The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-04-01
A Republican Senator or the Situation.

TIE following is the teleCraphic synop-
sis of the remarks of Senator Sprague in
the Senate on the Tenure-Of- Office Ques-
ton, March 81:
Mr.. Sprague administered a rebuke to
the galleries for laughing at him the other
day for saying they reminded him of the
idiotic inmates of q burning dwelling, who
laughed at all warning, and persisted in
the flames
He would nevertheless repeat his warn
ing. The affairs of the Congress were
being mismanaged and ruined by men of the
class he had spoken of before 0awyers).
The people of England would not tolerate
such n state of things. The men who
controlled the affairs of England GLAD
stone and DIsrael) were not lawyers;
they were men of wider culture, with the
instincts of statesmen, fit TO control the
destlnies of great nation. He had felt
deeply interested in the success of the
Republican party in the past, and had con-
tributed To it, he thought, as much ia
character, and good deal more in money,
than other Senators; indeed, he believed
that his contribution of the latter kind
had been greater than those of all the
other Senators combined. When the war
broke upon the peop-c without warning
and found them unprepared, he had been
among the first 20 rush to the support of
the Government; but now there was a
great danger pending, and he felt it his
duty to warn the people of it He read a
long account of the character and career
of the notorious Judge Jet1reys, and of the
condition of England in his time, which,
he said, was very like the condition at
the present time England at that time
was just after a revolution, and the
country was thrown under the con-
troll CT despotic power, and Jeffreys was
the eager instrument. -Four years ago,
this country had come out of a great civil
war. Since that time the great work of
Congress had been, or should have been, to
restore harmony and prosperity to the
country. How had that work been car
ried on? Is there, he asked, peace at the
South? Is there prosperity or content
ment among the people there? Are they
not rather in Estate of chronic revolution?
Is there justice in the lands Who that
IS poor man dare attack one that is rich
in any court in this land? Is there pro-
lection for the rights or liberties of the
citizen in this boosted land Of freedom?
| The immigration of this country had fall
len Oft $4,000 during the last year, Ind it
would continue to fall of, because the in.
dustry and agriculture Of the country
were so Frustrated at the West that immi-
grants could not find remunerative en-
ployment, and if they went to farm in the
West they could not sell their products
for enough to supply them with the neces-
saries OF life. Whenever any one in the
Senate or elsewhere asked the reason of
the depression of our commerce and man.
ufactures, he was sure TO be met with the
answer that it was owing to the fact that
we were not paying specie but the real
| reason was that the legislation and the ad-
| ministration of the Government were so
shaped rs to encourage capital to specu-
late upon every industrial occupation in
the country. If this course was to be con-
tinued, in less than five years there would
| be a clamor for a tariff to keep out
/ foreign cotton; but great as was the mis-
management of our national affairs in
every department, the greatest abuses were
10 our financial policy. That policy was
directed and controlled by the bankers.
They no doubt gave as good advice as they
could, but experience had always shown
that dealers in money know little or moth
ing about the relations of money to other
occupations and interests. The bearing of
all this upon the pending bill was this; If
the legislators of the country had done
their own work so badly, how could they
dare to assume the powers and duties of
the Executive also. lie had intended to
say few words about the relations be-
tween himself and certain other Senators,
( by way of showing the unfitness of the
Senate to exercise a reyisory power over
the acts of the President, but he would
reserve them for another occasion. < < <
The country was on the brink Of q prcci-
pice, and, unless the people could be rous-
ed from their apathy, all was lost. He
had wished for and aided in the election
OF General Grant to the Presidency, be-
cause he believed that he president Grant,
had not been contaminated by the politl-
clans and had the capacity required to see
through and defeat their Vaccinations.
He had listened to the inaugural address
with intense interest, and had been pleased
/ by the Presidents expression of his pur-
pose to be Independent in the discharge of
his official duties, but when he heard the
passage asserting the sacredness of the
public debt he had gone away dishcarten-
ed and sorrowful, because it had shown
him that the canker that possessed the
American body polite had got possession
of the President also. Still he was not
without hope. He hoped that the Prcsi-
| dent would yet discover the great error
into which bad al, iscrs had led him, and
would turn away from this policy as from
charncl house.