Litchfield enquirer., 1840-09-03
Ertrocts from c recent Speech delirered by s. ;.
 Prentiss ok Portland, Maine. 1

and rivers to this city. These rivers-rivers which are MediterraneanS of themselves, were dotted with gallant steamers, and their banks covered with farms and with hundreds and hundreds Of villages. What, ask, has done this but credit and confidence, and that mixed currency, which we have been accus- toned to since the adoption of the Constitu- ton. point to the result, and say to you, that for it you are indebted to credit and who is he who would roll back this country, now that the wilderness has blossomed, to the condition it was when a wilderness! Had you the power of the enchanter, you dare not put back the wheels of time a single generation. Like the coral reefs, credit has heaped up mines of wealth Our Fathers came here by the blessings of credit. Our Revolutionary Fathers fought the battles of the country upon credit. Full ton put his magnificent enterprise in success full motion by credit. Had the loco loco doctrine prevailed, what would have become of crcdit-what of the now glorious achieve ments of Robert Fulton and steam? When we read in mythology of the yoking together of lyons and horses, and what was done, we are startled with the novelty and wonder of the scene-but how much more wonderful has been the mingling together in peace and profitable union, the fiercest elements Known to man! Fire and water have been united as the propelling power of the ship and car, and across the land or mighty ocean they wing their way. (Cheers
 Again, said MT. Prentiss, let me bring this subject nearer home, and make it more prac- ficai. You have seen what the exertions ot the poor man has accomplished. By indus try and energy he has wrought out miracles Go to the west. Ask the first man you meet what his history is. His response will be- that he went from the north with his plane or his adze or his spade, and that the credit system has changed his condition, and made him thrifty man. have seen many such in the south west, and they have far outstrip- ped me, though blessed with a profession which is so lucrative in the west. The west. ern man will tell you that credit is the poor mans capital. The rich man wants no ere dit. His gold is his credit. Igrant yet again that the system may be abused, and so may eating and drinking-but who is he who will rise up and say eat not and drink not for fear of surfeit (Cheers.) Itell you yet again, that the credit system has been the nursing mother of the U. S.-that it has in connex- ion with Q mixed currency made the coun- try what it is.
 old Ben Franklin, all will admit, was the best friend the poor man ever had, and he was the friend of the credit system. You will find his poor Richard filled with defen- ces and discussions of the credit system and paper money. He was one of the advocates of the system which the whigs now advocate, and though since his day experience has taught us something, and we might not be permitted to go as far as he went, yet we are proud to look upon him as the defender of the credit system.
 It is a poor compliment to Democracy, said MT. Prentiss, to say to the poor man you must remain poor in order to be democrat daughter and cheers.) But what mean these teachers of Democracy, as they call it, by these addresses to the passions of men,
 Why, we see asexpressed by MT: BrownnSS9sMn. nSsM. snat ons o1.s S i65coocoism boiled down, like qui- nine or morphine-the very essence of the system, from which others arc to be prep0r. ed in the course of time.
 But to come back once more to the labor CT. How often do we see in this country that the employer of to-day is the laborer of tomorrow, and the laborer, the employer, and when such is the evidence of our senses and the result of our Institutions, how dare any man rise up and address himself to the passions of different classes of the communi- ty and declare there is distinction between them! Iwould take the sons of the poor man in preference to the sons of the rich to prove the truth of this. The son of the poor man much sooner reaches the golden goal of hon. or than those who have money jingling in their pockets. It is the poor man in nine ca- ses out of ten who reaches the point of emil hence. They have been industrious-they have exerted themselves and they have pros- pered. It is true that bad man sometimes gets wealth. but not often, and when he does it is oftener by foul means than by fair.- How was it with Stephen Girard, and how is it with John Jacob Astor! They were the architects of their own fortune. They acc quired their wealth by their own superior enterprise.
 The acquisition of wealth Is the result of exertion. The son of the poor man prospers most. Iwould bet two to one on his success in the trial of few years. ..@
 The administration men here appeal to the laboring man precisely as abroad the appeal is made to the Irishman or German. You are addressed as poor men, as though your poverty was an irretrievable necessity-a destiny--a nature-and the party who ad- dresses you here, attempt to arouse those wicked preiudices which will destroy your enterprise. But poverty is not intended, like the bed of Procrustes, to cut off every man at the same length. Our principles and our institutions are Illustrated in the race course, where every horse is put upon his own met al. The slowest cannot win the prize. It belongs to the fleetest. We raise up our sons as young eagles to soar aloft, and not to be as owls. If were then to address my self personally to laboring men. would say look to Ben Franklin. Look to the indus trious and see how they have prospered. It is in this country-to come back-because the price of labor has been high. No nan can deny this. Is there German within the sound of my voice, ask you why you