Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-07-29
Che FREEMAN.
MONTPELIER, VT,
WEDNESDAY, JULY %, 1874
Address of the Union Republican Con-
gressiOnal Committee.
, The PeoDle of the United States:


occasion invites us to submit for your in
-pection the record of Republican achieve
ments since that party was called to the
administration of national affairs We
seize the opportunity to avow that record, |
NOT to apologize for it. We challenge |
your approval, not your pardon
The obligations of government and |
people, like the obligations of servant and |
master, are mutual.
The government. like the servant, owes
faithful service But the people, like the
master, owe honest recognition of faith
full service Every thoughtful employer
knows that he can not with impunlty de
crv faithful labor. He who does so hab-
itnallv will soon have no faithful laborers.
The faithful servant will not submit to be
treated as Il fiithless one. If so treated
he himself will become faithless, or he
viii give place to one who Is taithless.
DEMOCRATIC sTATEsMANSHIP.
It is thirteen years since the Republi
can party was first called to the admins
tration OF the National Government. For
more than thirty years previously the
Government had been almost uninterrupt-
cdlv under Democratic control. OF that
control there Is hardly a memory left at
which the nation should not blush Seem
inoIv. it was inspired by but one ambition
-fhe bad ambition to make our foreign
policy as i@noble rs our home policy was
Shameless. Our intercourse with Powers
weaker than ourselves was spirited enough
We bulliedf fAustria out of a Hungarian
re(uoee. We despoiled Mexico of Il por
tion of her territory. We demolished
Grevtown. We iingled millions in the
ears Of Spain rs a lure for Cuba, and the
brbe was spurned.
In 1874 three of our Ministers abroad
assembled ut Ostend and issued a manites-
to in which they declared, . After we shall
have offered Spain price for Cuba far
beyond its present value, and this shall
lave been refused. then it will be time to
consider the question: Does Cuba in the
possession of Spain seriously endanger
aur internal petre and the existence OF
ogy cherished Tui0n2 Should this ques-
tiou be answered in the affirmative, then
bv every law. human and divine, we shall
Lee justified in wrestling it from Spain il
We possess the power.
1t adds pqnancy to that extract to
know that two of the ambassadors who in
l>24 could think of no way of saving - On
cherished Union" but to wrest Cuba from
Spain We're Pierre Soule and John \
Mason. The third was James Buchanan
But during all that time, and in spite o
all that gaScon1de, there WAS not a single
uaturalized citizen who could safely revis
it his birthplace, for there was not one
whose citizenship was not absolutely de
MED bv the sovereign under whose do
muion he was born.
No American, native OF naturaIiZed
could send a letter abroad, except upol
onerous conditions We had then forme'
no-t-,I conventions with but seven foreign
countries.
The lowest rate OF postage stipulated il
those cony yentionS was ten cents for a let
ter weighing not more than one hal
ounce The highest rate of postage on TIN
same letter was thirty cents.
We tamelv relinquishcd to Great Britain
q portion of our territory in the northeast
another and a larger portion III the north
west We described the line agreed upO
i'm the northwest so loosely that Grea
Britain Immediately laid claim to larg
Islands on our side of it. That insulting
claim was neither resisted nor admitted
1t was compromised by permitting tn
claimant to hold armed possession of on
end of san Juan, the most valuable {
those islands. while we quietly squattc
ON the other end. And while by succe;
-ivc concessions. we were constantly ado
mo to the area Of the CanadaS, we stupit
lvrelinqui>hed to their products free acce:
to our markets, rs the equivalent of bein
allowed to send similar products from ii
Northwest through Canadian channels,
such precarious markets as they could fin
ON the other side of the Atlantic.
Such were the achievements of our d
plomacy. during those Years of Democra
ic supremacy.
CHEAP GOVERNMENT.
The story of our home rule would
,adder still. if anything sadder could b
1t has been loudly vaunted that tho
were cheap administrations Compare
with the expenditures of these times the
were cheap, very cheap. Compared wi
their worth to the country they we
probably the most prohigate the wor
ever saw. They cost the people from iif
to seventv-five millions per annum. Tho
millions maintained for US the empty 7
geant we called Government. 1t was
most worthless pageant that could be co
trived 1t was not even SNOWY: 1t w
vulgar 1t had all the features Of go
crnment but without its faculties. The
were the three regular organs-legislatiN
executive, judicial. There was cOnSta
succession of Congresses, Presidents, a
courts. The courts Of course were use
in hearing and determining private CO
troversies But what is there to she
from the labOrs of the political depa
ments? 1t seemed to be the sole end
Mt the sole aim. of Government to cole
money enough yearly to pay ITSELF
did not ALWAYS succeed in doing that
many loan bills enacted in times of p
found peace still bear witness. indie
that party was peculiarly embarrassed
the collection of revenue. 1t dared
levy Il tax except on the importation o
foreign commodity; and it always dreaC
10 tax the importation of a foreign co
modify lest it might unwittingly prom
some domestic industry. No well-educ
ed Democrat could tolerate such resi-
30 deficient revenues were, from time
time. aided by loans. Such was the C
in 1871, 1912. and 1916.
The lirst act, passed at the first sess
oi the thirty-fiith Congress, authorized
issue of Treasury notes, and almost
last act of the same session authorize
loan In June, 1860, a further loan
Ntnty-one millions was authorized,
and on the sth of FEBRUARY, 1861, an
peal was made TO the market for twer
HFe millions more.
Through all these years Congress
Hembled annually The long sessi
We're extended over periods of sey
ei@ht. and nine months. But, Ions
short, the sessions produced little in
way Of legislation beyond the tax
appropriation bills. The talk endu
for months; the work was accomplis
in weeks.
The first session of the Thirty-sec
Congress was prolonged until the Sis
August. The acts passed embrace
hundred and forty -four pages of the :
utes. All but the first thirty-seven pa
are covered by acts approved on the
t''O days Of the session. Earlier admi
trations had planted the National Cap
had framed the leading features of