The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-08-24
GREAT SPEECH
HON. GEO. H. PENDLETON
BANGOR, MAINE.
An Extract.

| The State governments were In full
vigor and operation before and during
and after the war. During the war the
State government Of Virginia was called
upon to give it's assent to the creation
of West Virginia, aud the members of
Congress were admitted from Louisiana
so soon as Federal troops obtained foot
hold in that State. After the war the
States of the South were invi-
ted to ratify, and did ratify, the four
teenth constitutional amendment, and
it derives its validity from their assent.
The Republican party by the recon-
struction acts abolished these govern
ments, and created in their stead mill
tary governments, which no man will
pretend was within the constitutional
powers of Congress. By the aid of the
army they have built up other govern
ments, not according to the will of the
people, but according to the will of Con-
gress, and they have founded them up
on the exclusion of the intelligence and
wealth aud virtue of the white race
from tho right of suffrage, and upon
the admission of every negro to that
right; and they have made these ne
groes buy their exemption from the
Interference of the army and their re-
cogution as States by ratification of
the fourteenth constitutional amend
ment, and a pledge that they will never
change the rule of suffrage.
| Do not their own acts convict them
of the charge / have made' Are they
not surely and rapidly, even though
silently, sapping the foundations of the
Government and changing its form and
nature Are they not accommodating
power in the Federal Government and
taking it away from the Statesi Do
they not declare openly, and make 1t
the basis of their creed, that Congress
has a power over the right of suffrage
in ten States which it has not over the
same subject in the other States.
Why is it they build up these govern
ments upon the basis of the negro vote
alonei My friends, divest yourselves
of passion; look at this work steadily.
Is not the stolid ignorance of enfran-
chised slaves too narrow basis for
prosperous State possessing equal pew
ers with the State of Mainef Why is it
insisted ONT The reason, the sole rea
son, is that they believe they can con-
troll the negro vote; that by this vote
| they can secure the election of Il Presi-
dent and Senators aud Members of the
House and Governors aud Legislatures
and Judges, and so WELD longer the
powers of the Government.
| know many of these men well.
They are men of intellect and daring.
They are not actuated by low greed of
gain, nor love of the emolumcnts and
frbnu hnvu ha frt
spirit of fanatical rcformers, and they
seek power that they may Ovcrturn this
system of government and build up an
other system in its stead. My friends,
we are engaged in no scramble for Of
flee. We are stimulated by no lust for
power. This struggle touches the life
| of our confederated system. 1t touches
the question of union or unity. 1t will
decide in the far off future the destiny
of our country. If our opponents sue
ceed, we will have first unity and then
despotisni and then revolution and
then separation, and then whatever
God in His wrath may intiict. If they
fail we will have the Constitution
obeyed, the union maintained, liberty
enjoyed, prosperity abounding, peace
everywhere, and all the glories of our
past will be but as the early bud COM
pared with the blooming beauties of the
full blown flowers.
In this supreme hour of our fate
beg you to pause and weigh well your
duty to the country, as III the hour OF
death you would weigh your duty to
God. To experiment is too costly; we
cannot afford it. We might lose our
liberty, for there is a limit to human
endurance. We cannot buy what we
do not pay for, and we cannot pay
more than what exaction can squeeze
from our people. Freedmens Bureaus,
military commissions, military gov
ernments, the support of ten State gov
ernments, constitutional amendments,
negro suffrage, carpet-baggers, are in
themselves expensive luxuries. When
they bring with them stagnatiOn of
business, small crops, idle hands, no
cotton, no rice, no sugar, no home mar
ket for Western breadstutfs and pork,
and no exports for Eastern ships to
carry, they are more expensive still;
and when they superadd high taxes,
h igh tariffs, exemption of capital from
all burdens, an increase in the hours of
labor, an increase of the prices of neces-
saries, and O decrease of the wages of
labor, the expense gets to be intoler-
able.
The amount of money collected by
taxation in three years of peace, from
July, 1865, to July, 1868, reached
81, ,594, ,174,000. l have it from official
sources. The Commissioner of Internal
Revenue reports for 1866, S56l, ,572, 900 /;
for 1868, S471 100000, and Appleton's
Encyclopedia reports for 1867. S56l ,302, :
600; total, 81, ,594, $4,000. In each case
the gold collected at the Custom house
is estimated at lao. OF this amout the
revenue from the tariff reached S724,-
5SI, 900. The expenditure of the Gov
ernment has been scarcely less than this
enormous sum; for if you will look ct
the public debt on the 31st of August,
1865, you will find that it amounted to
2,757 ,690,57l, and if you will look at
the last monthly report, made August
|, 1868, you will find it is stated to be ST.
633, ,5S5, 900, showing a decrease of Sl2l,-
l07 ,2l5. The Commissioner of Internal
Revenue tells us that the value of all
the real and personal property in the
United States in lS60-the lands, farms,
houses, town lots, money, stocks, bonds,
railroads, steamboats,, ships-all
amounted to only sl4,2S2, ,726, ,oSS.
If the products Of three years of
peace have made up for the ravages of
war, then the taxation for three years
has amounted to very much more than
one. tenth of all the property in the
country, while the taxation of Great
Britain has amounted to one-thirteenth
part. If the taxation for these years
were assessed upon each individual
equally, it would amount in the United
States to S34.25, while in France the
taxation for the same time would
amount to S22, and in Austria to less
than SIG. The public debt of the United
States, if assessed upon each individual,
would amount to S53.25, the public
debt of France to $50, and of Prussia
to Sl2.
Isaid to You that never made state
ment that l could not verify, and hold
in my hand this report from this Republic
~ ri n