The New York herald., 1872-04-20
I'VE, THE PEOPLE"
Lecture by Anna Dickinson at
Cooper Institute Last Evening.
strong Attack Upon Philadelphia and Enthusi-
astic Endorsement Of Cincinnati-some-
thing About Primaries and Land
Grabbing Millonnaires and
War Legislation.

cooper institute, on 1--WE, the People.n There was
very good audience though the hall was not ab-
solutely filed and the meeting was marked by
fair degree OF enthusiasm. At little after eight
Horace Greeley escorted the fair lecturer upon the
platform and introduced her In a speech of hun
dred words.
Miss Dickinson, having arraigned the people OF
indifference and carelessness to the moral welfare
Of the nation especially shown in permitting such
q hide0us growth of vice and ignorance, the neces-
sary consequence of q vast alien pauper population,
to flourish unchecked among us, said Il believe we
can fashion these evil influences to good however,
II we choose to govern the country as q school,
wherein right can be learned. If we choose to
governi II Is matter OF very small moment who
is on the throne If there is power behind the
throne greater than the sovereign. Who governs
this country to-dayp We, the people Not at all.
The President, the Senate the House Of Represen-
tatives, the State Legisatures9 Not at all. Is it
the great body OF the people-the rank and 1le9
There is no man here who does not know that
state the truth when say that the governing
power Of this country lies in the
PRIMARY MEETING.
And what is the primary meeting-the place
where foreign and domestic ignorance are to learn
the alphabet Of democracy They are places 80
bad, so vile SO crowded with vice on the one hand
OF Intelligent ana respectable men slun them as
though they were lazar houses We, the
people of this country building
our houses on sands-shiftng, dangerous,
uncertan--on people without intelligence,
without culture; people who are loud in clamoring
about the rights OF citizens ana know little or
nothing about the duties of citizens. And what,
again, OF the house builded on the sandsP The
rains descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew and beat down that house, and great
was the fall Of it..
LANDGRABBING AND RAILROAD MILLIoNNAIREs.
What else save this Indifference to the primary
meeting on the part of respectable men can ex-
plain the legislation OF Congress for the past few
years2 The primary meeting gives power to the
few who go there to seek 1t and find it. And
what do they with this power Use it for the
benefit Of the peopleY Assuredly not What
else our Indifference to primaries can explain
the strange spectacle of the country seeing its
lands given away to corporationsS The people sit
still while few here give to few there the lands
that should be the heritage of your sons and your
sons sons in times to come. What governs your
own State OF New York What governs New
Jersey my own State OF Pennsylvania We the
people. Nobody believes it. State after State Is
governed by a double line Of steel rails and the
man who governs and controls them.
THE POOR POLITICIANS
What else can explain the Indifference and the
supineness Of the people at the way public moneys
are gathered together and the way they are spent,
and the sort Of people who gather and spend thema
It's as true Of Washington it was when Juvenal
said it OF Rome, 'What should man Of truth and
honesty do at Rome ~ To say professional poll
tciann means in the minds Of most
people in this country professional thief" There
can indeed be no question as to whether there is a
whether
righted. And think wc the people, are responsible,
since we make the government. We
OUGHT TO HAVE
state OF opinion that would drive the people
every man-to the primary meetings and from
more more essential to this country ten years
ago that men should carry muskets to the field than
It is essential to-day that men should carry ballots
to the polls. 1t seems to me that there ought to be
a state Of public feeling that would brand illegal
voting as felony and as treason, since 1t makes
the minority rule, and that would drive every man
to the polls to exercise his right as freeman or
compel him TO renounce right that he held too
Miss Dickinson then discussed the legislation rem
dered necessary by the war, and claimed that
though 1t had been right and proper to adopt GER
country at stake the need for such exceptional
and dangerous legislation had passed. She con-
tinued:-
WAR LEGISLATION.
We have had our war and our ends and methods
of war. What has come ofitf We are continuing In
our time of peace the methods we used In our
time Of war. We had the suspension of such
and such laws and the enforcement Of such
noS suc s saMse Mse Ve noW anS
had the President nsa''I Of the United states
granted the right to suspend over one half
and individual opinion the public good may
right carefully and wel granted that in no one
case-and only grant that for the sake Of argu-
ment-has he transgressed or gone one step be-
yond the line that any of the people would desire
him, that Is not the question. want to ask you
what sort OF an idea OF legal and constitutional
right the President can have who accepts such
President to-day Is granted power that England
would not tolerate in the hands Of her Queen in
time OF war.
We have had our papers full OF Investigations and
the Treasury who has loan to place. He comes
face to face with wall in the shape of q law.
What does he dor Go around it9 Turn back from
it9 Ask the people who make the laws to beat 1t
DOWN No. He tramples 1t under his feet; he
walks over IT. and the party In power by strict
party vote In Congress declares that he has done no
wrong
Our papers are full of things about the sale OF
stances. Certain people say that 1t is proved that
the Secretary stole no money, and therefore, say
aney mas Deem p0vea 9y re
their diminished heads In shame Has there nothing
been proven3 II was proven by that investigating
committee that the whole question OF that sale of
arms, involving United States law and international
obligations, was passed over for settlement into the
hands and Judgment Of subordinate officer Of a
subordinate bureau. Now, say, 1t would be COM
paratively a small matter If 1t had been proven that
the Secretary OF War, or his friends, had stolen the
whole ten millions and put 1t In their pockets, In
comparison to the proof given OF the utter defiance
Indifference, negligence OF Congress and people
concerning law and international obligations.
Miss Dickinson next spoke upon the amnesty
question: and defended universal amnesty on the
ground that we had tried to rule the South and had
failed, and that we ought now to let the few hun
shut out from power, because they were too
honest to perlure themselves, try their hand at
WHAT THE WAR AMOUNTED TO.
People talk about the war as though the war was
complete in itself, something that had Its own be.
ginning and ending and that stood apart from all
the rest Of the time before and the time to
come. The war was only an act In
drama. What men did then they did not
for the life or success OF party, but for
the life and success Of the nation. 1t was simply
part and parcel OF the regeneration Of the country.
They did good and they did evil in their work. The
question il now "are the good and the evil alike to
be honoreds" Many things had gone down In the