Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-04-05

| why are you QuflD now On tnih tucHi'
of the highest moment Was it that you
were afraid Of the people en- the one
hand, if you declared openly for the rob
berries of the bondholders, and afraid on the
other hand of losing the patronage of the
bondholders' Administration-the bond
holders President at Washington if you
declared the meaning of the law in favor
! of Justice and iIG favor OF the people.
Were not these the considerations that
kept you silentg Did you not think tha1
standing on this plank of your platform
| you could make speeches in counties and
| districts in Indiana, which would never
be reported, in favor of the popular de-
mand for grcenbacks, and at the same
time be still regarded, as you now are at
the Capital of the country, as firm ana
reliable supporters of the present frandu-
lent system? Could you be successful in
this scheme of double dealing, you
would get offices both here and there
offices from the misled and outraged peo
pie, and the appointment also, at the same
time, by the Executive, who is himself a
heavy owner of BONDS, of all your friends
and relatives, as collectors, assessors,
marshals, district attorneys, Governors of
Territories, surveyors of new countries,
and all the other inuumerable places of
Federal patronage. The purpose to de-
ceive could not be more manifest if it was
deliberately avowed. 1t is premeditated
fraud, so shallow, however, that it needs
only to be touched with the spear of truth
in order to make it stand revealed hate
/ full thing of evil, trying by hypocrisy to
blight the gardens, the fields and the shops
of industry in all our borders. Look at
it intently, good people of the State.
/ Gaze long and earnestly upon the miser--
able imposter until all its hideous designs
are forever impressed upon your thoughts
| When, before, in American history, was
| the situation of a political party so
wretched and contemplate 1t would be
a pitiful thing to behold if its wicked mo-
| tives did not forbid its claims to commits
seration. On a question involving the
payment of millions, and hundreds Of
millions, and thousand of millions by the
labor of the land, the Republican party
of Indiana did not dare TO meet the in
quiry which is at this hour paramOuneto
| all others in the public mind: WHAT Is
| THE LAW, WHAT Is THE CONTRACT
INDoRsING THE BONDHOLDERs' MONOPOLY.
But while thus evadiDg the issue as far
| as they could, the hard necessity of party
| allegiance to the administration = in power
| compelled them at last to range them
| selves under the banner Of eXtortiOn in
| such a way as to make their exposure
speedy and certain. They hoped to hide
themselves under the vague and indefinite
| raup1,rti 1nrhioh I haun road hnt tlp
rich and inviting flesh pots of Federal
patronage sent their tempting odors into
their nostrils, and wrung from them the
| following fatal and binding sentence:
"That we in,lOrse the administration
| of Gen. Grant as President of the United
States"
| Do not even the children of the cOun-
| try know that an Endorsement of Gen.
Grants administration is an Endorsement
| of all the worst and most avariciOus pre-
| tensions of the bondhOlder? Who of
| sufficient age has not read his Inaugural!
| In that he says that the man, whoever he
may be, who advocates the payment of
single dollar of the bonds in anything else
than coin, would be driven from the pub
| lie service. Is not the whole country
lamentably familiar with the fact that the
capitalists of New York raised by sub
scriptiOn over one hundred and five thou
sand dollars of gold interest bearing bonds,
which were presented, as one of the many
vast donations from the same source, to
Gen. Grant by Gen. Buttertield, who in
| turn Was made Sub-Treasurer of the Uni
ted States at New York Is it not well
| known of all men tnat the present Chief
Magistrate belongs soul and body, mind,
purpose, powers and functions, person
ally and officially, to that gigantic and
| crushing monopoly of wealth which is
now ruling every department of the
Government? The Secretary of the
| Treasury, who is driving the medium
business interests of the country, the men
of moderate means, and the whole GsbtOr
class, especially of the West, into the
yawning abyss of bankruptcy and ruin by
his policy of contraction, and his desper-
ate efforts to reach specie payment is act
| ing under the orders of the Executive, and
| as completely for the benefit of the cred
| itor bondhOlding class as if they were his
| clients in court. Hard times, scarcity of
money for the people, low prices for their
| labor and products, with no diminution of
| taxes is the banquet which the Executive
and his Secretary are every day bringing
nearer and nearer for the entertainment of
| the industrial classes; and the Convention
of the 22d of February approved of their
| course and cheered them on in their ca
| reer of injustice. The Dives, the rich
man of the period, is RECALLED with daily
showers of gold in open violation OF law,
while the wounded Lazarus lies at his
| gates, and implOring subsistence AMI help,
| is answered with a meager pittance of de-
| preciated paper. And the leaders Of the
| Republican party are content that this
| system of crime against all laws, human
and divine, shall 90 on, and on forever
| Though seeking to cover themselves on
this point here in Indiana, yet when drag
| ged forth from their treacherOus covert
| they are found wearing the livery and do
| ing the service of the eXtOrtiOncrs, the
usurers, and the untaXed brokers and
shavers of the nations credit. They rem
der submissive obedience to the power of
money by their votes in Congress and
they endorse it here by endorsing the adj
ministratiOn.
WHAT IS THE CONTRACT MORTON IGNORES
THE ISSUE.
But having thus far stated the positions
of the two conventions and COntrasted
| deCeitful cunning with honest bOldncss, |
return again to the real questionable law
of the contract. Not only are the resolu-
tons of the 22d of February silent on
this point as | have shown, but Gov.
Morton in his prepared speech deliberate
| " ignores il. He has no opinion to give
in this weighty matternOw. On the floor
Of the House | quoted him as authority,
until very recently, for the payment of
the entire bonded debt, created under the
| five-twenty acts in legal tender notes. On
the day following, in assuming debate, l
again called the distinct attention of the
House and of his colleagues from this
State TO his well known position on this
question. Does he deny it! Does he
pretend that misquoted him! l alleged
that he was high authority for my con-
structiOn of the law-that he entertained
and expressed the same views that | adj
yanced until only short time ago. Does
he dispute the fact? In his speech here,
on the 22d of February, he secs fit to
say:
''Fhe difficulties of Mr.. Voorhees, posi-
ton cannot be exaggerated, but are those
of his party, which has no status upon
the financial question whatever, but
catches at every fallacy and paradox that
seems to present the prospect of getting
few votes"
Now here, in the presence of the whole
State, as q short time since in the pres
cnce of Congress, l repeat that my posi-