Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-09-03

denotes of that great tribunal into machine
to cripple the Government in its power to
protect the rights Of the freedmen by the
adoption of the narrow notions of State
rights which governed the Democratic party
before the war.
AND WHO ARE THEY who propose this "a
dical change in our Government? Is it the
same Democratic party that in 1860 sought
To overthrow the Government, governed by
the self-same men or their lincal dcsccn-
dants, and the same elements which control
led the policy Of the administration of James
Buchanan. Who control that party now !:
The basis, the governing power, and that
party is in the solid South. That segment
OF the party will furnish one hundred and
six members of Congress and thirty-twO
Senators, and, hy their numerical majority
over their Democratic associates, will die
tate the policy and laws of our Govern
ment. They can claim no Northern States
except what they derive from the shadow of
the influence which centres around New
York, and, perhaps, the State of Indiana :
hut we dispute with them their ascendency
in that gallant State. And thus these Gle
mcnts, embracing the worst features of
American politics and society, would rule
this National Government in all its branches,
anu i''i'it d-hiii INT lNlttS.
and acts from which We escaped by the cleo
ton of Abraham Lincoln.
The bone and sinew, the heart and brains.
OF the North, are now, as then, with the Re
publican party That section which furnish
cs the capital, the commerce, the trade, the
enterprise, the vital energy 10 our system, is
TO be subordinatcd TO a section which still
clings to the idea that this is not n Nation.
but confederacy, that its powers are de
pendent for enforcement upon the narrow
and provincial ideas of insignificant States
This is the change they propose. This is the
revolution they would bring about
And now. feilow-citiZens, suppose change
il made suppose the restraint of a Rcpubi-
can President is withdrawn, what will the
Democratic party do under the doctrine for
which Judge Thurman and Gen. Hampton
plead. On the day of the Inauguration a
horde of greedy Office seekers, hungry in
search of office, will come down upon the
heads of Departments with their claims for
reward for party services, and inexperienced
men will be thrust in to discharge the most
difficult functions of official life
A still more dangerous horde of claim
agents, now haunting Washington, already
keen for plumber, and versed in all the tricks
of the trade, will seek to open the doors of
the Treasury to the brood of Southern claims
which, despite our OVERLOOKING revenues,
will bankrupt the Treasury in a year
know from my personal knowledge 4 number
of claim-agents influential men, who will
vote for Hancock on the ground that his
election will enable them TO recover claims
now barred. All that is needed to cause the
refunding of the cotton tax, amounting to
SOS, 600 900, is an appropriation. Most of
the members of the South, through their con-
stituents, are interested in these claims.
a slight extension of the period of limit
tation, as to claims for captured and aban-
doned cotton, will open up tens of millions
of this class of claims. An enlargement by
half dozen words Of the law for the pay
ment of quartermaster's stores will bring
upon the Treasury demands for more than
one hundred million dollars for food con-
sumed by our army in the war of the rebel
lion, taken from disloyal people, and for
damage done to them as a natural result or
consequence of the war.
But again, if the principles of the Demo
cratic party twenty years ago, and the men
who fought for them, are restored to power,
You will find the same slavish acquicscence
of the Democratic fragments of the North to
the Democrats of the South as before the
war The election laws, of which ! have
spoken. will be the first to be repealed, and
thus will be legalized all the atrocious crimes
and frauds of the South, and even the great
fraud of New York will be condoned forever.
What protection will there then be for the
freedmen of the South : What guard will
there be against ballot-box suffers and like
criminals in the North ?
What further is likely to happen ? The
Democratic party has opposed from the be-
rip CT tint whole
system of National banks, and favored Il
system of State banks as matter of Consti-
tutional right BY the passage of law of two
lines they can repeal the tax of ten per cent
now levied upon the notes of State banks
and thus, without formal repeal of the
National bank system, they can revive the
whole State-bank system, and flood us with
wildcat and red-dog money. That this will
be done have no earthly doubt whatever
All war legislation, or that which has grown
ont of the preservation of the Union and the
maintenance of the Government, will be
gradually swept away, the Army and Navy
will he open to rebels, and the men whom We
fought against will again WELD the military
and naval arm of the Government. Rebels
still proud of their achievements in the re-
bellion, bitter in their hearts, and full of
rage against the defenders of the Cnion will
ride roughshod in their new authority over
men who have sacrificed their all in defence
of the country. The public credit cannot
long c~e,r. A., tbs: stri.i,e. anil
restoration, and the business interests of the
country, so intimately identified with politi-
cal events, will feel the staggering blow.
Are the probable results of Democratic
administration too strongly stated If so, it
is only because it may be deferred by public
opinion from going to the extreme logic OF
their position But know these men well,
and believe that the result of the full ascen-
dency of the Democratic party will be to
shock the public credit TO open the Treas
ury wide TO rebel claims TO wipe out all
that was achieved by the war to turn our
Government back from its National tenden-
cies to what it was in fact before the war-a
mere Confederacy of States-and to cripple
the power of the General Government in the
enforcement and execution of its laws.
Why encounter these risks? Is there any
thing In our present condition that should
lead the people of North, those who fought
for the Union, who love the glories won by
our heroes of the war, 10 make this shame
full surrender to our foes No, my country
men. The change proposed is repugnant to
our manhood, injurious TO our interests, and
fatal to the National policy that has so great
" advanced our country among the Nations
of the world.