The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1859-09-01


every rational free man the power TO govern tbs
nation Tha, Office they communicated to YOU
!. the voting people of the country. Did they g
. pose-could they have believed that the sal;
: people OF the country, the respectable people O
the land, would so scorn the great and priceless
estate which they left them, as that they woult
not attend to appointing the agent to take care
it, but that some mercenary spiri. was ID takt
, care of them
, Whereas each member of the community hav
ing an interest n banking inst tation, or in
joint stock manufacturing company, where theil
reward to be but a few paltry dollars pc,
cent. on his capital-if meeting was TO be CALI
ed to appoint a President agent Of that
company-wouid attend this meeting, to elec,
President and directors OF he paltry bank Joint
stock concern; but when the President and d.
rectors are elected 10 take care of the liberties OF
the whole country, On, these men are too decent,
too respectable TO attend. 1t is not respectable
to be politician they tell US; or they too
careless, they have half acre of buckwheat
which might not be got in and saved, if they left
home on election day.
That is the way you act with your privileges.
l am quite tired Of compia.ng OF the men you
elect and of the laws they make. One thing l
know to be perfectly certain, the stockholders do
not attend to the election of the President and
Directors. or if they do, they don't know how to
do their duty.
/ WHO IS TO DE BLAMED.
4 Don't let Us blame poor Buchanan Don't let
Us anathematiZe the men we have elected to these
Offices of State too much Let abuse the
people that elected them. They are to blame
for the whole of it. What have tfe people of
the United States done with the officeso If you
elect judge and be does not attend at Court,
and if an innocent man is hung because he was
not there to try him, what do you do with him?
You take him to Columbus and impeach him
He is removed from Office and the brand of dis
and i ,Nt,, hrpu
But you stay at home from elections and let un.
worthy be elected to Office You don't like
some party other. The judge might say he
did not like his associate; he might not like to
sit near him-he had not very sweet breath
(Laughter) l tell you, sirs that is quite val
id as many of the excuses VIII ch men make for
staying away from elections.
RETROSPECTIVE.
What have you been doing now, to go no fur
ther back than the last few years-sixteen or
seventeen All o. you of mature age remember
the year ls40 very well. What did all the peo-
pie of the United States do then They up,
and with mingled feelings of merEime ut and indig-
nation, for it difficult to tell which prevailed
that year, the events of the administration of
Gen. Van Baren had been sngalary out of
the way nowise conformable to anybodys notion
Of things, it was difficult to say whether it
looked at with indignation, contempt or merrl-
ment: every one of his officers running away
with the peoples money--you know how we
used to twist his long legged measures, (aughter)
and three-quarters of the people started up and
declared, We will have no more Democratic gov
ernnent We will have Whig government. The
principles upon which these two parties were
contendng, thea for your sutfrages, were dianiet-
rically opposed ; upon due deliberation aud SOL
emn consideration, (for do hope you sometimes
consider these Thugs it determined by
unexampled majority of the country, that hence
forth, Wings and their principles should be the
rule of conduct in the United States 1t was SO
Your decree when you make it, is always omnip-
otent.
Four years pass away, they go by, and what
happens thens You have again to appoint
President OF this great joint stock company OF
ours The people have two men presented to
them One has been alluded to by my friend Mr.
DensoC-Mr. Clay, OF Kentucky man who has
been spoken of SO much, that it would oe idle TO
attempt TO employ terms adequate to express the
feelings with which one who knew him well as
| did, regarded the great loss we have sustained
by his death: man of whom the nation
proud; man who had European reputation
who was regarded as the great champion of reg
nlated liberty, by men of intelligence over the
world. Ia addition to this he had endowments
which 1t had pleased God very rarely to give to
mortal man-an integrity pure the highest
integrity of the highest and best of the ancient
people who have descended us as demi gods
Nobody questioned this in the election at all. 1t
was named and repeated every hour He did not
like tue annexation of Texas to the United 81 tates
not because ne had any personal objection to auy
accumulation of Slave States in the eouatrv, but
because he believed ii would disturb the harmony
of the Republic it then existed. The harm pny
and prosperity of this iaai were TO him he IDOLS
OF his heart Another man was also presented to
the American people-a very ordinary man. U
wish to speak of him in no terms of disparage-
ment) 1oa all know something of Mr.. Polk
He never pretended to be the equal of Mr. Clay.
Mr.. Clay differed with him on this subject. He
desired that tha: independent Republic, living
der the shadow of our wing, should be annexed
to the United States. tie was democrat OF the
democrats knew him well. You know that l
speak truly of his history. As a politician, he
was opposed to everything now proposed by the
Opposition in the Slave States and by the Repub-
licans in the Free States, as to the proper system
of government IN this country. Well. Mr. Clay
proposed to the country to continue the Whig
government begun by Mr. Harrison, and but par
italy carried out By his successor. You had de.
termined four years before that henceforward We
would only have Whig principles and Whig ru-
lers- Foar years passed by, and with the mighty
difference between the two men, you determined
by large majority you would have no more
/ Whig government but would have Democratic
government, even when you could hare the plea
sure AID the pride of voting for one OF the great
est statesmen the world ever knew The stock
holders have changed their opinion greatly in
these four years, or else they did not vote their
principles at all.
Well, as We know human nature IS full of i'm
perfection, and as men gaining light every
day 10 the world we fondly hoped by The school
houses and churches that we had erected we wo'd
get some intelligence. We would begin TO SIP
pose that We were mstakea in 1870 aad that We
had learned that the Democratic was the true
rule OF government in the country.
Four years more rolled o. which brings Is to
leiS The country. in the mean time, had been
involved 10 a foreign war, and when the ambition
OF nation Is concerned. il Is very that that
ambition is put into conflict with another nation,
1t IS very rare that the mea Of the nation do not
take sides with tim who wages the war. Mr. Polk
was to be re elected or rejected What did we
IT Io4oE With about the same unaaimity as be-
fore, we declared that We would have no more
Democratic government; We will have Wing
Cover nuent, even though We have 10 deposit this
great power OF statesm anship in the hands of q
maa fresh from the battle field ~ ho was never in
the councils of his country. TIE stockholders