Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-08-15
BEN BUTLER
Defines his Course An a speech ut RID
dcfOrd, Maine-He has Broken from
the Republican Party, because
since the War it has
Done Nothing besides IlObbIng the Peo-
pie. but Make Laws for the PrOtec-
tiOn OF the Il ndhOIdeF-His An
swer to Dennis Kearney on
the Chinese Question.

| General Butler spoke az Biddeford, Maine,
| last Friday evening on 1.-The Financial and
| Commercial Interests Of the Country" The
| following extract gives the strong points OF
his speech:
Il have come here tonight to meet you
face to face as man and man, not with the In
tentiOn, IN the common parlance, OF making
a speech, but simply to commune with you,
| that we may reason together upon a matter
of high business concern. You are men of
business, and acquainted with the business
| of the country. You know its general state
aud condition. You know with more dis
thickness than | could paint to you what is
the condition of labor, the condition of enter
prise, whether by land or sea; you know how
far depreciation has paralyzed industry and
taken away the rewards OF enterprise. Here
we have a country broad enough. large
enough, fertile enough, to sustain thousand
million of people, and we have scarcely forty
i've millions upon 1t, and yet with store
houses bursting with clothing and shoes in
the east, with granares oyertiOwlng with
gram 10 the west, there are shoeless women
and children there, and there are starving
women and children here. Why Is this so, and
what Is the remedy? Let me sketch to you
a moment what moved me, and l trust that
1t will Emove every thinking man here. |
was once Democrat of the strictest sect. !
could answer to every shibboleth Of the doc
trine; | stood with that party until it con-
Guided to overturn the nation, and | left it. |
put up with slavery as long rs 1t kept within
constitutional limits. When 1t laid suicidal
hands upon the government | was not found
there any longer. Without change in SIN
gle Democratic idea, without giving q thought
for the interests of the people, | found myself
fighting on the side of the nation. When the
war was over | attempted to reap the results
of the war, but men who wanted place and
power on the one side, men who feared on the
other, and above all, men who wanted con-
citation lest business should be stopped, con-
Guided to give up largely the results of the
war. What counted in Mr.. Hayes and count
ed out Mr.. Illden, rightly or wrongly? 1t
was fear that business would stop, was 1t not
Has business gone on any better since! We
were told over and over again If you will
count IN MIR. Hayes we will have hearty sa-
lutation, shaking of hands across the bloody
chasm, the business would 90 on and the
country would take 8 new lease. Has il?
Therefore, | say we yielded to the fear OF the
men Of capital 1t was Wall street that
elected the electoral commission. They meant
to cheat somebody by it-either TIlden or
Hayes; and TIlden got cheated, and Hayes
cheated us, because we elected him, and
made speeches all over Massachusetts upon
the ground that he would protect the black
! man at the south against the ruen who were
attempting, as | thought and believed, to
take away his rights; and If Hayes had not
agreed to do that he would not have come
any nearer an election than some OF the cam
dIdates of the old parties of the State will by
the votes OF the people this fall. When it
was supposed on the eighth OF November that
the election had gone against Mr.. Hayes, he
came out to his friends and made a speech,
and said he did not care anything for himself
that he had not been elected President, but
ON, the poor negro! he would be delivered
over to his oppressOrS, and then within SIX
months after that he made barGa ain TO give
over the negro TO MS oppressor for the sake of
being counted In, aud still business don't re-
vive. When the Republican party elected its
President in 1860 it had very few men or very
little wealth or capital in it. 1t was a party,
as | said before, of labor, but the war re-
quired capital, and a great deal of it. Capt.
tai always clusters around governments,
whether in this country or In Europe, and
capital came into the Republican party, came
to the government and loaned its capital, and
got control Of the government and held It,
Capital got control Of the Republican party,
and eUer since the toar the only thing the
Republican party has been at tcOrk for is to
see hO'o 1t can protect capital, for capital
makes the la,Cs. Some gentle
men think, perhaps. that there
Is not much in the Greenback party.
There may not be very many men IN it here;
but there is a principle of right, strong,
powerful, eternal, which shall bring the gov
ernment into the hands of the people just as
surely as there is a God above and intelligent
thinking men beneath. Now l will tell you
what want; l always had a faculty for do
ing that. Great laughter. l want, in the
first place, dollar fixed by law, not made
pendent upon anything redeemable, but
legal-tender for debts, public and private,
with the stamp On it of the most powerful
and wealthy nation on earth, the United
States of America IapDlauseI, as a currency
for the people of the United States of Ameri-
ca. lGreat applause l don't want this
dollar made to suit anybody In another ma
ton, and especially the Chinese. Prolonged
laughter and applause.l l don 1t want piece
OF gold stamped with a dollar, because that
gold is a com modify; for when it gets to be
one comes and just takes 1t off for q COM
moGl'y. L stand here for an lnconvertible |
pap currency, the greenback which carried
on the war and saved the country. APP |
plause. l want to get rid Of the bonds, not
out of any SPECIAL enmity to the bondhoider,
but for the good Of the people"
Butler to AeaEney on the Chinese.
The following is General Buffers answer
to Dennis Kearney's questions as to the right |
OF California to control the Chinese question: |
DEAR SIR-Having proposed to me certain !
questions OF constitutional law regarding the |
rights and powers Of the State Of California |
as one of the United States of America in re- |
latlon to the subjects of the empire Of CHINA |
who now may be or may hereafter come |
within its borders, l hasten to answer. Let |
me premise, however, that as the questions |
are OF the graveSt charact +, and the action |
which you inform nae you propose to take To- |
ward the Chinese Is TO be Of the most strn- |
gent nature, would have greatly preferred /
to have taken time to answer when free from |
the many Onerous engagements now pressing |
upon me, and after a thorough examination |
of the treaty provisions and the decisions |
given IN cOrrelative cases by the courts. But as
you say the time of your stay is limited, and as
my own public duties call me away at once,
l can give you only such i'm yressi0ns as occur /
to me OF d too cursory examination of the
subject. l am relieved, however, by the form
of your questions, which only relate to the
power Of your State, and not to the propriety
or wisdom OF the action to be taken.
The treaty provisions which seem to bear
upon this matter may be found IN the treaty
proclaimed at Washington On the fifth day of
July, 1868. By the fifth article of SAID
treaty the United States and China cordially
the inherent and inalienable right |
of man to change his home and his allegi-
ance, and also the mutual advantage of the
free migration and emigration of their citi-
zens and subjects respectively, from the one
country to the other, for purposes Of curiosl-
ty, OF trade, or as permanent residents. The
high contracting parties, therefore, Join In
any other than entirely vol
untary immigration for these purposes.
They consequently agree topass laws making
it penal otfense for citizen of the United
States or Chinese subjects to take Chinese
subjects either to the United States or to any
other foreign country, or for Chinese sub
lect or citizen of the United States to take
he citizens of the United States to China or
to any foreign country without their free and
consent, respectively.
Article 6 provides that "Chlnese subjects
visiting or residing in the United States shall
9niOY the same privileges indempities and