{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-9:bangor-speech",
  "slug": "bangor-speech",
  "title": "Bangor Speech",
  "subtitle": "Bangor, Maine, 1876.",
  "excerpt": "A Hayes-campaign speech from Bangor, Maine, delivered alongside Governor Connor and Senator Blaine.",
  "year": 1876,
  "volume": 9,
  "category": "Political",
  "author": {
    "name": "Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "wikidata": "Q360326",
    "viaf": "44331023"
  },
  "isPartOf": {
    "title": "The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "edition": "Dresden Edition",
    "publisher": "C. P. Farrell",
    "year": 1900
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/",
  "url": "https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/bangor-speech/",
  "wordCount": 6141,
  "body": "• Yesterday was a glorious day for the Republicans of\n    Bangor. The weather was delightful and all the imposing\n    exercises of the day were conducted with a gratifying and\n    even inspiring success.\n    The noon train from Waterville brought Gov. Connor, Col.\n    Ingersoll and Senator Blaine.\n    At 3 p. m. the speakers arrived at the grounds and were\n    received with applause as they ascended the platform, where\n    a number of the most prominent citizens of Bangor and\n    vicinity were assembled. At this time the platform was\n    surrounded by a dense mass of people, numbering thousands.\n    The meeting was called to order by C. A. Boutelle, in behalf\n    of the Republican State Committee. As Col. Ingersoll was\n    introduced by Gov. Connor he was welcomed by tumultuous\n    cheers, which he gracefully acknowledged.\n    As we said before, no report could do justice to such a\n    masterly effort as that of the great Western Orator, and we\n    have not attempted to convey any adequate impression of an\n    address which is conceded on all hands to be the most\n    remarkable for originality, power and eloquence ever heard\n    in this section.\n    Such a speech by such a man—if there is another—must be\n    heard; the magnetism of the speaker must be felt; the\n    indescribable influence must be experienced, in order to\n    appreciate his wonderful power. The vast audience was\n    alternately swayed from enthusiasm for the grand principles\n    advocated, to indignation at the crimes of Democracy, as the\n    record of that party was scorched with his invective; from\n    laughter at the ludicrous presentment of Democratic\n    inconsistencies, to tears brought forth by the pathos and\n    eloquence of his appeals for justice and humanity. During\n    portions of his address there was moisture in the eyes of\n    every person in the audience, and from opening to close he\n    held the assemblage by a spell more potent than that of any\n    man we have ever heard speak. It was one of the grandest,\n    most cogent and thrilling appeals in behalf of the great\n    principles of liberty, loyalty and justice to all men, ever\n    delivered, and we wish it might have been heard by every\n    citizen of our beloved Republic. The Colonel was repeatedly\n    urged by the audience to go on, and he spoke for about two\n    hours with undiminished fervor. His hearers would gladly\n    have given him audience for two hours longer, but with a\n    splendid tribute to Mr. Blaine as the strongest tie between\n    New England and the West, he took his seat amid the ringing\n    cheers and plaudits of the assemblage.—The Whig and\n    Courier, Bangor, Maine, August 25,1876.\n\nHayes Campaign\n\n1876.\n\nI HAVE the honor to belong to the Republican party; the grandest, the\nsublimest party in the history of the world. This grand party is not\nonly in favor of the liberty of the body, but also the liberty of the\nsoul. This sublime party gives to all the labor of their hands and of\ntheir brains. This party allows every person to think for himself and\nto express his thoughts. The Republican party forges no chains for the\nmind, no fetters for the souls of men. It declares that the intellectual\ndomain shall be forever free. In the free air there is room for every\nwing. The Republican party endeavors to remove all obstructions on the\nhighway of progress. In this sublime undertaking it asks the assistance\nof all. Its platform is Continental. Upon it there is room for\nthe Methodist, the Baptist, the Catholic, the Universalist, the\nPresbyterian, and the Freethinker. There is room for all who are in\nfavor of the preservation of the sacred rights of men.\n\nI am going to give you a few reasons for voting the Republican ticket.\nThe Republican party depends upon reason, upon argument, upon education,\nupon intelligence and upon patriotism. The Republican party makes no\nappeal to ignorance and prejudice. It wishes to destroy both.\n\nIt is the party of humanity, the party that hates caste, that honors\nlabor, that rewards toil, that believes in justice. It appeals to all\nthat is elevated and noble in man, to the higher instincts, to the\nnobler aspirations. It has accomplished grand things.\n\nThe horizon of the past is filled with the glory of Republican\nachievement. The monuments of its wisdom, its power and patriotism crowd\nall the fields of conflict. Upon the Constitution this party wrote\nequal rights for all; upon every statute book, humanity; upon the flag,\nliberty. The Republican party of the United States is the conscience of\nthe nineteenth century. It is the justice of this age, the embodiment\nof social progress and honor. It has no knee for the past. Its face is\ntoward the future. It is the party of advancement, of the dawn, of the\nsunrise.\n\nThe Republican party commenced its grand career by saying that the\ninstitution of human slavery had cursed enough American soil; that the\nterritories should not be damned with that most infamous thing; that\nthis country was sacred to freedom; that slavery had gone far enough.\nUpon that issue the great campaign of 1860 was fought and won. The\nRepublican party was born of wisdom and conscience.\n\nThe people of the South claimed that slavery should be protected; that\nthe doors of the territories should be thrown open to them and to their\ninstitutions. They not only claimed this, but they also insisted that\nthe Constitution of the United States protected slave property, the same\nas other property everywhere. The South was defeated, and then appealed\nto arms. In a moment all their energies were directed toward the\ndestruction of this Government. They commenced the war—they fired upon\nthe flag that had protected them for nearly a century.\n\nThe North was compelled to decide instantly between the destruction of\nthe nation and civil war.\n\nThe division between the friends and enemies of the Union at once took\nplace. The Government began to defend itself. To carry on the war money\nwas necessary. The Government borrowed, and finally issued its notes and\nbonds. The Democratic party in the North sympathized with the Rebellion.\nEverything was done to hinder, embarrass, obstruct and delay. They\nendeavored to make a rebel breastwork of the Constitution; to create\na fire in the rear. They denounced the Government; resisted the draft;\nshot United States officers; declared the war a failure and an outrage;\nrejoiced over our defeats, and wept and cursed at our victories.\n\nTo crush the Rebellion in the South and keep in subjection the\nDemocratic party at the North, thousands of millions of money were\nexpended—the nation burdened with a fearful debt, and the best blood of\nthe country poured out upon the fields of battle.\n\nIn order to destroy the Rebellion it became necessary to destroy\nslavery. As a matter of fact, slavery was the Rebellion. As soon as\nthis truth forced itself upon the Government—thrust as it were into\nthe brain of the North upon the point of a rebel bayonet—the Republican\nparty resolved to destroy forever the last vestige of that savage and\ncruel institution; an institution that made white men devils and black\nmen beasts.\n\nThe Republican party put down the Rebellion; saved the nation; destroyed\nslavery; made the slave a citizen; put the ballot in the hands of the\nblack man; forgave the assassins of the Government; restored nearly\nevery rebel to citizenship, and proclaimed peace to, and for each and\nall.\n\nFor sixteen years the country has been in the hands of that great party.\nFor sixteen years that grand party, in spite of rebels in arms—in spite\nof the Democratic party of the North, has preserved the territorial\nintegrity, and the financial honor of the country. It has endeavored to\nenforce the laws; it has tried to protect loyal men at the South; it has\nlabored to bring murderers and assassins to justice, and it is working\nnow to preserve the priceless fruits of its great victory.\n\nThe present question is, whom shall we trust? To whom shall we give the\nreins of power? What party will best preserve the rights of the people?\n\nWhat party is most deserving of our confidence? There is but one way\nto determine the character of a party, and that is, by ascertaining its\nhistory.\n\nCould we have safely trusted the Democratic party in 1860? No. And why\nnot? Because it was a believer in the right of secession—a believer\nin the sacredness of human slavery. The Democratic party then solemnly\ndeclared—speaking through its most honored and trusted leaders—that\neach State had the right to secede. This made the Constitution a _nudum\npactum_, a contract without a consideration, a Democratic promise, a\nwall of mist, and left every State free to destroy at will the fabric of\nAmerican Government—the fabric reared by our fathers through years of\ntoil and blood.\n\nCould we have safely trusted that party in 1864, when, in convention\nassembled, it declared the war a failure, and wished to give up the\ncontest at a moment when universal victory was within the grasp of the\nRepublic? Had the people put that party in power then, there would have\nbeen a Southern Confederacy to-day, and upon the limbs of four million\npeople the chains of slavery would still have clanked. Is there one man\npresent who, to-day, regrets that the Vallandigham Democracy of 1864 was\nspurned and beaten by the American people? Is there one man present who,\nto-day, regrets the utter defeat of that mixture of slavery, malice and\nmeanness, called the Democratic party, in 1864?\n\nCould we have safely trusted that party in 1868?\n\nAt that time the Democracy of the South was trying to humble and\nfrighten the colored people or exterminate them. These inoffensive\ncolored people were shot down without provocation, without mercy. The\nwhite Democrats were as relentless as fiends. They killed simply to\nkill. They murdered these helpless people, thinking that they were in\nsome blind way getting their revenge upon the people of the North. No\ntongue can exaggerate the cruelties practiced upon the helpless freedmen\nof the South. These white Democrats had been reared amid and by slavery.\nSlavery knows no such thing as justice, no such thing as mercy. Slavery\ndoes not dream of governing by reason, by argument or persuasion.\nSlavery depends upon force, upon the bowie-knife, the revolver, the\nwhip, the chain and the bloodhound. The white Democrats of the South had\nbeen reared amid slavery; they cared nothing for reason; they knew of\nbut one thing to be used when there was a difference of opinion or a\nconflict of interest, and that was brute force. It never occurred to\nthem to educate, to inform, and to reason. It was easier to shoot than\nto reason; it was quicker to stab than to argue; cheaper to kill than\nto educate. A grave costs less than a schoolhouse; bullets were cheaper\nthan books; and one knife could stab more than forty schools could\nconvert.\n\nThey could not bear to see the negro free—to see the former slave\ntrampling on his old chains, holding a ballot in his hand. They could\nnot endure the sight of a negro in office. It was gall and wormwood\nto think of a slave occupying a seat in Congress; to think of a negro\ngiving his ideas about the political questions of the day. And so these\nwhite Democrats made up their minds that by a reign of terrorism they\nwould drive the negro from the polls, drive him from all official\npositions, and put him back in reality in the old condition. To\naccomplish this they commenced a system of murder, of assassination,\nof robbery, theft, and plunder, never before equaled in extent and\natrocity. All this was in its height when in 1868 the Democracy asked\nthe control of this Government.\n\nIs there a man here who in his heart regrets that the Democrats failed\nin 1868? Do you wish that the masked murderers who rode in the darkness\nof night to the hut of the freedman and shot him down like a wild beast,\nregardless of the prayers and tears of wife and children, were now\nholding positions of honor and trust in this Government? Are you sorry\nthat these assassins were defeated in 1868?\n\nIn 1872 the Democratic party, bent upon victory, greedy for office, with\nitching palms and empty pockets, threw away all principle—if Democratic\ndoctrines can be called principles—and nominated a life-long enemy\nof their party for President. No one doubted or doubts the loyalty\nand integrity of Horace Greeley. But all knew that if elected he would\nbelong to the party electing him; that he would have to use Democrats as\nhis agents, and all knew, or at least feared, that the agents would own\nand use the principal. All believed that in the malicious clutch of\nthe Democratic party Horace Greeley would be not a President, but a\nprisoner—not a ruler, but a victim. Against that grand man I have\nnothing to say. I simply congratulate him upon his escape from being\nused as a false key by the Democratic party.\n\nDuring all these years the Democratic party prophesied the destruction\nof the Government, the destruction of the Constitution, and the\nbanishment of liberty from American soil.\n\nIn 1864 that party declared that after four years of failure to restore\nthe Union by the experiment of war, there should be a cessation of\nhostilities. They then declared \"that the Constitution had been violated\nin every part, and that public liberty and private rights had been\ntrodden down.\"\n\nAnd yet the Constitution remained and still remains; public liberty\nstill exists, and private rights are still respected.\n\nIn 1868, growing more desperate, and being still filled with the spirit\nof prophecy, this same party in its platform said: \"Under the repeated\nassaults of the Republican party, the pillars of the Government are\nrocking on their base, and should it succeed in November next, and\ninaugurate its President, we will meet as a subjected and conquered\npeople, amid the ruins of liberty and the scattered fragments of the\nConstitution.\"\n\nThe Republican party did succeed in November, 1868, and did inaugurate\nits President, and we did not meet as a subjected and conquered\npeople amid the ruins of liberty and the scattered fragments of\nthe Constitution. We met as a victorious people, amid the proudest\nachievements of liberty, protected by a Constitution spotless and\nstainless—pure as the Alpine snow thrice sifted by the northern blast.\n\nYou must not forget the condition of the Government when it came into\nthe hands of the Republican party. Its treasury was empty, its means\nsquandered, its navy dispersed, its army unreliable, the offices filled\nwith rebels and rebel spies; the Democratic party of the North rubbing\nits hands in a kind of hellish glee and shouting, \"I told you so.\"\n\nWhen the Republican party came into power in 1861, it found the Southern\nStates in arms; it came into power when human beings were chained hand\nto hand and driven like cattle to market; when white men were engaged\nin the ennobling business of raising dogs to pursue and catch men and\nwomen; when the bay of the bloodhound was considered as the music of the\nUnion. It came into power when, from thousands of pulpits, slavery was\ndeclared to be a divine institution. It took the reins of Government\nwhen education was an offence, when mercy, humanity and justice were\npolitical crimes.\n\nThe Republican party came into power when the Constitution of the United\nStates upheld the crime of crimes, a Constitution that gave the lie\ndirect to the Declaration of Independence, and, as I said before, when\nthe Southern States were in arms.\n\nTo the fulfillment of its great destiny it gave all its energies. To the\nalmost superhuman task, it gave its every thought and power. For four\nlong and terrible years, with vast armies in the field against it; beset\nby false friends; in constant peril; betrayed again and again; stabbed\nby the Democratic party, in the name of the Constitution; reviled and\nslandered beyond conception; attacked in every conceivable manner—the\nRepublican party never faltered for an instant. Its courage increased\nwith the difficulties to be overcome. Hopeful in defeat, confident\nin disaster, merciful in victory; sustained by high aims and noble\naspirations, it marched forward, through storms of shot and shell—on to\nthe last fortification of treason and rebellion—forward to the shining\ngoal of victory, lasting and universal.\n\nDuring these savage and glorious years, the Democratic party of the\nNorth, as a party, assisted the South. Democrats formed secret societies\nto burn cities—to release rebel prisoners. They shot down officers who\nwere enforcing the draft; they declared the war unconstitutional;\nthey left nothing undone to injure the credit of the Government; they\npersuaded soldiers to desert; they went into partnership with rebels\nfor the purpose of spreading contagious diseases through the North. They\nwere the friends and allies of persons who regarded yellow fever and\nsmallpox as weapons of civilized warfare. In spite of all this, the\nRepublicans succeeded.\n\nThe Democrats declared slavery to be a divine institution; The\nRepublican party abolished it. The Constitution of the United States was\nchanged from a sword that stabbed the rights of four million people to a\nshield for every human being beneath our flag.\n\nThe Democrats of New York burned orphan asylums and inaugurated a reign\nof terror in order to co-operate with the raid of John Morgan. Remember,\nmy friends, that all this was done when the fate of our country trembled\nin the balance of war; that all this was done when the great heart of\nthe North was filled with agony and courage; when the question was,\n\"Shall Liberty or Slavery triumph?\"\n\nNo words have ever passed the human lips strong enough to curse the\nNorthern allies of the South.\n\nThe United States wanted money. It wanted money to buy muskets and\ncannon and shot and shell, it wanted money to pay soldiers, to buy\nhorses, wagons, ambulances, clothing and food. Like an individual, it\nhad to borrow this money; and, like an honest individual, it must pay\nthis money. Clothed with sovereignty, it had, or at least exercised, the\npower to make its notes a legal tender. This quality of being a legal\ntender was the only respect in which these notes differ from those\nsigned by an individual. As a matter of fact, every note issued was\na forced loan from the people, a forced loan from the soldiers in the\nfield—in short, a forced loan from every person that took a single\ndollar. Upon every one of these notes is printed a promise. The belief\nthat this promise will be made good gives every particle of value to\neach note that it has. Although each note, by law, is a legal tender,\nyet if the Government declared that it never would redeem these\nnotes, the people would not take them if revolution could hurl such a\nGovernment from power. So that the belief that these notes will finally\nbe paid, added to the fact that in the meantime they are a legal tender,\ngives them all the value they have. And, although all are substantially\nsatisfied that they will be paid, none know at what time. This\nuncertainty as to the time, as to when, affects the value of these\nnotes.\n\nThey must be paid, unless a promise can be delayed so long as to amount\nto a fulfillment. They must be paid. The question is, \"How?\" The answer\nis, \"By the industry and prosperity of the people.\" They cannot be paid\nby law. Law made them; labor must pay them; and they must be paid out\nof the profits of the people. We must pay the debt with eggs, not with\ngoose. In a terrible war we spent thousands of millions; all the bullets\nthrown; all the powder burned; all the property destroyed, of every\nsort, kind, and character; all the time of the people engaged—all these\nthings were a dead loss. The debt represents the loss. Paying the debt\nis simply repairing the loss. When we, as a people, shall have made\na net amount, equal to the amount thrown, as it were, away in war,\nor somewhere near that amount, we will resume specie payment; we will\nredeem our promises. We promised on paper, we shall pay in gold and\nsilver. We asked the people to hold this paper until we got the money,\nand they are holding the paper and we are getting the money.\n\nAs soon as the slaves were free, the Republican party said, \"They must\nbe citizens, not vagrants.\" The Democratic party opposed this just, this\ngenerous measure. The freedmen were made citizens. The Republican party\nthen said, \"These citizens must vote; they must have the ballot, to keep\nwhat the bullet has won.\" The Democratic party said \"No.\" The negroes\nreceived the ballot. The Republican party then said, \"These voters must\nbe educated, so that the ballot shall be the weapon of intelligence, not\nof ignorance.\" The Democratic party objected. But schools were founded,\nand books were put in the hands of the colored people, instead of whips\nupon their backs. We said to the Southern people, \"The colored men are\ncitizens; their rights must be respected; they are voters, they must\nbe allowed to vote; they were and are our friends, and we are their\nprotectors.\"\n\nAll this was accomplished by the Republican party.\n\nIt changed the organic law of the land, so that it is now a proper\nfoundation for a free government; it struck the cruel shackles from four\nmillion human beings; it put down the most gigantic rebellion in the\nhistory of the world; it expunged from the statute books of every\nState, and of the Nation, all the cruel and savage laws that Slavery\nhad enacted; it took whips from the backs, and chains from the limbs, of\nmen; it dispensed with bloodhounds as the instruments of civilization;\nit banished to the memory of barbarism the slave-pen, the auction block,\nand the whipping-post; it purified a Nation; it elevated the human race.\n\nAll this was opposed by the Democratic party; opposed with a bitterness,\ncompared to which ordinary malice is sweet. I say the Democratic party,\nbecause I consider those who fought against the Government, in the\nfields of the South, and those who opposed in the North, as\nDemocrats—one and all. The Democratic party has been, during all these\nyears, the enemy of civilization, the hater of liberty, the despiser of\njustice.\n\nWhen I say the Democratic party sympathized with the Rebellion, I mean\na majority of that party. I know there are in the Democratic party,\nsoldiers who fought for the Union. I do not know why they are there, but\nI have nothing to say against them. I will never utter a word against\nany man who bared his breast to a storm of shot and shell, for the\npreservation of the Republic. When I use the term Democratic party, I do\nnot mean those soldiers.\n\nThere are others in the Democratic party who are there just because\ntheir fathers were Democrats. They do not mean any particular harm.\nOthers are there because they could not amount to anything in the\nRepublican party. A man only fit for a corporal in the Republican ranks,\nwill make a leader in the Democratic party. By the Democratic party,\nI mean that party that sided with the South—that believed in\nsecession—that loved slavery—that hated liberty—that denounced\nLincoln as a tyrant—that burned orphan asylums—that gloried in our\ndisasters—that denounced every effort to save the nation—they are the\ngentlemen I mean, and they constitute a large majority of the Democratic\nparty.\n\nThe Democrats hate the negro to-day, with a hatred begotten of a\nwell-grounded fear that the colored people are rapidly becoming their\nsuperiors in industry, intellect and character.\n\nThe colored people have suffered enough. They were and are our friends.\nThey are the friends of this country, and cost what it may they must\nbe protected. The white loyal man must be protected. They have been\nostracized, slandered, mobbed, and murdered. Their very blood cries from\nthe ground.\n\nThese two things—payment of the debt and protection of loyal citizens,\nare the things to be done. Which party can be trusted?\n\nWhich will be the more apt to pay the debt?\n\nWhich will be the more apt to protect the colored and white loyalist at\nthe South?\n\nWho is Samuel J. Tilden?\n\nSamuel J. Tilden is an attorney. He never gave birth to an elevated,\nnoble sentiment in his life. He is a kind of legal spider, watching in\na web of technicalities for victims. He is a compound of cunning and\nheartlessness—of beak and claw and fang. He is one of the few men who\ncan grab a railroad and hide the deep cuts, tunnels and culverts in a\nsingle night. He is a corporation wrecker. He is a demurrer filed by the\nConfederate congress. He waits on the shores of bankruptcy to clutch the\ndrowning by the throat. He was never married. The Democratic party\nhas satisfied the longings of his heart. He has looked upon love as\nweakness. He has courted men because women cannot vote. He has contented\nhimself by adopting a rag-baby, that really belongs to Mr. Hendricks,\nand his principal business at present is explaining how he came to adopt\nthis child.\n\nSamuel J. Tilden has been for years without number a New York Democrat.\n\nNew York has been, and still is, the worst governed city in the world.\nPolitical influence is bought and sold like stocks and bonds. Nearly\nevery contract is larceny in disguise—nearly every appointment is a\nreward for crime, and every election is a fraud. Among such men Samuel\nJ. Tilden has lived; with such men he has acted; by such men he has been\neducated; such men have been his scholars, and such men are his friends.\nThese men resisted the draft, but Samuel J. Tilden remained their\nfriend. They burned orphan asylums, but Tilden's friendship never\ncooled. They inaugurated riot and murder, but Tilden wavered not. They\nstole a hundred millions, and when no more was left to steal—when the\npeople could not even pay the interest on the amount stolen—then these\nDemocrats, clapping their hands over their bursting pockets, began\nshouting for reform. Mr. Tilden has been a reformer for years,\nespecially of railroads. The vital issue with him has been the issue\nof bogus stock. Although a life-long Democrat, he has been an\namalgamationist—of corporations. While amassing millions, he has\noccasionally turned his attention to national affairs. He left his\nprivate affairs (and his reputation depends upon these affairs being\nkept private) long enough to assist the Democracy to declare the war for\nthe restoration of the Union a failure; long enough to denounce Lincoln\nas a tyrant and usurper. He was generally too busy to denounce the\npolitical murders and assassinations in the South—too busy to say a\nword in favor of justice and liberty; but he found time to declare the\nwar for the preservation of the country an outrage. He managed to spare\ntime enough to revile the Proclamation of Emancipation—time enough to\nshed a few tears over the corpse of slavery; time enough to oppose\nthe enfranchisement of the colored man; time enough to raise his voice\nagainst the injustice of putting a loyal negro on a political level with\na pardoned rebel; time enough to oppose every forward movement of the\nnation.\n\nNo man should ever be elected President of this country who raised his\nhand to dismember and destroy it. No man should be elected President who\nsympathized with those who were endeavoring to destroy it. No man should\nbe elected President of this great nation who, when it was in deadly\nperil, did not endeavor to save it by act and word. No man should\nbe elected President who does not believe that every negro should be\nfree—that the colored people should be allowed to vote. No man\nshould be placed at the head of the nation—in command of the army\nand navy—who does not believe that the Constitution, with all its\namendments, should be sacredly enforced. No man should be elected\nPresident of this nation who believes in the Democratic doctrine of\n\"States Rights;\" who believes that this Government is only a federation\nof States. No man should be elected President of our great country\nwho aided and abetted her enemies in war—who advised or countenanced\nresistance to a draft in time of war, who by slander impaired her\ncredit, sneered at her heroes, and laughed at her martyrs. Samuel J.\nTilden is the possessor of nearly every disqualification mentioned.\n\nMr. Tilden is the author of an essay on finance, commonly called a\nletter of acceptance, in which his ideas upon the great subject are\ngiven in the plainest and most direct manner imaginable. All through\nthis letter or essay there runs a vein of honest bluntness really\nrefreshing. As a specimen of bluntness and clearness, take the following\nextracts:\n\nHow shall the Government make these notes at all times as good as\nspecie? It has to provide in reference to the mass which would be kept\nin use by the wants of business a central reservoir of coin, adequate\nto the adjustment of the temporary fluctuations of the international\nbalance, and as a guaranty against transient drains, artificially\ncreated by panic or by speculation. It has also to provide for the\npayment in coin of such fractional currency as may be presented\nfor redemption, and such inconsiderable portion of legal tenders as\nindividuals may from time to time desire to convert for special use, or\nin order to lay by in coin their little store of money. To make the\ncoin now in the treasury available for the objects of this reserve, to\ngradually strengthen and enlarge that reserve, and to provide for such\nother exceptional demands for coin as may arise, does not seem to me a\nwork of difficulty. If wisely planned and discreetly pursued, it ought\nnot to cost any sacrifice to the business of the country. It should\ntend, on the contrary, to the revival of hope and confidence.\n\nIn other words, the way to pay the debt is to get the money, and the\nway to get the money is to provide a central reservoir of coin to adjust\nfluctuations. As to the resumption he gives us this:\n\nThe proper time for the resumption is the time when wise preparation\nshall have ripened into perfect ability to accomplish the object with\na certainty and ease that will inspire confidence and encourage the\nreviving of business.\n\nThe earliest time in which such a result can be brought about is best.\nEven when preparations shall have been matured, the exact date would\nhave to be chosen with reference to the then existing state of trade and\ncredit operations in our own country, and the course of foreign commerce\nand condition of exchanges with other nations. The specific measure and\nactual date are matters of details, having reference to ever-changing\nconditions. They belong to the domain of practical, administrative\nstatesmanship. The captain of a steamer, about starting from New York to\nLiverpool, does not assemble a council over his ocean craft, and fix\nan angle by which to lash the rudder for the whole voyage. A human\nintelligence must be at the helm to discern the shifting forces of water\nand winds. A human mind must be at the helm to feel the elements day by\nday, and guide to a mastery over them. Such preparations are everything.\nWithout them a legislative command fixing a day—an official promise\nfixing a day, are shams. They are worse. They are a snare and a delusion\nto all who trust them. They destroy all confidence among thoughtful men\nwhose judgment will at last sway public opinion. An attempt to act on\nsuch a command, or such a promise without preparation, would end in a\nnew suspension. It would be a fresh calamity, prolific of confusion,\ndistrust, and distress.\n\nThat is to say, Congress has not sufficient intelligence to fix the\ndate of resumption. They cannot fix the proper time. But a Democratic\nconvention has human intelligence enough to know that the first day of\nJanuary, 1879, is not the proper date. That convention knew what the\nstate of trade and credit in our country and the course of foreign\ncommerce and the condition of exchanges with other nations would be on\nthe first day of January, 1879. Of course they did, or else they\nnever would have had the impudence to declare that resumption would be\nimpossible at that date.\n\nThe next extract is more luminous still:\n\nThe Government of the United States, in my opinion, can advance to a\nresumption of specie payments on its legal tender notes by gradual and\nsafe processes tending to relieve the present business distress. If\ncharged by the people with the administration of the executive office, I\nshould deem it a duty so to exercise the powers with which it has or may\nbe invested by Congress, as the best and soonest to conduct the country\nto that beneficent result.\n\nWhy did not this great statesman tell us of some \"gradual and safe\nprocess\"? He promises, if elected, to so administer the Government that\nit will soon reach a beneficent result. How is this to be done? What is\nhis plan? Will he rely on \"a human intelligence at the helm,\" or on \"the\ncentral reservoir,\" or on some \"gradual and safe process\"?\n\nI defy any man to read this letter and tell me what Mr. Tilden really\nproposes to do. There is nothing definite said. He uses such general\nterms, such vague and misty expressions, such unmeaning platitudes, that\nthe real idea, if he had one, is lost in fog and mist.\n\nSuppose I should, in the most solemn and impressive manner, tell\nyou that the fluctuations caused in the vital stability of shifting\nfinancial operations, not to say speculations of the wildest character,\ncannot be rendered instantly accountable to a true financial theory\nbased upon the great law that the superfluous is not a necessity, except\nin vague thoughts of persons unacquainted with the exigencies of the\nhour, and cannot, in the absence of a central reservoir of coin with\na human intelligence at the head, hasten by any system of convertible\nbonds the expectation of public distrust, no matter how wisely planned\nand discreetly pursued, failure is assured whatever the real result may\nbe.\n\nMust we wage this war for the right forever? Is there no time when the\nsoldiers of progress can rest? Will the bugles of the great army of\ncivilization never sound even a halt? It does seem as though there\ncan be no stop, no rest. It is in the world of mind as in the physical\nworld. Every plant of value has to be cultivated. The land must be\nplowed, the seeds must be planted and watered. It must be guarded every\nmoment. Its enemies crawl in the earth and fly in the air. The sun\nscorches it, the rain drowns it, the dew rusts it. He who wins it must\nfight. But the weeds they grow in spite of all. Nobody plows for them\nexcept accident. The winds sow the seeds, chance covers them, and they\nflourish and multiply. The sun cannot burn them—they laugh at rain and\nfrost—they care not for birds and beasts. In spite of all they grow. It\nis the same in politics. A true Republican must continue to grow, must\nwork, must think, must advance. The Republican party is the party of\nprogress, of ideas, of work. To make a Republican you must have schools,\nbooks, papers. To make a Democrat, take all these away. Republicans are\nthe useful; Democrats the noxious—corn and wheat against the dog fennel\nand Canada thistles.\n\nRepublicans of Maine, do not forget that each of you has two votes in\nthis election—one in Maine and one in Indiana.\n\nRemember that we are relying on you. There is no stronger tie between\nthe prairies of Illinois and the pines of Maine—between the Western\nStates and New England, than James G. Blaine.\n\nWe are relying on Maine for from twelve to fifteen thousand on the\n12th of September, and Indiana will answer with from fifteen to twenty\nthousand, and hearing these two votes the Nation in November will\ndeclare for Hayes and Wheeler.*\n  • This being a newspaper report, and never revised by the\n    author, is of necessity incomplete, but the publisher feels\n    that it should not be lost\n"
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