The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-04-13
BEN. HILL.
pIsRErvTARIE CAMrAIGN.
abroI, MutIIation ~ isis speeches tor CIR
ruIatIon IN the Northern states.

Drnr Sir have received your lettef
of the ed inst, in which you say:
s'Some one. under the frank OF John A.
logan. e.. s. s., has sent me whit rur-
ports to 30 n summing M OF Mr.. Blaine,
Yourself and others on the late proposed
amnesty bill. Z Your speech
il SO eliminated and garbled that. FROM
IT,, no ono can correctly judge Of your
position.'
A short time before receiving your
letter q gentleman kindly placed IN my
hands u copy OF the pamphlet TO whlcl,
YOU refer. and | have carefully examined
IL. IL purports 10 contain the speeches
of Mr.. Blaine, Mr.. Garfield and myself
on what Is known as the amnesty debate.
find my own speech most grossly anu
adroitly mutilated. Many entire son
icnces are cut out. and many other sen.
tenceR and paragraphs are cut mp AMI
parbled with u manifest purpose To- alter
and misrepresent the real meaning,
temper and argument Of the speech. !
am informed that this ~ffntldulent
pamphlet has beer sent in great mum
hers into the State of New Hampshire,
where m election Is soon to hc had. aud
also into all tho Northern states, under
the frank Of leading Republicans. who
are members Of the Senate and House
Of Representatives.
Now. my dear sir, ! DO not know yoiti
politics. but there are expressions in
your letter which show YOU do not love
f~alsehood. and this Is enough to Justify
me I'm addressing you this letter,
| do not know who got NJ
THIS DIRTY PAMPHLET.
II IL n deliberate falsehood and q
studied attempt to deceive. Every man
who sends II to another, with knowledge
Of rs character, IL guilty Of tho false.
l..I ,.,J ,,,uy. tbn,nJ,r liu ,tnritn Ia
deceive tho people. Every honest man
To whom II Is sent will feel insulted.
and no IL insulted.
The great question ia. what effect will
such designing falsehood have upon the
poople2 II IL bad enough to know that
men deemed worthy to hold high posi-
tions Of honor should loo guilty of such
dishonor. II Is saddor to know, rs DO
know. that
Trts rAIsruoOD - only ONE or MANY:
or. indeed. part OF u system adopted
hero 10 conduct and control the cleo
tions to he held In 1876. But, ] repeat,
the great question Is. what will be the
effect upon the people? Will they be
offended. or will they be influenced or
controlled by f~alsehoods 40 deliberately
planned and circulated expressly to de-
poiye them2 ! called the attention Of
one of the best Republicans i'm Congress
to this pamphlet. desiring to see how he
regarded it,. lie only laughed and said
1T /. bad, ] admit,
BUT IT ~ POLITICS,
aud YOU must expect It," Is this true?
Is this politics? If SO. Is anything safe?
Have we reached the point where lead
ers are willing TO deceive and tho people
nre willing TO be deceived? If SO. then
our greatest statesman Is the greatest
liar I'm the country or course. reduced
TO its last analysis. this means that the
capacity Of tho people for self-govern-
ment has failed. aud our free institu-
tions must perish through
A PROCESS or rALsEuoop AND CORRUPTION.
This will exactly fulnll tho predictions
Of tho enemies Of popular government
50 often repeated. This brings mo to
what ! chiefly now desire to say.
For thirty years | have been an hon
est and earnest student Of the history,
philosophy and science Of government.
and especially Of free. popular govern
mcnt. | have cndeayored to discover,
with rs much cxactness rs possible. tn,
true cause or causes OF the frequent do
cay and fall of popular governments. ]
do not doubt the correctness of my con
illusions. when ] say the cause is identi.
cal. uniform and almost universal. II is
t't'f ffHt 'I'i'h ~ NV f't'' ftt
power.
Our American system Of free consti.
t~utional government Is. by far, the very
best that human wisdom ever devised
And yet internal corruption has grown
TO larger proportions than IL ever
attained I'm any other system in the
same length Of time. We are absolutely
exempt from danger OF external power,
and this fact. | am satisfied, has greatly
accelerated our growth In internal cor.
ruption. No people ever before reached
the point OF d~ecadenco Mt which we have
already arrived and recovered. BIT i,
haze advantages for regeneration which
no other free people ever possessed. and
we can recover. Nevertheless, we can
not recover unless the people oan bt
made to sec the danger and bo induced
promptly and vigorously to apply the
remedy. This Is now the duty OF ever,
patriot. IL Is utterly vain TO discuss
any other question, for nothing else car
save us from the worst fate that ever
befell n free people, unless we can stol
the growth OF this internal corruption
No human study Is SO important, So
instructive and SO Interesting MS that o
the symptoms which Indicate tho rise
progress and prevention of this deadly
hane, this almost Indigenous and al
most incurable diStcBpey' Of republics
internal corruption. The cause and tn,
progress OF the cause Is as well marked
as Is that OF any physical disease.
In n letter like this cannot go into
details, but will make some sugges
tions, which the thoughtful patrio
ought to consider with most unscliisl
solicitude. Heretofore when q republi,
has reached civil wal q hopeless declin,
has set in. This is not true OF mon
arches. They often come out of civi
wars not only strengthened, but vastl,
improved. This is notably SO Of Grea
Britain.
But no free people eve had a civil wa
who did not have Il sequel Of official i'm
beetles and corruption. The reason 70
this Is both philosophical and logical
1t is this Civil wars, far more than for
cign wars. produce chiefs who are elc
waited to the highest civil positions
The successful faction Is certain to max
q civil head Of its military leader. Thes
military chiefs rarely possess the quail
t%ications necessary for civil administra
ton of free institutions. Free govern
ments arc always
MORE COMPLICATED THAN MoNABCHIFS
and, therefore, requires higher uualiii
cations for wise administration. | d.
not care how honest or how patriot
such military chiefs may be, yet no
having the training and qualification
needed for civil craftsmanship. they ar
certain to be surrounded and controlle,
by designing followers and fiatterers