Year: 1877

!


fattering terms by Senator Herman, his


Democratic colleague. If any man could


fifty acknowledge and respond to all this,


am not he. Such welcome, such a


magnificent manifestation Of goodness, Of
generosity, would be memorable in life


of usefulness and worth, to which / can


lay no claim. Its most agreeable feature


Is the absence of party lines. Among


those from whom it comes are many who


have differed with me in the sharp politi-
cal collisions Of the past. For more than
twenty years we have been engaged in
contests often waged with heat and ardor


which have not always stopped, fear,


with mere difference oil political opinion.


Tonight the bugles Of party sound
truce, and you come as neighbors and
friends to greet a neighbor and friend
Twenty years is great while. Since it
began Time, with his frosty fingers, has
cooled and silverOd many brow, and |
can say, truly, that no word, harsh or
singing, toward political opponent ever
passed my lips which would not tonight
gladly recall. Speaking to Democrats not
less than to Republicans, speaking to the
organizations and to the individuals who
have bestowed all the trouble which this
demonstration attests, speaking to my
honest colleague in the Senate who has
come here to say eloquent and undeserved
words, speaking to all my voice can reach,
| render you the acknowledgment Of
greatful heart and return in measure
heaped up every sentiment of friendship
you can feel for Inc or mine. Disclaiming
the credit generally ascribed to me by |
Senator Herman, ! am glad Of public oc-
casion to refer 10 one Of the mont pleasing |
incidents Of my public service. During |
the brief time that we have been colleagues |
in the Senate, we have been called TO act |
on questions Of deep concern to the State
Of New York, and to every State in the
Union. In one memorable instance the
country was in more immipent peril than
you at home could fully realize, in danger
Of being disgraeed before the world and |
involved in connections and consequence
which no citizens possessed of property,
saying nothing of the patriotism or pride
Of country, could ever have ceased to de-
plore. On this occasion, and on all ocea-
sions, when the interest Of our country or
our State were involved, no political antag-
onism kept us apart He will confirm
me in saying that there has never been an
hour when We could not confer as freely
upon public measures as if we had been
members of the same political party. If
either of US had entered the Senate believ.
ing that we cannot be ardent party men
and at the same time be patriots, our asso-
eiates would have undeceived US if we had
not undeceiyed ourselves. He is a pretty
staunch Democrat, but he never seemed to |
be Democrat enough to believe it would |
hurt his party to do right. l trust have
never been Republican enough to believe
1T part of the Republican creed to do
wrong.


You may expect me TO say something
Of my journey abroad. The truth is / |
was homesick, downright homesick. The
farther | went the more it seemed there
was no country like America, no State like |
New York. No American can realize the
progress America has made until he goes
and compares it with other lands. With |
out seeing other countries, it is hard to
realize how bounteous nature and Provi-
dence have been to us. We suffer inst
now from hard times and depressed indus
tries You see all this and more abroad.
We think England rich in the ocean car
rying trade. So she is, but many of her
best ships are idle. Steamship lines, in
some instances, alternate with each other,
running only half the time. Manufac-
lures are depressed everywhere. Working
men here are dissatisfied with wages, and
uawise and lamentable counsels have re-
Gently led TO lawless acts from which, in
the end, no one will suffer so much as
their authors and abettors and those they
assume 10 represent wish they could
all go to France and England, and see the
work men and women do there, aud hear
Of the wages they receive England, ex-
Guiding the twelve counties Of Wales, is
not larger than the State of New York.
IL contains 24,000,0OO people, One or
two hundred men own half of England
Their estates are princely reservations for
game and pleasure and opulence. One
man may ride thirteen miles in one direc-
ton and nearly as far in another on his
own estate, aud when he dies his eldest
son takes it all.


The State Of New York has less than
five million people. Suppose there were
i've times as many, and then that oue-half
OF the State was given up to the monopoly
and pleasure Of one hundred and iifty
noblemen; suppose, in addition, men and
women labored in the fields and mines
and that the wages were only those paid
in England; suppose only one man in three
had vote or voice in public affairs or in
making laws, and that the great body of
working men were wholly excluded from
all part in choosing the members of the
only House Of Parliament in which the
seats are not hereditary; then suppose tax
alton to maintain a standing army. in
which commissions are sold for money or
given to sons and relations, and tithes
taken to maintain an established Church.
in which livingB are sold to the highest
bidder or bestowed as patronage.





What would the workmen of Pennsvl-
yania or Ohio think of such conditions ?
We are all working men in America. No
class has a monopoly Of the right to call
itself the working class here. have
always worked and always been compelled
to work, and my sympathies are ali with
honest labor. believe in its dignity and
in all its rights. But when tidings Of the
strike reached me in Paris under INV ewes
was spectacle which seemed to heighten
the madness Of what men in America were
doing The Government of France was |
borrowing money, and on the curbstoue IN |
the street sat men all night to get each |
his turn in the morning 70 invest in the
loan. They were workmen who, living as
workmen do not and need not live here.
and working for wages which American
workmen would scorn, had by hook or by
prnnt oaxvnI Ep.w H-tr 1-.eS