The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1874-09-11
CRU Northerncr.
Paw Paw M,cnueAy, SEPT IL, 1874.
MR.. WILLARD'S SPEECH.


rHE CONVENTION The renewed expires
sion of your confidence in me, in desig,
mating me a second time as your candi
date for Representative in Congress
from this district, demands, and If | may
be allowed to add, obtains, from me an
appreciation which [ find it difficult on
this occasion to frame words to adequate
ly convey. Permit me also to say that
however great may be the pleasure de-
rived from the assurance of your gen.
erous favor, in thus indorsing me for
the small share have had in public af.
fairs at Washington, can hardly sup
press the conviction that l owe more to
the kind indulgence of my constituents
than to my own merit. Indeed, if my
acts or votes have been in any degree
meritorious, it is largely due to those
whom / have the honor to represent,
and not wholly to my own sagacity and
discretion for, be assured that III my
Congressional course l have ever found
it to be of invaluable service to me to
verify my own conclusions by your con
siderate judgment, and sometimes to
correct the alterations of my individual
opinion by your collective wisdom.
The task of the legislator who has an
honest aud enlightened constituency is
comparatively easy. He has strong
additional encouragement to do right {;
and an equally powerful motive to re.
strain him from being led to do wrong
1t is therefore peculiarly good fortune
that he who is called to represent this
district in Congress can always bear
with himself the satisfactory reflection
that the line OF his public duty will, in
80 cases out of lG0 be exactly coinci.
dent with the will of his constituents.
Accordingly, l have endeavorcd to look
away from and beyond the influence that
sometimes surrounds one at the Nation
al capital, and have sought to represent
to myself the views which are INDUCED
upon the various questions under dis
cussion by the people who selected me
as their representative. 1t has been re-
peatedly useful to me to corroborate or
correct my views, not by the sentiment
which was rife in the streets and hotels
Of Washington, but by that which [
knew to be prevalent by the fresides of
Barry, of Eaton, of Jackson, of Branch
and Calhoun.
That there are portions of the country
where the pressure of public opinion ex.
erts an unhealthy and deleterious in-
tluence upon the course of the legislator
we cannot doubt, but this portion of the
Peninsular State comprises population
whose intelligence, stability of sentiment
and soundness OF views upon all i'm.
portant public questions present firm,
reliable and unvarying support to all
safe and judicious craftsmanship. 1t is
almost an axiom to state that the man
who misrepresents their wishes and
views also misrepresents the vital in.
terests of the country.
1t is scarcely needful that | should
attempt to give at this time any account,
however brief, Of my stewardship, as
your representative, i'll the legislative
branch of the National Government.
The record o. the first session of the
Forty third Congress is already made
up, and you have no doubt passed your
Judgment thereon. The people never
watched the acts of their representatives
more closely, aud perhaps never held
them to stricter account for the man
per in which they discharged their high
trusts, than during the past winter. No
important vote was overlooked, but was
submitted to the test of the most search.
ing scrutiny. The criterion Of honesty
and economy in appropriating the money
of the people, of integrity in guarding
the sacred interests of liberty, and of
rigorous Justice to the claims and de.
mands OF the agricultural and other
great Industrial interests, was never more
rigidly and increasingly applied. The
whole country was evidently bound to
keep an eye upon the proceedings at
Washington, aud especially of the Ma.
tional Legislature. As the result of
this most commendable interest in pub.
lie affairs, and in the acts of public men,
it is gratifying to know that the action
of the present Congress thus far has very
generally secured from the people
favorable verdict. The part which l
took in shaping its course and policy, as
new and inexperienced member, was
10 triAing that l can be entirely &C.
quilted of the charge of egotism when l
assert that the record of the Forty-third
Congress was in nearly every particular
worthy of the great party which bore
the responsibility of legislation, and of
the great people for whom the legisla.
ton was effected. There is no chance
for doubt that the public opinion, even
if it points out some errors, has already
settled down to the conviction that the
party in power has SO met its response
bilities for the period under review, that
it may be said, in the fullest and most
emphatic sense, to have deserved well
Of the Republic.
The repeal of the law for the increase
of salaries; the abolition of the repre-
hensible system of mileage, thus largely
reducing the average of the pay given