Year: 1876

af .ia.-. Country.


pierre p~nt Explains 10 and TiIden Makes


the Application.


At the one hundredth and eight ami


yersary dinner Of the New York Cham


Der OF Commerce. on the 4th inst, in re-


sponse to the first regular toast, "The


President OF the United States" Attor-


ney General Pierrepont arose and said ;


Mr.. President, Gentlemen ofHe Cham


Der Of COmmerce-It must be very de-


lghtful thing to gain the Presidency of


the United States. am sure it must be


very delightful. / Judge Of this from


the fact that | find SO many men of great


sense anxious to get the place, striving


for 1t, taking oil honorable means to
gain IT, [Applause.l They are all emf


nent men. and ] believe they are all


honorable men. Some or them are Re-


publicans, some of them are Liberal Re-


publicans. some of them, MS / lately find, /,


are Reform Republicans, and some of
them Democrats, without any prefix.


Applause Now, ! am acquainted with


one man, and very well acquainted


with him. who has been President of the


United States for the last eight years


nearly. and ] have had some private
talks with him on that subject. of the


delights Of that place, and may be able
TO communicate some information TO
those men VINO are SO anxious to get the


place, how very charming ii is. Laugh


teri When this man of whom ] speak


was forty six years old you called him


from the camp and from great office


which he held for life, and insisted that


he should be President OF the United
States, and you placed him in that re-


sponsibIe situation when he was utterly
unused to public affairs, wholly inexpe-


rienced i'm politics, knowing nothing of
the tricks and the treachery which be-
long thereto. You placed him there at
the end Of great civil war. when you
had released from bondage 100000 Of
ignorant slaves applausel when the
country was utterly demoralized by
war, corrupted by the over issue of
paper money. There you placed this
men, l ask you did you expect that
he could commit 10 blunder. that he
could make no mistake? ! know
that your response Is that you could
not so have expected an impossi-
bility and thing 50 unreasonable. He
will tell you that he has committed
blunders and that he has made mis-
takes. but he will tell YOU and every
man will tell you, and when malignity
has done her worst and from the peni-
Tertiary and insane asylums has called
her witnesses, his friends may defy any
man to find in his entire record a single
thing that will be q blot upon his in
tegrity. Loud and continued applause.
And know that the people of this coun-
try, remembering the services which
he did. will not allow his name
to perish. but will place him on the
roll Of imperishable renown, and they
will say that, whatever faults he may
have comm itted, me was IN honest man
to the lasta Applause Now, my
friends, he has gone through fiery
trial he is not done yet but don't have
any doubts that he will come out OF It
unsinged, and that you will find this
great General, on whom you have SO
relied and on whom you have so ad
mired. deserving of all the favors and
all the admiration you have bestowed
Cheers. He is SO generous man, gen
see any good, honest, patriotic man
take his place at the end of eight
and he will be willing to see
him enjoy all the luXuries and delights
and the charms and the undisturbed
repose-I laughterl which belong to
the place and IL there Is any man here
who is thinking at all about this Ibow-
ing towards Governor Tilden-applause
and laughter II can assure him that
when General Grant has stepped out of
that place he will look serenely on and
see him enjoy the luxury and the de-
lights and repose Of the place without a
single twinge OF envy. IApplause l
admit, gentlemen, that the vapor from
L<, I, - 9
whom have been disappointed, some of
whom have been satisfied, has at times
generated into a cloud which has OBJ |
scured for the hour the bright reputa-
tion Of this great man; but 50 sure as
there Is q sun in heaven, so surely will
it pass away, and when he goes out
from that place, as he soon will do, his
fame will be as bright as you said it
should when he, poor man. received
the sword OF Lee, when, after he had
had unlimited power in the army, and
by IA scrapc of his pen could have put
untold millions in his pocket. he came
out utterly poor, and scarce knowing
where to lay his head. Applause. ]
Lincoln was martyred at the beginning
of his second term, and wise men think
that it was the happiest ending of
noble life. Wise men think that had
Lincoln passed through eight years,
envy and malignity would have black
ened his fame, and that his great
shadow would not have been so colossal
as his martyrdom has made him to-day.
| Applause. Merchants Of New York, /
left this busy city year ago to go into
the Cabinet at Washington. When
went there you told me that you were
not prosperous, that trade was depressed
in this great city, but that in the coming
fall 1t would revive; and last fall. when
l talked with some of you who came to
see me in the city OF Washington. you
said that trade had not revived, but it
was going to revive in the spring Well,
] come here in the spring, tonight, and
l have talked with several of you, and
you have told me that spring has nearly
passed and yet trade has not revived |
Well, what is the matter with your
trade? What is the difficulty? You
never have known the public health so
good; you have never known so many |
willing hands ready to work: you never
saw the crops SO abundant, the mines SO
prolifie the fields so cultivated tho |