Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-10-20
SPEECH OF THE HON. JOSEPH
PULITZER, TUESDAY OCT. 4.

thankful for in connection with tn
Ohio election, the following speecl
of Mr.. Pulitzer would be worth al
the trouble that election cost. It
scope is far from limited to Ohio ant
may be proftably read by all. 18Th
| ingenious devices by which the Re
publican party has fortified itsel
against the condemnation of tn,
people by carving out scantily peo
pied Republican constituencies in th,
neighborhood of the Rocky Noun
tains is especially worth study:
CITIZENS OF OHIO-I stand be
fore you neither as citizen of you
State nor as candidate; neither
appealing to your partiZanship MOI
for your suffrageS. | stand before
you through both gratitude and so
licitude. Gratitude to those generous
principles of true Democracy upon
which our country, our Govern
ment, our liberties and our prosper
ity were founded, which, granting
equal rights and equal opportunities
to all, raised me, with millions OF
others, from an individual subject
to Republics free and equal citizen.
Applause. SOlicitude for the pre-
servation of those principles and our
free institutions.
1t is customary for public speakers
to open their remarks with some al
lusions fiattering to the local feelings
of their audience. Pardon me if
violate this custom. You have in
deed great State with many things
to admire, but there are three pro-
ducts of your State that / do not ad-
mire; perhaps the three most brill
liant products of successful demagOg-
uery ever produced by any State.
Of course | mean John Sherman,
Stanley Matthews and james A.
Garfield. Applause Nor do adj
mire the product of these products
the Administration. Nor can [
see wherein Mr.. Hayes is sextraor-
dinary, except, perhaps, that having
held the GOVernOrship of your State
by the very smallest majority ever
given to any candidate of his party,
and defeated by large majority for
a seat in Congress, he now holds the
Presidency without any majority at
all. Laughter. Nor do l favor
the product of the products-Mr.
West and the Republican ticket. |
am opposed to every Republican
candidate without a solitary eXcep-
tion. Applause.
WHAT A REPUBLICAN VICTORY
WOULD MEAN.
Why? Because every Republican
candidate is opposed to the true in
terests of the country; because every
Republican candidate means the
success of Sherman, Garfield and
Matthews applause7; because a Re
publican victory next week would
be equal to political amnesty for of
fenseS and crimes against free insti-
tutiOns, which the people should
never cOndOne; because a Republi-
can victory would not only mean
pardon for the past, but also promo
tiOn for the future, and encourage
ment to even greater crimes against
liberty applause] because a
Republican victory would strength
en- the party which, by slow, silent,
but certain changes, has already
wrought revolution in the charac-
ter of our institutions, retaining the
form but destroying the essence of
true self-gOVernment; because if the
Republic does not destroy the Re
publican party, the Republican par
ty will destroy the Republic. [Great
TO prove this language founded
on sober truth, is the task to which
| shall address myself this evening,
and to which / invite your serious
SELF-GOVERNMENT-IS 1T STILL A
REALITY OR ONLY A RELIC.
What are the fundamental ideas
of our Republic? Is it not the
right of the people to govern them
selves? The right of the majority
to rule? The duty of the minority
to submit? The equal and just
of the people in Con-
gress ? Here the Government be-
longs to the people, while in Europe
the people belong to the Govern
ment Now, has there not been
quite a change in all this, my
friends? Has our Government not
been administered as if it were the
personal property of party?
John Quincy Adams well defined
free Government thus: The will
of the people must be its source; the
prosperity of the people its end"
Has the Republican party conduct
ed the Government in this spirit?
Has it respected the will of the peo-
pie? Has it secured the prosperity
of the people? Has it Obeyed the
laws or the Constitution? Does the
present Administration represent
the will of the majority? Does it
the sacred right of that
to rule? TGreat applause
and cries of "NO!" Mop" You
have answered these questions. The
Republican party represents fraud,
crime, deception, hypocrisy, corrup-
ton, broken laws, a violated Con-
prOstituted Judiciary, q
polluted Presidency. [Great APP
plause.
SILENT REVOLUTIONS.
Governments, like nations and in
change their character
without changing their name. Often
the people do not realize such change
in their government long after it
occurred. Emperors ruled in Rome
for more than a century in the name
and through the barren forms of the
Republic before the people really re-
allied the change. What a differ
ence, for instance, in England under
the Georges and Brutes and the
OftO-day! Possessing every
Of free democratic self-gOv-
ernment, she still is supposed to have
the same government she had a cen
fury ago. Form and name may be
the same, but spirit and character
have greatly changed.
Let us not be deceived by a name.
France, called the Republic, based
upon universal suffrage and intelli-
gence, is to-day not much freer than
despotic Russia. The subjects of the
Empire of Brazil have, no doubt,
freer government than the citizens
of most of the neighbOr Republics.
An individual changes neither his
clothes nor his name when he
changes his character to the worse.
The same rule applies to govern
ments. Applause.
We have a Republic, and still the
minority rules over the majority.
~ ~ l.