Year: 1872




might Just as well have taken ninety
. three thousand dollars out Of the treasu
Nv without any examination at all
just as well have taken any none,
as to have taken any particular money
{ Did he not only violate the law by pay
ing money on an account that had beer
! settled, but also by taking money tha1
had never been appropriated for such 9
purpose? What IS the answer to that.
The answer Is, that that was his con.
stFuetion of the law. Lsaughter.1 The
question is, had they any authority to
make the payment? ] think nothing
was due in this case.


Mr.. Trumbulf went on To say there
should be reform in our revenue sys-
tenn by which taxation shall be reduced
and so arranged as to bear equally, as
far as possible, upon all branches of in
dustry, without Increasing one branch
! for the benefit of another lapplause /;
publication of the civil service and the
administration of the government by
which plundereTs shall be driven from


AT the conclusion of Trumbull's speech
the following letter was read:


WAsHINGroN, April IL, 1872.


Dear Sir-I cannot be with you tomorrow
night, but deem IL my duty 10 say that the
movement for reform and purity OF Govern
ment, in state and Nation, and also to secure
at the head of affairs q Republican statesman,
trained in Republican Ideas, has my cordial
sympathy, 1t is necessity OF the hour. say
this as a Republican anxious for the success of
honest governments, and q revival OF fraternal
feeling throughout the country:


tSigned Very truly r. f. FENTON.
To Colonel Frederick A. ConkIin, New York.


The letter ELECTED loud applause.


Carl SehurZ then came forward and
was received with prolonged applause.


Mr.. Schurz said he came here TO raise
his voice against parties, the victory of
which subOrdinates the public veal to
personal and party interests, and to pro-
test against the continued mainteance
of a power which overTules the laws of
the land for selfish ends; against the
growth of a personal government which
threatens to convert the public purse
into personal property; against the
frauds and receptions being practised
upon a confiding people to make what
is wrong appear right, and patriotic what
is mean and selfish. He said he had
started in political life in the Republican
party and never desired to connect him
self with any other. He was proud of
the'aehievements of that party, but re-
cognized the necessity of thorough re-
form, and without unity in this purpose
it could not be held together.


Mr.. SchurZ then spoke at length on
the danger of the Capitalization of pow
er in the Federal Government, and ar
gued that as a matter of justice the
South should be enfranchised. Passing
to the subject of moral reform, the easy
and loose morals engendered by the war
could most easily be remedied by, first,
that those in high places should set the
example by scrupulous purity; second.
that the ruling power should even more
freely cauteriZe its own members than
those of its opponents; and third, that
the civil service should be so reformed
as to make honesty, capacity and fideli-
ty to the public interest qualifications
for office, rather than patriotism. He
said there were signs at the Republican
and Democratic camps of the breaking
loose from partisanship. Parties must
come of the movement in which we are
now engaged and which can't be stopped.
Men who lead in this movement are not
shackled by party fetters. But a few
weeks ago the Cincinnati Convention
was spoken Of by politicians with a con-
temptuous smile, but to-day that smile
has already sonFed on their lips,


At the conclusion of Mr.. Sehurz's ad-
dress Mr.. Greeley was introduced and
made a brief speech. He said that he
did not propose to attend the Elmira
Convention. The delegates who were
sent to the other two conventions We're
either bought off or kicked out. have
seen enough of that rule and its eopse-
queneesI and put, as | DO NOW, and go
forward With the non-otfice- holding Re-
publicans, to the Cincinnati Conven-
ton and its consequences. EGreat APP
plausel.


The meeting then adjourned.