Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1874-07-30
REPUBLICANISM vs.. DEMOCRACY.
Address by the Union Republican Com
gressional Committee.

to the people of the United States, from
which the following excerpts are taken:
DEMOCRATIC DIPLOMACY.
1t is thirteen years since the Republican
party was first called to the administration Of
the National Government. For more than
thirty years previously the Government had
been almost uninterruptedy under Demo
cratic control. OF that control there is hard
~ memory left at which the nation should
not blush Seemingly it was inspired by but
one ambition-the bad ambition to make our
foreign policy as itrnoblc as our home policy
was shameless. Our intercourse with powers
weaker than ourselves was spirited enough.
We bullied Austria out of II Hungarian refu-
gee We despolled Mexico of a portion of
her territory We demolished Grcytown. We
inglcd millions in the ears of Spain rs a lure
for Cuba, and the bride was Spurned
In 1854 three of our Ministers abroad as
scmbed at Ostend, and issued manifesto
in which they declared After we shall
have offered Spain a price for Cuba far be-
yond its present value, and this shall have
been refused then it will be time to con
slider the question: Does Cuba, in the pos
session Of Spain, seriously cndanger 0lu IN
teraoi peace and the existence of arr cherished
tHjoh% Should this question be answered in
the affirmative, then, by every law, human
end divine, we shall be justified in wrestling
it from Spain, if we possess the power"
1t adds pquancy to that extract to know
that two Of the ambassadors who in 1854
could think of no way Of "saying our cher
ishcd Union brt to wrest Cuba from Spain
were Pierre TOule and John Y. Mason The
tlud was james Buchanan.
But during all that time, and in spite of
all that gasconadc, there was not Il single
rattralzcd citizen who could safely revisit
| his birthplace, for there was not one whose
citizenship was not absolutely denied by the
sovereign under whose dominion he was
born.
No American, native or naturalzed, could
send a letter abroad except upon onerous
conditions. We had then formed postal con
yentions with but seven foreign countries.
The lowest rate Of postage stipulated in
those conventions was ten cents for 9 letter
weighing not more than one-half ounce. The
highest rate of postage on the same letter was
thirty cents.
We tamcly relmquished to Great Britain a
portion Of our territory in the Northeast;
another and larger portion in the Northwest
We described the line agreed upon in the
Northwest so loosely that Great Britain imme-
diately laid claim to the large islands on our
side of it. That insulting claim was neither
resisted nor admitted. 1t was compromised by
permitting the claimant TO hold armed pos
session Of one end Of San Juan, the most val
liable of those islands, while We quietly
squatted on the other end. And While by
successive concessions We were adding TO the
area of the Canadas we stupidity relinquishcd
to their products free access to our markets, as
the equivalent of being allowed to send SINH
lar products from the Northwest through
Canadian channels, TO such precarious mar
kcts AS they could find on the other side of the
Atlantic
Such were the achievements of our diplo-
macy during those years OF Democratic SUI
prcmacy,
DEMOCRATIC HOME RULE.
1t has been loudly Wanted that those were
cheap administrations! Compared with the
expenditures OF these times, they were cheap,
very cheap. Compared with their worth TO
the country, they were probably the most
protligate the world ever saw They cost the
people from $4,000 600 to 100000 per an
mum Those millions maintained for us the
empty pageant we called Government.
There was Il constant succession of Congress
es, Presidents and courts, The courts of
course were useful in hearing and determin-
ing private controversies. But what is there
to show from the labors of the political de
partments? II seemed to be the sole end, if
not the sole aim, of Government to collect
money enough yearly to pay use!f. 1t did
not always succeed in doing that, as many
10 bills enacted in times of profound peace
still bear witness
The address then examines the action
Of the Democratic party in relation to
sundry works projected by its predeces
sors, notably the Cumberland Road and
the Louisville Canal, showing now, IN
der Democratic management, the Gov
eminent had been outrageously de-
trauded
That party did not oyerturn our land sys-
tenn, Notwithstanding it was a very good one.
During the year 1871 the system was much
improved; that must be confessed. But the
Democratic party was not in power that year.
We ought also gratefully 70 remember that
the grants of land made for educational pur-
7 ,cs were not repealed. The fact furnishes |
q striking illustration of Sparing mercy. But
the phenomenon Is not difficult To explain. /
Such grants were made only Ia States in !
which the lands were, Such lands wcretound |
for the most part only in new States. The |
Now States We're very unanimously Democratic /
in politics The States receiving the grants |
could alone administer them, and the party /
seems To- have trIJ confident that grants 50 /
administered would not promote the cause Of (
education more Than grants of money had I
promoted the cause of commerce. All who /
are familiar with The carly experiences of the .
school funds i'm the southern aud some OF the I
Western States win need no other assurance 4
that that confidence was not misplaced.
The capital Wa, not trausplautcd. Butwhcn |
the Democratic party retired from control, i'm /
lN6l, scarcely "a building belonging to the
Government was finished Perhaps, however,
the party would have avoided that cause of I
reproach if they had earlier formed the design
Of transferring those buildings to the use OF
another Government
Armies were then maintained Their ranks
We're thin, but theywere sumptuously differed
-uiicered far too largely by those who had
been educated in every soldierly grace save
that of allegiance
navy was suffered to exist But as ii was
found a little too loyal to desert its flag and
little too gallant to surrender it when the
hour Of national peril arrived, that navy was
scattered III remote seas. The
presidents Of the those hilfforgottcn years
Wert. as diErrur hv annual and special mes