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 MK. WeiFFIiE'^ SPEECH. 
 
 SUBSTANCE OF A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE WHIG 
 MEETING HELD AT THE TOWN HOUSE, PROVI- 
 DENCE, R. I., AUGUST 28, 1837, 
 BY JOHN WHIPPLE, ESQ. 
 
 Mb. Chairman — 
 
 I once more appear before my fellow towns- 
 men, to perform, what I consider, an imperious duty. 
 This duty, sir, is of a mixed character ; partly painful 
 and partly pleasing. It is painful when we reflect that 
 the ruinous measures which have brought our Country to 
 its present alarming condition, have been supported, al- 
 most by acclamation, by a majority of the American 
 People. It is pleasing, very pleasing, to see that there 
 are yet so many of us, who do not entirely despair of 
 shaking off the incubus, which has paralyzed so large a 
 portion of the nation. 
 
 We have met, sir, to make one struggle more to save a 
 sinking Constitution. Shoulder to shoulder, we have 
 before fought at the outposts and upon the ramparts. 
 Inch by inch, we have been driven by numbers, and by 
 hireling troops, until at last we are at the Citadel, not 
 merely of the Constitution, but of law, of social order, nay 
 of freedom itself. Here we must stand, and here, come 
 what may, we icill stand. For one, sir, if the Constitution 
 must fall, I am ready to fall with it. 
 
 It is known to you, possibly to others, that to most of 
 the mere party squabbles for mere party purposes, I have 
 remained almost an indifferent spectator. But when I see 
 the plain and massy columns which support the splendid 
 Temple erected by our Fathers, one after another, falling 
 beneath it — when I see that the hands employed in this 
 
sacreligious work are paid from the gold plundered from 
 Temple itself, I feel that neutrality is but another name 
 for becoming a party to the plunder. 
 
 Sir, we seem almost to have forgotten tvho we are, and 
 what we are. A deep and fatal lethargy is upon us. From 
 one end to the other of this extensive Country, a dead and 
 almost uniform silence seems to reign. Among the mill- 
 ions of free and energetic intellects scattered over our 
 •wide domain, we see but here and there one, able or wil- 
 ling to raise his voice to the pitch which the crisis de- 
 mands. Even the poverty and ruin, brought to our doors 
 by the foulest of all misrules, appears not to have disturbed 
 our fatal sleep. 
 
 The Institutions established by our Fathers, and which 
 for years have diifused among us blessings to which 
 all other nations are perfect strangers, are rudely over- 
 thrown. Principles subversive of civil liberty, and at 
 open war with social order, are boldly advanced. Changes 
 are designedly and wickedly made in the whole system of 
 our commercial exchange. The fountains of trade are 
 suddenly dried up, and thousands upon thousands of our 
 most industrious citizens are plunged from affluence ta 
 poverty, and from poverty down almost to penury and 
 despair ; and still we sleep on, as if it were the sleep of 
 death — let me tell you, sir, that so far as the cause of 
 republican government is concerned, if it continue much 
 longer, it will be the sleep of death. 
 
 I should be more easily reconciled to the present alarm- 
 ing condition of the Country, if I could see that the meas- 
 ures which have produced it, had been the result of the 
 mistakes or blunders of our rulers ; for in such a case it 
 would be of short duration. The infancy and vigor of 
 the Country would soon outgrow it. But these experi- 
 ments have all been the result of design. They are 
 merely parts of a broad and well settled scheme ; which 
 scheme is as necessary to the purposes of those who de- 
 vised itj now, as it was at its original adoption. It is still 
 
persevered in, and unless timely checkedj will be perseve- 
 red in until the power of the people is entirely annihilated. 
 
 The scheme is, to perpetuate the Chief Magistracy of 
 the Country in the hands of a few self-elected leaders of 
 the dominant party. This is the great and chief object, 
 and the measures which have been pursued, are but means 
 by which to accomplish that object. 
 
 These means consist principally in so great an increase 
 of the power of the Executive, that in time it will become 
 independent both of Congress and the people. At first 
 view, it may seem difficult to confer upon the Executive 
 so vast a power. But, sir, in point of fact it has already 
 been in part accomplished, and by means as simple and 
 obvious, as they are wicked and corrupt. It has been in 
 part accomplished — in the first place, by the removal of 
 all the officers under the Government, and the substitution 
 of others who hold their offices upon the condition, express 
 or implied, that they and all their friends shall use all 
 their influence, personal or official, to continue the present 
 state of things, right or wrong. 
 
 This was the first step ; and the second was, to place 
 under the unlimited control of the Executive, the vast 
 treasure of the wliole Country. 
 
 Now, sir, it cannot be denied that both these measures 
 have been already adopted. It cannot be denied that they 
 were parts of the settled policy of the administration. 
 Sir, instead of being denied, it is operdy avowed and 
 openly justified. Neither can it be denied that these 
 measures are the principal causes of the present calamities. 
 All that can be denied is, that these measures have been 
 adopted, and these evils brought upon us, with a view to 
 perpetuate the first office of the nation in the hands of the 
 prominent leaders of the ruling party, and to render that 
 office independent both of Congress and the people. 
 
 Sir, these are grave and deliberate charges not to be 
 made rashly, nor to be established but by grave and com- 
 petent proof. These men, like all others, are not to be 
 
condemned, but upon evidence which the common sense 
 of ages has ratified, as the test of truth. By the main 
 featm'es of their characters, so far as their characters mingle 
 in their public acts, and by the necessary tendency and 
 effect of these measures, must they stand or fall at the 
 great bar of public opinion. 
 
 Allow me then, sir, to appeal to this character and to 
 these measures, and I do it with a confidence that we 
 shall find in neither, anything to elevate our drooping 
 hopes of the stability of our Government, or the perma- 
 nency of our unrivalled Institutions. In justice to myself, 
 and the views I am forced to take, I am compelled to say, 
 that I have never indulged the dreamy hope that on the 
 whole, we were a wiser or better people, than the countless 
 nations which have gone before us. History, sir, when 
 properly read, is full of wisdom and instruction ; and the 
 lesson which it reads us, is not very favorable to the 
 designing flattery which political men have pressed upon 
 the age and the nation in which we live. 
 
 I will glance at the characters of two of the leading au- 
 thors of our present evils, in order to see if there is any- 
 thing Avhich can relieve them from the just suspicions of 
 an abused and indignant people, that a broad and settled 
 scheme to perpetuate their power, has been deliberately 
 formed, and in part, deliberately executed. I will speak 
 of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, and I beg leave 
 to premise that I have not the slightest personal feeling 
 unfriendly to either of them. 
 
 Andrew Jackson was by nature a coarse, rough, and 
 very passionate man. This, his most intimate friends do 
 not pretend to deny. Neither his education nor his early 
 habits have done much to soften these native elements of 
 his character ; for he was brought up with a rifle gun in 
 one hand, and a Kentucky knife in the other. With the 
 former he occasionally hunted game, and occasionally the 
 poor and abused Indian. What use he made of the latter 
 I do not know. He was savage and vindictive in his 
 
passions, bitter and unrelenting in his prejudices, and un- 
 bounded and persevering in his ambition. With all these 
 fierce and indomitable qualities, I am inclined to believe 
 that he was originally honest in his purposes, and sincere 
 and faithful in his attachments. But his honesty had 
 about as much influence over his dark and malignant 
 passions, as the little republic of Genoa had over the gloomy 
 monarchies and fierce des])otisms of modern Europe. 
 
 Martin Van Buren, on the other hand, is a character of 
 an entirely opposite cast. He was a shrewd, subtle and 
 calculating lawyer. Neither at the Bar, nor in the Senate, 
 did he ever aspire to tlie highest kind of eloquence ; for 
 he well knew that to be eloquent, required a large share 
 of moral principle and moral feelings. By long habit he 
 has become wily and schemy beyond most other men, and 
 his low dexterity and habitual cunning, are altogether in- 
 consistent with patriotic and high minded conduct, or fine 
 and lofty feeling. 
 
 What Sir Robert Walpole was to the English House of 
 Commons, Mr. Van Buren is to the American people. He 
 sincerely believes that every man has his ])rice, and his 
 whole conduct from his first start in New York to the 
 present day, evinces his fidelity to his own principles. 
 These principles necessarily lead to wily conduct, and wily 
 conduct necessarily clothes the face with a wily look. 
 Accordingly what Junius said of an eminent Scotchman, 
 is true of him : " Whenever I see a Scotchman smile, I 
 feel an involvntary emotion to guard myself against mis- 
 chief." 
 
 These, sir, are the two men whom the American peo- 
 ple have successively raised to the first office in the nation; 
 and if I have given anything like a fair outline of their 
 general characters, there is nothing in either, that would 
 lead us to suppose that they would hesitate at any means 
 likely to perpetuate the power of themselves or their party. 
 
 But, sir, a much fairer way of judging of their motives 
 and designs; is, by a brief examination of their conduct ; 
 
G 
 
 and allow me to ask, what measures of a ??rt^?o??aZ charac- 
 ter, were proposed or adopted by either of them during 
 the eight years administration of Andrew Jackson ? Sir, 
 he had money, and popularity, and power to an unlimited 
 extent. What use did he ever make of either, except for 
 party purposes ? He pulled down and demolished much 
 of what his predecessors had built up, but what did he 
 build up himself? What public improvements of any 
 kind did he propose or adopt ? What did he do for na- 
 tional roads, for internal facilities ? W^hat for trade, for 
 education ? Has not his whole administration been tlie 
 work of demolition ? 
 
 One of his first efforts of this nature was upon his own 
 cabinet, and evinced a settled scheme to reduce the whole 
 frame work of the government to an abject obedience to 
 his despotic will. He called Berrien and Branch, two 
 high minded men from the South, to a seat in the coun- 
 cils of the nation. — These men had not yet descended to 
 the level of the New York politics. They would not al- 
 low Van Buren to play liis game with false cards, or in 
 other words, to buy popular favor with public money. For 
 this reason, and for this alone, they were dismissed. Ing- 
 ham shared the same fate, and at a subsequent period, 
 M'Lean and Duane. 
 
 These men, sir, were bound to act according to their 
 consciences. The nation had a right to their deliberate 
 judgment upon pending measures. They were not to 
 throw up their hats and cry long live the chief, but to de- 
 liberate and decide for the nation. — Sir, because they did 
 deliberate and decide according to their consciences, in- 
 stead of acquiesceing in the New York scheme of heaping 
 all the power upon the Executive, they were rudely and 
 wantonly dismissed, and more pliant substitutes selected. 
 Never, since the establishment of our Government, had 
 such a reckless measure been resorted to before. No pre- 
 vious President ever before dared so to sport with the dig- 
 nity of the nation. Allow me to ask why this unheard of 
 
and extraordinary measure were resorted to, if not with 
 some unheard oi" and extraordinary design. 
 
 But, sir, the main and tlio prominent measure of his 
 Administration was another noveUy, as starthng and as 
 dangerous, as it was wicked and corrupt. I mean the 
 general removal of faithful ofllcers, for no other cause than 
 that of thinking and acting for themselves. If sucli had 
 been the previous policy of the Government, it would be 
 unfair to charge it as a sin upon Andrew Jackson. But in 
 point of fact, the well settled policy of all previous Ad- 
 ministrations had been precisely the reverse. It had grown 
 into a maxim, that in jiolitical as well as religious matters, 
 every man had a right to act according to his judgment 
 and his conscience. — Andrew .Tackson was bold and wick- 
 ed enough to pull down this wise and well settled policy, 
 and to proclaim to every office holder in the country that 
 he would pay him the amount of his salary, be it five 
 hundred, or five thousand dollars, so long as he supported 
 all his measures, right or wrong, and no longer. Sir, a 
 more depraved, wicked and corrupting policy, never was 
 adopted in the most iron despotism of the darkest ages. I 
 defy its parallel, either in the depravity of its motive, or 
 the corrupting influence of its efl'ects. What is but a 
 bribe ? With what other design was it introduced ? 
 With what other design has it been so steadily persevered 
 in? 
 
 I do not mean to assert, that every officer under this- 
 new system felt that he had been bribed ; for there are 
 undoubtedly many upright and honest men among them. 
 What I mean to assert is, that this extraordinary change 
 was intended to produce in their minds a secret or an open 
 influence, equivalent to a bribe. Sir, has it not had the 
 intended efi"ect ? Do they not, from some motive or oth- 
 er, resort to the most untiring and extraordinary means to 
 live up to the condition of their appointment ? Until this 
 wicked change, have we ever seen our public officers, al- 
 most to a man, drilled and marched in countless numbers, 
 
8 
 
 in such an appalling array, in support of every measure of 
 the appointing power ? 
 
 Sir, under the general Government, and tliose of the 
 States friendly to the present Administration, and bound 
 by the same corrupt policy, there are probably nearly 
 one hundred thousand officers. Allowing that each 
 officer will carry to the polls from among his numerous 
 relations and dependents, four votes each — it would give 
 to the Administration an army of five hundred thousand 
 voters, all bound to a bountiful leader by the fascinating 
 influence of gold. 
 
 If this is not corruption, what is corruption ? If all this 
 was not done with some fixed purpose and design, why 
 was it done at all ? If the public good had required it, 
 why was it not discovered by some previous Administra- 
 tion ? It gave Andrew Jackson votes enough to secure 
 his re-election. It conferred upon him the power of 
 naming his successor. He did name his successor, and 
 used all the influence of his office to secure his election,, 
 and by the aid of these household troops, thus wantonly 
 paid out of the public money, his election was secured. 
 
 But this is not all. It was the design of this infamous 
 combination of ambitious demagogues, not only to employ 
 the whole aggregate salaries of all the United States and 
 State officers, as so many vast engines for party purposes ; 
 but they could not remain satisfied, while a single cent of 
 the public money remained unemployed in aid of the same 
 base design. By a law of the land, the treasure of the 
 nation was deposited in the Bank of the United States. 
 While there, it was beyond the reach of Andrew Jackson 
 or Martin Van Buren. An attempt was made to buy the 
 Bank over as an ally. This attempt totally failed. The 
 deposits were then removed by one of the most arbitrary 
 and despotic acts that ever disgraced a Turkish Bashaw, 
 This money, thus foully seized, was placed in the hands 
 of the thousand stockholders and directors of favored 
 Banks, and thus contributed to swell wider and deeper 
 
the tide of golden influence. The Bank of the United 
 States was demolished. Three hundred new Banks 
 arose from its ashes. Specie payments were suspended, 
 and a period of calamity has ensued, the duration of which 
 none of us can foretell. 
 
 Sir, I ask again, with what motivewere all these changes 
 introduced ? With what motive were the salaries of all 
 the public officers converted into so many bribes to pur- 
 chase votes ? Did the public good require it ? It is not 
 pretended. Was it called for by any moral principle ? It 
 isagreed to be profligate and corrupt. What, then, was 
 the motive ? The leading men and the leading papers all 
 agree it was for party purposes and party purposes alone. 
 Were not the deposites removed for the same purpose ? 
 Was not the Bank destroyed in aid of the same nefarious 
 scheme ? 
 
 Am I not right, then, when I assert that a grand scheme 
 was concerted by Jackson and Van Buren to perpetuate 
 their dynasty ; that the means by which to efl'ect the ob- 
 ject was, to concentrate all the powers of the Government 
 in the Executive organ, so as to render it independent 
 both of Congress and the people ? That this power was 
 the power of the money of the nation ? Am I not right, 
 when I assert, that that scheme has already in part been 
 accomplished ? 
 
 Sir, was not the whole of the public treasure formerly 
 in the hands of Congress by a law of the land ? Is it 
 not now in point of fact in the Executive ? Who con- 
 ferred this power upon the Executive ? Previous to the 
 reign of Andrew Jackson it was in Congress. Now it is 
 in the Executive. How did it get there ? By a law of 
 Congress ? No, sir. By a vote of the people ? No, sir. 
 It was seized by the Executive in defiance of Congress, 
 and in defiance of the people. 
 
 Was it seized by accident or mistake ? Was it not by- 
 design ? It is agreed that it was. What, then, was that 
 design, if not to render the Executive independent ? 
 
10 
 
 Sir, will it not render it independent ? I do not meari 
 theoretically or legally, but practically independent. 
 Will it not enable the Executive to defeat any law which 
 may be introduced to restore the power to Congress ? Are 
 there not members enough who either are, or may be made 
 interested to legalize this arbitrary power of the leader of 
 their party ? 
 
 Sir, how is it with the people ? Allowing for the usual 
 honest division of opinion, this money will turn nineteen 
 elections out of twenty in favor of these arbitrary leaders 
 of the dominant party. Is this a free expression of the 
 will of the people ? Is this the boasted independence of 
 our elections ? 
 
 Sir, it is in vain, it is idle to reason upon such a subject. 
 Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, in defiance of the 
 laws of the land, have seized upon a never failing instru- 
 ment of power. With it they have already paralyzed 
 Congress, and they have already paralyzed a large portion 
 of the people, and where is its power to end ? 
 
 Sir, it is a disgrace to attempt to reason upon such a 
 subject. We might as well stop to reason with the mid- 
 night ruffian applying the fire brand to our dwelling. The 
 fire brand is already applied to our holy temple of Con- 
 stitutional freedom. The destructive element is already 
 kindling, and unless the friends of constitutional law rally 
 in all their strength, this most beautiful work of human 
 minds, will ere long, for a moment illumine the world 
 with its blaze ; it will then fall in darkness and in ruins, 
 and where among the nations of the world, is there an- 
 other resting place in which the spirit of liberty can lay 
 her head ? 
 
 Sir, when I contemplate these atrocious acts of lawless 
 power, when I see that not a minister or king, no nor a 
 despot in Europe, ever held in his hand an instrument half 
 80 effective, as is the whole treasure of this rich and ex- 
 tended country ; when I see that the man who wields 
 this tremendous power is wily, ambitious and aspiring ; 
 when I see the hundreds of thousands who are fattening 
 
11 
 
 vipon this treasure constantly shouting Hosanna to the 
 most high, and when I see other hundreds of thousands 
 of houseless free suffrage voters, ready at a call to flock to 
 the standard of these pretended friends of the poor, I feel 
 that as a friend to constitutional freedom, I could devote 
 my whole soul to its rescue ; " that I could raise my voice 
 to such a pitch, that it should reach every log house beyond 
 the mountains," and that at its summons, millions of free 
 and independent men would rush from their retreats, and 
 hurl these aspiring demagogues from their guilty thrones. 
 
 But sir, I am checked in these dreamy hopes, by the 
 reflection that other voices louder and deeper, and issuing 
 from bosoms better filled with the love of country than 
 mine, have for years, sounded the alarm in vain ; that the 
 stern, and manly, and patriotic spirit of Webster has poured 
 forth its devotedness to the cause of freedom, and the 
 Constitution, in tones, which in other days, would have 
 been listened to by stocks and stones ; and that the warm 
 heart and chrystal head of Clay, with a patriot's and a 
 prophet's fire, have been almost worn down and exhausted 
 in its behalf. 
 
 A deep and deadly lethargy has indeed come upon us. 
 Man worship and idolatry, like a cloud, hangs over and 
 darkens the American mind. To what other cause can 
 we impute the apparently uniinportant fact that these 
 blind and devoted worshippers have compared, profanely 
 compared the chief author of all our present evils, to 
 Washington himself. To Washington, who lived not for 
 himself, nor for a party ; no, nor for his country alone, 
 but for the cause of freedom throughout the world. His 
 spirit still lives, and is performing the great work originally 
 assigned it. — Go on then pure and holy spirit, and fulfil 
 thy destiny ! Thou wilt roll on through thy vast and 
 magnificent orbit, to be gazed at, admired and imitated, 
 so long as the sense of patriotic ardor and moral grandeur 
 hold dominion in the human bosom ; thou wilt track thy 
 splendid pathway down from age to age ; and when the 
 last nations that inhabit this beautiful world, shall 
 
12 
 
 be wearing away, and human power and human grandeur 
 are closing up their last account, thy beacon light shall still 
 shine aloft, and thy spotless name ascend to heaven, in 
 the prayers of miUions of pure and patriotic men ! 
 
 Andrew Jackson, the mere powdered rocket, sent up by 
 the feverish breath of popular prejudice, and already fal- 
 ling amid the gloom and desolation which he himself has 
 created, he to compare with Washington ! "Hyperion to 
 a Satyr. A mildewed ear, blasting its wholesome broth- 
 er." He has indeed fallen amid the gloom and distress 
 created by his own wicked hand. That distress has 
 swept over our land like the Siroc of the east, leaving 
 nothing but the sands of desolation in its track. It has 
 visited every rank and class of men. Upon every calling 
 and every profession, it has left its withering touch. 
 
 We see the intelligent, the skilful, the honorable mer- 
 chant, entirely prostrated by the blow. We see the pa- 
 tient and industrious manufacturer, after having devoted 
 his whole life to the accumulation of a little subsistence 
 for his family, now wandering about our streets, pale and 
 care worn, and reduced almost to want and beggary. We 
 see the inventive the skilful and never tiring mechanic, 
 obliged either to emigrate to a distant and unknown 
 country, or to remain a witness to the suffering and dis- 
 tress of a worthy family here. But above all, we see 
 among the humble laborers, who have been reduced by 
 the wicked flattery of these pretended friends of their 
 class, every form of misery which belongs to human suf- 
 fering. Whole families are wandering about the country 
 houseless, foodless and friendless. Every morning, thou- 
 sands rise from their bed of earth, without a crust of bread 
 to mitigate their hunger. Every night many a half fam- 
 ished mother, lies down with her half famished infant, 
 struggling at her exhausted bosom. 
 
 Sir, in this hour of gloom, of beggary and despair, where 
 are these pretended friends of the humble poor ? 
 
 In the halls of legislation enacting laws for their relief? 
 Assembled in mighty Conventions, to force by combina- 
 
13 
 
 tion a liberal charity for their support ? straining their own 
 private means, to heal the wounds inflicted by their own 
 wicked hands ? No, sir, no. From one end to the other 
 of the country, not a hand is lifted, not a voice is raised, 
 not a heart is moved ; but we see them feasting and fat- 
 tening upon fifty millions of the public treasure, swearing 
 that the grand experiment is working well, and throwing 
 up their hats, in honor of the chief who devised it. 
 
 Gracious God, where are we ? In what age — in what 
 nation? Is this indeed our own, our native land? Are 
 we descended from that proud and lofty race, who, upon 
 the mere threat of injury, called up the scourging storm 
 of revolution, went out upon the mighty deep and battle 
 field, and poured forth their blood like rain, in defence of 
 their country's honor ? 
 
 Is there remaining among us no moral Scipio, who can 
 again rally the broken forces of our moral power, and 
 wage an everlasting Avar against these defilers of their 
 Country's fame? Is this swelling tide of all-corrupting 
 gold, to sweep over the whole of our land, palsy the nerve 
 of every arm, and quench the fire of every heart ? 
 
 Sir, we do indeed seem to have forgotten that we are 
 living under a republican government ; that our honor 
 and our fame are not committed to the care of ministers 
 and kings, nor entrusted to the vigilance of a proud and 
 prudent aristocracy; that the sacred deposite is in our hands, 
 and that we are its only sentinels. When we become in- 
 active or corrupt, who will guard the sacred treasure ? 
 
 For one, sir, I could almost forgive all the other evils 
 which these vile seducers have heaped upon us, could 
 they but heal the deep and deadly moral wound upon the 
 Country. I am aware that the loss of property is truly 
 painful ; that the destruction of the industry and business 
 of the Country is distressing, and that the sufferings of 
 the poor are beyond my power of description. But, sir, 
 these are physical evils, and have their limit. They are 
 neither contagious nor transmissible. They bring with 
 them a winter of great severity and bitterness ; but upon 
 
14 
 
 such a winter, spring will again return with all its energy 
 and freshness. New flowers will again be spread over 
 our paths, and new beauty again gladden our hearts. But 
 once corrupt the moral sense of a people, and you freeze 
 up every generous and patriotic feeling. You bring upon 
 it worse than the winter of death ; for no spring will vis- 
 it its mouldering urn, nor shine on the night of its grave. 
 
 Sir, the charge, the great and heavy charge which I 
 bring against these men in power is, that they have de- 
 graded our moral feehng, that they have, to the utmost of 
 their power, dried up the source of manly and patriotic 
 sentiment, and that they have done this by a kind of 
 meanness always allied to little minds. The man who 
 stands before me face to face, and prostrates me with a 
 blow, I may at least respect ; but he who seduces my 
 weakness or corrupts my morals, is as mean and contempt- 
 ible as he is wicked and depraved. For one, sir, I ac- 
 knowledge no difference between public and private prof- 
 ligacy. By the general consent of mankind, he who en- 
 ters the dwelling of a friend, and under the shelter of 
 kindness and hospitality corrupts the integrity of his wife 
 or daughter, ought to be consigned to an immediate gal- 
 lows ; and yet, sir, what is this but a breach of trust and 
 confidence ? What ought, then, to be the punishment of 
 those who assume the sacred trust of guardians to the 
 property and the honor of a great and prosperous people, 
 and perpetuate their power, by corrupting the moral feel- 
 ings of their confiding wards. 
 
 Sir, I much fear that we keep our eye too exclusively 
 upon physical evils ; that we too often forget that in a re- 
 public, moral diseases which spread their contagion far 
 and wide, and even transmit it to posterity, are more fatal 
 because more contagious. We seem entirely to overlook 
 the experience of other nations, and the never failing les- 
 sons of history. It was moral and not physicial evils that 
 destroyed all the ancient and all the modern republics. 
 While the people themselves remain pure, no human force 
 can avail against them. 
 
15 
 
 Solon, sir, was the lawgiver of the little republic of 
 Athens. After making himself master of the collected 
 wisdom of other nations, he conferred upon his country a 
 Constitution which never yet has been surpassed in the 
 broad and sound views which it took of human society. 
 It was the foundation of the laws of all succeeding na- 
 tions. Under it, that little republic arrived to a pitch of 
 wealth, of strength, and of national glory, which is still 
 the admiration of the world. Sir, it was not the form of 
 her free Constitution, but the spirit, the pure, lofty and 
 patriotic spirit, which produced it, that worked out this 
 miracle in national power and national glory. That spir- 
 it infused itself into all her legislation, and shone resplen- 
 dent in all her national contests. For one hundred and 
 fifty years she continued in her bright ascent, when it was 
 her fate to fall into the hands of the splendid, but the cool 
 and ambitious Pericles. — He too, was a friend to the poor 
 by whom he was elevated to power. He broke open the 
 sacred Temple where was deposited all the treasure of 
 the nation. He distributed it among his partizans and 
 friends. He bought a people, with a peoples' gold. From 
 that day forward, Athens drooped her proud and lofty head. 
 Neither the power nor patriotism of her Phocion, nor the 
 deep and thrilling tones of her Demosthenes could rouse 
 her from her fatal lethargy. She gradually declined from 
 the tyrant power of one little demagogue to that of one 
 still lower, and finally breathed her last at the foot of the 
 throne of Philip. 
 
 Su', the ancient and original spirit of Athens, was the 
 revolutionary spirit of our own country ; the spirit which 
 poured out its blood at Lexington and Bunker Hill, and 
 finally triumphed with inconceivable splendor on the 
 heights of Yorktown. It gave us a Constitution on the 
 Athenian model. It was the spirit of law, of order, of reg- 
 ulated freedom. Under that spirit, we rose from poverty 
 to affluence, from affluence to power, and were ascending 
 along the most brilliant pathway to national glory, when 
 it was our lot to fall into the hands not of a splendid Per- 
 
16 
 
 ides, but the cool, the wily and ambitious demagogue, 
 whose foot is now upon us. He too broke open the Tem- 
 ple where was deposited our national treasure. He too, 
 divided it among his partizans and friends, and from that 
 day, we like Athens, began to droop our proud and lofty 
 head. The cold and icy hand that administered this 
 poison is still upon us. It must be removed or we shall 
 surely die. Like Athens we shall pass down from the yoke 
 of one demagogue to the yoke of another, and finally ex- 
 pire in the arms of some modern Philip. 
 
 Let no man flatter himself that this is the prediction of 
 excited alarm, or of party feeling. It is the grave lesson 
 of universal history. Unless this withering and corrupt- 
 ing hand is removed, we shall surely die. We shall die, 
 sir, not of a sudden blow, but by a slow and lingering 
 consumption. On the nation's cheek I can already see the 
 first flush of the alarming hectic. From her deep bosom 
 I can already hear the first sounds of the low and hollow 
 cough ; and upon her whole body 1 can discern the cold 
 night sweat of fatal disease. Nothing but a great and tre- 
 mendous eff'ort can save us. Our whole moral atmosphere 
 must be changed. Sir, are we prepared for this effort ? 
 
 For one, sir, I am not ready to give up this noble ship. 
 Call all hands to their quarters. Nail the stars and stripes 
 of our national glory to the head of the mast. Let the 
 watchword be, sink or swim, death or victory. Rise, rise 
 in all the majesty of your strength. I hear the voices of 
 your Fathers from their tombs, beseeching you not to 
 disgrace the holy cause of freedom. I see the uplifted 
 hands of your infants from their cradles, imploring you not 
 to leave them slaves. " I see the eye of the immortal 
 Washington lighten along your embattled ranks./ I see 
 you bearing down to the contest — I already hear the 
 shouts of triumphant victory. Our gallant ship shall again 
 ride proudly o'er the ocean's wave, and our unstained 
 banner float proudly in the ocean's breeze. There may 
 it ride, and there may it float, until it shall achieve for 
 Freedom her great, her final triumph ! >