The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-08-23

was declared to be divine institution. 1t tool
the relns of government when education was
an ottense, when mercy, humanity and justice
were political crimes.
The Republican party came into power when
the CONSTITUTION of the United States upheld
the crime of crimes, Constitution that gave
the lie direct to the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, and, as | said before, when the South
ern states were in arms.
To the fulhlment of its great destiny, it gave
all its energies. To the almost superhum an
task it gave its every thought and power. For
four long and terrible years, with vast armies
in the field against it; beset by false friends; in
constant peril; betrayed again and again
stabbed by the Democratic party in the name
of the Constitution; reviled and slandered be-
yond conception; attached in every conceivable
manner-the Republican party never faltered
for an Instant. Its courage increased with the
difficulties to be overcome. Hopeful in defeat,
confident in disaster, merciful IN victory; sus-
tanned by high aims aud noble aspirations, ii
marched forward, through storms of shot and
shelton to the last fertilization of treason AID
Northumberland to the shining goal OF VIC
tory, lasting and universal
During these savage and glorious years, the
Democratic party of the North, as party,
assisted the South. Democrats formed secret
societies to burn cities--tO release rebel prison
ers. They shot down officers who were enforc-
ing the draft; they declared the war upconsti-
credit of the Government; they persuaded
soldiers to desert; they went into partnership
with rebels for the purpose of spreading con-
tagious diseases through the North. They
were the friends and allies of persons who re-
garded yellow fever and small pox as weapons
of civilized warfare
In spite of all this the Republicans sue
ceeded.
The Democrats declared slavery to be d.
vine Institution. The Republican party abol-
ished it. The Constitution of the United States
was changed from sword that stabbed the
rights of four million people to a shield for
every human being beneath our flag.
The Democrats of New York burn I'D orphan
ssylums and inaugurated reign of terror in
order to cooperate with the raid of John Nor
gan Remember, my friends, that all this was
done when the fate of cur 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" Remem-
Der that all this was done when your husbands,
your fathers, your brothers, your brave sons
were fighting, suffering, bleeding, dying for
liberty and country; when shot and shell were
crashing through their sacred flesh; when they
were lying alone at night upon the field of
battle, their blood oozing through the mangled
pallid lips of death-all this was done when
these heroes were 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 hideous
prlson-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.
In order that we may see just what was being
hu I'M Ih0n fo Of I'm Nnrfh mil
read you letter written by Jacob Thompson,
rebel agent in Canada, to the rebel Secretary of
War.
[Col. Ingersoll read from Thompson's letter
to the Rebel Government which set forth the
attempts 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 upris-
ings are also gwen 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
just the same as in 1864, SO far as its spirit and
leadership are concerned, with one exception.
The war being over, the rebels are in the actual
control. To a certain degree this has improved
the party.
We must look at things as they really are.
There are certain things for US to accomplish.
FIRsT-We must preserve the financial credit
of the country.
Uoon the subject of finance, thousands of
volumes have been written and numberless
speeches made. Men havo always had q kind
of hope that something could be made out of
nothing. The old alchemists sought, with dim
eyes, for something that could change the baser
metals to gold. With tottering steps, they
searched for the spring of eternal youth. Hold
ing 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. Thewrinkles
upon the brow of age are still waiting for the
elixir of life.
Inspired by the same idea, mechanics have
endeaYored, 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, 10 the financial world, there are thousand;
now trying TO find some way for promises to
take the place OF performance; for some way to
make the word dollar as good as the dollar
itself; for some way to make the promise to
pay dollar take the dollars place. This fnan-
clal alchemy, this pecuniary perpetual motion,
this fountain of eternal wealth. are the same old
failures with new names. Something cannot
be made out of nothing Nothing is a poor
capital to carry on business with, and makes
very unsatisfactory balance 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,
ambuances clothing and food. Like an indi-
vidual, it had to borrow this money; and, like
an honest individual, it must pay this money.
Clothed with sovereignty, it had; or at least ex-
ercised, the power to make its notes legal ten
der. This quality of being legal tender was
the only respect in which these notes differ
from those signed by an individual. As mat
ter of fact, every note issued was forced loan
from the people, forced loan from the soldiers
in the field-in short, forced loan from every
person that took a single dollar. Upon every
one of these no ties is printed promise. The
belief that this promise will be made good
gives every particle of value to each note that
it has. Although each note, by law, is legal
tender, yet if the government declared that 1t
would never redeem these notes, the people
would not take them if revolution could hurl
such government from power. So that the be-
lief that these notes will finally be paid, added
to the fact that in the meantime they are le-
gal tender, gives them all the value they have.
And, although all are substantially satisfied
that they will be paid, none know at what time
This uncertainty as to the time, as to when, af-
fects the value of these notes.
They must be paid, unless promise can be
delayed so long as to amount to a fulfllment
They must be paid. The question is, ''How?'
The answer is, "By the industry and prosperity
of the people, They cannot be paid by law
Law made them; labor must pay them; and
they must be paid out of the profits of the peo-
pie. we must pay Ln6 Q6Db WIN eggs, not
with goose. In terrible war we spent thous-
ands of millions; all the bullets thrown; all
the powder burned; all the property destroyed,
Of every sort, kind and character; all the time
of the people engaged-all these things were a
dead loss. The debt represents the loss Pay
ing the debt is simply repairing the loss. When
we, as people, shall have made net amount
equal to the amount thrown, as it were, away
in war, or somewhere near that amount, we
will resume specie payment; we will redeem
our promises We promised on paper, we shall
pay in gold and silver. We asked the people
to hold this paper until we got the money, and
they are holding the paper and we are getting
the money.
The debt must and will be paid. Every spire
of grass; every blade of corn; every bearded
head of golden wheat; all the gold and silver
waiting for the miners pick; all the cattle
over pastures, praires and plains; all
the coal that was put away millions OF years
ago by that old miser, the sun; every child in
the cradle; all the girls and boys bending over
their books at school; every noble woman; eve
ry honest man-these, all these, each and all,
are the guarantees that every promise of the
United States will be sacredly fulfilled.
Second. We must protect the loyal people
of the South, white and black.
AS soon as the slaves were free, the Repub-
lican party said: They must be citizens, not
Migrants" The Democratic party opposed this
just, this generous measure. The freedmen
were made citizens. The Republican party
then said, "These citizens must vote; they must
have the ballot, to keep what the bullet has
won" The Democratic party said "No."
The negro received the ballot. The Republic