The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-09-27
REVIEW OF THE POLITICAL STU
TON
rHE oEIITER,uS> - PARTIES.

AruLt~~ nF rHr HON. cEuEDE ". JULIAN
uN THf TRIAL ~ AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
ANA>rEEN AND EXHAUSTIVE DISCUS
>IuN rHF TENrtN,IE> ~ rHE TIMES ANp
THr POSSIBILITIES ~ TIRE FUTURE.
Et.ANtiLE. Ind. sept I5 In response
u thr uNltauuu II 4 large body ~ the cit
1l,u, ui this place irrespective If party,
the Huu. George " Julian made an al
dress to-day. On the issues vi the day and
tho future NJ political movements. The
court House Vas well hll-d. and the adj
dress presented below IN full. was listened
1, Nith absorbed attention ana frequent
and hearty applause. Mr.. Julian seems 70
have renewed the viLor Of his earlier years.
and pres uts hIsmatured govern
meut With all the triumph and earnestness
that distinguished his memorable crusades
against the slave power The speech is
conceded, hy al Who heard II. both friends
and opponents, t" be the most brilliant FL
fort ever heard from the lips Of a public
man since the DAYS NJ Benton and Clay
Delivering thy speech. Mr. Julian's tall tig
ure gave peculiar force u the mastery IN
ycctlye. and his face and manner warmed
boa unison with the stirring periods. The
speech. As yud Will see. Is the key note ri
the popular campaign. and will arrest the
attention IF All honest thinkers Mr. Ju-
Ian said
THE SEW TRIAL, uF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY.
M Chairman anil Feiior Cifi-,ps. The
present season of unusual political quiet In
Indiana seems to me remarkably favorable
u calm Judgment ana an honest search af-
ter the truth. While party feeling has died
away among Us to an unprecedented extent.
and the issues IF bygune strIfes have grad
ually disappeared, the political develop
ments OF the past year have powerfully
stimulated earnest thought and ndepend-
ent action among the people. New ques-
tons are now 10 be debated, and new dan
gers are t. be met. The dawn Of a new
epoch IN our political politics, which was
becoming visible last year. is now unmis-
taxable and both the love uf country and
the instinct VI self preservation plead with
the people for some wise aud timely meth
DDS II reform. Ia the light of these facts
! believe this Is a time To speak. rather han
a time t. he silent and ! have. therefore.
accepted an invitation from personal and
political friends IN this section of our STATE
to address the people at this point to-day
! have chosen for my subject, The New
Trials of American Democracy. In select
lng this topic ! assume that popular insti
tutiuns, however admirable IN theory or
benehcent IN practice, are Vet exposed to
dangers and vicissitudes take it for
granted that democracy is inevitably bound
by the laws II condition at il not born
out uf the sky, or wrought in dreams" II
Is necessarily colored by the atmosphere Ia
which 1t lives and takes on the qualities
with which II is mingled Ii is an Oppor-
tunity quite as much AS a Power While
decidedly acting upon society, and multi
PLYING the sources Of its own life, il is con
stantly acted upon byeXternal forces which
hinder the free play and full sweep of its
energy. Ii is always on probation. waiting
for its complete ascendency upon the
advance Of knowledge and virtue the min
lstry III equal laws, and the eternal vigi-
lance ot the 0eople. il may fifty be com
pared to the Christian life. in which the
very best men never rise to those nights Of
goodness which lie beyond the reach of
temptation Mr. Buckle argues that in
some countries democracy is impossible
owing 70 the influence Of soil, climate.
food, and what he calls the peculiar as
poets OF nature but even under .he most
favored conditions, and in the most en-
hghtened communities it Is only grand
experiment heroic endeavor Of the peo-
pie, a ceaseless conflict With ever re-occur-
ring dangers. which invoke the helping
hand Of every man who is ready to show
his faith IN free institutions by his works
THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND.
But without further preface | proceed to
notice some OF the new trials Of Democ-
racy IN our own country and perhaps the
most formidable Of these is the result Of
false relations between the people and the
land. So intimate and vital are these r
lations III all countries that IN the nomen-
clature of politics the words people, " and
''land, are convertible terms. The laws of
regulating the ownership and disposition
landed properly, necessarily shape the in
stitutions Of a people. Real democracy
must have It's roots IN the soil, because the
land owners of every country are its mas
tiers. A democratic government which al
lows the land to become the patrimony of
the few, cannot possibly be enduring, since
liberty and slavery are not more utterly re-
pugEant to each other than are free insti-
tutlons and the unrestricted monopoly Of
the soil Such government is democratic
in name only, and is, in fact, the most gall
my and fatal form of aristoeratic rule. 1t
has justly been remarked that the laws of
prlmogeniture and entail, cause an aristoc-
racy TO spring out of the ground, and af-
feet the well-being of unborn generations.
'l...vr 81
many impossible, and wage war against
the normal life Of the family. They breed
pauperism and crime, and lay the MANY
PROSTATE at the feet of the few. It was
through the abolition OF radical curtailment
of these laws by the Purltans that Ameri-
can Democracy was born. Not even the
germs Of arlstocracy were originally plant
ed in New England. Her political institu-
tons were the logical product Of her laws
respecting landed property, which, by IA
voring equality among the people. This
produced prosperous cultivation, closely
associated communities, free schools,
healthy public opinion, democracy in man
aging the affairs Of the Church, and that
system of local lf-government which has
spread over 50 many States, and must f.
nally prevail throughout the world. Eng
lish ideas, however, took root in the States
of the South, and the result was the system
of entails and large landed estates, fifty sup
plemented by African slavery, which sim
ply emphasized the irrepi sssible antagonism
between the democracy Of one section Of
the Union and the srristocracy Of the
other The land policy of New England
would have made slave y impossible, while
democratic institutions could have been
eritage of North and South.