Middletown transcript., 1899-03-25
EX- CONGRESSMAN'S LETTER.
TELLS OF ADDlCKs, THREAT TO
RULE OR SINK THE PARTY
TEN THOUSAND FAITH
oMs DEEP.
tFrom NEWS and Adyertiserl.

shipped. But prevailing over part
attachments I had q sentiment of lov
Of country and hatred Of slavery
Whether this was Unborn, or acquired
it amounted to q religious devotion
It does yet.
I Inherited slaves which l neVe
held, 50 In 1860, when the men Of th
South attempted to disrupt,the Amer
ican Union, in the interest of the hate
full institution, / Joined the party Q
Abraham Lincoln. That is where
stand cow, for although that part
has, in some respects. deteriorated,
is still the best we have. \ Ny devo
tion to it has been sincere, pronounce'
and conscientious.
When in 1896 a revolt occurred ii
this State, went with the Union Re
pubIicans and have acted with then
since that time, in perfectly good faith
There is nothing in my public career
whether in Congress, or out of Con-
gress, of which 1 have ever beer
ashamed, and which will not bear the
closest scrutiny.
My connection with the Union Re.
publican party was perfectly logica |.
regarded it as THE party, and the
boilers as schismatics. l have often
condemned their course and spoken
harshly of their actions. At the pres
ent time, while I do not yet justify
many things that they did, l can now
see they interpreted the situation more
wisely than did.
In 1894 John Edward Addicks ap,
peared upon the Republican theatre
of this State. He came with no en-
dorsement, or political fitness, further
than a big fortune. This he freely
gave to aid the party, or seemingly SO
at that time, to secure success against
Democratic abuses. We secured a
majority on joint ballot, but lost the
Senate. He entered the contest for
United States Senator with six men
supporting him. He refused to go
into caucus and deadlocked the Legis-
lature. After two of his adherents
had left him, he still held the remain
ing four with the watchword, "Addicks
or Nobody" A short time before the
close of the session in 1895, in reply to
an appeal from me to step aside and
wait until the next campaign, he made
this answer: "If they don't elect me
u. s. Senator, will sink the Republi-
can party ten Thousand fathoms deep.'
I expressed astonishment and sorrow at
such an utterance, and while I gave
him the benefit of my charity, suppos-
ing him to be laboring under excite
ment, and hoping that subsequent re-
flection and the cooling of passion
would leave him under the influence Of
better and wiser counsels, neverthe-
less could not avoid the impression
that it was an instance Of the most
gigantic conceit 1 had ever known. I
asked myself the questions: "What
has this man ever done for the party or
the people of Delaware that he should
assume this role?n "Has new Daniel
come to judgment?" "Has this per-
son such intellectual grasp and ripe
information, such fine qualities of
statesmanship, as to establish valid
claim, SO suddenly, upon the fealty Of
the partyP"
He dropped, like ApOllyon, from the
clouds, and the party has been under
cloud ever since. From that time till
now be has, on occasions, given utter
ance to such expressions as these: 81
have paid my money for the senator
ship-it is mine, and intend TO have
it," 81 am still in the fight and shall
be as long as live, and intend to be
elected U. S. Senator and I don't in
tend that anybody else shall be Senator
until l am Senator"
A volume might be filled with such
silly, puerile, and self-suficient re-
marks. He has given innumerable
interviews, and all in the same vein.
He has transferred the manners OF the
speculator to the field of politics. He
has made no allowance for the law Of
fitness and persuasiyeness, but has pro-
ceeded upon the principle that every
man has his price, and that official
dignity and responsibility are mere
matters of merchandise. He has been
blind to every principle of political
amenity and has refused concession on
the basis of "Addicks or Nobody'' to
every man of refined and patriotic in
stincts in the party.
All'these repugnant declarations and
attitudes have hitherto been condoned
by many of his friends in the Union
Republican ranks, among them myself.
But at the last session Of the Legisla-
ture when the two factions of the party
had decided majority on joint ballot,
he played the same old game and left
the State unrepresented second time
in the U. s. Senate. ANY man at all
ct TO occupy that high position would,
under the circumstances {6nding he
could not be elected himself) have re-
tired as q partial atonement for his
former political wrong -doings. This
last action proves that his threat in
1896 was the expression of an inYeterate
intent which he has harbored In his
mind until the present time.
Had he been at Dover last Monday
he would no doubt have been exhila-
rated at what be regarded the grand
contamination Of his purpose. He
would also have witnessed scenes which
would have excited sentiment of pity
in anyone moi imperyious ID the appeals
or confusion and shame. Three young