SPEECH 
 
 O F 
 
 SECRETA ftY OF THE TREASURY, 
 
 DELIVERED AT 
 
 CINCINNATI, OHIO, 
 
 Monday, August 80th, 1880. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. O. 
 
 1880. 
 
s # 
 
 ^ r' n I 
 j r> r) w 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 Hon. JOHN SHERMAN. 
 
 Fellow- Citizens: 
 
 The Democratic party desires to make a change in the Executive branch 
 of the Government of the United States, and appeals to the American people 
 to bring about such a change this fall. The Republican party, recognizing the 
 right of that party to make the appeal, will hear patiently and kindly all it 
 has to say, and no word of insult, no act of violence will be offered by any 
 Republican in any part of the United States to deter the Democrats from the 
 exercise of their right freely to discuss in their own way their political con¬ 
 victions and opinions. We Republicans only regret that this privilege cannot 
 be exercised by us also. 
 
 The last great change in the Executive branch of the General Government 
 occurred in 1860, by the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the Uni¬ 
 ted States. At that time the open advocacy of his election could not be made 
 safely to life or limb in thir 4 -een States of the Union, where the strength of 
 the Democratic party lay. But, in spite of this, the people of the Northern 
 States, firmly impressed with the necessity for the change, made it; and what 
 mhn in this broad land does not now feel that it was a happy change? And yet 
 the Democratic party of that time resisted it. It not only resisted it during the 
 canvass, but the controlling segment of that party rebelled against it by force 
 of arms, and undertook to disrupt the Government and to destroy the Union. 
 
 The Democratic party desired a change in 1864, when, in the midst of war, 
 the magnitude of which even nowin the distance staggers us with amazement, 
 it met in National Convention and resolved that the war was a failure and 
 demanded peace on any terms. That was when Grant was in the Wilderness 
 and Sherman was on the road to Atlanta, when our notes on demand were 
 worth only forty cents on the dollar, and when it seemed almost as if Provi¬ 
 dence had deserted us. If its desire for a change had then been gratified, we 
 would have now no united country to boast of, no land to love. The American 
 people, though weeping over their lost ones and feeling heavily the burdens of 
 war, said there should be no change, and there was none; Abraham Lincoln 
 was elected again. 
 
 The Democratic party desired a change in 1868. It was encouraged by the 
 defection of Andrew Johnson, and by many divisions in the Republican party. 
 The rebels had been restored to their lost citizenship, and had already organ¬ 
 ized a system of terror in several of the Southern States. Tweed was in the 
 ascendency in New York with his gigantic frauds; he plundered the city, filled 
 the cravings of the army of his dependents with the plunder of rich contracts, 
 issued tens of thousands of fraudulent naturalization papers, stuffed the bal¬ 
 lot-boxes, and thus reversed the vote of the Empire State. Yet, after all, the 
 American people decided that there should be no change; that the Republican 
 party,whick saved the country, should still be trusted with its administration; 
 and Grant, the great soldier of the war, was made President. 
 
 So, again, the Democratic party desired a change in 1876. It had previously 
 organized the Solid South, according to the Mississippi plan, with terror and 
 violence. It fondly thought it had made good a fulcrum of 138 electors from 
 States lately in rebellion, and had carefully laid plans to secure enough more 
 to make the election sure. Tilden, who, as governor of New York, had be¬ 
 come popular with the business men of that State by his aid in the overthrow 
 of Tweed, and by his opposition to corrupt canal rings, was nominated for 
 President. He had a barrel full of money which was spent without stint, and 
 thus introduced for the first time in American politics the most shameless cor¬ 
 ruption in a Presidential election. But, more than all, the country was suffer¬ 
 ing under great financial distress. The wave of misfortune, which came in 
 1873 to the whole commercial world, had scattered its wrecks over our great 
 
4 
 
 cities. Every man who had capital to lose, or debts to pay, or wanted labor or 
 bread, felt discontent for evils that he could not explain." It was natural, but 
 not just, that many of these clamored for a change, who had no sympathy with 
 the principles of the Democratic party; but still the fraud and intimidation 
 attempted in three of the States failed in its object, and the Republican party 
 in the Northern States stood by its principles and Hayes was elected. 
 
 And now., fellow-citizens, let us pause for a while to see what has been the 
 result during the last four years by the election of the present Republican 
 President, fjas he given any cause for a change from Republican to Demo¬ 
 cratic measures and men ? 
 
 RESUMPTION. 
 
 When President Hayes was inaugurated the resumption act of 1875 was an 
 unexecuted mandate of the Republican party. It had been voted for only by 
 Republicans, and had from its introduction been assailed, resisted, and ridi¬ 
 culed by the Democratic party. Many honest, sincere men of both parties, 
 who really wished resumption, believed it impracticable for years to come. 
 But there was the law. I had aided in its passage, and I believed in it, and I 
 was charged with its execution. .1 was supported by the full faith of the Presi¬ 
 dent. Gold was at a premium of nearly six per cent. The national revenues 
 had been greatly impaired as the result of the panic, so that there was, in fact, 
 no surplus revenue to aid in the work of resumption. The only means left 
 was to increase the volume of coin before the day of resumption by the sale 
 of bonds, to do the utmost to strengthen the public credit, and to produce con¬ 
 fidence in the ability to resume. This was done in the eighteen months that 
 followed the inauguration of President Hayes, and at the end of that period 
 the credit of the country had been greatly advanced; surplus coin had been 
 accumulated to the amount of $130,000,000, and the public mind, relieved from 
 imaginary terrors, had become not only reconciled to resumption, but was 
 anxiously and hopefully awaiting the event. During all this time the Demo¬ 
 cratic party excelled itself in active resistance to the successful execution of 
 this law. Thev sought to repeal it; they sought by investigations through 
 committees of Congress to discredit all the proceedings had under it; and it 
 was boastfully said that thousands of dollars would be given to stand on the 
 right of the line at the Public Treasury on the day of resumption. The exam¬ 
 inations made of myself alone by committees of Congress upon this subject 
 amounted to over one hundred printed pages; and the speeches that were 
 made against what they denounced as a crazy, impracticable scheme would fill 
 volumes. Your ears rang with their ridicule and denunciation of the resump¬ 
 tion act; but still, thanks to the Republican party, resumption came, and came 
 so certainly and so securely that at this day specie payments are more complete, 
 in the true sense of the term, than ever before in this country, and as complete 
 as in any country in the world. There is no longer any depreciation of the notes 
 of the United States, and not only in this country but in all foreign countries 
 they are received at par with gold. 
 
 The Democratic party, convicted of false prophecy, could only shout out 
 that it was Providence that did it; that the good crops, which came six months 
 after resumption was a complete success, did it; and some of them had the 
 audacity to say that the way to resumption was prepared by the economies 
 enforced by a Democratic House of Representatives, which, as I will show you 
 hereafter, instead of reducing the expenses, actually increased them largely in 
 all branches of the public service subject to annual appropriations. One thing 
 is certain, that if its desire for a change had been gratified four years ago by 
 the American people, the resumption act would not have been enforced, re¬ 
 sumption would not have come, and the hopeful joy which gladdens the homes 
 of millions of laboring people would still be repressed by the evils of irre¬ 
 deemable paper money. Resumption, then, with all the good that has accom¬ 
 panied and followed it, is the direct result of the wisdom of your choice in the 
 election of a Republican President four years ago. 
 
 REFUNDING. 
 
 When President Hayes was inaugurated, there was upon the statute-book 
 the refunding act of 1870. It was placed there by the Republican party—a 
 )art of its policy for the gradual reduction of the burden of the public cfebt. 
 
 '’t had been partially executed by the sale of five per cent, bonds; and when 
 President Hayes was inaugurated we were selling four-and-one-half per cent, 
 bonds at par, slowly and with difficulty. It then became my duty to continue 
 the refunding; and, taking a hopeful view of the future of the country—its 
 
5 
 
 power, its wealth and greatness—I determined to withdraw from the market 
 the four-and-one-half per cent, bonds, and sell the four per cents, at par. 1 his 
 was believed at the time to be a doubtful experiment; but, being firmly sup¬ 
 ported by President Hayes, the Treasury Department undertook the task. A 
 sale of every such bond was a saving of one-third of the interest on that por¬ 
 tion of the debt; for every dollar realized was applied to the payment of an 
 eciual amount of bonds bearing six per cent, interest. Bankers shrunk from 
 taking such a bond; but on an appeal to the American people, through popular 
 subscription, within sixty days after they were thus oiiered, $< 5,000,000 of these 
 bonds were taken and were absorbed, mostly in small sums, all over the Lniied 
 States. Thus, the success of the loan was established. 
 
 Frequently, however, as the opposition of the Democratic party to resump¬ 
 tion was developed, and at times appeared to be successful, credit would be¬ 
 come impaired, confidence would lie destroyed, and the sale of these bonds 
 would fall off. But as events resulted, and the Democrats failed to secure the 
 repeal of the resumption act, the bonds sold again, but in comparatively less 
 sums. The credit of the Government advanced precisely as resumption ap¬ 
 proached success; and within one hundred days after resumption there were 
 sold $510,347,800 of four per cent, bonds, thus completing the work of refund¬ 
 ing, as far as the law allowed it to be done, by the redemption of all the bonds 
 bearing fiv.e or six per cent, interest, that were then redeemable. The result 
 of this Republican policy was a saving to the people of the United States of 
 $14,290,453.50 interest per year. 
 
 But this was hot the only benefit derived by our people from refunding 
 operations. The rate of interest became permanently reduced on all invest¬ 
 ments throughout the country. Low interest is the chief factor in our pros¬ 
 perity. It became possible for manufacturers and trades-people to borrow 
 money, so as to conduct their business profitably. This low rate of interest 
 produced a demand for new investments, and new enterprises were started 
 into life. Thus, by the policy of the resumption and the refunding acts, the 
 way was paved for the present era of prosperity. And the whole of this was 
 the work of the Republican p^ty. If the change desired by our opponents 
 four years ago had occurred, no man can truly say that such results as these 
 would have taken place; for, from Tilden down, the Democratic party favored 
 the repeal of the resumption act. That party, during these four years, has 
 been the slave of the most idle and crazy popular delusions of fiat money— 
 their leaders even talking about bloated bondholders and aristocrats—and was 
 ready to fan into flame the passions of men to mobbish violence and to fierce 
 contentions between capital and iabor. 
 
 HONEST PAYMENT OF THE PUBLIC DEBT. 
 
 Again, the policy of the Republican party has always been the honest and 
 faithful observance of public obligations. From the time the public debt was 
 created as the result of the war, until this hour, they have sought to adopt a 
 policy which would secure its slow, but sure and steady payment, according 
 to the letter and spirit of the public obligations. No thought of repudiation, 
 wholly or in part, has ever entered into the Republican policy. The gradual 
 payment of the debt, and the reduction of the rate of interest, have been 
 kindred measures of the same policy, which have been pursued without shadow 
 of turning. The principal of the debt had attained its maximum August 31,1865, 
 when it reached $2,756,431,571.48. It has been gradually paid off with the 
 surplus revenue, so that, on the first day of July of this year, it was $1,919,- 
 326,747.75. The principal of the debt has been reduced $837,104,823.68, but the 
 interest has been reduced in far greater proportion. In 1865, the interest-bear-' 
 ing debt was $2,381,530,294.96, and the rate of interest on part of it was as 
 high as seven and three-tenths per cent, per annum, and the interest-charge 
 was $150,977,697.87. The interest-charge had been reduced to $79,033,981, on 
 the first of July, 1880; and we only await the maturity of $720,645,300, the 
 balance of the five .and six per cent, bonds, to reduce the interest-charge to 
 not exceeding $70,000,000. A Republican administration is now paying the 
 public debt at the rate of ten millions a month, or two and a half millions a 
 week. In all human probability, before this administration closes its term 
 the debt will be further reduced seventy millions, making a saving in annual 
 interest of four millions of dollars. 
 
 This policy of debt-paying and interest-reducing is the most striking in 
 the history of any country. Other Nations have had great debts; but no 
 Nation ever before paid it so rapidly, so justly, so honorably. This fact alone 
 is worth more in public credit than all the gold and silver in the country; be¬ 
 cause it is a capital from which we can draw whenever necessity requires. 
 
6 
 
 The Democratic party pursued an exactly opposite policy. From 1857 to 
 1860, when Mr. Buchanan was President, it steadily increased the public debt 
 from $9,998,621.76 to $59,964,402.01. At the close of that period it paid as high 
 as twelve per cent, on one-year Treasury notes, and sold six per cent, twenty- 
 year bonds at eighty-nine cents on the .dollar. While the debt was being re¬ 
 duced by the Republican party, the Democratic party impaired the public 
 credit b^ proposing schemes to cheat the public creditor. Its influence was 
 the chief obstruction to the debt -paying and interest-reducing policy of the 
 Republican party. In States where it has the ascendency, like Virginia, 
 Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas, it has either repudiated the 
 State debts or threatens to do so. Its success, in a .\ v -.1 election, would, 
 in my judgment, greatly impair the public credit a- . ieduce the value of 
 public securities. 
 
 FAITHFUL COLLECTION OF THE REVENUE. 
 
 Then again, under the administration of President Hayes the revenues of 
 the Government have been honestly and faithfully collected, and honestly and 
 faithfully disbursed. Tables have been carefully made showing the losses 
 that have occurred in the receipts and disbursements of the public money, and 
 these exhibit the fact that during this administration the losses by defalcation 
 have been reduced to the smallest percentage that has ever been shown in any 
 administration of this Government, or of any other known to us. 
 
 During the three years of this administration, ending June 30, 1880, there 
 was collected from all sources $864,876,359.93. All this vast sum has been paid 
 into the Treasury, excepting about $15,000, and it is believed that even this 
 siuu will be recovered. The internal revenue collected in every part of the 
 United States lias been paid into the Treasury without the loss of a dollar. 
 Besides the collection of the revenue, the great transactions of the Post-Office 
 Department, extending all over the country, and collecting and disbursing dur¬ 
 ing the last three years an amount of more than $250,000,000, have thus far 
 been made with the loss of less than $1,300. In the small defalcations that 
 have occurred, suits haye been promptly broifght against the defaulting of¬ 
 ficers or their sureties, and judgments enforced. A system of rigid account¬ 
 ability for public moneys has been applied, without fear or favor, with results 
 that never before have been realized by any administration. 
 
 The disbursement of this money by public officers at home and abroad has 
 been made for the purposes for which it was appropriated by Congress, abso¬ 
 lutely without loss or defalcation so far as known to the Government. 
 
 During the administration of James Buchanan, the loss by defalcation of 
 public officers in the collection and disbursement of the public moneys was 
 $3.81on every $1,000; during Pierce’s administration it was $3.56; during 
 Polk’s administration it was^$4.08; during Jackson’s administration it was 
 $7.52; during Van Buren’s administration it was $11.71. Mark the contrast 
 with Republican administrations: 
 
 In Lincoln’s time, embracing the recklessness caused by war, it was ( 76 
 cents. For six years of Grant’s administration it was 34 cents. In Hayes’ 
 
 . administration thus far—assuming that all amounts in dispute are lost—the 
 loss on $1,000 would be so small that the smallest coin of the country would 
 make it good three times. It has been but one-third of a cent on $1,000 of the 
 amount involved. 
 
 REDUCTION OF EXPENSES. 
 
 Again, this administration has effected a striking reduction of the expenses 
 of those branches of the public service over which the Executive has complete 
 control. The appropriation for the collection of the customs revenue is a per¬ 
 manent one, entirely dependent for the amount of its expenditure upon the 
 Treasury Department. While the revenues of the Government have enor¬ 
 mously increased, the expenditures have been largely diminished. The ex¬ 
 pense of collecting over $188,000,000 customs duties during the last fiscal year 
 was only three and one-tenth per cent., while the expense of collecting $53,- 
 000,000 in 1860, during President Buchanan’s time, was six and two-tenths per 
 cent, on the amount collected—just double. On the 1st of July last, there was 
 returned to the Treasury $2,000,000 of money that had been saved out of the 
 appropriation for the collection of the customs revenue; and in the expenses for 
 refunding the loan, for which an appropriation of one-half of one per cent, is 
 made, the Treasury Department returned to the Treasury, on the 1st of July 
 last, $1,000,000 saved. The Secretary of the Navy has returned to the Treas¬ 
 ury very large sums, saved by a careful and honest administration of that 
 Department. There was carried to the surplus fund, on the 30tli of June, 1880, 
 
7 
 
 $8,434,416, money appropriated for the different Departments for that year and 
 remaining unexpended. Does any one believe that a Democratic administra¬ 
 tion could have attained these results ¥ 
 
 RESULT UPON BUSINESS PROSPERITY. 
 
 And what has been the result of Republican administration under Presi¬ 
 dent Hayes upon the general business interests of the country ¥ We have wit¬ 
 nessed^ and are now enjoying, the greatest revival of business of modern 
 times. We have leaped forward from a period of extreme distress to one of 
 great prosperity. Our exports during the last fiscal year reached the enor¬ 
 mous sum of $835,000,000, being an increase since 1875 of over $320,000,000. Our im¬ 
 ports during the last fiscal year were $668,000,000, being an increase since 1875 
 of $135,000,000, and making an aggregate foreign commerce of the last year of 
 over $1,500,000,000. Every Nation contributes to our comfort. From every 
 land and from every sea, and from every part of our country, we gather the 
 productions of their labor to supply our daily wants. Our manufactures in 
 all branches have increased, so that not only do we supply the domestic mar¬ 
 kets with nearly all the articles essential to human life, but we export in 
 great quantities the productions of the workshop and the farm. 
 
 We now feed Europe not only with grain, but with meat, butter, lard, can¬ 
 ned fruits, and an infinite variety of other productions. We are gradually 
 gaining trade in other countries, north and south, and may hope, m a short 
 time, to supply them with nearly all the articles of foreign production they 
 desire. In the great branches of industry—agriculture, manufactures, and 
 mining—we are now taking our rank as the leading Nation. With plenty of 
 money as good as gold, with plenty of work for all who are willing to work, 
 with cheap capital, we have now superadded the most bounteous crops that 
 ever blessed any portion of the world. Think of wheat crops of 450,000,000 
 bushels a year, and corn crops of about 1,800,000,000 a year, and everything 
 else in proportion. For these, high prices have been realized. The addition 
 to the wealth of the country for the last three or four years can scarcely be 
 estimated. We know that our Government debt, formerly largely held abroad, 
 is now almost exclusively held at home; that the mortgages upon our lands 
 and farms have been reduced to one-tliird their amount in 1875; that the 
 balance of trade is so largely in our favor that foreign countries, no longer able 
 to send back our securities, are compelled to ship gold. The building of rail¬ 
 roads keeps pace with our general prosperity. They are crossing the plains 
 and exploring every valley, and year by year we hear of new settlements of 
 fertile territory hitherto unavailable for tillage, whose surplus products in¬ 
 crease, our resources. The number and amount of business failures have been 
 reduced more than one-half. In a word, all the circumstances and elements 
 that indicate increased wealth and prosperity to our whole country seem to 
 combine to make its immediate f uture f exceedingly bright. The rough road 
 has been traveled and the smooth one is now before us. 
 
 Our National prosperity has excited the attention of all European Nations, 
 and has set in motion again the stream of immigrants, whose labor has added 
 so greatly to our growth and productions. The number who arrived during 
 the last fiscal year was 455,495, against 177,826 in 1879. During the month of 
 June last, 72,567 immigrants reached our shore, and since March 1, to the latest 
 date of which we have reports, the number is about 328,000, or more than 
 enough to form a State. * 
 
 THE CAUSE OF OUR PROSPERITY. 
 
 We can fairly claim that the renewal of business is the natural result of 
 the policy of the Republican party. 1. ' v y public measure that has contributed 
 to it was a Republican measure. An nonest and faithful administration of 
 the Government; a firm adherence to the resumption and refunding act; the 
 maintenance of the public faith as against fiat money, and the protection pol¬ 
 icy embodied in our tariff laws, are the human agencies, the work of the Re- 
 
 S ublican party, that have contributed to our prosperity. It is true that Provi- 
 ence gave us bounteous crops, but these came after resumption was secure, 
 and after we had laid the foundation of honest money and diversified indus¬ 
 try, which enabled us to improve the blessings of Providence. Certain it is 
 that we owe no part of our prosperity to the Democratic party. 
 
 DEMOCRATIC PRETENSES. 
 
 That party, for more than five years, has had control of one branch of Con¬ 
 gress, and for nearly two years of both branches. What lias it done, or pro- 
 
 k 
 
 f 
 
posed to do, to benefit the public, or to evince any disposition to bring about 
 reforms? It set out with a great pretense of reducing the expenditures of 
 the Government. It clipped here and there the salaries of clerks, or reduced 
 their number, and, in some cases, seriously obstructed the public business. It 
 withheld necessary appropriations for a time to show a reduction of expenses, 
 but was compelled to make them good by deficiency bills. 
 
 I have before me a table showing the appropriations that have been made 
 by Congress each year for each branch of the service since 1873. In 1875, the 
 last year in which the Republicans had a majority in both Houses, the appro¬ 
 priations made for the fiscal year 1876 were $147,714,940. At the next session 
 the Democrats controlled the House, and, by refusing to appropriate for some 
 of the most necessary expenses of the Government, reduced the appropria¬ 
 tions to $124,122,010, and the following year, in order to coerce the President 
 by a failure to pass the Army bill and to provide for other necessary expenses, 
 they reduced the appropriations to $88,356,983; but at the following session, to 
 snake good these deficiencies and to repair the faults committed, they appro¬ 
 priated $172,016,809, being $25,000,000 more than was appropriated in 1876; and 
 xn 1880 they appropriated $162,404,647; and for 1881 they have appropriated 
 $154,118,212", or $7,000,000 more than the appropriations made the last year the 
 Republicans controled the House. The appropriations made for the current 
 fiscal year by a Democratic Congress, in a time when the currency is upon the 
 specie standard, are as large as in the year 1873, made by a Republican Congress 
 yrlien our currency was at a discount of twelve per cent., and when the Gov¬ 
 ernment was paying large war claims. 
 
 Thus, it appears that the boasted economy of a Democratic House, in a 
 time of profound peace, in spite of the large reductions made by a Republican 
 administration, has resulted in an increase of appropriations from year to 
 year. 
 
 PROPOSED NO MEASURE OF RELIEF. 
 
 During all this time the Democrats have proposed no reduction of taxes and 
 no measure of relief to the industrial interests of the country. Paralyzed by 
 their responsibility, they did not even dare to propose a modification of the 
 tariff laws, or bring about any financial reform, which they had promised so 
 often and so long. They neglected the most necessary changes in our tax laws, 
 such as a modification of the tax on sugar, leaving the Department to struggle 
 with litigation and controversy without legislative aid. They can point to no 
 law passed during their time which even purports to bring relief to the people, 
 to lessen the burdens of taxation, or to advance the public interests. Their 
 whole effort for years was to repeal the resumption law, to continue in some 
 form a depreciated currency, or to cripple and impair the public credit, 
 puling the last year or two it has been expended in a futile attempt to 
 repeal the election laws, intended to protect the elective franchise from fraud 
 and violence. This they attempted in a revolutionary mode. They attached 
 the conditions of repeal to appropriation bills necessary to the support of the 
 Government; and when the President disapproved such repeal they left im¬ 
 portant branches of the service without any appropriation, and compelled our 
 soldiers on the frontier and our army officers to borrow money to meet their 
 current expenses, while the Treasury was overflowing with money due to 
 them. 
 
 THEY AVANT A CHANGE—ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 \ 
 
 And now, in 1880, they want a change; not a change in the Democratic 
 House or Senate, but a change in the Executive branch of the Government, 
 so that all branches of the Government will be practically under their poAver 
 and control. It is known very well that within a period of four years the elec¬ 
 tion of a Democratic President would probably, by the chances of life, con¬ 
 vert the Supreme Court into a citafiel of the principles and policy of the Dem¬ 
 ocratic partj r , and change the national tendencies of that great tribunal into 
 a machine to cripple the Government in its power to protect the rights of the 
 freedmen by the adoption of the narrow notions of State rights which gov¬ 
 erned the Democratic party before the war. 
 
 And avho are they who propose tills radical change in our Government 1 
 It is the same Democratic party that in 1860 sought to overthrow the Govern¬ 
 ment, governed by the self-same men ortheir lineal descendants, and the same 
 elements which controlled the policy of the administration of James Buchanan. 
 Who control that party now ? The basis, the governing power, of that party 
 is in the Solid South. That segment of the party Avill furnish one hundred 
 and six members of Congress and thirty-two Senators, and; by their numerical 
 
9 
 
 majority over their Democratic associates, will dictate the policy and laws of 
 our Government. Next in importance would be the influence of New York 
 city, whose vote is so potent in wielding the political power of the great State 
 of New York—a city that for many years has been governed by corruption, 
 that practiced the frauds in the election of 1868, and is confessedly under the 
 domination of the most dangerous elements of American society. They can 
 claim no Northern States except what they derive from the shadow of the in¬ 
 fluence which centres around New York, and, perhaps, the State of Indiana; 
 but we dispute with them their ascendency in that gallant State. And thus 
 these elements, embracing the worst features of American politics and society, 
 would rule this National Government in all its branches, and restore again all 
 the ideas, principles, and acts from which we escaped by the election of Abra¬ 
 ham Lincoln. 
 
 The bone and sinew, the heart and brains, of the North are now, as then, 
 with the Republican party. That section which furnishes the capital, the com¬ 
 merce, the trade, the enterprise, the vital energy to our system, is to be subor¬ 
 dinated to a section which still clings to the idea that this is not a Nation, but 
 a confederacy, that its powers are dependent for enforcement upon the narrow 
 and provincial ideas of insignificant States. This is the change they propose. 
 This is the revolution they would bring about. 
 
 Wiiat reasons do they give, what motives do they assign, as the basis 
 of such a revolution ? 
 
 Senator Pendleton says they want a chance to examine the books of the 
 Treasury Department. The books of the Treasury are now, and have been for 
 years, under the surveillance of the Democratic majority of the House. Com¬ 
 mittees of both Houses have explored the recesses of that Department, ex¬ 
 amined its books, compared the figures, and what have they found? They 
 claim that in 1870 great discrepancies were shown in the statements of the pub¬ 
 lic accounts; but these discrepancies, after a full and fair examination, have 
 been fully explained as the necessary result of keeping two sets of books in 
 different offices of the Government, which, embracing different items, from 
 their nature, must differ on a given day, in some cases, to the amount of mill¬ 
 ions of dollars; but when these discrepancies are examined, and the elements 
 which enter into the one and do not enter into the other, are explained and 
 compared, the books are found to be correct in every particular. 
 
 Thus the Register’s books still show as money in the Treasury about 
 $28,000,000 deposited by the several States, under an act of Congress, in 1836. 
 These books also treat as money in the Treasury all the great defalcations that 
 occurred in the Democratic times, many years ago, with pet banks, and other 
 public depositaries, and other defaulters, although the bills of the pet banks 
 are worth no more in the hands of the Treasurer than Confederate notes, and 
 the defaulters and their generation have crumbled into dust years ago. The 
 Treasur er’s books, however, treat these items as unavailable, and not as money 
 on hand, and thus there is a difference between these two accounts of many 
 millions of dollars. Secretary Boutwell, not being satisfied with this mode of 
 stating the public accounts, and in pursuance of an act of Congress, did elim¬ 
 inate from the cash statement these unavailable items. Formerly, the state¬ 
 ment of the public debt only included the principal of the debt, and not the in¬ 
 terest. He changed the form of the monthly debt statement so as to include 
 not only the principal, but the interest accruing on outstanding bonds not yet 
 due, and deducting from the aggregate the cash in the Treasury. 
 
 This was a decided improvement in book-keeping, and exhibited the exact 
 state of the public debt. This has bothered my friend, Senator Davis, of 
 West Virginia, ever since. He talks of changes and discrepancies, but he does 
 not pretend that there has been any misapplication of public moneys. As one 
 of a Senate committee, of which Mr. Bayard was a member, I examined 
 thoroughly these charges when first made, five or six years ago, and the most 
 careful and searching scrutiny showed that they involved no misstatement, no 
 inaccuracy, no peculation, no wrong. The change in book-keeping was made 
 ten years ago, and since that time it is not claimed that there has been any dis¬ 
 crepancy, or error, or fault. While I have had charge of the Treasury Depart¬ 
 ment I have inVited the utmost scrutiny, furnished committees of Congress 
 with rooms in the Treasury, given them access to all the books, given them 
 the aid of skilled experts to assist them, and they report that everything is now 
 entirely satisfactory, and that the discrepancies, which they refuse to under¬ 
 stand, though amply explained, do not now occur. 
 
10 
 
 THE CRY OF FRAUD. 
 
 Mr. Tilden says they want a change in order to condemn what he alleges 
 was the fraud of 1877. But this pretended fraud consists simply in the fact 
 that the Electoral Commission,, a tribunal which they aided to organize, and 
 Whose judgment they agreed to abide, decided differently from what they 
 expected. I did not believe in that tribunal. I believed the Constitution and 
 the laws already furnished ample means to ascertain and determine the result 
 of the vote of the electors ; but they forced the adoption of this Commission as 
 a means to exclude votes duly returned from some of the Southern States. 
 They failed in this, and from that time they have cried out, “ fraud, fraud.” 
 The fraud that existed in the election of 1876 was the fraud, violence, and in¬ 
 timidation practiced by the Democratic party in at least five of the Southern 
 States, but m such a bungling way in Louisiana that it was promptly corrected 
 by the returning officers of that State. In South Carolina and Florida the ac¬ 
 tual vote cast, as well as the legal vote, was in favor of the Republican elect¬ 
 ors. They attempted in Oregon, where the people had without question voted 
 for the Haves electors, by narrow technicalities to exclude the Republican 
 electors and to recognize the Democratic electors, and large sums of money 
 were confessedly paid to accomplish this fraud. 
 
 THE REAL FRAUDS. 
 
 The two great frauds attempted in that election by the Democratic party 
 were, first, the completion of the conspiracy of the rebel element of the 
 South to deprive'the Republicans of the South of their rights and privileges as 
 American citizens; and. the second was the attempt to bribe electors for Pres¬ 
 ident to vote for Tilden instead of Hayes. It is to divert public attention from 
 these admitted frauds that this cry of fraud is raised. Let us look for a mo¬ 
 ment at these admitted frauds. Shortly after the War there were organized 
 in nearly all the Southern States secret political bands, composed entirely of 
 Democrats, and mostly of rebel soldiers, whose object was to overawe the 
 freedmen of the South, to deter them from enjoying the civil and political 
 rights conferred by the Constitutional Amendments; and whose methods were 
 terror, whipping, wounding, and murder, committed by armed bands of dis¬ 
 ciplined and disguised men, at night, upon poor, ignorant, and undisciplined 
 negroes. There is nothing recorded in history more cruel and cowardly than 
 the organization, objects and work of these Klans; you can read it in great 
 volumes of testimony taken year after year by committees of Congress. There 
 you will find the pathetic stories of the victims of these atrocities, and the 
 number of the dead who perished by them. There you will find the confessions 
 of the guilty. You can read the story in ‘‘The Fool’s Errand, by one of the 
 Fools,” a narrative written by a Union officer, and who presents with the 
 atrocities committed all the palliating circumstances as claimed by the Klans. 
 You may read it in the eloquent denunciations of Reverdy Johnson and Henry 
 Stanbery, sent South to defend members of the Klans. No man can honesUy 
 deny that this conspiracy, its existence, its aims, and its crimes have been 
 proven and are true, and yet the strength and power of the Democratic party 
 in the South this day rests upon the success of this crime, or culmination of 
 crimes. It is this that gives them them the solid South. These crimes entered 
 into the title by which Tilden claimed to be elected President. It was in 1875 
 that the Mississippi plan of terror was enforced in that State with savage bar¬ 
 barity ; and in 1876, Mississippi, with a known Republican majority of 25,000, 
 was helplessly in the power of rifle clubs, who cast its vote for Tilden. In 
 Louisiana and South Carolina, the same plan was attempted, but only in a com¬ 
 paratively few couuties, and in these the same terrible agencies of murder, 
 burning, whipping and terror were inflicted by disguised Democrats, and 
 solely with a view to prevent Republican votes. Don’t tell me you don’t be¬ 
 lieve these things, for the man who would not believe upon such testimony as 
 has been furnished would not believe his own mother who testified to his birth. 
 It is fortunate that this conspiracy was defeated by the faithful and loyal per¬ 
 formance of public duty under the law by the election officers of Louisiana 
 and South Carolina, in spite of efforts to bribe them. But for their honesty 
 and courage, a President would have been installed whose title rested upon 
 murder and bribery, and the blessing of God never could have rested upon 
 such an administration. 
 
 Do you want me to prove to you the second crime connected with the elec¬ 
 tion of i876-7, namely, the attempt made by the agents of Mr. Tilden to bribe 
 electors from the discharge of their duties ? The cipher telegrams which 
 were deciphered and published to the world, written and signed by leading 
 
11 
 
 members of the Democratic party, speak for themselves. They show the most 
 reckless and shameful attempts at bribery of the officers of the Government 
 charged with important duties in connection with the returns of electors. 
 Great bribes were offered to electors to violate the honorable duty intrusted 
 to them, and returning officers were tempted with promises of money and 
 office if they would make false returns. It is to the honor of our country that 
 this movement utterly failed. Not a single officer accepted a bribe, and, to 
 use the language of Mr. Tilden, the whole resulted in a “futile dalliance.” So 
 much for the great cry of fraud. 
 
 But fellow-citizens, this cry is now the sheerest hypocrisy. If the Demo¬ 
 cratic party believed in it, why was not Mr. Tilden renominated 1 Then the 
 people could have tried the alleged fraud. But the fraud practiced by the 
 Democratic party in the South is a continuing fraud—two years ago, last year, 
 and this year—continued openly with grim humor, and justified by the domi¬ 
 nant opinion South, and by the acquiescence of the Democracy of the North. 
 It is only by this fraud that that party hopes for success. If nowthereisa 
 change in the Executive branch of the "Government, it will be caused by the 
 grave and startling fact that the rebels of the South have, b^ bloody means, 
 succeeded in overthrowing the constitutional rights of five millions of freed- 
 men, and the Democratic party of the North, eager for power and place, co¬ 
 operate with the rebels of the South in this crime, by sharing in the power 
 and places secured by it. 
 
 STATE RIGHTS VERSUS NATIONAL RIGHTS. 
 
 Senator Thurman says they want to bring about a change, so as to restore 
 the old time-honored doctrine of the Democratic party in respect to State 
 rights. This, I believe, is an honest statement of the chief desire of the party. 
 They wish, under the forms of a party contest, to turn back the dial of time for 
 twenty years from the national principles that have guided the Republican 
 party to the sectionalism that prevailed before the war. We accept the issue. 
 
 The dividing line between the two parties is. a difference of opinion as to 
 the powers and duties of the National Government. We believe that this is a 
 government of the people, with powers limited and defined by'a written con¬ 
 stitution, but embracing all the great and essential functions of a National 
 Government, with amide authority to make, execute, and construe laws, and 
 to enforce them upon and execute them against every citizen of the United 
 States, without respect to State lines. We believe it to be the duty of the Na¬ 
 tional Government to protect all citizens in equal civil and political rights, 
 and to maintain national existence and authority against all who resist it, 
 whether they muster under a foreign flag or under State or local authority. 
 We believe that the States are also mere agents of the people, intrusted by 
 them with limited powers, set out in written constitutions. Their powers and 
 duties are highly important. They affect the local and domestic relations of 
 life and the protection of property. No Republican would impair, in the least, 
 the dignity, importance, or rights of the States ; but, after all, they are subor¬ 
 dinate to the United States in all the great powers of the Government defined 
 by the Constitution. The State cannot be made a shield to prevent the Na¬ 
 tional Government from protecting all the citizens of qvery State in the rights 
 conferred upon them by the Constitution of the United States; and in case of 
 a^dispute as to the limit and extent of these rights, the Supreme Court of the 
 United States is the final judge and arbiter. 
 
 Here the Democratic party takes issue with us in principle and detail. 
 Under the dogma of State rights, that party gradually subordinated the rights 
 and powers of the National Government to those of the several States until it 
 finally claimed that any State might nullify the laws of the United States and 
 secede from the Union. 
 
 You will always find the Democratic party opposed to our view of national 
 authority. It seeks to belittle, to degrade, and cripple the National Govern¬ 
 ment; to subordinate the rights of the citizen and the Nation to the law or 
 public opinion of the State; to treat the National Government as a Confeder¬ 
 acy of States, without power to enforce personal rights or national interests 
 within the limits of the State without the consent of the State. You will find 
 this radical difference cropping out in every contest on every question, great 
 or small, that enters into American politics. It was this that led to the civil 
 war. Under the lead of the Republican party the Union was preserved, the 
 Constitution was maintained in its full vigor, and strengthened by amend¬ 
 ments so as to declare the equal civil and political rights of all men, without 
 distinction of race, color, or condition, and that Congress should enforce these 
 
12 
 
 rights by appropriate legislation. Upon these terms the rebels were restored 
 to their rights and privileges as American citizens, and now, with their North¬ 
 ern associates, under the name of the Democratic party, they revive the old 
 contest, and deny to American citizens the protection of national rights by 
 national authority. ' 
 
 This doctrine of State rights is the basis of opposition to National banks, 
 to the protection of American industry, to the National election laws, and 
 protection of the ballot-box, and to the navigation laws. Whenever the ques¬ 
 tion arises in national politics, you will always find the Republican party in 
 favor of the enforcement of all the rights, civil and political, conferred by the 
 Constitution of the United States, while the Democratic party oppose the en¬ 
 forcement of these rights and leave the citizen to the tender mercy of local or 
 State law. 
 
 It is for the patriotic people of this country to say whether they want a 
 change back from the national tendencies of the Republican party to the prin¬ 
 ciples that brought our Government to the verge of dissolution in the days of 
 Buchanan. The principles of the Southern States, with their bloody violence, 
 are the fruit of Judge Thurman’s doctrine, while those of the Northern States 
 are the outgrowth of Republican ideas. 
 
 Senator Hampton, in a recent speech at Staunton, Va., stated the issue 
 fairly : 
 
 “ Consider what Lee and Jackson would do were they alive. These are 
 the same principles for which they fought for four years. Remember the 
 men who poured forth their life blood on Virginia’s soil, and do not abandon 
 them now.” 
 
 The South did fight for the rights of the States as they understood them; 
 and this contest has already cost the Nation half a millidn of lives and over 
 4 , six thousand millions of dollars. It is for the people of the North, who took 
 the burden of this contest upon themselves, to say whether, within twenty 
 vears after our heroes were sacrificed in the war, and while the debt still bears 
 heavily, they are willing, for the sake of gratifying the Democratic part) r , to 
 vindicate the principles against which we fought. N or does it help the matter any 
 that this party, with such aims and ends, baits its hook with a soldier who did 
 honorable service in our cause. We are intelligent enough to look beyond 
 this tempting bait to the animating principles which lie behind this demand 
 for a change. They say they want Hancock, a major-general in the regular 
 Army. We had for several years, while General Grant was President, Demo¬ 
 cratic declamation without limit against military rule. We have been warned 
 by the lessons of history that free institutions are only endangered by ambi¬ 
 tious men, who may seek, under military forms, to enslave the people. And 
 yet this party, forgetting their declamation, propose to take a soldier who has 
 had no civil experience, whose mind was developed in a military school, and whose 
 life has been spent under military laws; but they take him to carry out and 
 maintain the principles for which they fought, and not those for which he 
 fought under Republican auspices. Excepting the adoption of the old doctrine 
 of State rights, I know no distinctive principle of the Democratic party,which 
 can be named by an intelligent citizen, no other measure which they seek to 
 accomplish, no other policy which they seek to develop, and yet we are asked 
 to make this great change. 
 
 And now, fellow-citizens, suppose a change is made; suppose the restraint 
 of a Republican President is withdrawn, what will the Democratic party do 
 under the doctrine for which Judge Thurman and General Hampton plead? 
 On the day of the inauguration a horde of greedy office-seekers, hungry in 
 search of office, will come down upon the heads of Departments with their 
 claims for reward for xiart.y services, and inexperienced men will be thrust in 
 to discharge the most difficult functions of official life. Trained and experi¬ 
 enced officers, whose capacity and fidelity are recognized everywhere, will be 
 turned out, and the great operations of the Government be placed at once in 
 inexperienced hands. 
 
 A still more dangerous horde of claim-agents, now haunting Washington, 
 already keen for plunder and versed in all the tricks of the trade, will seek to 
 open the doors of the Treasury to the brood of Southern claims, which, despite 
 our overflowing revenues, will bankrupt the Treasury in a year. Thus far, 
 during this administration, the gate has been put down and barred against all 
 these claims. The statute of limitations and the decisions of the Department 
 have cut them off; but, under a Democratic administration of the Treasury 
 Department, how easy it would be to break down this barrier. I know 
 from my personal knowledge a number of claim-agents, influential men, who 
 
13 
 
 will vote for Hancock on the ground that his election will enable them to 
 recover claims now barred. All that is needed to cause the refunding of the 
 cotton tax, amounting to $68,000,000, is an appropriation. Most of the mem¬ 
 bers of the South, through their constituents, are interested in these claims. 
 
 A slight extension of the period of limitation, as to claims for captured 
 and abandoned cotton, will open up tens of millions of this class of claims. 
 An enlargement by half a dozen words of the law for the payment of quarter¬ 
 master’s stores, will bring upon the Treasury demands for more than one hun¬ 
 dred million dollars for food consumed by our army in the war of the rebellion, 
 taken from disloyal people, and for damage done to them as a natural result 
 or consequence of the war. Experience has shown that to swell these claims 
 tenfold or even a hundred-fold, testimony can be manufactured with the 
 greatest facility and apparently of the clearest character. Should this be 
 acted upon by an officer friendly to the object, no man can estimate the de¬ 
 mands that in this way, under cover of right, maybe foisted upon the people 
 of the United States. And why should not this be done ? If the principles of 
 the Democratic party are to be again adopted by the votes of the people, and 
 the very men who fought for them are to be placed in power, why should they 
 not be indemnified for their losses ? Why should they not be paid for their 
 slaves? Why should not the brave rebels who fought for their principles be 
 placed on the pension roll? Even a change in decisions by the Secretaries of 
 War and Treasury would bring upon the Government tens of millions of dol¬ 
 lars of Southern/ claims. • 
 
 But again, if the principles of the Democratic party twenty years ago, and 
 the men who fought for them, are restored to power, you will find the same 
 slavish acquiescence of the Democratic fragments of the North to the Demo¬ 
 crats of the South as before the war. The election laws, of which I have 
 spoken, will be the first to be repealed, and thus wilf be legalized all the atro¬ 
 cious crimes and frauds of the South, and even the great fraud of New York 
 will be condoned forever. Amnesty and forgiveness will be proclaimed for 
 the meanest crimes that have ever been committed against free government. 
 What protection will there then be for the freedmen of the South ? What guard 
 will there be against ballot-box staffers and like criminals in the North ? 
 
 What further is likely to happen ? The Democratic party has opposed from 
 the beginning, as unconstitutional, our whole system of National banks, and 
 favored a system of State banks as a matter of constitutional right. By the 
 passage of a law of two lines they can repeal the tax of ten per cent, now 
 levied upon the notes of State banks, and thus, without a formal repeal of the 
 National-bank system, they can revive the whole State-bank system, and 
 flood us with wild-cat and red-dog money. That this will be done I have no 
 earthly doubt whatever. I know that the leading Southern Senators and 
 Members are especially anxious to revive the system of State banks, with a 
 view to have irredeemable paper money again, and some of the Vv T estern Con¬ 
 gressmen will follow in the same direction. All this will lead directly to the 
 repeal or disuse of the National-bank system, because it is a principle of finan¬ 
 cial law that the poorer currency will supersede the better, and in a short time 
 every person will be trying to shove off upon his neighbor unsecured notes of 
 State banks which will go down with the first wave of financial panic. All 
 war legislation, or that which has grown out of the preservation of the Union 
 and the maintenance of the Government, will be gradually swept away, the 
 Army and Navy will be opened to rebels, and the men whom we fought against 
 will again wield the military and naval arm of the Goverment. Rebels, still 
 proud of their achievements in the rebellion, bitter in their hearts, and full 
 of rage against the defenders of the Union, will ride rough-shod in their new 
 authority over men who have sacrificed their all in defense of the country. 
 The public credit cannot long escape from the strange and unnatural restora¬ 
 tion, and the business interests of the country, so intimatety identified with 
 political events, will feel the staggering blow. 
 
 Are the probable results of a Democratic administration too strongly stated? 
 If so, it is only because it may be deterred by public opinion from going to the 
 extreme logic of their position. But I know these men well, and I believe that 
 the result of the full ascendency of the Democratic party will be to shock the 
 public credit; to open the Treasury wide to rebel claims; to wipe out all that 
 was achieved by the war; to turn our Government back from its National 
 tendencies to what it was in fact before the war—a mere confederacy of States 
 —and to cripple the power of the General Government in the enforcement and 
 execution of its laws. 
 
 Why encounter these risks? Is there anything in our present condition 
 that should lead the people of the North, those who fought for the Union, who 
 
love the glories won by our heroes of the war, to make this shameful surren¬ 
 der to our foes 1 ? No, my countrymen. The change proposed is repugnant to 
 our manhood, injurious to our interests, and fatal to the national policy that 
 has so greatly advanced our country among the nations of the world. 
 
 The Republican party may sometimes have failed to meet your expecta¬ 
 tions in all things, may sometimes have neglected to do that which ought to 
 have been done, but, on the whole, it has rendered such service to this country 
 that it may fairly claim to be intrusted with the adminstration of the Govern¬ 
 ment until at least some party appears with better principles and a better 
 record. The Republican party conducted the war with success. It has emanci¬ 
 pated a whole race. It has done its utmost to secure civil and religious liberty to 
 all citizens. It has developed the homestead policy. It has unified and nation¬ 
 alized all parts of our common country into one grand whole, without in¬ 
 vading in the least the rights and duties of the several States, which during 
 this time have securely managed their local affairs without let or hindrance 
 from the National Government. It proposes further to develop this policy. 
 It proposes to maintain the resumption of specie payments, so that we may 
 continue to have good money of gold and silver and paper, all equal to each 
 other, and all of universal credit wherever water runs and our flag floats. It 
 proposes to complete the plan of refunding the debt by the substitution of 
 bonds bearing from three to four per cent, interest for those still outstanding 
 bearing a higher rate. It proposes, while steadily pursuing the principle of 
 protecting American industry, to reduce as rapidly as possible the burden of 
 taxation, and at no distant time to confine all national taxes to moderate 
 duties on imported goods and a tax on liquors, tobacco, and beer. Regarding 
 education as the strongest foundation for Republican government, it proposes 
 to foster schools and colleges and academies of learning, and to make the way 
 open in the South as well as in the North to every child, black or white, to 
 receive the rudiments of'education. It has given you, as an evidence of its 
 purposes, an honest, faithful, and successful administration of the National 
 Government under the Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes, one that will be 
 pointed to as an honored example long after we are gathered to our fathers. 
 He has not had the support of Congress during his term, and lias been crippled 
 greatly in the development of his^ policy; but he has prevented great evils 
 from being accomplished by the Democratic party. More than all, he has 
 wisely executed Republican iaws upon the statute-book, and has by his veto 
 prevented the repeal of other laws equally important. He has done this country 
 no evil, but has done it great good. 
 
 We want a change. We want to change this Democratic Congress into a 
 Republican Congress, in harmony with the spirit of the age and with the 
 general policy of the Republican party; a Congress Chat will, while closely 
 scrutinizing the public expenses, be just and liberal for all necessary purposes, 
 and economical, careful, and prudent in the appropriation of public money. 
 We want to uphold the national authority, so that the time will soon come 
 when neither a mob nor a State, nor local public opinion, will be strong enough 
 to deprive any American citizen of his civil and political rights. We want to 
 continue activity and industry and good times. We want to foster our indus¬ 
 try, extend oitr trade, and fill our vast area with thriving, industrious people, 
 native and naturalized. While maintaining American principles, we offer the 
 industrial classes of-all nations who are willing to share in our lot and conform 
 to our policy, the liberal and equal benefit of our laws. We wish to see the 
 rights of labor protected without disturbing the rights of property. We wish, 
 above all, to maintain the national credit and the national name, so that, both in 
 our foreign and domestic policy it may be understood that this Republic will 
 be just to the weak as well as to the strong, will ask nothing but what is right, 
 and submit to nothing that is wrong in our dealings with foreign nations. 
 
 To secure these great objects, we have placed in nomination General Gar¬ 
 field, a citizen of Ohio, who was trained in the school of adversity, which has 
 produced nearly all the great men in American politics. He is self-educated. 
 He has been tried in both civil and military life, and in every position occu¬ 
 pied by him has rendered satisfation to his constituents. He entered the 
 volunteer army at the beginning of the war as a soldier, performed brilliant 
 services, rose rapidly, until he was called by the people of his district to 
 represent them in Congress. He is thoroughly informed and trained in all the 
 questions of the day, and in all of them is. in full harmony with the Republi¬ 
 can party. He is admirably prepared to discharge the civil duties of the high 
 office for which has been nominated, and, compared to General Hancock, by 
 any test that may be applied to him, is his superior in ability, capacity, and 
 
t 
 
 fitness for President of the United States. General Hancock relies solely 
 * upon his service in the Army, and upon the issuing of an order, which, 
 in my judgment, under the circumstances, was a concession to rebels 
 that ought not to have been made, while General Garfield can point to a varied 
 civil and military life, combining the heroism of the soldier and trained ex.' 
 perience in the highest civil duties. Let no personal disappointment enter 
 into or color our zeal in the good cause, but with the courage and hope that 
 animated the Union Army during the war, let us press forward our Kepublican 
 principles until all that we have guaranteed by the Constitution or the laws 
 shall be fully secured to the humblest as well as the loftiest citizen of this 
 liepublic. 
 
 In reply to a question by one of the audience as to the cause of the re¬ 
 moval of General Arthur as Collector of Customs at New York Mr. Sherman 
 said: “I have never said one word impugning General Arthur’s honor or in¬ 
 tegrity as a man and a gentleman; but he was not in harmony with the views 
 of the Administration in the management of the custom house. While I would 
 not, perhaps, have recommended his nomination, yet I would vote for him for 
 Vice-President a million times before I would vote for William H. English, 
 with whom I served in Congress.” 
 
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