Year: 1869

the attention of this body to the condition o
our financial affairs. 1t might BE- more agreea-
Bile to the Senate to postpone my remarks unit
later period in the session; but facts and fig
ures, projects and counter-projec. estimates
and specuations will accumulate until it would
confound the wisdom of Solomon to tell what
we are owing, and exhaust dozen such treas
uries as his to discharge the debt


Finances is the engrossing topic OF the day


1t addresses itself to the anxieties, the hopes


and the fears Of all classes and conditions Of


men. Bondholder5 and bankers, lawyers and


doctors, farmers and mechanics, are deeply


and vitality Interested in its solution. Nor is
! that all Many millions OF our bonds and 9TH
er securities have crossed the waters, and Eng
land is merry at the prospect of q rich tribute
to be drawn yearly from the sweat and toll OF
American citizens. How long it will take her
to acquire the lions share cannot be determined
with mathematical certainty, but from the start
she has taken the period will be short, proba-
bly, not longer than Washington and his army
were engaged III achieving our independence.
Laughter.


Considering the amount involved and the diff
ferent nationalties concerned, you could hard
ly overcstmate the Importance Of the question.
1t should be coolly, calmly and Thoroughly con,
sdered. Great liberation and forbearance
should be observed in the discussion. High
authority has declared that the subject is ''mys-
terious" in some of its relation. There are
gentlemen in this Chamber who do not under
stand g mysteries" and those who should deal
tenderly with their ignorance in that regard.
There are very few men who can see very far
into the future The great mass of mankind
can not even tell what day or all hour will
bring forth. a leading lawyer in Kentucky
said that he admitted the fore-knowledye Of
God as Il general proposition, and with only
one exception, that he did not believe that God
Himself could tell in advance how county
court would decide a case. Laughter. Skep-
ticism shall never induce me to place u llmita-
ton upon the attributes of the Almighty, but
will state that no power short OF OmniScience
can disclose what the r ldcal party will do be-
tween this and the lst day Of July 1871, nor what
will be the financial condition OF the country
at that period. Renewed lauy yhter. Various
opinions are entertained by thoughtful and in
ttlligent men, and prescription, fierce and vim
dctive as it may DE, will fail to harmonic ac-
tion or sentiment upon the subject.


The President OIL the United States in his last
annual message remembering his early strug-
giles sympathizlng with those who, are row en-
countering greater difficulties, and desiring
that time should come when poverty should
lift up It's head and rejoice, and when labor
should be emancipated from the thraldom of
capital, ventured to give utterance to an idea
which hal been floating unexpressed in his
brain for more than year. Even if it were





it should have been siileld to protect it from
assault. But hardly had the words fallen from
the lips of the reader when Senators sprung to
their feet and proceeded in angry phrase to de-
nounce ana condemn It, But the theme was
changed. A wall for the dead fell in sad and
mournful accents upon the ear; eulosies of
Stevens followed the ccnsures of johnson, and
twenty funeral orations, pouring forth lone
tribute to the genius OF the departed, silenced
for a season the thunders that had been play
ing around the head of the living statesman.


| do hope that no gentleman will take eXcep-
ton to what | am about to say, We have had
discord and dissention enough III there be
one among Us whose Warlike spirit prompts
him to deeds of clliyaIry, iet him 80 to Turkey
or to Greece and hsAt it ont on that line, bear
ing with him the glad tidlngs that all is quiet
on the Potomac" Laughter. Approving
and endorsing tie sentiment put forth by the
veteran who ise re long To preside over our des-
tinies, and animated by the same pacific dispo-
sition, | say now, henceforth ami forever,
Let Us have peace. Great Laughter Inc
country, without respect to race or color,
would be more prosperous and if we could only
have peace. AS it would be IN endless ubder
taking to attempt q reference to all that has
been said or written upon the financial ques-
ton, shall conine my remarks to 4 very orlei
review OF some OF the positions taken by the
distinguished Senator from Indiana Mr.. Nor
tOu. auu SHAH rely lOl MY IuCGo CHtllSlJ upOi
the reports Of the Treasurer and Secretary of
the Treasury.


These gentlemen, however widely they may
differ in other respects, concur in the utter de-
teStation, scorn and contempt which they en-
terrain toward reputation. Language would
fail to express the horror whcn would seize
upon their souls at the bare thought that the
Government would ever dishonor the very
smallest of its engagements or repudiate any
of it's obligations. A spotless virgin would not
more instinctivey fly from the vile presence of
u seducer than they would shrink from the con-
taminating influence Of u man 80 lost TO shame
as to breathe u suspicion against the national
honor. Laughter. Such crime would sink
him so low in their estimation that repentance
and remorse could never raise him from the
depth Of his degradation.


1t is u fact that good morals and good charac
ter depends upon the observance Of good faith
in all transactions public and private. 1t is
equally true that profession AMI practice are
not always travelling companions III this world.
Reputation, hideous it may appear, is not
such Il stranger in this land as to startle US by
novelty. Instances occur very late in our
history. The patriots OF the Revolution, with
out an effort at redemption, abandoned the pa
per currency which had been paid to the farm
ers who fed and clothed the soldiers who
fought. The last act of reputation is Of re-
cent date, and consisted in appropriatin5
large alLouuG vi private properly 70 puDlC
use without any consideration to the owner.
The Constitution provides:


"No person shall be deprived of property without due
of law; shall private property be taken for
public use without just compensation"


In pursuance of this provision Congress
passed law allowing loyal owners $500 each
for the slaves enlisted III the war. Commis-
SionerS were appointed to hear and determine
the claims, but before Il dollar was paid the law
was suspended, and the debt virtually repud-
ted. The law itself was a very feeble attempt
to meet the requirements OF the Constitution,
as just compensation implies the full value of
the property. Men We're stripped OF their
earnings, widows Of their dowry, orphans of
their Inheritance, and the soldier who followed
the flag from the beginning TO the end OF the war
had to submit quietly to the reputation Of his
claim.


The Constitutional provision to which have
adverted was iu full force at the time when the
act was done. The Constitution was the su-
preme law Of the land, or, as Mr. Websterhas
forciby expressed it, it was the bond, and the
sole bond, OF our Union. No civil officer could
enter upon the discharge Of his duties until he
had taken a solemn oath to support it. In view
Of these facts would ask any honest man to
lay his hand upon his heart and say if the peo-
pie of kentucky have been rightfully deprived
of the property which they held under the
double guarantee of Constitution and of law?
do not ask him to decide it by the Declaration
of Independence, nor by the star spanged-
banner, nor by the higher law (laughter), but
hv ha Loo which e.,