11 eight or ten thousand men had gone from it to the war. It is Republican still, whenever the soldiers are permitted to vote. . Mr. Cox. Well, I will read the statement. “One of the best men from Ohio, said Mr. Phillips, Republican to the very core, representing one of the most advanced districts, Republican to the very core, himself the vanguard of the party, assured me that in case of separation or anything that looked like it, every town in his district would be divided, he would not say to blood, but the next door to it, upon the question whether they should go with the South and not with New England or New York. So deeply has that lesson of northern and western jealousy penetrated the very best elements of western politics. Under such circumstances we have no time to lose.” Wendell Phillips said that. Now which one of my colleagueshad that conference with him ? Was it the gentlemen from the western part of the State ? Whoever it was he goes farther than I went. He not only goes further in warning New England against this growing feeling in the west, but he seems to predict the disintegration of the Union, against which we on this side have constantly protested. Who was he ? Mr. Blake. In the first place Wendell Phillips is not a Republican. Mr. Cox. Does he tell the truth ? Mr. Blake. I believe Wendell Phillips to be a talented and honest man, but he, in my judgment, is frequently in error, and one grave one is that he is not a Republican. He never has belonged to the Republican party. He ignores that party, to which all honest men ought, in my opinion, to attach themselves. Mr. Cox. Then there are some honest, truth-telling men who do not belong to your party ? (Laughter.) Mr. Blake. Yes, sir, there are many, I am sorry to say ; I think they ought all to belong to my party. Mr. Cox. I suppose so ; the question now is, however, did Wendell Phillips tell the truth or a falsehood, and if he told the truth, who is the man among my colleagues, in the “van of the Republican party,” who said what was never even charged against me in my New York speech ? Mr. Blake. Not me, certainly. I repeat what I have already said that Wendell Phillips has no connexion with the Republican party. I know nothing of any such conversation with any man on our side of the House, nor do I believe any such conversation ever took place. In the next place, I say to my colleague, that whether Wendell Phillips said so or not, there is no such sentiment in the West. It is not true that there is any such prejudice as that against New England among the people of Ohio. There is an effort being made to bring about this state of feeling in the State, but it will never succeed. We look upon New England as a part of our country, and feel honored by her high position. We look upon her as the great light-house of our country, and it is not true, I repeat, that any respectable portion of the people of the West ever have been, or ever can be induced to join in this tirade against New England. It is true that among the party of sympathisers with the rebels, you may find men who will join in such a cry, for the purpose of aiding Jeff Davis, but no where else. You cannot find it among any respectable class of people. I repudiate and protest in the name of the people, against any such sentiment being attributed to any portion of the people of Ohio, or of the W’est. That is what I say, sir.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4ODY=