Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-10-02

m every year and record their delib-
crate verdict on the public affairs of
the nation, the frauds whereby that
verdict has been falsified are turned
against me. That to me is twenty
fines more heinous and outrageous
than all the stealing of money, and
the Democratic party has stood be-
hind these frauds; frauds which have
made the State return a verdict
against herself; frauds which have
made me q victim when had a right
to be of those who, being in the ma
iority, record the verdict and deter
mine what was the opinion Of the
State of n ew York. Those political
frauds, so abOminable, strike at the
very foundation of government, for
the worst possible despOtism is a des-
pOtism of bogus voters. Far worse
even then the despotlsm of the Gar
Nicholas or that of Napoleon is a
government maintained by fTaudu-
lent, irresponsible voters. Yet such
a corrupt system has been maintained
for years by the Democratic party, by
the eOnnivanee of men too respeeta-
BILE to be active agents in it, yet not
too respectable nor too honest to pock-
ct the gains of it, or TO shout victory
over success won by gigantic fraud.
HORACE GREELEY's PERSONAL EX-
PERIENCE.
1 was a candidate two years ago,
very much against my Will, for a
State office. Now in the city of New
York there was, for certain reasons, q
widespread personal good will to-
ward me, and 1 received, doubtless,
many votes that were given for other
than political consideration, yet 1
was beaten in the State by some
twenty two thousand votes. How ?
The Sixth Ward in New York gave
something like five thousand majori-
ty against me, and yet there are not
three thousand voters living in it.
loud laughter In the tenth Dis
trict of that ward there were polled
against me more votes than the CEN
sus-taker a few months before had
found men, women and children liv-
ing in that district. Laughter
There are men who are Senators,
men who hold the highest places in
your State, who are usurpers by vir-
tue, or vice, of their ability TO poll
Illegal votes. 1t is a government
based on repeaters- Such frauds are
often q thousand times more cOnse-
uuence than mere financial dishones-
ty which so alarms the country L
have been for forty years trying to
have them arrested, and the Demo
cratic party has been fighting me
step by step from beginning to end.
How, then, can I feel any respect for
the would-be respectable portion of
that party when see that 1t eOun-
tenances and eOnnives at these frauds
" which strike at the very vitals of the
Government? Loud applause
SHORTCOMINGS OF THE DEMOCRATIC
POLICY.
Fellow citizens, desire to say
few words upon the questions which
fundamentally divide the two parties
Questions not of to-day, but Of all
time, divide US. saw the other day
for there is nothing incredible or
| impossible that does not get into
| the newspapers-a suggestion that L
would probably be the best Demo-
cratic candidate to run against Gen.
| Grant for President. l thought that
about the most absurd thing l ever
heard or read for though General
Grant is not a Democrat, he was one
once. I never was at any time of my
4 life; and if the Democratic party were
called upon to decide between Grant
and myself, know that their regard
/ for what they must call principle
would induce Eine-tenths of them to
vote against me- Why? / am a de-
cided enemy of that party, even in its
most respectable aspects.
With regard to those principles
which commend it to the good will
! of some men whose good will is wOr-
thy of respect; if, for instance, there
be anything which characteTiZes and
distinguishes that party to-day from
the Republican party, radically, fun
damentally, it is the idea that gov
| ernments should be restricted to the
narrowest possible sphere.
I presume there are Democrats
present. If so they will agree with
me that if there is anything which is
a vital and indispensable principle of
| the Democratic party IL is this, that
Governments ought to be restricted
to the narroWest sphere in which
they can move; that when they have
to the best of their ability kept any
evil disposed person from robbing my
house, or cutting my throat, the Gov
ernment has performed all the duty
it owes me, and has done all the work
in which it can wisely and prOfitably
be employed. / think any Democrat
will agree with me that if there be
one principle among the shifting
phases of political contention which
distinguishes the Democratic party,
it is this, of restricting the National
Government in the most rigid man.
ner to the duties which no man can
deny belong to it. So with the State
Government; regarding 1t always
with jealousy, limiting its powers,
lettering its operations, Keeping u
within the sphere where its duty snail
be to protect individual rights against
violence and overthrow Now l dis
sent from that. I am not believer
in that idea of Government. On the
contrary ] believe that Government
has other functions, beDefcent, cher
ishing, fruitful, besides that or merely
protecting my person against spoila-
ton. l hold this, indeed, to be among
its most sacred duties, but insist
that there are other duties which 1t
may and should perform and which,
falling to perform, it goes entirely be-
yond its legitimate duties
Take, for instance, that great work
which made the city of New York
the commercial emporium OF the New
World, the New York and Erie Canal
If the Democratic principles are right
that canal should never have been
constructed, or, at least, not till in
dividuals put out their own money
and constructed it at venture with
their own means and at their own
risk. If that had been the case 1t
might have been delayed for hun
dred years. And the sceptre would
long ago have passed from New YORK
and Baltimore or Philadelphia would
have been the emporium of the New
World. New York is purely such by
means of the Erie Canal. Had not
that work been constructed she would
have remained as she was, inferior to
Philadelphia in population and wealth
and inferior to Baltimore in her OPP
pOrtunitIes of reaching the people OF
this mighty valley of the Mississippi
and the Ohio.
| say, then, that if the fundamen-
tai Democratic principles are true,
New York has no right to be the
great city of this continent. and the
State no right to be the Empire state.
They were made such by a deliberate
defiance of that cardinal principle