Addresses: by John A. Martin. Delivered in Kansas.Martin, John Alexander
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Addresses: by John A. Martin. Delivered in Kansas.
Martin, John Alexander
Kansas
Such a man—if there is one—is not, and never was, a true Republican. He
may have voted the Republican ticket now and then, and called himself a
Republican; but he has never had, he has not now, the real grace of true
Republicanism in his heart. More than this, he is not even a true
American. The genuine American respects the decisions of majorities, and
bows in humble submission to the majesty of law. He loves the flag of
his country, not because it is red, white, and blue, but because it is
the symbol of the people’s government, of social order, of the
Constitution and laws of the land. When the soldier saw it, among the
tangled underbrush at Chicamauga, or moving up the embattled heights of
Mission Ridge, or half enshrouded in the sulphurous smoke at Gettysburg,
or planted amid the dead and dying on the ramparts of Vicksburg, it was
not a piece of striped cloth he saw, but his country’s body and
blood—her education, her progress, her moral, social, commercial, and
political systems, her Constitution and her laws—and this was why he was
ready to follow the flag, and fight for it, and die for it if need be,
that all it symbolized might be preserved, a priceless heritage for all
the generations of men.
Alike as a citizen or as a public officer I shall at all times maintain
and uphold these ideas of private and public duty, because the whole
fabric of our American system of government rests upon them.
Now, my friends, I shall not detain you longer. In telling you why I am
a Republican, I have stated the reasons why, in my judgment, every man
who loves his country, every citizen who values good government, every
citizen who appreciates the blessings of liberty regulated by law,
should be a Republican. And a Republican, my friends, is a man who votes
the Republican ticket. This little fact ought to be understood. The man
who says he is a Republican, and in the same breath declares that he is
going to vote the Democratic ticket, or for Democratic candidates,
is—well, he need not be surprised if everybody mistakes him for a
Democrat. As the old colored woman said: “It’s ’stonishin’ how dem
pickanninies look like one anoder—’speshully Pomp!” If you are a
Republican, stand by your party and its candidates. “Kicking” is the
characteristic of a mule, but I never heard that it added either to the
value of the animal or to the esteem in which he is held. The horse that
has a habit of “bolting” when the race is on, may be a good-enough
horse, but he never wins either confidence, cheers, or purses. The brood
of “kickers” and “bolters” is not one that should be emulated. Stand up
for your party, wholly, completely, or not at all. Keep in its ranks, or
go over to the enemy. A beautiful spectacle—a spectacle for gods and
men—is the Republican who says he is going to march through this
campaign that is just opening, shouting for Blaine and Logan, but will
march with a crowd that regards no slander too vile, no abuse too low,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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