Year: 1868




of the speech delivered by Mr.. Pendleton,
before large Democratic mass meeting,
at Hartford, on the 25th ult;


81 say that the true policy of the Unit
ed States is to pay the bond-holder exact
ly what we promised. This is the only |
way to relieve the laborer of his burdens;
this is the only way to relieve the burdens
of the country to make it easier for the
people to pay their taxes; to make it
easier for them to gain living. Do this,
and prosperity will again return, your
fields will again be fertile, your industry
will flourish. The Republican party is
opposed to this whole system. They are
not in favor of paying off, but of funding
the bonds. According to their plan, the
funded debt would have forty years to
run at four and half per cent. interest
payable, both principal and interest, in
gold; and the bonds shall not be subject |
to taxation, neither by the State nor by
the Federal Government. Well, gentle
men, object with gold, standing at 40
perhaps las. If you convert those bon ds
into gold bonds now, you will add seven
hundred millions of dollars to the amount
of the debt; you make it impossible to
pay the debt in five years. If it amounts
to $4,000, 100000, and you pay four per
cent. only, it will amount to $lO0, 900
a year in gold for interest. If you pay
this sum for forty years, you will, at the
end of forty years, have paid $4,000,O00,-
900, and, at the end will still have the
debt of $2,50O,OO0,OOO besides. Forty
years! Why, how many of you will live
that timel How many, even of your
children, will be alive at the end of forty
yearsl Year by year you will have to
60 on paying this enormous amount. Year
by year it will come out of the blood and
bones, and toll and sweat of your chill
dreu. Do you know what national debt
means? 1t means that the rich shall be
richer and the poor poorer. 1t means
that capital shall be exempted from taxa
tion, and the laborer bear all the burden.
1t means, for those who labor for their
daily bread, scant clothing, brown bread,
and no meat. 1t means that capital shall
l'pamper idleness in luxury, but that
squalor shall preside over the cabins of the
poor, and that his daily struggles for dai-
ly bread shall make his life constant
death. see before me tonight many
young man, and L can see in his beaming
eye and intelligent face the hope that
lies at the bottom of his heart. He is willing
to labor on for few years, and to hope
that he will be able, then, to trade on the
capital which his industry and frugality
have saved. He has his day dream and
his night dream. He sees a snug home,
lighted up with the smile of love, and
noisy with the prattle of infant tongues
made sacred by the presence of wife
and a mother-surrounded within and
without by those rays of contentment
which plenty and prosperity shed. Young
men, are you willing to give up those
cherished hopes of the future, and to con-
sent, for all your lives, that taxation shall
take from you all except what is necessary
for your food and clothingl Voices
"No, no, neverp'] No, gentlemen, do
not yield to this siren voice, that which
persuades you to extend the debt and re-
duce the interest. Pay the debt and save
the interest. That will answer your pur-
pose. That will ensure your fortune.
| Immense applause. But, gentlemen,
passing away from this subject Of the ma
terial interests of the country, on which I
have dwelt longer than intended, let me
again call your attention to this fact
that the great pole-star of the Democratic
party is the Constitution of the United
States. [Applause. Do not, my fellow
citizens, in the heat of this arduous con-
test, do not forget the great lesson. The
Republican party believe they can amend
| it; that they can change it, and make u
better Constitution than our fathers made
it in the days of old. ["Never, never"
and shouts of applause l charge it up
on you, Democrats, who are here tonight,
never to consent either to its abandonment
or its degradation. Do not seek to amend
it; do not seek to change it; do net seek
to evsde it. Obey it. Immense ap-
plause. 1t was good enough for your
fathers. 1t is good enough for you. If
you obey it, it will be good enough for
your children for hundred years to come.
Study it, understand it. Garry it about
with you, as living presence, in all the
daily walks Of your daily life. Take it
to your home; read it to your wife; teach
it to Your children put it upon your
family altar, that, when you bow your
head in supplieating prayer, it may be
there, next to the image Of God himself
Immense applause Do this, and, il
His own good time, you will be able tc
raise it up to that place and power tt
which the brazen serpent, in the wilder
ness, was raised, in, order that the plague
might be stayed. Do this, and you will
be able to rear it up to that high place O
honor to which the Ark Of the Coyenan
was reared, round which the unseen le
! gions Of the Almighty kept ward On,
: guard, that be who touched it with i'm
X Mons hands should die TRapawed mn