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 675 
 

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The Grant & Wilson Campaign 
 
 H 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE, 
 
 Delivered at Platt's Hall, San Francisco, Wednesday, Oct. 2d, under the 
 auspices of the Republican State Central Committee. 
 
 (Reported phonographically by AXDHETW J. MIBSH.) 
 
 MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GEN- 
 TLEMEN: I confess to a pleasurable sur- 
 prise in so dull a campaign as this, to 
 find an undiminished interest in the 
 political movement of the country. I 
 had supposed we should be much in the 
 situation of a preacher who should at- 
 tempt a revival of religion when the 
 devil was dead. [Laughter.] It is very 
 hard work to pull on the end of a rope 
 when nothing is tied to the other end 
 of it ; and in this canvass, with our own 
 party united and compact, not only con- 
 fident but certain of a sweeping victory, 
 it would not have been strange if our 
 people should have been found lethargic. 
 We look in various directions for an 
 enemy and we hardly know whether we 
 have found him oVnot. For we must 
 recognize the fact that the old Demo- 
 cratic ship has foundered on the political 
 sea. She is dismantled, and it becomes' 
 our humane duty' to see how many 
 lives can be saved. [Laughter and ap- 
 plause.] I am not here to-night to say 
 one ill-natured word of any political 
 opponent in the Democratic party. I 
 have some feelings of sorrow and of 
 sympathy for men who have maintained 
 
 an upright and a downright sincerity of 
 conviction and earnestness of action for 
 that which they deemed to be right. 
 But I confess to some shame that a 
 party composed of Americans, should 
 be able in a moment, apparently for 
 what they hope they might make by 
 it, to give the lie to the whole of their 
 political lives. Our audiences are mixed 
 this year. To Republicans who are 
 earnest supporters of the Adminis- 
 tration, I need make no appeal. 
 They need no word of encouragement. 
 "All is well." The different sections of 
 the Democratic party I desire to address 
 myself to. What I say will not be con- 
 fidential, and I shall be glad to have my 
 Republican friends remain. [Laughter.] 
 The Democrats who really meant what 
 they said in the past, who had some 
 vit.'\vs of the principles upon which the 
 Government was founded, however erro- 
 neous may have been their opinions and 
 their action to maintain them, to them 
 I desire to address some reasons why 
 they can well afford, maintaining still 
 their self-respect, to support this Admin- 
 istration and favor the re-election of 
 President Grant. [Applause.] 
 
2. 
 
 To those Democrats wlio are willing 
 to sail before the mast in their own 
 ship, after the cook has been taken out 
 of the galley and put in command, I 
 address no appeal. To the renegade 
 Republicans what shall be said ? I can- 
 not appeal to their consciences, for it is 
 evident they have none. [Laughter.] 
 I cannot appeal to their intellect, for if 
 any of them possess it, it is clouded 
 over with the passions of envy and 
 hatred. I cannot appeal to their shame, 
 for even of that they seem to be desti- 
 tute. And so we will on with our grand 
 procession without them. It is an un- 
 weeded garden that grows to seed, but 
 the Republican garden is the first that 
 ever weeded itself. [Laughter and ap- 
 plause.] 
 
 Now, I used to be a Democrat myself, 
 in good and regular standing. [Laugh- 
 ter.] I got a little fishy when I refused 
 to bolt the party when Douglas was 
 nominated, but I thought that was the 
 regular nomination, and that is what 
 the Democrats always stuck by in 
 those days, you know. And I know 
 our Democratic teachers had some 
 views as to what the Constitution meant, 
 what the Nation had power to do 
 through Congress and what the States 
 had power to do through the State Gov- 
 ernments. The Democrats differ them- 
 selves, as you know, upon some of these 
 questions, and I want to address a few 
 words right in this place, perhaps of dry 
 argument, because, if you have come to- 
 gether for anything in the world, I will 
 ask my clerical brother (turning to Mr. 
 Benton) if it is not the case we have 
 come to preach to sinners and not to the 
 righteous, for their souls can only be 
 converted through exhortation. [Laugh- 
 ter.] 
 
 I want to ask you Democrats who are 
 not willing to say you have always been 
 Abolitionists ; who are not willing to 
 say you never meant what you said ; who 
 are not willing to follow the fortunes of 
 the Liberal Republican managers, who 
 seem to have taken possession of your 
 ship I want to ask you if you really be- 
 lieve that Democratic opinions can be 
 enforced in this country ? 
 
 I want to ask you candidly if you 
 don't think a fair trial has been had; 
 whether you have not made every ap- 
 peal to the judgment of men ; whether 
 you do not think you have been honestly 
 
 and fairly defeated at the ballot box, and 
 whether* you don't know the American 
 people to be opposed to your doctrines ? 
 If you so believe, let me ask you what 
 iota of self-respect you forfeit by frankly 
 and candidly saying so. It is not given 
 to any man to change his opinions at 
 will, and every man who has sense 
 knows when the time arrives when it is 
 folly for him to seek to impress his opin- 
 ions upon others. I do not propose to 
 criticise or deride a single Democratic 
 dogma of the past. I only appeal to 
 you now that your own party organiza- 
 tion has made a profession of surrender- 
 ing its ideas. I ask you, in the first place, 
 whether you believe that organization 
 can be sincere in its declarations; 
 whether you believe that the delegates 
 who assembled at Baltimore, on the 10th 
 of July, meant what they said in their 
 platform ? I want to ask you, if they 
 did mean it, why you should contend 
 against the Republican party which in- 
 augurated and carried out those doctrines 
 successfully as the policy of this coun- 
 try? And if you do not believe the 
 Democratic leaders at Baltimore honestly 
 made those declarations, I want to ask 
 you as fair men if you will be parties to 
 a fraud before the American people, and 
 go before them in the Presidential cam- 
 paign to steal into power to violate the 
 pledges made to obtain power. [Ap- 
 plause.] This is the view I am seeking 
 to present to the Democratic partisans 
 of this State I say we do not believe 
 that the Democratic party has changed 
 its opinions, but we do know that a 
 very large portion of the Democratic 
 party refusing to follow the leadership 
 of Horace Greeley, have decided that 
 they will change their- purposes ; they 
 will fritter away no more of their lives 
 in vain efforts to force exploded and de- 
 feated dogmas upon the American peo- 
 ple, of which they form so large a party, 
 but nevertheless a hopeless minority. 
 [Applause.] And then in our audience 
 there is another large element. 
 
 There is a large element of men so 
 busy in building up and promoting the 
 great industrial interests of the nation 
 that they do not give strict attention to 
 party discussion, and have no strong 
 political affiliations. Perhaps the work 
 they are doing is better. I am almost, 
 certain that it is of equal importance 
 with that of the Government itself. But 
 
3. 
 
 it is a double track we go on, my friends. 
 There need be no collisions. Business 
 cannot be transacted in any country 
 where the public tranquility is not pre- 
 served and the laws faithfully executed. 
 To those men we propose to show that 
 this Administration has, by its prudence, 
 economy and integrity, vindicated the 
 claim of its friends, that the safest 
 course to be pursued is to continue it in 
 power. And so without more ado, if 
 you will be patient with me, I will, as 
 briefly as possible, state what I assume 
 to be the claims fairly to be presented 
 in behalf of the Administration. When 
 General Grant was inaugurated in 1869, 
 lie promised the country economy in its 
 administration, the preservation of tran- 
 quility at home and the preservation of 
 peace* with foreign nations. Has he 
 redeemed these pledges ? 
 
 And first as to the economy of the Ad- 
 ministration. Every man in this room. 
 is an equal joint stock owner in the busi- 
 ness of this Goverment. There is no 
 man in America who has any more 
 power within himself than any one man 
 here, so far as voting is concerned. And 
 every man here has the privilege of per- 
 suadmg as many as-he can of his neigh- 
 bors to join with him in political action. 
 It is thus political power is made up and 
 organized in this country. What has 
 been done, then, with the money that 
 the Tax Collector has taken from your 
 pockets ''. Your public debt has been di- 
 minished up to the 1st of last July, a 
 period of three years and four months, 
 $334,000,000, an average of $100,000,000 
 Si year. I confess I was one of those 
 who believed the public debt was being 
 diminished with too great rapidity ; that 
 this generation had borne more than its 
 proportion of the heavy burden imposed 
 on us by tke great civil war. But 1 con- 
 fess to a feeling of satisfaction when I 
 realize the fact that none of this money 
 was iilched or stolen ; that the bonds it 
 represented have been paid to the national 
 creditors ; that they have been cancelled, 
 and destroyed, and, furthermore, that 
 from us the Government will hereafter 
 demand $22,000,000 less every year for 
 interest alone than it did prior to the ac- 
 cession of this Administration to power. 
 [Applause.] Is not that something worth 
 while ': But while all this has been done, 
 and while the current business of the 
 country has been growing more and 
 
 more expensive with the growth of the 
 country, we find that the people have 
 been called upon for less money than 
 they were called upon for by the preced- 
 ing Administration. Our books show 
 that the taxes of the people in the United 
 States were reduced $78,000,000 a year, 
 from 1870 to 1872. [Applause.] At the 
 last session of Congress these taxes were 
 further reduced more than $51,000,000 a 
 year, so that during the present year 
 the American people will pay $130,000,- 
 000 of money less, in the way of taxation 
 than they paid in the year 1868. Upon 
 every article of foreign importation, con- 
 sumed by you, the duties have been re- 
 duced ten per cent., and it is not the 
 fault of the Administration if those 
 with whom you deal do not sell you 
 every given article of merchandise, of 
 foreign importation, at ninety cents 
 where you paid $1 for it last year. The 
 duty is entirely removed from tea and 
 coffee, as well as from many small 
 articles entering into our maufacturing 
 interests. 
 
 The Internal Revenue tax has been 
 greatly abated, until now changed 
 from the complicated and cumbrous ma- 
 chine which annoyed and irritated the 
 people for some years past we shall 
 find this year that nothing is taxed in 
 that direction, except what we drink of 
 liquors, those of us who are not teeto- 
 tallers ; what we smoke and what to- 
 bacco we chew and what checks we 
 draw against our banking accounts, so 
 that any man may entirely abolish the 
 Internal Revenue tax, so far as he is 
 concerned, if he only abstains from 
 drinking, smoking, chewing and having 
 a bank account. [Laughter and ap- 
 plause.] 
 
 Now if you have an agent engaged in 
 transacting your business, and he calls 
 upon you for a great deal less of money, 
 and shows you that your business ex- 
 penses, through an increase of business, 
 have been larger than before, but never- 
 theless pays them, and pays off a greater 
 amount of your indebtedness, calling 
 upon you for much less money than his 
 predecessor did I ask you if he is not 
 the better agent of the two ? [Cries of 
 "yes, 5 r es," and applause.] Would you 
 care to change it ? I think not. I 
 think the American people so far as we 
 have heard from them in the elections 
 of the last seven months, have decided 
 
4. 
 
 that they will make no change. But 
 the duties of Government are not con- 
 fined to the taking care of the pockets 
 of the citizens. Economy is a duty, and 
 men who transact the public business 
 are in honor bound to transact it at the 
 lowest possible cost. But there are 
 higher duties than this, the duty of pre- 
 serving the public peace and order, of 
 protecting every citizen in life, liberty 
 and the pursuit of happiness. We main- 
 tain that this Administration has faith- 
 fully performed that duty. If any man 
 doubts it, let him read the denuncia- 
 tions of this Administration because it 
 has preserved order. 
 
 Now perhaps the people living in San 
 Francisco, where the habit of order 
 itself is so strong that it has been 
 able to prevent any disturbance or any- 
 thing of that kind, have not reflected in 
 regard to the condition of things in 
 those Southern States after the Rebellion, 
 and on the great disorder prevailing 
 among the people of the South, where 
 the passions had been aroused by the 
 war have not been able to appreciate 
 the great efforts that have been put 
 forth by the United States Government 
 to check those disorders, the great ef- 
 forts required to be put forth by Con- 
 gress in communities where they did 
 not yet feel that there was an end of the 
 war. There was another great party 
 which claimed that the States alone had 
 the power to check these disorders. 
 Judge Trumbull, a man holding an 
 honored position, and a great lawyer 
 also, believed that Congress had the 
 power, to protect the blacks of the 
 South, against whom the passions of 
 the people of the South were aroused 
 by the disasters of the battle-field. 
 Yet the power of Congress being dis- 
 puted, the American people took the 
 matter in charge-r-to determine where 
 they would lodge the power to pre- 
 serve the tranquility and protect citi- 
 zens throughout the country. I know 
 our Democratic friends fight zealously 
 against innovation. I know they cry 
 loudly that the State had always been 
 allowed to maintain the power to enact 
 all such laws. But the American peo- 
 ple, acting through their representatives 
 in Congress, proposed a new amend- 
 ment to the Constitution which should 
 change that instrument itself, and place 
 that power in Congress which it was de- 
 
 nied Congress ever had possessed before, 
 They proposed to the States the adop- 
 tion of the Fourteenth Amendment. 
 But Congress could not pass an amend- 
 ment to the Constitution. It could only 
 propose it, and then the States the 
 States for which our Democratic friends 
 have so much respect they speak 
 three-fourths of them, as provided in 
 the Constitution and declare that this 
 Fourteenth Amendment shall become 
 a part and parcel of that instrument. 
 [Applause.] Every man in the Union 
 who voted for Members of Legislature 
 of his State had a voice upon that 
 Amendment. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun himself, were he alive, 
 would never call in question, as a very 
 distinguished Democrat of this State 
 did, the power of three-fourths of the 
 States to amend the Constitution in 
 every particular, except to change the 
 representation in the Senate. But when 
 we thought we had peaceably settled 
 this thing, when we thought that the 
 strong arm of the National Government 
 could constitutionally be put forward, 
 then the Democratic party made a new 
 complaint. Those gentlemen who had 
 vociferated that the States could not 
 go out of the Union after the war 
 they said they could before that, a 
 good many of them and who were 
 very much distressed because the Re- 
 publican party recognized the fact that 
 those States were temporarily unorgan- 
 ized, unable to be represented in Con- 
 gress, j ust so .soon as Congress enabled 
 those States to form Governments for 
 themselves, to elect Senators and Repre- 
 sentatives to Congress ; when those 
 States, by their newly-elected Legisla- 
 tures, ratified this Fourteenth Amend- 
 ment, the Democratic party declared 
 that those reconstructed States were 
 no States at all. [Applause.] That 
 their votes should not be counted in de- 
 termining whether or not three-fourths 
 of the States had voted. And here was 
 another muddle. It was not safe for the 
 country to be standing upon the verge 
 of civil war, to grow out of what was 
 in and what was out of the Constitution 
 itself. We cannot afford to have a quar- 
 rel over the text of the foundation of 
 our governmental system, but the Demo- 
 cratic party about two years ago found 
 out a cunning evasion of the question. 
 They concluded that they could no 
 
5. 
 
 longer afford to go before the people in 
 opposition to this new grant of power 
 to Congress. They had denied that the 
 amendment itself had been adopted ; but 
 they found a new dodge. 
 
 One of their ablest leaders, Mr. Val- 
 landighaui, of Ohio, now dead, incorpo- 
 rated in some resolutions in the State of 
 Ohio the declaration that the amend- 
 ments were adopted, but that when 
 Congress should come to act under them, 
 it must be governed by the old Cal- 
 houn construction of the Constitution, a 
 strict construction. What they claimed 
 was, that although the amendments had 
 been adopted, Congress had no power to 
 say a single word for their enforcement. 
 They argued in Congress in both Houses 
 against any legislation for the enforce- 
 ment of the Fourteenth Amendment. 
 Now, I will ask any Democratic lawyer, 
 and I will invite him here to discuss it at 
 any time from this moment forward ; I 
 would like to ask him if Congress has 
 any power whatever which it derives 
 under any stronger language than is 
 contained in this amendme'nt ; "Con- 
 gress," says the amendment, "shall have 
 power to enforce this amendment by 
 appropriate legislation." I beg your par- 
 don, my friends, for dwelling so long on 
 this, but it is the only tiling on which 
 the American people to-day differ. It is 
 the only struggle in this nation. A strug- 
 gle for the mastery between two parties, 
 the one boldly declaring its doctrines, 
 claiming rightfully the power under this 
 amended Constitution, to put out the na- 
 tional arm to protect every citizen within 
 its borders ; aye, and every human being 
 within its borders ; and the other party, 
 evasively and fraudulently, in general 
 terms, claiming that they accept the 
 Amendment, while, by their act, by their 
 language, their words, their every vote 
 in Congress and in Convention, they de- 
 clare that Congress derives no power 
 from that Amendment ; that the States 
 alone can determine when and whether 
 they will protect a citizen whose 'rights 
 are violated. [Applause.] We have had 
 some legislation under this Amendment 
 to the Constitution. They call it the 
 Ku-Klux Act. They say there are no 
 Ku-Klux-Klans in the South, and that 
 the enactment of this law was an insult 
 to the Southern people, and intended as 
 an electioneering trick. Now, my friends, 
 I dare say this has been repeated so much 
 
 that a great many men honestly believe 
 it ; but if they would be careful to read 
 the current history of the times, if they 
 would trust their representatives in Con- 
 gress, if they would believe the reports 
 of Committees of Investigation, they 
 would know that there has existed for 
 several years past in the Southern States 
 bands of violent men whether calling 
 themselves Ku-Klux-Klan or not so 
 designated, at least, in the country. The 
 printed testimony on this subject in- 
 cludes the testimony of men who were 
 high in authority in the Confederacy, 
 both in civil and military stations. Some 
 of the most distinguished Governors and 
 Generals were examined as witnesses, 
 and it was abundantly proven that in six 
 States, in 100 counties of these States, 
 429 murders had been committed by these 
 desperadoes, and nearly three thousand 
 lesser outrages. Why should the South- 
 ern people feel outraged at investigations 
 into this? Has any man accused the 
 Southern people, as a people, of encour- 
 aging these things ? I do not believe 
 it is true that the Southern people desire 
 any such condition of things, but it ex- 
 ists. When Mr. Reverdy Johnson and 
 Mr. Henry Stanbury, the former Demo- 
 cratic ex-Senator from Maryland, and the 
 latter Attorney General under Mr. John- 
 son, were called to the South to act as 
 counsel for men indicted as being mem- 
 bers of Ku-Klux organizations, indicted 
 under Act of Congress and on trial in 
 the Federal Courts, these gentlemen 
 were so shocked with the testimony pro- 
 duced in the very trial in which they 
 were engaged, that they took an especial 
 care to deny what they thought had been 
 intimated that they had a dispo- 
 sition to screen such barbarities, or 
 to deny that the existence of these 
 organizations had been proven. Rev- 
 erdy Johnson declared in his address 
 to the Jury, as counsel for the defend- 
 ants, that while he had been trying that 
 case he had listened to a number of cases 
 of barbarity that would have curdled 
 the blood of a savage ; that they must 
 have been committed by men who were 
 lost to all sense either of religion or 
 humanity. It is not worth while then, 
 to say that there is no crime, no whole- 
 sale crime in the South, growing out of 
 hate, prejudice and party spirit. If the 
 Congress of the United "States, carefully 
 keeping within the letter of the Consti- 
 
6. 
 
 tution, exercises only a newly-granted 
 power, a power as fully granted by the 
 people, the source of all power, as is the 
 power to legislate under the habeas 
 carpus clause itself, shall it be said that 
 they are driving the country off into 
 centralization. They may nickname it 
 what they please, the law is written 
 now in the Constitution itself, that 
 whosoever is not protected by a State 
 shall be protected by the nation. [Ap- 
 plause.] And if any State is weak 
 enough to be unable, or wicked enough to 
 be unwilling to extend the protecting 
 power of the law to the humblest citi- 
 zen within its limits, that citizen will be 
 able to invoke the whole power of the 
 American people for his protection. 
 
 If this is centralization it is the 
 crowning glory of the political history 
 of the land. '[Applause.] And when 
 the Republican party shall pass from 
 power as pass it will when all is ac- 
 complished that as bold, as true and as 
 patriotic a band of men as compose it 
 can perform, when nothing else is left 
 for them to do, the proudest page that 
 will be written upon its annals will be, 
 that while it had power, " the obscurest 
 citizen, the meanest vassal, nay, the very 
 leper, shrinking from the sun and 
 loathed by charity, might ask for jus- 
 tice." [Applause.] Now these same 
 gentlemen who have so much to say 
 about centralization are equally glib 
 and flippant upon other topics. Their 
 Christian spirits, their lamb-like hearts, 
 are stirred to the innermost depths be- 
 cause vindictiveness prevails in the Re- 
 publican composition, . and there is no 
 willingness to promote reconciliation. 
 Well, now, who wants to be reconciled, 
 and to whom do they want to be recon- 
 ciled? We ask the question in 'vain. 
 Do they want us to become Democrats ? 
 We cannot do that. There is no mate- 
 rial in us to make an old-line Democrat 
 of. They seem to find it difficult to 
 maintain that position themselves. But 
 they say we oppress the Southern peo- 
 ple ; that with the strong arm of power 
 we have placed them under negro rule, 
 and carpet-bag government. I am not 
 here to bear testimony as to the State 
 governments of the South. My opinion 
 is that they will compare favorably with 
 those that existed prior to the war ; but 
 if this be not so, where shall complaint 
 be made, and by whom ? 
 
 This noisy declamation on the subject 
 was started by Horace Qreeley eighteen 
 months ago, in the New York Tribune^ 
 after he had returned from his perambu- 
 lation through the South as far as Texas, 
 to tell those people " what he knew 
 about farming," and to see what he 
 could find out about his chances for the 
 Presidency. [Laughter.] But now let 
 me tell you a fact that has direct bear- 
 ing upon the question of reconciliation, 
 and I beg your attention to this state- 
 ment, for I find a great many Republi- 
 cans who have been mistaken on the 
 subject. 
 
 I want to say to you that although 
 sixty thousand more or less, were until 
 lately disqualified from holding' office 
 because of participation in the Rebel- 
 lion, the sixty thousand embracing only 
 the old office-holding class of the South ; 
 in none of the States of the South since 
 they were restored to representation in 
 Congress, has the Federal Government 
 deprived any single citizen of the right to 
 vote, by which I mean that Jeff Davis was 
 a legal voter in the State of Mississippi 
 from the time the Representatives of 
 that State were admitted to their seats. 
 I want to say that Admiral Semmes, 
 who commanded the Alabama, has been 
 a legal voter ever since his State was 
 restored to representation in Congress. 
 And there never has been a member of 
 the Legislature or State Government or 
 county or city government elected in any 
 Southern State at any time since they 
 were represented in Congress after re- 
 construction ; that any one of them ever 
 was deprived of the ballot by Constitu- 
 tional amendments, Act of Congress, 
 other decree, or other action of the 
 Federal Government. Well, then, isn't 
 it very silly to complain -to us as to who 
 is elected ? What business is it of ours 
 who is elected to offi e in Alabama? 
 What power has Congress to cause the 
 election of better men to office in the 
 State of Alabama ? If those gentlemen 
 choose to pout and sulk in order that 
 uneducated, inexperienced and easily 
 influenced negroes may vote for men 
 who are incompetent to discharge the 
 functions of public office, whose fault is 
 it ? Is it ours ? Do they not refuse to 
 vote, let the elections go by default in 
 order that they may make complaints in 
 the North, that they may go to these 
 non-partisan men of whom I have 
 
7. 
 
 spoken ; those men who respect good 
 government, and who do not always 
 stop to inquire the cause of bad govern- 
 ment ? These sullen men know full well 
 the strong sense of fairness among the 
 American people, and with humanity 
 generally, and they rely upon that sen- 
 sibility of the human heart. They say 
 we have been whipped and humiliated, 
 our property scattered to the winds, our 
 brothers killed and maimed in battle, 
 and still they are not content, they turn 
 loose upon us a horde of uneducated 
 voters to waste our substance. This is a 
 heartrending story ! if it was not an abso- 
 lute falsehood. Why, those fellows who 
 are unwilling to help themselves, and 
 want sympathy because they get hurt 
 by neglecting it, are very much in the 
 situation that a little dog was, that I 
 once saw, tied to a load of wood which 
 was being hauled into the market by 
 four large steady-going yoke of oxen. 
 The little fellow was tied on behind by 
 a rope, securely fastened at both ends, 
 the one to the dog, and the other 
 to the wood. But he did not want 
 to go along and he rolled down on 
 one side and allowed that team of oxen 
 to draw him over the sharp stones until 
 it had stripped all the skin off one side. 
 Very distressing ; just as those poor fel- 
 lows did during the war, allowing the 
 skin to be scraped off when they might 
 have stopped it any moment. And then 
 the little dog turned over to the other 
 side, and was drawn along until the 
 skin was all scraped off that side ; just 
 as these men are doing now by refusing 
 to vote and have better governments, if 
 they think they could elect better men 
 by voting, and they are waiting for 
 Grant to be beaten. Think of it. Think 
 of the patience of these men waiting 
 for such an event. [Great applause and 
 laughter.] 
 
 They are waiting for him to be beaten, 
 and for the Democratic party to be in- 
 stalled in power in Washington, and 
 for the power of the Federal Govern- 
 ment to be withdrawn, that they may 
 have their own sway in the Southern 
 States, with no restraint. But when 
 they find, as they will after the 5th of 
 November, that their hope is vain now, 
 as it has been during the last twelve 
 years, they will do just what that little 
 dog did : he got right up and waddled 
 along as pleasantly as any little dog 
 
 you ever saw in your life. [Applause 
 and laughter.] 
 
 We shall have to continue this cen- 
 tralization until those mistaken friends 
 of ours see where their interests lie, and 
 if they go to voting and have got votes 
 enoug'h, they will overthrow the party 
 in those States ; but if they have not 
 strength enough they will not over- 
 throw those governments. Then it will 
 be free and fair on all the States. I wish 
 they would go to voting. I am recon- 
 ciled; I hope every one of us is reconciled. 
 The sooner these men go to work, and 
 pursue the ordinary course of life, by 
 participating in the Government, the 
 sooner they will get over their pout, in 
 my opinion. 
 
 But the Government had made an- 
 other pledge, to which I have al- 
 luded. In passing from the subject of 
 the preservation of tranquility at home, 
 now being accomplished under the 
 legislation and its faithful execution by 
 the President, we look abroad and find 
 that the only serious difference existing 
 between this nation and any foreign 
 power has been smoothly bridged over 
 and healed, to the satisfaction certainly 
 of every American. 
 
 THE ALABAMA QUESTION. 
 
 When the President came into power 
 there had been bequeathed him from 
 the preceding Administration an unset- 
 tled question of great magnitude with 
 the British Government. I will not re- 
 cite to you what is familiar to you, the 
 steps by which was created a Board of 
 Arbitration to sit at Geneva and deter- 
 mine the whole question. You have all 
 seen the award made by this Board. 
 You have seen not only the fifteen 
 teen millions and a half of money which 
 our citizens lost by the depredations of 
 Confederate cruisers paltry in compari- 
 son with the other questions involved, 
 but sufficient to make redress to every 
 American whose ship was lost through 
 the bad action of the English Govern- 
 ment, but we have seen five Arbitrators 
 selected by the two powers, declaring 
 that Great Britain had shamefully vio- 
 lated all obligations of honor and good 
 neighborhood ; that she had trampled 
 international law under foot in her 
 haste to assist in rending this nation in 
 twain ; that she had been in fault from 
 beginning to end. They did not say 
 
8. 
 
 that it had been willful, but their lan- 
 guage is so explicit that I think it can 
 leave no doubts in the mind of any man 
 in Christendom that they meant to ren- 
 der a verdict which we demanded that 
 
 the proud neck of the governing classes 
 of England who constitute the English 
 Government should bend, and that the 
 dignity and honor of the American na- 
 tion should be vindicated. Has it not 
 been done ? [Applause.] It was not 
 done by loss of blood nor by loss of 
 treasure. It was not done by bluster- 
 ing or bullying. The quiet, self-pos- 
 sessed man who presides over the desti- 
 nies of the nation, called his council to- 
 gether and suggested that the treaty ne- 
 gotiations should take place in Washing- 
 ton, where he might be made understand 
 them as they progressed; and all this 
 grand result has been attained with no 
 disturbance to the country. The finan- 
 ces have not been shaken by any fear 
 that there would be any failure to con- 
 quer a peace by argument, to conquer a 
 peace by a Congress of Nations, to real- 
 ize the dream of the philanthropist of 
 finding a smoother remedy than war for 
 adjusting differences, no matter how 
 wide And this was the President who 
 was taken from the head of the army. 
 This was the military usurper whose 
 Liberal Republican enemies tell you that 
 the clang of the sword resounds through 
 the White House. Who does not know 
 that twenty words from the President 
 would have drawn out the latent war 
 spirit which slumbered in every Ameri- 
 can heart and created a war party in 
 this country upon which he could have 
 ridden into power a second time almost 
 by the unanimous wish of the American 
 people, and even the doughty Mr. Sum- 
 ner would not have dared to say nav 
 [Apjplause.] 
 
 Now, I have taken up enough of your 
 time concerning the Administration. 
 Now, let us look on the other side. Let 
 us see if we can, what is the matter. 
 
 I call your attention to the dismantled 
 condition of the Democratic ship. We 
 must find out who dismantled it ; what 
 inducements are held out for this dis- 
 bandment of the Democratic party ; who 
 the new leaders are of the Democratic 
 party ; what incentive they had for their 
 action ; when it commenced, and how 
 how far they have got, and how they 
 like it as far as they have got. [Laughter] 
 
 CARL SCHURZ. 
 
 In 1869, it so happened that Missouri 
 had two Senators of not the most peace- 
 able disposition one, Mr. Carl Schurz, 
 and the other, Mr. Charles Drake, and 
 they quarrelled, and it became necessary 
 when the term of Drake was expiring 
 and is it not strange this should have 
 anything to do with it, but it has that 
 Drake should be beaten for the Senate, 
 to please Schurz? Schurz is a great 
 philosopher, and wanted to bind up the 
 bleeding wounds of the two sections of 
 the nation by universal amnesty. That 
 was well. But Schurz, who is a very 
 calm philosopher, and believes in the 
 freedom of discussion, found the Repub- 
 lican party of Missouri agreeing with 
 him on the question of submitting 
 to the people an amendment to their 
 State Constitution to enfranchise all the 
 Rebels of Missouri. Now when Schurz 
 found he could not get up a quarrel with 
 his party on that ground, although he 
 knew that four to one of the voters of 
 Missouri would vote to change the State 
 Constitution of that State for the doing 
 away of all disfranchisement so far as 
 the State law was concerned then 
 Schurz concluded he would have to 
 try the dodge of compelling every Re- 
 publican to vote for that amendment. 
 Because the Republican Convention 
 would not three years ago aid this con- 
 spirator in a less palpable way, he adopt- 
 ed this palpable way of destroying the 
 party in that State, and introduced a 
 resolution in the State Convention de- ' 
 Glaring that every Republican waa 
 bound to vote on election day for this 
 proposed amendment to the Constitu- 
 tion. He was defeated, and taking a 
 minority of the Republican party long 
 before General Grant had been wicked 
 at all, marched out of the Republican 
 camp. So much for Schurz and his dis- 
 affection. He is no more a disaffected 
 Republican to-day than is the editor of 
 the Examiner. [Laughter.] He has 
 been fighting this party for three years, 
 and long before there had been created 
 any disaffection against it. But he 
 comes forward now as a leader of the 
 new Liberal movement. The President 
 stood by our party in Missouri. In that 
 election the Republican party went 
 down, and as the result of the coalition 
 between the Schurz Republican bolters 
 
9. 
 
 and the Democratic party, Mr. Gratz 
 Brown was elected as Governor and 
 General Frank P. Blair as Senator in 
 Congress. This was very good leaven. 
 Then came some real grounds for disaf- 
 fection in the party. . And let me tell 
 you how serious they were ; because I 
 don't want any Republican to vote for 
 General Grant under any misunderstand- 
 ing. If the deeds I am about to relate 
 seem to you sufficient to justify a great 
 Senator, who has been honored, as has 
 the Senator from Massachusetts Mr. 
 Simmer if these deeds will justify him 
 in his rebellion against the party 
 in his shaking hands with the an- 
 cient enemy it is fair for all Republi- 
 cans to have notice that they may also 
 do as he does. 
 
 Well, Sumner was mistreated. The 
 President met him on terms of exact 
 equality, and that was offence enough 
 for Sumner. What American citizen 
 has a right to meet him on grounds of 
 equality ? Is he not the patentee of hu- 
 man liberty ? Did he not originate hu- 
 man rights ? Has he not pranced upon 
 this hobby a quarter of a century, and 
 has not everybody, including himself, 
 greatly admired his horsemanship? 
 Why should the President refuse to bow 
 and cringe to the mightiness of such a 
 man? But that was not all. Further 
 cause for such irritation exists. Sumner 
 wanted to send a friend of his as Minis- 
 ter to Greece, and under the Constitu- 
 tion the President has the power to ap- 
 point that Minister. He did not approve 
 Sumner's friend that was number 
 two. Now, then, came the third. Sum- 
 ner and the President had a great fight 
 as to who should be appointed Marshal 
 in the State of Massachusetts, and from 
 the very habit of victory Grant won the 
 fight. [Applause.] The last of all that 
 ends this strange, eventful history, the 
 great Senator called at the White House 
 so the papers tell me ; and I think the 
 papers generally mean to tell a thing 
 about as it occurs ; sometimes they may 
 fall into a little error they tell us that 
 the Senator called at the White House 
 and inquired, with his usual dignity of 
 manner, of some messenger, whether 
 the President was in, and the messenger 
 said, " I will see, sir." What business 
 had he to see? What right had any 
 man to keep the Senator waiting? I 
 submit it to you all, as candid men, was 
 
 it right? True, the President might 
 have been shaving, and the sudden 
 opening of the door might have caused 
 him to cut his throat, but that would be 
 a trifling circumstance compared with a 
 few minutes detention of so august a 
 personage as Charles Sumner ! ! And 
 so he left the White House, as the paper 
 tells us, in high dudgeon. It was his 
 last call. Then the Senator drew his 
 Damascus blade and undertook to run it 
 into the President on the San Domingo 
 business. BANCROFT 
 
 SUMNER AND SAN DOMIN 
 
 The statements may seem of small 
 moment, but they are a part of the his- 
 tory of this great Liberal Republican 
 party. The President of the United 
 S:.ates was visited by an Ambassador 
 from San Domingo, who informed him 
 that that little Republic was desirous of 
 annexation to this country, and that if 
 our Government turned a deaf ear to its 
 overture it would be likely to place 
 itself under the protection of an Euro- 
 pean power. General Grant thought 
 such an acquisition would be of great 
 value to this country, both for its pro- 
 ductions and as a naval depot. He caused 
 a Government vessel to visit the island, 
 and sent by her an agent to make en- 
 quiries as to its productions and the 
 temper of the people on the subject of 
 annexation. A treaty was negotiated 
 by the President and sent to the Senate 
 for its ratification or rejection. There 
 was nothing novel in this proceeding. 
 It was in strict conformity with the Con- 
 stitution. Well, the great Senator from 
 Massachusetts took occasion to make a 
 speech in the open Senate on the San 
 Domingo question (of course the con- 
 sideration of the treaty was in secret 
 Executive session) in which he used 
 most violent language concerning the 
 President. He declared him to be a 
 worse man than either Pierce or Bucha- 
 nan, and even intimated that his con- 
 duct called for impeachment at the hands 
 of the House of Representatives. Would 
 you believe that before he made this 
 speech, the President had been to his 
 house, and that this great Senator from 
 Massachusetts, as Chairman of the Com- 
 mittee on Foreign Relations of the Sen- 
 ate, had given the strongest assurances 
 that he should sustain the treaty ? [Ap- 
 plause.] The testimony of General Bab- 
 
10. 
 
 cock, who was present on the occasion, 
 is, that Mr. Suinner said " he could not 
 think of doing otherwise than support- 
 ing the Administration in the matter," 
 and that "he could see no objection to 
 the instrument as a whole." Colonel 
 Forney, who was also present, says his 
 recollection was that the Senator assured 
 the President " he would cheerfully sup- 
 port the treaty." Senator Sumner is 
 convicted out of his own mouth, in the 
 very speech he made in the Senate to 
 which I have alluded. I read from his 
 remarks reported in the Congressional 
 Globe. He said : 
 
 " He (the President) proceeded with an 
 explanation which I very soon interrupt- 
 ed, saying, by the way, Mr. President, 
 it is very hard to turn out Governor 
 Ashley ; I have just received a letter 
 from the Governor, and I hope I shall 
 not take too great a liberty, Mr. Presi- 
 dent, if I read it. I find it excellent and 
 eloquent, and written with a feeling 
 which interests me much. I commenced 
 the letter and read two pages or more, 
 when I thought the President was un- 
 easy, and I felt that I was taking too 
 great a liberty with him in my own 
 house, but I was irresistibly impelled by 
 loyalty to an absent friend, while I was 
 glad of this opportunity of diverting at- 
 tention from the treaty. As conversation 
 about Governor Ashley subsided, the 
 President returned to the treaty, leaving 
 ' on my mind no very strong idea of what 
 they proposed, and nothing with regard 
 to the character of the negotiations. My 
 reply was precise. The language is fixed 
 absolutely in my memory: ' Mr. Presi- 
 dent,' I said, ' I am an Administration 
 man, and whatever you do will always 
 find in me the most careful and candid 
 consideration.' * * * My language, 
 I repeat, was precise, well considered, 
 and chosen in advance: ' I am an Ad- 
 ministration man, and whatever you do 
 will always find in me the most careful 
 and candid consideration.' " 
 
 This frank, generous, noble, dignified 
 statesman this very Liberal Republi- 
 can versed in all the arts of speech, 
 able to say the thing he did not mean, 
 and make it capable of double construc- 
 tion, said to the blunt, plain-spoken 
 soldier, who was armed with no suspi- 
 cion : " I am an Administration man, 
 and whatever you do will always find in 
 me the most careful and candid consid . 
 
 eration." This is Mr. Summer's own 
 statement, and he says he chose his 
 words " in advance " refreshing ingen- 
 uousness honest simplicity ! 
 
 Now what shall we conclude, admit- 
 ting his story to be true, differing as it 
 does from the testimony of two wit- 
 nesses why that he broke off a conver- 
 sation, a consultation he was holding, as 
 the Chairman of the Senate Committee 
 on Foreign Relations, with the Presi- 
 dent of the United States, concerning a 
 treajy with a foreign nation, in order to 
 bring in a paltry matter of an office for 
 one of his friends ? Was it a bargain he 
 meant to suggest, namely: that San Do- 
 mingo could be annexed if Ashley could 
 be retained as Governor of Montana Ter- 
 ritory? If this was not his intention, 
 then his selection, both of occasion and 
 language, was not made with his usual 
 care. Did he not juggle in words with 
 the President, and do it for the express 
 purpose of creating an impression that 
 he should support the treaty ? Certainly 
 the President left his house with no 
 doubt of the Senator's friendly disposi- 
 tion towards the San Domingo treaty. 
 What was his surprise at being de- 
 nounced in the Senate as a usurper and 
 a criminal, for negotiating the treaty, 
 and ihis by the very man who had pro- 
 fessed to agree with him ? Why, Sum- 
 ner said in the Senate, that on the shores 
 of San Domingo boards were put up on 
 whicli were printed the names of the 
 owners of property acquired during the 
 treaty negotiations, and that on one or 
 more of these boards was the name of U. 
 S. Grant. When he made this statement 
 he said that which was utterly false, and 
 never did he produce the slightest testi- 
 mony to justify it. He does not allow 
 us even to believe that he had been made 
 to believe it. He degraded himself in an 
 effort to degrade the President of the 
 United States. An investigation was 
 had and a report made by a Committee 
 of the Senate, a report was made by 
 three Commissioners sent to San Domin- 
 go ex-Senator Wade, Prof. White, Pres- 
 ident of the Cornell University, and Dr. 
 Samuel G. Howe of Boston. The result 
 convicted Senator Sumner of having ut- 
 tered as base and groundless a calumny 
 against the President as had ever been 
 directed at mortal man. There is not, 
 and has never been, an iota of evidence 
 to show the slightest irregularity in any 
 
11. 
 
 of the negotiations. The whole charge 
 was the fabrication of some malicious 
 brain. The President came out of the 
 affair as pure as the driven snow. 
 
 " The man recovered from the bite, 
 The dog it was that died." 
 
 THE FRENCH ARMS INVESTIGATION. 
 
 But cause must be found for a war 
 upon the President by those who thought 
 they had not been sufficiently considered 
 in the distribution of patronage. Ac- 
 cordingly, Senator Schurz aired his re- 
 fined patriotism in an effort to convince 
 the world that the United States had 
 violated international obligations during 
 the war between Germany and France. 
 He declared that the German Empire 
 had as good ground for war or quarrel 
 with this nation as had existed between 
 Great Britain and the United States, on 
 account of the conduct of the former 
 during our civil war. And when the 
 Senator was arraigned for his want of 
 patriotism, he said he thought it was 
 better the nation should be convicted of 
 the wrong he alleged, and be elevated to 
 a higher standard of morality, through 
 the hallowing influences of repentance. 
 The idea of a nation being self-convicted 
 of a sin never committed, in order that 
 regeneration might follow repentance, 
 savors somewhat of the originality of the 
 fellow who said he liked to turn a grind- 
 stone, because it always seemed so good 
 when he left off turning. [Laughter.] 
 
 Senator Sumner introduced a resplu- 
 tion for a Committee of Investigation to 
 be appointed to enquire if arms had been 
 sold to the French Government. To 
 this he prefixed a long preamble, alleg- 
 ing as true the very things to be enquir- 
 ed about, and which, if it had been 
 signed by Emperor William would have 
 been a sufficient declaration of war. But 
 do not imagine that he desired any in- 
 vestigation. He and Mr. Schurz had 
 already sat in judgment without hearing 
 any proofs. They had but to pronounce 
 sentence; and so, instead of allowing the 
 committee to be appointed, they occupied 
 a fortnight in making stump speeches 
 in the Senate, for effect upon the spring 
 elections and upon the Republicans 
 throughout the country. "To beat Grant," 
 was the work in hand. If New Hamp- 
 shire and Connecticut could be thrown 
 to the Democracy, General Grant would 
 seem to have lost his popularity, and 
 might perhaps be beaten in the National 
 
 Convention. The public business was 
 suspended, and the old rebel element of 
 Washington City thronged the galleries 
 of the Senate to hear the Government of 
 the United States proven dishonorable 
 by Charles Sumner and Carl Schurz. 
 [Applause,] The Democratic State Cen- 
 tral Committee of New Hampshire print- 
 ed their speeches by the cartload, and 
 scattered them broadcast over the old 
 Granite State ; and this is the reason 
 why the Republican party came to have 
 so large a majority in the March election. 
 A similar result followed in Connecticut 
 in April, although the N. T. Tj'ibune lent 
 the Liberal schemers a helping hand. 
 But when investigation could no longer 
 be delayed by those whe had accused 
 the Administration of wrong doing, it 
 resulted in a complete vindication of the 
 Government, and the discomfiture of 
 Liberalism. Laying aside the report of 
 the Republican members of the Commit- 
 tee, we have the minority report made 
 by Senator Stevenson a Democratic 
 Senator from Kentucky declaring that 
 the Secretary of War had been prompt 
 and faithful to direct that, in the sale of 
 our vast surplus supply of arms, none 
 should be sold to either the French or 
 German Government; and that, while 
 errors might have been innocently fallen 
 into by some lesser officials, it was clear 
 that no officer or employee of the Gov- 
 ernment had been guilty of any corrupt 
 practice, or been actuated by any sordid 
 consideration. And thus ended the 
 noisy humbug of sales of arms to the 
 French ! 
 
 "THE GERMAN VOTE." 
 
 Senator Schurz had taken the contract 
 to transfer the German vote to the oppo 
 sition if Grant was not defeated for a 
 renomination. My friends, there is no 
 " German vote " in this country Ger- 
 mans there are by the hundreds of thou- 
 sands, whose hearts beat as warmly as 
 our own at the sight of our flag. [Ap- 
 plause.] They are men whom we knew 
 during our great struggle with rebellion 
 we might lean upon with the same con- 
 fidence that we could upon the native 
 born. There is no " Irish vote ; " there 
 is no " foreign vote." We are in Amer- 
 ica. [Applause.] I would not trust the 
 man whose heart did not beat for his na- 
 tive land. Every true man loves his 
 Fatherland. But I am not going to ad- 
 
12. 
 
 mit that the German - Americans, the 
 Irish - Americans, or any other natural- 
 ized Americans are unable to read, think 
 and act for themselves. [Applause.] If, 
 from circumstances, sympathies, habits 
 and associations, they may at times ap- 
 pear to show their nationalities at the 
 polls, what I have said is none the less 
 true. Neither Senator Schurz nor any 
 other man, however eloquent or com- 
 manding in position, will transfer the 
 German vote. [Applause.] 
 
 THE COLORED VOTE. 
 
 Senator Sumner had taken another 
 big contract. He was to manage the 
 colored vote. The Democrats thought 
 the emancipated slaves of the South 
 were in Sumner's pocket. Because he 
 had been in the front when they were 
 being led out of Egypt, through the 
 parted waters of the Red Sea, he himself 
 thought he could coax them back into 
 Egypt and deliver them again into the 
 hands of Pharaoh. [Applause.] 
 
 ' ' But the Lord shut the waters up 
 And he couldn't get across." 
 
 And the colored voters are all on the 
 right side of Jordan. [ Laughter and 
 applause.] 
 
 But Liberalism must be busy or die. 
 The cries of San Domingo and Arms- 
 Sales to the French having failed of 
 their purpose, they hunted farther. 
 
 THE NAVY DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATED. 
 
 They overhauled the Secretary of the 
 Navy. He had paid a claim incurred 
 by the Government during the war, to 
 Secor & Co. A Committee of the House 
 of Representatives, composed of two Re- 
 publicans, two Democrats, and a Lib- 
 eral what-is-it sat in judgment, and 
 the Democrats and the Republicans com- 
 pletely vindicated the Secretary of the 
 Navy, and declared that he had been 
 blameless in the whole matter. This, 
 you see, was Democratic judgment again. 
 
 INVESTIGATION OF THE POST OFFICE 
 DEPARTMENT. 
 
 The Postmaster General was next as- 
 sailed. He had paid a claim, and done 
 other dreadful things. A committee was 
 raised of Democrats and Republicans, 
 and that committee was unanimous in 
 its verdict in favor of the Postmaster 
 General. You see it was a hopeless task, 
 this digging down for grounds of attack 
 upon the President and his Cabinet. 
 
 NEW YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE INVESTIGA- 
 TION. 
 
 Then they declared that some money 
 was being improperly made by Generals 
 Porter and Babcock, army officers, the 
 former acting as Private Secretary to the 
 President, without any extra pay, and 
 the latter as Commissioner of Public 
 Grounds in Washington. These gentle- 
 men are known to enjoy General Grant's 
 confidence and affection. They were with 
 him in war times, and have ever since 
 been near him. They are worthy of the 
 relationship; and their devotion to their 
 former Commander is the subject of ad- 
 miration with all who are not mean 
 enough to envy them. They were gross- 
 ly assailed, as being in a sort of copart- 
 nership with a customs warehouse firm 
 in New York City. The sole basis of 
 the charge was, that one of that firm, 
 who served in the army, was acquainted 
 with them, and had been favored with a 
 letter of introduction from the President 
 to the Collector in New York. Upon 
 this, an investigation wss had. On the 
 committee of investigation which sat in 
 New York, was our Democratic Senator, 
 that industrious, painstaking, able and 
 penetrating lawyer Senator Casserly. 
 The enemies of the Administration 
 ploughed the gutters of New York and 
 brought in expelled tide waiters and 
 vagrants for witnesses. But there could 
 not.be found even among the "discarded 
 and unj ust serving men " of this Falfs- 
 taffian army of "outs," any one who 
 would swear to any knowledge of any 
 connection whatever between anybody 
 in Washington and the New York Cus- 
 tom - House, or warehousing system. 
 [Applause.] 
 
 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 
 
 This was the last effort made by these 
 extremely liberal leaders to show any 
 wrong-doing on the part of the Admin- 
 istration. Their calumnies had been 
 scattered to the winds by fair - minded 
 Democrats, sitting as investigators. 
 But something must be done. Sumner, 
 Schurz & Co. must have some pretext for 
 joining the Democracy. And so despair- 
 ing of convincing anybody that the 
 President had done any thing wrong, 
 they addressed themselves to the task of 
 demonstrating [to the country that he 
 had not done every thing that was right. 
 [Laughter and applause.] They clam- 
 
13. 
 
 ored loudly for Civil Service Reform. 
 Well, our party is for that, and so is the 
 opposition. A most earnest and able 
 man George W. Curtis known to be 
 devoted to that cause, is, by th Presi- 
 dent's appointment, at the head of an 
 Advisory Board, which is arduously la- 
 boring to apply a new system to the 
 Civil Service. Every facility is given by 
 the Administration for a fair trial of the 
 theories of the Civil Service Reformers. 
 "We are yet to learn whether there is 
 wisdom enough in the world to create 
 moral steel-yards by which the character 
 of men can be determined whether a 
 man can be plied with questions enough 
 to enable a Board of Commissioners to 
 decide correctly whether he is honest 
 and fit for an office; whether he has en- 
 ergy, tact, application, and other qualifi- 
 cations desirable in a man who is to be 
 entrusted with the discharge of official 
 duties. By all means let us have the 
 steel - yards, if they can be made, and 
 nicely adjusted; and then let us see how 
 many men among those who have clam- 
 ored so loudly for them will be willing 
 to be weighed by them. Well, the Ad- 
 ministration having preceded its assail- 
 ants in efforts at reforming the Civil 
 Service, they fell back on 
 
 REVENUE REFORM. 
 
 What this is, nobody seems to know. 
 Xo statesman has yet been wise enough 
 to suggest a scheme for carrying on the 
 Government without money. These 
 Revenue Reformers assailed the Tariff 
 and the Internal Revenue system with 
 equal ferocity, although every dollar we 
 raise must come from one source or the 
 other. It is pretty clear that they did 
 not mean any thing, then, but to make 
 a party cry, and Reform is a good word 
 for that purpose. 
 
 I have endeavored to show you the 
 means resorted to by sore-headed Repub- 
 licans to prejudice the people against the 
 President, who had offended them. 
 They thought to throw dust enough to 
 make the Republican party distrust Gen- 
 eral Grant's availability for this cam- 
 paign. If they could make it appear 
 that the President was a load to carry, 
 instead of a whole team to pull, they 
 might influence the elections for dele 
 gates to the Republican National Con- 
 vention, and with Grant thrown over- 
 board, some man might be selected who 
 
 would be a more pliant instrument in 
 the hands of these baffled politicians. 
 
 THE RISE OF LIBERAL REPUBLICANISM. 
 
 They kept at work until they found 
 that every township in the * United 
 States by a vote of 99 out of 100 of the 
 Republican masses had declared Ulysses 
 S. Grant to be their choice for nominee 
 of the Republican party, [great ap- 
 plause] and when they found that there 
 were no longer any honest men in the 
 Republican party, that no one would 
 heed their clamorings, that State after 
 State instructed its delegates to vote for 
 the re-nomination of President Grant, 
 these voluminous gentlemen took their 
 satchels and portfolios and marched out 
 of the Republican camp. The Spring- 
 field Republican, edited by little Sammy 
 Bowles ground out its hurdy-gurdy 
 music of reform and honesty. The Chi- 
 cago Tribune told the Republicans of 
 the Western prairies that they were 
 being cheated and misused by the Ad- 
 ministration. The Cincinnati Commer- 
 cial flashed and crackled with opposi : 
 tion, and the New York Tribune, which! 
 a few weeks before had, by a circular, 
 begged all the Republicans to renew 
 their subscriptions, in order that it 
 might go to every Republican fireside, 
 and support and advocate the Republi- 
 can nomination, joined in the clamor for 
 the organization of an opposition. They 
 organized an opposition, as they called 
 it to meet at Cincinnati. It was a curi- 
 ous gathering. 
 
 Perhaps some of you have read the 
 details of that Convention. It had a 
 singular lack of constituencies. In only 
 a few instances were there any elections 
 of delegates. For the most part the 
 delegates were self-chosen. Every 
 anti-Grant Republican was invited: 
 " Whsoever will, let him come and 
 partake of the waters of Liberal 
 Republicanism freely," at Cincinnati. 
 [Laughter.] I guess they pretty near- 
 ly all went there from appearances, 
 including Rackerby. [Applause.] A 
 man needed no credentials for admission ; 
 he needed but to expose a sore and he 
 was welcome. [Laughter.] If he would 
 unwind the political forefinger of his 
 right hand and show his sore as I have 
 said, that was a sufficient credential. 
 If any man lacked influence enough to 
 persuade any human oeing to co-operate 
 
14. 
 
 with him, Cincinnati was the place for 
 him. [Applause.] And thither he wend- 
 ed his way. If any man had been on a 
 hunt for office, for a lifetime, and never 
 had overtaken one, or if he had stolen the 
 funds of an office, and had been expelled 
 therefrom, his march was onward for 
 Cincinnati. It was a hopeful band an 
 asylum for misdoers, and a political 
 hospital for the bruised and wounded. 
 If they had been left alone, what a wail 
 of anguish they would have sent up at 
 the corruption of the Republican party, 
 in not feeding them, with office. How 
 gaunt their sides, how luxuriously they 
 fed upon hunger itself ! How delighted 
 they were that that they had been mis- 
 treated, that they might grumble about 
 it. They belonged to that school of 
 philosophers who believes that whatever 
 is, is wrong. [Applause.] And there 
 was another motive to go there ; it was 
 the golden opportunity. Never again, 
 perhaps, during their whole lifetime, 
 would it occur that they could occupy 
 as proud and notable a position before 
 the country ; at their own instigation ; 
 at no man's bidding but their own ; 
 every man his own constituent in a Re- 
 publican body. But evil things, in robes 
 of darkness, penetrated that house of 
 mourning. The rogues of Tammany 
 had no compassion. I hold it to be the 
 stoutest and most convincing evidence 
 of total depravity far exceeding any- 
 thing that they ever did in New York 
 City that these hungry souls were not 
 allowed by them to unpack themselves 
 with cursings unmolested. They were 
 not. It was the only Convention that 
 Tammany could to go near this 
 year ; no other Convention would 
 tolerate their approach. Of all those 
 Liberal Republicans, the four or five 
 managers really intended to put up a 
 man of some stamina in the country, 
 some man who could command the re- 
 spect of the main body of quiet, thinking 
 people. They had talked seriously of 
 Judge Trumbull, of Illinois, a very dis- 
 tinguished statesman, as we all know, a 
 man of unquestioned probity of charac- 
 ter, great ability a little impractical in 
 party matters, but a most excellent legis- 
 lator and highly respected. If they 
 could have nominated him we should 
 have felt some pull at the other end of 
 that rope I spoke of at the outset. 
 Charles Francis Adams was proposed by 
 
 others, a name honored throughout 
 Christendom, but Tammany either 
 thought him lacking ability, or thought 
 he did not come from a family respect- 
 able enough, or from some other cause, 
 they set him aside. And who, of all 
 mankind, did they bring? That fond 
 and foolish old man, that man in his 
 dotage, who rides about the country in 
 railroad cars asleep, who loses his mem- 
 ory, and makes niisstaternents freely in 
 the New York Tribune, (and we all know 
 it is the habit of very old men to lose 
 their memory). He was the conquering 
 hero of the hour. [Applause and laugh- 
 ter.] It looked to me as though those 
 Liberal Republicans, as they were forced 
 into companionship with the Democratic 
 party, had determined, indeed, that they 
 would put upon the head of their life- 
 long enemy the fool's cap and bells. 
 They nominated Horace Greeley out of 
 spite ; or was it to conciliate the De- 
 mocracy ? Was it because in 1860 he 
 had advocated the right of secession ? 
 For in the Georgia Convention, when 
 Alexander H. Stephens made his never- 
 to-be forgotten appeal against secession, 
 he was confronted by a copy of the New 
 York Tribune held in the hand of Robert 
 Toombs, as an argument, and against 
 him. But the Democracy are also com- 
 pelled to remember in the same connec- 
 tion, that when this syren song had been 
 sung long enough by some of the people 
 in the North to encourage secession, that 
 Horace Greeley was among the first and 
 most furious to cry "Havoc!" and urge 
 the Government to " let slip the dogs of 
 war " upon the South. Perhaps, how- 
 ever, the compliments that Horace Gree- 
 ley had passed through the New York 
 Tribune upon the Democratic party were 
 remembered by the Liberal Republicans, 
 and they were thought to be weighty 
 considerations in this matter. You have 
 all read them, but be it as it may, forth 
 came Horace Greeley as the Liberal Re- 
 publican nominee. But where was the 
 Democratic party all this time ? A clan- 
 destine courtship had been going on all 
 those months to which I have called 
 your attention, and the intended bride 
 was doing the wooing. The nuptials 
 were to be celebrated at Baltimore on 
 the 10th of July. " Give us your black- 
 est Republican, ' and then we will take 
 burnt cork, if it is necessary to go 
 through this campaign and win the offi- 
 
15. 
 
 ces and patronage of the Government." 
 And so, on the 10th day of July, at pre- 
 cisely one o'clock P. M., the hitherto stub- 
 born Democracy saw a great sight, to 
 which that seen by St. Paul on his 
 journey to Damascus, must have been 
 but as*a rush-light. [Applause.] "Right 
 a,bout face," was the word. They de- 
 clared that they never had told a truth 
 since they were born into the world ; 
 that they* did not believe anything they 
 had ever preached ; that they were per- 
 fectly satisfied the Radical 'Republican 
 party had been entirely right in every- 
 thing they had done, that the policy of 
 the Government against which they had 
 contended in reason and out of reason, 
 was the very policy of all policies to ex- 
 cite the admiration of the Democratic 
 party. They set aside their Democratic 
 creed ; they adopted the Republican 
 creed as their own : they declared that 
 Democrats were no longer fit to be en- 
 trusted with the honors of office ; and 
 endorsed "Honest Horace Greeley" 
 and Gratz Brown (I had nearly forgotten 
 him). [Laughter and applause.] Was 
 ever such a masquerade as this ? What 
 is their own statement of it ? See if I 
 do not state it to you as they state it, 
 and how does it sound from a Republi- 
 can platform? They say they must 
 have possession of the Government be- 
 cause they have been " in a moment 
 in the twinkling of anleye," convinced 
 that they ought not to have sympathized 
 with those who sought its destruction. 
 They claim that they should have 
 possession of Congress in order that the 
 Democratic party may in Congress carry 
 out Republican policy, a Radical policy, 
 a policy of centralization and oppression. 
 They declare that General Grant must 
 be beaten at all hazards, and by what- 
 ever means, because he has done the 
 things which, with uplifted hands, they 
 swear Horace Greeley will do if elected 
 to supersede him. " They demand, in 
 short, that the Republican party shall 
 be displaced from power because it has 
 never done wrong, and that the Demo- 
 cratic party shall be installed in power 
 because it has never done right. [Ap- 
 plause.] I do not pretend to say what 
 they mean, but this is what they say. 
 
 Now, my friends, I do not propose to 
 regale you with any quotations from 
 HORACE GREELEY'S RECORD. 
 
 I have not time, nor have you. Nor 
 would it be interesting. I call your at- 
 
 tention to the fact that he has, during 
 all his political lifetime, been an erratic, 
 uncertain and unstable man. That he 
 has been a most vigorous and powerful 
 advocate of anti-slavery views, none will 
 deny ; that he offered to throw away all 
 this labor in 1860, cannot be contradict- 
 ed. " Take your slavery, and go out of 
 the Union with it," said he, in substance, 
 to the South. He was for war in time 
 of peace, and he was for peace in time of 
 war. He clamored "on to Richmond," 
 when our troops were raw and undisci- 
 plined, and the corpses of our brave boys 
 filled the trenches because Horace Gree- 
 ley, as the editor of the great Tribune 
 newspaper, had power enough in Amer- 
 ica to make an Administration unpopu- 
 lar unless it fought before it was ready; 
 but when the Rebellion was crippled 
 and broken, then he could hunt up fugi- 
 tive Confederate non-combatants in Can- 
 ada, without authority to speak for the 
 Confederacy, and fret and annoy Presi- 
 dent Lincoln with his absurd negotia- 
 tions. He wanted to buy slavery of the 
 South, after it had ceased to exist. Now, 
 in his old age, he comes forward as the 
 nominee of a patch -work party the 
 high - protection candidate of the free- 
 traders the candidate of civil service 
 reform, alter having hunted office for 
 thirty-five years. Why, in 1859, he pub- 
 lished to the world a letter written by 
 him to Gov. Seward, several years before, 
 in which he proclaimed a dissolution of 
 their previous political association, be- 
 cause he was not satisfied with the treat- 
 ment he had received as to office. His 
 thirst for office was unslaked and raging. 
 He separated from the Administration 
 of General Grant solely on the ground 
 of patronage, and so declared in a letter 
 to the Chairman of the Republican State 
 Central Committee of New York. He 
 said that if some of the appointments for 
 New York had been different, harmony 
 would have been possible, but it was 
 then too late. He is the candidate of 
 the Democracy, who declare that the 
 party from which he has just deserted, 
 have invaded the rights of the States, 
 and torn the Constitution in pieces, 
 after having himself insisted upon the 
 legislation for the Ku Klux marauders ; 
 upon the adoption of the Constitutional 
 Amendments, and of all the reconstruc- 
 tion measures. Nay, after finding fault 
 with Congress, in the Tribune, because 
 more stringent measures were not adop- 
 
16. 
 
 ted, lie now, to tickle the ears of his 
 new associates, tells them that the States 
 ought to have sole control over all these 
 affairs. The people will not see that 
 this man has shown any thing through 
 life which should encourage them to 
 make a change from Grant to Greeley. 
 
 CIIARLES CLAYTON FOR CONGRESS. 
 
 But you have another duty to perform 
 besides selecting your Chief Magistrate. 
 You have to elect a member of the 
 Lower House of Congress. No man can 
 be blind to the importance of harmony 
 between the different branches of the 
 < iovernment. No man who saw the dis- 
 turbances to which the country was sub- 
 jected during the Administration of 
 Andrew Johnson, when he was at war 
 with Congress, will doubt for a moment 
 that some very good reasons should be 
 given for withholding support from a 
 candidate for Congress of the same po- 
 litical views with the President. Happily 
 in this district there is no such disposi- 
 tion. The Republican party of this dis 
 trict, when it came to select a candidate 
 to be submitted to the people for their 
 suffrages, selected one of its most popular 
 and trusted members. The office sought 
 Charles Clayton. [Applause.] The hon- 
 orable business man, the faithful neigh- 
 bor and friend, the upright official in all 
 the public stations he has filled. The 
 people of San Francisco may well be 
 content with the prospect of being re- 
 presented by him in Congress. [Ap- 
 plause.] He will receive the united vote 
 of all who would vote for Grant, and I 
 believe that that will give him eight 
 thousand majority in San Francisco. 
 [Great applause.] 
 
 And now, fellow-citizens, I am nearly 
 done. I appeal not to Liberal Republi- 
 cans ; I hope we have done with them 
 forever. [Applause and laughter.] They 
 have followed the baggage-wagons of 
 the Republican party, scenting out the 
 Commissary Department, indignant, 
 however well ted themselves, at seeing 
 anybody else honored, like pigs at the 
 trough, with snout and fore-feet in the 
 whey, i'eeling hungry if other pigs are 
 fed. [Laughter.] The Almighty made 
 Liberal Republicans to exhibit to 
 mankind, here in this country, what 
 envy ami malice combined can do. They 
 are useful as examples. I think there 
 is no material in them to make better 
 j'.ut. I believe in progress, and 
 if during the next year, or in the next 
 
 age, or in the next world, generosity and 
 decency should sprout in their hearts, 
 then I should hope to see them encour- 
 aged. But to them, at this time, I make no 
 appeal. To those Democrats who still are 
 clinging to the old Democratic opinions, 
 meanly pretending that they have given 
 them up, hoping to obtain power through 
 fraud, I make no appeal. But to the 
 Democrat who has not changed his 
 opinions, but who does not believe that 
 Horace Greeley is an honest exponent 
 of those opinions ; to those Democrats 
 who are not willing to try to sneak into 
 power under false pretences, I say : We 
 do not ask you to surrender your opin- 
 ions, for you cannot ; but at 'least wait 
 until some more favorable opportunity to 
 contend for them. Stand by the safe 'and 
 prudent Administration of Gen. Grant, 
 and continue it in power. [Applause.] 
 Come in among us, and deliberate hon 
 estly and squarely with us as to what 
 powers are given by the Constitution, 
 and you will find thoughtful and henest 
 Republicans meeting you, as desirous 
 as you are that the action of Congress 
 shall tally exactly with that instrument ; 
 and when we cannot agree we have a 
 tribunal to which to submit any ques- 
 tion of difference. The old Democratic 
 party was never afraid to trust a Consti- 
 tutional question with the Judiciary. 
 Why attempt to regain power in a hope- 
 less contest by pretending to have 
 changed your views ? Come among us, 
 and if the war has made us extravagant 
 in our ideas of Congressional power, if 
 you think any clause in the Constitution 
 has been strained by any act of Con- 
 gress, show it to us ; help us to send men 
 to Congress ; share with us the power of 
 the Government and bring the ship of 
 State to the even keel of Constitutional 
 Republican Democracy. [Applause.] I 
 believe, as I have said before, if we may 
 judge from what has taken place in the 
 country during the seven months past, 
 that there are Democrats enough who 
 take this view, and non-partisan men 
 enough, attentive to their business in- 
 terests, looking to the safe conduct of 
 public affairs, united with the Republi- 
 cans, to sweep this country by a victory 
 such as has not been seen by any politi- 
 cal party since '52. [Applause.] I be- 
 lieve that Grant saw his political Donel- 
 son in North Carolina, his Vicksburg in 
 Maine, and that he will see his political 
 Apporaatox on the 5th of November. 
 [Great, long and continued cheering.^