BX.75 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 789 528 6 pUS3 s :f^ E] El o :e3: OF ^ ON. COLUMBUS FEIMI Deliveked at Raleigh, ]S"orth Carodina, July 24j4872 In the remarks wliich I shall make I pro- pose to examine the history and condition of the Republican party, and consider the claims of the Administration to j'our ap- proval and support. Not only xw North Carolina but throughout the country there are new combinations in politics proposed, founded on the most unwarrantable charges against the Republican party and its admin- istration of public affairs. iKto the correct- ness of these charges I propose to inquire, that it may be seen how far they are justified upon sound political principles, or sustained bythe public experience of the last twelve years. An extensive combination of disappointed pohticians has joined its political fortunes to that of the Democratic party, and under the specious cry of "reform" — the last resort of discarded demagogues— now prosecute the vain enterprise of overthrowing the Repub- lican party. ' You are told, in vague and general terms, that the Administration is corrupt; that to reform it the Republican party organization should bo abandoned; that Liberal Republicans and Free-trade Democrats should combine to defeat the Re- publican candidates and elect one whose name, history, and fortunes have been that of party, and partisan only. I desire to examine into the correctness and sincerity of this combination— whether it re- lies for support upon its professed principles of reform or whether it is not a coalition with direct reference to mere party success, for party purposes and for public plunder. The first great political organization in this country was that Republican party which de- manded American nationality, and which gave to us the Constitution and Union; made us one people; declared us a nation, and elected to the Presidency the man who led the armies of the Re))ublie through tho war for independence. During that struggle, in the midst of the anxiety and uutiring'efforts of our fathers to preserve and bear aloft the great principles of constitutional liberty, there were still found some to cry out against \ party and for party reform. That-ciamor, however, was frowned down with indignation, and scorn by every RepubTroan heart in the Jand, and it deserves no other fate to-day. This feeling was so strong during tho period of the first American decade as to lead to the> unwise enactment of the sedition laws by Congress — a mistalsen policy, as was showo in the aphorism of Jefrerson, that "Error might be tolerated if truth was left free to com- bat it." Let me inquire what is party? Is it a catch- word used to delude, deceive, and impose upon the honest people of the land? or'isit something that is significant of principle and stability ;" which commends itself to the intel- ligence and integrity of the country? The Republican party of to-day is an association of citizens extending through every State> and reaching every election district in the land. Men thereby act in concert to carry out great fundamental principles in the ad- ministration of government. Men of a like faith and purpose thus voluntarUy unite in their political efforts for tuB purpose of pla- cing and sustaining in the responsible offices of the people those of their fellow-citizens whose principles accord with their own. Thus the public affairs of the nation are administered upon such repubUcan prin- ciples as, in their judgment, will best promote the welfare and prosperity of the whole country. Ours is strictly a representa- tive government, and, therefore, recognizes tluroughout its whole system the people's will as tho supreme law, subject only to tho re- strictions and- limitations of the "Constitution and laws. It is not only right and proper, but absolutely necessary for tho preservation of American interests, therefore; that the most convenient plan be practiced to enforce the popular will and signify its wishes to the trovernment. This, in my judgment, can be best effected through and bythe orga-aization of political parties; for, however just and correct the opinions of all the people of'Nortli Carolina might be, they would avail nofcl in.u unless the people were allowed t.'> man i''>st. I. ■^ . D II- MiOiii ill the direct voice o£ their repre- seutatives. AVhat matters it if a large majority of tlio people of this State arc opposed to the issue of aa irre- deemable quantity of paper money, or an increase of the public debt, unless they shall see to it, in a public capacity, that their rep- rfeseutatives when elected to Congress will faithfully reflect tlieir opinions on those sub- jects? Tlfis can only be done by the united efforts of all those who are in accord upon great cardinal principles; and this is the ■work of party. It enables the people to de- clare their will in a practical form and com- J)els a compliance with it on the part of their rtgencs. It carries the beneficeut theory of the government into effective operation, and makes ib what it ought to be, and what it was intended to be— a government of the people find for the people. The present effort to break down party organization under the delusive cry of cor- ruption on the one hand and reform on the other, is a blow at the foundation of our po- litical system. It strikes at the fundamental .principle of our Government, and goes to $)araly2e the arm and hush the voice of the people by relieving their representatives -from party responsibility. Should this iftw combination of experimenting Kepublicans and reconstructed Democrats succeed in the attempt to destroy existing parties, and upon their ruins raise up a new party headed by Horace Greeley for the Presidency, are you to take Ids past history and record as indi- cating the policy of his administration? This question presents itself to the serious eou- sideratlon of Democrats, as well as Republi- cans; of the South as well as the North, and of every material interest in the land. While the most consistent leaders of the Demo- cratic party have, from the first, opposed his eleetion; opposed his indorsement and nomi- nation at Baltimore, it is that class of ad- venturers, soldiers of fortune, and politicians out of ofQce, independent of all popular au- thority, and led by the Senatorial trium- virate, which has fioallj'' thrust him before the people as a Presidential candidate. Such action' alone as that of the late Cincinnati gathering would bring the popular system of nominations into contempt, and that of party conventions into derision. THE HEPUBLICiLK PARTY. The Republican party, from the first, was a constitutional organization, springing quickly into existence after thp repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Its single purpose was to prevent the spread of slavery into tiie Territories, and it laid no hand on slavery in the States, It is not my intention to repeat the history of the rise and fall of slavery, or to call in review the enormities of that' sys- tem. These have, happily, passed away. The most compact and condensed system of wrong, which governments ever tolerated or thedepravity of man ever invented, is claimed to have had Its origin in war; and, true to its natiTral instincts lor a little longer life and a little more power, it drev/ the sword, made war on the American Republic, and perished by. the ij word. In that day four millions of freemen were added to the United States. Depending on the issues of that event were many weighty considerations. War destroyed all civil government in the rebel States. The tenure of property was shaken and lost; pov- erty overtook tlie peaceabla and the loyal; many precious lives were sacrificed, and gen- eral disaster was extensively endured. But to compensate for these great evds you have gained freedom and unity for the State. No complaint can now be lodged at the bar of Eternal Justice against the enormity of American slavery. This work has been ac- complished by the Republican party. Following this are the acts of reconstruc- tion of the Southern States. If these have seemed harsh to some, it was Imperative legislation, made so to rescue order and gov- ernment out of the chaos and confusion result- ing from the war. To attain these, enfran- chisement and the right of suffrage have been extended to the colored citizen. This was not less an act of justice than of public safety. The colored man had been declared forever free, and if freedom meant anything, it meant that he should staud equal before the law and have a voice in legislation. Re- cognizing this fundamental principle Con- gress reconstructed the Southern States ac- cordingly. The Democratic party, not relishing this condition, again rebelled. Its leaders in Con- gress and its newspaper press denounced these acts as unconstitutional. An open war oa the part of the opposition being found im- practicable. THE KIJKLUX remedy was next resorted to. That organi- zation obtained and governed in fourteen counties of your ov/u State, and to a yet greater extent in five neighboring States. In the fourteen counties it committed eighteen homicides, and admiuistered three hundred and fifteen whippings on unoffending Repub- licans. But tlie avenging arm of the General Government has been laid, not too heavily, upon this last Democratic enormity. The records of your Federal courts bear witness to the barbarity and treason of the Kuklux Klaus, and the convicted felons who have gone up from North Carolina and the neigh- boring States to expiate their crimes in the penitentiary are living monuments of the cruelty and treason latent in the Democratic party. « There are still other deeds which have been accomplished by the Republican party to which I must invite yqur attention. It "has given guarantees for the faithful payment of the public debt. It has provided pensions for the crippled and disabk'd soldiers who shed luster upon America by their heroism in defending the Union. It' has provided pensions for the orphans of tho.se who sacri- ficed their lives in the glorious cause, and for the widows who are compelled to pour out bitter tears upon the graves of their hus- bands who laid down their lives for their country. These sacred pL-dges of a nation's gratitude will never be withdrawn while the • widow and fatherless live to enjoy them. This glorious work of the llepublicau party ■^ '^ you are proud of. Is it time for you now to "H. desert this party? Cau any honest man ^ justify hiaiself iu such desertion? There is yet other work accomplished by VJ^ this great party to which I must allude. It ^has provided against the payracnit of the debt ^ contracted by the rebel States in their effort '^ to destroy the Union. It; has resolved not to pay the former masters for emancipated slaves. It felt that those who coerced eman- cipation by attempting to destroy the Union lost all right in equity to any compensation by such emaucipation, and it has determined to stand upon these great ideas and great principles under all circumstances and iu every emergeucy. This worli will live in his- tory. It will IJe worshiped by those who come after us; and if any hand is now or shall hereafter be raised to undo this work, to nullify it, or impair its obligation and va- lidity, the execrations of all good men will be meted out to him who raises such hand, now, and iu all time to come. All this great and noble work has been accomplished under the constant and per- sistent opposition of the Democratic party; but in the midst ©f this warfare the fiepub- lican party has made its way onward in its righteous work. In patience and sorrow it has sought to enforce the laws, bring the guilty to punishment, do justice to the op- pressed, and deal rightly with all. KESITLTS OF REPUBLICAN POLICY. I now come to inquire what results have been accomplished by General Grant's ad- ministration which are to be placed to the credit of the Republican party. All the great questions which were raised by the ■war have been settled. Emancipation, re- construction, impartial suffrage, general am- nesty, and civil service reform, have all been secured, either by constitutional amendment or by provisions of law. Important and threatening differences with foreign nations have been settled by treaty, and are now in process of amicable adjustment, and a new and important principle has been introduced into our foreign intercourses which proposes to settle differences between foreign nations upon the principle of arbitration, which, it is believed, -mU. secure the Government against the recurrence of war in the future •with foreigu nations, and tend greatly to ad- vance the civilization, peace, and happiness of the world. Every State is fully repre- sented in Congress. All parties profess to acquiesce in these results. No considerable faction in any State to-day continues, openly, to agitate for the overthrow of these meas- iires or dispute the justice and wisdom of the Eepublican policy. The principal and great remaining ques- tions in this canvass are commercial and economical. They relate to the material in- terests of the country; interests which have undergone fearful sullering during the war, Which have carried an enormous national debt to support the war, and whicu have since wouderfully revived under Republican rule, and which are in themselves the strong foundation to all that we can boast of mate- rial and social development. While tli'^ A'l- ministratiou has boeu assailed by extreme theorists iu various selfish interests, its ac- tion has been guided by priuciplcs whi<;h command the respect of candid men. It has^ undertaken to relieve the burden of taxa- tion impartially, as fast as the interests oT' the Government would permit ou the on& hand; on the other, without exposing vested interests and that of labor and capital to sudden and disastrous changes. Iu this mod- erate, course the Administration has con- ferred more general benefit thau to have plunged headlong i#to excessive reductions: or to have obstinately favored powcrfol com- mercial interests. It has been the policy of the Admiulstra- tion to pay the public debt as speedily as pos-. sible. The marvels which have been accom-, plished in this respect are known to every in- telligent man. They are printed in thou- sands of newspapers, proclaimed frona«hun- dreds of rostrums, and are familiar to all. That $330,976,916 39 of the public debt wera paid from March 4, 1869, to July 1, 1872, be- ing upward of 8100,000,000 per annum, or eight and a half millions per month j that th*ii annual interest charge has been reduced to the extent of $22,401,037 annually— theso facts are known to you, and ought to excite no other emotion than that of a generous confidence in the integrity and ability of the Administration, FINANCIAL. This extinguishment of jthe public debi; has been effected under, so to speak, a heavy simultaneous reduction of taxation made by the Republicau party. At the termination of the war the Republican party addressed itself to such reduction of taxation, and it has pursued this policy, as fast as was con- sistent with public credit, and the necessary actual expenses of the Government. By acts of Congress approved Julv 13, 18G6, March 2, 1867, February 3, 1863," and March 31, 1869,_jeductions v/efemade iu tax- ation which would have yielded for the three ye^s of this Administration, had the taxes been continued, $589,450,000, and for thes© facts there is tlie record from the Commis- sioner of Internal Revenue. Finding it practicable to still further re- duce taxation Congress, by acts approved July 4, 1870, and June 6, 1872, reduced from the excise tax to the extent of $75,651,000 per annum; and by the acts of July 4, 1870, May 1 and June 6, 1872, tariff duties were reduced' to the extent of $54,809,588 per annum, andi for this I refer to the acts of Congress before! mentioned, and the estimate and statements of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, thus showing a total reduction of taxes yearly of $130,460,580 during the tliree years' of General Grant's administration. If, in the face of these reductions, it be asked how the Republican party has been able to extin- guish so much of the public debt, I answer, by an eflicient and faithful administration of the revenue laws, and by an honest appli- cation of the money collected; and here I give the facts to prove this assertion. iSBt them be understood and remembered. The total receipt-; from spirits, tohnf'-i, fer- nicntoil liiiQors, banlcs and bankers, gas, atl- Iicsivo atatups, and penalties, from March 1, 1SC9, to February 29, 1872, were $339,350,333. This, yon will observe, was during the first three years of General Grant's administra- tion. Now fook at the total receipts from the same articles from March 1, 18G6, to Febru- ary 28, 1SG9, beiD{» the last three years of Mr. Johnson's administration. They were 5231,- 153,714, showing a gain in favor of this Ad- ministration, in three years, of ?108,202,639, being at the rate of 47 per cent, for the three years, and making an average increase, from the same source3,"of over thirty-six millions ■of dollars annually. This illustration 1 give in regard to collections on the enumerated articles, and assert that it may be carried out as applicable to the entire field of revenue collections and taxation. It furnishes a clear and satisfactory reason for the ability of the Administration to reduce the public debt in the face of excessive reduction of taxation, and it ought to convince all candid men of the danger of disorganizing or abandoning the Republican party for the purpose of ex- perimenting with a party composed of dis- satisfied Republicans and clamorous Demo- crats. By the same acts of Congress to which I have la'5t referred duties were wholly re- moved from tea and coffee, and from many other articles of necessity for consumption and manufacturing, while the excise was limited to spirits, fermented liquors, to- bacco, banking, patent medicines, and stamps upon checks. Thus you will see that direct taxation has been virtually abandoned. The tax-gatherer shall enter your domiciles no more; and the only warrant Congress and the country had for this sweeping reduction and repeal was the public confidence in the financial skill, integrity, and ability of the present Admin- istration. The foremost journal of Europe, the rep- resentative of the British nation and the British debt, which, formerly spoke in dispar- aging terms of American credit, and was never very friendly to American interests, ihas expressed astonishment at what we have laccomplished, and has frankly admitted that no nation in Eiirope could have borne the like strains upon her resources without the most serious embarrassments. The credit of the country has improved in a'degreo most satisfactory 'to every patriotic mind; the price of American securities has •constantly ad'vanced; the appreciation of our .paper monery is marked by the fall of gold from $1 32 in 18G9 to Si 10 and $1 12 in 1872. .At the commencement of the present Ad- ministration the securities of the United States were below the par value of gold from 15 to 17 per cent., and to-day we daro boast that American securities are equal in value to gold. These and like considerations it is that has enabled the Government already to place its public securities at a greatly reduced rate of interest, and the same causes, if con- tinued, will enable us to call in the baJauce of our G per cent. loan and place it at a rate of interest from 4 to 5 per cent. Upon this sub- ject I refer with satisfaction to the remarks of one of the leaders of the House of Repre- sentatives, Hon. Mr. Brooks, of New York, a member of the Committee of Ways and Means, delivered in the House Februaiy 1, 1872. Mr. Brooks said: "No voice on this, or on the other side of the House, now demands repudiation; all arc for the faithful discharge of the public debt. The action of Congress upon this subject has lifted the public credit to an en- viable position throughout the whole world. Just before tl:e close of the war our Govern- ment was borrowing money at twelve per cent. After the peace, the rate ot interest rapidly fell to seven per cent. In 1869, it fell to six per cent. ; in 1870, to five and a half per cent., and before the end of 1871, it fell to a small fraction more than five per cent. The interest upon the public debt has rapidly been going down. I said in this House two years ago, when the funding bill was dis- cussed here, and v/hen I supnorted the action of the Committee of Ways and Means, in spite of some hesitancy among my friends' on this side of the House as to the propriety of lending that support — 1 said then, that, in my Judgment, such was the rising credit of the country that there would be no difficulty if time could only be given, in negotiating the whole public debt of this country at the rate of four per cent, per annum." What Congress was this that "lifted the public credit to an enviable position through- out the whole world?" The Republican Con- gress which came in with the present Admin- istration. And under what circumstances had the public credit been lifted up and the pub- lic debt been reduced? Under the facts state'ci, of the repeal of revenue equal to a hundred millions of dollars annually. But this sum was more than regained by the faithful col- lection and honest application of the public resources to the public liabilities by the pub- lic officers of General Grant's administration. Is there not both honor and glory in this? And this policy now fairly accomplished, the necessity for so rapid a reduction of the pub- lic indebtedness has become less important. It may hereafter be reduced at a much less rate— say fifty or twenty-flve millions per annum, if you please— and thereby the peo- ple's taxes may be correspondingly reduced. For myself I do not consider it desirable to extinguish hereafter the public debt too rap- idl5^ I am for such taxation only as will meet a moderate reduction each year and defray the necessary expenses of the Govern- ment. Contemplating our vast national re- sources, it may be confidently predicted to be an easy task, in the hands of honest ag.8nt3, for this nation to preserve its faith and pay the public debt within twenty years. And during all that time the people will enjoy such physical comfort and prosperity as are allotted to no other nation on the globe. To this end, with a protective view to American industry and American labor, the excise and tariff laws have been reformed by the pres- ent Congress solely in tlie interests and wel- fare of the people. I maintain that tlia record of this Adminis- tration in all the civil affairs of the nation has been pure, and high in character ard ability, and is as remarkable as the energy and fidelity of General Grant during the ■war. There is no mystery a-bout General Grant's capacity to administer public affairs. It is explained in the fact tiiat the President is in close sympathy with the Republican party.aud that the Kepublican party in close sympathy with the masses of the people. Even those who have lieretoforo voted against his Ad- ministration include many thousands who believe in its integrity and* trustworthiness, and who fear the hazard of a change. The success of General Grant in his civil admin- istration may bo accounted for by the same reasons that account for his military victo- ries. It is because his fidelity, integrity, and patriotism deserve success. IMDIAN rOLICT. I feel compelled in these remarks to refer briefly to what is known as the Indian policy of the present Administration. It is not denied, nor has there ever been on the part of the Government any effort to conceal the fact, that thert, are occasional acts of theft, robbery, and murder by Indi- ans. These have been most frequent in Arizona, and on the Texas frontier, but they have often been provoked and increased by the cruel and wicked conduct of bad white men. These acts of outrage have not been committed by organized tribes, nations, or bands of Indians, but on tho contrary, by individual or associated Indians, acting against tho wishes of their nation or tribe, and not under tribal authority. The fact is there are bad Indians as well as bad white menj and if, under our civilization, it is im- possible always to suppress, or even punish, robbery, theft, murder, and other crimes, is it wonderful if such practices are more fre- quently committed and seldom punished among the savages? I am not prepared with figures for an ac- curate comparison, but I venture to say that the proportion of lawless violence, resulting in danger to life and property, is much greater in the city of New York than among many or all of our Indian tribes, and that a greater portion of these «riminals go unpun- ished in that city tkan among the Indians. I feel quite sure that the same remark would be correct if made of several other cities, or indeed of many States in this Union. During the existence of the present Ad- ministration there has been AN OKOANIZED AND STSTEJIATIC ATTACK upon its Indian policy. The plan has been to misrepresent by denying that any good has been accomplished, and to exaggerate for sen- sational purposes every wrong committed by the Indians, and sometimes to assert that In- dian outrages had been committed, which as- sertion had no foundation whatever in truth. Many of these statements have been suffered itopass suh silentio. Some have been cor- irected, others denied.. It is too apparent, however, at the present moment, that this system is to be continued with increased vigor and audacity, for party and political purposes, to allow of longer silence. I have resolved, therefore, to expose these misrep- resentations; and in order to do so with ihe greatest accuracy, I have applied to the able and efficient Commissiouer of Indian Af- fairs, General F. A. Walker, for certain facts connected with the Indian service, which I am about to present. I shall put these facts against assertions, or to speak more plainly, truth against falsehood, and then trust to the judgment of a candid and honest people for a righteous verdict. Upon the authority before mentioned ^1 therefore assert that during the present year more than TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND INDIAJ!tS have been added to the number of those directly under the control of the Govern- ment. During the three years of the pre- sent Administration more than eighty thousand Indians have been brought to agencies and placed under the care and supervision of Indian agents. Xot to ex- ceed fifty thousand Indians are still roam- ing beyond the supervision of their agents, notwithstanding the immense extent of terri- tory whicli yet intervenes between the settled portions of the country. It has become almost a certainty that the coming year will see the number of roaming Indians so far reduced that, substantially, the whole Indian race within the UnitedStates will be settled upon reservations. These reservations are located with reference to allowing the freest develop- ment of railroad communications, the largest extension of agricultural settlements, and the safety of white citizens. They are also located with a view of secunng the best in- terests of the aboriginal population, and in order to afford the memljers of that unfor- tunate race opportunity to leasn the arts and customs of civilized life, and I trust in the end to participate in the happy destinies of the American people. Such a result would be well attained at any expense, for the free development of railroad communications and the extension of our settlemerrts is of incal- culable value merely from a pecuniary point of view. Every year the advance of our frontier takes in a new extent of lands teeming with agriculture and mineral wealth equal to the area of many of the largest States of the Union or some of the most powerful empires of tho world. To accomplish this witiiout delayer embarrassment from the aborigines of the country is one of the first duties of states- manship at the present time, and this is be- ing done under the humane and Christian policy of the Republican Administration, not only with strict juscica to tho Indians, but in the spirit of mercy and peace. SELF-SUPPOIiTINa. Of the 293,000 Indians within the limit '■'of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, ac- cording to the last estimate which it is pos- sible to form, 130,000 are now supporting; themselves upon their own lands, receiving' absolutely nothing from the Government be- yond the interest of their own money or an- nuities granted them in consideration of the cession of their lauds. The lands which they (Lave ceded have been sold by the Govern- ment to actual settlers at three, five, ten, or twenty times tho amount paid the Indians for them. Tlie aggregate cost of the subsistence of the 113,000 Indians at agencies, who are in whole or in part, often in a very small degree, Bubsisted ]>y the Government, was, for the past year, $2,446,000, including the excess- ively high charges fur the transportation of supplies which prevail in those distant re- gions. The fact that this sum divided among 113,000 Indians, gives an average; of only §21.50 per head, i-i sufficient evidence that large numbers of these Indians are already closely approaching the condition where they will be self-s-upporting, while others are learn- ing the rudiments^of the mechanical or agri- cultural arts. Fifty or sixty agents, with a force of em- ployes, carpenters, blacksmiths, farmers, millers, and teachers, to the number in all of 900, are engaged in the work of instructing these people to break up their own lands, build their own fences and cabins, saw their own lumber, and grind their own corn, as -well as to speak in our language and write in our alphabet. The cost of so great an enterprise is neces- sarily heavy, but it is as nothing compared to the cost of a mouth of general Indian war. It must also be remembered that war neces- sarily interrupts the progress of railways as ■well as the settlement of our country, and renders insecure the lives of those who live on it3 frontier. The total amounb appropriated for the In- dian service in the fiscal year ending July 1, 1872, including all deficiency appropriations, was $6,055,774 69. Of this sum $1,277,997 63 was appropriated only in the sense that it gave the administrative officers of the Gov- ernment authority to pay to or expend in -behalf of the Indians moneys belonging to them. These moneys were the price of the -cession of many a hundred million acres of laud, now covered by the farms and factories or the cities of the whites. Moreover, of the sura appropriated, consid- erable in excess of $300,000 remained unex- .pended at the close of the j'ear, reducing the actual expenses of this gigantic service below four and a half millions of dollars. SrKQIiE WAES O? THE UNITED STATES WITH SIKQLE TRIBES OP INDIAKS have cost the Treasury ten, twenty, ■thurty, and forty millions of dollars. The teport of the Commissioner of Indian . Affairs for the year 1868 reaches the conclu- sion that every Indian warrior killed in the Florida war, the Sioux war of 1852 and 1854, and the Cheyenne war of 1864, cost the Gov- ernment a million of dollars and the lives of ^twenty white men. This is the cost of wars with single tribes, and the worst of it is, that ■'these wars have never settled anything. The 'Indians still remain, either to bo annihilated 'by force of arms, at such enormous expendi- tures of blood and treasure, or else to be pacified by conciliatory actions, won over by kindness, "knit to us by constant good officer assisted to a condition of si-lf-support, and in the end made one with the whites by mutual sympathy and by a comi-pon devotion to a common country and the same Heavenly Father. Let those ■who, from lack of correct in- formation, are incredulous; let those whose desire for punishment or revenge has been aroused by exaggerated accounts of Indian depredations; let those who wish to change the present policy in order to renew again a host of faithless agents and contractors to plunder the ignorant savage, and rob him of the aid and beneficence of' the Government; and, finally, let those who desire war that they may reap the rich profits which its large and necessary expenditures affnid, ponder these facts, and answer before God and a Christian nation whether they will, if they can, destroy the present poiicj' of peace, justice, and progress, and restore the former system of cruelty, robbery, inhumanity, war, bloodshed, and crime. CHAKGES AGAINST GENEKAL QKANT. I must refer to some of the unreasonable and frivolous charges against General Grant, which, it seems to me, nothing bat the men- dacity of politics would allow honest men to iterate or reiterate. One is that he is inattentive to the duties of his office and recreates too much at water- ing places. Those who know anything of the laborsofaPresidentoftheWnitedStatesundcr- stand well that he does no more of this than is necessary and proper. 1 hey understand also that no public business suffers by reason of any neglect of his. They ouglit to re- member his four long ypars of toil and hard- ship in the field which, fe)llowed by the ex- hausting duties of his office, absolutely re- quire all the time for recuperation which ho takes. They ought to remember that amid rain, and sleet, and enow, ho spent part of one winter in recreation before Donelson; and, for the pleasure of the American peo- ple, by the help of his good soldiers, returned 40,000 prisoners to tiie United States; and that again in the following summer oh the bloody field of Shiloh he recreated; and thait next, after that, he was found idling away his time in surrounding Vicksburg and driving the enemy inside of their fortifications, where at last he compelled Lhem to iiaul down their colors and surrender to the flag of the Union some 30,000 more prisoners; -that soon after that he was sent to the mountains of Chatta- nooga and Chickamauga, where he made the rebels again retreat; that soon after that he spent an idle summer in the Wilderness, and then a winter of pleasure before Richmond,and finally, in the next spring, amid the pleasures of recreation, received at Appomattox the sword of General Lise and the surrender of his entire army, the last organized rebel force against the union of the States. Remember- ing these facts, some patience and indulgence is commended to tho ^e who think now that every day of his life, during a hoc mid-sum- mer, after his nec'ssivy toil and labor, slioiild be spent in the city" of W.^liingfori. But he receives gifts! Uowcai> he be an honest man ami r'rtitlifiilly administer tlie affaii-sof tho nation? The injustice of this charge is so apparent as to justify the ep- ithet of meanness and audacity. The Pres- ident, without wealth, entered the loyal army, with the patriotic desire of aiding in the work of preserviu'^ Mie Union. Ho hazarded life and health durini^ four long years of danf^er and hardship; lie rose in rank only as his merit and victories justified; from a sub- altern he became a Lieutenant General, until, after breaking up the last effective organiza- tion of rebel troops and receiving the sword of General U'.^, the grateful hearts of the American people naturally turned to him as their defender and their great deliverer. During his toilsome years of labor many private fortunes were made, and others largely augmented, while it must be ac- knowledged that neither opportunity nor avarico had prompted him to accumulate a farthing. Our Government grants no titles of nobility, nor settles estates in the form of annuities upon her benefactors; but there is, notwithstanding, a sense of justice and gen- erosity with the sovereign people. This prompted certain persons of large means, who had gathered and enjoyed the fruits of the President's great services and noble sac- rifices, to offer him, voluntarily, before he was spoken of as President, such testimonials of their regard and esteem as should con- tribute to the moderate wants of himself and family. These offerings wera the sponta- neous outpourings of generous feelings, cred- itable to the donors and honorable to the nation. They were a fitting evidence' of that sentiment of justice that characterizes the American people. They were intended not as compensation for what had been done, for that was beyond price, and they furnished evi- dence that God yet inspires man toward the performance of his most delicate duty. How envy, or party malice, or political rivalry can torture these noble deeds into acts to be cen- sured and condemned passes the comprehen- sion of all reasonable men. TEE BALTlfiORB COXYENTION- But the Baltimore Convention had finally sent to the country a borrowed candidate and platform, neither one bearing any relation- ship or affinity to that party. It was a nom- ination that leading Democrats had declared they could not support. Mr. Greeley, a life-long Abolitionist, a Ke- publiean, disaffected at the neglects of the Administration, had sought to originate the split and promote the call for the Cincinnati Convention, intending it to redound to his personal benelit. Never In the history of parties had the pretended purposes of politi- cians been so suddenly perverted. The convention had no thought of Mr. Greeley when his name was sprung upon it. It was 80 amazed and amused at the audacity of the Missouri trick that against its will and understanding he received the nomination. Proclaiming free trade and revenue reform it took up the most intolerant high-protective tariff advocate in the country, one who had tr. Webster was not only a gentleman, but/ he had the ^lementa of moral greatness; and he had faults as well. He failed only in one respect, and m LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS this respect I differ from liini— lie -wuTited to be President, and I don't. But for that one misfortune he would have been the greatest man America ever produced. We have seen our greatest man, Mr. Cliase, making the same blunder. I have seen men vfho had the disease early and died of it at a very old age. General Lewis Cass died at about eighty- two, and up to the day of his death he wanted to be President. No one ever escapes who once catches the disease; he lives and dies in the delusion. Being a reader and observer at an early age, I saw how it poisoned and paralyzed the very best of our public men, and I have carefully avoided it." [Greeley at Quebec] This is the explanation given by himself, involving no philosophy, no mystery beyond that of the regular, original and universal thirst for office. Mr. Greeley has taken the disease of which "Webster and Cass died, and which has poi- soined and paralyzed Chief Justice Chase. He will himself linger on until November and die in this delusion. He might add with profit to his last will and testament a copy- right of this little book in the following lan- guage: " I leave j'ou here a little book, For you to look upon; I That yavL may see the farmer's face, When he is dead and gone." DEATH OF THB DEMOCRATIC PAETY. The Democratic party must be regarded as dead. Its adoption of the Cincinnati plat- form and of the Cincinnati nominee is the announcement of its dissolution. T/ie present canvass is its political requiem. Will its old members go like sheep to the shambles driven by their leaders? Was there no principle formerly holding them together? Is there nothing now to which they aspire except the loaves and fishes of office; and will the co- hesive power of public plunder, under the patriotic watch-word of "anything to beat Grant," induce all former Democrats to vote for Greeley? I shall be amazed if it is so. Icaa not afid will not believe it until I see it. The old Democratic party did contain men within its ranks of earnest convictions, of sincere sentiments. They believed they were right. They deemed the war unnecessary. They denied the right of coercion. In the South they believed in the right of secession. They honestly u^J^.JS^^.JQ^ 528 6 v emancipation, and were shocked at the idea of enfranchisement ajid civil rights. All this and much more wasHiatter of faith and sen- timent. All this is now renounced. It was swept away at Cincinnati and Baltimore; and they are asked to accept as their candi- date one who has ever opposed them, and, opposing them, has denounced them with bitter reproaches, threatened them with con- fiscation of their estates and a division of the same among emigrants from the North. It is monstrously absurd that all these men— the rank and file— "Tray, Sweetheart, and Blanche," shall at once begin to bark for Mr. Greeley and go for the Cincinnati platform. General Grant is a Republican, but he has never been the enemy of the South or of her institutions. He was a War Democrat. His magnanimity toward the South in 1866-'67, caused him to receive the reproaches of Radical Republicans, among them a distin- guished Senator from Massachusetts. He was then accused of whitewashing the South. He was censured for the liberal terras gmnted to General Pemberton when he surrendered Vicksburg. He was accused of too great liberality when he received the sword of General Lee at Appomattox, and permitted his destitute and half-starved troopa to be fed with our rations. He was thanked by Lee when he permitted the rebel troops to take home, for use on their farms, the horses which they individually owned; and when General Lee was prosecuted, after surrend- ering upon the agreement tliat future good behavior should be his protection, General Grant insisted, like a noble and courageous man, that Lee must be protected. 'These facts are too fresh and too impor- tant to be forgotten. Justice has not fled to brutish beasts, nor have all men lost their reason. Time w!tl awaken memory; mem- ory will lead to reflection, and rellaction will show candid and upright men, whose desire for office doe.s not swallow up all other con- siderations, that General Grant for an honest Democrat is a much tnoro desirable candi- data than Mr. Greeley. TJie old Democratic party having expired, the niembors are not compelled to swallow the Cincinnati plat- form and the Tammany nomination also,, but they are at liberty to rearrange their, party relations and join such organization, as, in their judgment, will best promote tho .public peace, prosperity, and welfare. ■