the party of the most illustrious names, the party of the most immortal
deeds that adorn the pages of our history--this party it was that
joined battle with rebellion, willing, in the language of Mr. Lincoln,
if God so willed, "to continue the war until all the wealth piled by
the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil should be
sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash should be paid
with another drawn by the sword."
Amid the cannon's roar the Republican party heard the voice of God, and
above the smoke of battle four million fetters towered like a monument
to heaven. To our country purged by fire and purified with blood, yea,
even with the blood of the slain and against the will of a united
Democracy the Republican party gave not only emancipation, but also
the highest dignity--a race clothed with the sacred right of elective
franchise.
Failing to defeat the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, the
Democratic party have attempted to nullify it by murder, incineration,
intimidation and fraud. The political power which the Democratic party
lost on the battle-field they have sought to regain by committing a
rape on the ballot box more infamous than those widely published crimes
which that proverbial "burly negro fiend" is said at times to attempt
upon the purity of Southern homes. The South invests the Negro with the
_stripes_ of the flag it failed to destroy, but denies to him both the
promise and protection of its stars.
The Afro-American has voted the Republican ticket because the
Democratic party has willfully, continually and maliciously opposed
every law designed to secure his freedom, his franchise and his
enjoyment of the blessings of liberty; while all such laws in his
behalf have been passed by Republican votes and signed by Republican
presidents. The Democratic party, which thirty years ago sought the
Nation's life through the dissolution of the Union, is to-day in
rebellion against the Constitution of the United States through its
open and flagrant violation of the Fifteenth Amendment. There has not
been a fair election in any Southern State for more than seventeen
years. If slavery had not been destroyed it would have destroyed the
Union. Even so, if we do not put an end to