New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-11-09
5Txt JOURNAL oF TaE srArE Or LouisIXsA.
NEW ORLEANS THURSDAY NOVEMBER O. 1871
WENDELL PHILLIPS.

WENDELL PHILLIPS.
''Ousleek - Asaericaa Pelltics''-He Ha
Always Bees . C0nsefvative-Labs
asA Caplsal. /.
[Fron the Boston Post, November1.l
The fourth regular lecture Of the Parke
Fraternity Course was delivered in Musi
Hall last evening, by Wendell Phillipe. d
an "Outl0ok ON American Politics" Ther
was q fair audience, comprising, perhaps
1900 or 1900 persons, and Mr.. Phillips wa
quite cordially received. He commenced q
half-past seven o'clock, and spoke an hOu
and three.quarters, substantially as fol
lows:
Ladies and Gentlemen-We are some
times so near an object that We can not se
it. could place you 90 near to City Hal
tonight that you would not know whethe
you were looking at ton of granite or tn,
wall of . large building. So it is with ,
fact. The men standing nearest to it ar,
often the last to recognize either it's breadtl
or its meaning. Perhaps the last men t,
| appreciate fact are the men nearest who's,
eyes it passes, and it is just SO in govern
Our children will understand distinctly.
There is . large class, many Of our Ger
man fellow citizens, who advocate the abo
lition of the Presidency. Thoughtful mel
in that class doubtless perceive what the
ordinary passer-by does not recognize, thai
we are daily abolishing the Presidency
that the movement Of the country for titty
years has been toward the abolition of the
Presidency. You see this tendency in 9
variety OF circumstances. When We were
first . government the greatest men among
~ Droa;Aonts
Presidents. Both the Adamses, John and
Samuel, Rufus King, Alexander Hamilton
Aaron Burr, Cotesworth Pinckney, Mar
shall, and Madison, and Jefferson, Of Vir.
ginia. And in the day Jefferson and Medi
son ran their party. they were the inspiring
souls and the guiding hands. To-day the
party runs franklin Pierce and Buchanan,
We don't think Of putting a first rate man
for Presidency. We have not had one for
forty years. Laughter and applause.l Il
is idle for first rate man to attempt to be
President. The function suits the third
rate men, and has dropped into their hands =.
The President, as great substantive, e.
sential institution, went out with Andrew
jackson. He was the last of the Presidents
in regular succession. We have had one
great man since, Abraham Lincoln, but he
is IN exception in the line. And, as in all
transition periods of government, none of
them as President resists the tendency.
Kings of England have been diving out
for . century, until at last Victoria reigns,
but she doesn't rule. She is an ornamental
part of the constitution. George III. and
James II. resisted this tendency to abolish
the throne. One broke his neck, the other
injured the country. Andrew johnson re.
sisted the tendency and tried to be Pres.
ident, and if he had had any character or
any brain there would have been blOOdshed
in the streets: but the attempt happening
to come from fifth rate man. only damaged
the country without creating any real ripple
in the gradual decline Of the office. And
you see the abolition of the Presidency not
only in the fact that the third rate men
alone are spoken Of for the office, but in
another point, in the fact that the State
from the President; once that slate was
made up at Washington that stretched
from Maine to Georgia. To-day each State
delegation makes up slate and imposes it
break it. And if the President becomes
too Obstreper0us, we put hira under guar
dianship, as George III. was put under
guardianship when he became mad.
Andrew johnson ran wild: we put him
under guardianship. We made the Senate
his guardian by the tenure of Office bill.
Well. there is another feature that YOU see.
and that is that the government is fast
being monopolized by the House of Repre-
sentatives. II we go on as We have done
for the last half century there will be no
government in this country except the
House Of Representatives. As the House
of Commons has absorbed the whole power
of the British government and reigns and
rules alone in the British Empire, so any
man will see that our House Of
is treading TIE same path.
The Senate has already entered on the
great highway Of the House of Lords.
Your children's children, if the republic en-
dures so long, will sec the Senate of the
United States, like the House Of Lords, ca
pable OF delaying measure, but never de.
feating IL. For the last sixty years the
House has shaken its reluctant shoulder
over every treaty stipulation forced upon
it, and th- protest of our own Essex mem
ber against the treaty made by the Senate
Is only the last echo OF the voices which came
from that same chamber against jays
treaty in 1871.
Mr.. Phillips further pointed out this
tendency toward concentration of power in
The House OF Representatives, by the OBJ
'tinacy OF the latter on the tenure e-of.office
% the condition of things in England.
where, he claimed, the power rested in the
House OF Commons, and the administration
IT the government in the premier. Re-
urning to our own affairs, he said Presi- |
lent Grant has forfeited the confidence of a
ertain portion of the Republican party:
dr. Sumner repudiates him, and those that |
ympathize with Mr.. Summer repudiate
lim, and the journals of the day are dis
ussing whether General Grant or Mr.. |
sumner ana his coterie are the real Re- |
~ Ox tv,a
hall debate that question for two years. |
We have done it for year. and we shall |
10 it for year more, ard then the Presi-
ential election will visit us. In the mean
lme, politics angers aud exasperates and |
nonopolizes public attention, disorders
usiness. disarranges the whole BODY polite |
ntil it is settled. Ii We had reached the |
ure simplicity of the English government |
here would be field day debate in the
louise. and there would be something
4mvaient to vote of want of confidence
Ote would decide it. And if thet vote
'as in favor Of General Grant he would |
ontlnue to have Mr.. Butler in the, House
nd MIR. Morton in the Senate as his |
lenas, and II that vote went in favor Of
lr. Sumner, why General Grant would
ave repudiated Butler in the House and
lotion IN the Senate, the policy of the
Orntry would be determined, the vessel
State could steady with upzieht keel,
I'd business would fall into it's proper re-
ltions. -
Your children will see that, for it is the
endency Of all free governments to govern
one chamber not by two, to let power
in one small, direct representa-
We OF the people, like the House Of Com
IONS in England and the Assembly Of the
rench nation. Resistance to this concen-
alton Of power will be made, as it has
cen. The Presidency will resist, and pos
oily IN some disastrous moment popular