If the deniocrats were sincere why had they not passed some law and stood by him ? He would have been glad to have signed any bill looking in that direction. Is it possille they desired the plunder under Hancock ? It was all left out of their last platform. The contest to dayis between the republican party looking in one direction, onward and upward, and the deinocratiu party look ng in another direction, backward and over the past. The republican party, at Chicago, had shown its ability to freo itself of cables and ring rule. He thought the unit rule had been broken within its ranke for all time to come, and that horeafter "-hp eongressional district would be represented hr is uwn delegates. EVory candidate put up by a ring was defeated. If he had had the nomination to make he would havo done just what was done, and selected Gen. Jas. A. Garfield. There was no better public man in the United States io his opinión. None attack hiiu for lack of aUlity, none deny his statesmanship. In regard to tilo credit mobelier and De Golyer parement mud. so peristently and vieiously slung at hiin by the democrats, lie would say, that he was pieseut at the time of the investígation, was familiar with the whole thing, and would state, without any f'oar of contradiction, that nobody ever supposed that Jas. A. GarSt ld was ever mixed up with those thÍDgs. Thurman, the most princely democrat of theiu all, had his attentioa calledto the charges, and replied : " I know Garfield well, and lam bound to say to the people of Ohio that he is entirely innocent of those accusationc." His neighbors reelected him to the house ; his people eleuted him to the senate ; and a fjw days ago thcyacain said he was innocunt, in ihunJer tones. The republicana wero all nnited now ; the old party of liberáis - and they werc considerable - were all t'igether again, and they were marching on toanolhcrgreat victory. Tlie fluí? of our natiomlity and universal liborty i.s in the IiíiihÍn of James A. Garfield, and he will plant it at the national capital. The speech was frequcntly interrupted by appl.iuse, often luDg oontiauëd, and the audience proved itself in full sympathy with the speaker. Wli.it he said did guod, and we venture to assert that not one jiresent feit sorry that he cauio. And now the natuo of the Hou. D. Darwin Hughes, of Grand Uapids, is to be addod to tho long list of demócrata who have come out for (iarüeld and Aithur. Mr. Hughes was at one time a cuiidulate for congresg, and at anUbcr time a candídate for jutioe of the suprerue cuurt, upon the democratie ticket, and has ever hfen looked upon aa one of the ¦hioaing li tr li ts of' that party. He has ability and ood sense, anti it is presuuied does not desire to see the government thrown into the hands of a party oontrolled by the rebeDioui eloïnent of the southern states. The country is prosperous and happy under repubiir.in rule, and such peopledesire that it should continue so rather than be given iuto ncw hands with different idea?. Mr. IIuKhes, and all such as he, are wtlooiue to our rauks. We want such men.