Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1892-03-17
SENATOR HILLS SPEECH.


spoken and gone. He was accompa-
MED to Jackson from Washington by
Hon. Chas. z. Hooker, of Mississippi.
and his special friends Hons J. s. Nc
Even, of Washington, and j. w. Ridg-
way. of New York. besides representa-
lives of the Associated Press, United
Press, and two or three of the big New
York dailies.
A large crowd of people greeted the
distinguished visitor on his arrival,
though nothing like the number that
had been anticipated by his Mississippi
admirers.
Senator Hill spoke at 2 o'clock in the
Representatives Hall, being introduced
in we'll delivered and appropriate
sre9ch by Gov. Stone
The LEADERS space is too limited to
give the Senator's speech in full or
even an extended synopsis of it.
Analysed and summed up in single
sentence it was this: A definition
and eulogy of the Democratic party;
an exposition of the sufiiciency and
limitations of the National Constitu-
ton an arraignment of the Republi-
can party and President Harrison for
disregard of these constitutional limi-
tations, and an appeal for the harmo-
ny and unity of all the forces of
the country opposed to Republican
abuses and aggressions, under the
Democratic banner, in one mighty eff
fort to overthrow the party in power
and restore the government to its orig
inal simplicity and purity.
In defining the Democratic position
he gave expression to the following
"glittering generality; THE ground
upon which Democrats of the State of
New York have taken their stand is,
the whole Democratic faith and tradi-
tion-not some corner of it merely,
not some splinter of it merely, but the
whole. This is the ground upon which
would see the Democrats of the State
of Mississippi, with all Democrats of
the North, South, East and West, both
, of the regular organization and the
; Farmers Alliance, unite and take their
, stand in the approaching contest.
l Other duties for another day"
That Mr.. Hill is strict construct
ionist is evidenced by the following
''There is no limitation of government
| by a written constitution possible
} among men if this be not sufficient
| written limitation. There is no sound
construction possible Hereunder,
except it be strict construc-
, ton. That old doctrine of true
} Democracy. and that last word
, of high political philosophy then are
identical. Live up to your Constitu-
tion."
His arraignment of President Har-
rison and the Republican party for
their illegal excursions outside the Con-
stitution' in the shape of class legisla-
ton in the interest of the few, and the
attempted force bill, was plain and at
{ times caustic. We make simple quo
} tation 1T shocks the historic sense
to witness that recent forging of force
bill chains. Garrison should be alive
/ to tell the Harrisons that slavery is
dead, even white slavery"
, The speaker recited the overwhelm-
: ing defeat of the Republicans in the
Congressional election of 1890, and
made an earnest appeal for party har-
mony and concentrated effort. The
nearest approach to anything like
, oartory in his speech (which was read
from beginning to end), was when he
delivered the following passage near
/ it's close THE last citadel of Republi-
can power stands at the mercy of our
united assault. 1t is about to fall. Is
3 this the time to divide our forces? Is
this the time for the army of tho Far
mers' Alliance in any State to renounce
cooperation with the Democratic hosts
of all the States. Is this the time to
divide and separate and split ? Gen
tlemen, it is madness Once more to
the breach, my friends. All together.
Just once more"
In view of the issues which must be
met by the Democratic party and it's
candidate, and which cannot be side
, tracked, the speech, taken as whole,
was more remarkable for what it did
not contain than what it did. Tariff
reform and the free coinage of silver
were studiously ignored. An Alliance
member of the House was about to
/. rise and catechise the Senator and ask
him what he thought of the Ocala
platform and the Sub Treasury in par
ticular, but inasmuch as Mr.. Hill was
the guest of the Legislature and such
a question would have been a serious
: embarrassment to him and his Anti
Sub-Treasury friends, the Alliance
brother was persuaded by friends to
= restrain his curiosity.
Both Republican and Democratic
lawyers, including Congressman Hook
er, who escorted Senator Hill to Mis-
sissippi having declared the Sub Treas
ury Unconstitutional and tspaternal.n