Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-09-04


You must not forget the condition of the gov.
eminent when it came into the hands of the Re-
publican party. Its treasury was empty, its means
squandered. its navy dispersed, its army unre-
liable, the offices filled with rebels and rebel SPIES
the South in arms, the Democratic party rubbing
It's hands in a kind of hellish gee and shouting
" told you so.'
When the Republican party came into power in
1861, it found the Southern States in arms; it
found q fugitive slave law upon the statute books
of the United States, a law that made Northern
free men the partners of Southern blood-ho
it found Northern States, in which it was a crime
to give cup of cold water, q crust of bread to a
human being, while endeavoring to regain its
birthright of freedom; it found market for men
and women at the heart of the nation; the shadow
of the dome of the Capitol fell upon slave pens
upon the crouched and shudderng forms of
women, from whose arms babes had been torn and
sold by Democrats. 1t came into power when
human beings were chained hand to hand and
driven like cattle to market. When white men
were engaged in the ennoblng business of raising
dogs to pursue and catch men and women when
the bay of the blood hound was considered as the
music of the Union. 1t came into power, when
from thousands of pulpits, slavery declared to
be divine institution. 1t took the reins of gov
eminent when education was an offence, when
mercy, humanity and justice were political crimes.
The Republican party came into power when
the Constitution of the United States upheld the
the crime of crimes a Constitution that gave the
lie direct to the Declaration Of Independence and,
as l said before, when the Southern States were
in arms
To the fulfllment of its great destiny, it gave
all its energies. To the most superhuman task
long and terrible years, with vast armies in the
field against it; beset by false friends; in constant
perll betrayed again and again; stabbed by the
Democratic party in the name of the Constitution;
reviled and slandered beyond conception; attack
ed in every conceivable manner-the Republican
party never faltered for instant. Its courage
increased with the difficulties to be overcome.
Hopeful in defeat, confident in disaster, mcrciful
IN victory; sustained by high aims and noble
aspirations, it marched forward, through storms
OF shot and shell-on to the last fertilization of
treason and rebeion-forward to the shining
goal Of victory. lasting and universal.
During these savage and glorious years, the
Democratic party of the North, as party. assisted
the South. Democrat formed secret societies to
burn cities-to release rebel prisoners. They
shot down officers who were enforcing the draft;
they declared the war unconstitutional; they left
nothing undone to injure the credit of the Gov
ernment; they persuaded soldiers to desert; they
went into partnership with rebels for the purpose
of spreading contagious diseases through the
North They were the friends and allies of per-
sons who regarded yellow fever and small pox
weapons of civilized warfare.
In spite of all this the Republicans succeeded.
The Democrats declared slavery to be divine
institution. The Republican party abolished it,
The Constitution of the United States was
changed from sword that stabbed the rights Of
four million people to shield for every human
being beneath our flag.
The Democrats of New York burned orphan
asylums and inaugurated reign of terror in order
to cooperate with the raid of John Morgan
Remember my friends that all this was done when
the fate of our country trembled in the balance of
war; that all this was done when the great heart
of the North was filled with agony and courage;
when the question was, 'Shall Liberty or Slavery
triumph" Remember that all this was done
when your husbands, your fathers, your brothers,
your brave sons, were fighting, suffering, bleed
ing, dying for liberty and country; when shot
and shell were crashing through their sacred
flesh; when they were lying alone at hight upon
the field of battle, their blood oozing through the
mangled pallid lips of death-al this was done
when these heroes we're in the hospitals of pain,
dreaming broken dreams Of home, seeing fever
pictures of the ones they loved when these
soldiers of the Republic were in the hdeous
prison-pens, with no covering but the clouds, no
food except such as worms had refused, and no
friends except insanity and DEATH No words
have ever passed the human lips strong enough to
curse the Northern allies OF the South. Oh !
that there were words, out of which sentences
could be. constructed like serpents-fanged and
Observation-Disclosures that would writhe and hiss.
Col. Ingersoll quoted from Thompson's letter to
the Rebel Government which set forth the at
tempts of the Democratic leaders in the North in
the summer of 1864 to incite riots in several Of
the northern States, to fire northern cities and
scatter small pox and yellow fever therein. The
dates of the Copperhead uprsings are also given
and the reasons why they failed.
But some will say that this was long ago, and
that the Democratic party has changed since then.
The truth is, the Democratic party is jrst the
same in 1864, far as its spirit and leadership
are concerned, with one exception The war
being over, the rebels are in the actual control.
To q certain degree this has improved the party.
Upon the subject Of finance, thousands Of vol
umes have been written and numberless speeches
made. Men have always had kind of hope that
something could be made out of nothing. The
old alchemists sought, with dim eyes, for some
thing that could change the baser metals TO gold.
With tottering steps, they searched for the spring
of eternal youth. Holding in trembling hands
retort and crucible, they dreamed Of the elixir of
life. The baser metals are not gold. The gurgle
OF the shining spring Of eternal youth has not
been heard The wrinkles upon the brow OF age
are still waiting for the elixir OF life.
Inspired by the same idea mechanics have en-.
deavored, by curious combinations OF levers and
inclined planes of wheels and cranks and shifting
weights, to produce perpetual motions, but the
wheels and levers wait for force. And, in the
financial world, there are thousands now trying
to find some way for promises to take the place
of performance; for some way to make the WORD
dolla, as good as the dollar itself; for some way
to make the promise to pay dollar take the dol
lars place. This financial alchemy, this pecuniaIy
perpetual motion, this fountain Of eternal wealth,
are the same old failures with new names Some
thing cannot be made out oil notninS. NotnlnS Is
a poor capital 10 carry on business with, and
makes very unsatisfactory b'lance at your
bankers.
The United States wanted money. 1t wanted
money to buy muskets and cannon, and shot and
shell, to kill Democrats with; it wanted money to
pay soldiers, to buy horses, wagons. ambulances,
clothing and food. Like an individual, it had to
borrow this money; and, like an honest indi-
vidual it must pay this money. Clothed with
sovereignty, it had, or at least exercised. the
power to make its notes legal tender. This quail
ity of being legal tender was the only respect in
which these notes differ from those signed by an
individual. As matter Of fact, every note issued
was forced loan from the people, forced loan
from the soldiers in the feld-in short, forced
loan from every person that took single dollar.
Upon every one of these notes is printed prom
Use. The belief that this promise will be made
good gives every particle Of value to each Tote
that it has. Although each note, by law, is a
legal tender, yet if the government declared that
it would never redeem these notes, the people
would not take them if revolution could hnrl such
government from power. So that the belief that
these notes will finally be paid, added to the fact
that in the meantime they are a legal tender,
gives them all the value they have. And, al.
though all are substantially satisfied that they will
be paid, none know at what time. This uucer-
tainty as to the time, to when, affects the value
of these notes.