The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-10-20
JUDGE BLACKS
ARRATGNMENT OF THE REPUBLICAN
PARTY FOR TREASON, ROBBERY
AND FRAUD.

Ills Advice to the People What t. u
should the Enormous Frand'' Of
1876 be Attempted.
The following are the most striking pa
sages of an address delivered last evenin
by Judge Jere Black, the occasion being hi
fret appearance a. speaker during til
present canvass Of Pennsylvania:
j shall begin al once, without preface 9
apology. 70 say what ! have in my mind
But Oh the issue, Of the hour ! will be BET
ter understood II / recur briefly to certain
original principles
This Government Of ours, though badlr
damaged by twenty years of mismanage
ueut j. still worth first cost and carriage
1t was framed by the wisdom Of sages
heroes have devoted their blood to it, and
rightly administered 1t promises more hap
p.ue-- and greater prosperity TO Us and ou
children that have ever been enjoyed by any
equal portion OF the human race.
A. = whole it, organism = not free from
complications tor II was made TO secure
the rights Of the separate States, as well a.
The necessary powers Of the States united
and - % adjust them that the liberties OF
tine people could not be invaded by either.
10 needs no argument from this 10 show
that whosoever, by military force, break.
f4bHt tliE rights OF the states or trdtnple3 on
tIe liberties of the people, Is guilty Of trea-
son much a7 he who violently ressts the
authority of the Federal Government, for the
life % our polItI cal system j. a. certainly
destroyed one way another
Why, fII0H-citizeus, this necessity for
home rule as the only safeguard for life
aui property was the great principle
which the Continental Congress thunder
cI into the ear Of the world when it
declared that each and every one Of these
states should be sovereign, Independent
and free 70 regulate ITS own internal affairs
according 10 the viii of its own people, and
to the maintenance OF this principle they
pledged their hOuOr, devoted their lives and
expended their fortunes.
THE "HEnEsY" OF STATE RIGHTS
The man vino will say in the face Of these
uui-uIabe facts that the doctrine of State
rights Is political hcresy or that the States
are mot supreme and sovereign to the whole
extent Of their reserved powers lacks either
tine mental or moral qualifications Of a good
citizen, be is uutlithful to his plainest du-
ties, h- Is ht only for treason, stratagem
and -p3li." In all this ] am not pleading
Gr an abstraction. 1t is the very core OF
tl. prlaticai controversy which has been
going On for "a century between the friends
aud the enemies of honest government in
America II cannot be otherwise than
tru-aaudentIy important, for the destruc
tipu of State sovereignty Is the destruction
of popular liberty. You cannot under our
system have free people without independ
eut States.
REPUBLICAN, TREASON.
Does it need an argument to show that
popular liberty and State supremacy in
matters OF domestic concern are essential
parts of our political system VIII any
rational man aver that these vital principles 4
cJu be cat out Of our Government without /
destroying its life? Ii person who has I
broken down the defenses of personal liberty +
oz eNlinsui-hed the just authority of a I
State by military violence should be indict- (
ed for treason, what defense can he make I
which might not be made with equal effect /
5y one who J. tried for resisting the Federal .
Government i'm the execution of its purely I
Federal powers? / have put this question /
publicly and privately, in speech and writ
lug. to the foremost jurists of the Admins
trItlIu party, among others to their candi /
date Tor the Presidency, and | have never
yet gotau answer which denied that | was
right morally, legally and logically right. I
REPUBLICAN, FINANCIAL "HUMBUG"
To debase the currency OF the country is
the most perniciou7 of all crimes. When it
j. done by private individual, no mat
iu the penitentary. If it be done in the
form of law, or the decree of some supreme
power, the u;uuity and the odium of it be-
come almost infinitely greater. When James
H. was struggling in Ireland against the re-
beluon, which had driven him from the En-
g,I~h throne hI, necessity for money became
extremely urgent and, to supply himself
be reSarted to an old plan practised several
times before by the worst of his predecessors.
lie caused the lawful coin to be debased by
mixing 1t with lead, and this was repeated
several times; that Is to say, when he want
ell more money he put in more lead, and still
Pald II ont, compelling everybody TO take it
90 the original value of so much good money.
This continued until a hard silver shilling
was worth thirty times Is much As the soft
tcIden coin which the King had made a legal
tender. The Irish called this oilae boug
which IN their language signifies soft money,
and hence comes the word humbug, which
mn all disappearing countries expresses
tine detestatJon which just persons feel for a
sham or cheat ofany description. Precisely
this kind of an ojDe Joug the abolition
lists Practised upon US They retired the
real honest money of the country and ;
substituted in its place inconvertible
paper, which they fabricated themselves,
and by Il legislative decree made that
legal tender IN payment of all debts, public
and private. You may say what you please
about the necessity OF this, but nothing can {
alter the fact that it was a stupendous cheat.
~ compelled creditors To take in full salts, {
faction of their debts the half or the third
Of what was due to them; States and
municipal corporations paid a similar pro- s
portion of their debts with it and repudia- {
ted tine balance. OF course the men of
small means, who worked for their living,
could not keep this deprecated paper they +,
spent II rs last aS they got it, tor they could
not otherwise provide for the days that
were passing over their heads 1t went {
necessarily into the hands OF the great cap :
italISts at home and abroad. They ex-
changed 1t for bonds at par-that is to say,
the Government agreed to give its own
bonds for Its own notes. You remember {
that at one time three hundred millions Of!
these bonds were sold in Germany for an ;
equal amount in greenbacks, when green
backs were worth here ut home only 80 cents {
ON the dollar, and would not pass at all
anywhere else. Really and truly, we got
for these three hundred millions of bonds
only 4 little more than one hundred mil
lions other transactions of a similar
character were made during a period of
many years, which, when taken together
VIII show that probably we did not realize
more than an average of 80 per cent. on all
the bonds that were sold. Thus, one result
OF our paper system was to make a debt of
o,oooO0O for consideration of $1,000
100000 received The people were taxed
70 pay the whole sum. We stood up to it :
faithfully, but it was the heaviest burden
ever borne by human shoulders. The taxes,
national, State and municipal absorbed all
the profits of all the labor of the country. !
The men who created wealth by their
work were obliged to part with all
their earnings above what kept life in
their bodies, to swell the colossal fortunes
of those who did not work at anything but
paper machine. Thus the great body of
the people were twice robbed first, when
paper, worth only 80 per cent, was forced
upon them; aud secondly, when they were
RallaA n ~ l.. e.