Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1869-10-13
Political.
Senator Sumner on Domestic Affairs.


tion Of Mr. Summers Worcester speech which
related to Foreign Affairs, great weight be-
ing given to his opinion upon this delicate
question But upon examination we find his
views Of domestic policy to be quite as inn
portant.
In his introduction he very truly says we
are not yet done with the questions Of the
war. We have not secured the right which
conqucrors may always insist upon, namely !;
security for The future. The security which
Mr.. Sumner desires, and without which our
peace will be only an armistice, is that all
men must be made safe IN their rights. That
no class Of our inhabitants should feel that
they were in peril on account Of their ances-
try, color, or political opinions Every man
must have the protection which an invest
ment with the ballot will give him. Three
classes, Mr. Sumner says truly have their in
tcrests still in jeopardy The national freed
man, the national creditor, and the faithful
Uuionists in the Southern States.
1t is useless for US to shut our eyes to the
dangers 20 which our attention Is thus called.
The Northern Democracy and the rebels Of
the South are Of one spirit; they are old po-
litioa associates they are confederatcd to-
gcthcr against the holy cause Of justice and
freedom. They are the allies aud advocates
Of rcpudiation. The country is not fully alive
to its danger At no time in its history was
the Republican policy so much needed to pro-
toot the country from its most dangerous foes.
The administration should be supported by a
sympathetic people, and the convictions Of
the people be carried forward by a sympathet-
ie Administration In other words, faith
ful President must be supported in the work
we have given him to do.
Another great danger Of the nation is such
a dobauchery of public sentiment as will bring
on an era of Reputation Much as the pub.
lie conscience now loathes the mention of the
word the work Of corrupting the public mind
is steadily going forward Concerning Re
pudiation and its consequences, Mr.. Sumner
says
The word repudiaton, in its present
sense, is not old. 1t first appears in Missis
sippi, Democratic State If the thing wer,
known before, never before did it assume th
same hardihood Of name 1t was in lS4
that a Mississippi Governor in message Il
1, a.. ,.l a.
to certain State bonds, and thus begun tn
policy by which Mississippi was first dishor
ored and then kept poor; for capital was nat
urally shy Of such State. Constantly, froI
that time, Mississippi had the bad emnenc,
= of this transaction; nor is the State NOR
known as the home of Jefferson Davis tha
as the home Of Reputation. Unhappily th
nation suffered also and even now, as | VI
derstand it, it is argued in Europe, to OF
discredit, that, because Mississippi repudia
! ed, the nation may repudiate also. If r,
fer to this example, it is because | would i
lustrate the mischief Of the Democratic pol
cyr abd summon Mississippi to tardy iu.
tioe A regenerated State cannot afford t
bear ihe burden of repudiation nor can tn
natiob and the sisterhood of States forget mis-
conduct SO injurious to all.
=" have pleasure at this point in referrin
to an carly effort in the North american Re
rie,c by an able lawyer, for time an orna
ment Of the Supreme Court of the Unite,
States, Hon. b. II. Curtis, who argues mos
persuasyely that, where state repudiates it
obligations to the detriment of foreigners
there is a remedy through the National Gov
ernment But the article contains warning
applicable to the present hour which quote
60 The conduct of few States has not only
destroyed their own credit and left their sis
ter States very little to boast Of, but has 81
materially affected the credit of the Who'll,
Union, that it was found impossible to nego
tiate In Europe any part Of the loan author
lied by Congress in 1912. II was ordcre,
on terms most advantageous to the creditor
terms which in former times would have beer
eagerly accepted /; aud after going a begging
through all the Exchanges of Europe, tn,
agent gave up the attempt to obtain th,
money in despair NORTH american Re
rieio for January, 1914, Vol. 5s, p. 1850.
{" As the fallen drunkard illustrates tn,
evils Of intemperanee, 50 does Mississippi il
lustrate the evils of reputation. Look a
her. But there are men who would dograd,
our Republic to this wretched condition For
getting what is due to our good name as
nation at home and abroad-forgetting tha
the public interests are bound up with tn
public faith, involving all economies, nationa
and ndiyidual--forgetting that our tran
scendont position has corresponding obliga
tons, and that, as nobility once Obliged +
ayrnof dutv-g1oIloeca oIf;1o ~, J,a. - o,,,
licanism. Now there are men, who, forget
ting all these things, would carry our Repub
lie into this terrible gulf, so full of shame an,
sacrifice They begin by subtle devices bu
already the mutterings Of open repudiatiol
are heard. | denounce that political part
which lends itself to the outrage"
Mr. Sumner goes on to show that the or.
of Payment in Greenbacks" and " Taxato
Of Bonds" are very costly cries to the coun
try, England aud France can fund thei
debts in eonsols at three aud four per cent
Our debt bears FIVE aud six per cent in gold
The resources of those nations are not so grea
as ours Why the difference in our credit
Simply because they have and allow no ras
cally party to imperil their credit by the or,
of Reputation. If no such cry were hcar'
in our land it would be s40,000,0O0 annu
ally better off than it is. There is abundan
truth and sense in the following paragraph
for every thinking man to ponder
THE sum total Of this loss directly charge
able upon the repudiators is more than on'
hundred millions already paid in taxes ant
much | fear, fellow citizens, that before Oh,
nation can recover from the dscredit inflicted
upon it, another hundred millions will be pait
in the same way 1t is hard to see this i'm
menso treasure, wrung by taxation from the
toll of the people, to pay these schemes of a
dishonest Democracy Do not forget that
the cost of this experiment is confined to no
particular class. Wherever the tax-gatherer
goes there II is paid Every workman pays
il in his food and clothing every mechanic
and artisan in his tools every housewife in
no. ,,,,oI Ia. st,,,a and nnf.iron avorv mar