Year: 1866

NLV OLNoL1 EOAll1OSs


serenade to G. Chauncey Burr


Mr.. Burr's Speech ON the Attitud'


Of the Country, and Oh the PO


sitiOn Of the Democratic Party


At recent serenade given to MIR. {


Chauncey Burr, after some fine musi


by brass band, repeated calls for Mr.


Burr were made. Apid applause ant


cheers he came forth and spoke as fol


lows


From the New York Ncws.l -'.-f-'


FELLOW CITIZENS You will, l trust
pardon me for not attempting to fine
language to express my gratitude a


this demonstration. 1t is SO unlike th'
kind of demonstration l have been il
the habit Of witnessing for the last fv'
or six years, that you will not be as


tonished if appear little embarrassed
Idislke to speak ofmyself, because, il
great struggle for constitutional law
and liberty, l consider mans person


ality to be lost. Besides it is not al


ways the case that man who stands
unmoved and impregnable under the
fire of his enemies is equally well bal
anccd under the tlattery Of his friends


But, gentlemen, do not suppose that
take this demonstration for hattery


You are not the class of men to prac.
tice tlattery even if were the kind OF
man to be influenced by it. The class
of men / see before me is too literally
and too fearfully part and parcel Of our
country to feel anything but the pro-
foundest earnestness and sincerity in
the action Of public men, and in the
drift of public events. The laboring
population has always the greatest in
terest at stake in any country. The
rich are in the habit of thinking them
selves the chief figure everywhere, and
of believing that all laws and public
measures ought to be fashioned for the
increase and protection Of their wealth.
And this has been entirely the scope of
legislation in our country, for the last
six years especially. 1t is a great de-
lusion. For the rich have really less
at stake in the country than the poor
The laboring poor are necessarily us
much part Of the country, to which
they belong, as the trees, the rivers,
the lakes and the mines, and are quite
as inseparable from it. These all go
with the country, whether it goes up or
down. The rich are, to a certain ex-
tent, independent of the country. If
the country is ruined, the amount of
their wealth may be less, but still they
have the means to get out Of it, and to
settle themselves in safer and more
prosperous regions. But the poor
must remain and perish. The rich can
say. 81 have great interests here, l
have per cents, profits and capital"
But the poor can say, II have greater
interests still, for l have wife and chill
dren, and all / hold dear, which must
remain to share the fate Of the country,
whatever it may be-" Ruin the coun-
try, and the millions of laboring men
must remain, they and their families, to
go down in despair together. Ruin the
country, and the few rich may gather
up their boarded gains and put out
with their families, for some other spot,
where they may still enjoy the blessings
fpeace and plenty. Ruin the coun-
try, and the millions Of laboring peo-
pile want for bread. Ruin the country,
and the rich will riot in luxury. Which,
then, has the greatest interest at stake
in this country, the rich man, full Of
wind and impudence, or the honest, la
boring, poor man, full of anxiety and
despair for the fate of his wife and
babes? Who asks this question? ?
1t is answered by thousand voices of
reason and justice, that the country be-
longs fairly to all the citizens; but if
you insist on class distinctions, then it
emincntly belongs to the laboring
poor, who have no other Inheritance
but it's prosperity. If they will insist
on class distinctions, then we say the
country belongs pre- eminently to the
iaboring poor, and it is their right and
their duty to see that its fate does not
pass beyond their political control. The
Black Republican papers, for the last
year and half, have been throwing
out feelers in relation to cutting the
poor off from the right Of voting. ]
want to deprive no citizen of the right
of voting, but if the right of franchise
is to be abridged, / declare that justice
and safety demand that it should be
cut of at the rich end of the line. In
the first place the few are at that end
of the line, while the many, the millions
are at the poor end. The really great,
sacred and indefeasible interests are
mostly at the poor end Of the line.
There lie the homes of the land with
all their priceless treasures. Abridge
the right of franchise there, and you
have, with one blow, struck down the
masses of this country to the wretched
place of their existence in the old world.
Besides, no country ever lost its pros
perity and its liberty by the connivance
Of the poor. No, never. In every in
stance where a country has fallen, it
has been in consequence of the luxury,
the aggressions, the corruption and the
tyranny of the rich. In every instance
of a cOuntry's ruin, twas the work of
n few rich, and nowhere of the poor
many. But the Black Republicans,
feeling that the plan Of narrowing the
franchise, so as to exclude the white
poor, was, for the present, impractica-
BILE, have hit upon the scheme of negro
suffrage, a. an Offset to the poor white
mans vote. They know that the ne
gro is a mere Hind animal tool in the
hands of the party holding him. Their
negro bureau and negro suffrage to-
gether is simplya Yankee patent inven-
ton, and may be called a Black Re
publican voting machine. Itiss fact