New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-12-28
SPEECH UF VlCE-PRESIDENT COLFAX.
PARAMOUNT DUTY OF THE GOVERNMENT.
Life, Liberty and Rights of All Secure.

Hon. Schuyler Colfax was entertained by
the Philadelphia Union League on Saturday
the nineteenth. The solid men of the city
representing the learned professions. and
every class of industrial pursuits were
among the banqueters. General Sickles.
General Meade, Ex-Governor Curtin and
Governor Geary we're honored guests. The
Honorable Morton McMichael Mavor of
the city, presided. After sumptuous bill
OF fare had been discussed, Mayor Nc
Michael proposed the health of the distin-
guished guest, the Honorable SCHUYLER Col
fax, to which the Vice President elect
responded as follows:
Mr.. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN op rur
UNION LEAGUE-It is no ordinary rIaasn-a
and regard it as no ordinary honor 10 en-,
JOY the hosDitalities of an Organization 90
Justly famed for its good words and work
during all the years of its existence. Ever
on the side of the nation and the nationis
interest-ever outspoken for liberty. ioyai-
ty and law, its trumpet has never given forth
an uncertain sound, and its members have
never wearied in well doing,
Ihere is majesty in the voice of a great
people, speaking through its aggregated mil
mons OF ballots; far more potential than the
NNN4 4ASih % VII IL Is IKE the VOICE OF
many waters, drowning all other sounds.
1t is like the thunder, rolling along the sl1y-
Wnlch purlies the atmosphere, II is the
command OF nation, which all within its
limits must heed and respect. What that
utterance of the third of November means
u Is not difficult to understand. 1t ratified
the platform of principles enuuciated nf Chi
cago and which had been cordially indorsed
by both OF your candidates in their letters
OF acceptance. But, more than this, to all
VINO denounced the reconstruction mea-
sures OF Congress as unconstitutional. reyo-
lutonary and void; to all who suggested
their repeal by the bayonet; to all who had
dlshonored the country by countless MUIR
ders of defenseless men Tor their love Of
the Union; to all who boasted of devotion
to the lost cause, it spoke with the com
stil.n -
But, with the peace which it thus de-
mands, 1t brings prosperity. With the laws
of the land respected and obeyed. with pro.
lection to al! assured, and with confidence
thus restored, immigration and capital will
open new and brighter era to the enfran-
chised and regenerated South: and with her
great staples and genial cline, she will ioin
with the East, the North, and the West in
the triumphal march of national progress
and power. Nor was this all Tie voice
OF the people proclaimed anew that the par
amount duty of Government was to secure
the life, liberty and rights of all its citi-
zens, even to the humblest, and that Amer
lean citizenship must protect all entitled to
its protection, at home and abroad. 1t re-
affirmed Ito quote the language of the
Chicago resOlutions) the great principles of
impartial justice and equal rights laid
down in the immortal Declaration of Inde-
rendence as the true foundation of demo-
cratic government, hailing with gIadness
every effort toward making these principles
living reality on every inch of American
soil, and, with wise and generous magma
nimity, too little appreciated heretofore by
! those responsible for the bloodshed and
anguish OF our late war, it declared in favor
OF the removal of all disquaifieatiops in the
same measure as the spirit of disloyalty ma
| die out and as may be consistent with tht.
sif y of the loyal people.
But besides this, the voice of the people.
| thus spoken, imposed grave duties and re-
| probabilities on all whom it clothed with
| puolle trusts. 1t demands the most search
| ing retrenchment, like that which signalized
the administration, by its President elect Of
enc Of the governmental departments which
| was intrusted to his hands. 1t demands
| honesty and efficiency and higher character
| oil All who are to be connected with the
public service, that the honest taxpayer
may no longer be required to bear
the burdens of the dishonest as well
as his own. With President whose cardi-
mai principle is that the law of the land
must be obeyed and not thwarted or nulli-
ned, the nation may hope that his subordi-
mates will exhibit fidelity to duty akin To
their chief. 1t demands a strict md ripi(l
| guardianship of the nations treasury AGAINST
all unwlse and extravagant schemes. II
demands a financial policy which shall
maintain, unimpaired and untarnished onr
| credit, the right arm of the country i'm
times of peril, which shall appreciate onr
currency, and which shall finally place ms
on the firm rock of specie payments.
| with all this secured by the administra-
tlon OF the great commander whom the
| people have called to govern the land
| which, under Providence, he saved. NOT
only shall we fortify and continue the poli-
neal ascendancy which the people haye
| decreed, bnt all parties and all sections win
| be able to rejoice as our republic takes that
foremost place among the nations of the
EARN TO which our free institutions, our
vast resources and our unparalleled indus
! trial advancement now beckon us,
Speeches were also delivered by General
sickles, Governor Geary, Ex-Governor Cur.
tin, Hon. Messrs. Galusha A. Grow, Charles
O'Neill, and Leonard Myers, and X. Nc.
Clure and Wayne Mcyeigh, Esqs. At half.
past nine O'Clock Mr.. Colfax net several
hundred members of the League in the
parlors of the League House, to whom, in
response to repeated calls, he delivered a
short address.