The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-11-07
Our New York Letter.
The Speeches of MIR. Evarts and Secretary
MorriIl-The Purity of the Present Adj
minisiration Dem enstrated by the Secre-
tary-Irresponsible slanderers The Con-
test of To-day in New York.

NEW YORK Nov. 4, 1876.
The most notable speeches of the week have
been those OF Mr. Evarts. on "Wednesday, and
secretary Morrill,, this afternoon. The former
orator never made an ADLER argument or more
brilliant address. 1t was replete with telling
points, and felicitous illustrations. Mr.. Evarts
is always at his best when he is on the right
side. He is cratic as men of genius are apt
to be, and not unfrequently flies the track with
comet like eccentricity. This propensity has
kept him out of public life great deal. But
in that respect it has certainly served him
good purpose, for the honors and rmoluments
of his profession are infinitely greater than he
could have derived from any political station.
The attractions of office are growing less and
less every day. Hard work, meagre compensa-
ton, illimitable abuse and atrocious calumnia-
ton are penalties to which every man is liable
who serves the state, no matter how pure ard
blameless he may be- Consequently it is for
tunate thing for Mr.. Evarts that L is aspirations
to be Senator and Governor have been overrul
ed. His place as a lawyer and citizen is pref
cradle, in view of its immunties from persecu-
ton to any post in the gift of the people.
Maine has made generous contributions to the
missionary work of the campaign. Blaine,
Hale, Frye, Milliken and Treat have proved
themselves noble apostles of the gospel of Re-
publ:canism in the doubtful and wavering
states And Secretary Morrill,, on whom the
task devolved of summing up the case today,
performed that duty with admirable cogency,
directness and force. 1t was the speech of
statesman. There was no clap-trap nor nom
sense about it. 1t was plain, matter -of-fact
presentation of the issues and a conclusive and
triumphant answer to the insensate allegations
of corruption which have furnished the pretext
for the hollow cry of reform" that the Demo-
Gratis are using as meaus of getting possession
OF the Treasury of the Republic.
The meeting was got up under the auspices
of the Republican Reform Club These gen.
tlemen owe some PREPARATION to the country for
the aid and comfort they have given the enemy,
by subscribing to and endorsing their libels
against the admlnistrat ion In March last they
organized under preamble and resolutions
the spirit Of which is epitomized in this SEN
tence: sin view of the recent and repeated ex-
posures of corruption and fraud in the admin.
tration of public AFFAIRS Now, here is Mr..
Morrill's refutation of this groundless and un-
patriotic assumption.
II know what say when affirm that in the
last twenty years the most rigid scrutiny into
the receipts and expenditures of the government
has been applied by this party in both Houses of
Congress, and never before in the history of
the government was so strict an accountability
enacted of it as at the present time. A nd if any
gentleman is curious to ascertain whether this be
true or not, let him examine the list which has
been pretty extensively published over the
country, and which shows that the losses of the
government during the administration of the
past eight years are far less than during dny
other administration in the a0hOle hiStory of the
government
This statement is the literal truth. 1t is the
testimony of a witness whose sources of infor-
nation are perfectly reliable, and whose verac-
ity is unimpeachable. The record corroborates
it. The statistics substantiate it, The charge
of corruption is utterly baseless and wickedly
false. There never has been an administration
of which so little i'll dispraise could be truthful
~ said. When its archives are completed and
its history written, there will not be an honest
man in the land, Of any party, who will not
feel heartily ashamed of having thought or
spoken i'll Of it. And yet it is because the PEG.
pie have been so bedevied and deceived by the
persistent rawlings of reckless and mendacious
press in respect to corruption" that the rebel
cohorts have made such he adway in their au-
dacious efforts to obtain control of the govern
ment. The gentlemen who invited Mr.. Morrill,
to address them today, were for the most part
sincere and in earnest no doubt when they
averred in March last that corruption and
fraud" permeated "the administration of pub
lie affairs" But they had no right to make
such declaration in the absence of any proof
to sustain it. Many Of them are lawyers, and
understand perfectly we'll that hearsay testimo-
ny is inadmissable. But the worthlessness of
the gossip to which they gave credence and cur
rency was transparently perceptible. Not a
particle of it was ever verified by responsible
deposition. 1t never took the form of distinct
specification. It.was always vague, intangible
and apocryphal. If any person having claims
to responsibility consented to stand sponsor for
it, it was always some one who couldn't by any
possibility have any personal knowledge of the
facts Occasionally, so me antiquated fossil
with constitutional tendency to pessmism,
aggravated by the bodily mfr mites of govt and
dyspepsia, superinduced by life of habitual
inertia, volunteered an averment of his belief
in il, but always in so 10 ose. and incoherent
diatribe as to demonstrate conclusively that he
was hopelessly ignorant on the subject. In fine,
the mountain of SANDER after being five years
in labor, has never brought forth SO much as
mouse of conviction. The very futiIity Of the
prodigiOus efforts that have been made to in
culpate the administration, ought to convince
reasonable men that it is especially impervious
to just censure.
However, in spite of the rectitude and integ-
rity OF the administration, the ammunition
with which the fierce Democracy are fighting
to overthrow it, has been supplied by men who
are or have been identified with the Republi.
can party. Some of them are we'll meaning
people, but they have snff cred themselves to b.
humbugged and crazed by the frothy declama-
lions of political adventures and the bald
fabrications of unprncipled newsmongers.
This class have discovered of late how grossly
mistaken they were, and are doing all they
can to retrieve the error into which they fell.
They realize that an administration which has
paid oil twenty-four per cent. of the national
debt, reduced the annual expenses of the
government 1882 900, 900, diminished the taxes
$4,000, 900 year, and raised the public credit
so high that the interest on the debt imposed
upon the people by "a solid South is S33, OOO.-
600 lower than it was when that debt was
created, is worthy of the strongest expression
OF popular confidence which it is possible to
give. 1t is pity they could not have reached
this conclusion earlier. At the time they were
resolving and proclaiming that the administra
tion was honey-combed with corruption and
fraud"-a monstrous and objectionable SLAM
der-they were sowing the wind which has
brought US within the imminent peril of the
desolating whirlwind of Democratic ascend
ancy. 1t indeed behooves them to strain every
nerve to counterfeit the mischief they have
been doing. 1t is logical proposition that if
the Republican administration does not deserve
appreciation, the Republican party has no
right to expect victory. Those who apologize
for and disparage the one, furnish the best
possible argument for the overthrow of the
other. If both were not in accord with the
highest and best spirit of principle, progress
and purity, should be compelled to accept
their defeat as legitimate sequence of their
deficiency in any of these qualities.
Happily there is not the slightest occasion