,^^ .^^■^.. >% k" p'r. % \^ COPYRIGHTED. '(T, o^^^ CA MPAIGN OF '84. BIOGRAPHIES OF JAMES G. BLAINE, THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDA TE FOR PRESIDENT, AND JOHN A. LOGAN, THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDA TE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT. WITH A DESORIPTIOlSr OF THE LEADING ISSUES AND THE Proceedings of the National Convention. TOGETHER WITH A History of the Political Parties of the United States. COMPARISONS OF PLATFORMS ON ALL IMPORTANT QUESTIONS, Political Tables for Ready Reference. BY HON. THOS. V. COOPER, Author of "American Politics," and Chairman of Pennsylvania Republican State Committee 1881-82-83-84. CHICAGO, NEW YORK: BAIRD & DILLON. Bntored according to Act of Congrese, in the year 1884, in the OfBo* of the Librarian of Congreaa, at Washington, D.C. HKNRT ALTEHUS, 4th and Oberrj StreeU, /•^, ■^ ■Srrn L.L CONTENTS. yj/ //^ !Pio{^r apliics, etc, PAGE James G. Blaine, 1 John A. Logan, 50 Proceedings of National Republican Convention at Chicago, June 3, 18S4 . 71 Issues of Pkesidential Campaign of 1884 80 HISTORY OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES. page. Colonial Parties— Whig and Tory 3 Particularists and Strong Government Whigs 5 Federals and Anti Federals 7 Republicans and Federals 9 Downfall op the Federals 13 Democrats and Federals 17 Jefferson Democrats 19 Hartford Convention 20 Treaty of Ghent 20 Congressional Caucus 21 Protective Tariff 21 Monroe Doctrine 23 Missouri Compromise 24 Tariff — American System • • 25 Tenure of Office — Eligibility 27 Nullification — Democrats and Federals 29 United States Bank 31 Jackson's Special Message on the United States Bank 33 Conception of Slavery Question 35 Democrats and Whigs 37 The Hour Rule 39 National Bank Bill — First 41 Second 43 Oregon Treaty of 1846 47 Treaty op Peace with Mexico 49 Clay's Compromise Resolutions 51 Abolition Party — Rise and Progress of 53 Kansas-Nebraska Bill 55 Ritual of the American Party 57 Kansas Struggle 71 Lincoln and Douglas Debate 73 Charleston Convention — Democratic, 1860 81 Douglas Convention, 1860, Baltimore 86 Breckinridge Convention, 1860, Baltimore 86 Chicago Republican Convention, 1860 86 American Convention, 1860 87 Secession— Preparing^ foe 87 vii viii TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. Secession — Virginia Convention, 1861 91 Inter-State Commissioners 96 Southern Congress, Proceedings of 97 Confederate Constitution 97 Confederate States 98 Buchanan's Views 99 Crittenden Compromise 104 Peace Convention 106 Actual Secession 109 " " Transferring Arms to the South 109 Fernando "Wood's Secession Message 112 Congress on the Eve of the Rebellion 113 Lincoln's Views 115 Judge Black's Views 115 Alexander H. Stephens' Speech ok Secession 116 Lincoln's First Administration IL'O Confederate Military Legislation 128 Guerrillas 1 29 Twenty-Negro Exemption Law 130 Douglas on the Rebellion 130 Political Legislation Incident to the War 130 Thirty-Seventh Congress 131 Compensated Emancipation 135 Lincoln's Appeal to the Border States 137 Reply of the Border States 138 Border State Slaves . .-139 Emancipation 141 Preliminary Proclamation of 141 " Proclamation of 143 Loyal Governors, the Address of 144 Fugitive Slave Law, Repeal of 145 Financial Legislation 149 Seward as Secretary of State 149 Internal Taxes 151 Confederate Debt 152 Confederate Taxes 153 West Virginia — Admission of 158 Color in War Politics 159 Thirteenth Amendment— Passage of 167 Louisiana — Admission of Representatives . . ; 168 Reconstruction 169 Arkansas — Admission of 170 Reconstruction Measures— Test of 171 Fourteenth Amendment 174 McClellan's Political Letters 175 Lincoln's Second Administration 177 Andrew Johnson and his Policy 178 " " — Impeachment Trial 179 Grant 191 Enforcement Acts • 193 Readmission of Rebellious States 193 Legal Tender Decision 194 Greenback Party 194 Prohibitory Party 196 San Domingo— Annexation of •• 196 TABLE OF CONTEXTS. . ix PAGE. Alabama Claims 197 FoKCE Bill 197 Civil Service— Order of President Hayes 198 Amnesty 199 Liberal Republicans 199 Reform in the Civil Service 200 Credit Mobilier 200 Salary Grab 214 Returning Boards 217 C,-Rj,yiGER3 218 — Illinois Railroad Act of 1873 218 Civil Rights Bill— Supplemen'^ary 221 Morton Amendment 222 Whisky Ring 222 Belknap Impeached 223 White League 223 Wheeler Compromise — Text of 226 Election op Hayes and Wheeler 228 Electoral Count 229 Title of President Hayes 233 Cipher Despatches 234 Thb Hayes Administration 239 Negro Exodus 240 Campaign op 1880 242 Three Per Cent. Funding Bill 244 History of the National Loans 245 Garfield and Arthur— Inauguration of 253 Republican Factions 253 The Caucus 256 Assassination of Garfield 260 Arthur, President 261 Boss Rule 261 Readjusters 263 MoRMONisM — Suppression of 264 " Text of the Bill 265 South American Question 269 Star Route Scandal 277 The Coming States '■^'^ Chinese Question 281 — Speech of Senator Miller on 281 — Reply of Senator Hoar 285 Merchant Marine 296 Current Politics 298 Political Changes in 18S2 304 BOOK II.— POLITICx\L PLATFORMS. Virginia Resolutions, 1798 Virginia Resolutions, 1798— Answers of the State Legislatures ^6 Resolutions of 1798 and 1799 ^^ Washiis-gton's Farewell Address All National Platforms from 1800 to 1880 -1"°^ ^ ._ T^. .„„„„,, -Dr.-KTT^a ^vr n.-OTJ'iT PnTTTTP/kT. OtTFSTIONS 69-79 PART I. BIOGRAPHIES OP JAMES G. BLAINE AND JOHN A. LOGAN. JAMES G. BLAlISrE. Hon. James G. Blaine, the Republican nominee for President of the United Stales, is so well and favorably known to the people of the country, that he needs no introduction to his fellow-citizens. During his eventful life he has taken such a pro- minent part, and has been such a con- spicuous figure in the history of the coun- try as to bring him into every community and every household. Revolutions, exciting events, questions of municipal, state and national impor- tance, bring men to the surface and place them for the time prominently before the people ; but when quiet is restored, when the issues have been decided and passed into history, a great majority of the pro- minent figures sink to the level from which they arose, and are almost forgotten. Men elevated to political prominence and power, wielding the patronage and dis- tributing the favors of official position, are followed by the public eye, heralded by the public press, cajoled and flattered by the myriads of sycophants who bask in the sunshine of power and exist on the gifts of patronage. They are exalted by their office unto greatness, and their names are sounded in the ears of the world through the trumpet of praise until they appear to have attained the summit of human ambition. But when they are stripped of their official position, when they cease to perform in their official role, when they are succeeded by others, and retire to the shades of private life, their followers leave them, their satellites re- volve around another centre, and they find that it was the position and not the man that people worshipped, and flattered, and they realize that couplet of Pope: "Imperious Csesar, dead and turned to clay, May stop a hole to keep the wind away." Yet while this maybe termed the "com- mon lot" of those who are placed in high positions by their countrymen, yet there are exceptions to the rule. Where honor, love, confidence and fame follow men. and continue as abiding when devoid of power and patronage as when they were at the summit of political power, it shows the worth of the man. " The survival of the fittest" holds true even on the camp- ing ground of honor and fame. How many are unable to name the succession of Presidents and Vice-Presidents. How few can name the cabinets of distinguished men from Washington to Arthur. What a small percentage of the Continental Congress has lived in names familiar to the present generation. It is a very severe, but an excellent test of innate greatness, worth, ability and character, as it separates the man from the office, and gives him to posterity stripped of all extraneous trappings. The man survives as a man ; he lives on his intrinsic value, or becomes lost for the want of it. Judged by this standard, James G. Blaine is, in the true sense of the word, a great man. His brilliant intellect and in- spiring genius are as fully recognized by the people of the nation as his services as statesman and legislator have been ac- knowledged. In all the positions he has held, from his first office to that of Prime Minister of the Government, he has been an honor to the position, and hence when he left them he retained that nobility of self which kept him prominent and potential. James G. Blaine has passed through more crucial tests than perhaps any other public man living. His acknowledged intellectual- ity, his brilliant and magnetic style, his fo- rensic power, and his native genius all tend to place him on so high a pinnacle that no man, unless he be great, can sustain him- self in all. Yet in public and private life he has added to his renown, and never JAMES G. BLAINE. dazed by the giddy height he has reached, he still has a higher aim, and an upward march. In all the positions he has filled, as well as during his short rests within the quiet of private lite, he has kept himself close to the people, and been a ready champion for their rights. As a leader of men he is brave to a fault. As a party man he has been one of its most able expounders and supporters — and as a statesman he has shown an unflinching devotion to our institutions, and he has throughout ad- vocated a policy as broad as our na- tion. Outspoken in his faith, and zea- lous for the principles of P'reedom, he has stood by the people of his country at home, and wherever our flag covered them abroad. In the House, in the Senate, at the head of the Nation's Cabinet alike he has won the love of the people by his devotion to their personal interest and the national honor. For a quarter of a century he has been iden- tified with the people, and his wonderful popularity with the masses is the highest eulogium that he can receive. Next to the immortal Lincoln he il held to the people by the strongest bonds, and for the same reason — that he has been so closely allied to the masses. ^ James G. Blaine has not been the pet of politicians, and been elevated from place to place by political manoeuvering. On the contrary, his ad- vancement, and brilliant career has often excited the jealousy and envy of his fel- low leaders, who have endeavored to retard his rapid march in the path of greatness. It is nothing derogatory to Blaine, that he has his enemies — on the contrary, it is the best of proof that he has positiveness and decision of character. It is no compliment to say that a man has no enemies. The friction of life naturally makes them, when men are the exponents of ideas, the zealous advocates of prin- ciples, and the acknowledged leaders of men and of party. The genius of a man like Blaine naturally makes him aggressive. The comprehensive grasp of such a mind can find no rest in our age and country, and he who is brave enough to grasp the issues of the hour must always expect to meet with opposition. Such a character cannot float quietly down the stream of time with the current, content to wait for time and tide, but will trust to its own propelling powers, rather than to others, and will, if necessary, stem the current in- stead of being carried by it. Even to those who know Mr. Blaine best, his wonderful magnetism is a mystery. He does not act as though he was aware of this power, and he shows nothing m his manners or general conversation to lead a stranger to suspect his real greatness. He is now in the prime of a well-pre- served life, which has given him such a knowledge of men and measures as but few persons possess. For twenty-five years he has been brought in personal contact with all the leading politicians, statesmen and diplomats, besides being a close stu- dent and a great reader. His record in the House of Representatives, both as a member and as its presiding officer, shows that he possesses vast resources, and is always ready to apply them. This, and not any oratorical display gave him his prestige as a debater and leader. According to the accepted definition of oratory, James G. Blaine is not an orator, although the experience and practice of his official life has proven him to be a pro- found and almost irresistible speaker. It is the earnestness of his style, joined to his personal magnetism, and not the dis- play of oratorical sentences, that gives him his power. Indeed, his early life showed an actual dearth of oratorical ability, and during the period when he was at Washington College, he gave no evidence in that direction. The different literary societies to which he belonged never selected him to represent them on the platform on gala occasions. He was far from being the brightest boy, and his college days gave but little indication of his reserved powers, or of the prominence to which he has arrived in after life. James Gillespie Blaine was born at what was known as the Indian Hill Farm, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, just opposite Brownsville, January 31, 1830, and hence is now in the fifty-fifth year of his age. The stone house in which he first drew the breath of life, dingy with time, and tottering with its age, still re- mains. It is now included within the JAMES G. BLAINE. limits of West Brownsville. It was erected j by Neal (Gillespie, the great-grandfather of Mr. Blaine, in 1778, so that it has stood intact for more than a century. Indian Hill Farm was then on the very borders of civilization; now that civilization has extended from ocean to ocean. Mr. Neal Gillespie was evidently a pioneer in those days, as it is believed that this was the first stone house erected on that side of the Mononghela river. His Family History. Colonel Ephraim Blaine of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, great-grandfather of Mr. Blaine, was one of the " patriots of 76," and took an active part in the revolu- tionary struggle from the time when Inde- pendence Bell rang out the birth of a new nation, until the United States were ac- knowledged by the nations of the earth. He was appointed Commissary General by Washington in 1778 and held his com- mission until 1783. The Blaines were Scotch-Irish, the race from which sprang James Buchanan, Si- mon Cameron, John Stewart, Wayne Mac- Veagh. The race has been remarkably productive of the qualities of heart and mind which win the regard and admiration of mankind. Courage, quickness and a brilliancy of intellect which flashes into dark places like a wave of the electric light are common to great Scotch-Irishmen. Mr. Blaine's father was born in the fam- ily mansion at Carlisle. He made a tour of Europe, spent some time in South America and the West Indie*, and on his return, he settled in Washington County, where he died before his son had reached his manhood. Colonel Ephraim Blaine's son, " Squire Blaine," as he was known in the commu- nity, was married to Miss Gillespie, a de- vout member of the Roman Catholic Church, but their seven children— five boys and two girls — adhered to the tradi- tional faith of the Blaines. The second of these five sons is the subject of this sketch, James Gillespie Blaine, just selected by the people for its highest honors. Concerning the religious faith of his family and his own attitude in religious matters, Mr. Blaine wrote in later life — March 10, 1876— as follows : My ancestors on my father's side were, as you know, always identified with the Presbyterian Church, and they were prom- inent and honored in the old colony of Pennsylvania. But I will never consent to make any public declaration upon the subject, and for two reasons : First, be- cause I abhor the introduction of anything that looks like a religious test or cjualifica- tion for office in a republic where perfect freedom of conscience is the birthright of every citizen ; and, second, because my mother was a devoted Catholic. I would not for a thousand Presidencies speak a disrespectful word of my mother's religion, and no pressure will draw me into any avowal of hostility or unfriendliness to Catholics, though I have never received, and do not expect any political support from them. The Kennebec Journal [Augusta, Me., about this time said on the same subject that "Mr. Blaine has been for nearly twenty years a consistent member of the Orthodox Congregational Church in this, the city of his home. Orthodox Congre- gationalism in Maine is precisely the same creed as Presbyterianism in Pennsylvania." His father emigrated (as it was termed at that day) west in 1817, and was the lar- gest landholder of any man in Western Pennsylvania. The tract forming this es- tate is now worth many millions. In 1825 Mr. Blaine's father sold to the Economites a large tract of his land, for $25,000, on which their town with all its industry and wealth now stands. There were also timber tracts on the Al- legheny and coal tracts on the Mononga- hela, at that day of no special value, which now represent large fortunes in the hands of those lucky enough to hold them. Very near the large tracts owned by his father and grandfather, Senator Blaine is now the possessor of one of the most valuable coal properdes in the Monongahela val- ley. In area it is but a fraction of that which he might have hoped to inherit, but in value it is manifold greater than the whole landed estate of his father fifty years ago. Mr. Blaine the elder was fairly educated, JAMES G. BLAINE. had good business qualities, and was suc- cessful in his undertakings. He had a " push " about him which while it is com- mon in these days of steam and telegraphs, was not as general then. He was a quiet worker, with a slow but sure judgment, and in addition to being a fair scholar of his day, he was a constant and careful reader. With a desire that his son might be well educated he spared no pains to give him an intellectual training. As soon as he had attained sufficient age he was put to school and in 1841, when only eleven years old he was sent to Lancaster, Ohio, and placed in the family of a rela- tive, Hon. Thomas Ewing, a gentleman of note in that State, and at that time Secre- tary of the department of the Treasury at Washington. General Thomas Ewing, at present in Congress, is his cousin, and of the same age ; was his classmate, under the tuition of an Englishman named Wm. Lyons, a brother of the elder Lord Lyons and uncle of the late British Minister at Washing- ton. Here he continued at school preparing himself for entering college for two years, and in 1843 he returned to his native place. In November of that year he was admitted to the freshmen's class of Wash- ington College, where he remained until September, 1847, when he graduated in his eighteenth year. There is a tradition that when Mr. Ew- ing was Secretary of the Interior Blaine applied to him for a clerkship and the old man sent him to Kentucky to earn an honest living teaching school. This association of the name of Ewing with that of Blaine has given rise to the story that the Ewing family of Ohio helped James G. Blaine to an education, but this is only a fiction. Jiot a Leader at College. During his college days Blaine was but the chrysalis of what he has now become. The growth of his body and the extra- ordinary expansion of his mind through his continuous reading so drew on the vital strength and imagination that he seemed dull from the effect of his rapid growth. This no doubt accounts for his lack of popularity among the boys — not that he was unpopular, but retiring, and seemingly unwilling to make himself pro- minent among the rest. From present recollections I do not think he was known as of a decided character in any way among his fellow-students. He seemed to be content to drift along reading, study- ing and growing, with never a thought of prominence or supremacy in any way. The newspaper accounts which claim that Blaine was a leader among the boys are incorrect. He was a remarkably quiet and unassuming youth. He was so extra- ordinarily quiet in his relations at college that I fail to recall one single anecdote of his college days. He was neither noted for unruliness of conduct nor saintliness: never engaged in any college pranks nor yet gained a reputation for being super- naturally virtuous. A plain, quiet, good- tempered, studious boy is what James G. Blaine was in his college days. He was the last young man in the college for whom such a future as he has already dis- played would have been predicted. Everyone thought and said that Blaine would go through the world quiet, studious and the quintessence of mediocrity. He gave not the slightest hint of his great career, and he then seemed but the raw material of the present statesman. His youth was singularly without honors ; he neither sought nor received them. At the quarter-centennial of the class, held in 1872, twenty-nine of the thirty- three were living, and every one of them was a man of position and character in his community. John H. Hampton, Esq., of this city, A. M. Gow, of Washington, Pa., John V. LeMoyne, of Chicago, were members of the class. Dr. Sniltii's deacrlptloit of Kim as a College Boy. Said Dr. Smith : " Yes, I knew Blaine at Washington College, he being in the next class below me. Blaine's parents lived at Washington during their son's college course, and on that account the students saw less of Jim Blaine, as he was familiarly called, than if he had boarded at the col- lege instead of at home. Young Blaine was a sturdy, heavy set, matter-of-fact JAMES G. BLAINE. looking young fellow, not at all prepos- sessing in appearance, and exceedingly awkward at times, and giving no hint of the elegant gentleman he has grown to be. He was never seen on the street or playground and but rarely mingled in the customary sports of the boys. I remem- ber we had a very fine foot-ball ground, but I never remember to have seen young Blaine on it. In fact, I cannot say for certain that I ever saw him engaged in any kind of sport during the entire time I was at college. It is my impression that he passed all his leisure at home or in one of the college halls with a book. He was a great reader, almost a bookworm, and would become absorbed to a wonderful de- gree in his books. A friend and acquaintance of Mr. Blaine, in speaking of his early life, and of the utter lack of any precociousness says : "As a remarkable contrast to Blaine, I remember Nicholas Watterman, of Blaine's class. He was the brightest and smartest in his class, receiving every prize and honor that was offered. Brilliant in debate and oratory, he never failed to represent his class in oratorical contests and invariably won every debate he engaged in. On commencement day he graduated with the very highest honors of his class, and seemed to have every assurance of future renown, while Blaine was some dis- tance from the head. Strange to say, after leaving college he went into the commis- sion business, made a fortune, squandered it and died a miserable death, while Blaine, his humble rival, went on and developed into the superb orator and statesman he is now. It seemed to be the universal rule in those days at Washi ngton College that the brightest pupils never rose above mediocrity, while some of the dullest pupils made a name and position for them- selves. " Mr. Blaine's college guardian was Hon, John H. Ewing, who was at that time the member of Congress from that dis- trict, and who still Hves and will cast his vote for his distinguished ward. The graduating class consisted of thirty- three members, and Mr. Blaine divided the honors of the class with John C. Har- vey, who is now superintendent of Public Instruction in Wheeling, West Virginia. During his college life he was noted for excellence in Latin and mathematics, and also in logic and political economy. Robert G. Iiigersoll, of Illinois, /« t/te National Republican Convention at Cincinnati, June, 1S76, in ttominating James G. Blaine, for the Presidency. " Massachusetts may be satisfied with the loyalty o^ Benjamin H. Bristow ; so am I ; but if any man nominated by this convention cannot carry the State of Mas- sachusetts, I am not satisfied with the loyalty of that State. If the nominee of this convention cannot carry the grand old Commonwealth of Massachusetts by seventy-five thousand majority, I would advise them to sell out Faneuil Hall as a Democratic headquarters. I would advise them to take from Bunker Hill that old monument of glory. " The Republicans of the United States demand as their leader in the great con- test of 1876 a man of intelligence, a man of integrity, a man of well-known and ap- proved political opinions. They demand a reformer after as well as before the elec- tion. They demand a politician in the highest, broadest and best sense — a man of superb moral courage. They demand a man acquainted with public affairs, with the wants of the people ; with not only the requirements of the hour, but with the demands of the future. They demand a man broad enough to comprehend the re- lations of this government to the other nations of the earth. They demand a man well versed in the powers, duties, and pre- rogatives of each and every department of this Government. They demand a man who will sacredly preserve the financial honor of the United States ; one who knows enough to know that the national debt must be paid through the prosperity of this people ; one who knows enough to know that all the financial theories in the world cannot redeem a single dollar ; one who knows enough to know that all the money must be made, not by law, but by labor ; 6 JAMES G. BLAINE. one who knows enough to know that the people of the United States have the in- dustry to make the money and the honor to pay it over just as fast as they make it. '• The Repubhcans of the United States demand a man who knows that prosperity and resumption, when they come must come together ; that when they come, they will come hand in hand through the golden harvest fields ; hand in hand by the whirling spindles and the turning wheels ; hand in hand past the open furnace doors ; hand in hand by the flaming forges ; hand in hand by the chimneys filled with eager fire— greeted and grasped by the countless sons of toil. "This money has to be dug out of the earth. You cannot make it by passing resolutions in a political convention. " The Republicans of the United States want a man who knows that this Govern- ment should protect every citizen, at home and abroad ; who knows that any govern- ment that will not defend its defenders, and protect its protectors, is a disgrace to the map of the world. They demand a man who believes in the eternal separation and divorcement of Church and School. They demand a man whose political repu- tation is spotless as a star ; but they do not demand that their candidate shall have a certificate of moral character signed by a Confederate Congress. The man who has, in full, heaped and rounded measure, all these splendid qualifications, is the present grand and gallant leader of the Republi- can party — James G. Blaine. " Our country, crowned with the vast and marvelous achievements of its first century, asks for a man worthy of the past and prophetic of her future ; asks for a man who has the audacity of genius ; asks for a man who is the grandest combination of heart, conscience and brain beneath her flag. Such a man is James G. Blaine. " For the Republican host, led by this intrepid man, there can be no defeat. " This is a grand year— a year filled with the recollections of the Revolution ; filled with proud and tender memories of the past ; with the sacred legends of liberty ; a year in which the sons of freedom will | drink from the fountains of enthusiasm ; a year in which the people call for a man who has preserved in Congress what our soldiers won upon the field ; a year in which they call for the man who has torn from the throat of treason the tongue of slander ; for the man who has snatched the mask of Democracy from the hideous face of rebellion ; for the man who, like an intellectual athlete, has stood in the arena of debate and challenged all comers, and who is still a total stranger to defeat. " Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James G. Blaine marched down the halls of the American Congress, and threw his shining lance full and fair against the brazen foreheads of the defamers of his country and the maligners of his honor. " For the Republican party to desert this gallant leader now, is as though an army should desert their general upon the field of battle. "James G. Blaine is now and has been for years the bearer of the sacred standard of the Republican party. I call it sacred, because no human being can stand beneath its folds without becoming and without re- maining free. "Gentlemen of the convention, in the name of the great Republic, the only Re- public that ever existed upon the earth ; in the name of all her defenders and of all her supporters ; in the name of all her sol- diers living ; in the name of all her soldiers dead upon the field of battle, and in the name of those who perished in the skeleton clutch of famine at Andersonville and Libby, whose sufferings he so vividly re- members, Illinois — Illinois nominates for the next President of this country, that prince of parliamentarians — that leader of leaders — James G Blaine." Maine sent us to this magnificent Con- vention with a memory of her own salva- tion from impending peril fresh upon her. To you representatives of 50,000,000 of the American people who have met here to counsel how the Republic can be saved, she says, " Representatives of the people, take the man, the true man, the staunch man, for your leader, who has just saved me, and he will bring you to safety and certain victory." JAMES G. BLAINE. Frye Nomliiattiig Blaine. In the Chicago Convention, iSSo. " I once saw a storm at sea in the night- time; an old ship battling for its life with the fury of the tempest ; darkness every- where ; the winds raging and howling ; the huge waves beating on the sides of the ship, and making her shiver from stem to stern. The lightning was flashing, the thunders rolling; there was danger every- where. I saw at the helm, a bold, coura- geous, immovable, commanding man. In the tempest, calm ; in the commotion, quiet ; in the danger, hopeful. I saw him take the old ship and bring her into her harbor, into still waters, into safety. That man was a hero. [Applause.] I saw the good old ship of State, the State of Maine, within the last year, fighting her way through the same waves, against the j dangers. She was freighted with all that ] is precious in the principles of our repub- lic ; with the rights of the American citi- 1 zenship, with all that is guaranteed to the American citizen by our Constitution. The , eyes of the whole nation were on her, and intense anxiety filled every American heart lest the grand old ship, the " State i of Maine," might go down beneath the i waves forever, carrying her precious freight \ with her. But there was a man at the helm, calm, deliberate, commanding, sa- gacious ; he made even the foolish man i wise ; courageous, he inspired the timid j with courage ; hopeful, he gave heart to the dismayed, and he brought that good old ship safely into harbor, into safety ; and she floats to-day greater, purer, stronger for her baptism of danger. That man too, was heroic, and his name was James G. Blaine. [Loud cheers.] Judge "West XominateB Blaine At Cliigag-o.Jum' s, 1SS4. After the chairman had succeeded in producing comparative quiet, Judge West, of Ohio, was introduced. The sensation was intense and the interest in Mr. West on account of his commanding presence, and sympathy for his infirmity, brought all to silence throughout the vast hall. Judge West said : As a delegate in the Chicago Conven- tion of i860, the proudest service of my life was performed by voting for the nom- ination of that inspired emancipator, the first Republican President of the United States. [Applause.] Four and twenty years of the grandest history of recorded times has distinguished the ascendency of the Republican party. The skies have lowered and reverses have threatened, but our flag is still there, waving above the mansion of the Presidency, not a stain on its folds, not a cloud on its glory. Whether it shall maintain that grand ascendency depends upon the action of this council. With bated breath a Nation awaits the result. On it are fixed the eyes of twenty millions of Republican freemen in the North. On it, or to it, rather, are stretched forth the imploring hands of ten millions of political bondsmen of the South [ap- plause], while above, from the portals of light, is looking down the immortal spirit of the immortal martyr who first bore it to victory, bidding to us Hail and God speed. [Applause.] Six times in six campaigns has that banner triumphed — that symbol of union, freedom, humanity and progress — sometime borne by that silent man ot destiny, the Wellington of American arms [wild applause], last by him at whose un- timely taking off a Nation swelled the funeral cries and wept above great Gar- field's grave. [Cheers and applause]. Shall that banner triumph again ? Commit it to the bearing of that chief [a voice, " James G. Blaine of Maine," cheers] — commit it to the bearing of that chief, the inspiration of whose illustrious character and great name will fire the hearts of our young men, stir the blood of our manhood and rekindle the fervor c f the veterans, and the closing of the seventh campaign will see that holy ensign span- ning the sky like a bow of promise. [Cheers.] Political conditions are changed since the accession of the Republican party to power. The mighty issues of the free- dom and bleeding humanity which con- vulsed the continent and aroused the Repubhc, rallied, united and inspired the forces of patriotism and the forces of hu- manity in one consohdated phalanx, have ceased their contentions The subordinate issues resulting therefrom are settled and buried away with the dead issues of the 8 JAMES G. BLAINE. past. The arms of the Solid South are against us. Not an electoral gain can be expected from that section. If the triumph come, the Republican States of the North must furnish the conquering battalions from the farm, the anvil and the loom, from the mines, the workshop and the desk, from the hut of the trapper on the snowy Sierras, from the hut of the fisher- man on the banks of the Hudson. The Republican States must furnish these con- quering battalions if triumph comes. What Political Wisdom Dictates. Does not sound political wisdom dic- tate and demand that a leader shall be given to them whom our people will fol- low, not as conscripts advancing by fu- nereal marches to certain defeat, but a grand civic hero, whom the souls of the people desire, and whom, they will follow with all the enthusiasm of volunteers, as they sweep on and onward to certain vic- tory [Cheers], a representative of Ameri- can manhood [applause], a representative of that living Republicanism that de- mands the amplest industrial protection and opportunity whereby labor shall be enabled to earn and eat the bread of in- dependent employment, relieved of men- dicant competition with pauper Europe or pagan China ? [Loud applause.] In this contention of forces, to whose candidate shall be intrusted our battle flags ? Citi- zens, I am not here to do it, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I do abate one tithe from the just fame, integrity and public honor of Chester A. Arthur, our President. [Applause.] I abate not one tithe from the just fame and pubhc integrity of George F. Edmunds [applause], of Joseph R. Hawley [ap- plause], of John Sherman [applause], of that grand old black eagle of Illinois. [Here the speaker was interrupted several moments by prolonged applause.] And I am proud to know that these distinguished Senators whom I have named have borne like testimony to the public life, the public character, and the public integrity of him whose confirmation brought him to the highest office — second in dignity to the office of the President only himself — the first premiership in the administration of James A. Garfield. [Applause.] A man for whom the Senators and rivals will vote, the Secretary of State of the United States is good enough for a plain flesh and blood God's people to vote for President. [Loud applause.] Who shall be our candidate ? [Cries of "Blaine," "Arthur" and "Logan." A loud voice yelled above the tumult. Give us " Black Jack," and we will elect him. When quiet was somewhat restored the speaker continued.] Not the representa- tive of a particular interest of a particular class. Send the great proclamation to the country labelled " The Doctor's Candi- date," "The Lawyer's Candidate," "The Wall Street Candidate,'' and the hand of resurrection would not fathom his Novem- ber grave. [Applause.] Gentlemen, he must be a representative ot that Republicanism that demands the ab- solute political, as well as personal, eman- cipation and enfranchisement of mankind — a representative of that Republicanism which recognizes the stamp of American citizenship as the passport to every right, privilege and consideration at home or abroad, whether under the sky of Bis- marck, under the Palmetto, under the Pelican or on the banks of the Mohawk, that Republicanism that regards with dis- satisfaction a despotism which under the "sic semper tyrannis " ofthe old Dominion emulates, by slaughter, popular majorities in the name of Democracy — a Republi- canism as embodied and stated in the platform of principles this day adopted by your Convention, Gentlemen, such a representative Re- publican is James G. Blaine, of Maine. If nominated to-night his campaign would commence to morrow and continue until victory is assured. [Cheers.] There would be no powder burned to fire into the backs of his leaders. It would only be exploded to illuminate the inauguration. The brazen throats of the cannon in yonder square, waiting to herald the result of the conven- tion, would not have time to cool before his name would be caught up on ten thousand tongues of electric flame. It would sweep down from the Old Pine Tree State. It v/ould go over the hills and valleys of New England. JAMES G. BLAINE. 9 IN MEMORIAM. Hon. James G. Blaine's Oration on Presi- dent Garfleld. THE GRAND MORAL OF HIS CAREER. An Elaborate, Polished and Scholary Tribute by an Accoviplished Orator, in the Hah of the House of Represettiatiz'es, on Monday, Feb. 2t, 1882. At ten o'clock the doors of the House of Representatives were opened to holders of tickets for the memorial services, and in less than half an hour the galleries were filled, a large majority of the spectators being ladies, mostly in black. There were no signs of mourning in the hall, even the full-length portrait of the late President, James Abram Garfield, painted by E. F. Andrews, of Washington, being undraped. The three front rows of desks had been re- placed by chairs to accommodate the in- vited guests, and the Marine Band was stationed in the lobby, back of the Speak- er's desk. Among the distinguished guests first to arrive were George Bancroft, W. W. Cor- coran, Cyrus Field and Admiral Worden, who took seats directly in front of the clerk's desk. Among the guests who oc- cupied seats upon the floor were General Schenck, Governor Hoyt, of Pennsylva- nia ; Foster, of Ohio ; Porter, of Indiana ; Hamilton, of Maryland, and Bigelow, of Connecticut, and Adjutant General Har- mine, of Connecticut. At 11:30, Generals Sherman, Sheridan, Hancock, Howard and Meigs, and Admirals Ammen and Rodgers entered at the north door of the chamber and were assigned seats to the left of the Speaker's desk, and a few moments later, the mem- bers of the Diplomatic Corps, in full regalia, were ushered in, headed by the Hawaiian Minister, as dean of the Corps. The Supreme Court of the District, headed by Marshal Henry, arrived next. Mrs. Blaine occupied a front seat in the gallery, reserved for friends of the President. At twelve o'clock the House was called to order by Speaker Keifer, and prayer was offered by the Chaplain. The Speaker then announced that the House was as- sembled and ready to perform its part in the memorial services, and the resolutions to that effect were read by Clerk McPher- son. At 12:10, the Senate was announced, and that body headed by its officers, en- tered and took their assigned seats. The Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, in their robes of office, came next, and were followed by Presi- dent Arthur and his Cabinet. The Presi- dent took the front seat on the right of the Presiding Officer's chair, next to that oc- cupied by Cyrus W. Field. Senator Sherman and Representative McKinley (Ohio) occupied seats at the desk on the right and left of the orator of the day. Mr. West, the British Minister, was the only member of the Diplomatic Corps who did not wear the court uni- form. A delegation of gentlemen from the Society of the Army of the Cumberland acted as ushers at the main entrance to the Rotunda and in the various corridors leading to the gallery. At 12:30 the orator of the day was an- nounced, and after a short prayer by the Chaplain of the House, F. D. Power, pres- ident Davis said: "This day is dedicated by Congress for memorial services of the late President of the United States, James A. Garfield. I present to you the Hon. James G. Blaine, who has been fitly chosen as the orator for this historical occasion." Mr. Blaine then rose, and standing at the clerk's desk, immediately in front of the two presiding officers, proceeded, with impressiveness of manner and clearness of tone, to deliver his eulogy from manu- script, as follows : Mr. Blaine's Oration. Mr. President : For the second time in this generation the great departments of the Government of the United States are assembled in the Hall of Representa- tives to do honor to the memory of a murdered President. Lincoln fell at the close of a mighty struggle in which the passions of men had been deeply stirred. The tragical termination of his great life added but another to the lengthened suc- cession of horrors which had marked so many lintels with the blood of the first- born. Garfield was slain in a day of peace, when brother had been reconciled to brother, and when anger and hate had been banished from the land. " Whoever 10 JAMES G. BLAINE. shall hereafter draw the portrait of mur- der, if he will show it as it has been ex- hibited where such example was last to have been looked for, let him not give it the grim visage of Moloch, the brow knit- ted by revenge, the face black with settled hate. Let him draw, rather, a decorous, smooth-faced, bloodless demon ; not so much an example of human nature in its depravity^and in its paroxysms of crime, as an infernal being, a fiend in the ordi- nary display and development of his character." Garfield's Ancestors. From the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth till the uprising against Charles First, about twenty thousand emigrants came from old England to New England. As they came in pursuit of intellectual freedom and ecclesiastical independence rather than for worldly honor and profit, the emigration naturally ceased when the contest for religious liberty began in ear- nest at home. The man who struck his most effective blow for freedom of con- science by sailing for the colonies in 1620 would have been accounted a deserter to leave after 1640. The opportunity had then come on the soil of England for that great contest which established the au- thority of Parliament, gave religious free- dom to the people, sent Charles to the block, and committed to the hands of Oliver Cromwell the Supreme Executive authority of England. The English emi- gration was never renewed, and from these twenty thousand men with a small emigra- tion from Scotland and from France are descended the vast numbers who have New England blood in their veins. In 1685 the revocation of the edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. scattered to other countries four hundred thousand Protes- tants, who were among the most intelli- gent and enterprising of French subjects; merchants of capital, skilled manufac- turers, and handicraftsmen superior at the time to all others in Europe. A consider- able number of these Huguenot French came to America ; a few landed in New England and became honorably promi- nent in its history. Their names have in large part become anglicised, or have dis- appeared, but their blood is traceable in many of the most reputable families, and their fame is perpetuated in honorable memorials and useful institutions. From these two sources, the English- Puritan and the French-Huguenot, came the late President — his father, Abram Gar- field, being descended from the one, and his mother, Eliza Ballou, from the other. It was a good stock on both sides — none better, none braver, none truer. There was in it an inheritance of courage, of manliness, of imperishable love of liberty, of undying adherence to principle. Gar- field was proud of his blood ; and, with as much satisfaction as if he were a British nobleman reading his stately ancestral record in Burke's Peerage, he spoke of himself as ninth in descent from those who would not endure the oppression of the Stuarts, and seventh in descent from the brave French Protestants who refused to submit to tyranny even from the Grand Monarcjue. General Garfield delighted to dwell on these traits, and during his only visit to England, he busied himself in discovering every trace of his forefathers in parish registries and on ancient army rolls. Sit- ting with a friend in the gallery of the House of Commons one night after a long day's labor in this field of research, he said with evident elation that in every war in which for three centuries patriots of Eng- lish blood had struck sturdy blows for constitutional government and human liberty, his family had been represented. They were at Marston Moor, at Naseby, and at Preston ; they were at Bunker Hill, at Saratoga, and at Monmouth, and in his own person he had battled for the same great cause in the war which preserved the Union of the States. Losing his father before he was two years old, the early life of Garfield was one of privation, but its poverty has been made indelicately and unjustly prominent. Thousands of readers have imagined him as the ragged, starving child, whose reality too often greets the eye in the squalid sec- tions of our large cities. General Garfield's infancy and youth had none of their des- titution, none of their pitiful features ap- pealing to the tender heart and to the JAMES G. BLAINE. 11 open hand of charity. He was a poor boy in the same sense in which Henry Clay was a poor boy ; in which Andrew Jack- son was a poor boy ; in which Daniel Web- ster was a poor boy ; in the sense in which a large majority of the eminent men of America in all generations have been poor boys. Before a great multitude of men, in a public speech, Mr. Webster bore this testimony : His Early Days. '* It did not happen to me to be born in a log cabin, but my elder brothers and sis- ters were born in a log cabin raised amid the snow-drifts of New Hampshire, at a period so early that when the smoke rose first from its rude chimney and curled over the frozen hills there was no similar evi- dence of a white man's habitation between it and the settlements on the rivers of Canada. Its remains still exist. I make to it an annual visit. I carry my children to it to teach them the hardships endured by the generations which have gone before them. I love to dwell on the tender re- collections, the kindred ties, the early aftections and the touching narratives and incidents which mingle with all I know of this primitive family abode." With the requisite change of scene the same words would aptly portray the early days of Garfield. The poverty of the frontier, where all are engaged in a com- mon struggle and where a common sym- pathy and hearty co-operation lighten the burdens of each, is a very different pov- erty, different in kind, different in influ- ence and effect from that conscious and humiliating indigence which is every day forced to contrast itself with neighboring wealth on which it feels a sense of grind- ing dependence. The poverty of the frontier is indeed no poverty. It is but the beginning of wealth, and has the boundless possibilities of the future always opening before it. No man ever grew up in the agricultural regions of the West, where a house-raising, or even a corn- husking, is a matter of common interest and helpfulness, with any other feeUng than that of broad-minded, generous inde- pendence. This honorable independence marked the youth of Garfield as it marks the youth of millions of the best blood and brain now training for the future citi- zenship and future government of the re- public. Garfield was born heir to land, to the title of free-holder which has been the patent and passport of self-respect with the Anglo-Saxon race ever since Hengist and Horsa landed on the shores of Eng- land. His adventure on the canal — an alternative between that and the deck of a Lake Erie schooner — was a farmer boy's device for earning money, just as the New England lad begins a possibly great career by sailing before the mast on a coasting vessel or on a merchantman bound to the farther India or to the China Seas. No manly man feels anything of shame in looking back to early struggles with ad- verse circumstances, and no man feels a worthier pride than when he has con- quered the obstacles to his progress. But no one of noble mould desires to be looked upon as having occupied a menial position, as having been repressed by a feeling ot inferiority, or as having suffered the evils of poverty until relief was found at the hand of charity. General Garfield's youth presented no hardships which family love and family energy did not overcome, sub- jected him to no privations which he did not cheerfully accept, and left no memo- ries save those which were recalled with delight, and transmitted with profit and with pride. Garfield's early opportunities for secur- ing an education were extremely limited, and yet were sufficient to develop in him an intense desire to learn. He could read at three years of age, and each winter he had the advantage of the district school. He read all the books to be found within the circle of his acquaintance ; some of them he got by heart. While yet in child- hood he was a constant student of the Bible, and became familiar with its litera- ture. The dignity and earnestness of his speech in his maturer life gave evidence of this early training. At eighteen years of age he was able to teach school, and thence- forward his ambition was to obtain a col- lege education. To this end he bent all his efforts, working in the harvest field, at the carpenter's bench, and, in the winter season, teaching the common schools of 12 JAMES G. BLAINE. the neighborhood. While thus laborious- ly occupied he found time to prosecute his studies and was so successful that at twenty- two years of age he was able to enter the junior class at Williams College, then un- der the presidency of the venerable and honored Mark Hopkins, who, in the full- ness of his powers, survives the eminent pupil to whom he was of inestimable ser- vice. The history of Garfield's life to this period presents no novel features. He had undoubtedly shown perseverance, self-reliance, self-sacrifice, and ambition- qualities which, be it said for the honor of our country, are everywhere to be found among the young men of America But from his graduation at Williams onward, to the hour of his tragical death, Garfield's career was eminent and exceptional. Slowly working through his educational period, receiving his diploma when twenty- four years of age, he seemed at one bound to spring into conspicuous and brilliant success. Within six years he was success- ively president of a college. State Senator of Ohio, Major General of the Army of the United States and Representative- elect to the National Congress. A com- bination of honors so varied, so elevated, within a period so brief and to a man so young, is without precedent or parallel in the history of the country. Ill tile Army. Garfield's army life was begun with no other military knowledge than such as he had hastily gained from books in the few months preceding his march to the field. Stepping from civil life to the head of a regiment, the first order he received when ready to cross the Ohio was to assume command of a brigade, and to operate as an independent force in Eastern Kentucky. His immediate duty was to check the ad- vance of Humphrey Marshall, who was marching down the Big Sandy with the intention of occupying in connection with other Confederate forces the entire terri- tory of Kentucky, and of precipitating the State into secession. This was at the close of the year 1861. Seldom, if ever, has a young college professor been thrown into a more embarrassing and discouraging position. He knew just enough of mili- tary science, as he expressed it himself, to measure the extent of his ignorance, and with a handful of men he was marching, in rough wmter weather, into a strange country, among a hostile population to confront a largely superior force under the command of a distinguished graduate of West Point, who had seen active and im- portant service in two preceding wars. The result of the campaign is a matter of history. The skill, the endurance, the extraordinary energy shown by Garfield, the courage imparted to his men, raw and untried as himself, the measures he adopt- ed to increase his force and to create in the enemy's mind exaggerated estimates of his numbers, bore perfect fruit in the rout- ing of Marshall, the capture of his camp, the dispersion of his force, and the eman- cipation of an important territory from the rebellion. Coming at the close of a long series of disasters to the Union arms, Gar- field's victory had an unusual and extra- neous importance, and in the popular judgment elevated the young commander to the rank of a military hero. With less than two thousand men in his entire com- mand, with a mobilized force of only eleven hundred, without cannon, he had met an army of five thousand and defeat- ed them — driving Marshall's forces suc- cessively from two strongholds of their own selection, fortified with abundant ar- tillery. Major General Buell, command- ing the Department of the Ohio, an expe- rienced and able soldier of the regular army, published an order of thanks and congratulation on the brilliant result of the Big Sandy campaign which would have turned the head of a less cool and sensible man than Garfield. Buell declared that his services had called into action the highest qualities of a soldier, and Presi- dent Lincoln supplemented these words of praise by the more substantial reward of a brigadier general's commission, to bear date from the day of his decisive victory over Marshall. The subsequent military career of Gar- field fully sustained its brilliant beginning. With his new commission he was assigned to the command of a brigade in the Army of the Ohio, and took part in the second JAMES G. BLAINE. 13 and decisive day's fight in the great battle of Shiloh. The remainder of the year 1861 was not especially eventful to Gar- field, as it was not to the armies with which he was serving. His practical sense was called into exercise in completing the task, assigned him by General Buell, of reconstructing bridges and re-establishing lines of railway communication for the army. His occupation in this useful but not brilliant field was varied by service on courts-martial of importance, in which de- partment of duty he won a valuable repu- tation, attracting the notice and securing the approval of the able and eminent Judge-Advocate-General of the Army. That of itself was a warrant to honorable fame ; for among the great men who in those trying days gave themselves, with entire devotion, to the service of their country, one who brought to that service the ripest learning, the most fervid elo- quence, the most varied attainments, who labored with modesty and shunned ap- plause, who in the day of triumph sat re- served and silent and grateful — as Francis Deak in the hour of Hungary's deliverance — was Joseph Holt, of Kentucky, who in his honorable retirement enjoys the respect and veneration of all who love the Union I of the States. Early in 1863 Garfield was assigned to the highly important and responsible post of chief of staff of General Rosecrans, then at the head of the Army of the Cumber- land. Perhaps in a great military cam- paign no subordinate officer requires sounder judgment and quicker knowledge of men than the chief of staff to the com- manding general. An indiscreet man in such a position can sow more discord, breed more jealousy and disseminate more strife than any other officer in the entire organization. When General Garfield as- sumed his new duties he found various troubles already well developed and seri- \ ously affecting the value and efBciency of j the Army of the Cumberland. The energy, the impartiality and the tact with which he j sought to allay these dissensions, and to discharge the duties of his new and trying I position, will always remain one of the ! most striking proofs of his great versatility. His military duties closed on the memor- , able field of Chickamauga, a field which however disastrous to the Union arms gave to him the occasion of winning imperish- able laurels. The very rare distinction was accorded him of great promotion for his bravery on a field that was lost. Pres- ident Lincoln appointed him a Major- General in the Army of the United States for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Chickamauga. The Army of the Cumberland was re- organized under the command of General Thomas, who promptly offered Garfield one of its divisions. He was extremely desirous to accept the position, but was embarrassed by the fact that he had, a year before, been elected to Congress, and the time when he must take his seat was drawing near. He preferred to remain in the military service, and had within his own breast the largest confidence of suc- cess in the wider field which his new rank opened to him. Balancing the arguments on the one side and the other, anxious to determine what was for the best, desirous above all things to do his patriotic duty, he was decisively influenced by the advice of President Lincolm and Secretary Stan- ton, both of whom assured him that he could at that time, be of especial value in the House of Representatives. He re- signed his commission of Major-General on the fifth day of December, 1863, and took his seat in the House of Representa- tives on the 7th. He had served two years and four months in the army, and had just completed his thirty-second year. lu Congress. The Thirty-eighth Congress is pre-emi- nently entitled in history to the designa- tion of the War Congress. It was elected while the war was flagrant, and every member was chosen upon the issues in- volved in the continuance of the struggle. The Thirty-seventh Congress had, indeed, legislated to a large extent on war mea- sures ; but it was chosen before any one believed that secession of the States would be actually attempted. The magnitude of the work which fell upon its successor was unprecedented, both in respect to the vast sums of money raised for the support of the Army and Navy, and of the new and 14 JAMES G. BLAINE. extraordinary powers of legislation which it was forced to exercise. Only twenty- four States were represented, and one hundred and eighty-two members were upon its roll. Among these were many distinguished party leaders on both sides, veterans in the public service, with estab- lished reputations for ability, and with that skill which comes only from parlia- mentary experience. Into this assemblage of men Garfield entered without special preparation, and it might almost be said unexpectedly. The question of taking command of a division of troops under General Thomas, or taking his seat in Congress was kept open till the last mo- ment — so late, indeed, that the resignation of his military commission and his appear- ance in the House were almost contem- poraneous. He wore the uniform of a Major-General of the United States Army on Saturday, and on Monday in civilian's dress, he answered to the roll-call as a Representative in Congress from the State of Ohio. He was especially fortunate in the con- stituency which elected him. Descended almost entirely from New England stock, the men of the Ashtabula district were in- tensely radical on all questions relating to human rights. Well educated, thrifty, thoroughly intelligent in affairs, acutely discerning of character, not quick to bestow confidence, and slow to withdraw it, they were at once the most helpful and most ex- acting of supporters. Their tenacious trust in men in whom they have once con- fided is illustrated by the unparalleled fact that Elisha Whittlesey, Joshua R. Gid- dings, and James A. Garfield represented the district for fifty-four years. There is no test of a man's ability in any department of public life more savere than service in the House of Representatives ; there is no place where so little deference is paid to reputation previously acquired or to eminence won outside ; no place where so little consideration is shown for the feelings or failures of beginners. What a man gains in the House he gains by sheer force of his own character, and if he loses and falls back he must expect no mercy and will receive no sympathy. It is a field in which the survival of the strongest is the recognized rule and where no pretense can deceive and no glamour can mislead. The real man is discovered, and his worth is impartially weighed, his rank is irreversibly decreed. With possibly a single exception Gar- field was the youngest member in the House when he entered, and was but seven years from his college graduation. But he had not been in his seat sixty days before his ability was recognized and his place conceded. He stepped to the front with the confidence of one who belonged there. The House was crowded with strong men of both parties ; nineteen of them have since been transferred to the Senate, and many of them have served with distinction in the gubernatorial chairs of their respective States, and on foreign missions of great consequence ; but among all none grew so rapidly, none so firmly, as Garfield. As is said by Trevelyan of his parliamentary hero, Garfield succeeded "because all the world in concert could not have kept him in the background, and because when once in the front he played his part with a prompt intrepidity and a commanding ease that were but the out- ward symptoms of the immense reserves of energy, on which it was in his power to draw." Indeed the apparently reserve force which Garfield possessed was one of his great characteristics. He never did so well but that it seemed he could easily have done better. He never expended so much strength but that he seemed to be holding additional power at call. This is one of the happiest and rarest distinctions of an effective debater, and often counts for as much in persuading an assembly as the eloquent and elaborate argument. The great measure of Garfield's fame was filled by his services in the House of Representatives. His military life, illus- strated by honorable performance, and rich in promise, was, as he himself felt, pre- maturely terminated, and necessarily in- complete. Speculation as to what he might have done in a field, where the great prizes are so few, cannot be profitable. It is sufficient to say that as a soldier he did his duty bravely ; he did it intelligently ; he won an enviable fame, and he retired from the service without blot or breath JAMES G. BLAINE. 15 against him. As a lawyer, though admir- 1 forget any possible lack in the complete ably equipped for the profession, he can | strength of his position. He had a habit scarcely be said to have entered on its , of stating his opponent's side with such practice. The few efforts he made at the amplitude of fairness and such liber- bar were distinguished by the same high | ality of concession that his followers often orderof talent which he exhibited on every | complained that he was giving his cases field where he was put to the test, and if a man may be accepted as a competent judge of his own capacities and adapta- tions, the law was the profession to which Garfield should have devoted himself. But fate ordained otherwise, and his re- putation in history will rest largely upon his away. But never in his prolonged partici- pation in the proceedings of the House did he give his case away, or fail in the judgment of competent and impartial listeners to gain the mastery. These characteristics, which marked Garfield as a great debater, did not, how- service in the House of Representatives, ever, make him a great parliamentary That service was exceptionally long. He I leader. A parliamentary leader, as that was nine times consecutively chosen to the [ term is understood wherever free repre- House, an honor enjoyed by not more j sentative government exists, is necessarily than six other Representatives of the more i and very strictly the organ of his party. An ardent .-Vmerican defined the instinc- tive warmth of patriotism when he offered the toast, " Our country always right, but right or wrong, our country.'' The par- liamentary leader who has a body of fol- lowers who will do and dare and die for the cause, is one who believes his party always right, but right or wrong, is for his party. No more important or exacting duty devolves upon him than the selection of the field and the time for contest. He must know not merely how to strike, but where to strike and when to strike. He often skillfully avoids the strength of his than five thousand who have been elected from the organization of the government to this hour. Orator and Deljater. As a parliamentary orator, as a debater on an issue squarely joined, where the position had been chosen and the ground laid out, Garfield must be assigned a very high rank. More, perhaps, than any man with whom he was associated in public life, he gave careful and systematic study to public questions, and he came to every discussion in which he took part with elaborate and complete preparation. He opponent's position and scatters confusion was a steady and indefatigable worker. Those that imagine that talent or genius can supply the place or achieve the results of labor will find no encouragement in Garfield's life. In preliminary work he was apt, rapid and skillful. He possessed in a high degree the power of readily ab- sorbing ideas and facts, and, like Dr. John- son, had the art of getting from a book all that was of value in it by a reading appar- ently so quick and cursory that it seemed in his ranks by attacking an exposed point when really the righteousness of the cause and the strength of logical intrenchment are against him. He conquers often both against the right and the heavy battalions ; as when young Chas. Fox, in the days of his Toryism, carried the House of Com- mons against justice, against its immemo- rial rights, against his own convictions, if, indeed, at that period Fox had convictions, and, in the interest of a corrupt adminis- like a mere glance at the table of contents, tration, in obedience to a tyrannical sove He was a pre-eminently fair and candid man in debate, took no petty advantage, stooped to no unworthy methods, avoided personal allusions, rarely appealed to pre- judice, did not seek to inflame passion. He had a quicker eye for the strong point of his adversary than for his weak point, and on his own side he so marshaled his weighty arguments as to make his hearers reign, drove Wilkes from the seat to which the electors of Middlesex had chosen him, aud installed Luttrell in defiance, not merely of law, but of public decency. For an achievement of that kind Garfield was disqualified — disqualified by the tex- ture of his mind, by the honesty of his heart, by his conscience, and by every instinct and aspiration of his nature. 16 JAMES G. BLAINE. The three most distinguished parlia- mentary leaders hitherto developed in this country are Mr. Clay, Mr. Douglas and Mr. Thaddeus Stevens. Each was a man of consummate ability, of great earnest ness, of intense personality, differing widely each from the others, and yet with a single trait in common — the power to command. In the give-and-take of daily discussion, in the art of controlling and consolidating reluctant and refractory fol- lowers ; in the skill to overcome all forms of opposition, and to meet with compe tency and courage the varying phases of unlooked-for assault or unsuspected defec- tion, it would be difficult to rank with these a fourth name in all our Congres- sional history. But of these Mr. Clay was the greatest. It would, perhaps, be im- possible to find in the parliamentary annalsof the world a parallel to Mr. Clay, in 1 841, when at sixty-four years of age, he took the control of the Whig party from the President who had received their suffrages, against the power of Webster in the Cabinet, against the eloquence of Choate in the Senate, against the Hercu- lean efforts of Caleb Cushing and Henry A. Wise in the House. In unshared lead- ership, in the pride and plenitude of power he hurled against John Tyler with deepest scorn the mass of that conquering column which had swept over the land in 1840, and drove his administration to seek shelter behind the lines of his political foes. Mr. Douglas achieved a victory scarcely less wonderful when, in 1854, against the secret desires of a strong ad- ministration, against the wise counsel of the older chiefs, against the conservative instincts and even the moral sense of the country, he forced a reluctant Congress into a repeal of the Missouri compromise. Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, in his contests from 1865 to 1868, actually advanced his parliamentary leadership until Congress tied the hands of the President and gov- erned the country by its own will, leaving only perfunctory duties to be discharged by the Executive. With two hundred mil- lions of patronage in his hands at the open- ing of the contest, aided by the active force of Seward in the Cabinet and the moral power of Chase on the Bench, Andrew Johnson could not command the support of one-third in either House against the parliamentary uprising of which Thaddeus Stevens was the animating spirit and the unquestioned leader. From these three great men Garfield differed radically, differed in the quality of his mind, in temperament, in the form and phase of ambition. He could not do what they did, but he could do what they could not, and in the breadth of his Con- gressional work he left that which will longer exert a political influence among men, and which, measured by the severe test of posthumous criticism, will secure a more enduring and more enviable fame. Garfield's Industry. Those unfamilar with Garfield's indus- try and ignorant of the details of his work may, in some degree, measure them by the annals of Congress. No one of the gen- eration of public men to which he be- longed has contributed so much that will be valuable for future reference. His speeches are numerous, many of them brilliant, all of them well studied, care- uUy phrased and exhaustive of the sub- ject under consideration. Collected from the scattered pages of ninety royal octavo volumes of Congressional Records they would present an invaluable compendium of the political history of the most impor- tant era through which the national gov- ernment has ever passed. When the his- tory of this period shall be impartially written, when war legislation, measures of reconstruction, protection of human rights, amendments to the constitution> mainte- nance of public credit, steps toward specie resumption, true theories of revenue may be reviewed, unsurrounded by prejudice and disconnected from partisanism, the speeches of Garfield will be estimated at their true value, and will be found to com- prise a vast magazine of fact and argu- ment, of clear analysis and sound conclu- sion. Indeed if no other authority were accessible, his speeches in the House of Representatives from December 1863, to June 1880, would give a well connected history and complete defence of the im- portant legislation of the seventeen event- ful years that constitute his Parliamentary JAMES G. BLAINE. 17 life. Far beyond that, his speeches would be found to forecast many great measures, yet to be completed — measures which he knew were beyond the public opinion of the hour, but which he confidently be- lieved would secure popular approval within the period of his own lifetime, and by the aid of his own efforts. Differing, as Garfield does, from the brilliant parliamentary leaders, it is not easy to find his counterpart anywhere in the record of American public life. He perhaps more nearly resembles Mr. Seward in his supreme faith in the all-conquering power of a principle. He had the love of learning, and the patient industry of in- vestigation, to which John Quincy Adams owed his prominence and his Presidency. He had some of those ponderous elements of mind which distinguished Mr. Webster, and which indeed, in all our public life, have left the great Massachusetts Senator without an intellectual peer. In English parliamentary history, as in our own, the leaders in the House of Com- mons present points of essential difference from Garfield. But some of his methods recall the best features in the strong, inde- pendent course of Sir Robert Peel, and striking resemblances are discernible in that most promising of modern conserva- tives, who died too early for his country and his fame, the Lord George Bentinck, He had all of Burke's love for the sublime and the beautiful, with, possibly, some- thing of his superabundance, and in his faith and his magnamity, in his power of statement, in his subtle analysis, in his faultless logic, in his love of literature, in his wealth and world of illustration, one is reminded of the great English statesman of to-day, who, confronted with obstacles that would daunt any but the dauntless, reviled by those whom he would relieve as bitterly as by those whose supposed rights he is forced to invade, still labors with serene courage for the amelioration of Ireland, and for the honor of the English name. Nomination to the Presidency. Garfield's nomination to the Presidency, while not predicted or anticipated, was not a surprise to the country. His prominence in Congress, his solid qualities, his wide reputation, strengthened by his then recent election as Senator from Ohio, kept him in the public eye as a man occupying the very highest rank among those entitled to be called statesmen. It was not mere chance that brought him this high honor. " We must," says Mr. Emerson, " reckon success a constitutional trait. If Eric is in robust health, and has slept well and is at the top of his condition, and thirty years old at his departure from Greenland, he will steer west and his ships will reach New Found- land. But take Eric out and put in a stronger and bolder man and the ships will sail six hundred, one thousand, fifteen hundred miles farther and reach Labrador and New England. There is no chance in results.'' As a candidate, Garfield steadily grew in popular favor. He was met with a storm of detraction at the very hour of his nomination, and it continued with increas- ing volume and momentum until the close of his victorious campaign : No might nor greatness in mortality Can censure 'scape ; backwounding calumny The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue ? Under it all he was calm, and strong, and confident ; never lost his self-posses- sion, did no unwise act, spoke no hasty or ill-considered word. Indeed nothing in his whole life is more remarkable or more creditable than his bearing through those five full months of vituperation — a pro- longed agony of trial to a sensitive man, a constant and cruel draft upon the powers of moral endurance. The great mass of these unjust imputations passed unnoticed, and, with the general debris of the cam- paign, fell into oblivion. But in a few instances the iron entered his soul and he died with the injury unforgotten if not un- forgiven. One aspect of Garfield's candidacy was unprecedented. Never before in the his- tory of partisan contests in this country had a successful Presidential candidate spoken freely on passing events and current issues. To attempt anything of the kind seemed novel, rash, and even desperate. The older class of voters recalled the unfortu- 18 JAMES G. BLAINE. nate Alabama letter, in which Mr. Clay was supposed to have signed his political death- warrant. They remembered also the hot- tempered effusion by which General Scott lost a large share of his popularity before his nomination, and the unfortunate speech- es which rapidly consumed the remainder. The younger voters had seen Mr. Greeley in a series of vigorous and original addres- ses, preparing the pathway for his own de- feat. Unmindful of these warnings, un- heeding the advice of friends, Garfield spoke to large crowds as he journeyed to and from New York in August, to a great multitude in that city, to delegadons and deputations of every kind that called at Mentor during the summer and autumn. With innumerable critics, watchful and eager to catch a phrase that might be turned into odium or ridicule, or a sentence that might be distorted to his own or his party's injury, Garfield did not trip or halt in any one of his seventy speeches. This seems all the more remarkable when it is remembered that he did not write what he said, and yet spoke with such logical con- secutiveness of thought and such admira- ble precision of phrase as to defy the acci- dent of misreport and the malignity of misrepresentation. As President. In the beginning of his Presidential life Garfield's experience did not yield him pleasure or satisfaction. The duties that engross so large a portion of the Presi- dent's time were distasteful to him, and were unfavorably contrasted with his leg- islative work. "I have been dealing all these years with ideas,'' he impatiently ex- claimed one day, " and here I am dealing only with persons. I have been heretofore treating of the fundamental principles of government, and here I am considering all day whether A or B shall be appointed to this or that office." He was earnestly seeking some practical way of correcting the evils arising from the distribution of overgrown and unwieldy patronage — evils always appreciated and often discussed by him, but whose magnitude had been more deeply impressed upon his mind since his accession to the Presidency. Hadhe lived, a comprehensive improvement in the mode I of appointment and in the tenure of office would have been proposed by him, and with the aid of Congress no doubt per- fected. But, while many of the Executive duties were not grateful to him, he was assiduous and conscientious in their discharge. From the very outset he exhibited administrative talent of a high order. He grasped the helm of office with the hand of a master. In this respect, indeed, he constantly sur- prised many who were most intimately as- sociated with him in the government, and especially those who had feared that he might be lacking in the executive faculty. His disposition of business was orderly and rapid. His power of analysis, and his skill in classification, enabled him to des- patch a vast mass of detail with singular promptness and ease. His Cabinet meet- ings were admirably conducted. His clear presentation of official subjects, his well- considered suggestion of topics on which discussion was invited, his quick decision when all had been heard, combined to show a thoroughness of mental training as rare as his natural ability and his facile adaptation to a new and enlarged field of labor. With perfect comprehension of all the inheritances of the war, with a cool calcu- lation of the obstacles in his way, impelled always by a generous enthusiasm, Gar- field conceived that much might be done by his administration towards restoring harmony between the different sections of the Union. He was anxious to go South and speak to the people. As early as April he had ineffectually endeavored to arrange for a trip to Nashville, whither he had been cordially invited, and he was again disappointed a few weeks later to find that he could not go to South Carolina to attend the centennial celebration of the victory of the Cowpens. But for the au- tumn he definitely counted on being pre- sent at three memorable assemblies in the South, the celebration at Yorktown, the opening of the Cotton Exposition at Atlanta, and the meeting of the Army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga. He was already turning over in his mind his ad- dress for each occasion, and the three taken together, he said to a friend, gave JAMES G. BLAINE. 19 him the exact scope 'and verge which he needed. At Yorktown he would have be- fore him the associations of a hundred years that bound the South and the North in the sacred memory of a common dan- ger and a common victory. At Atlanta he would present the material interests and the industrial development which appealed to the thrift and independence of every household, and which should unite the two sections by the instinct of self-interest and self-defence. At Chattanooga he would revive memories of the war only to show that after all its disaster and all its suffer- ing, the country was stronger and greater, the Union rendered indissoluble, and the future, through the agony and blood ot one generation, made brighter and better for all. Garfield's ambition for the success of his administration was high. With strong caudon and conservatism in his nature, he was in no danger of attempting rash ex- periments or resorting to the empiricism of statesmanship. But he believed that renewed and closer attention should be given to questions affecting the material interests and commercial prospects of fifty millions of people. He believed that our continental relations, extensive and unde- veloped as they are, involved responsibil- ity, and could be cultivated into profitable friendship or be abandoned to harmful indifference or lasting enmity. He be- lieved with equal confidence that an essen- tial forerunner to a new era of national progress must be a feeling of contentment in every section of the Union, and a gen- erous belief that the benefits and burdens of government would be common to all. Himself a conspicuous illustration of what ability and ambition may do under repub- lican institutions, he loved his country with a passion of patriotic devotion, and every waking thought was given to her ad- vancement. He was an American in all his aspirations, and he looked to the des- tiny and influence of the United States with the philosophic composure of Jefferson and the demonstrative confidence of John Adams. Tine Political Controversy. The political events which disturbed the President's serenity for many weeks be- fore that fatal day in July form an im- portant chapter in his career, and, in his own judgment, involved questions of prin- ciple and of right which are vitally essen- tial to the constitutional administration of the Federal Government. It would be out of place here and now to speak the language of controversy, but the events referred to, however they may continue to be source of contention with others, have become, so far as Garfield is concerned, as much a matter of history as his heroism at Chicka- mauga, or his illustrious service in the House. Detail is not needful, and per- sonal antagonism shall not be rekindled by any word uttered- to-day. The motives of those opposing him are not to be here adversely interpreted nor their course harshly characterized. But of the dead President this is to be said, and said be- cause his own speech is forever silenced, and he can be no more heard except through the fidelity and the love of sur- viving friends. From the beginning to the end of the controversy he so much de- plored, the President was never for one moment actuated by any motive of gain to himself or of loss to others. Least of all men did he harbor revenge, rarely did he even show resentment, and malice was not in his nature. He was congenially employed only in the exchange of good offices and the doing of kindly deeds. There wa~. not an hour, from the begin- ning of the trouble till the fatal shot entered his body, when the President would not gladly, for the sake of restoring harmony, have retraced any step he had taken, if such retracing had merely in- volved consequences personal to himself. The pride of consistency, or any supposed sense of humiliation that might result from surrendering his position, had not a feath- I er's weight with him. No man was ever less subject to such influences from within or from without. But after the most anxious deliberation and the coolest sur- vey of all the circumstances, he solemnly believed that the true prerogatives of the Executive were involved in the issue which had been raised, and that he would be unfaithful to his supreme obliga- tion if he failed to maintain, in all their vigor, the constitutional rights and digni- 20 JAMES G. BLAINE. ties of his great office. He believed this in all the convictions of conscience when in sound and vigorous health, and he be- lieved it in his suffering and prostration in the last conscious thought which his wearied mind bestowed on the transitory struggles of life. More than this need not be said. Less than this could not be said. Justice to the dead, the highest obligation that devolves upon the living, demands the declaration that in all the bearings of the subject, actual or possible, the President was con- tent in his mind, justified in his conscience, immovable in his conclusions. Garfleld's Religloit. The religious element in Garfield's char- acter was deep and earnest. In his early youth he espoused the faith of the Disciples, a sect of that great Baptist Communion which in different ecclesiasti- cal establishments is so numerous and so influential throughout all parts of the Uni- ted States. But the broadening tendency of his mind, and his active spirit of in- quiry were early apparent, and carried him beyond the dogmas of sect and the restraints of association. In selecting a college in which to continue his education, he rejected Bethany, though presided over by Alexander Campbell, the greatest preacher of his church. His reasons were characteristic : first, that Bethany leaned too heavily toward slavery ; and, second, that being himself a Disciple, and the son of Disciple parents, he had little acquaint- ance with people of other beliefs, and he thought it would make him more liberal, quoting his own words, both in his reli- gious and general views, to go into a new circle and be under new influences. The liberal tendency which he had an- ticipated as the result of wider culture was fully realized. He was emancipated from mere sectarian belief, and with eager in- terest pushed his investigations in the di- rection of modern progressive thought. He followed with quickening step in the paths of exploration and speculation so fearlessly trodden by Darwin, by Huxley, by Tyndall, and by other living scientists of the radical and advanced type. His own church, binding its disciples by noformu- lated creed.but accepting the Old and New Testaments as the word of God, with un- biased liberality of private interpretation, favored, if it did not stimulate, the spirit of investigation. Its members profess with j sincerity, and profess only, to be of one mind and one faith with those who imme- diately followed the Master, and who were first called Christians at Antioch. But however high Garfield reasoned of ' fixed fate, free-will, foreknowledge abso- lute,'' he was never separated from the Church of the Disciples in his affections and in his associations. For him it held the ark of the covenant. To him it was the gate of Heaven. The world of re- ligious behef is full of solecisms and con- tradictions. A philosophic observer de- clares that men by the thousand will die in defense of a creed whose doctrines they do not comprehend and whose tenets they habitually violate. It is equally true that men by the thousand will cling to church organizations with instinctive and undy- ing fidelity when their behef in maturer years is radically different from that which inspired them as neophytes. But after this range of speculation, and this latitude of doubt, Garfield came back always with freshness and delight to the simpler instincts of religious faith, which, earliest implanted, longest survive. Not many weeks before his assassination, walk- ing on the banks of the Potomac with a friend, and conversing on those topics of personal religion, concerning which noble natures have an unconquerable reserve, he said that he found the Lord's Prayer and the simple petitions learned in infancy in- finitely restful to him, not merely in their stated repetition, but in their casual and frequent recall as he went about the daily I duties of life. Certain texts of Scripture I had a very strong hold on his memory and I his heart. He heard, while in Edinburgh some years ago, an eminent Scotch preach- er who prefaced his sermon with reading the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, which book had been the subject of careful study with Garfield during his religious life. He was greatly impressed by the elocution of the preacher and de- clared that it had imparted a new and deeper meaning to the majestic utterances JAMES G. BLAINE. 21 of Saint Paul. He referred often in after years to that memorable service, and dwelt with exaltation of feeling upon the radiant promise and the assured hope with which the great apostle of the Gentiles was " per- suaded that neither death, nor life, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pres- ent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." The crowning characteristic of General Garfield's religious opinions, as, indeed, of all his opinions, was his liberality. In all things he had charity. Tolerance was of his nature. He respected in others the qualities which he possessed himself — sincerity of conviction and frankness of expression. With him the inquiry was not so much what a man believes, but does he believe it ? The lines of his friendship and his confidence encircled men of every creed, and men of no creed, and to the end of his life, on his ever lengthening list of friends, were to be found the names of a pious Catholic priest and of an honest- minded and generous-hearted free-thinker. TUe Assasain's BiUlet. On the morning of Saturday, July 2d, the President was a contented and happy man — not in an ordinary degree, but joy- fully, almost boyishly happy. On his way to the railroad station to which he drove slowly, in conscious enjoyment of the beau- tiful morning, with an unwonted sense of leisure, and a keen anticipation of pleasure, his talk was all in the grateful and gratu- latory vein. He felt that after four months of trial his administration was strong in its grasp of affairs, strong in popular favor and destined to grow stronger; that grave difficulties confronting him at his inau- guration had been safely passed ; that troubles lay behind him and not before him ; that he was soon to meet the wife whom he loved, now recovering from an illness which had but lately disquieted and at times almost unnerved him ; that he was going to his Alma Mater to renew the most cherished associations of his young manhood, and to exchange greetings with those whose deepest interest had fol- lowed every step of his upward progress from the day he entered upon his college course until he had attained the loftiest elevation in the gift of his countrymen. Surely, if happiness can ever come from the honors or triumphs of this world, on that quiet July morning James A. Gar- field may well have been a happy man. No foreboding of evil haunted him ; no slightest premonition of danger clouded his sky. His terrible fate was upon him in an instant. One momenthe stood erect, strong, confident, in the years stretching peacefully out before him. The next he lay wounded, bleeding, helpless, doomed to weary weeks of torture, to silence and the grave. Great in life, he was surpassingly great in death. For no cause, in the very frenzy of wantonness and wickedness by the red hand of murder, he was thrust from the full tide of this world's interest, from its hopes, its aspirations, its victories, into the visible presence of death — and he did not quail. Not alone for one short moment in which, stunned and dazed, he could give up life, hardly aware of its relinquishment, but through days of deadly languor, through weeks of agony, that was not less agony because silently borne, with clear sight and calm courage, he looked into his open grave. What blight and ruin met his anguished eyes, whose lips may tell — what brilliant, broken plans, what baffled, high ambitions, what sundering of strong, warm, manhood's friendship, what bitter rending of sweet household ties ! Behind him a proud, expectant nation, a great host ofsustainingfriends, a cherished and happy mother, wearing the full, rich honors of her early toil and tears ; the wife of his youth, whose whole life lay in his ; the little boys not yet emerged from child- hood's day of frolic ; the fair, young daugh- ter; the sturdy sons just springing into closest companionship, claiming every day and every day rewarding a father's love and care ; and in his heart the eager, re- joicing power to meet all demands. Before him, desolation and great darkness ! And his soul was not shaken. His country- men were thrilled with instant, profound, and universal sympathy. Masterful in his mortal weakness, he became the centre of a nation's love, enshrined in the prayers of a world. But all the love and all the 22 JAMES G. BLAINE. sympathy could not share with him his suffering. He trod the wine press alone. With unfaltering front he faced death. With unfailing tenderness he took leave of life. Above the demoniac hiss of the as- sassin's bullet he heard the voice of God. With simple resignation he bowed to the Divine decree. As the end drew near, his early craving for the sea returned. The stately mansion of power had been to him the wearisome hospital of pain, and he begged to be tak- en from his prison walls, from its oppres- sive, stifling air, from its homelessness and its hopelessness. Gently, silently, the love of a great people bore the pale suffer- er to the longed for healing of the sea, to live or to die, as God should will, within sight of its heaving billows, within sound of its manifold voices. With wan, fevered face tenderly lifted to the cooling breeze, he looked out wistfully upon the ocean's changing wonders ; on its far sails, whiten- ing in the morning light; on its restless waves, rolling shoreward to break and die beneath the noonday sun ; on the red clouds of evening, arching low to the hori- zon ; on the serene and shining pathway of the stars. Let us think that his dying eyes read a mystic meaning which only the rapt and parting soul may know. Let us believe that in the silence of the reced- ing world he heard the great waves break ing on a further shore and felt already upon his wasted brow the breath of the eternal morning. After the Oration. The eulogy was concluded at 1-50, hav- ing taken just an hour and a half in its delivery. As Mr. Blaine gave utterance to the last solemn words the spectators broke into a storm of applause, which was not hushed for some moments. The ad- dress was listened to with an intense inter- est and in solemn silence, unbroken by any sound except by a sigh of relief (such as arises from a large audience when a strong tension is removed from their minds) when the orator passed from his allusion to differences existing in the Re- publican party last spring. Benediction was then offered by the Rev. Dr. Bullock, Chaplain of the Senate. The Marine Band played the " Garfield Dead March " as the invited guests filed out of the Chamber in the same order in which they had entered it. The Senate was the last to leave, and then the House was called to order by the Speaker. Mr. McKinley, of Ohio, offered the fol- lowing resolution ; Resolved, The Senate concurring, that the thanks of Congress are hereby pre- sented to the Hon. James G. Blaine for the appropriate memorial address delivered by him on the life and services of James A. Garfield, late President of the United States, in the Representative Hall, before both houses of Congress and their invited guests, on the 27th of February, 1882, and that he be requested to furnish a copy for publication. Colonel Frank A. Burr, of the Philadel- phia Press, one of the finest biographical writers in the country, has given some graphic sketches of Blaine's ancestors and boyhood, which we take the liberty of re- publishing. "Wliat he Sa-\v and Heard. There is a gift that is potent when one calls upon the dusty past in a grave yard. It is to learn the history and genius of the human life that ended v.'hen the mound was raised and the inscription cut in the stone that arrests attention. Who was it that said that people too often read the inscrip- tions upon tombstones without knowing or caring aught of the genius that once resi- ded m the inanimate dust beneath them ? He spoke the truth, and how much people often miss by being content with what is recorded above-ground. I stood beside two old graves to-day in this village that are in the shadow of the little Catholic church that so quickly recalled to me Longfellow's beautiful lines. The marble that marked them was much newer than the mounds, and the surround- ings impressed me with the thought that a dutiful and reverent son had, years after, when means and opportunity that were wanting when death called father and mother, placed a fitting monument to mark the spot where they slept. It is a JAMES G. BLAINE. 23 plain, unpretentious stone that marks ' these graves, and it was the names only that attracted my attention. They were those of Kpliralni L.. Blaiue aud Maria GUlespie Blaine. "Who were these two people in life?" I asked of an old gentleman, who had wandered along with me to this quiet city of the dead sleep. " Why, they were the father and mother of James G. Blaine. I knew them both well. Eph Blaine and I went to school together. He was one of the founders of this town, and was 'squire here for many a year. He was elected prothonotary of the county in 1842, and moved to Washington, the county seat. He married Maria, a daughter of old Neal Gillespie, the smartest man in this whole section, and from his people James Gillespie Blaine derives his middle name. The Gillespies were among the most prominent families in the State. The seal of nature's nobility was stamped upon them, one and all. The men were brave and stalwart ; as strong in character, too, as they were stout of limb. The wo- men were very handsome, and carried themselves as proudly as though the blood of a hundred earls were coursing through their veins. The beauty of old Mrs. Blaine, James' mother, passed into a pro- verb. Even in her decrepit age she pre- served much of her early attractiveness, and her eye was like a hawk's, as clear and flashing then as in the days of her budding womanhood. This was a pecu- liarity of her family, and she transmitted it to all her children. The Gillespies were ardent, intense Catholics, and made their religion the leading feature of their lives. Neal Gillespie owned a good deal of land here, and Eph Blaine built the brick house you see yonder on a portion of it, after his marriage with Miss Gillespie. There their first child, James, was born in 1830. I re- member him very well when he was a lad and used to paddle about on the river and make mud pies along its banks. He was a bright lad. Never Turnetl Ills BacU on Friend or Foe. " I remember one little story about him, which I often heard in those days, and which is interesting as showing how truly, in his case, the child was father to the man. When he was but a little toddler, so to speak, some laborers were engaged digging a well on his father's premises. The future statesman was caught one morning peering down into the excava- tion, and one of the men with the idea of frightening him and thus preventing him from again putting himself in danger, thrust his shovel toward him and made all sorts of ugly faces. Jim ran away, but only to nurse his anger and await an opportunity for revenge. Venturing to the well a day or two after he had been driven away, he found the men working away at the bot- tom. Improving the opportunity, he seized a clod of earth and hurled it with all his little might full at the head of his unsus- pecting enemy, with the consolatory re- mark, ' There, take that.' Clod followed clod in fast succession, with accompanying expletives, until the men were fairly beside themselves with rage and with the fear that the desperate child might take it into his head to use some of the stones lying about him as messengers of wrath more effective than mere lumps of earth. Their shouts, however, brought his mother to the scene, and the little avenger was un- ceremoniously hustled off to the house. That was the old blood asserting itself. A Gillespie or a Blaine never turned his back upon friend or foe." A Century's Memories. ' ' That's the new packet James G. Blaine that runs from here to Pittsburg, The two people who sleep in this graveyard little thought when they died that they'd have a son big enough to have a packet named for him. They died when Jim was young, and they didn't leave anything for him to start with either. Eph Blaine was a rich } man once. His grandfather left him some 1 fifty thousand dollars, but he spent it hav- j ing a good time. He was not a money- saver, but believed in enjoying the world as he lived. He used to drive fine horses, and drive 'em tandem, too. Old Neal Gillespie used to call him ' My gig-and- tendem-son-in-law.' The Gillespies wasn't so slow either, but Eph Blaine led 'em all in this country. It's no wonder Jim Blaine is smart. He comes of good stock 24 JAMES G. BLAINE. on both sides. All the Gillespies were smart. Neal Gillespie was the biggest brained man in all this country.'' " Do the Blaines or any of the relatives own the old homestead ?" " No, indeed. It's long since passed into strange hands. There was little of either the Blaine or the Gillespie estate left when the settlement day came. The children all had to begin new. None of either family live about here now.'' There is much that is strange in the story that the old man told me, and much more that is interesting. We finished the talk beside the restless waters of the Mon- ongahela,near which Mr. Blaine was born, and his family lived for years. The little brick house doesn't stand more than forty rods from the river, and the old path which lead-i from the doorway that Blaine helped to make in childhood, is still there. The best boat on the river now bears his name, and the plain people love to talk of his having been born in their midst. It is a queer section of country in which to have found the homes of two such families as the Blaines and the Gillespies. Both strong houses — both fond of the best things of this life. Both educated and brainy. Blaine sprung from Revolutionary stock. His great grandfather was a distinguished officer in the Revolution. He was a rich man and lived in Cumberland County above Carlisle. He left James Blaine the grandfather, and Ephraim Blaine the father of the man of whom I am now writing, rich. The story goes that both spent their money in having a good time. The grandfather spent many years in Europe, and returned to this country only when he had become penniless. The first history he made in this country began early in the present century. After he was poor he left the rich and popular section of Carlisle, and moved into the then wild- erness of the Youghiogheny region, and es- tablished a country store, at the mouth of Ten Mile Run, in Greene County. He lived here but a short time when he came to Brownsville, with his wagon-load of goods, and established a store which he kept the remainder of his life. The Gil- lespie family was then a rich and powerful family in the region. The strength of mind and character for which all the fam- ily were noted, is still a proverb in the re- gion. The Monongahela river at this point separates the two counties of Fay- ette and Washington. Brownsville is on the Fayette side and West Brownsville is on the Washington side. They are both quaint, old towns, and wear the mark of many years. I don't suppose there are 1 5000 people in both, and the houses strag- gle along the banks of the river on the banks of the lowlands, which are just high enough to keep them out of the reach of the overflow. This country was new — I might say wild — when the Blaines and the Gillespies came here. The rich treasures of the Youghiogheny region floated down the Ohio river in rude keel boats, and the untold wealth in the rugged mountains was then unknown. Albert Gallatin used to live in this country then, and his residence was but a few miles up the river from this point. But mighty changes have taken place since those days, when he left his impress upon the finances and credit of this country so that it can never be effaced. T^vo Strong Families. There seems to have been good feeling from the first between the Blaine and Gil- lespie families, and there seems to have been a special care to intermingle the fam- ily names as each son was born. The old man, whom I encountered in the first part of this story, told me that nearly every son in the Blaine family, as in the Gillespies, bore the family name or some part of his autograph. The Gillespie family seemed to run more to girls than boys, and it seemed to be their good fortune to link their fortunes with strong men. The daugh- ter who was next in age to Maria, who married Ephraim A. Blaine, was wedded to the famous Tom Ewing, of Ohio, when he was a poor lawyer in Lancaster, Pa. That s how he became an uncle to James G. Blaine, and the names of Blaine and Ewing became joined together. There is a tale told that when old Tom Ewing was Secretary of the Interior Blaine applied to him for a clerkship and the old man sent him to Kentucky to earn an hon- est living teaching school. This associa- JAMES G. BLAINE. 25 tion of the name of Ewing with that of Blaine has given rise to the story that the Ewing family of Ohio helped James G. Blaine to an education. I might as well destroy this fiction by telling the facts. A short drive brought me to Washing- ton, the county seat of this county, and one of the first men I met was Major John H. Ewing, an old veteran now past four-score years. "I married the sister of Ephraim L. Blaine. He and I went to school together over in yonder college, and I knew him nearly all his life. He was a leader in the mischief of the school, and fond of all the good things in this life. He was the hand- somest man I ever saw, and he had a wife that was a match for him. She was one of the noblest women I ever knew. She in- herited all the sterling traits of character and strength of mind for which the Gilles- pies were noted. So, you see, Blaine sprang from the best of stock on both sides. His father was justice of the peace over in West Brownville for a number of years, and afterwards prothonotary of the county. He was elected in 1842 and came here to live. James G. was only about 12 years old then, and almost every middle-aged man you meet on the streets here remembers all about him. Ou the road to Fame. Mr. Gow, the editor of one of the village papers, who was Blaine's classmate, speaks thus of his schooldays: "Yes, Blaine graduated in the class of '47, when he was only seventeen years old. I graduated in the same class. We were thrown a great deal together, not only in school, but in society. He was a great favorite in the best social circles in the town. He was not noted as a leader in his class. He could learn his lessons too easily. He had the most remarkable memory of any boy in school, and could commit and retain his lessons without dif- ficulty. He never demonstrated in his youth, except by his wonderful memory, any of the great powers as a debater and thinker that he has since given evidence of. When a man has filled so large a place in the public eye as Mr. Blaine has, his early life seems a great way off. When you get where every other man you meet can tell you all about it, then you seem to see it in a different light and it leaves a far different impression upon your mind. Here, what seems to be to you when away traditions far in the distant past, appears like the recollections of yesterday. People cannot only tell you of his father and his grandfather, but of almost every phase of his life from boyhood up. The stories of his early struggles and triumphs are as vi- vid as those of his later years, and his name is closely associated with the lore of the country side. He left here soon after he graduated, but how little did he then think that his home would be made in the Northland and his fame and fortune won many miles away from the quaint old town where he grew up. It is a nice place for peace and rest. The people are contented and happy with their splendid educational institutions, their rich acres and plenty of money. He had close alliances here then that were likely to bring him back to stay. Almost his first occupation after graduating was as a teacher in the Deaf and Dumb Asylum in Philadelphia. A Love Romance. Why he went from there to Kentucky to teach school has been a question often asked, but never answered. There is a tra- dition here that there is but one being who knows. Like other boys he had his friend- ships and his loves, and it would be strange if he had grown up — for he is said to have been as handsome a boy as he is a man — without leaving some impression upon the hearts of the maidens of the neighborhood. If there is one person living who can tell, and there is, it has been and doubtless will be forever kept as a sealed book, so far as the details are concerned. It was one of those youthful misunderstandings that of- ten come to two people who hope to start out on the voyage of life together, and are separated by an angry sea before they meet. There is not even a suggestion as to which of the two were at fault for the parting of the ways that led their life's journeys into different paths. The party most disappointed has never wedded, but has rather devoted her life to self-denying 26 JAMES G. BLAINE. charity. For twenty years, and by the irony of fate in the capital of the nation, has she followed the path of an undeviating Christian life, devoted to careful attention upon suffering humanity, doubtless watch- ing with a careful eye his steadily-advanc- ing steps, and, perhaps, often sitting under the spell of his eloquence, without his ever knowing that the being whose presence was once the chief charm of life was even living. Blaine as a Teacber. From his alma mater young Blaine went to Blue Lick Springs, Kentucky, and be- came a professor in the Western Military Institute, in which there were about 450 boys. A retired officer, who was a student there at the time, relates that Professor Blaine was a thin, handsome, earnest young man, v/ith the same fascinating man- ners he has now. He became very popu- lar with those entrusted to his charge, who trusted him and made friends with him from the first. He knew the given names of every one, and he knew their short- comings and their strong points. He was a man of great personal courage, and during a fight between the faculty of the school and the owners of the springs, in- volving some questions about the removal of the school, he behaved in the bravest manner, fighting hard, but keeping cool. Revolvers and knives were freely used, but Blaine only used his well-disciplined mus- cle. Colonel Thornton F. Johnson was the principal of the school, and his wife had a young ladies' school at Millersburg, twenty miles distant. It was at this place that Mr. Blaine met Miss Harriet Stan- wood, who belonged to an excellent Mas- sachusetts family, and subsequently she became Mrs. Blaine. Miss Stanwood for some romantic reason refused to tell her future husband anything about her parent- age or circumstances. When the school tjroke up she returned to her home in Maine. Mr. Blaine, lover like, followed her; they were married, and the husband, to oblige his wife, became "Blaine, of Maine,'' though a more correct title would be Blaine of Maine and of Pennsylvania. Mr. Blaine continued to teach at the In- stitute for a few years, but at last conclud- ed to take up a profession. He returned to Pennsylvania and began studying law. He read law carefully, and obtained a throrough knowledge of its principles, but never presented himself as a candidate for admission to the Bar. While prosecuting his law studies he devoted himself to literary pursuits, and wrote for quite a number of newspapers and magazines. Mr. Blaine has always retained a warm affection for his alma mater and hi? native county and state. He has said that his pride and affection for both increase with years and reflection, and he recalls with pleasure the memory of the hardy pioneers of the county, their zealous celebrations on the Fourth of July and Washington's Birthday, and, speaking of one Fourth of July celebration in Brownsville in 1840, which was attended by 200 Revolutionary veterans, Mr. Blaine has said that the modern cant and criticism which we some- times hear about Washington not being a very great man would have been dangerous talk on that day and in that assemblage. Of his college he has said : " During my service of eighteen years in Congress I met a larger number of the alumni of Washington and Jefferson than of any single college in the Union." With Blaine's college life his immediate connection with Pennsylvania, except for a short time spent as a teacher in Philadelphia, and a few years devoted to the study of law, was ended, but his affection for his native State did not grow less with distance or time, and on the occasion of the celebration of the looth anniversary of the establishment of Washington County, in 188 1, he wrote : " I shall always recall with pride that my ancestry and kindred were and are not inconspicuously connected with i!s his- tory, and that on either side of the beauti- ful river in Protestant and in Catholic cemeteries five generations of my own blood sleep in honored graves." Before entering on his wider career, Mr. Blaine had yet another experience of teaching, and that was in this city. In the summer of 1852 he arrived in Philadelphia to answer an advertisement for a teacher in the Pennsylvania Institution for the In- struction of the Blind. He had then the bold, aggressive, combative qualities that JAMES G. BLAINE. 27 to-day arc his characteristics, and upon ob- taining and entering on his position as in- structor of the institution named, early gave evidence of them. Not that he was obtrusive or oftensively forward. " He discharged his duty," said Dr. Chapin, the head of the institution, with a conscien- tious fidelity worthy the highest praise. A strong, positive man, having an opinion which he was ready to support and argue upon on all occasions, Mr Blaine made as many friends among his pupils as he did among the officers of the establishment. In every respect he proved worthy of the trust reposed. He was a methodical man — a master of statistics and exceedingly careful in his deportment. He appeared to be in love with his work here, and began a journal of the history of the institution, which is as much a model of neatness as it is of careful research." This journal, written throughout in a plain, somewhat | angular hand, is, page after page, entirely free from blots or erasures, and affords ample evidence that the author was thoroughly interested in his work. It is a history of the Philadelphia Institution for the Instruction of the Blind, written throughout in the hand-writing of James G. Blaine, and is complete from the day on which the institution was opened until the day on which Mr. Blaine resigned his position. Mr. Blaine continued in this place for nearly two years, winning the affection of those he taught, the regard of his fellows, and the respect of his supe- riors. editor and Politician. Miss Stanwood was a native of Maine, and after her marriage to Mr. Blaine was anxious for him to make that State his home. This he determined to do, and in 1853 the young couple moved to Augusta, where they have ever since made their home. In the following year Mr. Blaine entered into partnership with Joseph Baker, a prominent lawyer of that town, and the two purchased The Kennebec Journal, of which Mr. Blaine at once be- came editor. The Jourjial was a weekly paper, one of the organs of the Whig party, and exercised considerable pohtical in- fluence. His first reputation as a public speaker, was gained in the Fremont cam- paign of 1856. In 1857, Mr. Blaine dis- posed of his interest in this paper and be- came Editor of The Po7'iland Daily Ad- vertiser. In the campaign of i860 he re- turned temporarily to his old post on The Kennebec Journal on account of the illness of its Editor. His career in journalism lasted only six years, but was marked throughout by ability and success, and it served to give him a good introduction to the world of politics and statesmanship. The following paragraph is from a letter by the late Gov. Kent of Maine, who mod- estly refrained from classing himself with Fessenden, Hamlin and the Morrills, though he belonged in the front rank of public men in Maine, made especially prominent to the whole country in the campaign of 1840: Almost from the day of his assuming charge of the Kennebec Jourtial, at the early age of 23, Mr. Blaine sprang into a position of great influence into the poli- tics and policy of Maine. At 26 he was a leading power in the councils of the Republican party, so recognized by Fes- senden, Hamlin, the two Morills, and others then and still prominent in the State. Before he was 29 he was chosen chairman of the executive committee of the Republican organization in Maine — a position he has held ever since, and from which he has practically shaped and directed every pohtical campaign in the State — always leading his party to brilliant victory. Had Mr. Blaine been New Eng- land born, he probably would not have received such rapid advancement at so early an age even with the same ability he possessed. But there was a sort of Western dash about him that took with us Down-Easters ; an expression of frankness, candor, and confidence that gave him from the start very strong and permanent hold on our people and as a foundation of all, a pure character and a masterly ability equal to all demands made upon him. W^hen the old Whig party went to pieces Mr. Blaine joined hands with Governor Anson P. Morrill in organizing the Repub- lican party in the Pine Tree State. His vigorous attacks upon the Buchanan Ad- ministration made him a power in the new organization. In 1858, when he was in his 28 JAMES G. BLAINE. twenty-ninth year, he was elected to the Legislature. He served two years on the floor of the Lower House and two years in the chair, where he displayed the qualities of a parliamentary leadership and control that afterward gave him such re- nown in the National Legislature at Wash- ington. Hi8 Congregslonal Career. Mr. Blaine's career as a State repre- sentative won him such a position that in 1862 he was sent to the Thirty-eighth Congress from the Kennebec district, and received a majority of three thousand votes. His aptitude for legislative busi- ness was so marked, that he at once rose into notice amongst his fellow-members, and it required no ordinary talent to at- tain that position amongst such renowned men as Elihu B. Washburne, Owen Love- joy, George W. Julian, Godlove S. Orth, Schuyler Colfax, James F. Wilson, Wm. B. Allison, John A. Kasson, Alexander H. Rice, Henry L. Dawes, William Windom' F. P. Blair, Jr., Jame Brooks, Erastus Cor- ning, Reuben E. Fenton, Francis Kernan, George H. Pendleton, Robert C. Schenck, James A. Garfield, Samuel J. Randall, William D. Kelley, Thaddeus Stevens, G. W. Scofield, and many other distinguished men. Here he followed the same even and consistent path of progress that had marked his journey ever since he left college, and the same characteristics and force of mind that gave him the leadership in the Maine Legislature, made him already a man of mark in the National Council. It was an eventful era in our history, when every public man was most critically esti- mated by the people of the country. It h impossible within the brief limits of this sketch to even touch upon the varied services rendered by Mr. Blaine to his country while a member of the House and Senate. His congressional career em- braced the most trying period of his coun- try's history, the sombre years of the rebellion, the reconstruction period, and the perilous time when the election of President Hayes aroused an apparently triumphant Democratic Party almost to the verge of madness. A good example of Mr. Blaine's powers as a debater is found in a speech delivered in the Senate, April 14, 1879, when an effort was made by the Democrats to strike out the words from a section of the Revised Statutes which pro- vided for the use of soldiers to keep peace at the polls, fn reply to the charge that the soldiers were used to intimidate South- ern voters, Mr. Blaine said: "The entire South has 1,155 soldiers to intimidate, overrun, oppress and destroy the liberties of 15,000,000 people ! In the Southern States there are 1,203 counties. If you distribute the soldiers, there is not quite one for each county. If you distri- bute them territorially, there is one for every seven hundred square miles of ter- ritory, so that if you make a territorial distribution, I would remind the honorable Senator from Delaware, if I saw him in his seat, that the quota for his State would be three. ' One ragged sergeant and two abreast,' as the old song has it. That is the force ready to destroy the liberties of Delaware." He was a member of the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first, Forty- second, Forty-third, and Forty-fourth Con- gresses, and became the acknowledged leader of the party in the House, and his speeches during the period which he served in Congress, area glowing tribute to his ability, his acute sagacity, his broad and sound statesmanship, and unflinching patriotism. His first reputation in the Lower House of Congress was that of an exceedingly industrious committeeman. He was a member of the Post Office and Military Committees, and of the Committees on Appropriations and Rules. He paid close attention to the business of the committees, and took an active part in the debates of the House, manifesting practical ability and genius for details. The first remark- able speech which he made in Congress was on the subject of assumption by the General Government of the war debts of the States, in the course of which he urged that the North was abundantly able to carry on the war to a sucessful issue. This vigorous speech attracted so much atten- tion that 200,000 copies of it were circulated in 1864 as a campaign document by the JAMES G. BLAINE. 29 Republican party. In January, i86S, he introduced a resolution in relation'to Con- gressional representation, which was referred to the Reconstruction Committee, and was subsequently made the basis of the ^Fourteenth Amendment. In De- cember, 1867, he made an elaborate speech on the finances, in which he analyzed Mr. Pendleton's greenback theory. "The remedy for our financial troubles," said he, " will not be found in a superabund- ance of depreciated paper currency. It lies in the opposite direction, and the sooner the Nation finds itself on a specie basis the sooner will the public treasury be freed from embarrassment and private business be relieved from discouragement. Instead, therefore, of entering upon a reckless and boundless issue of legal- tenders, with their constant depreciation if not destruction, of value, let us set re solutely to work and make those already in circulation equal to so many gold dol- lars.'' He has always stood close to the People. On the floor of the House, in the Speak- er's chair again on the floor of the House, hence in the Senate, and during the politi- cal campaigns of all these years on the stump in almost every Northern State, Mr. Blaine has been emphatically with the people and of the people. His opinions on all questions have been pronounced, sometimes to aggressiveness, and his worst enemy has never accused him of evading or avoiding any responsibility or the 'expression of his convictions on any public issue. In reviewing Mr. Blaine's Congressional career it is necessary at the outset to point out a very superficial and frivolous line of remark, which we sometimes see, not only in regard to Mr. Blaine, but to other prominent public men. " What great measure did Mr. Blaine ever originate ? " asks the unfledged but omnipotent cham- ber-statesman, and might go on indefinitely asking what great measure did Mr. Sher- man, or Mr. Thurman ever originate, or Mr. Edmunds, or Mr. Conkling, or Mr. Webster, or Mr. Gallatin ? Such critics ' and such criticisms are equally shallow. J Great measures grow in the minds of the , people. Specie payment came after long public discussion, and now Senators are quarreling as to who it was that drafted the bill passed in 1875. ^o '^ '^ '^'^^ all measures of great public moment. They do not spring from the mind of one man sitting behind his Congressional desk. The duty of the statesman is to shape, mold, guide, direct in a Republican government. The creative power is in the minds of many, and the cause of action is necessity. The great lawyer does not cre- ate his case. He argues it, develops it, applies principles to it. To say that Mr. Blaine has been a power in Congress for the past seventeen years is simply to affirm current history. Though entering very young, he made his mark at once. At the period of darkest depression in the war, when anxiety brooded everywhere and boded every- thing, Mr. Blaine delivered a speech on " The Ability of the American People to Suppress the Rebellion," which has been cited for the great attention and commendation it received. Its value lay not alone in its timeliness, for after its first wide circulation it was reprinted as a cam- paign document in the Presidential cam- paign of 1 864. It was the delivery of this speech, and some discussions which took place shortly after, that caused Thaddeus Stevens to say that " Blaine, of Maine, has shown as great aptitude and ability for the higher walks of public life as any man that had come to Congress during his period of ser- vice." During the first session of Mr. Blaine's service as member of the Post-Office Com- mittee he took an active part in co-opera- tion with the chairman, Hon. John B. Alley, and the late James Brooks of New York, in encouraging and securing the system of postal cars now in universal use. Distribution on the cars had not been attempted on any great scale, and the first appropriations for the enlarged service were not granted without opposi- tion. Following the war, and throughout the period of reconstruction, Mr. Blaine was active, energetic, and intelligent. He was especially prominent in shaping some of 30 JAMES G. BLAINE. the most important features of the Four- teenth Amendment, particularly that re- lating to the basis of representation. The discussions on this great series of ques- tions, in which Blaine figured largely, are among the most interesting and valuable in the history of the American Congress. Mr. Blaine became a leader in legisla- tion as he became the leader of men gen- erally, by virtue of his comprehensiveness of mind, his quick perception of objective points, and his devotion in advocating what he felt was right and duty. It was in the beginning of his second term that he began to make himself felt. None of the younger members had been on more cordial or confidential terms with Mr. Lincoln than the new member from Maine. To^vards the expiration of Mr. Lincoln's first teim Mr. Blaine was the person with whom the President con- stantly conferred in regard to political movements in Maine. Ward H. Lamon, Lincoln's law partner, was presented at a conference when Mr. Lincoln requested Mr. Blaine to go to Maine and watch the movements of the President's opponents. The acquaintance between Lincoln and Blaine had begun in Illinois during the Douglas campaign in 1858, and at that early time the Maine editor had predicted in the columns of his paper that Lincoln would be defeated for senator by Douglas, but that he would beat Douglas for presi- dent in i860. A copy of this prophecy Mr. Lincoln carried in his memorandum- book long after he had been inaugurated as president. In i860, a delegate to the Chicago Convention, Mr. Blaine had been almost the only New England man who had supported Mr. Lincoln from the start, and it is not too much to say that it was Mr. Blaine's early and firm stand for Lin- coln which opened tlie way to the first nomination of the first martyr President. In 1867, Mr. Blaine sought a temporary relaxation from official cares and labors, and for the first time paid a short visit to Europe. While he was out of the country the theory of paying the public debt in greenbacks was started in Ohio by Mr. Pendleton, and in Massachusetts by Gen- eral Butler. Just after his return in the autunm, at a special or adjourned session j of Congress in November, Mr. Blaine as- j saulted the proposition in a speech of great research, logic, and force. It thus happened that he was the first man in either branch of Congress who spoke against the financial heresy that in subse- quent years has engrossed so much of public attention. From that time, both in Congress and before the people, Mr. Blaine has been indefatigable in bringing the public opinion of the country to the right standard of financial and national honor. Blaine as Speaker of tlie House. Six years in Congress had made him so conspicuous as a leader, and so noted as a parliamentarian, that he was made Speaker of the House, a position that he filled with marked ability for six years, when the Democrats obtained control of that body. Mr. Blaine was perhaps the youngest man who ever occupied the Speaker's chair, being then 39 years of age. He presided over some of the most important and exciting sessions of the House, and by his just rulings, admirable tact, and magnetic influence, he passed through the long and trying period with the approbation of both friend and foe. A Memorable Event. Even more marked, at least in the pop- ular eye, than his career as Speaker, was Mr. Blaine's course in the House when he returned to the floor at the close of his Speakership. Few have forgotten the sudden tilt by which, in a day, a victorious and exultant Democratic majority was changed into a surprised, subdued, and saddened crowd, under Mr. Blaine's aggressive and unexpected tactics. The debates of that memorable session on the proposition to remove the disabilities of Jefferson Davis are still fresh in all minds, and more likely to be appreciated perhaps to-day than at any time within the last three years. Mr. Blaine's speeches laid the foundation of success in the campaign of 1876 though he was not selected as the standard-bearer. The excitement growing out of this exciting session with all its attendants events brought Mr. Blaine more prominently before the country than any other citizen for the time, centered upon him indeed a hostility more malig- JAMES G. BLAINE. 31 nant and a love more enthusiastic than are often inspired by pubHc service, and gave him such a national fame that he at once became a prominent candidate for the Presidency. Blaine as Senator.' Mr. Blaine was appointed by the Gov ernor of Maine, July 19, 1876, to be United States Senator to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Morrill, who then became Secretary of the Treasury, and took his seat in that august body at the opening of its session in December, 1876. Many regretted that the able Speaker of the House, the dashing and brilliant debater in Committee of the Whole, should, as they expressed it, be shelved in the Senate. Four years passed, and it would be hard to name a man who had been less securely shelved, a Senator who moved so promptly to the front. The Senate contains a large number of able men and some skillful debators, but in logical, off-hand discussion, in quick per- ception and full command of every re- source, it has seldom contained a man superior to Mr. Blaine. His career in the Senate was as active as that in the House. He took a prominant part in every im- portant debate, and though not fearing to differ from his party, was always a strong party man, and one of the recognized leaders on the Republican side. He was subsequently elected for the unexpired term and for the ensuing term expiring in 1S83. On his appointment he wrote to the people of his Congressional District a farewell address, in which he said : " Beginning with 1862 you have by con- tinuous elections sent me as your repre- sentative to the Congress of the United States. For such marked confidence I have endeavored to return the most zeal- ous and devoted service in my power, and it is certainly not without a feeling of pain that I now surrender a trust by which I have always felt so signally honored. It has been my boast in public and in private that no man on the floor of Congress ever represented a constituency more distin- guished for intelligence, for patriotism, for public and personal virtue. The cordial support you have so uniformly given me j through these fourteen eventful years is the chief honor of my life. In closing the intimate relations I have so long held with the people of this district it is a great satis- faction to me to know that with returning health I shall enter upon a field of duty in which I can still serve them in common with the larger constituency of which they form a part." The Kennebec Journal oi his State well representing the sentiment of the public in the state, said : " Fourteen years ago, standing in the convention at which he was first nomi- nated, Mr. Blaine pledged himself to use his best services for the district, and to support to the best of his ability the policy of Abraham Lincoln to subdue the rebel- lion, and then and there expressed plainly the idea that slavery must and ought to be abolished to save the Union. That he has kept his pledge faithfully his constitu- ents know and feel, and the records of Congress attest. To this district his abili- ties were freely given, and as he rose in honor in the House and in the public estimation he reflected honor and gave strength to the constituency that supported him. Every step he made in advance was a gain for them. It was a grand thing for this district to have as its Representa- tive in Congress for six years the Speaker of the House, filling the place next in im- portance to that of President of the United States, with matchless ability. It was a grander thing when we took the lead of the minority in the House last December, routed the Democratic majority, and drove back in dismay the ex-Confederates who were intending and expecting through the advantage they had already gained to grasp the supreme power in the Nation and wield it in the interest of the cause of secession and rebellion revived. For what he has done as their representative in Ccngress, never will this Illd District of Maine forget to honor the name of James G. Blaine. It will live in the hearts of this people even as the name of Henry Clay is still loved by the people of his old dis- trict in Kentucky." He at once entered actively upon his new official duties, and his prestige in the House, and his great popularity with the 32 JAMES G. BLAINE. people made him a prominent figure in his new position. His progressive nature had little regard for the tradition of that body, which expects new members to listen to their elders instead of pushing forward in debates. He could not remain silent on questions which he was well in- formed, and so he at once became a debator in the Senate. The Senate had a large number of able men and some skillful debaters, but in logical, off-hand discussion, in quick per- ception and full command of every re- source, it has seldom contained a man superior to Mr. Blaine. His career in the Senate was as active as that in the House. He took a prominent part in every import- ant debate, and though not fearing to differ from his party, was always a strong party man, and one of the recognized leaders on the Republican side. He made a strong speech in favor of restricting Chinese immigration, which was much censured and much praised, ac- cording to the point of view of his critics. He voted against the Electoral Commission bill. He opposed the Bland Silver bill in a vigorous speech, and favored the coinage of an honest silver dollar. The question of the restoration of the American carry- ing trade upon the seas has received a great deal of attention from him, and his speeches and letters on this subject have attracted much attention. One of these speeches was made at a New York Cham- ber of Commerce dinner, and was accepted as a masterly presentation of the sub- Mr. Blaine's sagacity, coolness and wis- dom as a party leader were conspicuously demonstrated in the measures he took to circumvent the Democratic plot for steal- ing the State Government of Maine in 1879, by fraudulently counting out Repub- lican members of the Legislature, All the advantages, save that of being in the right, were with his opponents at the start. His supporters were eager to resort to arms as the only means of obtaining justice, but they were restrained by him. His plan was first to arouse public sentiment by expos- ing the enormity of the plot, next to tangle up his antagonists in a web of contradic- tions, and then, after obtaining the judg- ment of the Supreme Court, to seize and hold the legislative halls. It was com- pletely successful, and the conspiracy be- came impotent and ridiculous. His debates in both Houses of Congress covered a wide range of the most compli- cated subjects, and show him to have been sound in his financial views, practical always and liberal in his political views. When, in December, 1864, Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, introduced a bill in the House to determine the value of legal ten- der notes and to compel all persons to take the notes at their face value, Mr. Blaine was the member to expose the absurdity of the attempt. " This bill," he said, " aims at the impossible. You cannot make a gold dollar worth less than it is or a paper dollar worth more than it is by Congres- sional declaration." Mr. Blaine invented the word " Stal- wart," but no one was quicker than he to advise keeping hands off the South after the war. In January, 1868, when the for- feiture of Southern land grants was under discussion, Mr. Blaine said : We do not treat the South as well as the Northwest for the latter have representa- tives here and they have been effectual in getting the grants extended and renewed where the law has not been fully complied with, and now, when there are no repre- sentatives of the South upon the floor, with not a voice to speak in her behalf, we pro- pose to cut them off. I say there is no hope for the growth of cotton and grain down South on the part of the loyal men there unless we furnish them with the mag- nificent facilities for transportation to mar- ket afforded by these very railroads. In a speech upon the financial condition of the country, delivered in the House in March, 1868, Mr. Blaine said: Nor do I see how any gentleman can consistently propose an inflation of the currency in the face of an express and sol- emn pledge to the contrary by Congress. * * * If we were ever so eager to pay off our 5-20's in greenbacks we are actu- ally stopped by the $400,000,000 pledge. If we disregard that pledge we might just as well trample upon others and take a short cut at once to .repudiation and nation- al bankruptcy. The policy which I ad- JAMES G. BLAINE. 33 vocate is to bring our entire currency in due season, without haste, without rash- ness, without contraction, without financial convulsion, up to the specie standard." June 23, 1868, Mr. Blaine made an elabo- rate argument in opposition to the propo- sition to impose a tax upon Government bonds. He was one of the most conspic- uous and able of the opponents of the im- portation of Chinese labor. His ablest speeches in the Senate were probably those made during the Geneva award debate, when he successfully crossed arms with the great legal athletes of the Senate Chamber. His position on the Chinese question vras the result of a thorough investigation of the subject in all its bearings, and when a conclusion had been reached, he threw all the force of his genius and ability in opposition to an unlimited immigration of those people to this country. This action made him the most popular statesman on the Pacific Coast, and the people of those states have given him the most decided manifestations of their esteem and confi- dence. His independence of action has made him- friends and enemies, but ap- parently indifferent to personal interests or popular clamor, he has boldly pro- claimed and defended his convictions. He is no time-serving politician. He never waits to ascerrain the current of public opinion and then drift with it. On the con- trary he is a born leader, who makes public opinion, and his advanced ideas lead him to the front, while his magnetism brings a host of followers. He po sesses those qualities which make a military commander great, a diplomat effective, and a statesman popular. His position on the tariff question is in strict harmony with his party, and ever since he entered the halls of legislation he has advocated the doctrine of protection to labor. In the Senate, as in the House, Mr. Blaine was a staunch advocate of a protec- tive tariff. On the 22d of April, 1878, he offered the following resolutions : Resolved, that any radical change in our present tariff laws would in the judgment of the Senate, be inopportune, would needlessly derange the business interests of the country, and would seriously retard that return to prosperity for which all should earnestly co-operate. Resolved, that in the judgment of the Senate, it should be the fixed policy of this government to so maintain our tariff for revenue as to afford adequate protec- tion to American labor. On the ist of May, 1878, Mr. Blaine called up his resolutions and urged their passage in a stormy speech, which how- ever, was ineffectual at the time. In 1876, his friends brought him forward as a candidate for President, and without any exertion or direction on his part, they made a most brilliant charge on the con- vention. Then as now, he was the choice of a majority of the masses of his party and had popular sentiment decided the issue it would have resulted in the nomination of James G. Blaine. He went into the convention with more votes than any of his competitors. On the sixth ballot he received 308 votes, on the seventh ballot his vote rose to 345, or 33 votes less than a majority. But for an unfortunate sun- stroke on a hot July day he would probably have been nominated. As it was, his friends looked forward to his nomination on the next ballot with confidence, and every indication pointed to his nomina- tion when a combination was formed to defeat him which succeeded, for on the following ballot : R. B. Hayes received 384 votes, Mr. Blaine 351, Mr. Conkling2i, and Mr. Hayes was declared the nominee. On the following December he entered the Senate, and whilst in that position, in 1880, he was again brought forward as a presidentiarcandidate. He had antagon- ized the Hayes policy and had carried the popular heart of his partisans with him again. But the field was so powerful in several States of the North that it was able to deprive the favorite of many votes which belonged to him. Mr, Blaine's candidacy for the Presi- dential nomination in 1880 is of such recent date that only a passing reference to it is necessary. He received 284 votes on the first ballot in the Convention, to 304 for Grant, and fairly held his own un- til the 34th ballot, on which he had 275 votes. It was on the next ballot that Gar- 34 JAMES G. BLAINE. field began to loom upas the coming man, 1 and Blaine fell to 257. On the 36th and last ballot, all his supporters except 42 went over to Garfield. Blaine In the Cabinet. Blaine had made General Garfield President by throwing his votes in the Convention to him at the proper time, and this materially made his relations with Garfield closer than his relations with Lincoln, confidential as they had been in proportion as his services to Garfield in 1880 were made greater than his service to Lincoln in i860 by his increased in- fluence and prominence. It remained for Mr. Blaine to do almost as much to elect Garfield as he had done to nominate him by his appreciation of the importance of the tariff question, and by exposing upon the stump the dangers of Free Trade at a moment in the campaign when the Re- publican horizon was darkest with clouds. Mr. Garfield was elected in November, and shortly afterwards made a visit to Washington, to confer with Mr. Blaine, but found that he was at his home in Maine. He at once wrote him to meet him in Wa-'hington on the 24th of November, and on the 26th he arrived and called upon the President elect. For two hours they were closeted without interruption from a single person. At this conference General Garfield, without reservation, tendered the State Dep'artment to Mr. Blaine. When Mr. Blaine had recovered from his surprise he replied: "General, I was hardly pre- pared for this tender on your part. I do not know how to make answer. I would like some time for reflection and consulta- tion, and in the meantime I will advise you." General Garfield then and there urged Mr. Blaine to accept, but he made no binding answer at the time. Subse- quently Mr. Blaine had a conference with his closest friends, and the weight of their testimony was that he should accept the place. Said he : " Gentlemen, I am in- clined to accept General Garfield's offer; but meanwhile I will for a very short period still further hold it under advise- ment." After this conference with his friends the fact that General Garfield had offered .the Senator the Secretaryship of State was communicated to one or two of Senator Blaine's confidential friends, and he said : " If the sentiment of the country indorses the selection General Garfield has made, I will accept the office. Otherwise not." Early in December the announce- ment was made in one or two newspapers, directly and absolutely, that Senator Blaine had been invited by General Gar- field to accept the position of Secretary of State. It was almost a month after this Confer- ence that Blaine formally accepted the position tendered him, as will be seen by his letter of acceptance : Washington. Dec. 20, 1880. My Dear Garfield : Your generous invitation to enter your Cabinet as Secre- tary of State has been under consideration for more than three weeks. The thought had really never occurred to my mind until at our late conference you presented it with such cogent arguments in its favor and with such warmth of personal friend- ship in aid of your kind offer. I know that an early answer is desirable, and I have waited only long enough to consider the subject in all its bearings, and to make up my mind, definitely and con- clusively. I now say to you, in the same cordial spirit in which you have invited me, that I accept the position. It is no affectation for me to add that I make this decision, not for the honor of the promotion it gives me in the public service, but because I think I can be use- ful to the country and to the party ; useful to you as the responsible leader of the party and the great head of the Govern- ment. I am influenced, somewhat, perhaps, by the shower of letters I have received urging me to accept, written to me inconsequence of the mere unauthorized newspaper report that you had been pleased to offer me the place. While I have received these letters from all sections of the Union, I have been especially pleased and even surprised at the cordial and widely extended feeling in my favor throughout New England, where I had expected to encounter local jealousy and perhaps rival aspiration. In our new relation I shall give all that JAMES G. BLAINE. 35 I am and all that I can hope to be, freely and loyally, to your service. You need no pledge of my loyalty in heart and act. I should be false to myself did I not prove true both to the great trust you confide to me and to your own personal and political fortunes in the present and in the future. Your Administration must be made bril- liantly successful and strong in the confi- dence and pride of the people, not at all directing its energies for re-election, and yet compelling that result by the logic of events and by the imperious necessities of the situation. To that most desirable consummation I feel that, next to yourself, I can possibly contribute as much influence as any other one man. I say this not from egotism or vainglory, but merely as a deduction from a plain analysis of the political forces which have been at work in the country for five years past, and which have been significantly shown in two great National Conventions. I accept it as one of the happiest circumstances connected with this affair that in allying my political fortunes with yours — or rather for the time merging mine in yours — my heart goes with my head, and that I carry to you not only politi- cal supportbut personal and devoted friend- ship. I can but regard it as somewhat remarkable that two men of the same age, entering Congress at the same time, influenced by the same aims and cherish- ing the same ambitions, should never, for a single moment in eighteen years of close intimacy, have had a misunderstanding or coolness, and that our friendship has steadily grown with our growth and strengthened with our strength. It is this fact which has led me to the conclusion embodied in this letter ; for however much, my dear Garfield, I might admire you as a statesman, I would not enter your cabinet if I did not believe in you as a man and love you as a friend. Always faithfully yours, James G. Blaine. Mr. Blaine qualified as Secretary of State March 5, 1 88 1, two days following the inauguration of the President, and imme- diately assumed the duties of the office. President Garfield's Cabinet was as fol- lows : Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, of Maine ; Secretary of the Treasury, William Windom, of Minnesota; Secretary of the Navy, William H. Hunt, of Louisana ; Secretary of War, Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois; Secretary of the Interior, Samuel J. Kirkwood, of Iowa ; Attorney-General, Wayne MacVeagh, of Pennsylvania ; Post- master-General, Thomas L. James, of New York. The foreign policy announced by Presi- dent Garfield was: First, to bring about peace and prevent future wars in North and South America ; and, secondly, to cul- vate such friendly commercial relations with all American countries as would lead to a large increase in the export trade of the United States. It was for the purpose of promoting peace on the Western Hem- isphere that it was determined to invite all the independent governments ot North and South America to meet in a peace con- ference at Washington on March 15, 1882. The project met with cordial approval in South America, and, had it been carried out, would have raised the standard of civ- ilization, and possibly, by opening South American markets to our manufactures, would have wiped out $12,000,000 balance of trade which Spanish America brings against us every year. The invitations to this important conference were subse- quently sent out by President Arthur, but in a short time they were recalled, after some of the countries had actually accepted them. It was a pacific policy and was wholly in accord with the Monroe Doctriae and the characteristic traditions of Ameri- can diplomacy. President Garfield in his inaugural ad- dress had repeated the declaration of his predecessor that it was " the right and duty of the United States to assert and maintain such supervision and authority over any interoceanic canal across the isthmus that connects North and South America as will protect our National interests." This policy, which had received the direct ap- proval of Congress, was vigorously upheld by Secretary Blaine. The Columbian Republic had proposed to the European Powers to join in a guarantee to the neu- 36 JAMES G. BLAINE. trality of the proposed Panama Canal. One of President Garfield's first acts under the advice of Secretary Blaine was to re- mind the European Government of the exclusive rights which the United States had secured with the country to be trav- ersed by the interoceanic waterway. These exclusive rights rendered the prior guaran- tee of the United States Government indis- pensable, and the Powers were informed that any foreign guarantee would be not only an unnecessary but unfriendly act. As the United States had made in the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 a special agreement with Great Britain on this sub- ject, Secretary Blaine supplemented his memorandum to the Powers by a formal proposal for the abrogation of all provi- sions of that convention which were not in accord with the guarantees and privileges covenanted for in the compact with the Colombian Republic. In his State paper, the most elaborate of the series receiving his signature as Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine contended that the operation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty practically con- ceded to Great Britain the control of any canal which might be constructed in the isthmus, as that Power was required by its insular position and colonial possessions to maintain a naval establishment with which the United States could not compete. As the American Government had bound itself by its engagements in the Clayton- Bulwer Treaty not to fight in the isthmus, nor to fortify the mouths of any waterway that might be constructed the Secretary argued that if any struggle for the control of the canal were to arise England would have an advantage at the outset which would prove decisive. "The treaty," he remarked, "commands this Government not to use a single regiment of troops to protect its interests in connection with the interoceanic canal, but to surrender the transit to the guardianship and control of the British navy." The logic of this paper was unanswerable from an American point of view. If the Monroe Doctrine be any- thing more than a tradition, the control of the Panama Canal must not be allowed to pass out of American hands; and since the country having the most powerful navy is the real guardian of the freedom of an interoceanic canal under any system of international guarantees, or in the ab- sence of treaty law, the Panama Canal, as Mr. Blaine said, under the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty would be surrendered, if not in f^rm yet in effect, to the control of Great Britain. Proposed Changes In the Treaty. In Secretary Blaine's instructions to Mr, James Russel Lowell, Minister to England, is the following summary of the changes in the Clayton Bulwer treaty of 1850. necessary to meet the views of the United States Government : " First. Every part of the treaty which forbids the United States fortifying the canal, and holding the political control of it in conjunction with the country in which it is located to be cancelled. " Second. Every part of the treaty in which Great Britain and the United States agree to make no acquisition of territory in Central America to remain in full force." The admirable and forcible chain of reasoning by which Mr. Blaine led to these conclusions forced the English news- papers to admit that he had maue out a good case upon British precedents, and that the right of the United States to con- trol the Panama Canal was stronger, and the necessity of such control greater, than the right and necessity of England to con- trol the Suez Canal. Wliat the Admluistratloii Promised. The brief administration of President Garfield was remarkable for its promise of broad statesmanship. For many years Congress and the entire government had been busy in making war, in restoring peace and in paying the immense war debt. It was all the United States could do to pre- serve the Union, and other nations were profiting by the neglect of this country to properly cultivate its foreign relations. England had absorbed our commerce and directed into her own coffers the trade of the South American countries. And now, under the auspices of the French Repub- hc, under the direction of a citizen of France, and backed by continental capi- talists, active preparations had been made to construct an interoceanic canal across the Isthmus of Panama, while, under the JAMES G. BLAINE. 37 Clayton-Rulwer treaty of 1850, the United States was practically powerless to take any steps for the protection of her own interests. Home Policy. At the same time at home a more sagacious Southern policy was demanded, a policy which would promote the ma- terial reconstruction of the South, here- tofore neglected for the sake of political reconstruction. The Southern policy of the Administra- tion would have been to cultivate cordial relations between the different sections of the countiy, and, by thus promoting the flow Southward of Northern capital, to assist the development of the Southern States. Mr. Blaine had great faith in the future of the South. On one eccasion he said: " In reconstructing the South we made the same mistake the British Government is making with the Irish. If we had made a government donation of $50,000,000 for the purpose of constructing a railway from Charleston to the Southern end of California, and spent every dollar of it between Charleston and the Mississippi River in the first three years following the war, the problem of reconstruction would have solved itself; the people would have had Ixisiness interests, instead of politics, to occupy their attention. I believe that within ten years the material increase in the Southern States, east of the Mississippi, will equal, if it does not surpass, that of the Northwestern States, west of the Mis- sissippi." Foreign Policy. As the policy of the Garfield administra- tion and its course of action during the j war between Chili and Peru, a short and succinct presentation of the facts should be given here inasmuch as Mr. Blaine was considered the originator of the pro- jected action on the part of the United States. The following carefully prepared article gives such a clear exhibit of the sub- ject, and which appeared in the New York Tribune, will inform the general reader of the facts as they exist, and which we pub- lish along with Mr. Blaine's statement : " The war between Chili and Peru had virtually ended with the capture of Lima on January 17, 1881. Pierola, the presi- dent, had succeeded in rallying a few fol- lowers in the north, and Calderon, assum- ing the provisional Presidency, had con- voked a Congress in the vicinity of Lima. The State Department made strenuous exertions to bring about the conclusion of an early peace between Chili and the two prostrate States which have been crushed in war. The influence of the Government was brought to bear upon victorious Chili in the interest of peace and magnanimity ; but owing to an unfortunate misapprehen- sion of Mr. Blaine's instructions, the United States Ministers did not promote the ends of peace. Special envoys were accordingly sent to South America ac- credited to the three Governments with general instructions which should enable them to bring those belligerent Powers into friendly relations. These envoys were Mr. Trescot and Mr. Walker Blaine, and their mission was to perform a most delicate and important diplomatic duty in the interest of peace. After they had set out from New York Mr. Blaine resigned, and Mr. Frelinghuysen reversed the diplo- matic policy with such precipitate haste that the envoys on arriving at their desti- nation were informed by the Chilian Min- ister of Foreign Affairs that their instruc- tions had been countermanded and that their mission was an idle farce. By this extraordinary reversal of diplomatic methods and purposes the influence of the United States Government on the South American coast was reduced to so low a point as to become insignificant Mr. Blaine's policy had been at once strong and pacific. It was followed by a period of no-policy which enabled Chili to make a conqueror's terms with the conquered and to seize as much territory as pleased its rapacious generals. file Peace Con^^esa. The most conspicuous act of Mr. Blaine's administration of the State De- partment was his invitation to the Peace Congress. This plan had been decided upon before the assassination of President Garfield. The proposition was to invite all the independent Governments of North and South America to meet the Peace 38 JAMES G. BLAINE. Congress at Washington on March 15, 1882. The representatives of all the minor Governments on this continent were to agree, if possible upon some comprehen- sive plan for averting war by means of arbitration and for resisting the intrigues of European diplomacy. Invitations were sent on November 22, with the limitations and restrictions originally designed. Mr. Frelinghuysen lost m time in undermin- ing this Diplomatic Congress and the meeting never took place. It cannot be doubted that the proposed Congress would have had a most important effect, not only in promoting the ends of peace, but in stimulating American trade with the Spanish-American States. It was a bril- liant conception — a most useful project. Mr. Blaine has described the Congress as •' an important and impressive step on the part of the United States toward closer relationship with our continental neigh- bors. In no event could harm have result- ed in the assembling of the Peace Con- gress. Failure was next to impossible. Success might be regarded as certain. The subject to be discussed was peace, and how it can be permanently preserved in North and South America. The labors of the Congress would have probably ended in a well-digested system of arbitration, under which all troubles between Ameri- can States could be quickly, effectually and satisfactorily adjusted. Such a consum- mation would have been worth a great struggle and a great sacrifice. It could have been reached without any struggle and would have involved no sacrifice. It was within our grasp. It was ours for the asking. It would have been a signal vic- tory of philanthropy over the selfishness of human ambition; a complete triumph of Christian principles as applied to the affairs of Nations. It would have reflected enduring honor on our new country, and would have imparted a new spirit and a new brotherhood to all America. Nor would its influence beyond the sea have been small. The example of seventeen independent Nations solemnly agreeing to abolish the arbitrament of the sword, and to settle every dispute by peaceful meth- ods of adjudication, would have exerted an influence to the utmost confines of civilization, and upon the generations of men yet to come." Mr. Blaine's Statement. Shortly after Mr. Blaine retired from the Cabinet, and after President Arthur had modified the foreign policy laid down by his predecessor, he wrote the following letter to a paper in Chicago, in explanation of his position. As there is a desire to re-read it, the entire letter is given : Augusta, Maine, Sept. ist, 1882. The foreign policy of President Gar- field's administration had two principal objects in view : First, to bring about peace, and prevent future wars in North and South America ; second, to cultivate such friendly commercial relations with all American countries as would lead to a large increase in the export trade of the United States, by supplying those fabrics in which we are abundantly able to compete with the manufacturing nations of Europe. To attain the second object the first must be accomplished. It would be idle to attempt the development and enlargement of our trade with the countries of North and South America if that trade were liable at any unforeseen moment to be violently interrupted by such wars as that which for three years has engrossed and almost engulfed Chili, Peru, and Bolivia ; as that which was barely averted by the friendly offices of the United States be- tween Chili and the Argentine Republic ; as that which has been postponed by the same good offices, but not decisively abandoned, between Mexico and Guate- mala ; as that which is threatened between Brazil and Uruguay ; as that which is even now foreshadowed between Brazil and the Argentine States. Peace is essential to commerce, is the very life of honest trade, is the solid basis of international pros- perity ; and yet there is no part of the world where a resort to arms is so prompt as in the Spanish American Republics. Those Republics have grown out of the old Colonial divisions, formed from capri- cious grants to favorites by Royal charter, and their boundaries are in many cases not clearly defined, and consequently JAMES G. BLAINE. 39 afford the basis of continual disputes, breaking forth too often in open war. To induce the Spanish American States to adopt some peaceful mode of adjusting their frequently recurring contentions was regarded by the late President as one' of the most honorable and useful ends to which the diplomacy of the United States could contribute — useful especially to those States by securing permanent peace within all their borders, and useful to our own country by affording a coveted opportunity for extending its commerce and securing enlarged fields for our products and manu- factures. Tlie Motive for Calling a Peace Congress. Instead of friendly intervention here and there, patching up a treaty between two countries to-day, securing a truce be- tween two others to-morrow, it was appa- rent to the President that a more compre- hensive plan should be adopted if war was to cease in the Western Hemisphere. It was evident that certain European Powers had in the past been interested in promot- ing strife between the Spanish American countries, and might be so interested in the future, while the interest of the United States was wholly and always on the side of peace with all our American neighb ors^ and peace between them all. It was therefore the President's belief that mere incidental and partial adjust- ments failed to attain the desired end, and that a common agreement of peace, per- manent in its character and continental in its extent, should, if possible, be secured. To effect this end it had been resolved, before the fatal shot of July 2, to invite all the independent governments of North and South America to meet in a Peace Con- gress at Washington. The date to be as- signed was the 15th of March, 1882, and the invitations would have been issued di- rectly after the New England tour, which the President was not permitted to make. Nearly six months later, on November 22, President Garfield's successor issued the invitations for the Peace Congress in the same spirit and scope and with the same limitations and restrictions that had been originally designed. As soon as the project was understood m South America it received a most cor- dial approval, and some of the countries, not following the leisurely routine of diplo- matic correspondence, made haste to ac- cept the invitation. There can be no doubt that within a brief period all the nations invited would have formally sig- nified their readiness to attend the Con- gress ; but in six weeks after the invitations had gone to the several countries, President Arthur caused them to be recalled, or at least suspended. The subject was after- ward referred to Congress in a special message, in which the President ably vin- dicated his Constitutional right to assemble the Peace Congress, but expressed a desire that the legislative department of the Gov- ernment should give an opinion upon the expediency of the ttep before the Congress should be allowed to convene. Meanwhile the nations that received the invitations were in an embarrassing situa- tion ; for after they were asked by the Pre- sident to come, they found that the matter had been reconsidered and referred to another department of the Government. This change was universally accepted as a practical though indirect abandonment of the project, for it was not from the first probable that Congress would take any ! action whatever upon the subject. The good will and welcome of the invitation would be destroyed by a long debate in the Senate and House, in which the question would necessarily become intermixed with personal and party politics, and the pro- ject would be ultimately wrecked from the same cause and by the same process that destroyed the usefulness of the Panama Congress more than fifty years ago, when ! Mr. Clay was Secretary of State. The time for Congressional action would have been after the Peace Conference had j closed its labors. The conference could not agree upon anything that would be binding upon the United States, unless assented to as a treaty by the Senate, or enacted into a law by both branches. The assembling of the Peace Conference, as President Arthur so well demonstrated, was not in derogation of any right or preroga- tive of the Senate or House. The money necessary for the expenses of the confer- ence — which would not have exceeded $io,ocx> — could not, with reason or proprie- 40 JAMES G. BLAINE. ty, have been refused by Congress, If it had been refused, patriotism and philan- thropy would have promptly supplied it. Tlie Necessity of Frleudly^ Intervention. The Spanish American States are in special need of the help which the Peace Congress would afford them. They re- quire external pressure to keep them from war. When at war they require external pressure to bring them to peace. Their outbreaks are not only frequent, but are sanguinary and sometimes cruel. The in- habitants of those countries are a brave people, belonging to a race .that have always been brave, descended of men that have always been proud. They are of hot temper, quick to take affront, ready to avenge a wrong, whether real or fancied. They are at the same time generous and chivalrous, and though tending for years to past estrangement and alienation from us, they would promptly respond to any advance made by the Great Republic of the North, as they have for two genera- tions termed our Government. The moral influence upon the Spanish American people of such an international assembly as the Peace Congress, called by the invi- tation and meeting under the auspices of the United States, would have proved beneficent and far-reaching. It would have raised the standard of their civilization. It would have turned their attention to the things of peace; and the continent, whose undeveloped wealth amazed Humboldt, might have had a new life given to it, a new and splendid career opened to its in- habitants. Such friendly interventions as the pro- posed Peace Congress, and as the attempt to restore peace between Chili and Peru, fell within the line of both duty and interest on the part of the United States. Nations like individuals often require the aid of a common friend to restore relations of amity. Peru and Chili are in deplora- ble need of a wise and powerful mediator. Though exhausted by war, they are unable to make peace, and, unless they shall be aided by the intervention of a friend, po- litical anarchy and social disorder will come to the conquered, and evil scarcely less serious to the conqueror. Our own Gov- ernment cannot take the ground that it will not offer friendly intervention to settle troubles between American countries, unless at the same time it freely concedes to European governments the right of such intervention, and thus consents to a prac- tical destruction of the Monroe doctrine and an unlimited increase of European and monarchical influence on this continent. The late special envoy to Peru and Chili, Mr, Trescot, gives it as his deliberate and published conclusion that if the instruc- tions under which he set out upon his mis- sion had not been revoked, peace between those angry belligerents would have been established as the result of- his labors — necessarily to the great benefit of the United States. If our Government does not resume its efforts to secure peace in South America, some European govern- ment will be forced to perform that friendly office. The United States cannot play between nations the part of the dog in the manger. We must perform the duty of humane intervention ourselves, or give way to foreign governments that are will- ing to accept the responsibility of the great trust and secure the enhanced influence and numberless advantages resulting from such a philanthropic and beneficent course. Its Commercial "Value. A most significant and important result would have followed the assembling of the Peace Congress. A friendship and an in- timacy would have been established be- tween the States of North and South America, which would have demanded and enforced a closer commercial connec- tion, A movement in the near future, as the legitimate outgrowth of assured peace, would, in all probability, have been a great commercial conference at the city of Mexico or Rio .Janeiro, whose delibera- tions would be directed to a better system of trade on the two continents. To such a conference the Dominion of Canada could properly be asked to send representatives, as that government is allowed by Great Britain a very large liberty in regulating its commercial relations. In the Peace Congress, to be composed of independent governments, the Dominion could not have taken any part, and was consequent- ly not invited. From this trade confer- JAMES G. BLAINE. 41 ence of the two continents the United States could hardly have failed to gain great advantages. At present the com- mercial relations of this country with the Spanish-American countries, both conti- nental and insular, are unsatisfactory and unprofitable — indeed, those relations are absolutely oppressive to the financial inter- ests of the Government and people of the United States. In our current exchanges it requires about $120,000,000 to pay the balance which Spanish America brings against us every year. This amount is 50 per cent, more than the average annual product of the gold and silver mines of the United States during the past five years. This vast sum does not of course go to Spanish America in coin, but it goes across the ocean in coin or its equivalent, to pay European countries for manufactured ar- ticles which they furnish to Spanish America — a large proportion of which should be furnished by the manufacturers of the United States. Tlie Tariff and Scrath American Trade. At this point of the argument the free trader appears and declares that our pro- tective tariff destroys our power of compe- tition with European countries, and that if we will abolish protection, we shall soon have South American trade. The answer is not sufficient, for to-day there are many articles which we can send to South Ame- rica, and sell as cheaply as European manufacturers can furnish them. It is idle, of course, to make this statement to the genuine apostle of free trade and the implacable enemy of protection, for the great postulate of his argument, the foun- dation of his creed, is that nothing can be made as cheaply in America as in Europe. Nevertheless facts are stubborn, and the hard figures of arithmetic cannot be satis- factorily answered by airy figures of speech. The truth remains that the coarser descrip- tions of cottons and cotton prints, boots and shoes, ordinary household furniture, harness for draft animals, agricultural im- plements of all kinds, doors, sashes and bfrnds, locks, bolts and hinges, silver- 4vare, plated ware, wooden ware, ordinary paper and paper-hangings, common vehi- cles, ordinary window-glass and glass- ware, rubl)cr goods, coal oils, lard oils, kerosenes, white lead, lead pipe, and arti- cles in which lead is a chief comp -njnt, can be and arc produced as cheaply in the United States as in any other part of the world. The list of such articles might be lengthened by the addition of those classed as "notions;" but enough only are given to show that this country would, with proper commercial arrangements, ex- port much more largely than it now does to Spanish America. In the trade relations of the world, it does not follow that mere ability to pro- duce as cheaply as another nation insures a division of an established market, or, indeed, any participation in it. France manufactures many articles as cheaply as England — some articles at even less cost. Portugal lies nearer to France than to England, and the expense of transporting the French fabric to the Portuguese mar- ket is therefore less than the transportation of English fabric. And yet Great Britain has almost a monopoly in the trade of Portugal. The same condition applies, though in a less degree, in the trade of Turkey, Syria and Egypt, which England holds to a much greater extent than any of the other European nations that are able to produce the same fabric as cheaply. If it be said in answer, that England has spe- cial trade-relations by treaty with Portugal and special obligations binding the other countries, the ready answer is, that she has no more favorable position with regard to those countries than can be readily and easily acquired by the United States with respect to all the countries of America. That end will be reached whenever the United States desires it, and wills it, and is ready to take the steps necessary to se- cure it. At present the trade with Spanish America runs so strongly in channels ad- verse to us, that, besides our inability to furnish manufactured articles, we do not get the profit on our own raw products that are shipped there. Our petroleum reaches -most of the Spanish-American ports after twice crossing the Atlantic, paying often a better profit to the European middle man, who handles it, than it does to the producer of the oil in the north- western counties of Pennsylvania. Flour 42 JAMES G. BLAINE. and pork from the West reach Cuba by way of Spain, and though we buy and consume ninety per cent, of the total pro- ducts of Cuba, ahnost that proportion of her purchases are made in Europe — made, of course, with money furnished directly from our pockets. Tlie ominous adverse Balance of Trade. As our exports to Spanish America grow less, as European imports constantly grow large, the balance against us will show an annual increase, and will continue to ex- haust our supply of the precious metals. We are increasing our imports from South America, and the millions we annually pay for coffee, wool, hides, guano, cinchona, caoutchouc, cabinet woods, dye woods and other articles, go for the ultimate benefit of European manufacturers who take the gold from us and send their fabrics to Spanish America. If we could send our fabrics, our gold would stay at home and our general prosperity would be sensibly i' creased. But so long as we repel Spanish America, so long as we leave her to cultivate intimate relations with Europe alone, so long our trade relations will re- main unsatisfactory and even embarras- sing. Those countries sell to us very heavy. They buy from us lightly. And the amount they bring us in debt each year is larger than the heaviest aggregate balance of trade we ever have against us in the worst of times. The average balance against us in the whole world in the five most adverse years we ever experienced, was about one hundred millions of dollars. This plainly shows that in our European exchanges there is always a balance in o«r favor and that our chief deficiency arises from our mal-adjusted commercial relations with Spanish America. It fol- lows that if our Spanish America trade were placed on a better and more equita- ble foundation, it would be almost im- possible even in years most unfavorable to us, to bring us in debt to the world. With such heavy purchases as we are compelled to make from Spanish America, it could hardly be expected that we should be able to adjust the entire account by ex- ports. But the balance against us of one hundred and twenty millions in gold coin i 1 is far too large, and in time of stringency is a standing menace of final disaster. It should not be forgotten that every million dollars of products or fabrics that we sell in Spanish America is a million dollars in gold saved to our own country. The im- mediate profit is to the producer and ex- porter, but the entire country realizes a gain in the ease and affluence of the money market which is insured by keeping our gold at home. The question involved is so large, the object to be achieved is so great, that no effort on the part of the Go- vernment to accomplish it could be too earnest or too long continued. It is only claimed for the Peace Con- gress, designed under the administration of Garfield, that it was an important and impressive step on the part of the United States toward closer relationship with our continental neighbors. The present ten- dency in those countries is toward Euroi>e, and it is a lamentable fact that their peo- ple are not so near to us in feeling as they were sixty years ago when they threw off the yoke of Spanish tyranny. We were then a weak republic of ten millions, but we did not hesitate to recognize the in- dependence of the new governments, even at the risk of war with Spain. Our foreign policy at that time was specially designed to extend our influence in the Western Hemisphere, and the statesmen of that era — the era of DeWitt Clinton and the younger Adams, of Clay and of Crawford, of Webster and Calhoun, of Van Buren and Benton, of Jackson and of Edward Liv- ingston — were always courageous in the inspiring measures which they advocated for the expansion of our commercial do- minion. The Peril to be Avoided bjr the Union. Three-score years have passed. The power of the Republic in many directions has grown beyond all anticipation, but we have relatively lost ground in some great fields of enterprise. We have added thousands of miles to our ocean front, but our commerce has fallen off, and from ardent friendship with Spanish America we have drifted into indifference if not into coldness. It is but one step further to reach a condition of positive unfriend- ness, which may end in what would be JAMES G. BLAINE. 43 equivalent to a commercial alliance against us. Already one of the most dangerous of movements — that of a European guar- antee and guardianship of the Interoceanic Canal — is suggested and urged upon the Great Foreign Powers by representatives of a South American country. If these tendencies are to be averted, if Spanish- American friendship is to be regained, if the commercial empire that legitimately belongs to us is to be ours, we must not be idle and witness its transfer to others. If we would reconquer it, a great first step is to be taken. It is the first step that costs. It is also the first step that counts. Can there be suggested a wiser step than the Peace Congress of the two Americas, that was devised under Garfield, and had the weight oi his great name ? In no event could harm have resulted in the assembling of the Peace Congress ; failure was next to impossible. Success might be regarded as certain. The sub- ject to be discussed was peace, and how it can be permanently preserved in North and South America. The labors of the Congress would have probably ended in a well-digested system of arbitration, under which all troubles between American States could be quickly, effectually and satisfactorily adjusted. Such a consum- mation would have been worth a great struggle and a great sacrifice. It could have been reached without any struggle and would have involved no sacrifice. It was within our grasp. It was ours for the asking. It would have been a signal vic- tory of philanthropy over the selfishness of human ambition ; a complete triumph of Christian principles as applied to the affairs of Nations. It would have reflected enduring honor on our new country, and would have imparted a new spirit and a new brotherhood to all America. Nor would its influence beyond the sea have been small. The example of seventeen independent Nations solemnly agreeing to abolish the arbitrament of the sword, and to settle every dispute by peaceful methods of adjudication, would have exerted an in- fluence to the utmost confines of civiliza- tion, and upon generations of men yet to come. jAiMES G. Blaixe. But whatever might have been the ulti- mate result of his foreign policy, and what- ever he might have accomplished to ren- der the administration to which lie was at- tached popular and prosperous, was pre- vented by the assassination of the Presi- dent, just four months from the day of his inauguration. His policy had been formu- lated and its details duly specified, and no doubt the President and his first officer were anticipating additional prosperity for the people. The Assassination |of Presldrnt Oarfleld. On the bright Saturday morning of July 2nd the President prepared to leave the National Capital for New York, and thence to New England to join in the reunion of his classmates at the Commencement of Williams College. Secretary Blaine ac- companied him to the station and observed the almost boyish delight with which he anticipated this meeting with his fellow students of former days. Passing into the station through the ladies' waiting room, they were about to pass to the train, when that fiend in human form, Guiteau, fired the fatal shot which finally after weeks and months of suffering, and during which not only our nation but the world, watched in spirit by his bedside, ended in his death. The people of the country will not forget the noble devotion showed by Mr. Blaine to his dying superior officer — how he watched at his bedside, and amidst his and his nation's sorrows discharged all the responsible duties of his position. Garfield's Deatlt. On September 6 the President was re- moved fromWashington to Elberon, whith- er he was followed the same day by Mr. Blaine and the rest of the Cabinet. TJie apparent improvement in the President's condition warranted the belief that he would continue to gain, and Mr. Blaine went for a short rest to his home in Au- gusta. He was on his way back to Elberon on the nineteenth day of September when the fatal moment came and reached there the next morning. It is the univer- sal testimony of press and people that, du- ring the weary weeks which intervened between the President's injury and death, Mr. Blaine's every action and constant demeanor were absolutely faultless. 44 JAMES G. BLAINE. Selected by Congress to pronounce a formal eulogy (which is given in another place.) upon President Garfield, Mr. Blaine on February 19, 1882, before President Arthur and his Cabinet, both Houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, the foreign legations, and an audience of ladies and gentlemen which crowded the Hall of Re- presentatives, delivered a most just, com- prehensive and admirable address upon the martyr's great career and character. The orator, with entire self-abnegation and reserve, but with a firm touch and in a style which rose at times to easy elo- quence, assigned to President Garfield his true place in history. The diplomatic career of Mr. Blaine, which commenced with Garfield's admin- istration, ended with his resignation on December 19, just three months after the death of the President. He desired to re- tire to private life at once, but remained at the urgent solicitation of President Arthur. His next appearance in public life will be his inauguration as President of the United States, when the people have de- clared for " the White Plumed Knight " OF Maine, and the " Dark Eagle of THE Prairie." Blaine as a Historian. After his resignation as Secretary of State, he removed to his home in Maine, and at once commenced his "Twenty Years in Congress," the first volume of which was pubUshed in April. It covers the most important part of our history, extend- ing from Lincoln to Garfield, with a glance at the events that led to the rebellion. Apart from the general tenor of the work from a historical standpoint, it is a biogra- phy of the American people, a review of general issues, a picture of the progress of a fifth of a century, and a panorama of the historic events belonging to that period. It shows the great pulsations ot the nation during its struggle, its hopes, its fears, and its efforts for success, or as is said by a writer in reviewing the work: the thoughts of the peop'e, as they varied from year to year, their times of indecision and dark- ness, of swift insight and heroic resolution ; their days of timidity and weak compro- mising with wrong, and their grand endu- rance and unflinching fidelity when the crisis at last brought duty clearly before them; their singular sagacity in decisions of vital moment — all these are portrayed in Mr. Blaine's nan-ative with clearness and power. The story he tells in his first volume is given with the simplicity and compactness of a trained journalist, and yet with sufficient fullness to make the pic- ture distinct and clear in almost every detail. The book is as easy to read as a well-written novel ; it is clear and interest- ing, and commands the attention through- out, the more for the absence of anything like oratorical display or forensic combat- iveness. Hlg Candidacy In 1884:. The popularity which had placed Mr. Blaine before the nominating Conventions of 1876, and 1880, still remained, notwith- standing he was defeated. That he was the favorite of the masses on each of those occasions is generally conceded, and the tenacity with which they held to him, showed that his magnetism could retain friends as well as make them. The peo- ple love James G. Blaine. They do not rally around him for the dispensation of favors, or the spoils of office — such persons always flock to a victorious banner. They are for him, not as a politician but as a man who has sympathy with the masses. They admire his genius, applaud his actions, exuk at his advancement, and trust in his integ- rity, but over and above all these they love the man. And so when another nominat- ing year came around, the same vital in- fluences or forces that pressed him forward on two former occasions, brought him again to the forefront, and without any ef- fort of his — without any apparent desire to again contest for the place, they placed him in nomination before the people and prepared to do battle for him in the Chi- cago Convention. Apart from his great personal popularity, the fact that he had been defeated through intriguing combina- tions at a former Convention still more closely cemented his allies and multiplied the number of his followers. His princi- pal competitor was the Executive of the Nation armed with the power of his posi- tion, and fortified by the patronage of the government, whilehe, a private citizen, had no sceptre to wield, no places to bestow. JAMES G. BLAINE. 45 He must be more than human who could cahnly behold such a contest without tak- ing an active part therein. It must have required a vast amount of " retaining power '' for one so ready to fight the bat- tles of his friends to remain inactive, and refuse to help himself. As has been said: " The office has been taken to Mr. Blaine ; he did not go after it. No man, not even his most intimate associate, can say with truth that Mr. Blaine has unduly pressed the recognition of himself. Dur- ing the long and anxious struggle of the many candidates for the honor he has won, Mr. Blaine has stood all aloof. He has not put himself in a position to wrest the office or to solicit it from the Convention. With most wise and commendable dignity he went before the Convention met, to his distant home in Maine, there to await events ; to accept the trust and responsi- bility of the highest place of honor of all if it were offered him, but saying nothing, doing nothing to gain it. He simply kept himself in readiness to obey his country's call. It has called him and he will answer it." Tlie Candidate and the Man. It must have been a proud hour for him, when, after the prehminary battles had been fought, after the representatives of the people's will had been selected, when the army of delegates, with another army of unofficial followers, met at Chicago on the 3d of June, and balloted for a candi- date, to find that the friends who had stood by him at other Conventions, were still loyal, and that as on former occasions, he led the list. The banner of the " Plumed Knight " was still in the front, and the promise of victory was engrafted on the first vote. Another feature which added to his strength was this. His votes repre- sented three-fourths of the entire Repub- lican vote, and more than two-thirds of the votes in the Electoral College. That his party was with him was apparent to all, and with such a backing, could the Con- vention (if it wished) or the party afford to sacrifice him to any combination ? From the first it was evident that no such thing could be accomplished. The day for " dark horses " had passed away — the people had too often been defeated in their expressed wishes. The Convention felt this, the people demanded that their ver- dict should be recorded; this was no time for political juggling, and they knew it. Amongst the delegates not positively com- mitted to him were a host of friends who were ready whenever it became necessary to abandon their candidates, to rush to his standard. So the first ballot indicated that the field was won, and that James G. Blaine would be our standard bearer. The second ballot added to his strength — the third ballot was still more fruitful in additions to his strength, and on the fourth ballot, state after state recorded its vote for him, making agrand total of 541 votes, or more than 100 more than necessary to elect. The battle had been fought and won, and the "Plumed Knight," amidst the thunders of cannon, and the plaudits of thousands of people, was declared the nominee. All over the land, men forgot their callings, and gathered about the tel- egraph centres to hear the result, and all over the land went the tidings to the peo- ple, until they took up the applause of the Convention and made it ring throughout the entire country. The Receipt of the News. Never was a nomination received with such enthusiasm as that made at Chicago on Friday, July 5th, and if that can be taken as any indication of the result in November, it points most unequivocally to the success of the Republican candi- dates. If popularity augurs success, then James G. Blaine gives the ticket a strength beyond that of any other man. To quote from the same writer as before : " Can Mr. Blaine be elected ? Yes, if any Republican can. The popular en- thusiasm which his name evokes proves that. He can carry New York and Ohio, the crucial States, and he is probably the one Republican leader who, being nomi- nated, could be elected without the vote of New York. There were enough doubtful States, before the Convention met. without New York. They are so few now as to make the vote of New York no longer necessary. The States of the Pacific Slope and of the Southwest, which were all doubtful, are now all certain for Blaine and victory. No party's conventioni could 46 JAMES G. BLAINE. do better than the National Republican Convention of Chicago did when it nomi- nated James G. Blaine; it obeyed the will of the people, which is what all such rep- resentative bodies should do. The Con- vention having nominated Mr. Blaine Republican candidate for President of the United States, the people will triumphantly elect him. His is a name to win with. The campaign will be as a crusade ; the election a triumphal march of the first, best-found choice of the people to the Presidency of the great Republic." Personal Description. Mr. Blaine has a phenomenal memory. He remembers circumstances, dates, names, and places readily, and it is this wonderfully-available memory that makes him such a ready speaker and such a charming companion. He has also great quickness and accuracy of judgment. He writes as readily and as strongly as he speaks, and very rapidly. In many re- spects he resembles Mr. Greeley as a writer— he goes straight to the point and wastes no time in painting with pretty words a background for his thoughts. Mr. Blaine is of imposing height and burly in form. His hair is nearly white and thin on top, and his beard is not heavy. He has a fair, imposing head. His figure is well preserved, he dresses with care, and is of handsome personnel. He has made use of no means to conceal the ravages time and anxieties have made on his hair, and wears it close cut, the color making all the more noticeable his dark eyes, which glitter and flash with temper or glow lustrous and beam forth amiably, as the mood is on him. He is full of activity and quick thought, has more magnetism than nine-tenths of his colleagues ; has an irascible disposition, and in debate is irri- tating beyond all powers of endurance, but is, nevertheless, personally popular with his political opponents. He has long been a resident of Washington, where his house has been the resort for bright people of every kind of degree. There is nothing of that assumption of aristocr?tic exclusiveness so common among public men. His home is well and even elegantly furnished, but it is all made for use and not for mere dis- play. It is there that he is seen at his best and his power comes largely from his faculty of winning the affection of men by epigrammatic speech, his easy manners and his uniform, unaffected good nature. He knows how to unbend at all times, without any of those patronizing -airs so common in society with men who have succeeded. Few men in either party have left his presence without strong and pleas- ant memories of the vigorous character which is now to bear the heat and burden of a five months' bitter political campaign. Islalne's Home. His home in Augusta, near the State House is a plain two-story house. Seve- ral institutions in the State have received benefactions from him, and his charity and generosity are appreciated at home. In his own house he is a man of culture and refinement, a genial host, a courteous gentleman. No man in public life is more fortunate in his domestic relations. He is the companion and confidant of everyone of his six children, and they fear him no more than they fear one of their own number. Mrs. Blaine is the model wife and mother, and more is due to her strong judgment, quick perception and heroic courage than the world will ever know. His Family. The eldest son, Walker Blaine, is a graduate of Yale College and of the Law School of Columbia College. He is a member of the bar of several States, and has been creditably engaged in public life in Washington. The second son, Em- mons Blaine, is a graduate of Harvard College and the Cambridge Law School. The third is James G. Blaine, jr., a lad of fourteen. The three daughters are named Alice, Margaret and Harriet. The eldest was married more than a year ago to Brevet-Colonel J. J. Coppinger, U. S, A. A Visitor thus describes Mrs. Blaine. Mrs. Blaine is fair-haired, tall, rather stout, with dignified carriage, and a man- ner earnest and practical. Sincerely con- scientious, Mrs. Blaine seems to belong to a race of New England women not always to be met with even among the rugged JAMES G. BLAINE. 47 hills, and rarely seen elsewhere. A beau- tiful home life is the -result of her wise j management. Already her sons are in | business, and popular in society; and Alice, the eldest daughter, now a beautiful woman of twenty-two, was married, in February, 1883, to Colonel John J. Cop- pinger, of the regular army. Mrs. Blaine ever sympathizes most deeply with her brilliant husband in political exploits and ambitions, yet would gladly persuade him to retire to private life. A .Tu«t tribute to Mr. Blatne. The following editorial in the Buffalo Express (Edmunds' Republican) pub- lished a week before the nominating Con- vention, pays a just tribute to his ability. TUe Greatest Political Ijeader of the Generation. It is clear that the one name upon which interest chiefly centres in Chicago is that of James G. Blaine. He is the one man mentioned there who, as apolitical leader, can be justly called great. There are many politicians and a few statesmen, but there is only one candidate who, by virtue of his personal attractions, his innate qualities of mind and of heart, attracts a large following. He is the one man for whom his friends and supporters can ac- cept no substitute. The Express has not been a supporter of Mr. Blaine's candidacy. It does not now believe his nomination to be wise. It still hopes Mr. Edmunds will be nominated. But Mr. Blaine's wonderful personal qualities and his amazing hold upon the affections of the great mass of Republican voters of this country have been so empha- sized in the preliminary contest that they cannot any longer be a matter of dispute, if, indeed, they ever have been disputed. For the third time in eight years he is a candidate before a Republican National Convention. Each time he has been op- posed by the powerful lever of political patronage. But, though twice beaten by combinations against him, he appears the third time stronger than ever. He has not only held his own under adverse circum- stances, but he has grown in the popular mind — becomes yearly a greater favorite — and to-day fulfils more nearly than ever before Colonel Ingersoll's wonderful pic- ture of " a man who is the grandest com- bination of heart, conscience, and brain beneath the flag." Political leaders, like poets, are born, not made. Mr. Blaine is inferior to Mr. Edmunds in the higher qualities of states- manship, and inferior to Mr. Sherman as apolitical manipulator; but in all that con- stitutes real political leadership he is in- finitely above even comparison with them. Mr. Edmunds makes no pretense, and has no ambition in that direction. Mr. Sher- man has tried to be a leader and tailed. Mr. Blaine was born for chieftainship as surely as the great Napoleon was born to lead armies. Under the British system Mr. Blaine would certainly be Premier. In the popular branch of our National Legislature his leadership was undisputed. Even Gar- field — able, popular, fully equipped for any intellectual combat — was content in the House to look up to Blaine as the leader. It is no wonder the Republicans of the United States look upon Blaine with ad- miration and cling to him with devotion. It is no wonder the mass of voters excuse some things which the more thoughtful cannot excuse and lose their heads be- cause their hearts are moved. Mr. Blaine is a man to challenge admiration and se- cure devotion. He is, first of all, an Ameri- can, of the most pronounced type. He embodies many of the characteristics which we like to regard as distinctively American. His career would perhaps be possible in no other country. A Penn- sylvania boy, a student, a teacher, an editor ; at 25 one of the foremost men of Maine ; at 39 Speaker of our House cf Representatives ; a little later United States Senator ; then Secretary of State ; then eulogist of the martyred president ; and finally the writer of a history which, de- spite foreign prejudice, extorts admiring notice from the London Times. There has been no pause in his career, no time when his resources were crippled. He seems even yet not to have reached the zenith of his fame, for he never stops working. At the age of 54 he is still twenty years younger than Gladstone and with every prospect of a long and vigorous life. JAMES G. BLAINE. It is not manly, it is not patriotic, to de- cry Mr. Blaine's true greatness. One need not be his political supporter to recognize his splendid qualities, nor his eulogist to admit them. He Avas once characterized by an earnest opponent as '' a brilliant but tainted man.'' We know that he is bril- liant. His brilliancy is of that sort which the taint upon his character cannot dim. It is not a flash but a steady glow. All his old competitors have disappeared, while he remains the leader still, abler and greater than when his " audacity of genius" was first recognized, or when he had freshly "torn from the throat of treason the tongue of slander." What our English Cousins think AND SAY : Blaine a Beaconsfield. Under the heading, " A Beaconsfield Beyond the Sea," the Pall Mall Gazette says : " Mr. Blaine's nomination is the most notable event for England since Pre- sident Lincoln was assassinated. Wher- ever Mr. Blaine can oust the British from the position they hold on the American Continent he will endeavor to replace I^nglish influence and trade by American. His menacing intimation that he would disregard the Ciayton-Bulwer treaty is an evil augury for the future relations ot England and America. His intervention in Peru was most ominous when declared that he disliked England to win com- mercial triumphs in fields which legiti- mately belong to America. England will_ watch with extreme solicitude the pro- gress of the electoral campaign." In a leading article discussing the re- sults of the Chicago Convention the Ti7nes this morning says : " Mr. Blaine's nomina- tion will be received with general satisfac- tion. Not only has he been the most popular candidate from the outset, but he is beyond all question the most conspicuous and respected politician in the ranks of the Republican party, which has done itself honor by the nomination of so well known and distinguished a man. If the Democrats could make up their mind to a definite and reasonable Free-trade policy they would certainly secure more sym- pathy on this side of the Atlantic than has hitherto been accorded them. Meantime we must congratulate the Republic on the choice of a candidate so eminently suited as Mr. Blaine to represent and uphold the dignity of the United States.'' * («The writer is inde'Dted to the NEW York TRIBUNE and the PHILADELPHIA aid iu the preparation of this article. JOHI^ A. LOGAK General John A Logan, the Republi- can nominee for Vice-President, is perhaps second to Blaine only in general popularity with the masses of the people. His ex- tensive following, embracing almost the entire soldier element of the country, pushed him for the first place on the ticket, satisfied that his record as a soldier and as a statesman would not only carry the party to victory in November, but that his sterling integrity and devotion to the principles of the party would ensure an administration loyal to party, safe to per- son, and devoted to the prosperity of the country. The man who '' never lost a battle nor disobeyed the orders of a supe- rior officer," has a prestige that is seldom reached, and his double claim to the re- gard of the people as soldier and states- man, exhibit him as valuable in the one as he was valiant in the other. Like his great conmiander. General Grant, he knew no path but duty when in the field — had no platform but patriotism, and no object but a victory that would cement the union of the States. It was therefore but reasonable to pre- sume that his own great State, which he had so ably represented in the field and in the Senate, with others following its train, should send their delegates to the Convention to support him for the Presi- dential nomination. It was perfectly natu- ral that the men he had led, and those with whom he fought, should cling to their general and comrade, and ask a recogni- tion of his services to his country. Grant had been so honored ; Garfield had also been chosen ; Hayes had been rewarded by the elevation to Chief Magistrate of the nation, and it was only following the usages of the party to ask the Convention to add another military name to the roll of Presidents. Washington, Jackson, Har- rison and Taylor had been given this post of honor because of their military services, making in all seven distinguished men who won the^r honors by fighting for their country, and whose administrations cover quite a portion of our history. Gen- eral Logan's friends failed to secure the first place, not because of his unfitness for it, but simply because the people desired to elevate Mr. Blaine, who for the third time had been pre- sented to the National Conven- tions and had twice been put aside for the same reasons that operated against General Logan. As James G. Blaine, twice defeated, recognized the supremacy of the people by their verdict in the con- ventions, and gave his hearty support to those who outstripped him in the race, so this gallant soldier and unwavering Re- publican will throw all the weight of his influence to his successful competitor. General Logan was reared in a school of discipline, and as soldier or statesman he will carry out the principle. The enthusiasm for him at Chicago was as sincere as it was demonstrative, and when Senator Cullom arose and placed him in nomination the cheers of ten thousand spectators rang over the vast building. The tribute paid to General Logan by the senators was a just tribute to the general, and is a true and vivid picture of the soldier-statesman. As soon as the storm of applause had subsided and an approach to order was reached, Senator Cullom rose and said: Mr. President and Gentlemen of THE Convention: Twenty-four years ago the second National Convention of the Republican party met in this city and nominated their first successful candidate for President of the United States — Abraham Lincoln. [Cheers.] Abraham Lincoln led the Republican party to its first great victory. He stands to-day in the estimation of the world as the grandest and the most majestic figure in all mod- 49 50 JOHN A. LOGAN. em times. [Applause.] Again in 1868 another Republican Convention came to- gether in this city and nominated as its candidate for President of the United States another eminent citizen of Illinois, General Ulysses S. Grant, [Loud cheers and waving of fans and other demonstra- tions of approval] and the Republican party was again victorious. Still again in 1880 the Republican party turned its face towards this political Mecca, where two successes had been organized, and the murdered Garfield led the Republican party to victory. [Loud and continuing applause.] Mr. President and fellow-citizens, it is good for us to be here. There are omens of victory in the way history repeats itself. There are premises of triumph to the Re- publican party in holding its Convention in this great emporium of the Northwest. [Applause.] The commonwealth of Illi- nois, which has never wavered in its adher- ence to Republican principles since it gave to the nation and to the world the illus- trious Lincoln, now presents to this conven- tion for its consideration as the standard bearer of the Republican party another son of Illinois, one whose name will be recognized from one end of this land to the other as an able statesman, a brilliant solder, and an honest man — General John A. Logan. [The announcement of General Logan's name was received with a wild burst of applause, a great many persons rising to their feet waving their hats and handkerchiefs, and the thousands of people in the gallery joining in the roar of applause. The cheers were renewed again and again.] Logan's Service* to his Country. A native of the State which he represents in the council of the Nations, reared among the youth of a section where every ele- ment of manhood is early brought into play, he is eminently a man of the people. [Applause.] The safety, the permanency and the prosperity of the Nation depend upon the courage, the integrity, and the loyalty of its citizens. When yonder storied flag was assailed by enemies in arms, when the integrity of the Union was imperilled by organized treason, when the storm of war threatened the very life of this Nation, this gallant son of the Prairie State resigned his seat in the Congress of the United States, returned to his home, and was among the first of our citizens to raise a regiment and to march to the front in defence of his country. [Applause.] Like Douglas, he believed that in time of war men must be either patriots or traitors, and he threw his mighty influence on the side of union, and Illinois made a record second to none in the history of States in the struggle to preserve this Gov- ernment. [Applause.] His history is the record of the battles of Belmont, Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain, Atlanta and of the famous march to the sea. [Great applause.] He never lost a battle. [Applause]. I repeat again Mr. Chairman and fellow citizens [applause], he never lost a battle in all the war. [Ap- plause]. When there was fighting to be done he did not wait for others, nor did he fail to obey orders when they were re- ceived. His plume, the white plume of Henry of Navarre, was always to be seen at the point where the battle raged the hot- test, [Applause.] During the long struggle of four years, he commanded, under the authority of the Government, first a regi- ment, then a brigade, then a division, then an army corps, and finally an army. He remained in the service until the war closed. When, at the head of his army, with the scars of battle upon him, he marched into the Capital of the Nation and, with brave men with whom he had bled on a hundred hard-fought fields, was mustered out of the service under the very shadow of the Capitol building which he had left, four years before as a member of Congress to go and fight the battles of his country. When the war was over and general peace victoriously returned, he was again invited by his fellow citizens to take his place in the councils of the Nation. In a service of twenty years in both houses of Congress, he has shown himself to be no less able and distinguished as a citizen than he was renowned as a soldier. Con- servative in the advocacy of measures in- volving the public welfare, ready and elo- quent in debate, fearless — yes, I repeat JOHN A. LOGAN. 61 again, fearless — in defense of the rights of lUinois on the 9th, of February, 1826. the weak against the oppressions of the His parents were Irish, or at least were so strong, he stands to-day, and I say it reputed but his massive face, high cheek without disposition to take one laurel from bones, dark complexion and straight black the brow of those men whose names may ! hair give him so typical an appearance of be presented to this convention ; I say he I an Indian, that it is generally supposed stands to-day, in my judgment, closer to , that some of their blood courses through his the great mass of the people of this j veins. His father. Dr. John Logan, emi- country than almost any other man now j grated from Ireland in 1823, and settled engaging public attention. [Applause.] No man has done more in defense of those principles which have given life and spirit and victory to the Republican party than has John A. Logan, of Illinois. [Ap- plause.] In all that goes to make up a as a country practitioner near Murphys- boro. 111. He prospered in what was then a wild country and in 1824 married Eliza- beth Jenkins, a native of Tennessee, who, two years later, on the night of February 9, 1826, became the mother of the present brilliant military and civil career, and to j Republican candidate for vice-president, commend a man to the favor of the peo- 1 Illinois was not then as you now behold pie, he whose name we have presented j it, dotted over with splendid cities, here to-night has shown himself to be the ' adorned with pregnant fields, and check- ered with railroads. Half a century has changed it from a wild and unsettled country to one of the first states in the union. Hence the means of obtaining an education were very limited, and John was taught to read and write by his parents. His father was a practising physician and a conspicuous member of the community historic situations. It'is impossible under ! ''' '''^'''^ ^'^ ^'^^^' and the stern and de- termined manner of General Logan is mherited from him. peer of the best. His Early Life. It is difificult in a short sketch to give a satisfactory biography of one whose life has been so eventful, so replete with in- cident, and so identified with the history of the country, as his life has been ; one of such activity, such rapid transitions, and such situations to do justice to the man, to his motives, to his reputation, or to pro- perly present even an abstract of his pub- lic record. We can only refer to the exalted position he has attained, the effect of his labors in behalf of his country, in the halls of legislation and on the field of battle. To fully abstract the story of his life would require volumes, to speak from even the impulse of popular feeling and per- sonal admiration would be a eulogy too flattering for the cold pages of a biogra- phical sketch. Hence we can only glance rapidly at the boy, the rising man, the soldier as he is known to his comrades and his friends, and the statesman as shown by the records of that august body During his boyhood he was given such opportunities for an education as were available, so that by the time he was ap- proaching his majority he had received a fair education, and had read many of the best authors. Works of history and biog- raphy were his favorites, and this prefer- ence probably led him to devote himself to his country, and to emulate the great men with whose lives he was familiar. He showed an individuality of character, and a disposition to push things at an early age, and he became qn acknowledged leader amongst boys of his own time. That self-reliance and independence of action joined with a personal bravery which where his voice has been heaid and his ! ^^^^ "^^'^^ ^'"^ ^ "^'^^ '" his manhood, votes recorded. ! showed themselves in his early years. The history of his country was a favorite Hl8 Earljr Hlstoi7. General John A. Logan, the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States is now in the fifty-ninth year of his age, having been born in Jackson County, study, and the story of the Revolutionary war filled him with youthful valor, so emi- nently displayed in later years. The sparsely settled country at that early day furnished very limited means of 52 JOHN A. LOGAN. education. The now splendid system of schools in the State was then in its infan- cy, and the future warrior and statesman must indeed have seen, as through a glass, darkly, the fruition of any ambi- tious dreams of power or greatness, honor or fame that early stirred his heart. But in his case, if never in another, the boy was truly father to the man. With the earnestness of purpose and the never-ac- knowledging defeat that has ever charac- terized his actions, aided by natural abil- ity of the highest order, he set his mark and struggled unflinchingly until he reached it — reached beyond it. Thus, he soon became noted for his scholastic tri- umphs, and those days became a true in- dex of his after life. j Strange indeed are the criticisms in re- ference to his education : he is a fair lin- guist, having studied Greek, Latin and Spanish, speaking the latter fluently. Pro- ficient in his studies, he would have won still greater honor therein had not " the rustling of a banner and the rolling of a drum" caught eye and ear, stirred the positive nature to its very centre and awoke still more enthusiastically within his breast the love of the old flag which in late years he defended through many a danger, never faltering, never wavering, never doubtful of final success and a glorious vindication of the equal rights of man and the Godgiven blessings of freedom to all. Service in the Mexican AV'ar. When the United States declared war with Mexico, he was in his nineteenth year, strong and robust for his age, and full of patriotic fervor. It was no wonder then that he responded to the call for men, and left the parental home to battle for his country. The very first important movement fired the blood of John A. Logan and quicken- ed resolution into action. With the hardy and loyal sons of the West, with full statured men both in body and mind, he swung into line as a private soldier. His first public service was in the war with Mexico, when he left home and en- listed as a private and marched to the " Halls of the Montezumas." Subse- quently he was promoted to the lieuten- ancy, and served as Adjutant of the First Illinois regiment. From this position he was made quartermaster, in which capac- ity he served until the end of the war. He returned with his regiment to his native State, where he was mustered out of the service, and became a private citizen. It is not unfitting here to mention an in- cident of his early life, proving as it does his mental stamina and firmness of pur- pose. Soon after he had been elected Clerk of the County Court he entered the office of his uncle one day and surprised him by the declaration that he was going to resign. From this purpose he could not be swerved. He had already mapped out his future, the study of law included, and determined upon a full term of scholar- ship at Louisville, Ky. Thus much of generalities and statistical dates, rather than of the man and his works; and the story of his life and deeds naturally separate into two distinctive channels though pulsed by the same springs of action ami controlled by the same motives, cannot be described to- gether, albeit harmonious in love of coun- try, her flag, her honor and her laws, and stretching away into the vast fields of public comity, cohesion, jurisprudence, liberty, reputation, national honor and na- tional greatness. Soon after he commenced the study of law in the office of his uncle, Lieutenant Governor Jenkins of Illinois. Here he proved an apt and careful student. He attended law lectures at Louisville and re- ceived his diploma, and was admitted to the bar in 185 1, just when he had reached his twenty-fifth year. He at once entered into practice, and his ability soon attracted public attention, and so popular did he be- come, that he had followed his profession only about a year when he was nominated and elected to the State legislature, where he served for one term, and was then elected prosecuting attorney for the Third Judicial District of Illinois. He was re-elected to the State Legisla- ture in 1853, 1856, and 1857, and was pre- sidential elector on the Buchanan and Breckenridge ticket. Mr. Logan was a leading Democrat when he was chosen a Presidential Elector in the Buchanan campaign. JOHN A. LOGAN. 53 His record in the state legislature gave him a still greater popularity.and as he had served his constituents so well in that ca- pacity, they thought him worthy of a wider and more honorable field of labor. Two years later he was sent to congress, at the same time Roscoe Conkling first entered that body. Mr. Logan was re-elected in i860. In that year he was an ardent ad- vocate of Stephen A. Douglas ; and he ad- dressed a mass meeting in Cooper Insti- tute, in New-York City, in behalf of the " Little Giant." When trouble was threat- ened in the South, however, he openly avowed his intention to see Mr. Lincoln inaugurated if elected, even if he was ob- liged to shoulder a musket and go to Washington. ' As a Speaker. The school in which John A. Logan was trained for the bloodless battles of the forum that have made his name famous as a debater ; for the striking of heavy blows ; for impassioned, and at times ornate elo- quence, clear logic and exhaustive argu- ment was no ordinary one, but that of re- markable men. The capital of Illinois was famous even at that early day for the strength and learning of its bar; its far-sighted poli- ticians : its wit keen as a Toledo blade. Men since known in every land and spoken of with intense admiration and deepest reverence by every tongue, had their homes there and in their future wan- derings never had to bow the knee to in- tellectual masters ; men who lived in the times that tested manhood to the utter- most ; "Afen who their duties know, 'But knorv their rights, and knozving, dare main- taitt." Lincoln, the ever-to-be-remembered and mourned ; the man of iron will, but woman's tender heart ; the man possessed of the rare gift and knowledge of common sense, though "not a soldier of the classics ;" the sound lawyer ; the honest advocate ; the impressive speaker ; the breaker of bonds and the apostle of Emancipation was there. Douglas, powerful, self-reliant, massive in eloquence, in fact, argument and illus- tration ; dauntless in his championship of what he considered right ; unswerving in his love for the law and the Union, though he saw ahead the political ship- wreck of his most cherished ambition ; the cool, clear-headed defender of the Consti- tution and its most able interpreter since Webster, was there. Stephen T. Logan, the living lexicon of law and logic ; who fully comprehended that " reason is the life of the law : nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reason ;" the man bitter in sarcasm, with lips to thunder anathema or melt to tears of pity, regret and remorse ; the lawyer to whom the Bench could give no new honors was there, grand in the firmness and purity of his character and with integrity never challenged. And others well worthy of the bright companionship were there, but we cannot call the roll. It would be a summoning the dead and making the halls of Spring- field ring with eloquence as it is never likely to do again. It was a gathering of giants ; of men of learning, nerve, prin- ciple and stern devotion to their country and its laws, as later years brightly, but sadly proved. It was a school where none but the fittest could survive and genius, study and eloquence were strained to the utmost to "keep the pace :'' where the en- counters were fierce and he who kept his shield unbeaten down, who fell not in the struggle, must possess all the best and most brilliant elements of manhood and would be forearmed for anything that might come in the forensic arena of the future. It was surrounded by such men and with their precepts and examples before him, that John A. Logan grew into the full stature of manhood mentally and phy- sically and learned "that chastity of honor which felt a stain like a blow," and early in life (as previously remarked) he was called to serve client and country in court and legislative hall. Early, too, he revealed the metal of which he was made and the temper of the blade he used for attack and defense as occasion required and which his enemies have learned bears a keen and a cutting edge. To gather his speeches and from them massed, form any judgment of his ca- 64 JOHN A. LOGAN. pability, truth, justice, inflexibility of pur- pose, correctness of judgment and claim to far more than ordinary elocutionary gifts, is beyond our power or purpose. He accomplished the end in view when deliv- ered, were the inspiration of the hour and their echoes (for the most part) have become lost save as they are now and then awakened in the chambers of some reten- tive memory. Private at Bull Run. During the year 1858 Mr. Logan was elected member of Congress from the Ninth district of Illinois, in the Thirty-sixth Con- gress of the United States, and took his seat in December, 1859. His term of office expired March 3, 1861, and, having obtained a re-election during i860, he was entitled to take his seat during the Thirty- seventh Congress, but resigned to take part in putting down the great rebellion. He attended the extra session of Con- gress called in July, 1861, to meet the exi- gencies of the hour. Troops had been called to arrest the progress of the rebel- lion, and the 75,000 men called for by President Lincoln were marching to the field. An army had already reached Wash- ington and were crossing the Potomac. Logan could no longer restrain his pa- triotic feeling and so in July, 1861, he left his seat in the House of Representives and joined the Union Army on its way to the Initial Battle of the war at Bull Run. He took a hand in that disastrous conflict and was one of the last men to leave the bloody field. Filled with patriotic zeal, he returned to Congress after that battle, and urged upon the government the necessity of raising a sufficient force to put down the rebels in arms. He then, at the close of the session, went to his native State and energetically called upon his countrymen to rally around the flag of their country and to put down the rebellion. The citizens of his district readily responded to the call, and the Thirty-first regiment of Illinois volunteers was raised and organized at Cairo on Sep- tember 18, i86r. Mr. Logan was chosen as the colonel of his regiment, with a com- mission dating from August 10, 1861. Shortly after its organization his regiment figured in the sanguinary battle of Bel- mont. He was at the capture of Fort Henry, and with several hundred cavalry pursued and captured eight of the enemy's guns. He also took an active part in the reduction of Fort Donelson. In this en- gagement Colonel Logan was severely wounded in the left arm and shoulder, but held his position until reinforcements ar- rived. Shortly after he was attacked with a serious illness, and for some time hopes of his recovery were given up. On the 5th of March, 1883, he was con- firmed brigadier-general, and soon after reported to General Grant at Pittsburg Landing. Since then he figured in all important movements. On August 26 he was placed in command of the forces at Jackson, Tenn. In the movement into Mississippi he commanded a division in the right wing, and afterward one in the Seventeenth corps under General McPher- son. In the spring of 1863 he was con- firmed a major-general of volunteers, with rank from November 29, 1862. During General Grant's rapid movements from Grand Gulf to Jackson in May, 1863, he was continually in the advance, and occupied the Mississippi capital. Again, at Champion Hills he distinguished him- self, and also at the storming of Vicks- burg, May 22, 1863. When the rebel stronghold was surrendered General Logan's forces had awarded to them the post of honor — namely, the occupying of the surrendered city — and General Logan was made Military Governor from July 4, 1863. He afterward returned North, where he addressed large assemblies, stating that he had always been a democrat, but as the peace of the country could not be restored without the extinction of slavery he advocated that policy. Having ad- ministered the duties of his position at Vicksburg for some time longer, he, at his own request for more active duty, was once more placed in the field. On the 27th of October, 1863, the President ap- pointed Major-General John A. Logan to the command of the Fifteenth Army Corps, thereby relieving Major-General Francis P. Blair, who was sent to take his JOHN A. I.OGAN. 65 seat in Congress as the representative of the First District of Illinois. He suc- ceeded Sherman at the head of the P'if- teenth Army Corps in November, 1863, and when McPherson lost his life on the 22d of July, Logan succeeded him and commanded the Army of the Tennessee with the same ability and success which had characterized his command of smaller numbers. He was with Sherman on his " March to the Sea," remaining with him until Johnston's surrender. From the close of the war until 1871 he occupied various positions of honor, which attended his frequent elections as Representative in his State and at Washington. In 187 1, and again in 1879, he was Senator from Illinois. Senator Logan has played a brilliant part in the political history of the United States during the last twenty-five years, A Fen Picture of liogan. In manners and demeanor. General Logan is a true type of a gentleman. He is quick in speech and motion, and exhibits a brightly nervous temperament, and yet when called upon to decide or express an opinion, he is cool, cautious and exceed- ingly guarded in his expressions. Having once formed an opinion he formulates in sentences so clear, bold and positive, that no man can doubt their meaning. His military training has given him a discipline of mind and action that in all his posi- tions, shows the soldier. He is always punctual to his appointments, and though slow to promise, he makes it a point to keep those made. He has a regard for time, and when a particular hour is suggested it means "sharp" to the minute. In the Senate he is deliberate and dignified, courteous and affable, and probably no member of that body is more popular with his fellow Senators than General Logan. In the heat of debate he is bold and ag- gressive, striking his adversaries with his heaviest blows, but when the contest is ended, whether in victory or defeat, he re- laxes into the genial man as though noth- ing had brought him into contact with his peers. Outside of his official position he is a most companionable gentleman, and he ornaments the social circle with his flashes of wit and versatile powers of entertainment. Logan as a Democrat. General Logan was a Democrat, and held his seat by virtue of a Democratic constituency. He had been reared in that school of political faith, and honestly advo- cated its principles. He could not believe that the mutterings that threatened a com- ing danger would really come to a bloody crisis. But when the overt act was com- mitted — when a part of the nation stood committed to break asunder the bond of national unity, and when the call rang throughout the country to defend and pro- tect the constitution and the government, he broke the bonds of party, renounced his allegiance to Democratic policy, and ex- changing the politician for the patriot states- man, he stood forth for the national cause. He entered the army in August, 1861, and at once repaired to his native state to raise a regiment. He had been com- missioned as Colonel for this purpose, and he lost no time in accomplishing his missior. With the prestige of Mexican renown, Colonel Logan had little difficulty in gath- ering hardy and brave men around his standard. The same patriotic spirit fired their hearts as when the second call for three hundred thousand soldiers was issued and Illinois filled her quota within thirteen days, notwithstanding she had to her credit sixteen thousand nine hundred and seventy-eight men in excess of former demands. The movements of "the "war were rapid and incisive. But it is not our province to follow them save as they throw light upon the career of the brave soldier whose history we are briefly relating and which, at the best must be fragmentary and do- ing little justice to one who has long filled the public eye and won the heart alike of soldier and of civilian. The battle of Fort Henry resulted in the first decisive victory of Union troops upon Western waters, and the cry of "On to Donelson " rang fr*m every lip. Logan was then with his daunt- less 3i3t, and his heart thrilled with joy at beholding the evidences of loyalty among the people of Tennessee and Kentucky, and he hailed as a bright omen the tears of gladness shed at the sight of the dear old flag. ^^ 56 JOHN A. LOGAN. The attack upon and surrender of Fort j they would come out and work in a cam- Donelson have been too often and faith- fully pictured, and are too fresh in mem- ory to be repainted here. It was a wild and bloody contest and fought without thought of self. Stubbornly, gallantly, enthusiastically was the battle waged, each taking a fallen comrade's place until the end came with a surging bayonet charge, and above the Rebel ramparts the Union banner was flung to the breeze. The terms of " unconditional and immediate sur- render " were forced to acceptance, and upon Sunday morning, February i6, 1862, Donelson, of boasted strength, was given over to the boys in bine. The annals of the war speak of General Logan as being where danger was ihe greatest and the blows of death the thick paign with him for their leader ! Not a soul of them will forget how he has worked year in and year out for them in both branches of Congress in the matter of pensions, arrears of pensions, and equalization of bounties; nor how, regard- less of time, trouble and expense, he has corresponded with them and urged their cases to prompt settlement; nor how no crippled soldier nor soldier's widow nor orphan has ever appealed to him for help, so far as it was possible for him to help, in vain. Letters by the hundreds— not from Illinois only, but from all parts of the Union — come in his daily mail from the soldiers or their survivors, and force him to keep several clerks to attend to them. These things will not be forgotten by the est and most heavy, and no name scribed more brightly upon the roll of honor of Donelson. The first engagement in which he and his command participated was the battle of Belmont, in November of the same year, when his ability as a commander, and his dash and intrepidity, foreshadowed the fact that he was to play a conspicuous part in the operations of the army. He participated in the movements at Fort Henry, and was present at the battle of Fort Donelson, where he received a severe wound, and did not rejoin his com- mand until some weeks afterwards, on the evening of the last day of the battle of Shiloh. On March 3, 1862, he was made Brigadier General and participated in the siege of Corinth as commander of the First Brigade in General Judah's division or the right wing of the army, and for his valiant services was publicly thanked by General Sherman in his official report. Logan's Popularity, and Wliat Made It. The following presentation of General Logan to his people, is both deserved and eloquent : " And then the soldier vote — that vote which is cast not alone by the soldiers themselves, but by their relatives and all whom they can influence as well — that prodigious vote which safely goes into the millions — do we not know that it would all be brought out and go solidly for Logan, the soldiers' friend par excellence. How n- j old soldiers. They will remember, if no one else does, how he fought in the Mexican War: how, at the beginning of the rebellion, he left his seat of safety in Congress, joined the troops on their way to the first Bull Run as a private, and was among the last to leave that disastrous field ; how, as Colonel of the 31st Illinois, during a successful bayonet charge on the Rebel position at Belmont, his horse was shot from under him ; how, at Fort Donel- son, where he led the victorious charge — and out of 606 men of his regiment who shared in it, but 303 answered to their names the next morning — he was severely wounded; how, with wounds still un- healed, having joined General Grant at Pittsburgh Landing as a Brigadier-General, he declined a renomination for Congress in these memorable words: "I have en- tered the field to die, if need be, for this Government, and never expect to return to peaceful pursuits until the object of thi^ war of preservation has become a fact es- tablished ;" how, in Grant's Northern Mis- sissippi campaign, he commanded a divi- sion of McPherson's Seventeenth Army Corps with such conspicuous military prowess and ability as to earn the stars of a Major-General ; how his military renown grew with each of the many marches through scorching sun and over burning sands, and each of the many bloody battles before Vicksburg ; how in the ter- rible assaults upon that " Gibraltar of the JOHN A. LOGAN. 57 Mississippi" — whose bluffs were "stud- ded with batteries and seamed with rifle- pits " — his sipjnal valor was known of all; and how it was Logan's column that was the first to enter that great conquered fort- ress. They will remember his succeeding General Sherman in the command of the , Fifteenth Army Corps — the corps which Grant himself had commanded — the corps which by Logan's order adopted as their corps-badge a cartridge-box with the sig- nificant legend "Forty Rounds '* — and how gallantly he led the advance of the i Army of the Tennessee at Resaca, re- 1 pulsed Hardee at Dallas, and dislodged the enemy from his fortifications at Kene- saw Mountain, amid blood and sweat, and slaughter. He was no carpet-knight — no knight of the white feather — but ever in the thickest of the fray his victorious raven plume was seen. '' At tlie Battle of Atlanta. The battle of Atlanta (or Peach tree Creek), the bloodiest fought in the West, was one of the decisive battles of the war. Those of them who were there will never forget it — nor Logan, their triumphant chieftain. It was the 22d of July, 1864. Hood had succeeded Johnston, and Mc- Pherson, finding himself flanked, was rid- ing to the left, when he met his death. The command of the flanked Army of the Tennessee at once devolved on Logan. Surgeon Welch, of the 53d Illinois, de- scribes the panic which at once seized the Seventeenth Army Corps, and continues : "General Logan, who then took com- mand, on that famous black stallion of his, became a flame of fire and fury, yet keep- ing wondrous methods in his inspired madness. He was everywhere ; his horse covered with foam, and himself hatless and begrimed with dirt ; perfectly com- prehending the position ; giving sharp orders to officers as he met them, and planting himself firmly in front of fleeing columns, with revolver in hand, threaten- ing, in tones not to be mistaken, to fire into the advance did they not instantly halt and form in order of battle. ' He spake, and it was done.' . . . The battle was resumed in order and with fury — a tempest of thunder and fire — a hailstorm of shot and shell. And when night closed down the battle was ended, and we were masters of the field." Some of the regi- ments that went into that sanguinary con- flict strong came out with but thirty men, and another which went in in the morning with 200 men came out with but fifteen ! But thousands of the enemy bit the dust that day, and though compelled to fight in front and rear our arms were crowned with victory. Then came Jonesboro and com- plete route for the enemy, the blowing up of his magazines, and the evacuation of Atlanta, " the last stronghold of the West." His corps, also under Sherman, participa- ted in the famous "March to the Sea." His military record would fill a volume. In all his brilliant career he never suffered defeat. It has been well said of him that to his soldiers he was " an inspiration — a prophecy of success ; they believed him invincible." His Promotion. Another point in the military career of General Logan stands out in bold relief, greatly to his credit, and showing the esti- mation in which he was held by those in authority who sou ght for the best possible material to place in command when the dismemberment of the Union was threat- ened and the speedy ending of the fratri- cidal and unnatural war was a " consum- mation most devoutly to be wished." It is this : General Logan was the one and only exception to the rule : was the single instance in which a volunteer officer, who had risen from a private to the rank of Major- General, ever commanded an army. General Snnimarj'. The following summary exhibits in one paragraph, the political and military posi- tions held by General John A. Logan, and they illustrate what an amount can be per- formed by one man. In the fall of the year (1852) he was chosen to represent the counties of Frank- lin and Jackson in the legislature and re- elected in 1856. He was in 1853 appointed Prosecuting Attorney, retaining the office until the iall of 1856 ; the same year was chosen a Presidential elector and elected to the XXXVIth and XXXVI Ith Cong- resses, resigning to enter the Union Army, carrying a musket in the first battle of Bull 58 JOHN A. LOGAN. Run ; fighting through the war of the Re- bellion and reaching the rank of Major- General and commanded the Army of the Tennessee at the close of the war ; he was appointed in 1865 Minister to Mexico, but declined; was elected in 1866 Congress- man-at-Large ; was elected to this position three times, then elected to the United States Senate to succeed the Hon. Richard Yates from March 4, 1871 to March 3, 1877. He resumed the practice of his pro- fession for a time, and was replaced in the United States Senate to succeed the Hon. R. J. Oglesby, and took his seat March 18, 1879, his term of service expiring March 3, 1885. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, an influential member of the Judiciary and Appropriation Com- mittees he has more than enough to oc- cupy his time even were the hours quad- rupled. But this is very far from being all. Early and late his house is crowded with people seeking advice and aid in every possible shape — seeking position and money. And to those in the ordinary walks of business his daily mail would not only be a wonder, but a terror, when the labor of answering became apparent. The word " immense " (comparatively used) is the most fitting to convey an idea of its mag- nitude. And the replying is not simply a matter of aye or nay. It frequently in- volves intricate points of law and practice before the various departments ; the min- ute searching of records ; involves thought, study,. investigation, abstruse calculations, personal attention and monied expense — never repaid. But with General Logan nothing suffers neglect. The poor man is as welcome as he who comes " clad in purple and fine linen," and his cause held even more sacred. Yet there is another point so clearly demonstrated by these masterly efforts that we cannot pass it unnoticed. It is the per- fectly clean life-record of the man. During all his years the honesty of General Logan has never been questioned or slurred. Politically or privately there has never been found stain or blemish, and none have even been hinted at. No public trust has ever been betrayed by him. He has stood sternly and completely aloof from all of public or private jobbery. His statesmanship and his personal character have alike been pure, and his every official act done for the benefit of his con- stitution and his country. His labors have been excessive, heavy, engrossing. He has given the best of his years and talents to the end for which he was elected, not the accumulation of wealth by question- able methods, and stands to-day with un- defiled hands and untarnished honor, a living and a striking proof of the power to resist sordid temptation, rise superior to selfish ends and to live for the greatest good and the highest glory of his native land and mankind. That this statement is true in its fullest and most comprehensive sense, those who have the entre of his home and share his confidence will attest. Very few have such privileges and therefore very few are in a situation to rightly judge how arduous has been his toil, and how unrepaid, ex- cept in that reward which follows the doing of good deeds and the keeping of the golden rule. Fitz John Porter Case. No matter brought before the XLVIIth and XLVIIIth Congresses attracted more attention than the bill to reinstate Fitz John Porter ; had in it more the sugges- tions of discord, and aroused more of pas- sionate feeling. It was a question that had been discussed by all prominent men, polititicians especially ; every soldier from the commander-in-chief to the rank-and- file had made it a study ; every newspaper in the land had advocated one side or the other ; the great majority were committed by strongly expressed opinions and poli- tics becoming involved, the action of one party was as a unit in favor of the passage of the bill on the other, with but a few remarkable and scarcely-to-be-accounted- for exceptions, opposed'to it. And farther than any merely local or personal bearing, it contained the decision of a court-martial ; of the right of Con- gress to decide whether or no the said court-martial had exceeded its powers and jurisdiction, and, if so, what authority Con- gress could confer upon the President of the United States to restore tarnished JOHN A. LOGAN. 59 honor and pay for pecuniary losses sus- tained. And still further it reopened, as it were, the history of the latest war, and touched a.Ejain with bitterness the causes and effects that had been laid to rest ; re-venomed many an unpoisoned sting ; tore asunder scarcely healed wounds, and forced men into partisanship from which they would gladly have withdrawn and totally ignored. It was when the pulse of the country was thus beating at fever heat that General Logan defended a principle ; opposed the establishment of a dangerous and wrong precedent ; upheld the decree of justice, even if stern ; fortified the high position of every honest and brave soldier and, indirectly, but gloriously and with reverend homage, upheld the name and deeds of Abraham Lincoln, the man who had " as- cended the ladder of fame so high, from the round at the top he stepped to the sky," and won a crown immortal by a martyr's baptism. (Also the sacred mem- ory of the lamented Garfield, who was a member of the court-martial.) Arrayed against General Logan were talent, learning, eloquence, rank, and wealth. He swept them aside with a breath ; silenced into the lowest of mur- murs malicious insinuations and false testi- mony ; overturned the most carefully con- structed theories ; exposed the fallacy of worn-thread-bare arguments ; winnowed the false from the true, and won greater renown than ever before. He knew better than any man for he had the best opportunity for so doing, the magnitude of the task he had undertaken ; the target he made of himself for those who stab in the back and dark, and who shoot venomed arrows from behind ambushes. Yet he shrank not and was more than equal to the emergency. More because a far less powerful and testimony-sustained argument at every point would have made him triumphant, and caused him to be fully sustained (as he was) by the verdict of all unbiased, thinking people. The corner-stones upon which theertire elaborate speech was constructed were but two, and contained the simple proposi- tions: "First, what is the law; second what is the evidence applicable to that law for this tribunal to examine." These were the words of General Logan ; his brief, but comprehensive statement of the case, and upon them was buildcd the or- thographic structure that for five days held Congress, as is rarely done in the first in- stance and hours in the second. And the closing of the latter is so eloquent and true that we cannot refrain from repro- ducing it here : " If this act of wrong, as I deem it, shall be perpetrated by the Congress of the United States, it will be declaring that those who failed in the hour of trial are , those who shall be honored in the hour of triumph ; it will be declaring to the world that the record of those in the Army who failed at the important time is as good as those who sustained the Gov- ernment ; that the honor and glory of the whole Army of the United States shall not be maintained alone by the honors it won, but shall be maintained by the honors lost by its unworthy members. When we re- turned to our homes and our peaceful pur- suits, when the armies of a million of men melted away into the paths of peace, we then expected, and ought to expect now, that nothing would be done by Con- gress at least that would mar that thought that should be in every man's mind, that equality and justice should be done to all according to the laws and Constitution of our land, that justice should be done the living and that justice also should be meted out to the reputation of the dead. " So, then, for the honor of this Nation let not its representatives mar the re- cord that loyalty made in behalf of this Government and for the benefit of this people. " I have deemed it to be my duty as a member of this body to oppose at all times a proposition of this character, be- cause .1 believe it to be wrong in theory and certainly wrong in practice. I be- lieve it will demoralize the Army and have a demoralizing effect upon the country. I say in all kindness to the other side ot this chamber (it will perhaps have no ef- fect,) your course, assisted by a few of our side in this case, will prevent the people of this country, as long as they shall proceed in this way, from having confidence that 60 JOHN A. LOGAN. you intend to administer the affairs of the Government fairly. The opening of the doors for Fitz-John Porter does not mean Fitz-John Porter. It means breaking down the barrier, the wall between the good and the bad and those who failed in time of trial and those who did their duty. It means opening the door on the retired-list to Porter and to other men who failed us in our trials who shall follow in his wake. It means more. I do not care what a few gentlemen who were in the Union Army may say, I do not care what a few gentle- men who were not in the Union Army may say ; but the great body of the Ame- rican people do not believe in breaking down the barriers between the men who failed in time of need and the men who stood at their posts. When I say that I am speaking of our loyal people, I mean that the people do not believe in your coming here to re- gulate courts-martial for us during the war. They do not believe it just ; they do not believe it is right. I am speaking in truth to you, and the people will emphasize it to you hereafter. Let your confederacy regulate its own courts-martial while it ex- isted in opposition to this Union, but do not come here from under the flag with numbers sufficient to put disgraced men back in the army, to cast slurs upon our men who did their duty, to trample in the dust the authority that suppressed your confederacy. Let not your feelings go that far. If they do, I tell you that more years than you think will pass over your heads before you will have the confidence of the American people. There are some friends on this side of the Chamber who join with the other side. They are entitled to their views. I say to them, you will open the doors to danger in this country when you do this act. It is not an act of kindness to this man ; it is an act of injustice to the Army; it is an act of injustice to the loyal people of this country; it an act of injustice to the memory of Lincoln and those who were associated with him at the time ; it is trampling under foot the law and the facts. You were the friends in the hour of trial, you who stood by then, should not falter now. You are to-day doing that which you would not have done ten years ago* But to-day the consciences of some people are getting so easy that we must do every- thing that is asked for men who failed us in the hour of our greatest danger, for men who are entitled to nothing except what they received. We are asked in charity which is no charity to violate the law, to violate the proper rules of conduct, to violate the judgment of a court, to violate the order of a President made ac- cording to law and in justice, as shown at that time and now. I hope at least that men who have stood by the country in the hour of trial will not weaken in the hour of triumph in the interests of those whose triumph would have proved disastrous to the country. The conscientious feeling that I have performed my duty according to my honest convictions to my country, to the honor of our now faithful little Army, to my com- rades in arms during the war, to the living and the dead that took part in the judg- ment of the court, to the loyal people that loved this country and helped to save it, shall be in my own breast through life my reward for my action in this case." But dry detail and statistics were supple- mented and interwoven with flashes that controlled attention and compelled admi- ration. Beyond all quibbling, they were the speech of the sessions ; not an ex parte one, for the records of both the Northern and Southern Army had been made to yield up everything bearing upon the question at issue. They were exhaustive. Not only were eye-witnesses, soldiers and officers (theoretically) placed upon the stand, but geography, topography, engi- neering, were summoned and the secret whispers of the lightning became audi- ble. Upon the merits of the case it is not our province to express...an opinion. From the Congress of the nation General Logan appealed to the Congress of the world and the verdict was pronounced and favorable. With the speeches as speeches we have a right to deal. When given to the public, such things become their property and nothing of private or personal right is out- raged by free discussion and critical analysis. The eyes of time are sharp and JOHN A. LOGAN. 61 look through powerful microscopic lenses , and are as quick to discover faults as enemies are to magnify a grain of sand into a mountain. That these speeches were perfection in all the elements of diction, eloquence of expression and the inevitably best words at all times claimed, could not be expect- ed when extemporaneous. Some one said that " no man dare to be reported as the words fell from his lips," and the saying is a true one. In the heat of debate men are carried beyond the mere "padding'' of words by the thought to be enforced. They have in view more the end to be ob- tained than the leading flowers growing along the path to it, and in the " torrent, tempest, and wind of passion " it is very hard to " beget a temperance that may give it smoothness." Strength and truth, we fancy, were more the purpose of General Logan than any oratorical display, and that he suc- ceeded most admirably in these particulars is beyond dispute. The great majority of the press declared : have praised in no measured or feeble terms, and their de- cision is final as to the future, for " after your death you were better to have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live." Looking at these speeches after the lapse of time, and when the waves of pas- sion are at rest, there can be but one view taken of them save when some all-con- trolling interest sways judgment and em- bitters and warps reason. Setting these aside the careful reader will find them brist- ling with points sharp as a bayonet ; fair in statement and deduction ; free from all of vulgar personality ; free from it entirely except where the necessity of the case imperatively forces such mention ; free from all of low prejudice; free from intolerant partisanship ; free from the slightest bias of sectionality ; non political; free from any ad captandtim or egotistical ipse dixit style ; a bald, even if bold statement of fact and circumstance ; the collated testi- mony of others rather than the opinions of self; speeches in defense of the army of the past and sustaining the high code in the future ; plain, logical, convincing ; covering all possible points ; speeches upon which General Logan, or"any man, might safely rest his reputation, his name and his fame. In order that the readers of this book may form an estimate of General Logan as an orator, we give portions of his speech on self-government. Kp«ecU of Hon. Jolin A. liOgaii, On Self-Government in Louisiana, January ij and 14, The Senate having under consideration the resolution submitted by Mr. Schurz on the 8th of January, directing the Com- mittee of the Judiciary to inquire what legislation is necessary to secure to the people of the State of Louisiana their rights of Self-government under the Constitution, Mr. Logan said : — Mr. President : I believe it is consid- ered the duty of a good sailor to stand by his ship in the midst of a great storm. We have been told in this Chamber that a great storm of indignation is sweeping over this land, which will rend asunder and sink the old Republican craft. We have listened to denunciations of the President, of the Republicans in this Chamber, of the Republican party as an organization, their acts heretofore and their purposes in refer- ence to acts hereafter, of such a character as has seldom been listened to in this or in any other legislative hall. Every fact on the side of the Republican party has been perverted, every falsehood on the part of the opposition has been exagge- rated, arguments have been made here calculated to inflame and arouse a certain class of the people of this country against the authorities of the Government, based not upon truth but upon manufactured statements which were utterly false. The Republican party has been characterized as despotic, as tyrannical, as oppressive. The course of the Administration and the party toward the Southern people has been denounced as of the most tyrannical char- acter by men who have received clemency at the hands of this same party. Now, sir, what is the cause of all this vain declamation ? What is the cause of all this studied denunciation ? What is the reason for all these accusations made against a party or an administration ? I may be mistaken, but, if I am not, this is 1 the commencement of the campaign of 62 JOHN A. LOGAN. 1876. It has been thought necessary on the part of the opposition Senators here to commence, if I may use a homely phrase, a raid upon che Repubhcan party and upon this Administration, and to base that upon false statements in reference to the conduct of affairs in the State of Louisiana. I propose in this debate, and I hope I shall not be too tedious, though I may be somewhat so to discuss the question that should be presented to the American peo- ple. I propose to discuss that question fairly, candidly, and truthfully. I propose to discuss it from a just, honest, and legal stand-point. Sir, what is that question .'' There was a resolution offered in this Chamber calling on the President to fur- nish^certain information. A second reso- lution was introduced, (whether for the purpose of hanging on it an elaborate speech or not I am not aware,) asking the Committee on the Judiciary to report at once some legislation in reference to Louisiana. Without any facts presented officially arguments have been made, the country has been aroused, and some peo- ple have announced themselves in a man- ner calculated to produce a very sore feel- ing against the course and conduct of the party in power. I say this is done without the facts ; without any basis whatever ; without any knowledge officially commu- nicated to them in reference to the conduct of any of the parties in the State of Louisi- ana. In discussing this question we ought to have a beginning ; some point from which we may all reason and see whether or not any great outrage has been perpe- trated against the rights of the American people or any portion of them. I then propose to start at this point, that there is a government in the State of Loui- siana. Whether that government is a government of right or not is not the ques- tion. Is there a government in that State against which treason, insurrection, or re- bellion, may be committed? Is there such a government in the State of Louisiana as should require the maintenance of peace and order among the citizens of that State ? Is there such a government in the State of Louisiana as requires the exercise of Exec- utive authority for the purpose of preserv- ing peace and order within its borders ? I ask any Senator on this floor to-day if he can stand up here as a lawyer, as a Sena- tor, as an honest man, aud deny the fact that a government does exist? Whether he calls it a government de jure or a gov- ernment de facto, it is immaterial. It is such an organization as involves the lib- erties and the protection of the rights of the people of that State. It will not do for Senators to talk about the election of 1872. The election of 1872 has no more to do with this " military usurpation " that you speak of to-day than an election of a hun- dred years ago. It is not a question as to whether this man or that was elected. The question is, is there such a government there as can be overturned, and has there been an attempt to overturn it? If so, then what is required to preserve its status or preserve the peace and order of the peo- ple ? But the other day when I asked the question of a Senator on the other side, who was discussing this question, whether or not he endorsed the Penn rebellion, he answered me in a playful mauner that excited the mirth of people who did not understand the question, by saying that 1 had decided that there was no election, and that therefore there was no govern- ment to overturn. Now I ask Senators, I ask men of common understanding if that is the way to treat a question of this kind ; when asked whether insurrection against a government recognized is not an insur- rection and whether he endorses it, he says there is no government to overturn. If there is no government to overturn, why do you make this noise and confusion about a Legislature there ? If there is no State Gov^ernment, there is no State Legislature. But I will not answer in that manner. I will not avoid the issue ; I will not evade the question. I answer there is a Legislature, as there is a State Government, recognized by the President, recognized by the Legislature, recognized by the courts, recognized by one branch of Congress, and recognized by the majority of the citizens by their recognition of the laws of the State ; and it will not do to undertake to avoid questions in this manner. Let U3 see, then, starting from that stand- JOHN A. LOGAN. 63 point, what the position of Louisiana is now, and what it has been. On the 14th day of September last a man by the name of Penn, as to whom we have official in- formation this morning, with some seven or tea thousand white-leaguers made war against that government, overturned it, dis- persed it, drove the governor from the ex- ecutive chamber, and he had to take refuge under the jurisdiction of the Government of the United States, on the soil occupied by the United States custom-house, where the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States Government extends, for the purpose of protecting his own life. This then was a revolution ; this then was a rebellion ; this then was treason against the State, for which these men should have been arrested, tried, and pun- ished. Let gentlemen dodge the question as they may ; it may be well for some men there who engaged in this treasonable act against the government that they had Mr. Kellogg for governor. It might not have been so well for them, perhaps, had there been some other man in his place. 1 tell the Senator from Maryland if any crowd of armed men should undertake to disperse the government of the State of Illinois, drive its governor from the executive chamber, enter into his private drawers, take his private letters, and publish them, and act as those men did, some of them would pay the penalty either in the peni- tentiary or by dancing at the end of a rope. But when this rebellion was going on against that State, these gentlemen say it was a State affair ; the Government of the United States has nothing to do with it ! That is the old-fashioned secession doctrine again. The government of the United States has nothing to do with it ! This national government is made up of States, and each State is a part of the Government, each is a part of its life, of its body. It takes them all to make up the whole ; and treason against any part of it is treason against the whole of it, and it became the duty of the President to put it down, as he did do ; and, in putting down that treason against the Kellogg government, the whole country almost responded favorably to his action. But our friend from Maryland, not in his seat now, [Mr. Hamilton] said that that was part of the cause of the elections going as they did. In other words, my friend from Maryland undertook in a round- about way to endorse the Penn rebellion, and claim that people of the country did the same thing against the government of the State of Louisiana, and on this floor since the discussion has been going on, not one Senator on that side of the cham- ber has lisped one word against the rebel- lion against the government of the State of Louisiana, and all who have spoken of it have passed it by in silence so as to indi- cate clearly that they endorse it, and I be- lieve they do. Then, going further, the President issued his proclamation requiring those insurgents to lay down their arms and to resume their peaceful pursuits. This morning we have heard read at the clerk's desk that these men have not yet complied fully with that proclamation. Their rebellious organiza- tion continued up to the time of the elec- tion and at the election. When the elec- tion took place, we are told by some of these Senators that the election was a peaceable, and a fair election , that a major- ity of democrats were elected. That is the question we propose to discuss as well as we are able to do it. They tell us that there was no intimidation resorted to by any one in the State of Louisiana. I dis- like very much to follow out these state- ments that are not true and attempt to controvert them because it does seem to me that we ought to act fairly and candidly in this Chamber and discuss questions without trying to pervert the issue or the facts in connection with it, ****** Now, Mr. President, I want to ask can- did, honest, fair-minded men, after read- ing the report of General Sheridan show- ing the murder, not for gain, not for plunder, but for political opinions in the last few years of thirty-five hundred per- sons in the State of Louisiana, all of them republicans, not one of them a democrat — I want to ask if they can stand here be- fore this country and defend the democratic party of Louisiana? I put this question to them for they have been here for days crying against the wrongs upon the demo- 64 JOHN A. LOGAN. cracy of Louisiana. I want any one of them to tell me if he is prepared to defend the democracy of Louisiana. What is your democracy of Louisiana? You are excited, your extreme wrath is aroused at General Sheridan because he called your White Leagues down there "banditti." I ask you if the murder of thirty-five hun- dred men in a short time for political purposes by a band of men banded to- gether for the purpose of murder does not make them banditti, what it does make them ? Does it make them democrats ? It certainly does not make them repubh- cans. Does it make them honest men ? It certainly does not. Does it make them law-abiding men ? It certainly does not. Does it make them peaceable citizens ? It certainly does not. But what does it make them ? A band of men banded together and perpetrating murder in their own State ? Webster says a bandit is " a law- less or desperate fellow ; a robber ; a bri- gand,'' and "banditti" are men banded together for plunder and murder ; and what are your White Leagues banded together lor if the result proves that they are banded to gether for murder for political purposes ? O, what a crime it was in Sheridan to say that these men were banditti ! He is a wretch. From the papers he ought to be hanged to a lamp-post ; from the Senators he is not fit to breathe the free air of hea- ven or of this free Republic ; but your murderers of thirty-five hundred people for political offenses are fit to breathe the air of this country and are defended on this floor to-day, and they are defended here by the democratic party, and you cannot avoid or escape the proposition. You have denounced republicans for trying to keep the peace in Louisiana ; you have de- nounced the Administration for trying to suppress bloodshed in Louisiana ; you have denounced all for the same purpose ; but not one word has fallen from the lips of a solitary democratic Senator denouncing these wholesale murders in Louisiana. You have said, " I am sorry these things are done,'' but have defended the White Leagues ; you have defended Penn ; you have defended rebellion ; and you stand here to-day the apologists of murder, of rebellion, and of treason in that State. I want to ask the judgment of an honest country, I want to ask the judgment of the moral sentiments of the law-abiding people of this grand and glorious Republic to tell me whether men shall murder by the score, whether men shall trample the law under foot, whether men shall force judges to re- sign, whether men shall force prosecuting attorneys to resign, whether men shall take five officers of a State out and hang or shoot them if they attempt to exercise the func- tions of their office, whether men shall ter- rify the voters and office-holders of a State, whether men shall undertake in vio- lation of law to organize a Legislature for revolutionary purposes, for the purpose of putting a governor in possession and tak- ing possession of the State and then ask the democracy to stand by them — I appeal to the honest judgment of the people of this land and ask them to respond whether this was not an excusable case when this man used the Army to protect the life of that State and to preserve the peace of that people ? Sir, the man who will not use all the means in his power to preserve the na- tionality, the integrity of this Government, the integrity of a State or the peace and happiness of a people, is not fit to govern, he is not fit to hold position in this or any other civilized age. Does liberty mean wholesale slaughter ? Does republican government mean tyranny and oppression of its citizens ? Does an intelligent and enlightened age of civiliza- tion mean murder and pillage, bloodshed at the hands of Ku-Klux or White Leagues or anybody else, and if any one attempts to put it down, attempts to reorganize and produce order where chaos and confusion have reigned, are they to be denounced as tyrants, as oppressors, and as acting against republican institutions ? I say then the happy days of this Republic are gone. When we fail to see that republicanism means nothing, that liberty means nothing but the unrestrained license of the mobs to do as they please, then republican govern- ment is a failure. Liberty of the citizen means the right to exercise such rights as are prescribed within the limits of the law so that he does not in the exercise of these rights infringe the rights of other citizens. But the definition is not well made by our JOHN A. LOGAN. 65 fnends on the opposite side of this Cham- ber. Their idea of hbcrty is hccnse ; it is not Hberty, but it is hcense. License to do what ? License to violate law, to trample constitutions under foot, to take life, to take property, to use the bludgeon and the gun or anything else for the purpose of giving themselves power. What statesman ever heard of that as a definition of liberty ? Whatman in a civilized age has ever heard of liberty being the unrestrained license of the people to do as they please without any restraint of law or of authority ? No man, no not one until we found the democratic party, would advocate this proposition and endorse and encourage this kind of license in a free country. Mr. President, I have perhaps said more on this question of Louisiana than might have been well for me to say on account of my strength, but what I have said about it 1 have said because 1 honestly believed it. What 1 have said in reference to it comes from an honest conviction in my mind and in my heart of what has been done to sup- press violence and wrong. But I have a few remarks in conclusion to submit now to my friends on the other side, in answer to what they have said not by way of ar- gument but by way of accusation. You say to us — 1 had it repeated to me this morning in private conversation — " With- draw your troops from Louisiana and you will have peace." Ah, I heard it said on this floor once "Withdraw your troops from Louisiana and your State government will not last a minute." I heard that said from the opposite side of the Chamber, and now you say "Withdraw your troops from Louisiana and you will have peace." Mr. President, 1 dislike to refer to things that are past and gone ; 1 dislike to have my mind called back to things of the past ; but I well remember the voice in this Chamber once that rang out and was heard throughout ttiis land, " Withdraw your troops from Fort Sumter if you want peace." I heard that said. Now it is "Withdraw your troops from Louisiana if you want peace.'' Yes, I say, withdraw your troops from Louisiana if you want a reyolution, and that is what is meant. But, sir, we are told, and doubtless it is be- lieved bv the Senators who tell us so, who denounce the rcpul)lican party, that it is tyrannical, oppressive, and outrageous. They have argued themselves into the idea that they are patriots, pure and undefiled. They have argued themselves into the idea that the democratic party never did any wrong. They have been out of power so long that they have convinced themselves that if they only had control of this coun- try for a short time, what a glorious coun- try they would make it. They had control for nearly forty long years, and v^^hile they were the agents of this country — I appeal to history to bear me out — they made the Government a bankrupt, with rebellion and treason in the land, and were then sympathizing with it wherever it existed. That is the condition in which they left the country when they had it in their pos- session and within their control. But they say the republican party is a tyrant ; that it is oppressive. As I have said, 1 wish to make a few suggestions to my friends in answer to this accusation — oppressive to whom ? They say to the South, that the republican party has tyrannized over the South. Let me ask you how has it tyran- nized over the South "i Without speaking of our troubles and trials through which we passed, I will say this : at the end of a rebellion that scourged this land, that drenched it with blood, that devastated a portion of it, left us in debt and almost bankrupt, what did the republican party do ? Instead of leaving these our friends and citizens to-day in a territorial condi- tion where we might exercise jurisdiction over them for the next coming twenty years, where we might have deprived them of the rights of members on this floor, what did we do ? We reorganized them into States, admitted them back into the Union, and through the clemency of the republican party we admitted representa- tives on this floor who had thundered against the gates of liberty for four bloody years. Is that the tyranny and oppression of which you complain at the hands of the republican party ? Is that a part of our op- pression against you southern people ? Let us go a little further. When the armed democracy, for that is what they were, laid down their arms in the Southern Slates, after disputing the right of freedom JOHN A. LOGAN. and liberty in this land for four years, how did the republican party show itself in its acts of tyranny and oppression toward you ? You appealed to them for clemency. Did you get it ? Not a man was punished for his treason. Not a man ever knocked at the doors of a republican Congress for a pardon who did not get it. Not a man ever petitioned the generosity of the repub- lican party to be excused for his crimes who was not excused. Was that oppres- sion upon the part of the republicans in this land .'' Is that a part of the oppression of which you accuse us ? Let us look a little further. We find to- day twenty-seven democratic Representa- tives in the other branch of Congress who took arms in their hands and tried to de- stroy this Government holding commis- sions there by the clemency of the repub- lican party. We find in this chamber by the clemency of the republican party three Senators who held such commissions. Is that tyranny ; is that oppression ; is that the outrage of this republican party on you southern people ? Sir, when Jeff. Davis, the head of the great rebellion, who roams the land free as air. North, South, East, and West, makes democratic speeches when- ever invited, and the vice-president of the southern rebellion holds his seat in the other House of Congress, are we to be told that we are tyrants, and oppressing the southern people ? These things may sound a little harsh, but it is time to tell the truth in this country. The time has come to talk facts. The time has come when cowards should hide, and the honest men should come to the front and tell you plain, honest truths. You of the South talk to us about oppressing you. You drenched your land in blood, caused weeping throughout this vast domain, covered the land in weeds of mourning both North and South, widowed thousands and orphaned many, made the pension-roll as long as an army-list, made the debt that grinds the poor of this land — for all these things you have been pardoned, and yet you talk to us about oppression. So much for the op- pression of the republican party of your patriotic souls and selves. Next comes the President of the United States. He is a tyrant, too. He is an oppressor still, in conjunction with the republican party. Oppressor of what ? Who has he oppressed of your Southern people, and when, and where"? When your Ku-Klux, banded to- gether for murder and plunder in the Southern States, were convicted by their own confession, your own representatives pleaded to the President and said : " Give them pardon, and it will reconcile many of the southern people." The President pardoned them ; pardoned them of their murder, of their plunder, of their piracy on land ; and for this I suppose he is a tyrant. More than that, sir, this tyrant in the White House has done more for you south- ern people than you ought to have asked him to do. He has had confidence in you until you betrayed that confidence. He has not only pardoned the offenses of the South, pardoned the criminals of the dem- ocratic party, but he has placed in high official position in this Union some of the leading men who fought in the rebellion. He has put in his Cabinet one of your men; he has made governors of Territories of some of your leading men who fought in the rebellion ; he has sent on foreign missions abroad some of your men who warred against this country ; he has placed others in the Departments ; and has tried to reconcile you in every way on earth, by appealing to your people, by recognizing them and forgiving them for their offenses, and for these acts of generosity, for these acts of kindness he is arraigned to-day as a Caesar, as a tyrant, as an oppressor. Such kindness in return as the Presi- dent has received from these people will mark itself in the history of generosity. O, but say they. Grant wants to oppress the White Leagues in Louisiana ; therefore he is an oppressor. Yes, Mr. President, Grant does desire that these men should quit their every-day chivalric sports of gunning upon negroes and republicans. He asks kindly that you stop it. He says to you. " That is all I want you to do ; " and you say that you are desirous that they shall quit it. You have but to say it and they will quit it. It is because you have never said it that they have not quit it. It is in the power of the democratic party to-day but to speak in tones of majesty, of JOHN A. LOGAN. 67 honor, of justice in faver of human hfe, and your Ku-Khix and murders will stop. But you do not do it ; and that is the reason they do not stop. In States where it has been done they have stopped. But it will not do to oppress those people ; it will not do to make them submit and subject them to the law ; it will not do to stop these gentlemen in their daily sports and in their lively recreations. They are White Leagues ; they are banded together as gentlemen ; they are of southern blood ; they are of old southern stock ; they are the chivalry of days gone by ; they are knights of the bloody shield; and the shield must not be taken from them. Sirs, their shield will be taken from them ; this country will be aroused to its danger; this country will be aroused to do justice to its citizens ; and when it does, the perpetra- tors of crime may fear and tremble. Tyr- anny and oppression ! A people who without one word of opposition allow men who have been the enemies of a govern- ment to come into these legislative halls and make laws for that government to be told that they are oppressors is a monstro- sity in declamation and assertion. Who ever heard of such a thing before ? Who ever believed that such men could make such charges ? Yet we are tyrants ! Mr. President, the reading of the title of that bill from the House only reminds me of more acts of tyranny and oppression of the republican party, and there is a contin- uation of the same great offenses constantly going on in this Chamber. But some may say, " It is strange to see Logan defending the President of the United States." It is not strange to me. I can disagree with the President when I think he is wrong; I do not blame him for disagreeing with me ; but when these attacks are made, coming from where they do, I am ready to stand from the rising sun in the morning to the setting sun in the evening, to defend every act of his in connection with this matter before us. I may have disagreed with President Grant in many things ; but I was calling attention to the men who have been ac- cusing him here, on this floor, on the stump, and in the other House ; the kind of men who do it, the manner of its doing, the sharpness of the shafts that are sent at him, the poisonous barbs that they bear with them, and from these men who, at his hands, have received more clemency than any men ever received at the hands of any President or any man who governed a country. Why, sir, I will appeal to the soldiers of the rebel army to testify in be- half of what I say in defense of President Grant — the honorable men who fought against the country, if there was honor in doing it. What will be their testimony ? It will be that he captured your armed de- mocracy of the South, he treated them kindly, turned them loose, with their pro- visions ; treated them as men and not as pirates. Grant built no prison-pens for the southern solders; Grant provided no starvation for southern men ; Grant pro- vided no " dead-lines" upon which to shoot southern soldiers if they crossed them ; Grant provided no outrageous pun- ishment against these people that now call him a tyrant. Generous to a fault in all his actions toward the menwho were fight- ing his country and destroying the consti- tution, that man to-day is denounced as a very Csesar. Sherman has not been denounced, but the only reason is that he was not one of the actors in this transaction ; but I want now to say to my friends on the other side, especially to my friend from Delaware, who repeated his bitter denunciation against Sheridan yesterday — and I say this in all kindness, because I am speaking what future history will bear me out in — when Sheridan and Grant and Sherman, and others like them are forgotten in this country, you will have no country. When the democratic party is rotten for centu- ries in its grave, the life, the course, the conduct of these men will live as bright as the noonday sun in the heart of every pa- triot of a republic like the American Union. Sirs, you may talk about tyranny, you may talk about oppression, you may denounce these men ; their glory may fade into the darkness of night ; but that darkness will be a brilliant light compared with the darkness of the democratic party. Their pathway is illuminated by glory ; yours by dark deeds against the Government. That is a difference which the country will JOHN A. LOGAN. bear witness to in future history when speaking of the country and the actors on its stage. Now Mr. President, I have a word to say about our duty. A great many people are asking, what shall we do ? Plain and simple in my judgment is the proposition. I say to republicans, do not be scared. No man is ever hurt by doing an honest act and performing a patriotic duty. If we are to have a war of words outside or in- side, let us have them in truth and sober- ness, but in earnest. What then is our duty? I did not believe that in 1872 there were official data upon which we could de- cide who was elected governor of Louisi- ana. But this is not the point of my argu- 1 ment. It is that the President has recog- nized Kellogg as governor of that State, and he has acted for two years. The Legisla ture of the State has recognized him ; the supreme court of the State has recognized him ; one branch of Congress has recog- nized him. The duty is plain, and that is for this, the other branch of Congress, to do it, and that settles the question. Then, when it does it, your duty is plain and simple, and as the President has told you, he will perform his without fear, favor, or affection. Recognize the government that revolution has been against and intended to overthrow, and leave the President to his duty, and he will do it. That is what to do. Sir, we have been told that this old craft is rapidly going to pieces; that the angry waves of dissension in the land are lash- ing against her sides. We are told that she is sinking, sinking, sinking to the bot- tom of the political ocean. Is that true ? Is it true that this gallant old party, that this gallant old ship that has sailed through troubled seas before is going to be stranded now upon the rock of fury that has been set up by a clamor in this Chamber and a few newspapers in the country ? Is it true that the party that saved this country in all its great crises, in all its great trials, is sinking to-day on account of its fear and trembling before an inferior enemy ? I hope not. I remember, sir, once I was toM that the old Republican ship was gone ; but when I steadied myself on the shores bounding the political ocean of strife and commotion, I looked afar off \ and there I could see a vessel bounding the boisterous billows with white sails unfurled, marked on her sides " Frei:^hted with the hopes of mankind," while the great Mariner above, as her helmsman, steered her, navigated her to a haven of rest, of peace, and of safety. You have but to look again upon that broad ocean of political commotion to-day, and the time will soon come when the same old craft, provided with the same cargo, will be seen, flying the same flag, passing through these tempestuous waves, anchor- ing herself at the shores of honesty and justice, and there she will lie undisturbed by strife and tumult, again in peace and safety. [Manifestations of applause in the galleries.] He attends to more wants of individuals than any man ever in Congress. This is emphatically and especially true with re- gard to soldiers. Their cause is his cause; their wants his wants ; their just recogni- tion and reward his constant battle. From every section of the country, from Maine to Mississippi ; from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the Pacific ; from every state in a Union undivided come letters to him from those who wore the blue and those who wore the gray, and none are ever rejected. He is too mag- nanimous to permit anything of the past to influence his mind or his charity ; his love of his race is too catholic and broad to be swayed by the recollections of fonner years ; he was and is too much a ■ good soldier not to respect bravery in others ; too much of a man to harbor anything of revenge or become narrow- minded by prejudice or petty malice. It sometimes his soul is permitted to speak through his lips when justice and duty require, back of it beats a warm and re- sponsive heart, and no one, friend or foe, ever appealed to him in vain, for in his composition the elements that mark the North and the South are strongly blended — the inflexible honesty and icy firmness of the one, with the chivalry, the fiery warmth and the open-handed generosity of the other. Iiogan's Domestic Life. General Logan resides in Washington, JOHN A. LOGAN. on Twelfth street, where he entertains his friends in excellent style, and his hos- pitality is well known by the people of the Capital. In his domestic relations General Logan has been one of the most happy and fortunate of men. In 1855 he married Miss Mary Cunningham, of Shawneetown, 111., and she has proved a most valuable helpmeet. There is no woman in public life who possesses more admirable traits than Mrs. Logan, and, what is unusual, her popularity with her own sex is quite as great as with the other. She has two children, a daughter, who is the wife of Paymaster Tucker, of the army, now stationed at Santa Fc, and a son. Manning, who is a cadet at West Point, having in- herited his father's military ambition. Both of them have been educated by her, or under her personal supervision. They appear to have inherited the excellent qualities of both parents, and they have had the best of parental instruction. The country owes General Logan a debt of gratitude for his valuable services in the army, which it can never cancel. No man stood out more boldly in the field and in the national councils for the preser- vation of the Union, than he. The war had broken the last ties that bound him to party, and the first flash of the enemy's guns found him side by side with Lincoln, and ready to devote himself on field or forum to his country. With him there was no middle ground, no compromise, no recognition of those in rebellion against the country — he was for the Union under all circumstances, at all hazards, and at whatever cost of blood and treasure. If the government was worth living for it was worth dying for, and so he supple- mented his worth as a statesman, by his value as a soldier. It should be remem- bered that he did not wait for distinction or title, or rank as a defender of his coun- try ; he did not wait until he could ascer- | tain if there were sufficient men without him, but he shouldered his musket as a private soldier, and took his place in the ranks. He sought no favored position where he could escape danger and share the honors of the field without encounter- ing its dangers, for his bravery was coequal with his patriotism. Instances are so rare where men voluntarily leave positions of honor, dignity, and security for those of privation and danger, that this act stands out in bold relief, stamping him with the diadem of true greatness. It was no wonder, therefore, that a rep- resentative body of the Republican party should give him recognition, and that he should have such a respectable following for the first place on the ticket, a special compliment, when one with the brilliant genius and forensic power of Blaine was named for the place. To poll almost one- fourth of the votes in the convention, showed that he had a following in the nation of which any man might justly be proud. To be preferred to James G. Blaine was no empty compliment, and he could in no way better show his appreciation of it than by joining his forces with the "Plumed Knight" and giving him the victory. It was the result of no bargain and sale ; it was the commendable act of one great man aiding in the elevation of the other. He had shown the same hon- orable and fraternal feeling when he brought to General Garfield in the last campaign, and a mention of the concila- tory attitude which he maintained in re- spect to the complications of the brief Gar- field administration. Reviewing his career the writer notes these additional elements of strength : Senator Logan's hands are absolutely clean ; his public record is consistent and unassailable ; his personal magnetism would evoke great enthusiasm and draw back to the party a host of old Douglas War Democrats ; his Irish blood would win Irish votes ; his simple, sturdy character and his efforts for the distribu- tion of the surplus revenue make him strong with the laboring classes ; his advo- cacy of the interests of the Mississippi Valley has given him great popularity in that section; and the colored people know that he would find a way under the Con- stitution and the laws to protect them in their political and civil rights. The Convention appreciated this act of General Logan. It had the true ring of a true man, and without regard to their pre- ferences in the selection of a candidate for President, they almost unanimously resolved that he should take his place on 70 JOHN A. LOGAN. the ticket beside Mr. Blaine. The ticket had a magnetic head, and the delegates resolved that it should be magnetic throughout. Logan's name was no sooner mentioned for the place than it spread like wildfire through the building. In a moment his nomination was a foregone conclusion, and amidst the booming of cannon, the screeching of rockets and the shouts of the enthused multitude, the " Black Eagle of Illinois "was added to the ticket headed by the " Plumed Knight of Maine." " In the words of a comrade : It is not less in General Logan than in Mr. Blaine truly a representative ticket. The candidate for Vice President is an ideal soldier and a statesman universally respected. He is a plain, straightforward man, beloved by the great army of heroes who survived the war of the Rebellion and who honor him for his courage and brilliancy in the field as the country honors him for the long and dis- tinguished service he has rendered it in its Senate. General Logan will rally to the support of the ticket. with old-time enthusiasm and ear- nestness, the soldiers, who will now have a chance to vote for the man they fought with, and who they remember as one who never turned his back on the enemy, and who never lost a battle. General Logan owes all that he is to his own industry, courage and ambition. He has worked his way upward to the highest honors and use- fulness unaided. He planned, laid the foundation and builded his own fortunes, and is a conspicuous example of the sturdy American growth of men. His nomination was recognized to be so fit as to cause it to be made by acclamation. With equal una- nimity will Republicans vote for him. The great campaign has been opened, and, with such leaders as Blaine of the East and Logan of the West, the way to victory is made level and straight to the Republican party. The continuous chain of victories that have marked his course in the past will add another shining link when Novem- ber's battle shall have closed in triumph. PEOCEEDmGS OF CHICAGO COXYEjSTTIO^, 1884. Meetlug of the National Repniillcan Com- mittee. The National Republican Committee met pursuant to adjournment at Chicago, June 2, 18S4, and selected a temporary Chairman to present to the Convention. Mr. Morey , of Louisiana, nominated Gen- eral Powell Clayton, of Arkansas. Mr. Runnells, of Iowa, nominated Sen- ator Hoar, of Massachusetts. Mr. Stone, of Michigan, nominated Con- gressman Horr. Mr. Magee, of Pennsylvania, nominated Hon. Galusha A. Grow, of Pennsylvania. The vote by States and Territories, stood as follows : For Clayton — Califor- nia, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Mis- sissippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Arizo- na, Dakota, Idaho, Montana, New Mexi- co, Utah, Washington and Wyoming — 27. For Senator Hoar — Alabama, Connecti- cut, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia — 13. For Congressman Horr — Arkansas and Michigan — 2. For Galusha A. Grow — Delaware and Pennsylvania — 2. The members of the Committee from Georgia, Tennessee and Texas were absent. Mr. Clayton, having received a major- ity of all the votes, was declared elected. Proceedlng« of the National Republican Convention, at Chicago. The National Republican Convention was called to order at 12 25 p.m., June 3, 1884, by United States Senator Sabin, Chairman of the National Committee of Minnesota. After prayer by Rev. F. Bristol, of Chi- cago, the call for the Convention was read, when the Chairman addressed the Convention as follows : I Gentlemen of the Convention : On behalf of the National Republican Com- mittee, permit me to welcome you to Chi- cago. As chairman of that Committee it is both my duty and pleasure to call you to order as a National Republican Con- vention. This city, already known as the "City of Conventions," is among the most cherished of all the spots of our country sacred to the memories of a Republican. It is the birthplace of Re- publican victory. On these fields of labor gathered the early fathers of our political faith, and planned the great battle for the preservation of the Union. [Applause.] Here they chose that immortal chief that led us on to victory — Abraham Lincoln. [Applause.] Here were gathered in coun- sel those gifted men who secured the fruits of that long trouble by elevating to the first place in the nation the foremost chieftain of that great contest — General Grant. [Loud applause ] Here was afterward witnessed that signal triumph which anticipated the wish of the nation by nominating as color-bearer of the party that honored soldier, that shining citizen, that representative American — James A. Garfield. [Loud applause.] Every deliberation of Republican forces on this historic ground has been followed, by signal victory, and every convention on this spot has carried forward our line of battle, and to-day our forces overlook every position of the enemy. Indeed, so secure now is the integrity of the Union, so firmly imbedded in the Constitution and laws of the land are the safeguards of individual liberty so fairly and fully achieved, that by general consent the time has now arrived for the new disposi- tion of party forces in contemplation of new lines of operation. Having compassed the defeat of our op- ponents on all former occasions, the party is about to set its house in order and take counsel as to the direction and the management of its future course. In the comparative lull of party strife which dis- tinguishes the present condition of Nation- al politics there is discernible an increas- 71 72 PROCEEDINGS OF CONVENTION. ing disposition to look after the men who are to execute, and the methods that are to guide them in the execution of the powers committed to them for the manage- ment of the affairs of the Republic. As a result of the rule adopted in the last Na- tional Republican Convention, this Con- vention finds itself constituted bv a large majority of gentlemen who have been clothed with the delegated powers of the conventions in their several Congressional Districts. On this consideration may be grounded a hope that the voice of the peo- ple [applause] will beyond recent prece- dent be felt in moulding the work you are assembled to perform, so that its results may be such as to win the unhesitating and undivided support of every lover of those principles by which the party has heretofore triumphed and yet will triumph. [Applause]. When we consider the me- mories of the past, so intimately connected with this city, and even with this edifice which the people of Chicago have so gene- rously placed at our disposal ; when we reflect upon the deep-seated concern among all people in the result of your de- liberations and the various incentives to the abandonment of personal ambitions in the interest of the party welfare, you can- not wonder that the Committee, and be- yond it the great Republican masses, ex- tend you a most hearty welcome to this scene of labor, in the constant hope that your efforts will result in such an exposi- tion of Republican doctrine and disclose such a just appreciation of Republican men in the choice of your nominees as to rejoice the hearts of your constituents and keep victory on the side of your ever-vic- torious banner. In conclusion, at the request of the Na- tional Republican Committee, I have to propose to you as temporary chairman of this convention, the Hon. Powell Clayton, of Arkansas. [Loud applause.] The nomination of General Clayton gave rise to an animated discussion, and Mr. Lodge, of Massachusetts, nominated John R. Lynch of Mississippi, closing his remarks as follows : — With no view of introducing any per- sonal contest, wi h no view of attempting to make any test of the votes as to the strength of the respective candidates, I have the honor to move, as it is certainly most desirable that we should recognize, as you have done, Mr. Chairman, the' Republicans of the South [applause], I therefore desire to present the name of a gentleman well known throughout the South for his conspicuous parliamentary ability, for his courage and his character. I move you, Mr. Chairman, to substitute the name of the Hon. John R. Lynch, of Mississippi, and I ask, sir, that when the vote is taken the, roll may be called on that question. A lengthy debate followed the presenta- tion of the name of Mr. L\nch in opposi- tion to the nominee of the NationalXom- mittee. The friends of General Clayton insisted that it had been the unbroken rule for the Convention to accept the per- son presented by the committee, and that no good reason existed for departing from the established custom, when the advo- cates of Mr. Lynch contended that the Convention had not only the right, but was the proper body to nominate and elect a temporary presiding officer. The Chair then directed a call of the roll of delegates, commencing with Ala- bama, which resulted in the election of Mr. Lynch. The vote was ; for Lynch, 431 votes; for Clayton, 387 votes. On motion of General Clayton the election of Mr. Lynch was made unanimous, and he was escorted to the platform by General Clayton, Henry C. Lodge of Massachu- setts, and Henry Taft of South Carolina. Mr. Lyiicli CIiosch. ' On assuming the chair Mr. Lynch said : Gentlemen of the Convention : I feel that I ought not to say I thank you for this distinguished honor that you have conferred upon me, for I do not. Never- theless, from the standpoint that no patriot should fail to respond to his country's call, and that no loyal member of his party should fail to comply with the demand of his party, I yield with reluctance to your decision and assume the duties of the position to which you have assigned me. Every member of this convention who ap- proached me on this subject within the last two hours knows that this position was neither expected nor desired by me. If, therefore, there is anything like a man having honors thrust upon him, you have an exemplification of it in this instance. [Laughter and applause ] I came to this Convention, not for the purpose of secur- ing the defeat of any man or the success of any man, but for the purpose of contribut- ing (to the extent of my vote and influence) to make Republican success in November PROCEEDINGS OF CONVENTION. 73 next an assured fact. (Cheers.] I hope and bchcve that the assembled wisdom of the RcpubHcan party of tliis Nation, through its chosen representatives in this hall, will so shape its platform and will present such candidates before the Ameri- can people as will make that victory be- yond the shadow of a doubt. So far as the candidates for the Presidential nomina- tion are concerned, I do not wish any gen- tleman to feel that my election (by your vote) is indicative of anything relative to the preference of one candidate over another. I am prepared, and I hope that every member of this Convention is pre- pared to give to the candidates of this Convention a loyal and hearty, sup- port, whoever they may be. [Cheers.] I am satisfied in my own mind that when we go before the people of this country our action will be ratified, because the great heart of the American people will never consent to have a political party gain the ascendency in this Government, whose ch'ef reliance is on a fraudulent ballot and on violence at the polls. [Ap- plause.] I am satisfied that the people of this country are too loyal ever to allow a man to be inaugurated President whose title to the position is brought forth in fraud. I am satisfied that the American people will ratify our action because they will never consent to have a revenue system for the government other than one that will not only raise the necessary revenue for its support, but will also be sufficient to protect every A^nerican citizen in his busi- ness. [Cheers.] Gentlemen, not for myself but perhaps in the obedience to custom, I thank you for the honor you have conferred upon me. The several delegations then presented three candidates for places on the several committees. Mr. Williams, Chairman ot the Com- mittee on Permanent Organization, re- ported as permanent Chairman of the Convention General J. B. Henderson, of Missouri, who was elected and escorted to the chair amidst the applause of the mul- titude : General Hentlersoii's Speecli. ■ On taking the chair. General Hender- son said : Gentlemen of the Convention' : — We have assembled to survey the past history of the party ; to rejoice, as we may, because of the good it has done ; to correct its errors, if errors there be; to discover, if possible, the wants of the present, and with patriotic firmness, pro- vide for the future Our past history is the Union preserved, slavery abolished, and its former victims equally and honorably by our sides in this Convention ; the public faith maintained, unbounded credit at home and abroad, a currency convertible into coin, and the pulses of industry throbbing with renewed health and vigor in every section of a prosperous and peaceful country. These are the fruits of triumphs over adverse policies, gained in the military and civil conflicts of the last twenty-four years. Out of these conflicts has come a race of heroes and statesmen challenging con- fidence and love at home, respect and ad- miration abroad. And now, when we come to select a standard-bearer for the approaching conflict, our chief embarrass- ment is not in the want but in the abun- dance of Presidential material. New York has her true and tried statesman, upon whose administration the fierce and even unfriendly light of public scrutiny has been turned, and the universal verdict is " Well done, thou good and faithful servant." Vermont has her great states- man whose mind is as clear as the crys- tal springs of his native State, and whose virtue is as firm as its granite hills. Ohio can come with a name whose history is the history of the Republican party itself. Illinois can come with one who never failed in the discharge of public duty, whether in council chamber or on field of battle. Maine has her honored favorite who-ie splendid abilities and personal qual- ities have endeared him to the hearts of his friends, and the brilliancy of whose genius challenges the admiration of all. Connecticut and Indiana may come with names scarcely less illustrious than these. And now, in conclusion, if because of personal disagreements in the emergen- cies of the occasion another name is sought, there remained that grand old hero of Kenesaw Mountain and Atlanta. When patriotism calls he cannot, if he would, be silent, but grasping that banner to him so dear, which he has already borne in triumph, he will march to a civic vic- tory no less renowned than those of war. I thank you, gentlemen, for this distin- guished mark of your confidence. 74 PROCEEDINGS OF CONVENTION. The Convention then took a recess until 7 o'clock. P. M. Kvening Session. General Henderson called the Conven- tion »o order at 7:35, and made the follow- ing announcements: Gentlemen — There is a communication in the hands of the Secretary from the Committee on Credentials, which will be read to the Convention. The Secretary read the communication as follows : " To THE Chairman of the Republican National Convention : — " The Committee on Credentials have the honor to notify the Convention that as important business is occupying the time of the Committee, the Committee will not be al)le to report to the Convention this evening." After a proposition to issue 500 extra tickets of admission to the hall to veteran soldiers had been voted down the Conven- tion adjourned to ten o'clock to-morrow. Third Day's Proceedings. Thursday. — Chairman Henderson called the Convention to order at ten min- utes to eleven A. M. The delegates and audience dropped into their seats with commendable alacrity, when the Chair said: — "The Convention this morning will be opened with prayer by the Rev. Dr. Fallows." Bishop Fallows made the opening prayer. Contests Decided. The report of the Committee on Creden- tials was presented. It contained the fol- lowing recommendations: — In the case of the First district of Ala- bama your Committee find the sitting members, James E. Slaughter, Frank H. Threet, and their alternates, as on the roll of the National Committee, entitled to their seats. In the case of the Seventh district of Alabama the committee find the sitting members, Robert A. Moscley, Jr., and Arthur Bingham, and their alternates, as on the roll of the National Committee en- titlosd to their seats. In the case of the Fourth district of Texas the committee find the sitting members, A. G. Malloy and J. R. Carter, and their alternates, entitled to tiieir seats. In the case of the First district of Geor- gia the committee find the setting mcm- beis, A. W. Wilson and James Blue, and their alternates, entitled to their seats. In the case of the Second district of Illinois the committee find the sitting members, W. H. Ruger, C. E. Piper, and their alternates, entitled to their seats. In the case of the First district of Ken- tucky the committee find the sitting m.em- bers, Edwin Farley and A. C. Bragg, with their alternates, entitled to their seats. In the case of the Fourth district of Maryland the committee find the sitting members, James J. W. Jordan and Henry W. Rogers, with their alternates, entitled to their seats. In the case of the Sixth district of New York the committee find the sitting mem- bers, John J. O'Brien and John H. Brady, with their alternates, entitled to their seats. In the case of the Nineteenth district of New York the committee recommend that sitting delegates George Campbell and Hiram Griggs, with their alternates, Andrew S. Draper and Madison Covert, and the contestants James Lamb and James A. Houck, with their alternates, William H. Haskell and Nathan B. Wen- dell, be each admitted to seats in the con- vention, with a half vote to each delegate. (Applause.) In the case of the Twenty-first district of Pennsylvania the committee find the sitting ' member — there was only a contest j as to one member — James E. Sayres, with his alternate, entitled to his seat. In the case of the contest of the State of Virginia the committee by unanimous vote, find that the delegation from said State headed by Senator William Mahone are each and all entitled to their scats in this Convention, in accordance with the roll of delegates and alternates as made up by the National Republican Committee. In the case of the Fifth district of Ken- tucky the committee make the unanimous recommendation that the sitting members, Silas F. Miller and John Mason Brown, with their alternates, John Barrett and George W. Brown and the contestants. Augustus E. Wilson and M. Minton and their alternates, Hugh MulholUnd and August Kahlert, be each admitted as dele- gates and alternates to this Convention, with a right to cast a half vote each. This recommendation is consented to by the sitting members and by the contestants. PROCEEDINGS OF CONVENTION. 75 The report was adopted with but one member voting against the proposition. The Convention took a recess until six o'clock. EVENING SESSIOX. Tile IVoinlnatlon of Candidates. Connecticut Presents Hawh-y — Speeches for Logan and Blaine — Arthur Named by To'Mnsend. Chairman Henderson called the conven- tion to order at 7:35 p. m., and announced that the presentation of candidates for President was in order. Mr. Dutcher, of New York, offered the following, which was adopted : Resolved, That the Committee on Seats be directed to issue five hundred tickets of admission to veteran soldiers and sailors, to be distributed through the chairmen of the several State delegations. The National Committee. The roll was then called for members of the National Committee, with the fol- lowing result : — Alabama William Youngblood. Arkansas Powell Clayton. California Horace Davis, Colorado J. B. Chaffee. Connecticut Samuel Fessenden. Delaware Daniel J. Leighton. Florida Jesse G. Cole. Georgia F. F. Putney. Illinois David T. Littler. Indiana John C. New. Iowa J. S. Clarkson. Kansas John A. Martin. Kentucky E. Moore. Louisiana Frank Morey. Maine J. Manchester Haden. Maryland J. E. Geary. Massachusetts W. W. Crapo. Michigan John B. Sanborn. Minnesota M. J. Norton. Mississippi J. R. Lynch. Missouri Robert T.Van Home. Nebraska Church Howe. Nevada Thomas Wren. New Hampshire. ..Edwin H. Follett. New Jersey Garrett A. Hobart. New York John D. Lawson. North Carolina. ...Scott M Humphrey. Ohio A. L. Conger. Oregon J. T. Apperson. Pennsylvania B. F. Jones. Rhode' Island H. A. Jenckes. South Carolina ....John B. Johnston. Tennessee W. D. Brownlow. Texas C. C. Binckley. Vermont George W Hooker. Virginia F. S. Blair. West Virginia John W. Mason Wisconsin Edward Saunderson. Dakota Juflge Bennett. District of Columbia. Col. I'erry Carson. Idaho Sherman A Coffin. Montana James A. Mill. New Mexico William H. Ryners. Utah Charles W. Bennett. Washington P. W. Miner Wyoming Joseph F. Carey. The Beginning of the £ud. When the call of States for nominations was had and Maine was called, the Chair- man sank into his seat knowing what would follow. There was an instant, clear, loud, wild burst of applause that seemed to come from the throat of every man in the hall. To describe, in its fullness of en- thusiasm, in its spontaneity of sentiment, in its fervor of devotion, the scene that fol- lowed — a scene such as was never before witnessed in a national convention — is well nigh impossible. First came the cheer rattling through the hall like a volley of infantry ; then deepen- ing as it grew in force, like a roar of can- non, and swelling as it progressed like the crash of a thunderbolt across the skies. From the stage to the end of the hall, a distance of the eighth of a mile, the cheer- ing, rolling in dense waves of sound, hoarse and shrill, sharp and clear, com- mingling in a wild tumult of applause, which, in the minds of all who heard it and of those who witnessed the great scene, meant the nomination of James G. Blaine. Looking over the human sea from the stage to the balconies, there was a surging mob of men and women waving hats, um- brellas, parasols and flags. Against the dark background a thousand white hand- kerchiefs swung over the heads of the ex- cited audience, dotted the hall with specks of white, like the caps of the breakers on a stormy sea. Men put their hats on the tops of canes and waved them high over their heads. Women tore their bright fichus and laces from around their snowy necks, and, leaning far forward over the galleries, frantically swung them to and fro to give emphasis to their shrill screams of joy. From outside the glass windows under the dome of the hall, where an adventur- ous crowd of men and boys had gathered to witness the proceedings, loud cat-calls and screams v/ere heard above the roar 76 PROCEEDINGS OF CONVENTION. beneath. Men hung dangerously over the front of the galleries and waved the ends of the banners that had been fastened there as decorations to the hall. The following candidates were placed in nomination : James G. Blaine, of Maine. Chf.ster a. Arthur, of New York. John Sherman, of Ohio. George F. Edmunds, of Vermont. John A. Logan, of Illinois. Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut. Each candidate was introduced by an eloquent eulogy, which consumed the en- tire evening session. (The speeches nom- inating Blaine and Logan are given else- where.) The nominations being completed the convention adjourned until Friday morn- ing, at lo o'clock. FOURTH DAY. The interest and excitement culmina- ted on Friday, as the convention had made its nominations, and the deciding ballots were to be cast. At 11:20 A. M., Senator Henderson called the convention to order. After prayer by the Rev. Henry Martin Scudder, pastor of Plymouth Church, the chairman directed the secretary to call the roll, so that the States and Territories which were passed yesterday could hand in the names of their members of the National Committee. A delegate from California at this point asked to offer a reso- lution without comment, but Mr. Davis of Illinois, demanded the regular order. The First Ballot. The delegate from California above mentioned then announced that at the re- quest of his delegation he withdrew the resolution he had not been permitted to offer. The chairman then directed that the roll be called for a ballot on candidates for the Presidency. The ballot resulted as follows : James G Blaine 334I Chester A. Arthur 278 George F. Edmunds 93 John Sherman 30 John A. Logan 63^ Josejih R. Hawley 13 Robert T. Lincoln 4 William T. Sherman 2 Total 818 Necessary to a choice 410 The Second Ballot. The second ballot was commenced at 12:23. During the roll call much delay was caused by frequent calls for a poll of the delegates in certain States. As the first ballot resulted in no choice, the chairman directed that another one be taken. It resulted as follows : Whole number of votes cast 819 Necessary to a choice 410 For James G. Blaine, of Maine 349 For Chester A. Arthur, of New York. ..275 For George F. Edmunds, of Vermont.. 85 For John A. Logan, of Illinois 61 For John Sherman, of Ohio 28 For Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut 13 For "Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois 4 For William T. Sherman of Missouri... 2 The result of the ballot showed a gain for Blaine, and wild cheering greeted its announcement. When order was restored, the convention proceeded to a third ballot with the following result : Whole number of votes cast 820 Necessary to a choice 41 1 For James G. Blaine, of Maine 375 For Chester A. Arthur, of New York. ..274 For George F. Edmunds, of Vermont.. 69 For John A. Logan, of Illinois 53 For John Sherman, of Ohio 25 For Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut 13 For Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois 8 For William T. Sherman, of Missouri.. 2 During the roll call the count in Ken- tucky and Massachusetts was challenged ; but when dissatisfaction was expressed, the delegates making the challenges with- drew them. When Michigan cast eighteen votes for Blaine, there was tremendous cheering. The ten votes of Nebraska for Blaine were received with much cheering. After Nevada had been called, delegates were seen rushing through the aisles in every direction. The confusiori and noise was so great by the time North Carolina was reached, that the Chairman directed the sergeant-at-arms to see that the dele- gates took their seats. A Motion to Adjourn YmsX, When the result of the third ballot was announced, there was a scene of wild con- fusion. When an opportunity offered, Judge Foraker, of Ohio, moved to take a recess until 7 P. M. Mr. Dutcher, of New York, seconded the motion. PROCEEDINGS OF CONVENTION. 77 Mr. McKinley of Ohio said: — I hope no friend of James G. Blaine will object to having the roll call of States made. [Cries of "Good, good," and cheers.] Let us raise no technical objec- tion. [Cries of " That's right," and cheers] And, as a friend of James G. Blaine I insist that all his friends shall unite in having the roll of States called and voting against adjournment. [Loud cheers.] Mr. Conger accepted Mr. McKinley's proposition, and the vote on adjournment was taken. The result, 364 to 450, was re- ceived with wild cheering. Fourth and Final Ballot. Judge Foraker then moved that the rules be suspended and James G. Blaine be nominated by acclamation. This was re- ceived with applause and objections, and Mr. Roosevelt declared that it could not be done. Motions of various kinds fol- lowed, and at last Judge Foraker withdrew his motion. During the confusion that followed the chairman directed that the roll be called for the fourth ballot. It re- sulted as follows : Whole number of votes cast 813 Necessary to a choice 407 For James G. Blaine, of Maine 541 For Chester A. Arthur, of New York... 207 For George F. Edmunds, of Vermont, 41 For John A. Logan, of Illinois 7 For Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut, 15 Blaine's Nomination made Unaulmou*. The announcement of the result of the fourth ballot was received with a whirl- wind of applause. Every person in the audience — delegates and visitors — rose to their feet simultaneously and, all being Blaine men now, shouted and sang their delight at the success of the man from Maine. It took nearly thirty minutes to get to business. The chairman then asked if the nomination should be made unani- mous. Mr. Burleigh, of New York, took the platform and said : In behalf of the President of the United States, and at his request, I move to make the nomination of James G. Blaine, of Maine, unanimous, and I promise for the friends of President Arthur, who are always loyal at the polls, and for Northern New-York, 20,000 Republican majority ; I and I promise you all that we will do all we can for the ticket and for the nominee, i and will show you in November next that New-York is a Republican Slate. It elected James A. Garfield, and it will elect James G. Blaine, of Maine. [Applause.] Mr. Sabin, of Minnesota, said : Four years ago, in this very hall and as a delegate to the National Republican j Convention, I was opposed to Chester A. Arthur and to the elements with which he then associated. Since then he has been called, under the most trying circumstan- ces, to fill the first place in the gift of the people of this country. So well, so nobly, so faithfully has he fulfilled that trust, and so happily has he disappointed not only those of his opponents but his friends, so I fully has he filled the position of the scholar and the gentleman, that he is pos- sessed of that great, good common sense which has made his administration a great : and pronouncedsuccess, that he has grown ; upon me until to-day, I honor and revere Chester A. Arthur. [Applause.] As a friend of his, I no less honor and revere that prince of gentlemen, that scholar, that gifted statesman James G. Blaine, whose nomination it affords me the greatest pleasure to second, with the prediction that his name before this country in No- vember will produce that same spontane- ous enthusiasm which will make him Pre- sident of the United States on the 4th of March next. [Loud and prolonged ap- plause, and cries of "Curtis."] Mr. Plumb, of Kansas, said : This convention has discharged two ot its most important trusts and is now, notwithstanding the length of time it has been in session and the exciting scenes through which it has passed, in thorough good humor, and I believe we are ready to go on and conclude the business which brought us all here. [Mr, Houck, of Ten- nessee, here called for the regular order — • the question on making the nomination unanimous.] Before proceeding with that I desire to respond to the sentiment which pervades the entire convention. I move that the nomination be made unani- mous, and I hope there will not be a dis- senting voice in all this vast assemblage. PROCEEDINGS OF CONVENTION. 4 1 1 ■UI03UIT ■•••■ " ■ •• •" 1" •X3I«EH •UBUiisqs •ueScj ■spunuipa .00 . COMOV . H M .00 1 - 1 • ■ • •" • ...■ ■ ••••••• -1 * ■auiEia co»^>o ..o« .;^0 5-=oo^o^2-->-g*«^J,o.o«r^^oco^o^-^.^.->no*«« ««««o««o« 1 - unmjy ojto. . .MiOjJ-rO.N .|ri^.«t-.. .VO . . .NOO^NOOoOMincjcoOOOO OOOONOONMlg. ■S3JOA JO -ON 0. . .,.=C.,0...., ...... 0.0000 ^,..^..,.».,, """"««""" || 0* 1 uEuiJaqsO •uioouiT •XsiMEH INK VO 1 r^ 1 M 1 H UEUuaqs-f N M 1- M M 1 in N 1 N ■ubSo-x " §- • .««« * M . . .H 1 m\\ 1 •" •spunuipa .^ _ .^ m N MOO OO H 1 VD unquv |.........o .. ^c... ..«.,.. .Mc^co ..«..., .0.0 ••-.""■-|^ •aurcia c-vovo ..OM .r.oo-c;o. ^^^"^■-"sg^ •s'S^iC'^g. •"'-;r -^ss """- • •" -"IK J 5 •S3J«33[3Q ■ON o^vovo^^ooo j5-5 0voc«vgvocjvo=»vo*=orj_o>o««r^nvovo^coc» jvoco^^S """«««««« II 1 uEuuaqs o H W •uioaun M 01 « 1 -d- ft 1 ■XaiMEH S UEuuaqsf « M M IH m 1 CO H H •ubSo-j " ^ • ««« 00 „..„..„„.„ „ n 1 ^ 1 ll > ■spuniupa MOO . CO « M 1 vn . 1 " •jnqjiv ^m. . .»t.^H^.«;^ov.*cn*»<^oc . ^ . ^^ . .- .-vc- .« .vo . .« .«« -""llc! •auicia c-vovo ..n« .m^voc.^^.cj„^,.-^„>0 .av«=ror.vo^ .wt.ro .„«M «« .M . .„ .m , ^ •sajESaiaa •ON O^-vovo^vooo j*oo<»vovo2^«^J^cj^Ovococ»c^5;vovo^coco^vooojj-«g «««««««««jO i 1 , X AV 'uBiujaqg uioDuiq " N M 1 -. .... 1 ■Aai.HBH N H 1 fO " • • 1 i-c •uqof 'uBuijaqs MM « M in •ubSot " ^ • 1 VO •spunuipa •""•••"■ -^ ■ • •" 1 s^l 1 •inquv JT* . • ." ""3"" °^ .^^ 2 .^ " " » ;:2 " . * .^,2^ . .- . ^^ s -S .^ • • " •" " • " " j |- •3UlE[a Mcovovo ..o« .m«vo2-««2 2"^^"'""^ •"^'S^S^^ ■"■-? -"2 2 ""."..".« !•* ■S31eS -spa ON O^^vovO^vOM^^O^vocgvcvo.vOcOvO^OO JJ^OVOCOM J<_C.VO.VOOOOCO^VOC«^«« ««««««««« I g 1 V •£ • ♦Alabama . . Arkansas. . . California . . Colorado. . . Connecticut . Delaware . . Florida. . . . Indiana. . . . Iowa. . Kansas. . . . Kentucky. . . ♦Louisiana. . Maine .... J:aryland . . . Massachusetts IV ichigan. . . Mmnesota . . Mississippi . . Missouri : . . Nebraska. . . Nevada . . . New Hampshir New Jersey . New York . North Carolina Ohio Oregon.' . . . Pennsylvania. Rhode Island. South Carolina Tennessee . . Vermont . . . Virginia . . . West Virginia. Wisconsin . . Territories. Arizona . . . D.-ikota. . . . Idaho Montana . . . New Mexico. . Washington. . . Wyoming. . . . Dist. of Colum Total. . . PROCEEDINGS OF CONVENTION. 79 The chairman then read the following dispatch ; The President has sent the following dispatch to Mr. Blaine; "As the candidate of the Republican party, you will have my earnest and cordial support."' The nomination was then made unani- mous, and, on motion of Mr. Husted, of New-York, the Convention adjourned until 8 p. m. EVENING SESSION. Liogan Noiiiiuated for Vice-l'resldent. Nominated by Acclamation — Xo other Candidates. The convention was called to order at 8:15 p.m., when prayer was offered by the Rev Dr. Charles O'Reilly, of Detroit. Dr. O'Reilly is the treasurer of the Irish Na- tional League of America, and is the first Catholic to open a Republican National Convention with prayer. The chairman called for the names of members of the National Committee which had not been already sent up. Florida announced the name of Jesse G. Coles, and the Dis- trict of Columbia, Colonel Perry Carson. A resolution was passed permitting the late Central Committees to fill vacancies in the National Committee. Logan put In Nomination. The resolution limitmg speeches of nomination to ten minutes, passed, and the clerk proceeded to call the roll of States for nominations. No response was received till Illinois was reached, when Senator Plumb, of Kansas, came forward and said, in substance : The convention had completed two of its most serious duties, the adoption of a platform and the nomination of a candi- date for President. The platform was one on which all good Republicans could unite, and the candidate was one who could beat any Democrat, living or dead. But it was still important that the best possible man should be nominated for the second place. It was but a matter of just recog- nition to the great body, of the soldiers of the war for the Union that a representative from their number should be placed as the second name on the ticket. The Grand Army of the Republic had enrolled more than three quarters of a million men who lately wore the blue. In pre enting a name from their ranks the speaker would mention a man fitted in every way for the first place ; a man who would add strength to the ticket and justify the hopes and ex- pectations of the party. That man was General John A. Logan. [Loud, long and renewed applause.] The speaker said he did not present him in behalf of Illinois or any other State, but of the whole United States. He belonged no more to Illinois than to Kansas, whose 75,000 sol- diers would receive the news of his nomi- nation with shouts of gladness. The speaker was commissioned by the State of Kansas to make this nomination. [Ap- plause.] Judge Houck, of Tennessee, in second- ing the nomination said in substance : While the convention had not chosen his first choice, it had done well, and the speaker proceeded to pay a tribute to the " Plumed Knight" of Maine. He hoped the convention would come to a common understanding and agreement for the sec- ond place on the ticket. When the wires should transmit the news of the nomina- tion of General Logan to the so.dier boys of East Tennessee there would be rejoicing among them as there would be every- where. On the Presidential nominee his delegation was somewhat divided, but when they came to name John A. Logan they were united 24 strong. Mr. Thurston, of Nebraska, Mr. Lee, ot Pennsylvania, Congressman Horr, of Mich- igan, and Mr. Clancy (colored), of North Carolina, also seconded the nomination. A motion was made to suspend the rules and make the nomination of Logan by acclamation. It was put to vote, and a majority voted for it, but as a two-third vote was necessary, the chair ordered the roll called, in order to ascertain whether the necessary two-thirds voted for it. The rules were then suspended and sev- eral delegates made speeches in favor of Logan. On motion of Congressman Davis the roll was called with the follow- ing result : Logan 779 ; Gresham 6 ; For- aker, i. The nomination was then made unanimous. Before the convention had ad- journed Emery A. Storrs took the platform and spoke for an hour. Theconvent on then adjourned5z«^ die. THE ISSUES OF 1884. The cardinal principles of the Repub- lican Party have been so long enunciated, and are so well known to the people of the country that a full exposition of them would seem to be an act of supererogation. The exigencies of the times that called it into existence necessarily made it a par- ticipant in the vital current issues, and its advanced and' frank position on all na- tional questions has bec'>me a part of the history of the country. In its incipiency it gathered around it the devoted, union- loving statesmen of the day, and ignoring old platforms, unmeaning platitudes, and dead issues, it boldly launched out as the party of progress and national ad- vancement. It had no ancient landmarks to define its limits or to resist its expansion and development. As a party of the people it grew with the rapidly expanding nation, and by precept and practice it fostered legitimate industries of every class, devel- oped the country's resources, promoted personal liberty, advanced civilization, and protected national honor. Its First Great Efforts. The herculean task of conquering a re- bellion which involved the cost of thou- sands of lives and the expenditure of almost countless millions of money, for which a loyal people accepted its promise of pay- ment, a pledge which has been faithfully kept, gave it a prestige abroad, and a po- tency at home never attained by any other political organization. In patriotism, in statesmanship, and in financial ability it is without a peer in the long role of historic revolutions ; as it sprung from the people, by the fiat of the people, for the protection of the people and the preservation of their nation, developing at once into a vigorous and stalwart manhood, so it has remained, their motor in the calm, and their anchor in the storm. Under its beneficent ad- ministrations the nation has made such rapid strides in the path of progress as to surprise even its most enthusiastic sup- porters — for the development, increased freedom, and prosperous growth of the nation during the past quarter of a cen- tury is but the result of the benign policy of the Republican Party. The stars in its galaxy represent every sphere and calling of life — they have been gathered from the camp of the soldier, the cloister of the student, the study of the political economist, the portals of finance, the broad and elevated dais of statesman- ship and the blood-stained bannerette ot patriotism. A common danger which involved the country cemented its followers into a common faith, and, pledging that faith to the people, and true to its glorious birth- right, it won its victories, cemented the union of the States, and made its name before the world. The Grand mission of tlie Party. Its Mission has been, and is, to elevate the nation by protecting its industries and enlarging the freedom of the masses, re- garding capital as the plant of labor, and giving, by legal enactments, each a com- mon and undivided interest with the other. The money which moves the giant wheels of machinery, and the fingers that manipu- late the delicate tissues, are nature's co- partners and common workers. As expressed by President Lincoln it is a party " of the people, by the people, and for the people," and it has been so closely allied with their interests both as a nation and as individuals as to give it the well- earned name of " The Peoples' Party." It is a true maxim that whatever contrib- utes to the national prosperity, contributes alike to the welfare of the individuals com- posing the nation — that public good is pri- vate weal — and that natior^al disaster brings individual ruin. When you destroy THE ISSUES OF 1S84. 81 the tree's roots its trunk and branches will perish. Recognizing industry as not only the source of wealth, but as the actual wealth of a nation, the policy of the Re- publican Party has been to throw around that industry such guards and protection, as would promote its growth, insure its permanency, and make it remunerative. A party that has proven so true to na- tional permanency and national honor, could not do otherwise than protect and defend its citizens in all the legitimate call- ings of life. Its Cardinal Principle Is to Protect Labor. The policy of the party is to bring into prosperous harmony and speedy develop- ment, on its own territory, the great branches of industry, without which na- tional life cannot be sustained, as our trade interests rest largely on internal circum- stances. The same condition of nature which brings individuals into competition also leads to conflict between nations and renders legal enactments necessary to pro- tect each from the encroachments of the other. Protection is a broad field, and governments recognize it in many ways outside of the mere question of revenue, or tariff restrictions. They organize and keep in discipline standing armies and expen- sive navies, not to quell insurrections at home nor to repel an existing foreign in- vasion, but in the midst of profound peace — to prevent them. They enact laws, to prevent the spread of contagious diseases, and the influx of paupers and criminals. They pass naturalization laws to protect the ballot box, homestead laws to protect the settlers, usury laws to protect the man who needs from he who advances money. Protection is engraved in the Constitution and written all over the statute book. Governmeuts are for the Protection of the People. Protection to capital and labor is quite as necessary for the common good of the people. Governments are formed for the protection of their people, just as corpora- tions are conducted for the benefit of their stockholders. The general common wel- fare of nations is had through treaty stipulations, or is arbitrated in a congress of the nations. Governments protect and defend their people by the same rights that men defend their households — first, under the law, lastly, when that fails, vi et armis. "We Cannot Rejfiilate other Ijulior than our Oivu. We should remember that labor and trade in other nations cannot be regulated by our laws, and have no interest in our institutions other than that we may be com- pelled to purchase their surplus goods, at prices which we cannot regulate. Our poverty adds to their wealth, and vice versa. The working world abroad is only benefited by our prosperity when it emigrates to our shores. It has. taken a century of our history, and thousands of millions of capital to establish our indus- trial interests and place us in our present attitude before the world, and this has been done by protective legislation whereby the capitalist could receive an equitable interest on his investment, and the laborer fully compensated for his toil. This has been done for the sole benefit of our own people — of those who develop our resour- ces, pay no taxes, fight our battles, and change our forests into pregnant fields, flourishing towns and villages. Shall we blot out all the labor of the past, and destroy the industries of the nation through a " tariff for revenue only?". Protection a Conatltntioual Right and Liberty. The Constitution of the United States as construed by the ablest statesmen expressly authorizes protection to labor. The power to impose duties on importations originally was exercised by the several States. Subsequently the States delegated their whole authority to the general gov- ernment, without restriction or reservation, except what related to inspecdon laws. Having passed from State authority, it must exist with the general government, or be exdnct. It is simply absurd to sup- pose the latter, as it would present the strange status of a nation of people de- prived of the power to increase or protect its own industries. Every administration since the formation of the government has recognized this right under the Consti- tution, and a century's acceptance of the fact should be sufficient. But the advo- 82 THE ISSUES OF cates of Free Trade, fearful of a discussion of its merits, affect to deny the constitu- tional right to pass tariff laws except for revenue alone, and every man of ordinary information knows that "a tariff for rev- enue only," would be as disastrous to our industries as the most open and avowed free trade. They are homogeneous and cannot be separated in their eftect on the country. The Republican Party declares that Congress has plenary power under the Constitution to enact such tariff laws as it deems proper, and that this power coupled with the obligation to provide for the com- mon defence and general welfare, without any restriction as to revenue, makes it self- evident that those who framed the Consti- tution not only gave the power, but made it mandatory on them to exercise it. "To regulate Commerce'' is a phrase in the Constitution that was not carelessly framed or vaguely understood by its framers. Its true meaning had been given in the re- peated discussions between the colonies and the mother country, and is precisely as interpreted in the platforms of the Re- publican Party. The first tariff law passed by Congress, July 4th, 1798, declared that one of its objects was to encourage and protect manuf^ictures ; and when at the next session the duties were increased, the same principle was enunciated. It Re-Affirms tlie Policy of Early Legis- lation. All the leading statesmen of the early days of the Republic, so construed it, and many of those who framed and de- liberated upon the Constitution were sub- sequently chosen to execute its provisions — all of whom gave it this construction and meaning. It cannot for a moment be supposed that they were ignorant of their own work, or that when called on to act under its provisions that they would per- vert its true meaning, and yet those who deny the constitutional power to protect home labor must arrive at one or the other of these conclusions. The several functions of the government, legislative, judicial and executive are •directed to protect the rights of persons and property. It is for this that they are instituted. Different nations have different interests, just as individuals have under the same form of government, but at the same time all have a common welfare in the general national prosperity. When one is affected, the others suffer corre- spondingly. Upon this great question of capital and labor, political parties always have and probably always will be at issue. The advocates of Free Trade strive to have such a revision of the tariff laws as will enable this foreign element to have the preference over our own people simply to procure from abroad what we now pro- duce at home, and thus to reduce the com- pensation of labor to such a standard as will ultimately destroy it. "Wliat Is meant by Free Trade. Free Trade in the unlimited sense of the word has a comparatively small following — the term as generally used does not im- ply actual free trade between different nations. The Free Trade theory is to collect sufficient revenue from duties on imports to maintain the government to the utter rejection of incidental protection — in a word, to open our ports as mere collection agencies, and to fill the national coffers at the expense of our own in- dustries. Great Britain is the head centre of what is known as free trade, and the celebrated Cobden Club of England that represents it, has its plants in free trade organizations in this country. But Eng- land with its ostensible free trade policy, fosters its industries to a greater extent than any other nation by laying excessive duties on certain items of manufacture, and permitting free trade on those which it can produce at lower prices than any other nation. Its tariff policy is one of ultra-protection to its industries, and to enable its people to sell their surplus goods abroad, Comparison liettveen Great Britain and tHe United States. Great Britain and the United States, although of a common stock, do not have a common interest as nations. England strives to manufacture for the world, to monopolize the productive power, and THE ISSUES OF 1884. 83 through its cheap labor, to undersell other nations in their own markets. She willinj^ly permits competition at home in all raw materials, so that she can procure them at her own price, and to have com- petition in her home market for manu- factured goods to enable her to name the selling price, and thus through this in- strumentality to control the markets abroad. How the TartfT la made I'rotectlve. At the present time England pays about one half, and the rest of Europe about one third of the rates that prevail here, so that when this shield of protection is removed, and the products of their cheap labor flood our market they would easily be able to undersell our own people. Hence, a tariff to protect, must be regulated by a comparison of the relative cost of materials and price of labor. To ascertain the in- trinsic value of anything, we must compare it with our unit of value, just as we do with the sovereign of England, or the franc of France, when estimated by our own dol- lar. It is just as reasonable, and equitable to value these coins at their purchasing power in their own countries without any reference to their intrinsic value here. Labor is the intrinsic value of manufac- tured goods and it is valued under a protec- tive tariff by a comparison with our home labor. For example five francs repre- sent the value of a day's labor by an artisan in Paris, and $3.00, that of one in the United States. Shall we increase the value of the franc in this country to threefold its value at home, and conse- quently depreciate the true value of our dollar to one-third its value as defined by law ? Or shall we declare that a day's labor, all over the world shall be valued at a day's labor in the United States, upon all articles of industry sent from abroad to sell in our market? If this is not done, our labor must compete with foreign labor, and our men be paid at foreign prices. As has been said by an able expounder of the question : " Persons who denounce tariff protec- tion are therefore compelled to take the untenable position that they are unwilling to permit the existence of natural prices for American products ; or, to state the case in another form, are opposed to the continuance of all don>estic industries which can be undersold in our market by foreign competition." We believe in the dignity of labor and strive to elevate it, instead of debasing it into a miserable servitude but little above that of human slavery. The true policy of government is not to sacrifice labor in order to have cheap production. Abandon the doctrine of protection, open our ports to the market of the world, let revenue only be the cry, and Shylock-like, insist only for the pound of flesh, and whilst we would manufacture goods as cheaply, and furnish products at as low rates, labor would be degraded, and wages would be as low as it is across the ocean. Under such circum- stances we can compete with the world, but do we desire to pay such a price for its great market ? Our gain would be a loss, which would not only destroy our in- dustries but would break up our nation. In the words of a celebrated writer on this question : " This would, to begin with, treat men as made for trade, not trade as made for men. Our laborers deprived of justly high, or comfort, or freedom of wages, would quickly sink in the scale of civilization. Within a few generations they would cease to be intelligent, and become ignorant, debased, superstitious, servile, and unfit to be trusted with the ballot. No longer having chances to improve their condition, or to arise above it they would lose their present incentives to self-respect, to courage, to ambition, to enterprise, to hope. The spirit of man falls with his wages — dechnes as declines the reward of his in- dustry, toil and care. Crush this and he is crushed. Take away from the labor in the United States the elevated, important and commanding position which it now occupies, and let its wages and its situa- tion sink to the European level, then its descent would drag down the edifice of republican institutions, and of human freedom. These cannot long exist where the rights of labor are not respected. Would general cheapness in the price of commodities be any compensation for this tremendous sacrifice of all we hold dear and sacred as the results of American liberty?" 84 THE ISSUES OF 1884. What a Judicious Scale of Duties wUl Effect. Fully satisfied with the truth of this proposition, the Republican Party has stood betA-een the people, and those who would destroy their industries, and by means of a judicious tariff warded off these disasters. Cheap goods can be, and are manufactured through home competition, which is in the main, healthful. The manu- facturer who charges more than a fair profit on his goods offers an inducement for another to furnish them at a less cost, and thus home competition will always give our people goods at the lowest figures at which they can be made. There can be no monopoly of manufacture or prices where capital has an open field, and, skilled labor is ever ready to develop it. On the contrary, open the doors to Free Trade, until our industries shall have been driven from their posts by foreign goods, and as soon as the market is controlled by them the prices will be advanced beyond our own standard, to be reduced only when protec- tion shall again stand between home and foreign labor. W^e must elth er Protect Home or Foreign Labor. If we do not protect our own people in their industries we are protecting those under other governments. Omission in the first case is equivalent to a direct action in the other. In our governmental action we are compelled to chose between home and foreign labor, and if we refuse it to our own people we confer it on others to their exclusion. In the words of the writer already quoted : " To repeal the laws which punish crime is to protect criminals ; and to legislate out of existence the protection which guards and sustains American industry, is to transfer the protection to European indus- try. A tariff too low for home Protection, thus becomes a law to protect transatlantic manufacturers against the rivalry of our own manufacturers in the latter's domestic market. The issue between the protec- tionists and the Free Traders, when reduced to its seminal principle, dwindles to simply this, whether we shall protect our own labor and capital or tiiat of other nations. Doing the latter may be symbolized as dismantling our forts, level- ing our breastwork, and disarming our troops, in the face of an invading enemy, leaving him at his leisure to reap all the fruits of unopposed conquest.'* TarUT Hlstorj-. The revision of existing tariff laws, in order to protect the industries of the country, and to inaugurate what was then known as "The American System," came up before Congress at the session of 1823 and 24, and the heated debate that en- sued matured into a serious conflict of authority between the general government, and a few of the slave-holding States. So prominent did the question become at that time, it entered very largely into the presidential issue and party lines were drawn accordingly. The protection of home industry had not been recognized among the powers granted, was looked for in the incidental; and denied by the strict constructionists to be a substantive term, to be exercised for the direct purpose of protection ; but admitted by all at that time and ever since the first tariff act of 1789, to be an incident to the revenue raising power, and an incident to be regarded in the exercise of that power. Revenue the object, pro- tection the incident, had been the rule m the earlier tariffs; now that rule was sought to be reversed, and to make protection the object of the law, and revenue the inci- dent. Henry Clay was the leader in the proposed revision and the champion of the American system ; he was ably sup- ported in the House by many able and effective speakers, who based their argu- ment on the general distress then alleged to be prevalent in the country. When a measure becomes oppressive or odious or destructive of the interests of the masses, it soon becomes a matter of public complaint, and the right of petition to Congress for redress is freely and fully exercised. Im tl»e face ot our Industrial Prosperity, the Democrats Insist on a Repeal of tlie P rotectlve Tariff Lavt^s. No such reason appears to have existed for the effort to change existing tariff laws. THE ISSUES OF 1884. 85 so as to open the door for foreign compe- tition. The Morrison bill, which was only defeated by Republican votes, is a fair ex- hibit of the opinion and policy of the Democratic party on the issue, having been prepared for that special purpose. Not a single petition was presented to the House, or referred to the Committee of Ways and Means even suggesting the re- duction of duties proposed by this bill, or any other reduction of customs duties. On the contrary, the petitions have all been in direct opposition to such legisla- tion. Outside of a majority of Democratic members, and the Free Trade Clubs or- ganized in the interests of English capital- ists there has been no expressed sentiment in favor of such a measure. The measure was a blow at the farmers of the country. Mr. Hewitt of New York, in a speech delivered in the House of Representaiives, March 27th last, said: — How Mr. Hewitt Views It. " Now how can the farmer be benefited ? What does he want ? He wants to sell his productions at a higher price. And how is he going to sell his products at a higher price as the grain trade stands to- day ? The markets of Europe are over- crowded with food products. To-day the farmer is met at Liverpool and London by the food products of India, and that competition so far from being less is going to increase. Therefore the farmer has reached the limit of the demand for his products in foreign lands. Where then, is he to find his market for them ? He must find his market at home, and how is he going to get it at home ? Why, only by one method— manufactures must be fostered and grow and not be diminished. This foreign market, for which every tariff idealist and every Democratic free- trader longingly sighs, is only mythical in the present condition of our country. We should capture the home market, first get control of it, before we seek the foreign one. We can not command a foreign market until we can control our own. It seems to me that proposition is so plain and palpable that it must commend itself to every intelligent man. Duty on Ra-w Material. It is probable that free raw material has nothing to commend it to legislative favor which is not common to every other Amer- ican product. The same necessity for protection, within reasonable limits, ap- plies to what are commonly called raw materials as to the finished or more ad- vanced manufacture. There is no such thing as raw materials distinguished from other products of labor. Labor enters into all productions, the commonest as well as the higher forms. The ore costs something to mine it ; the coal, to take it from the ground ; the stone, to cjuarry it ; much labor enters into the production of wool ; leather costs some- thing to tan ; and to the extent that labor enters into their preparation, what are usually termed raw materials should have ratable protection with the completed pro- duct. Pig-iron is the raw material for bar- iron, and yet no one has been heard to advocate free pig-iron. Cloth is the raw material for the tailor, the finest steel is the crude material of the watch maker, and so on interminably. There can be no just line drawn, and no reason exists for such a discrimination. When the country is ready for free trade let us have it in all things without exception or restriction. Facts are more potent than Theories. What has been accomplished during the period when a protective tariff has been in operation is a stronger argument in its favor than all the thin spun theories of so called political economists, or the prophecies of visionary enthusiasts, and although the Derr.ocracy has called it ex- tortion and robbery, and declared that it obstructed the progress and permanency of our industries, and the development of our growth to wealth and national great- ness, still the actual result has become a record for all to read, so that no man need go astray. How it contrasts with the low tariff pe- riod from 1847 to i860, when we had prac- tically a revenue tariff, such as is advocated by the Democratic party of to-day ! It was a period of universal business depression, deficiencies in the public Treasury, when both nation and individuals were compelled THE ISSUES OF 1884. to borrow money at the most exorbitant rates of interest; and it was in this condition that the Republican party found the ecu ntry when it came into power on the 4th of March, 1861. The Democratic poHcy of the tariff was immediately reversed ; and the splendid achievements in every de- partment of industrial activity, the large revenues of the Government, its improved credit, and its present flourishing monetary conditions are the highest vindication of its policy. Every class in the country has been benefited. The necessities of life have been cheapened to the consumer. Every article of merchandise that has been made possible of manu'acture in this country by reason of protective duties has been cheapened, instead of being en- hanced in price. Democratic Tariff from a Brltlsli i^taud- polut. The Democratic party is legislating for England's interests rather than those of America — for the protection of foreign labor instead of home industry. The London Iron and Coal Trades Re- view for December 1883 says: " Our best customer for iron, steel, hardwares, and many other goods, has long been the United States, notwithstand- ing the very heavy duties that are there levied, and the greatest interest is always manifested by our businessmen in Ameri- can politics where they are likely to affect the tariff. It is pretty evident that the pro- tectionists are no longer to have it all their own way.'' In addition to this, the following ex- tracts from British labor periodicals puts the whole case in its true light : "The year is likely to see important political changes on the other side of the Atlantic which will have their influence here. Events move rapidly in America, and the coming triumph of the Democratic party there means the triumph of the free- trade movement in the States. It is not to be supposed that there will be free imports into the States, but " a tariff for revenue only,'' which is the leading cry of De- mocrats, will open an immense additional field for the sale of English manuf^ictured goods in the States." The same journal said in March last: "It appears, therefore, that we are buy- ing nearly as much in the way of manufac- tures in iron and steel, machinery, &c., from the States as we are selling to them. The result must be looked upon as miser- able, and is not equal to our position as a manufacturing country. The United States is a producing country, not a manufactur- ing, in the sense to which we apply this term to ourselves. It is high time we turned our attention actively elsewhere for a better customer, not forgetting all the same to watch the opportunities which the tariff reduction in the States will open out to us.'' The London Iron and Coal Trades Re- view for February 8, 1884, says: "Though our trade with the United States has fallen off very much of late, that country still occupies the position of our leading customer, and every change in its condition yet has its influence upon our market. It is, therefore, important to notice that the intelligence from the other side has been of a rather more encouraging character during the last few days." The Pall Mall Gazette published the following: " The progress of the Morrison bill will be watched with considerable interest by English exporters to the American mar- ket, inasmuch as it can hardly fail to tend in their favor." Hon. Major MeKiiiley's Views. Hon. William McKinley of Ohio, who has recently been ousted from his seat in the House, and a Democrat put in his place, gives this vivid presentation of the case : Importers Celebrate Democratic Victories. One firm of importers celebrated that free- trade victory by christening a line of English goods with the significant trade- mark, " The Carlisle shape," and pub- lished it as "thecoming thing" [applause], named in honor of Speaker Carlisle, to whom the country looked to reduce the present outrageous tariff on crockery. This Democratic House is now employed under the leadership of the distinguished Mr. Morrison. Thiihneof goods named for one of the ablest and purest Democrats in the House or the country comes from his representative capacity. He stands at THE ISSUES OF 1884. 87 the head of a great political organization committed to the English system, which all England believes will increase her pros- perity and enrich her manufacturers. These goods, made in a foreign pottery with foreign materials, foreign labor, and foreign capital, are fittingly crowned with the head of the British lion. Pass this bill and you will all have shapes and be honored with like manifestations of ap- proval. I know my honored friend the Speaker craves no such distinction ; I know he would shrink from such public demon- strations of approval, and 1 believe he will not feel flattered by this well-intentioned compliment; but they could not avoid expression in some pubhc way their appre- ciation of his victory. This is but an advance manifestation of the joy which will be felt on the other side should the bill pass. American Wages tlie l>e«t In tlie World. Our wages are higher here than in any other nation of the world, and we are all proud and grateful that it is so. I know it is denied, but experience outweighs theo- ries or misleading statistics. One thing we do know is that our work people do not go abroad for better wages, and every other nationality comes here for increased wage»5 and gets them. In Great Britain and the United States the rate of wages is on thj average about 50 per cent, higher here than there." We are confronted with this problem at the very threshold of this discussion, and we must meet it. The proposition of the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means will resuU in reducing the wages of labor or the destruction of many of our most valuable industries, and the depriva- tion of employment to thousands. The one or the other alternative must come; either will be most disastrous and attended by business depression and individual suffering. We must not reduce the price paid to labor ; it is already sufficiently low. We can only prevent it by defeating this bill, and it should be done without unnecessary delay. The sooner the better, and remove this menace which hangs over all of our industrial life and threatens the comfort and independence of millions of American workingman. How Ileiiiy Ciny, the FaUicr of Protec- tion Presents It. Henry Clay, whose reputation as a statesman, and whose life was devoted to the great question of political economy, came from the same state which is now represented by the Champion of Free Trade, and where the demand is made by the Democracy to wipe all laws for the protection of American Industry from the statute book. So fully was he convinced that protection should form a prominent part of the national pohcy, that he em- braced every opportunity to hand his name down to the future artisans and laborers of his country as their friend and champion. His defence of the American system made in the Senate in 1832, so fully sus- tains the position of the Republican party, as to entitle it to the careful consideration of the American people. " If the term of seven years were to be selected, of the greatest prosperity which this people have enjoyed since the estab- lishment of their present constitution, it would be exactly that period of seven years which immediately followed the passage of the tariff of 1824." This transformation of the condition of the country from gloom and distress to brightness and prosperity, has been main- ly the work of American legislation, foster- ing American industry, instead of allowing it to be controlled by foreign legislation, cherishing foreign industry. The foes of the American System, in 1824, with great boldness and confidence, predicted, ist. The ruin of the public revenue, and the creating of a necessity to resort to direct taxation. The gendeman from South Carolina, (General Hayne,) I believe, thought that the tariff of 1824 would op- erate a reduction of revenue to the large amount of eight millions of dollars. 2d. The destruction of our navigation. 3d. The desolation of commercial cities. And 4th. The augmentation of the price of ob- jects of consumption, and farther decline in that of the articles of our exports. Every prediction which they made has failed — utterly failed. Instead of the ruin ' of the pubhc revenue, with which they 88 THE ISSUES OF 1884. then sought to deter us from the adoption of the American System, we are now threatened with its subversion, by the vast amount of the pubhc revenue produced by that system. Every branch of our naviga- tion has increased. Why, sir, there is scarcely an interest, scarcely a vocation in society, which is not embraced by the beneficence of this sys- tem. It comprehends our coasting tonnage and trade, from which all foreign tonnage is absolutely excluded. It includes all our foreign tonnage, with the inconsiderable exception made by treaties of reciprocity with a few foreign powers. It embraces our fisheries, and all our hardy and enterprising fishermen. It extends to almost every mechanic an : * * * * * Its History. The subject of the American system was again brought up in 1820, by the bill re- ported by the chairman of the committee of manufactures, now a member of the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the principle was successfully maintained by the representatives of the people ; but the bill which they passed was defeated in the Senate. It was revived in 1824; the whole ground carefully and de- liberately explored, and the bill then in- troduced, receiving all the sanctions of the constitution, became the law of the land. An amendment of the system was proposed in 1828, to the history of which I refer with no agreeable recollections. The bill of that year, in some of its provisions, was framed on principles directly adverse to the declared wishes of the friends of the policy of protection. I have heard, with- out vouching for the fact, that it was so framed upon the advice of a prominent citizen now abroad, with the view of ulti- mately defeating the bill, and with assur- ances that, being altogether unacceptable to the friends of the American system, the bill would be lost. Be that as it may, the most exceptional features of the bill were stamped upon it, against the earnest re- monstrances of the friends of the system, by the votes of southern members, upon a principle, I think, as unsound in legisla- tion as it is reprehensible in ethics. The bill was passed, notwithstanding all this, it having been deemed better to take the bad along with the good which it contained, than reject it altogether. Subsequent le- gislation has corrected the error then per- petrated, but still that measure is vehe- mently denounced by gentlemen who con- tributed to make it what it was. Thus, sir, has this great system of pro- tection been gradually built, stone upon stone, and step by step, from the Fourth of July, 1789, down to the present period. In every stage of its progress it has received the deliberate sanction of Congress. A vast majority of the people of the United States has approved and continue to ap- prove it. Every chief magistrate of the United States, from Washington to the present, in some form or other, has given to it the authority of his name ; and how- ever the opinions of the existing President are interpreted south of Mason's and Dix- on's line, in the north they are at least understood to favor the establishment of a judicious tariff. Gentlemen deceive themselves. It is not free trade that they are recommending to our acceptance. It is in effect, the British colonial system that we are invited to adopt ; and, if their policy prevail, it will lead substantially to the re-colonization of these States, under the commercial domin- ion of Great Britain. And whom do we find some of the principal supporters, out of Congress, of this foreign system ? Mr. President, there are some foreigners who always remain exotics, and never become naturalized in our country; whilst, happily, there are many others who readily attach themselves to our principles and our insti- tutions. The honest, patient and indus- trious German readily unites with our peo- ple, establishes himself upon some of our fat land, fills his capacious barn, and enjoys in tranquillity the abundant fruits which his diligence gathers around him, always ready to fly to the standard of his adopted country, or of its laws, when called by the duties of patriotism. The gay, the versatile, the philosophic Frenchman, ac- commodating himself cheerfully to all the vicissitudes of life, incorporates himself without difficulty in our society. But, of THE ISSUES OF 1884. 89 all foreigners, none amalgamate themselves so quickly with our people as the natives of the Emerald Isle. In some of the vis- ions which have passed through my im- agination, I have supposed that Ireland was originally part and parcel of this con- tinent, and that, by some extraordinary convulsion of nature, it was torn from America, and drifting across the ocean, was placed in the unfortunate vicinity of Great Britain. The same open-hearted- ness ; the same generous hospitality ; the same careless and uncalculating indiffer- ence about human life, characterize the inhabitants of both countries. |Tlie Law of liabor. The great law oi price is determined by supply and demand. Whatever affects either, affects the price. If the supply is increased, the demand remaining the same, the price declines ; if the demand is increased, the supply remaining the same, the price advances ; if both supply and de- mand are undiminished, the price is sta- tionary, and the price is influenced exactly in proportion to the degree of disturbance to the demand or supply. It is therefore a great error to suppose that an existing or new duty necessarily becomes a component element to its exact amount of price. If the proportion of demand and supply are varied by the duty, either in augmenting the supply, or diminishing the demand, or vice versa, price is affected to the extent of that variation. But the duty never becomes an integral part of the price, except in the instances where the demand and the supply remain after the duty is imposed, precisely what they were before, or the demand is increased and the supply remains station- ary. Gentlemen have allowed to the manu- facturing portions of the community no peace ; they have been constantly threat- ened with the overthrow of the American System. From the year 1820, if not from 18 16, down to this time, they have been held in a condition of constant alarm and insecurity. Nothing is more prejudi- cial to the great interests of a nation than unsettled and varying policy. Let the country breathe, let its vast re- sources be developed, let its energies be fully put forth, let it have tranquillity, and my word for it, the degree of perfection in the arts which it will exhibit, will be greater than that which has been presented, astonishing as our progress has been. Although some branches of our manufactures might, and in foreign markets now do, fearlessly con- tend with similar foreign fabrics, there are many others yet in their infancy, struggling with the difficulties which encompass them. Tariff makes a Home Market. That under the operation of the Amer- ican System, the products of our agricul- ture command a higher price than they would do without it, by the creation of a home market; and by the augmentation of wealth produced by manufacturing in- dustry, which enlarges our powers of con- sumption both of domestic and foreign articles. The importance of the home market is among the established maxims which are universally recognized by all writers and all men. It is nearer to us ; beyond the control of foreign legislation ; and undisturbed by those vicissitudes to which all international intercourse is more or less exposed. The most stupid are sen- sible of the benefit of a residence in the vicinity of a large manufactory, or of a market town, of a good road, or of a navi- gable stream, which connects their farms with some great capital. It is only in the diversity of the vocations of the members of a community that the means can be found for those salutary exchanges which conduce to the general prosperity. And the greater that diversity, the more exten- sive and the more animating is the circle of exchange. I conclude this part of the argument with the hope that my humble exertions have not been altogether unsuc- cessful in showing — 1. That the policy which we have been considering ought to continue to be re- garded as the genuine American System. 2. That the Free Trade System, which is proposed as its substitute, ought really to be considered as the British Colonial System. 3. That the American System is bene- ficial to all parts of the Union, and abso- lutely necessary to much the larger portion. 4. That the price of the great staple of cotton, and of all our chief productions of 90 THE ISSUES OF li agriculture, has been sustained and up- held, and a decline averted by the Protec- tive System. 5. That if the foreign demand for cot- ton has been at all diminished by the operation of that system, the diminution has been more than compensated in the additional demand created at home. 6. That the constant tendency of the system, by creating competition among ourselves, and between American and Eu- ropean industry, reciprocally acting upon each other, is to reduce prices of manufac- tured objects. 7. That in point of fact, objects within the scope of the policy of protection have greatly fallen in price. 8. That if, in a season of peace, these benefits are experienced, in a season of war, when the foreign supply, might be cut off, they would be much more exten- sively felt. 9. And finally, that the substitution of the Bridsh Colonial System for the Ameri- can System, without benefiting any sec- tion of the Union, by subjecting us to a foreign legislation, regulated by foreign interest, would lead to the prostration of our manufactures, general impoverishment, and ultimate ruin." Horace Greeley stated the question in his succinct and masterly way under the following propositions : Horace Greeley's Proposition. 1. "A Natio7t which would be prosper- ous, must prosecute various brancJics of Industry, and supply its vital Wants mainly by the Labor of its own Hands. 2. There is a natural tendency in a comparatively new Country to become and continue an Exporter of Grain and other rude Staples and an Importer of Matiu factures. 3. // is injurious to the New Country thus to continue dependent for its supplies of Clothing and Manufactured Fabrics on the Old. 4. That Equilibrium between Agricul- ture, Manufactures and Co»unerce, which ive need, can only be maintained by Pro tective Duties. 5. Protection is necessary and proper to sustain as well as to create a beneficent adjustment of our Natiofial Industry.''' Diversity of Lal>or. That the United States is a nation of marked progress is due mainly to two causes, the area of undeveloped territory to allow expansion and the diversity of its ndustries. Any nation or people, or com- munity that depends upon a single indus- try cannot have a sound basis of prosperity , for when that industry is affected it seriously affects its all — when it is des- troyed, all is destroyed. The larger the scale of diversity the greater is the sus- taining power, and vice versa. A diversi- fied industry constitutes the foundation of all true progress, as it increases the avenue of labor and trade, and provides an increased market for our commodities whether the products of the soil, or the handiwork of machinery under the defty skill of the artisan. Nations like individuals have to pass through the steps of infancy, childhood and youth, to attain their full vigor of manhood, and governments are the parental guardians to sustain, advance, protect and defend, restrain and punish their people, Tlie Repuljllcan Party's Consistency. Having hastily glanced at the protec- dve issue, as presented by the Republican party, and given a brief abstract of some of the reasons in favor of protecting American home industry, it is proper to observe its devotion to its faith ever since its organization. The convendon held at Chicago May 17, i860 imbodied in its platform the following tariff plank. " That while providing revenue for the support of the general government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imports as to encourage the industrials interest of the whole country ; and we commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to the working men liberal wages, to agriculture remuneradve prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate reward for their skill, labor and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence.'' THE ISSULo 91 In 1872, the Republication national convention which convened June 5th, at Philadelphia, incorporated into its platform the following continuation of the same doctrine announced twelve years before : " Among the cjuestions which press for attention is that which concerns the rela- tions of capital and labor, and the Repub- lican party recognizes the duty of so shaping legislation as to secure full pro- tection and the amplest field for capital, and for labor, the creator of capital the largest opportunities and a just share of the mutual profits of these two great servants of civilization." " Revenue except so much as rnay be derived from a tax upon tobacco and liquors, should be raised by duties on im- portations, the details of which should be so adjusted as to aid in securing remunera- ting wages to labor, and promote the in- dustries, prosperity and growth of the whole country.'' It is both proper and instructive to con- trast the policy of the two parties, at the same periods of time, and under the same conditions of exigency. Thus in i860, when the Republican party declared un- equivocally in favor of Protection, the Democrats in their national convention reaffirmed the position they took four years before, as follows : " The time has come for the people of the United States to declare themselves in favor of * * progressive free trade throughout the world." In 1872, when the question of protection was discussed throughout the country, and the previous record of the Democratic party was damaging its prospects, it fled from the position taken in 1856, and re- affirmed in i860, and inserted the follow- ing plank in its platform to straddle the issue : " Recognizing that there are in our midst, honest but irreconcilable difterences of opinion with regard to the respective systems of protection and free trade, we remit the discussion of the subject to the people in their congressional districts and to the decision of the Congress thereon, wholly free from executive interference or dictation." June 14, 1S76, the Republican conven- tion held at Cincinnati again endorsed its previous policy, as follows : " The revenue necessary for current ex- penditures, and the obligations of the public debt, must be largely derived from duties on importations, which, so far as possible, should be adjusted to promote the interests of American labor and advance the prosperity of the whole country." In the same year the Democratic Con- vention placed in its platform the following ultimatum, ignoring the claims of labor, insulting the sons of toil, and opening the doors of competition with pauper labor : "We demand that all custom house taxation shall be for revenue only." Both parties re-affirmed their former position on the tariff question in 1880, and hence they now stand before the people of the country as shown by their acts as above given from official records. This so clearly demonstrates that the prosperity and even the very life of our industries is in the hands of the Republican party, and that ultimate Free Trade with all its con- comitant evils will follow Democratic success, that no intelligent man need be led astray by specious platitudes. He closes Ills Ar^nnieiit for Protection In tlie following vfords. "You will understand me, then, to be utterly hostile to that idol of Free Trade worship, known as free or unlimited com- petition. The sands of my hour are run- ning low, and I cannot ask time to ex- amine this topic more closely ; yet I am confident I could show that this Free Com- petition is a most delusive and dangerous element of political economy. Bear with a brief illustration : At this moment com- mon shirts are made in London at the incredibly low price of //tree cents a pair. Should we admit these articles free of duty, and buy them because they are so cheap ? Free Trade says yes ; but I say no ! Sound Policy as well as Humanity forbids it. By admitting them we simply reduce a large and worthy and suffering class of our population from the ability they now pos- sess of procuring a bare subsistence by their labor to unavoidable destitution and pauperism. They must now subsist upon the charity of relatives or of the com- 92 THE ISSUES OF 1884. munlty, — unless we are ready to adopt the demoniac doctrine of the Free Trade philosopher Malthus, that the dependent poor ought to be rigorously starved to death. Then what have we gained by getting these articles so exorbitantly cheap ? or, rather, what have we not lost ? The labor which formerly produced them is mainly struck out of existence ; the poor widows and seamstresses among us must still have a subsistence ; and the imported garments must be paid for : where are the profits of our speculation ?'' still "Worse Feature* of tlie Caae. "But even this is not the worst feature of the case. The labor which we have here thrown out of employment by the cheap importation of this article is now ready to be employed again at any price, — if not one that will afford bread and straw, then it must accept one that will produce potatoes and rubbish ; and with the product some Free Trader proceeds to break down the price and destroy the reward of similar labor in some other portion of the earth. And thus each de- pression of wages produces another, and that a third, and so on, making the circuit of the globe, — the aggravated necessities of the Poor acting and reacting upon each other, increasing the omnipotence of Capital and deepening the dependence of Labor, swelling and pampering a bloated and factitious commerce, grinding down and grinding down the destitute, until Malthus's remedy for Poverty shall become a grateful specific, and, amid the splendors and luxuries of an all-devouring Com- mercial Feudalism, the squalid and famished Millions, its dependents and victims, shall welcome death as a de- liverer from their sufferings and despair.'' The Inconsistency of Free Trade Leaders. " I wish time permitted me to give a hasty glance over the doctrines and teachings of the Free Trade sophists who esteem them- selves //le Political Economists, christen their own views liberal and enlightened, and complacently put ours aside as be- nighted and barbarous, I should delight to show you how they mingle subtle fal- lacy with obvious truth, how they reason acutely from assumed premises, which, being mistaken or incomplete, lead to false and often absurd conclusions ; how they contradict and confound each other, and often, from Adam Smith, their patri- arch, down to McCuUoch and Ricardo, either make admissions which undermine their whole fabric, or confess themselves ignorant or in the dark on points the most vital to a correct understanding of the subject they profess to have reduced to a science. Yet, even Adam Smith, himself, expressly approves and justifies the British Navigation Act, the most aggressively Protective measure ever enacted ; a mea- sure which, not being understood and seasonably counteracted by other nations, changed for centuries the destinies of the world ; • 'hich silently sapped and over- threw the commercial and political great- ness of Holland ; which silenced the thunder of Van Tromp, and swept the broom from his masthead. But I must not detain you longer. I do not ask you to judge of this matter by authority, but from facts which come home to your reason and your daily experience. There is not an observing and strong-minded mechanic in our city who could not set any one of those doctors of the law right on essential points. I beg you to consider how few great practi- tical statesmen they have ever been able to win to their standards — I might almost say none ; for Huskisson was but a nomi- nal disciple, and expressly contravened their whole system upon an attempt to apply it to the corn laws ; and Calhoun is but a Free Trader by location, and has never yet answered his own powerful ar- guments in behalf of protection.'' The Roll of the Frlendt of Protection. "On the other hand, we point, you to the long array of mighty names which have illustrated the annals of statesman- ship of modern times — to Chatham, Pitt and the great Frederick of Prussia ; to the whole array of memorable French states- men, including Napoleon the first of them all ; to our own Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison ; to our two Clintons, Tompkins, to say nothing of the eagle-eyed and genial-hearted living master-spirit, Henry Clay, of our time. THE ISSUES OF 1884. 93 The opinions and the arguments of all these are on record ; it is by hearkening to and heeding their counsels that we shall be prepared to walk in the light of experience and look forward to a glorious National destiny.'' Platform unanlmonsly adoptrti at tlie Republican NoiniiiatliiK Conveiitlou at Clilcago, June 5, 1884^. The Republicans of the United States, in Convention assembled, renew their al- legiance to the principles upon which they have triumphed in six successive presi- dential elections, and congratulate the American [.eople on the attainment of so many results in legislation and adminis- tration by which the Republican Party has, after saving the Union, done so much to render its institutions just, equal and beneficent — the safeguard of liberty and the embodiment of the best thought and highest purposes of our citizens. The Re- publican Party has gained its strength by quick and faithful response to the demands of the people for the freedom and the equality of all men ; for a united nation assuring the rights of all citizens; for the elevation of labor ; for an honest currency ; for purity in legislation, and for integrity and accountability in all departments of the Government, and it accepts anew the duty of leading in the work of progress and reform. We lament the death of President Gar- field, whose sound statesmanship, long conspicuous in Congress, gave promise of a strong and successful administration, a promise fully realized during the short period of his office as President of the United States. His distinguished success in war and in peace has endeared him to the hearts of the American people. In the administration of President Ar- thur, we recognize a wise, conservative and patriotic policy under which the coun- try has been blesse'd with remarkable prosperity, and we believe his eminent services are entitled to and will receive the hearty approval of every citizen. It is the first duty of a good government to protect the rights and promote the inte- rests of its own people ; the largest diver- sity of industry is most productive of general prosperity and of the comfort and independence of the people. Tlie TnrlfT Plank. We, therefore, demand that the imposi- tion of duties on foreign imports shall be made not for " revenue only " but that, in raising the requisite revenues for the Gov- ernment, such duties shall be so levied as to afford security to our diversified indus- tries and protection to the rights and wages of the laborer, to the end that active and intelligent labor as well as capital, may have its just reward, and the laboring man his full share in the national pros- perity. Against the so-called economical system of the Democratic party, which would de- grade our labor to the foreign standard, we enter our earnest protest ; the Demo- cratic party has failed completely to re- lieve the people of the burden of unneces- sary taxation by a wise reduction of the surplus. The Republican party pledges itself to correct the inequalities of the tariff and to reduce the surplus, not by the vicious and indiscriminate process of horizontal reduc- tion, but by such methods as will relieve the taxpayer without injuring the laborer or the great productive interests of the country. We recognize the importance of sheep husbandry in the United States, the serious depression which it is now experiencing and the danger threatening its future pros- perity ; and we, therefore, respect the de- mands of the representatives of this im- portant agricultural interest for a readjust- ment of duty upon foreign wool in view that such industry shall have full and ad- equate industry. We have always recommended the best money known to the civilized world, and we urge that an effort be made to unite all commercial nations in the establishment of the international standard, which shall fix for all the relative value of gold and silver coinage. The reguladon of commerce with for- eign nations and between the states is one of the most important prerogatives of the general Government, and the Republican party distinctly announces its purpose to 94 THE ISSUES OF 1884. support such legislation as will fully and efficiently carry out the constitutional power of Congress over inter-state com- merce. The principle of the public regu- lation of railway corporations is a wise and salutary one for the protection of all classes of people, and we favor legislation that shall prevent unjust discrimination and excessive charges for transportation, and that shall secure to the people and to the railroads alike the fair and equal pro- tection of the laws. Protection to Labor. We favor the establishment of a nation- al bureau of labor, the enforcement of the eight-hour law, a wise and judicious sys- tem of general education by adequate ap- propriation from the national revenues wherever the same is needed. We believe that everywhere the protec- tion to a citizen of American birth must be secured to citizens by American adoption, and we favor the settlement of national differences by international arbitration. The Republican party, having its birth in a hatred of slave labor, and in a desire that all men may be free and equal, is un- alterably opposed to placing our working- men in competition with any form of servile labor, whether at home or abroad. In this spirit we denounce the importation of con- tract labor, whether from Europe or Asia, as an offence against the spirit of Ameri- can institutions, and we pledge ourselves to sustain the present law restricting Chi- nese immigration, and to provide such further legislation as is necessary to carry out its purposes. civil Service Reform. The reform of the civil service auspicious- ly begun under Republican administration should be completed by the further exten- sion of the reform system already establish- ed by law — to all the grades of the service to which it is applicable. The spirit and purpose of the reform should be observed in all executive appointments, and all laws at variance with the objects of existing re- formed legislation should be repealed, to the end that the dangers of free institu- tions which lurk in the power of official patronage may be wisely and effectively avoided. The public lands are a heritage of the people of the United States, and should be reserved as far as possible for small hold- ings by actual settlers. We are opposed to the acquisition of large tracts of these lands by corporations or individuals, es- pecially where such holdings are in the hands of non-resident aliens, and we will endeavor to obtain such legislation as will tend to correct this evil. We demand of Congress the speedy for- feiture of all land grants which have lapsed by reason of non-compliance with acts of incorporation, in all cases where there has been no attempt in good faith to perform the conditions of such grants. The grateful thanks of the American people are due to the Union solders and sailors of the late war, and the Republican party stands pledged to suitable pensions to all who were disabled and for the wid- ows and orphans of those who died in the war. The Republican party pledges itself to the repeal of the limitation contained in the Arrears act of 1879, ^o that all invalid soldiers shall share alike, and their pen- sions shall begin with the date of disability or discharge and not with the date of the application. Regarding a Foreign Policy. The Republican party favors a policy which shall keep us from entangling alli- ances with foreign nations, and which shall give the right to expect that foreign nations shall refrain from meddling in America, and the policy which seeks peace can trade with all powers, but especially with those of the Western Hemisphere. We demand the restoration of our navy to its old-time strength and efficiency, that it may in any sea protect the rights of Amer- ican citizens and the interest of American commerce, and we call upon Congress to remove the burdens under which American shipping has been depressed, so that it may again be true that we have a com- merce which leaves no sea unexplored, and a navy which takes no law from su- perior force. Resolved, That apppointments by the President to offices in the territories should be made from the bona fide citizens and residents of the territories wherein they are to serve. THE ISSUES OF 1SS4. 95 Resok'cd, That it is the duty of Congress to enact such laws as shall promptly and effectually suppress the system of po- lygamy within our territory and divorce the political from the ecclesiastical power of the so-called Mormon Church and that the law so enacted should be rigidly en- forced by the civil authorities if possible, and by the militaiy if need be. Denouncing ^Soutliern Outrages. The people of the United States in their organized capacity constitute a nation and not a mere confederacy of states. The National Government is supreme within the sphere of its national duty, but the states have reserved rights which should be faithfully maintained ; each should be guarded with jealous care so that the har- mony of our system of government may be preserved and the Union kept inviolate. The perpetuity of our institutions rests upon the maintenance of a free ballot, an honest count and a correct return. We denounce the fraud and violence prac- ticed by the Democratic party in Southern States, by which the will of the voter is defeated, as dangerous to the preservation of free institutions, and we solemnly ar- raign the Democratic party as being the guilty recipient of the fruit of such fraud and violence. We extend to the Republicans of the South, regardless of their former party affiliations, our cordial sympathy, and pledge them our most earnest efforts to promote the passage of such legislation as will secure to every citizen, of whatever race and color, the full and complete re- cognition, possession and exercise of all civil and political rights. Mr. Bush, of California — I move the adoption of the resolutions. The Chair — The gentleman from Cali- fornia moves the adoption of the resolu- tions. The question is upon the adoption of the resolutions. Those in favor of the same will say yea, and contrary nay. The resolutions were adopted unani- mously. 96 THE ISSUES OF i{ o 2 -.s, • • SS -iS -. M p-> r^« • • r.2 ;* :i; . IN m ^ OD o S ^ ■s> g o is:g J5 ^ nT g o ^ S-?35?ii6 t^ '-■^ » n ggas ??s Q . ^ -^ -co i ^ c S S§2S s 11 ^1 si s p. »-.=",-*_ g5§i?l 4-1 Ph ■o ^ 00 lO ~ '"' o § P B s g § i-HII ili:i § : • ;§ i 1 CL, '^ == .'-' t= . • ■ '" m OJ o SSSS^Si? INMMCN-- lis ^^^ Il^iii : :| ^ -2 ^o, fi^ mSo O 5l" i?S § 7$ o--- " ;:Ss§3 --££« s?s «ro -o- t- « 2 i • «1 ss^s;;2? 525"gt2§SS£SS§SS§SSg2S:gs;:=SS£§S5^ o ^ ^ 7i S >« ^.=°<» =-.= '* ^"i-U'a^oo'^n^o '*S.'-,=°S.=^ «i05qoOeJOtn.-' -roo .n !*• 5? ••••'*• • -5; -s^s -^^ -sss • • • sss -s -g- .■o CO « qPh ^ ft ^^ iliall liiiiisissimi isggliiissl^ 11 1 o 1 ^O -^'J'Mrt _ §22?52S -^ '*"S"'"^" «s-» § -"gf- at- i J? |gjj.e:iiiiiiijisiijjiijjjj„sjij|gjjii|ii rM H o S Oi. 00 go S3gS;SSS|gSgS?§^g2ggS|S°'Sg|||S|2^§|SSS^ :? »-( w ■* -d ■a mMmMMAmMAmJMMmMMAmAmMA 7i § ^« g?i;SS5S§3SS|S^|?§^S§S§SSS"^g|S|S|2SSS^S^| :s a * o ^K X ::::::::::::::;::::::::::::;::::;::::: : ;:; S w -< g § 1 ■ "g ■ "^"-i ■ ■ ■ 'ce' • : jto'ijso '.'.'.'.'. '.6i ;-a§a-'lj* ■si-si ' !|l§^ 'J •'?^-2 1 II ilfflliil iMilllilSiifiiii i 1 5 H * In Connecticut-, the vote for Sheriff is taken. In New York, the average vote on four of the five State officers chosen, exchiding Secretary of State. In Nebraska, Democratic and Anti-Monopoly vote combined on Judge, f American, 707 ; scattering, 989. t Scattering, 106. g In these States the vole on Lieutenant-Governor was taken, as being, from special causes, a fairer test of party strength. In the others the principal State offleer was taken. Where State officers were not elected, the Congressional vote was t!»lcen. In Georgia, Congressmen-at-Large was 'aken. 1| The vote for Chief Judge. ^ The Eegular and Independent Republican vote is combined. ** Vote of the two Democratic candid ates is oombined. PART 11. OF POLITICAL PARTIES. HISTORY OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES OF THE UNITED STATES. Colonial Parties— Whig and Tory. The parties peculiar to our Colonial times hardly have a place in American politics. They divided people in senti- ment simply, as they did in the mother country, but here there was little or no power to act, and were to gather results from party victories. 'Men were then Whigs or Tories because they had been prior to their emigration here, or because their parents had been, or because it has ever been natural to show division in in- dividual sentiment. Political contests, however, were unknown, for none enjoyed the pleasures and profits of power; the crown made and unmade rulers. The local self-government wliich our fore- fiithers enjoyed, were secured to them by their charters, and these were held to be contracts not to be changed without the consent of both parties. AH of the inhabi- tants of the colonies claimed and were justly entitled to the rights guaranteed by the Magna Charta, and in addition to these they insisted upon the supervision of all internal interests and the power to levy and colkvt taxes. These claims were con- ceded until their growing prosperity and England's need of additional revenues suggested schemes of indirect taxation. Against these the colony of Plymouth pro- tested as early as 1636, and spasmodic pro- tests from all the colonies followed. These increased in frequency and force with the growing demands of King George III. In 1651 the navigation laws imposed upon the colonies required both exports and imports to be carried in British ships, and all who traded were compelled to do it with Eng- land. In 1672 inter-colonial duties were imposed, and when manufacturing sought to flank this policy, their establishment was forbidden by law. The passage of the Stamp Act in 1765 caused high excitement, and for the first time parties began to take definite shape and manifest open antagonisms, and the words Whig and Tory then had a plainer meaning in America than in England. The Stamp Act was denounced by the Whigs as direct taxation, since it provided, that stamps previously paid for should be affixed to all legal papers. The colonies resented, and so general were the protests that for a time it seemed that only those who owed their livings to the Crown, or expected aid and comfort from it, re- mained with the Tories. The Whigs were the patriots. The war for the rights of the colonies began in 1775, and it was supported by majorities in all of the Co- lonial Assemblies. These majorities were as carefully organized then as now to pro- mote a popular cause, and this in the face of adverse action on the part of the sev- eral Colonial Governors. Thus in Vir- ginia, Lord Dunmore had from time to time, until 1773, prorogued the Virginia Assembly, when it seized the opportunity to pass resolves instituting a committee of correspondence, and recommending joint action by the legislatures of the other colonies. In the next year, the same body, under the lead of Henry, Eandolph, Lee, Washington, Wythe and other patriots, officially deprecated the closing of the 3 AMERICAN POLITICS. port of Boston, and set apart a day to im- plore Divine iutcrposition in behalf of the colonies. The Governor dissolved the House for this act, and the delegates, 89 in number, repaired to a tavern, organized themselves into a committee, signed arti- cles of association, and advised with other colonial committees the expediency of " appointing deputies to meet in a general correspondence" — really a suggestion for a Congress. The idea of a Congress, how- ever, originated with Doctor Franklin the year before, and it had then been approved by town meetings in Providence, Boston and New York. The action of Virginia lifted the proposal above individual advice and the action of town meetings, and called to it the attention of all the colo- nial legislatures. It was indeed fortunate in the incipiency of these political move- ments, that the people were practically unanimous. Only the far-seeing realized the drift and danger, while nearly all could join their voices against oppressive taxes and imposts. The war went on for colonial rights, the Whigs wisely insisting that they were wil- ling to remain as colonists if their rights should be guaranteed by the mother coun- try ; the Tories, chiefly fed by the Crown, were willing to remain without guarantee — a negative position, and one which in the high excitement of the times excited little attention, save where the holders of such views made themselves odious by the enjoyment of high official position, or by harsh criticism upon, or treatment of the patriots. The first Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in September, 1774, and there laid the foundations of the Republic. While its assemblage was first recom- mended by home meetings, the cause, as already shown, was taken up by the as- semblies of Massachusetts and Virginia. Georgia alone was not represented. The members were called delegates, who de- clared in their official papers that they were " appointed by the good people of these colonies." It was called the " revo- lutionary government," because it derived its power from the people, and not from the functionaries of any existing govern- ment. In it each colony was allowed but a single vote, regardless of the number of delegates, and here began not only the unit rule, but the practice which obtains in the election of a President when the contest reaches, under the constitution and law, the National House of Representa- tives. The original object was to give equality to the colonies as colonies. In 1775, the second Continental Con- gress assembled at Philadelphia, all the colonies being again represented save Georgia. The delegates were chosen prin- cipally by conventions of the people, though some were sent by the popular branches of the colonial legislatures. In July, and soon after the commencement of hostilities, Georgia entered the Con- federacy. The Declaration of Independence, passed in 177G, drew yet plainer lines between the Whigs and Tories. A gulf of hatred sepa- rated the opposing parties, and the Tory was far more despised than the o])en foe, when he was not such, and was the first sought when he was. Men who contend for liberty ever regard those who are not for them as against them — a feeling which led to the expression of a political maxim of apparent undying force, for it has since found frequent repetition in every earnest campaign. After the adoption of the De- claration by the Continental Congress, the Whigs favored the most direct and abso- lute separation, while the Tories supported the Crown. On the 7th of June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, moved the Declaration in these words : ^^ Resolved, That these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and indepen- dent states ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." Then followed preparations for the for- mal declaration, which was adopted on the 4th of July, 177G, in the precise language submitted by Thomas Jeti'erson. All of the state papers of the Continental Con- gress evince the highest talent, and the evils which led to its exhibition must have been long but very impatiently endured to impel the study of the questions involved. Possibly only the best lives in our memory invite our perusal, but certain it is that higher capacity was never called to the performance of graver political duties in the history of the world. It has been said that the Declaration is in imitation of that published by the Uni- ted Netherlands, but whether this be true or false, the liberty-loving world has for more than a century accepted it as the best protest against oppression known to political history. A great occasion con- spired with a great author to make it grandly great. Dr. Franklin, as early as July, 1775, first prepared a sketch of articles of confedera- tion between the colonies, to continue until their reconciliation with Great Britain, and in failure thereof to be perpetual. John Quincy Adams says this plan was never discussed in Congress. June 11, 1776, a committee was appointed to pre- pare the force of a colonial confederation, and the day following one member ft-om each colony was appointed to perform the duty. The report was submitted, laid aside August 20, 1776, taken up April 7, PARTICULARISTS— STRONG GOVERNMENT WHIGS. 1777, ami dcliatcd from time to time until November lath, of the same year, when the report was agreed to. It was then submitted to the legishiturcs of the several states, these being advised to authorize their delegates in Congress to ratify the same. On the 2Gth of June, 1778, the rat- ification was ordered to be engrossed and signed by the delegates. Those of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Ehode Island, Connecticut, New York, Penn- svlvania, Virginia and South Carolina signed July ilth, 1778 ; those of North Car- olina July 21st ; Georgia July 24th ; Jersey November 2Gth, same vear; Delaware February 22d and May 5th, 1779. Mary- land refiised to ratify until the question of the confiicting claims of the Union and of the separate States to the property of the criwn-lands should be adjusted. This was accomplished by the cession of the lands in dispute to the United States, and Marvland signed March 1st, 1781. On the 2d of ]\Iarch, Congress assembled un- der the new powers, and continued to act for the Confederacy until the 4th of March, 1789, the date of the organization of the government under the Federal constitu- tion. Our political life has therefore three periods, " the revolutionary government," "the confederation," and that of the "fed- eral constitution," which still obtains. The federal constitution is the result of the labors of a convention called at Phila- delphia in May, 1787, at a time when it was feared by many that the Union w'as in the greatest danger, from inability to pay soldiers who had, in 1783, been dis- banded on a declaration of peace and an acknowledgment of independence ; from prostration of the public credit and iaith of the nation ; from the neglect to provide for the payment of even the interest on the public debt ; and from the disappoint- ed hopes of many who thought freedom did not need to face responsibilities. A large portion of the convention of 1787 still clung to the confederacy of the states, and advocated as a substitute for the con- stitution a revival of the old articles of confederation with additional powers to Congress. A long discussion followed, and a most able one, but a constitution for the people, embodying a division of legis- lative, judicial and executive powers Y>re- vailed, and the result is now daily wit- nessed in the federal constitution. While the revolutionary war lasted but seven years, the political revolution incident to, identified with and directing it, lasted thirteen years. This -was completed on the 30th of April, 1789, the day on which Washington was inaugurated as the first President under the federal constitution. The Partlciilarists. As questions of governmeut were evolved by the struggles for independence, the Whigs, who of course greatly outnumI)ered all others during the Revolution, naturally divided in sentiment, though their divi- sions were not sufiiciently serious to e.xcite the establishment of rival parties — some- thing which the great majority of our fore- fathers were too wise to think of in time of war. When the w:ir closed, however, and the question of establishing the Union was brought clear to the view of all, one class of the Whigs believed that state govern- ment should be supreme, and that no cen- tral power should have sufficient authority to coerce a state, or keep it to the com- pact against its will. AH accei)ted the idea of a central government ; all realized the necessity of union, but the fear that the states would lose their power, or sur- render their independence was very great, and this fear was more naturally shown by both the larger and the smaller states. This class of thinkers were then called Partic- ularists. Their views were opposed by the Strong Govemment Wliigs who argued that local self-government was inadequate to the establishment and per- petuation of political freedom, and that it aflbrded little or no power to successfully resist foreign invasion. Some of these went so far as to favor a government pat- terned after that of England, save that it should be republican in name and spirit. The essential diflerences, if they can be re- duced to two sentences, were these : The Particularist Whigs desired a government republican in form and democratic in spirit, with rights of local self-government and state rights ever uppermost. The Strong Government Whigs desired a gov- ernment republican in form, with checks upon the impulses or passions of the peo- ple ; liberty, sternly regulated by law, and that law strengthened and confirmed by central authorry — the authority of the na- tional government to be final in appeals. As we have stated, the weakness of the confederation was acknowledged by many men, and the majority, as it proved to be after much agitation and discussion thought it too imperfect to amend. The power of the confederacy was not acknow- edged by the states, its congress not re- spected ' by the people. Its requisitions were disregarded, foreign trade could not be successtully regulated ; foreign nations refused to bind themselves by commercial treaties, and there was a rapid growth of very dangerous business rivalries and jealousies between the several states. Those which were fortunate enough, in- dependent of congress, to possess or se- cure ports for dcunestic or foreign com- merce, taxed the imports of their csier AMERICAN POLITICS. states. There WcOS confusion which must soon have approached violence, for no authority beyond the limits of the state was respected, and Congress was notably powerless in its attemjjts to command aid from the states to meet the payment of the war debt, or the interest thereon. In- stead of general respect for, there was al- most general disregard of law on the part of legislative bodies, and the people were not slow in imitating their representatives. Civil strife became imminent, and Shay's Rebellion in oMassachusetts was the first warlike manifestation of the spirit which was abroad in the land. Alive to the new dangers, the Assembly of Virginia in 1786, appointed commis- sioners to invite all the states to take part in a convention for the consideration of questions of commerce, and the propriety of altering the Articles of Confederation. This convention met at Annapolis, Sept. 11th, 1786. But five states sent representa- tives, the others regarding the movement with jealousy. This convention, however, adopted a report which urged the appoint- ment of commissioners by all the states, "to devise such other provisions as shall, to them seem necessary to render the con- dition of the Federal government adequate to the exigencies of the Union ; and to re- port such an act for that purpose to the United States in Congress assembled, as, when agreed to by them and afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every state, will effectually provide for the same." Congress approved this action, and passed resolutions favoring a meeting in conven- tion for the " sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, and report to Congress and the State legisla- tures." The convention met in Philadel- phia in May, 1787, and continued its ses- sions until September 17th, of the same year. The Strong Government Whigs had previ- ously made every possible eflbrt for a full and able representation, and the result did not disappoint them, for instead of simply revising the Articles of Confederation, the convention framed a constitution, and sent it to Congress to be submitted to that body and through it to the several legislatures. The act submitting it provided that, if it should be ratified by nine of the thirteen Btates, it should be binding upon those ratifying the same. Just here was started the custom which has since passed into law, that amendments to the national con- stitution shall be submitted after aiproval by Congress, to the legislatures of the sev- eral states, and after approval by three- fourths thereof, it shall be binding rtp(m all — a ver\' proper exercise of constitutional authority, as it seems now, but which would not have won ])opular approval when Virginia proposed the Annapolis convention in 1786. Indeed, the reader of our political history must ever be impressed with the fact that changes and reforms ever moved slowly, and that those of slow- est growth seem to abide the longest. Tlie Federal and Anti-Federal Parties. The Strong Government Whigs, on the submission of the constitution of 1787 to Congress and the legislatures, and indi- rectly through the latter to the people, who elect the members on this issue, became the Federal party, and all of its power was used to promote the ratification of the in- strument. Its ablest men, headed by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, advocated adoption before the people, and their pens supplied much of the current political literature of that day. Eighty- five essays, still noted and quoted for their ability, under the nom deplume of " Pub- lius," were published in " The Federalist." They were written by Hamilton, Madison and Jay, and with irresistible force advo- cated the Federal constitution, which was ratified by the nine needed states, and Congress was officially informed of the fact July 2d, 1788, and the first Wednesday in March, 1789, Avas fixed as the time " for commencing proceedings under the con- stitution." This struggle for the first time gave the Federalists an admitted majority. The complexion of the State legislature prior to it showed them in fact to be in a mi- nority, and the Particularist Whigs, or Anti-Federals opposed every preliminary step looking to the abandonment of the Articles of Confederation and the adoption of a Federal constitution. They were called Anti-Federals because they opposed a federal government and constitution and adhered to the rights of the States and those of local self-government. Doubtless party rancor, then as now, led men to op- pose a system of government Avhich it seems they must have approved after fight- ing for it, but the earlier jealousies of the States and the prevailing ideas of liberty certainly gave the Anti-Federals a popu- larity which only a test so sensible as that proposed could have shaken. They were not without popular orators and leaders. Patrick Henry, the earliest of the pa- triots, and " the-old-man-eloquent," Samuel Adams, took special pride in espousing their cause. The war questions between Whig and Tory must have passed quickly away, as living issues, though the news- papers and contemporaneous history show that the old taunts and battle cries were api)licd to the new situation with a plain- ness and virulence that must still be envied by the sensational and more bitterly parti- san journals of our own day. To read these now, and some of our facts are gath FEDERALS AND ANTI-FEDERALS. ered from such sources, is to account for the freciueut use of the saying touching " the iimnititude of repuljlics," for when partisan' haired could (k'ride the still re- cent utterances of Henry before the startled asseniblv of Virtrinians, and of Adams in advocating the adoptionof the Declaration, there must at least to every surface view have been rank ingratitude. Their good names, however, survived the struggle, as good names in our republic have ever sur- vived the passions of the law. In polities the Americans then as now, hated _ Avitli proniiitiiess and forgave with generosity. The Anti- Federals denied nearly all that the Federals asserted. The latter had for the first time assumed the aggressive, and liad the advantage of position. They showed the deplorable condition of the country, and their opponents had to bear the burdens of denial at a time when nearly all puldic and private obligations were dis- honored ; when ial)or was poorly paid, work- men getting but twenty-five cents a day,with little to do at that; when even the rich in lands were poor in purse, and when com- merce on the seas was checked by the cold- ness of foreign nations and restricted by the action of the States themselves ; when manufactures were Avithout protection of any kind, and wdien the people thought their struggle for freedom was about to end in national poverty. Still Henry, and Adams and Hancock, with hosts of others, claimed that the aspirations of the Anti- Federals were the freest, that they pointed to personal liberty and local sovereignty. Yet many Anti-Federals must have accept- ed the views of the Federals, who under the circumstances must have presented the better reason, and the result was as stated, the ratification of the Federal constitution of 1787 by three-fourths of the States of the Union. After this the Anti-Federalists were given a new name, that of " Close Constructionists," because they naturally desired to interpret the new instrument in such a way as to bend it to their views. The Federalists became " Broad Construc- tionists," because they interpreted the con- stitution in a way calculated to broaden the power of the national government. The Confederacy once dissolved, the Federal party entered upon the enjoy- ment of full political power, but it was not without its responsibilities. The govern- ment had to be organized upon the basis of the new constitution, as upon the suc- cess of that organization would depend not alone the stability of the government and the happiness of its people, but the repu- tation of the party and the fame of its leaders as statesmen. Fortunately for all, party hostilities were not manifested in the Presidential election. All bowed to the popularity of Washing- ton, and he was unanimously nominated liy the congressional caucus and appointed by the electoral college. He selected his cabinet fi'om the leading minds of both parties, and while himself a recognized Federalist, all felt that ho was acting for the good of all, and in the earlier years of his administration, none disputed this fact. As the new measures of the government advanced, however, the anti-federalists or- ganized an opposition to the party in power. Immediate danger had passed. The constitution worked well. The laws of Congress were respected ; its calls for revenue honored, and Washington de- voted much of his first and second mes- sages to showing the growing prosperity of the country, and the respect which it was beginning to excite abroad. But where there is political power, there is opposition in a free land, and the great leaders of that day neither forfeited their reputations as patriots, or their characters as statesmen by the assertion of honest dif- ferences of opinion. Washington, Adams, and Hamilton w-ere the recognized leaders of the Federalists, the firm friends of the constitution. The success of this instru- ment modified the views of the anti- Federalists, and Madison of Virginia, its recognized friend when it was in prepara- tion, joined with others who had been its friends — notably, * Doctor Williamson, of North Carolina, and Mr. Langdon, of Georgia, in opposing the administration, and soon became recognized leaders of the anti-Federalists. Langdon was the Presi- dent pro tern, of the Senate. Jefferson was then on a mission to France, and not until some years thereafter did he array himself with those opposed to centralized powder in the nation. He returned in November, 1789, and was called to Washington's cabinet as Secretary of State in March, 1790. It was a great cabinet, with Jeffer- son as its premier (if this term is suited to a time when English political nomenclature was anything but popular in the land;) Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury; Knox, Secretary of War, and Edmund Randolph, Attorney-General. There was no Secretary of the Navy until the ad- ministration of the elder Adams, and no Secretary of the Interior. The first session of Congress under the Federal constitution, held in New York, sat for nearly six months, the adjournment taking place'September 29th, 1789. Nearly all the laws framed pointed to the organi- zation of the government, and the discus- sions were able and protracted. Indeed, these discussions developed opposing views, which could easily find separation on much the same old lines as those which separated the founders of constitutional government = Edwin Wlllii I states I's Manual. AMERICAN POLITICS. from those who favored the old confederate methods. The Federalists, on pivotal questions, at this session, carried their measures only by small majorities. Much of the second session was devoted to tlie discussion of the able reports of Hamilton, and their final adoption did much to build up the credit of the nation and to promote its industries. He was the author of the protective system, and at the first session gave definite shape to his theories. He recommended the funding of the war debt, the assumption of the state Avar debts by the national government, the providing of a system of revenue from the collection'^of duties on imports, and an internal excise. His advocacy of a pro- tective tariff was plain, for he declared it to be necessary for the support of the gov- ernment and the encouragemvnt of manu- factures that duties be laid on goods, wares, and merchandise imported. The third session of the same Congress was held at Philadelphia, though the seat of the national government had, at the previous one, been fixed on the Potomac instead of the Susquehanna — this after a compromise with Southern members, who refused to vote for the Assumption Bill until the location of the capital in the District of Columbia had been agreed upon ; by the way, this was the first exhi- bition of log-roiling in Congress. To complete Hamilton's financial system, a national bank was incorporated. On this project both the members of Congress and of the cabinet were divided, but it passed, and was promptly approved by Washing- ton. By this time it was well known that Jefferson and Hamilton held opposing views on many questions of government, and these found their way into and influ- enced the action of Congress, and passed naturally from thence to the people, who were thus early believed to be almost equally divided on the more essential po- litical issues. Before the close of the ses- sion, Vermont and Kentucky were ad- mitted to the Union. Vermont was the first state admitted in addition to the original thirteen. True, North Carolina and Ehode Island had rejected the consti- tution, but they reconsidered their action and came in — the former in November, 1789, and the latter in May, 1790. The election for members of the Second Congress resulted in a majority in both branches favorable to the administration. It met at Philadelphia in October, 1791. The exciting measure of the session was the excise act, somewhat similar to that of the previous year, but the opposition wanted an issue on which to rally, they accepted this, and this agitation led to vio- lent and in one instance warlike opposi- tion on the part of a portion of the people. Those of western Pennsylvania, largely interested in distilleries, prepared for armed resistance to the excise, but at the same session a national militia law had been passed, and Washington took ad- vantage of this to suppress the "Whisky Rebellion" in its incij^iency. It was a hasty, rash undertaking, yet was dealt with so firmly that the action of the authorities strengthened the law, and the respect for order. The four counties which rebelled did no further damage than to tar and feather a government tax collector and rob him of his horse, though many threats were made and the agitation continued until 1794, when Washington's threatened apjiearance at the head of fifteen thousand militia settled the whole question. The first session of the Second Congress also passed the first methodic apportion- ment bill, which based the congressional representation on the census taken in 1790, the basis being 33,000 inhabitants for each representative. The second session which sat from November, 1792, to March, 1793, was mainly occupied in a discussion of the foreign and domestic relations of the coun- try. No important measures were adopted. Tlie Kcpu1)licau and Federal Parties. The most serious objection to the con- stitution before its ratification was the ab- sence of a distinct bill of rights, which should recognize "the equality of all men, and their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," and at the first session of Congress a bill was framed con- taining twelve articles, ten of which were afterwards ratified as amendments to the constitution. Yet state sovereignty, then imperfectly defined, was the prevailing idea in the minds of the Anti-Federalists, and they took every opportunity to oppose any extended delegation of authority from the states of the Union. They contended that the power of the state should be supreme, and charged the Federalists with monarchical tendencies. They opposed Hamilton's national bank scheme, and Jefferson and Randolph plainly expressed the opinion that it was unconstitutional — that a bank was not authorized by the constitution, and that it would prevent the states from maintaining banks. But when the Bill of Rights had been incorporated in and attached to the constitution as amendments, Jefferson with rare political sagacity withdrew all opposition to the in- strument itself, and the Anti-Federalists gladly followed his lead, for they felt that they had labored under many partisan dis- advantages. The constitution was from the first too strong for successful resistance, and when opposition was confessedly abandoned the party name was changed, I also at the suggestion of Jefl'erson, to that REPUBLICANS AND FEDERALS. of Rcpublk'iin. The Anti-Federalists were at lirst disposed to eiiU tlieir party the Demoeratie-lJepublieaus, but iinally called it siiiii)ly Repuhlieaii, to avoid the opposite of the extrc'iue which they eharjied a,ii;:iinst the Federalists. Eaeh party liad its taunts in use, the Federalists being (U'liouneed as monarchists, the Anti-Federalists as Dem- ocrats; the one presumed to be looking forward to monarchy, the other to the rule of the mob. By 1793 partisan lines under the names of Federalists and Republicans, were plain- ly drawn, and the schism in the cabinet was more marked than ever. Personal ambition may have had much to do with it, for Washington had previously shown his desire to retire to private life. While he remained at the head of affairs he was unwilling to part with Jefierson and Ham- ilton, and did all in his power to bring about a reconciliation, but without suc- cess. Before the close of the first consti- tutional Presidency, however, Washington had become convinced that the people de- sired him to accept a re-election, and he was accordingly a candidate and unani- mously chosen. John Adams was re-elect- ed Vice-President, receiving 77 votes to 50 for Geo. Clinton, (5 scattering) the Re- publican candidate. Soon after the inau- guration Citizen Genet, an envoy from the French republic, arrived and sought to excite the sympathy of the United States and involve it in a war with Great Britain. Jefferson and his Republican party warmly sympathized with France, and insisted that gratitude for revolutionary favors commanded aid to France in her struggles. The Federalists, under Washington and Hamilton, favored non-intervention, and insisted that wc should maintain friendly relations with Great Britain. Washington showed his usual firmness, and before the expiration of the month in which Genet arrived, had issued his celebrated procla- mation of neutrality. This has ever since been the accepted foreign policy of the nation. Genet, chagrined at the issuance of this proclamation, threatened to appeal to the people, and made himself so obnoxious to Washington that the latter demanded his recall. The French government sent M. Fauchet as his successor, but Genet con- tinued to reside in the United States, and under his inspiration a number of Demo- cratic Societies, in imitation of the French Jacobin clubs, were founded, but like all such organizations in this country, thev were short-lived. Secret political societies thrive only under despotisms. In Repub- lics like ours they can only live when the great parties are in confusion and greatly divided. They disappear with the union of sentiment into two great parties. If there were many parties and factions, as in Mexico and some of the South American re])ublics, there would be even a wider field for tlieiu here than there. The French agitation showed its impress upon tlie nation as late as 1794, when a resolution to cut off intercourse with Great IJritain passed the House, and was de- feated in the Senate only by the casting vote of the Vice-President. Many people favored France, and to such silly ireights did the excitement run that these insisted on wearing a national cockade. Jefierson had left the cabinet the Dei'cmber pre- vious, and had retired to his [)lantation in Virginia, where he spent his leisure in writing political essays and organizing the Republican party, of which he was the ac- knowledged founder. Here he escaped the errors of his party in Congress, but it was a potent ftict that his friends in official station not only did not endorse the non- intervention policy of AVashington, but that they actively antagonized it in many ways. The Congressional leader in these movements was Mr. Madison. The policy of Britain fed this opposition. The forts on Lake Erie were still occupied by the British soldiery in defiance of the treaty of 1783; American vessels were seized on their way to French ports, and American citizens were impressed. To avoid a war, Washington sent John Jay as special en- voy to England. He arrived in June, 1794, and by November succeeded in mak- ing a treaty. It was ratified in June, 1795, by the Senate by the constitutional majority of two-thirds, though there- was much de- clamatory opposition, and the feeling be- tween the Federal and Republican jiarties ran higher than ever before. The Republi- cans denounced while the Federals con- gratulated Washington. Under this treaty the British surrendered possession of all American ports, and as Gen'l Wayne dur- ing the previous summer had conquered the war-tribes and completed a treaty with them, the country was again on the road to prosperity. In Washington's message of 1794, he plainly censured all " self-created political societies," meaning the democratic so- cieties formed by Genet, but this part of the message the House refused to endorse, the speaker giving the casting vote in the negative. The Senate was in harmony with the political views of the President. Party spirit had by this time measurably affected all classes of the people, and as subjects for agitation here multiplied, the opposition no longer regarded Washing- ton with that respect and decorum which it had been the rule to manifest. His wis- dom as President, his patriotism, and in- deed his character as a man, were all hotly questioned by political enemies. He was even charged with corruption in ex- pending more of the public moneys than 10 AMERICAN POLITICS. had been appropriated — charges which were soon shown to be groundless. At the first session of Congress in De- cember, 1795, the Senate's administration majority had increased, but in the House the opposing Republicans had also in- creased their numbers. The Senate by 14 to 8 endorsed the message ; the House at first refused but finally qualified its an- swers. In March, 179G, a new political issue was sprung in the House by Mr. Living- stone of New York, who offered a resolu- tion requesting of the President a copy of the instructions to Mr. Jay, the envoy who made the treaty with Great Britain. After a debate of several days, more bitter than any which had preceded it, the House passed the resolution by 57 to 35, the Re- ])ublicaus voting aye, the Federals no. ^V'asliington in answer, took the position that the House of Representatives was not part of the treaty-making jjower of the government, and could not therefore be entitled to any papers relating to such treaties. The constitution had placed this treaty making and ratifying power in the hands of the Senate, the Cabinet and the President. This answer, now universally accepted as the proper one, yet excited the House and increased political animosities. The Republicans charged the Federals with being the "British party," and in some instances hinted that they had been pur- chased with British gold. Indignation meetings Avere called, but after niucli sound and fury, it was ascertained that the people really favored abiding by the treaty in go(xl iiiitli, and finally the House, after more calm and able debates, passed the needed legislation to carry out the treaty by a vote of 51 to 48. In August, 1796, prior to the meeting of the Congressional caucus which then placed candidates for the Presidency in nomination, Washington issued his cele- brated Farewell Address, in which he gave notice that he would retire from public life at the expiration of his term. He had been solicited to be a candidate for re- election (a third term) and told that all the peo]ile could unite upon him — a state- ment which, without abating one jot, our admiration for the man, would doubtless have been called in question by the Re- Eublicans, who had become implacably ostile to his political views, and who were encouraged to believe they could win con- trol of the Presidency, by their rapidly in- creasing power in the House. Yet the ad- dress was everywhere received Avith marks of admiration. Legislatures commended it by resolution and ordered it to be en- grossed _ upon their records ; journals praised it, and upon the strength of its plain doctrines the Federalists took new- courage, and prepared to win in the Presi- dential l)attle which followed. Both parties were plainly arrayed and confident, and so close was the result that the leaders of both were elected — John Adams, the nom- inee of the Federalists, to the Presidency, and Thomas Jefferson, the nominee of the Republicans, to the Vice-Presidency. The law which then obtained was that the candidate who received the highest num- ber of electoral votes, took the first place, the next highest, the second. Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina was the Fed- eral nominee for Vice-President, and Aaron Burr of the Republicans. Adams received 71 electoral votes, Jefferson 68, Pinckney 59, Burr 30, scattering 48. Pinckney had lost 12 votes, while Burr lost 38— a loss of popularity which the latter regained four years later. The first impressions which our forefathers had of this man were the best. John Adams was inaugurated as Pres- ident in Philadeli)hia, at Congress Hall, March 4th, 1797, and in his inaugural was carelul to deny the charge that the Fed- eral party had any sympathy for England, but reaffirmed his endorsement of the policy of Washington as to strict neutral- ity. To this extent he sought to soften the asperities of the parties, and measurably succeeded, though the times were still stormy. The French revolution had reached its highest point, and our people still took sides. Adams found he W'ould have to arm to preserve neutrality and at the same time punish the aggression of either of the combatants. This was our first exhibition of "armed neutrality." An American navy was quickly raised, and every preparation made for deiending the rights of Americans. An alliance with France was refused, after which the American Minister was dismissed and the French nav^' began to cripple our trade. In May, 1797, President Adams felt it his duty to call an extra session of Congress, which closed in July. The Senate ap- proved of negotiations for reconciliation with France. They were attempted but proved fruitless; in May, 1798, a full naval armament was authorized, and soon several French vessels were captured before there was any declaration of war. Indeed, neith- er power declared war, and as soon as France discovered how earnest the Ameri- cans were she made overtures for an ad- justment of difficulties, and these resulted 'in the treaty of 1800. The Republicans, though warmly favor- ing a contest, did not heartily supjjort that inaugurated by Adams, and contended after this that the militia and a small naval force were sufficient for internal defense. They denounced the position of the Fed- erals, who favored the enlargement of the army and navy, as measures calculated to REPUBLICANS AND FEDERALS. 11 overawe public sentiment in time of jicace. The Federals, however, througli tlicir prompt resentment of tiie u;i;gressions of France, had many adherents to their party. They organized tlieir power and sought to })erpetuate it by the passage of the alien and sedition, and a naturaliza- tion law. The alien and sedition law gave the President authority " to order all such aliens as he shall judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States, or shall have reasonable grounds to suspect are concerned in any treasonable or secret machinations against the government thereof, to depart out of the territory of the United States, within such time as shall be expressed in such order." The provisions which followed were in keeping with that quoted, the 3d section command- ing every master of a ship entering a port of the United States, immediately on his arrival, to make report in writing to the collector of customs, the names of all aliens on board, etc. The act was to continue in force for two years from the date of its passase, and it was approved June 25th, 1798." A resolution was introduced in the Sen- ate on the 25th of April, 1798, by Mr. Hillhouse of Connecticut, to inquire what provision of law ought to be made, &c., as to the removal of such aliens as may be dangerous to the peace of the country, &c. This resolution was adopted the next day, and Messrs. Hillhouse, Livermore and Read were appointed the committee, and subsequently reported the bill. It passed the Senate hj 16 to 7, and the House by 46 to 40, the Republicans in the latter body resisting it warmly. The leading opposing idea was that it lodged with the Executive too much power, and was liable to great abuse. It has frequently since, in arguments against centralized power, been used for illustration by political speakers. The Naturalization law, favored by the Federalists, because they knew they could acquire few friends either from newly ar- rived Engli'^h or French aliens, among other requirements provided that an alien must reside in the United States fourteen years before he could vote. The Republi- cans denounced this law as calculated to check immigration, and dangerous to our country in the fact that it caused too many inhabitants to owe no allegiance. They also asserted, as did those who oji- posed Americanism later on in our history, that America was properly an asylum for all nations, and that those coming to America should freely share all the privi- leges and libertie? of the government. These laws and the political resentments which they created gave a new and what eventually proved a dangerous current to politica. thought and action. Thoy were the immediate cause of tlie Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1798, Jelferson be- ing the author of the former and Madison of the latter. These resolutions were full of i>olitical significance, and gave tone to sectional dis- cussion up to the (;lose of the war for the Union. They first promulgated tlie doc- trine of nullification or secession, and political writers mistake who point to Cal- houn as the father of that doctrine. It began with the old Republicans under the leadership of Jefferson and Madison, and though directly intended as protests against the alien and sedition, and the naturaliza- tion laws of Congress, they kept one eye upon the question of slavery — rather that interest was kept in view in their declara- tions, and yet the authors of both were anything but warm advocates of slavery. They were then striving, however, to rein- force the opposition to the Federal party, which the administration of Adams had thus far apparently weakened, and they had in view the brief agitation which had sjjrung up in 1793, five years before, on the petition to Congress of a Pennsylvania society " to use its powers to stop the traffic in slaves." On the question of referring this petition to a committee there arose a sectional debate. Men took sides not be- cause of the party to which they belonged, but the section, and for the first time the North and South were arrayed against each other on a question not then treated either as partisan or political, but which most minds then saw must soon become both partisan and sectional. Some of the Southern dc- liaters, in their protests against interfer- ence, thus early threatened civil war. With a view to better protect their rights to slave property, they then advocated and suc- ceeded in passing the first fugitive slave law. This was approved February 12, 1793. The resolutions of 1798 will be found in the book devoted to political platforms. So highly were these esteemed by the Re- publicans of that day, and by the interests whose sup]>ort they so shrewdly invited, that tlu'v more than counterbalanced the popularity acquired by the Federal-; in their resistance to France, and by 1800 they caused a rupture in the Cabinet of Adams. In the Presidential election of 1800 John Adams was the nominee for President and C. C. Pinckney for Vice-President. A " Congressional Convention" of Republi- cans, held in Philadelphia, nominated Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr as can- didates for these office^. On the election which followed the Republican-; chose 73 electors and the Federalists 65. Each elector voted for two persons, and the Re- publicans so voted that they unwisely gave Jefferson and Burr each 73 votes. Neither being highest, it was not legally determined AMERICAN POLITICS. wliich shouLl be President or Vice-Presi- dent, and the election liad to go to the House. The Federalists threw 65 votes to Adams and 64 to Pinckney. The Repub- licans could have done the same, but Burr's intrigue and ambition prevented this, and the result was a protracted contest in the House, and one which put the country in great peril, but which plainly pointed out some of the imperfections of the elec- toral features of the Constitution. The Federalists proposed to confess the inabil- ity of the House to agree through the vote by States, but to this proposition the Re- publicans threatened armed resistance. The Federalists next attempted a combina- tion with the friends of Aaron Burr, but this specimen of bargaining to deprive a nominee of the place to which it was the plain intention of his party to elect him, really contributed to Jetferson's popularity, if not in that Congress, certainly before the people. He was elected on the 36th ballot. The bitterness of this strife, and the dangers which similar ones threatened, led to .^n abandonment of the system of each Elector voting for two, the highest to be President, the next highest Vice-President, and an amendment was offered to the Con- stitution, and fully ratified by September 25, 1804, requiring the electors to ballot separately for President and Vice-Presi- dent. Jefferson was the first candidate nomi- nated by a Congressional caucus. It con- vened in 1800 at Philadelphia, and nomi- nated Jefferson for President and Burr for Vice-President. Adams and Pinckney were not nominated, but ran and were ac- cepted as natural leaders of their party, just as Washington and Adams were be- fore them. Downfall of the Federal Party. This contest broke the power of the Federal party. It had before relied upon the rare sagacity and ability of its leaders, but the contest' in the House developed such attempts at intrigue as disgusted many and caused all to quarrel, Hamilton having early showed his dislike to Adams. As a party the Federal had been peculiarly brave at times when high bravery was needed. It had framed the Federal Gov- ernment and stood by the powers given it until they were too firmly planted for even newer and triumphant partisans to reck- lessly trifle with. It stood for non-inter- ference with foreign nations against the eloquence of adventurers, the mad impulses of mobs, the generosity of new-born free- men, the harangues of demagogues, and best of all against those who sought to fan these popular breezes to their own comfort. It provided for the payment of the debt, had the courage to raise revenues both from internal and external sources, and to increase expenditures, as the gnnvth of the country demanded. Though it passed out of power in a cloud of intrigue and in a vain grasp at the " flesh-pots," it yet had a glorious history, and one which none un- tinctured with the better prejudices of that day, can avoid admiring. The defeat of Adams was not unexpect- ed by him, yet it was greatly regretted by his friends, for he was justly regarded as second to jio other civilian in the estab- lishment of the liberties of the colonies. He was eloquent to a rare degree, possessed natural eloquence, and made the most famous speech in advocacy of the Declara- tion. Though the proceedings of the Revolutionary Congress were secret, and what was said never printed, yet Webster gives his version of the noted speech of Adams, and we reproduce it in Book III. of this volume as one of the great speeches of noted American orators. Mr. Jeflerson was inaugurated the third President, in the new capitol at Washing- ton, on the 4th of March, 1801, and Vice- President Burr took his seat in the Senate the same day. Though Burr distinctly dis- avowed any participancy in the House contest, he was distrusted by Jefferson's warm friends, and jealousies rapidly cropped out. Jefferson endeavored through his inaugural to smooth factious and party asperities,and so well were his words chosen that the Federalists indulged, the hope that they would not be removed from office be- cause of their political views. Early in June, however, the first ques- tion of civil service was raised. Mr. Jeffer- son then removed Elizur Goodrich, a Fed- eralist, from the Collectorship of New Haven, and appointed Samuel Bishop, a Republican, to the place. Th.-^ citizens re- monstrated, saying that Goodrich "'as prompt, reliable and able, and showed that his successor was 78 years old, and too in- firm for the duties of' the office. To these remonstrances Mr. Jefferson, under date of July 12th, replied in language which did not then, as he did later on, plainly assert the ri£;ht of every administration to have its friends in office. We quote the fol- lowing : " Declarations by myself, in favor of political tolerance, exhortations to har- mony and affection in social intercourse, and respect for the equal rights of the minority, have, on certain occasions, been quoted and misconstrued into assurances that the tenure of office was not to be dis- turbed. But could candor apply such a construction ? When it is considered that, during the late administration, those who were not of a particular sect of politics were excluded from all office ; when, by a steady pursuit of this measure, nearly the whole offices of the United States were DOWNFALL OF THE FEDERALS. 13 monopolized by that sect ; when the public sentiment at length declared itself, and burst open the doors of honor and confi- dence to those whose opinions they aj)- proved; was it to be imagined that this monopoly of office was to be continued in the hands of the minority ? Does it violate their equal rights to assert some rights in the majority also ? Is it political intolerance to claim a proportionate share in the direc- tion of the public affairs? If a due partici- pation of office is a matter of right, how are vacancies to be obtained ? Those by death are few, by resignation none. Can any other mode than that of removal be proposed? This is a painful office; but it is made my duty, and I meet it as such. I proceed in the operation with deliberation and inquiry, that it may injure the best men least, and effect the purposes of justice and public utility with the least private distress, that it may be thrown as much as possible on delinquency, on oppression, on intolerance, on ante-revolutionary adhe- renoe to our enemies. " I lament sincerely that unessential dif- ferences of opinion should ever have been deemed sufficient to interdict half the society from the rights and the blessings of self-government, to proscribe -them as unworthy of every trust. It would have been to me a circumstance of great relief, had I found a moderate participation of office in the hands of the majority. I would gladly have left to time and accident to raise them to their just share. But their total exclusion calls for prom2)ter correc- tions. I shall correct the procedure ; but that done, return with joy to that state of things when the only questions concerning a candidate shall be : Is he honest? Is he capable? Is he faithful to the constitution?" Mr. Adams had made few removals, and none because of the political views held by the incumbents, nearly all of whom had been appointed by Washington and continued through good behavior. At the date of the appointment of most of tliem, Jefferson's Republican party had no exist- ence; so that the reasons given in the quotation do not comport with the facts. Washington's rule was integrity and ca- pacity, for he could have no regard for {)olitics where political lines had been ob- iterated in his own selection. Doubtless these office-holders were human, and ad- hered with warmth to the administration which they served, and this fact, and this alone, must have angered the Rejiublicans and furnished them with arguments for a change. Mr. Jefferson's position, however, made ills later conduct natural. He was the ac- knowledged leader of his party, its founder indeed, and that party had carried him into power. He desired to keep it intact, to strengthen its lines with whatever pa- 1 tronage he had at his disposal, and he evi- dently regarded the cause of Adams in not rewarding his friends as a mistake. It was, therefore, Jefferson, and not Jackson, who was the author of the theory that " to the victors belong the spoils." Jackson gave it a sharp and perfectly defined sluijic by the use of these words, Init the spirit and principle were conceived by Jefferson, who throughout his life showed far greater originality in politics than any of the early jjatriots. It was his acute sense of just what was right for a growing political party to do, which led him to turn the thoughts of his followers into new and popular directions. Seeing that they were at grave disadvantage when opposing the attitude of the government in its policy with foreign nations; realizing that the work of the Federalists in strengthening the power of the new government, in pro- viding revenues and ways and means for the payment of the debt, were .good, he changed the character of the opposition by selecting only notoriously arbitrary measures for assault — and changed it even more radically than this. He early saw that simple opposition was not progress, and that it was both wise and popular to be progressive, and in all his later politi- cal papers he sought to make his party the party favoring personal freedom, the one of liberal ideas, the one whieh, instead of shirking, should anticipate every change calculated to enlarge the liberties and the opportunities of citizens. These things were not inconsistent with his strong views in favor of local self-government ; indeed, in many particulars they seemed to sup- port that theory, and lay the union of the two ideas he shrewdly arrayed po- litical enthusiasm by the side of politi- cal interest. Political sagacity more pro- found than this it is difficult to imagine. It has not since been equalled in the his- tory of our land, nor do we believe in the history of any other. After the New Haven episode, so jealous was Jefferson of his good name, that while he confided all new appointments to the hands of his political friends, he made few removals, and these for apparent cause. The mere statement of his position had proved an invitation to the Federalists in office to join his earlier friends in the sup" port of his administration. Many of them did it, so many that the clamorings of truer fViends could not be hushed. With a view to create a new excuse, Jefferson declared that all appointments made by Adams after February 14th, when the House began its ballolings for President, were void, these appointments belonging of right to him, and from this act of Adams we date the political legacies which some of our Presidents have since handed down to their successors. One of the 14 AMERICAN POLITICS. magistrates whose commission had been I made out under Adams, sought to compel Jefferson to sign it by a writ of mandamus before the Supreme Court, but a " profound investigation of constitutional law " in- duced the court not to grant the motion. All commissions signed by Adams after the date named were suppressed. Jefferson's apparent bitterness against the Federalists is mainly traceable to the contest in the House, and his belief that at one time they sought a coalition with Burr. This coalition he regarded as a vio- lation of the understanding when he was nominated, and a supposed effort to ap- point a provisional office he regarded as an usurpation in fact. In a letter to James Monroe, dated February 15th, speaking of this contest, he says : " Four days of balloting have produced not a single change of a vote. Yet it is confidently believed that to-morrow there is to be a coalition. I know of no founda- tion for this belief. If they could have been permitted to pass a law for putting the government in the hands of an officer, they would certainly have prevented an election. But we thought it best to de- clare openly and firmly, one and all, that the day such an act passed, the Middle States would arm, and that no such usur- pation, even for a single day, should be submitted to." It is but fair to say that the Federalists denied all such intentions, and that James A. Bayard, of Delaware, Ajiril 3, 1806, made formal oath to this denial. In this he says that three States, representing Federalist votes, offered to withdraw their opposition if John Nicholas, of Virginia, and the ])ersonal friend of Jefferson, would secure pledges that the public credit should be supported, the navy maintained, and that subordinate public officers, employed only in the execution of details, established by law, should not be removed from office on the ground of their public character, nor without complaint against their con- duct. The Federalists then went so far as to admit that officers of " high discretion and confidence," such as members of the cabinet and foreign ministers, should be known friends of the administration. This proposition goes to show that there is noth- ing very new in what are called our modern politics ; that the elder Bayard, as early as 1800, made a formal proposal to bargain. Mr. Nicholas offered his assur- ance that these things would prove accep- table to and govern the conduct of Jeffer- son's administration, but he declined to con- sult with Jefferson on the points. General Smith subsequently engaged to do it, and Jefferson replied that the points given corresponded with his views and inten- tions, and that Mr. Bayard and his friends might confide in him accordingly. The opposition of Vermont, Maryland and De- laware was then immediately withdrawn, and Mr Jefferson was made President. Gen'l Smith, twelve days later, made an affidavit which substantially confirmed that of Bayard. Latimer, the collector of the port of Philadelphia, and M'Lane, col- lector of Wilmington, (Bayard's special friend) were retained in office. He had cited these two as examples of his opposi- tion to any change, and Jefferson seemed to regard the pledges as not sacred beyond the partiL's actually named in Bayard's ne- gotiations witli Gen'l Smith. This misunderstanding or misconstruc- tion of what in these days would be plain- ly called a bargain, led to considerable political criticism, and Jefferson felt it ne- cessary to defend his cause. This he did in letters to friends which both then and since found their, way into the public prints. One of these letters, Avritten to Col. Monroe, March 7th, shows in every word and line the natural politician. In this he says : " Some (removals) I know must be made. They must be as few as possible, done gradually, and bottomed on some malversation or inherent disqualification. Where we shall draw the line between all and none, is not yet settled, and will not be till we get our administration together ; and perhaps even then we shall proceed a talons, balancing our measures according to the impression we perceive them to make. This may give you a general view of our plan." A little later on, March 28, he wrote to Elbridge Gerry : " Officers who have been guilty of gross abuses of office, such as marshals packing juries, etc., I shall now remove, as my predecessor ought in justice to have done. The instances will be few, and governed by strict rule, not party passion. The right of opinion shall suffer no invasion from me." Jefferson evidently tired of this subject, and gradually modified his views, as shown in his letter to Levi Lincoln, July 11, wherein he says : " I am satisfied that the heaping of abuse on me personally, has been with the de- sign and the hope of provoking me to make a general sweep of all Federalists out of office. But as I have carried no passion into the execution of this disagreeable duty, I shall suffer none to be excited. The clamor which has been raised will not pro- voke me to remove one more, nor deter me from removing one less, than if not a word had been said on the subject. In the course of the summer, all which is neces- sary will be done ; and we may hope that, this cause of offence being at an end, the measures we shall pursue and propose for the amelioration of the public affairs, will DOWNFALL OF THE FEDERALS. 15 be so confessedly salutary as to unite all men not monarchists in principle." In the same letter he warmly berates the monarchical federalists, saying, " they are incurables, to be taken care of in a mad- house if necessary, and on motives of charity." The seventh Congress assembled. Po- litical parties were at first nearly equally divided in the Senate, but eventually there was a majority for the administration. Jefferson then discontinued the custom es- tablished by Washington of delivering in person his message to Congress. The change was greatly for the better, as it afforded relief from the requirement of immediate answers on the subjects con- tained in the message. It has ever since been followed. The seventh session of Congress, pursu- ant to the recommendation of President Jefferson, established a uniform system of naturalization, and so modified the law as to make the required residence of aliens five years, instead of fourteen, as in the act of 1798, and to permit a declaration of in- tention to become a citizen at the expiration of three years. By his recommendation also was established the first sinking fund for the redemption of the public debt. It required the setting apart annually for this purpose the sum of seven millions and three hundred thousand dollars. Other mea- sures, more partisan in their character, were proposed, but Congress showed an aversion to undoing what had been wisely done. A favorite law of the Federalists establishing circuit courts alone was re- pealed, and this only after a sharp debate, and a close vote. The provisional army had been disbanded by a law of the previ- ous Congress. A proposition to abolish the naval department was defeated, as was that to discontinue the mint establishment. At this session the first law in relation to the slave trade was passed. It was to pre- vent the importation of negroes, mulattoes and other persons of color into any port of the United States within a state which had prohibited by law the admission of any such person. The penalty was one thou- sand dollars and the forfeiture of the vessel. The slave trade was not then pi'ohibited by the constitution, nor was the subject then generally agitated, though it had been as early as 1793, when, as previously stated, an exciting sectional debate followed the presentation of a petition from Pennsylva- nia to abolish the slave trade. Probably the most important occurrence nnder the first administration of Jefferson was that relating to the purchase and ad- mission of Louisiana. There had been apprehensions of a war with Spain, and with a view to be ready Congress had passed an act authorizing the President to call upon the executives of such of the states as he might deem expedient, for detachments of militia not exceeding eigiity thousand, or to accept the services of volunteers for a term of twelve months. The disagreement arose over the soutli-wcstern boundary line and the right of navigating the Mississippi. Our government learned in the spring of 1802, that Sjjain had by a secret treaty made in October, 1800, actually ceded Louisiana to France. Our government had in 1795 made a treaty with Spain which gave us the right of deposite at New Or- leans for three years, but in October, 1802, the Spanish authorities gave notice by ]iroclannition that this right was withdrawn. Excitement followed all along the valley of the Mississippi, and it was increased by the belief that the withdrawal of the privi- lege was made at the suggestion of France, though Spain still retained the territory, as the formalities of ceding it had not been gone through with. Jefferson promptly took the ground that if France took pos- session of New (Orleans, the Laiited States would immediately become allies of Eng- land, but suggested to Minister Livingston at Paris that France might be induced to cede the island of New Orleans and the Floridas to the United States, It was his belief, though a mistaken one, that France had also acf|uircd the Floridas. Louisiana then comiirised much of the territory west of the Mississippi and south of the Mis- souri. The Federalists in Congress seized upon this question as one upon which they could make an aggressive war against Jefferson's administration, and resolutions were intro- duced asking information on the subject. Jefferson, however, wisely avoided all en- tangling suggestions, and sent Monroe to aid Livingston in effecting a purchase. The treaty was formed in April, 1803, and submitted by Jefferson to the Senate in October following. The Republicans ral- lied in favor of this scheme of annexation, and claimed that it was a constitutional right in the government to acquire territory — a doctrine widely at variance with their previous position, but occasions are rare where parties quarrel with their administra- tions on pivotal measures. There was also some latitude here for endorsement, 'as the direct question of territorial acquisition had not before been presented, but only hypo- thetically stated in the constitutional dis- putations then in great fashion. Jefferson would not go so far as to say that the con- stitution warranted the acquisition to for- eign territory, but the scheme was never- theless his, and he stood in with his friends in the political battle which followed. The Federalists claimed that we had no power to acquire territory, a7id that the acquirement of Louisiana would give the South a preponderance which would " con- tinue for all time (poor prophets they !), 16 AMERICAN POLITICS. since southern would be more rapid than northern development ; " that states cre- ated west of the Mississippi would injure the commerce of New England, and they even went so far as to say that the " ad- mission of the Western World into the Union would compel the Eastern States to establish an eastern empire," Doubts were also raised as to the right of Louisi- anians, when admitted to citizenship un- der our laws, as their lineage, language and religion were different from our own. Its inhabitants were French and descend- ants of French, with some Spanish Cre- oles, Americans, English and Germans — in all about 90,000, including 40,000 slaves. There were many Indians of course, in a territory then exceeding a million of square miles — a territory which, in the language of First Consul Napoleon, "strengthens forever the power of the United States," and which will give to England a mari- time rival that will sooner or later humble her pride " — a military view of the change fully justified by subsequent history. Na- poleon sold because of needed prepara- tions for war with England, and while he had previously expressed a willingness to take fifty million francs for it, he got sixty through the shrewd diplomacy of his min- isters, who hid for the time their fear of the capture of the port of New Orleans by the English navy. Little chance was afforded the Federal- ists for adverse criticism in Congress, for the purchase proved so popular that the people greatly increased the majority in both branches of the eighth Congress, and Jefferson called it together earlier for the purpose of ratification. The Senate rati- fied the treaty on the 20th of October, 1803, by a vote of 24 to 7, Avhile the House adojjted a resolution for carrying the treaty into efiect by a vote of 90 to 25. Eleven million dollars of the purchase money was appropriated, the remaining four millions being reserved for the indemnity of Amer- ican citizens who had sustained losses by French assaults upon our commerce — from which fact subsequently came what is known as the French Spoliation Bill. Impeachment trials were first attempted before the eighth Congress in 1803. Judge Pickering, of the district court of the United States for New Hampshire, was impeached for occasional drunkenness, and dismissed from office. Judge Chase of the U. S. Supreme Court, and Judge Peters of the district court of Pennsylva- nia, both Federalists, were charged by arti- cles proposed in the House with illegal and arbitrary conduct in the trial of par- ties charged with political offenses. The Federalists took alarm at these proceed- ings, and so vehement were their charges against the Republicans of a desire to de- stroy the judiciary that their impeach- ments were finally abandoned. The Republicans closed their first na- tional administration with high prestige. They had met several congressional re- verses on questions where defeat proved good fortune, for the Federalists kept a watchful defence, and ^were not always wrong. The latter suffered numerically, and many of their best leaders had fallen in the congressional contest of 1800 and 1802, while the Republicans maintained their own additions in talent and number. In 1804, the candidates of both parties were nominated by congressional cauj:uses. Jefferson and Clinton were the Republi- can nominees ; Charles C Pinckney and Rufus King, the nominees of the Federal- ists, but they only received 14 out of 176 electoral votes. The struggle of Napoleon in Europe with the allied powers now gave Jeflferson an opportunity to inaugurate a foreign policy. England had forbidden all trade with the French and their allies, and France had in return forbidden all com- merce with England and her colonies. Both of these decrees violated our neutral rights, and were calculated to destroy our commerce, which by this time had become quite imposing. Congress acted promptly, and on the 21st of December passed what is known as the Embargo Act, under the insjiiration of the Republican party, which claimed that the only choice of the people lay between the embargo and war, and that there was no other way to obtain redress from England and France. But the promised eflects of the measure were not realized, and so soon as any dissatisfaction was manifested by the people, the Federalists made the ques- tion a political issue. They declared it unconstitutional because it was not limited as to time; that it helped England as against France (a cunning assertion in vicAV of the early love of the Republicans for the cause of the French), and that it laid violent hands on our home commerce and industries. Political agitation in- creased the discontent, and public opinion at one time turned so strongly against the law that it was openly resisted on the eastern coast, and treated with almost as open contempt on the Canadian border. The bill had passed the House by 87 to 35, the Senate by 19 to 9. In j'anuary, 1809, the then closing administration of Jefierson had to change front on the ques- tion, and the law Avas repealed on the 18th of March. The Republicans when they changed, went all the way over, and advo- cated full protection by the use of a navy, of all our rights on the high seas. If the Federals could have recalled their old leaders, or retained even a considerable portion of their power, the opportunity DEMOCRATS AND FEDERALS. 17 presented by the embargo issue could have brought them back to full political power, but lacking these leaders, the op- portunity passed Democrats and Federals. During the ninth Congress, which as- sembled on the second of December, 1805, the Republicans dropped their name and accepted that of " Democrats." In all their earlier strifes they had been charged l)v their opponents with desiring to run to the extremes of the democratic or " mob rule," and fear of too general a belief in the truth of the charge led them to denials and rejection of a name which the father of their party had ever shown a fondness for. The earlier dangers which had threatened their organization, and the re- collection of defeats suffered in their at- tempts to establish a government anti-fed- exal and confederate in their composition, had been greatly modified by later suc- cesses, and with a characteristic cuteness peculiar to Americans they accepted an epithet and sought to turn it to the best account. In this they imitated the patriots who accepted the epithets in the British satirical song of " Yankee Doodle," and called themselves Yankees. From the ninth Congress the Jeffersonian Republi- cans called themselves Democrats, and the word Republican passed into disuse until later on in the history of our political parties, the opponents of the Democracy accepted it as a name which well filled the meaning of their attitude in the politics of the country. Mr. Randolph of Roanoke, made the first schism in the Republican party under Jefferson, when he and three of his friends voted against the embargo act. He resisted its passage with his usual earnestness, and all attempts at reconciling him to the mea- sure were unavailing. Self-willed, strong in argument and sarcasm, it is believed that his cause made it even more desirable for the Republicans to change name in the hope of recalling some of the more wayward " Democrats " who had advoca- ted Jacobin democracy in the years gone by. The politicians of that day were never short of expedients, and no man so abounded in them as Jefferson himself. Randolph improved his opportunities by getting most of the Virginia members to act with him against the foreign policy of the administration, but he was careful not to join the Federalists, and quickly denied any leaning that way. The first fruit of 1 is faction was to bring forth Monroe as a candidate for President against Madison — a movement which proved to be quite popular in Virginia, but which Jefferson flanked by bringing about a reconciliation between Monroe and Madison. The now usual Congressional caucus followed at Washington, and although the Virginia Legislature in its caucus jiroviously "held had been unable to decide between 'Madi- son and Monroe, the Congressional body chose Madison by 83 to 11, the minority being divided between Clinton and Mon- roe, though the latter could by that time hardly be considered as a candidate. This action broke up Eandolph's faction in Virginia, but left so much bitterness be- hind it that a large portion attached them- selves to the Federalists. In the election which followed Madison received 122 elec- toral votes against 47 for C. C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, and 6 for Geo. Clinton of New York. Before Jefferson's administration closed he recommended the passage of an act to prohibit the African slave trade after Jan- uary 1st, isOS, and it w^as passed accord- ingly. He had also rejected the form of a treaty received from the British minister Erskine, and did this without the formality of submitting it to the Senate — first, be- cause it contained no provision on the ob- jectionable practice of impressing our sea- men ; second, * because it was accompanied by a note from the British ministers, by which the British government reserved to itself the right of releasing itself from the stipulations in favor of neutral rights, if the United States submitted to the British decree, or other invasion of those rights by France." This rejection of the treaty by .Jefferson caused public excitement, and the Federalists sought to arouse the com- mercial community against his action, and cited the fact that his own trusted friends, Monroe and Pinckney had negotiated it. The President's party stood by him, and they agreed that submission to the Senate was immaterial, as its advice could not bind him. This refusal to consider the treaty was the first step leading to the war of 1812, for embargoes followed, and Britain openly claimed the right to search Amer- ican vessels for her desertiiig seamen. In 1807 this question was brought to issue by the desertion of five British seamen from the Halifax, and their enlistment on the U. S. frigate Chesapeake. Four sepa- rate demands were made for these men, but all of the commanders, knowing the firm attitude of Jefferson's administration against the practice, refused, as did the Secretary of State refuse a fifth demand on the part of the British minister. On the 23d of June following, while the Citcsaprake w'as near the capes of Virginia, Capt. Humjihreys of the British ship Leo- pard attempted to search her for deserters. Capt. Barron denied the right of search, but on being fired into, lowered his flag, 18 AMERICAN POLITICS. Humphrey's then took fcur men from the Chesapeake, three of whom had previously entered the British service, but were Americans by birth, and had been form- ally demanded by Washington. The act was a direct violation of the international law, for a nation's ship at sea like its ter- ritory is inviolable. The British govern- ment disavowed the act of its officer and offered apology and reparation, which were accepted. This event, _ however, strengthened Jefferson's rejection of- the Monroe-Pinckney treaty, and quickly stop- ped adverse political criticism at home. Foreign affairs remained, however, in a complicated state, owing to the wars be- tween England and the then successful Napoleon, but they in no wise shook the firm hold which Jefferson had upon the people, nor the prestige of his party. He stands in history as one of the best poli- ticians our land has ever seen, and then as now no one could successfully draw the line between the really able politician and the statesman. He was accepted as both. His administration closed on the 3d of March, 1809, when hq expressed great gratification at being able to retire to pri- vate life. Mr. Madison succeeded at a time when the country, through fears of foreign aggres- sion and violence, was exceedingly gloomy and despondent — a feeling not encouraged in the least by the statements of the Fed- eralists, some of whom then thought politi- cal criticism in hours of danger not un- patriotic. They described our agriculture as discouraged, our fisheries abandoned, our commerce restrained, our na\y dis- mantled, our revenues destroyed at a time when war was at any moment probable with either France, England or Spain. Madison, representing as he did the same party, from the first resolved to follow the policy of Jefferson, a fact about which there was no misunderstanding. He desired to avert war as long as possible with England, and sought by skilful diplomacy to avert the dangers presented by both Franco and England in their attitude with neutrals. England had declared that a man who was once a subject always remained a subject, and on this plea based her deter- mination to impress again into her service all deserters from her navy. France, be- cause of refusal to accede to claims equally at war with our rights, had authorized the seizure of all American vessels entering the ports of France. In Jlay, 1810, wheii the non-intercourse act had expired, Madi- son caused proposals to be made to both belligerents, that if e'ther would revoke its hostile edict, the non-intercourse act should be revived and enforced against the other nation. This act had been passed by the tenth Congress as a substitute for the em- bargo. France quickly accepted Madison's proposal, and received the benefits of the act, and the direct result was to increase the growing hostility of England. From this time forward the negotiations had more the character of a diplomatic content than an attempt to maintain peace. Eoth coun- tries were upon their mettle, and early in 1811, Mr. Pinckney, the American minister to Great Britain, was recalled, and a year later a formal declaration of war was made by the United States. Just prior to this the old issue, made by the Republicans against Hamilton's scheme for a National Bank, was revived by the fact that the charter of the bank ceased on the 4th of March, IHl, and an attempt was made to recharter it. A bill for this purpose was introduced into Con- gress, but on the 11th of January, 1811, it was indefinitely postponed in the House, by a vote of 65 to 64, while in the Senate it was rejected by the casting vote of the Vice-President, Geo. Clinton, on the 5th of February, 1811 — this notwithstarding its provisions had been framed or approved by Gallatin, the Secretary of the Trtasuiy. The Federalists were all strong advocates of the measure, audit was so strong that it divided some of the Democrats Avho en- joyed a loose rein in the contest so far as the administration was concerned, the President not specially caring for political quarrels at a time when war was threatened with a powerful foreign nation. The views of the Federalists on this question descend- ed to the Whigs some years later, and this fact led to the charges that the Whigs were but Federalists in disguise. The eleventh Congress continued the large .Democratic majority, as did the twelfth, which met on the 4th of Novem- ber, 1811, Henry Clay, then an ardent supporter of the policy of Madison, suc- ceeding to the House speakership. He had previously served two short sessions in the U. S. Senate, and havl already acquired a high reputation as an able and fluent debat- er. He preferred the House, at that period of life, believing his powers better calcu- lated to win fame in the more popular rep- resentative hall. Calhoun was also in the House at this time, and already noted for the boldness of his views and their asser- tion. In this Congress jealousies arose against the political power of Virginia, which had already named three of the four Presi- dents, each for two terms, and De Witt Clinton, the well-known Governor of New York, sought through these jealousies to create a division which would carry him into the Presidency. His efforts were for a time warmly seconded by several northern and southern states. A few months later the Legislature of New York formally I opened "the ball by nominating DeWitt I Clinton for the Presidency. An address THE JEFFERSON DEMOCRATS. 19 was issued by liis friends, August 17th, 1812, which has since become known as the Clin- tonian platform, and his followers were known as Clintouian Democrats. The ad- dress contained the first public protest against the nomination of Presidential can- didates by Congressional caucuses. There was likewise declared opposition to that " official regency which prescribed tenets of political faith." The efforts of particuhir states to monopolize the principal offices was denounced, as was the continuance of public men for long periods in office. Madison was nominated for a second term by a Congressional caucus held at Washington, in May, 1812. John Langdcn was nominated for Vice-President, but as he declined on account of age, Elbridge Cxerry of Massachusetts, took his place. In September of the same year a conven- tion of the opposition, representing eleven states, was held in the city of New York, which nominated De Witt Clinton, with Jared IngersoU for Vice-President. This was the first national convention, partisan in character, and the Federalists have the credit of originating and carrying out the idea. The election resulted in the success of Madison, who received 128 electoral votes to 89 for Clinton. Though factious strife had been some- what rife, less attention was paid to poli- tics than to the approaching war. There were new Democratic leaders in the lower House, and none were more prominent than Clay of Kentucky, Calhoun, Cheves and Lowndes, all of South Carolina. The policy of Jefferson in reducing the army and navy was now greatly deplored, and the defenceless condition in which it left the country was the partial cause, at least a stated cause of the factious feuds which fol- lowed. Madison sought to change this policy, and he did it at the earnest solici- tation of Clay, Calhoun and Lowndes, who were the recognized leaders of the war party. They had early determined that Madison should be directly identified with them, and before his second nomina- tion had won him over to their more de- cided views in favor of war with England. He had held back, hoping that diplomacy might avert a contest, but when once con- vinced that war was inevitable and even desirable under the circumstances, his official utterances were bold and free. In the June following the caucus which re- nominated him, he declared in a message that our flag was continually insulted on the high seas ; that the right of searching American vessels for British seamen was still in practice, and that thousands of American citizens had in this way been impressed in service on foreign ships ; that peacful efforts at adjustment of the diffi- culties had proved abortive, and that the British ministry and British emissaries had actually been intriguing for the dis- memberment of the Union. The act declaring war was approved by the President on the 18th of June, 1812, and is remarkably short and comprehen- sive. It was drawn by the attorney-general of the United States, William Piuckney, and is in the words following : — "An act declaring tear between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the dependencies thereof^ and the United States of America and their territories. " Be it enacted, tfrc. That war be, and the same is hereby declared to exist be- tween the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the dependencies thereof, and the United States of America, and their territories ; and that the President of the United States is hereby authorized to use the whole land and naval force of the United States to carry the same into effect, and to issue to private armed vessels of the United States commissions, or letters of marque and general reprisal, in such form as he shall think proper, and under the seal of the United States, against the vessels, goods, and effects, of the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the subjects thereof." This was a soul-stirring message, but it did not rally all the people as it should have done. Political jealousies were very great, and the frequent defeats of the Fed- eralists, while they tended to greatly reduce their numbers and weaken their power, seemed to strengthen their animosity, and they could see nothing good in any act of the administration. They held, especially in the New England states, that the war had been declaredly a political party simply, and not by the nation, though nearly all of the Middle, and all of the Southern and Western States, warmly supported it. Clay estimated that nine-tenths of the peo- ple were in favor of the war, and under the inspiration of his eloquence and the strong state papers of Madison, they doubtless were at first. Throughout they felt their political strength, and they just as heartily returned the bitterness manifested by those of the Federalists who opposed the war, branding them as enemies of the republic, and monarchists who preferred the reign of Britain. Four Federalist representatives in Con- gress went so far as to issue an address, opposing the war, the way in which it had been declared, and denouncing it as unjust. Some of the New England states refused the order of the President to support it with their militia, and Massachusetts sent peace memorials to Congress. A peace party was formed with a view to array the religious sentiment of the coun- try against the war, and societies with sim- ilar objects -vvere organized by the more radical of the Federalists. To such an ex- 20 AMERICAN POLITICS. treme was this opposition carried, that some of the citizens of New London, Conn., made a practice of giving information to the enemy, by means of blue lights, of the departure of American vessels. The Hartford Convention. This opposition finally culminated in the assembling of a convention at Hartford, at which delegates were present from all of the New England states. They sat for three weeks with closed doors, and issued an ad- dress which will be found in this volume in the book devoted to political platforms. It was charged by the Democrats that the real object of the convention was to nego- tiate a separate treaty of peace, on behalf of New England, with Great Britain, but tliis charge was as warmly denied. The exact truth has not since been discovered, the fears of the participants of threatened trials for treason, closing their mouths, if their professions were false. The treaty of Ghent, which was concluded on December 14th, 1814, prevented other action by the Hartford convention than that stated. It had assembled nine days before the treaty, which is as follows : Treaty of Gbent. This treaty was negotiated by the Eight Honorable James Lord Gambier, Henry ■Goulburn, Esq., and William Adams, Esq., on the part of Great Britain, and John Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry ■Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gal- latin, on behalf of the LTnited States. The treaty can be found on p. 218, vol. 8, of Little & Brown's Statutes at Large. The first article provided for the restora- tion of all archives, records, or property taken by either party from the other dur- ing the war. This article expressly pro- vides for the restoration of " slaves or other private property." The second article pro- vided for the cessation of hostilities and limitation of time of capture. The third article provided for the restoration of prisoners of war. The fourth article defined the boundary established by the treaty of 1783, and pro- vided for commissioners to mark the same. The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth articles established rules to govern the pro- ceedings of the commissioners. The ninth article bound the United States and His Britannic Majesty to end all hostilities with Indian tribes, with whom they were then respectively at war. The tenth article reads as follows : — " Whereas the trafiic in slaves is irrecon- cilable with the principles of humanity and justice ; and, whereas, both His Ma- jesty and the United States are desirous of continuing their efforts to promote its entire abolition, it is hereby agreed that both the contracting parties shall use their best en- deavors to accomplish so desirable an ob- ject." The eleventh and last article provides for binding effect of the treaty, upon the ex- change of ratifications. The position of New England in the war is explained somewhat by her exposed po- sition. Such of the militia as served en- dured great hardships, and they were al- most constantly called from their homes to meet new dangers. Distrusting their loy- alty, the general government had with- held all supplies from the militia of Massa- chusetts and Connecticut for the year 1814, and these States were forced to bear the burden of supporting them, at the same time contributing their quota of taxes to the general governments-hardships, by the way, not greater than those borne by Penn- sylvania and Ohio in the late war for the Union, nor half as hard as those borne by the border States at the same time. True, the coast toAvns of Massachusetts were sub- jected to constant assault from the British navy, and the people of these felt that they were defenceless. It was on their petition that the legislature of Massachusetts final- ly, by a vote of 226 to 67, adopted the report favoring the calling of the Hartford Con- vention. A circular was then addressed to the Governors of the other States, with a request that it be laid before their legisla- tures, inviting them to appoint delegates, and stating that the object was to deliber- ate ujjon the dangers to which the eastern section was exposed, "and to devise, if practicable, means of security and defence which might be consistent with the preser- vation of their resources from total ruin, and not repjignairf to their ohligatiomt as members of the Union. '^ The italicized por- tion shows that there was at least then no design of forming a separate treaty, or of promoting disunion. The legislatures of Connecticut and Rhode Island endorsed the call and sent delegates. Those of New Hampshire and Vermont did not, but de- legates were sent by local conventions. These delegates, it is hardly necessary to remark, were all members of the Federal party, and their suspected designs and ac- tion made the " Hartford Convention " a bye-word and reproach in the mouths of Democratic orators for years thereafter. It gave to the Democrats, as did the entire history of the war, the prestige of superior patriotism, and they profited by it as long as the memory of the war of 1812 was fresh. Indeed, directly after the war, all men seemed to keep in constant view the reluctance of the Federalists to support the war, and their almost open hostility to it in New England. Peace brought pros- THE CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUS. 21 perlty and plenty, but not oblivion of the old political issues, and this was the be- ginning of the end of the Federal party. Its decay thereafter was rapid and con- stant. The eleventh, twel ftli and thirteenth Con- gresses had continued Democratic. The fourteenth began Dec. 4, 1815, with the Democratic majority in the House increased to 30. Clay had taken part in negotiating the treaty, and on his return was again elected to the House, and was for the third time elected speaker. Though 65 Feder- alists had been elected, but 10 were given to Federal candidates for speaker, this party now showing a strong, and under the circumstances, a very natural desire to rub out party lines. The internal taxes and the postage rates were reduced. The Protectl-re Tariff, President Madison, in his message, had urged upon Congress a revision of the tariff, and pursuant to his recommendation what was at the time called a protective tariff was passed. Even Calhoun then supported it, while Clay proclaimed that protection must no longer be secondary to revenue, but of primary importance. The rates fixed, however, were insufficient, and many American manufactures were soon frustrated by excessive importations of for- eign manufactures. The position of Cal- houn and Lowndes, Avell known leaders from South Carolina, is explained by the fact that just then the proposal of a pro- tective tariff was popular in the south, in view of the heavy duties upon raw cotton which England then imposed. The Feder- alists in weakness changed their old posi- tion when they found the Democrats advo- cating a tariff, and the latter quoted and published quite extensively Alexander Hamilton's early report in favor of it. Webster, in the House at the time and a leading Federalist, was against the bill. The parties had exchanged positions on the question. Peace brought with it another exchange of positions. President Madison, although he had vetoed a bill to establish a National Bank in 1815, was now (in 1816) anxious for the establishment of such an institution. Clay had also changed bis views, and claimed that the experiences of the war showed the necessity for a national curren- cy. The bill met wdth strong opposition from a few Democrats and nearly all of the Federalists (the latter having changed po- sition on the question since 1811), but it passed and was signed by the President. A bill to promote internal improvements, advocated by Clay, was at first favored by Madison, but his mind changed and he ve- toed the measure — the first of its kind passed by Congress, The Democratic members of Congress, before the adjournment of the first session, Iield a caucu;* for the nomination of can- didates to succeed Madison and Gerry, It was understood that the retiring officers and their confidential friends favored James Monroe of Virginia. Their wishes were carried out, but not without a strug- gle, Wm. H. Crawford of Georgia receiv- ing 54 votes against 65 ihr Monroe. The Democrats opposed to Virginia's domina- tion in the politics of the country, made a second effort, and directed it against Monroe in the caucus. Aaron Burr denounced him as an improper and incompetent can- didate, and joined in the protest then made against any nomination by a Congressional caucus ; he succeeding in getting nineteen Democrats to stay out of the caucus. Later he advised renewed attempts to break down the Congressional caucus system, and before the nomination favored Andrew- Jackson as a means to that end. Daniel B. Tompkins was nominated by the Demo- crats for Vice-President. The Federalists named Eufus King of New York, but in the election which followed he received but 24 out of 217 electoral votes. The Federalists divided their votes for Vice- President. Monroe was inaugurated on the 14th of • March, 1817, the oath being administered by Chief Justice Marshall. The inaugural address was so liberal in its tone that it seemed to give satisfaction to men of all shades of political opinion. The questions which had arisen during the war no longer had any practical significance, while the people were anxious to give the disturbing ones which ante-dated at least a season of rest. _ Two great and opposing policies had previously obtained, and singularly enough each seemed exactly adapted to the times when they were triumphant. The Fed- eral power had been asserted in a govern- ment which had gathered renewed strength, during what was under the circumstances a great and perilous war, and the exi- gencies of that war in many instances compelled the Republicans or Democrats, or the Democratic-Republicans as some still called them, to concede points Avliich had theretofore been in sharp dispute, and they did it with that facility whi-ch only Americans can command in emergencies : yet as a party they kept firm hold of the desire to enlarge the scope of liberty in its application to the citizens, and just here kept their original landmark. It is not singular then that the adminis- tration of Monroe opened what has ever since been known in politics as the " Era of Good Feeling." Party differences ra- pidly subsided, and political serenity was the order of the day. Monroe made a tour of the States, with 'the direct object of in- specting fortifications and means of de- 22 AMERICAN POLITICS. fence, and in this way spread the good feeling, witliout seeming to liave any sucli object. He was everywhere favorably greeted by the people, and "received by delegations which in many instances were specially made up of all shades of oijinion. The Cabinet was comjjosed of men of rare ])olitical distinction, even in that day of great men. It was probably easier to be great then than now, just as it is easier to be a big political hero in the little State of Delaware than it is in the big States of New York or Pennsylvania. Yet these men Avere universally accepted as great without regard to their localities. All were Republicans or Democrats, with John Quincy Adams as Secretary of State, Wm. H. Crawford (Monroe's competitor for the nomination) as Secretary of the Treasury, John C. Calhoun as Secretary of War, William Wirt as Attorney General. All of these united with the President in the general desire to call a halt upon the political asperities which were then recog- nized as a public evil. On one occasion, during his tour, the citizens of Kennebunk and its vicinity, in Maine, having in their address alluded to the prospects of a politi- cal union among the people in support of the administration, the President said in reply : " You are pleased to express a confident hope that a spirit of mutual conciliation may be one of the blessings which may re- sult from my administration. This in- deed would be an eminent blessing, and I pray it may be realized. Nothing but union is Avaiting to make us a great people. The present time affords the happiest presage that this union is fast consun\ma- ting. It cannot be otherwise ; I daily sec greater proofs of it. The further I ad- vance in my progress in the country, the more I perceive that we are all Americans — that we compose but one family — that our republican institutions will be sup- ported and perpetuated by the united zeal and patriotism of all. Nothing could give me greater satisfaction than to behold a perfect union among ourselves — a union which is necessary to restore to social in- tercourse its former charms, and to render our happiness, as a nation, unmixed and comi:)lete. To promote this desirable re- sult requires no compromise of principle, and I promise to give it my continued at- tention, and my best endeavors." Even General Jackson, since held up to l^ublic view by historians as the most austere and " stalwart " of all politicians, caught the sweet infection of peace, and thus advised President Monroe : — "NoAV is the time to exterminate that monster, called party spirit. By select- ing [for cabinet officers] characters most conspicuous for their probity, virtue, capacity, and firmness, without regard to party, you will go far to, if not entirely, eradicate those feelings, which, on former occasions, threw so many obstacles in the way of government. The chief magis- trate of a great and powerful nation should never indulge in party feelings. His con- duct should be liberal and disinterested ; always bearing in mind, that he acts for the whole and not a part of the community." This advice had been given with a view to influence the appointment of a mixed political Cabinet, but Avhile Monroe pro- fessed to believe that a free government could exist Avithout political parties, he nevertheless sought to bring all of the peo- ple into one political fold, and that the Democratic. Yet he certainly and plainly sought to allay factions in his own party, and with this vieAV selected Crawford for the Treasury — the gentleman who had been so Avarmly supported in the nomina- ting struggle by the Clintonians and by all Avho objected to the predominating in- fluence of Virginia in national politics. Monroe, like his immediate predecessor, accepted and acted upon the doctrines of the ncAV school of Republicans as repre- sented by Clay and Calhoun, both of Avhom still favored a tariff, while Clay had be- come a Avarm advocate of a national sys- tem of internal improvements. These tAvo statesmen thus early difiered on some questions, but they were justly regarded as the leading friends and advisers of the ad- ministration, for to both still clung the patriotic recollections of the war Avhich they had so warmly advocated and sup- ported, and the issue of Avhich attested their Avisdom. Clay preferred to be called a Republican ; Calhoun preferred to be called a Democrat, and just then the terms Avere so often exchanged and mingled that history is at fault in the exact designation, Avhile tradition is colored by the bias of subsequent events and lives. Monroe's first inaugural leaned toward Clay's scheme of internal improvements, but questioned its constitutionality. Clay Avas next to Jefferson the most original of all our statesmen and politicians. He was prolific in measures, and almost resistless in their advocacy, From a political stand- jioint he Avas the most direct author of the Avar of 1812, for his advocacy mainly brought it to the issue of arms, which through him and Calhoun were substituted for diplomacy. And Calhoun then stood in broader view before the country than since. His sectional pride and bias had been rarely aroused, and like Clay he seemed. to act for the country as an en- tirety. Subsequent sectional issues changed the A'icAvs held of him by the people of both the North and South. We have said that Monroe leaned toward internal improvements, but he thought Congress was not clothed by the THE MONROE DOCTRINE. 23 Constitution with the power to authorize measures supporting it, and when the op- portunity wiui presented (May 4, 1822) he vetoed the bill " for the preservation and repair of the Cumberland road," and ac- companied the veto with a most elaborate message in which he discussed the consti- tutional aspects of the question. A plain majority of the friends of the administra- tion, under the leadership of Clay, sup- ported the theory of internal^ improye- ments innn the time the administratioii began, but wore reluctant to permit a divi- sion of the party on the question. Mississii)pi and Illinois were admitted to the Union during the " Era of ( lood Feeling," without serious political disturb- ance, while Alabama was authorized to furm a state constitution and government, and Arkansas was authorized as a separate territorial government from part of Mis- souri. In 1819 President Monroe made a tour through the Southern States to ex- amine their defenses and see and get ac- quainted with the people. From the first inauguration of Monroe up to 1819 party linesman hardly be said to have existed, but in the sixteenth session of Congress, which continued until May, 1820, new questions of national interest arose, pro- minent among which were additional pro- tective duties for our manufactures ; inter- nal improvements by the government ; acknowledgments of the independence of the South American States. Tlie Monroe Doctrine. Upon tne (juestion of recognizing the in- dependence of the South American States, the President made a record which has ever since been quoted and denominated *' The Monroe Doctrine." It is embodied in the following abstract of his seventh annual message, under date of Dec. 2d, 1823: " It was stated, at the commencement of the last session, that a great eftbrt was then making in Spain and Portugal to improve the condition of the people of those coun- tries, and that it appeared to be conduct- ed with extraordinary moderation. It need scarcely be remarked that the result ha? been, so far, very different from what wa.-! then anticipated. Of events in that quarter of the globe, with which we have so much intercourse, and from which we derive our origin, we have always been anxious and interested si^ectators. The citizens of the United States cherish sentiments the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their, fellow men on that side of the Atlantic. In the wars of the European powers, in matters relat- ing to themselves, we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy to do so. It is only when rights are in- vaded or seriously menaced, that we re- sent injuries, or make j^reparation for our defense. ^Vith the movements in this hemisphere we are of necessity more im- mediately connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political system of the allied powers is essentially different in this respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in their respective governments. And to the defense of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felici- ty, this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amica- ble relations existing between the United States and those powers, to declare, that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colo- nies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered, and shall not interfere. But vrith the governments who have declared their independence, and maintained it, and whose independence Ave have, on great consideration, and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any Euro- pean power, in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States. In the war between those new governments andSpain,^ we declared our neutrality at the time of tl.eir recognition, and to this we have ad- hered, and shall continue to adhere, pro- vided no change shall occur which, in the judgment of the competent authorities of this government, shall make a corres- ponding change on the part of the United States indispensable to their security. The late events in Spain and Portugal show that Europe is still unsettled. Of this important fact no stronger proof can be adduced, than that the allied powers should have thought it proper, on a prin- ciple satisfactory to themselves, to have interposed by force in the internal con- cerns of Spain. To what extent such in- terposition may be carried, on the same principle, is a question to which all infle- pendent powers, whose governments differ from theirs, are interested ; even those most remote, and surely none more so than the United States. Our policy in regard to Europe, which was adopted at an early stage of the wars which have so long agi- tated that quarter of the globe, neverthe- less remains the same, which is. not to in- terfere in the internal concerns of any I of its powers ; to consider the government, 24 AMERICAN POLITICS. de facto, as the legitimate government for us: to cultivate friendly relations with it, and to preserve those relations by a frank, firm, and manly policy ; meeting, in all instances, the just claims of every power, submitting to injuries from none. But in regard to these continents, circumstances are eminently and conspicuously different. It is impossible that the allied powers should extend their political system to any portion of either continent without endan- gering our i^eace and happiness ; nor can any one believe, that our southern breth- ren, if left to' themselves, would adopt it of their own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should behold such interposition, in any form, with indiffer- ence. If we look to the comparative strength and resources of Spain and those new governments, and their distance from each other, it must be obvious that she can never subdue them. It is still the true policy of the United States to leave the parties to themselves, in the hope that other powers will pursue the same course." The second election of Monroe, in 1820, was accomplished without a contest. Out of 231 electoral votes, but one was cast against him, and that for John Quincy Adams. Mr. Tompkins, the candidate for Vice-President, was only a little less for- tunate, there being 14 scattering votes against him. Neither party, if indeed there was a Federalist party left made any nominations. The Missouri Compromise. The second session of the 17th Con- gress opened on the 4th day of Manh, 1820, with James Monroe at the head of the Executive Department of the Govern- ment, and the Democratic party in the majority in both branches of the Federal Legislature. The Cabinet at that time Avas composed of the most brilliant minds of the country, indeed as most justly re- marked by Senator Thomas H. Benton in his published review of the events of that period, it would be difficult to find in any government, in any country, at any time, more talent and experience, more dignity and decorum, more purity of private life, a hirger mass of information, and more ad- diction to business, than was comprised in the list of celebrated names then consti- tuting the executive department of the government. The legislative department was equally impressive. The exciting and a2;itating question then pending before Congress was on the admission of the State of ]\Iissouri into the Federal Union, the sul)ject of the issue being the attempted tacking on of conditions restricting sla- very within her limits. She was admitted without conditions under the so-called compromise, which abolished it in certain portions of the then province of Louisiana. In this controversy, the compromise was sustained and carried entirely by the Dem- ocratic Senators and members from the Southern and slave-holding States aided and sanctioned by the Executive, and it was opposed by fifteen Senators from non- slave-holding States, who represented the opposite side on the political questions of the day. It passed the House by a close vote of 86 to 82. It has been seriously .ques- tioned since whether this act was constitu- tional. The real struggle was political, and for the balance of power. For a while it threatened the total overthrow of all po- litical parties upon principle, and the sub- stitution of geographical parties discrimi- nated by the slave line, and thus destroy- ing the proper action of the Federal gov- ernment, and leading to a separation of the States. It was a federal movement, ac- cruing to the benefit of that party, and at first carried all the Northern democracy in its current, giving the supremacy to their adversaries. When this effect Avas per- ceived, democrats from the northern non slave-holding States took early opportu- nity to prevent their own overthrow, by voting for the admission of the States on any terms, and thus prevent the eventual separation of the States in the establish- ment of geographical parties divided by a slavery and anti-slavery line. The year 1820 marked a period of finan- cial distress in the country, which soon became that of the government. The army was reduced, and the general expenses of the departments cut down, despite which measures of economy the Congress deemed it necessary to authorize the President to contract for a loan of five million dollars. Distress was the cry of the day ; relief the general demand, the chief demand com- ing from debtors to the Government for public lands purchased under the then credit system, this debt at that time ag- gregating twenty-three millions of dollars. The banks failed, money vanished, instal- ments were coming due which could not be met ; and the opening of Congress in November, 1820, was saluted by the arrival of memorials from all the new States pray- ing for the relief to the purchaser of the public lands. The President referred to it in his annual message of that year, and Congress passed a measure of relief by changing the system to cash sales instead of credit, reducing the price of the lands, and allowing present debtors to apply pay- ments already made to portions of the land purchased, relinquishing the remain- der. Applications were made at that time for the establishment of the pre- emptive system, but without effect ; the new States continued to press the question and finally prevailed, so that now the pre- emptive principle has become a fixed part THE TARIFF — AMERICAN SYSTEM. 25 of our land system, ponuanently incorpo- 1 rated with it, and to the equal advantage ' of the settler and the government. The session of 1820-21, is remarkable as being the first at which any proposition ! was made in Congress for the occupation [ and settlement of our territory on the Columbia river— the only part then owned by the United States on the Pacific coast. ' It was made by Dr. Floyd, a representa- tive from Virginia, who argued that the establishment of a civilized power on the American coast of the Pacific could not foil to produce great and wonderful bene- fits not only to our own country, but to the people of Eastern Asia,_ China and Japan on the opposite side of the Pacific Ocean, and that the valley of the Colum- bia niight become the granary of China and Japan. This movement suggested to Senator Benton, to move, for the first time publicly in the United States, a resolution to send ministers to the Oriental States. At this time treaties with IMexico and Spain were ratified, by which the United States acquired Florida and ceded Texas ; these treaties, together with the Missouri compromise — a measure contemporaneous with them — extinguished slave soil in all the United States territory west of the Mississippi, except in that portion which was to constitute the State of Arkansas ; and, including the extinction in Texas consequent upon its cession to a non-slave- holding power, constituted the largest ter- ritorial abolition of slavery that was ever up to that period effected by any political power of any nation. Theouts'.de view of the slave question in the United States, at this time, is that the extension of slavery was then arrested, circum ^cribed, and confined within narrow territorial limits, while free States were permitted an almost unlimited expansion. In 1822 a law passed Congress abolish- ing the Indian factory system, which had been established during Washington's ad- ministration, in 1796, under which the Government acted as a factor or agent for the sale of supplies to the Indians and the purchase of furs from them ; this branch of the service then belonged to the depart- ment of the Secretary of War. The abuses discovered in it led to the discontinuance of that system. The Presidential election of 1824 was approaching, the candidates were in the field, their respective friends active and busy, and popular topics for the canvass in earnest requisition. Congress was full of projects for different objects of internal improvement, mainly in roads and canals, and the friends of each candidate exerted themselves in rivalry of each other, under the supposition that their opinions would stand for those of their principals. An act for the preservation of the Cumberland Road,which passed both houses of Congress, met with a veto from President Monroe, accompanied by a state paper in exposi- tion of his opinions upon the whole sub- ject of Federal interference in matters of inter state commerce and roads and canals. He discussed the measure in all its bear- ings, and plainly showed it to be uncoii- stitutional. After stating the question, he examined it under every head of constitu- tional derivation under which its advo- cates claimed the power, and found it to be granted l>y no one of them and virtually prohibited by some of them. This was then and has since been considered to be the most elaborate and thoroughly con- sidered opinion upon the general question which has ever been delivered by any American statesman. This great state pa- per, delivered at a time when internal im- provement by the federal government had become an issue in the canvass for the Presidency and was ardently advocated by three of the candidates and qualified by two others, had an immense current in its power, carrying with it many of the old strict constructionists. The revision of the tariff, with a view to the protection of home industry, and to the establishment of what was then called " The American System," was one of the large subjects before Congress at the ses- sion of 1823-24, and was the regular com- mencement of the heated debates on that question which afterwards ripened into a serious difficulty between the federal gov- ernment and some of the Southern States. The presidential election being then de- pending, the subject became tinctured with party politics, in which so far as that in- gredient was concerned, and was not con- trolled by other considerations, members divided pretty much on the line which al- ways divided them on a question of con- structive powers. The protection of do- mestic industry not being among the pow- ers granted, was looked for in the inciden- tal ; and denied by the strict construction- ists to be a substantive term, to be exer- cised for the direct purpose of protection ; but admitted by all at that time and ever since the first tariff act of 1789, to be an incident to the revenue raising power, and an incident to be regarded in the exercise of that power. Revenue the object, pro- tection the incident, had been the rule in the earlier tariffs ; now that rule was sought to be reversed, and to make protection the object of the law, and revenue the inci- dent. Mr. Henry Clay was the leader in the proposed revision and the champion of the American system; he Avas ably sup- ported in the House by many able and effective speakers ; who based their argu- pient on the general- distress then alleged to be prevalent in the country. Mr. Daniel Webster Avas the leading speaker on the 26 AMERICAN POLITICS. other side, and disputed the universality of the distress which had been described ; and contested the propriety of high or pro- hibitory duties, in the present active and intelligent state of the world, to stimulate industry and manufacturing enterprise. The bill was carried by a close vote in both Houses. Though brought forward avowedly for the pi'otection of domestic manufactures, it was not entirely supported on that ground ; an increase of revenue being the motive with some, the public debt then being nearly ninety millions. An increased protection to the products of several States, as lead in Missouri and Illi- nois, hemp in Kentucky, iron in Pennsyl- vania, wool in Ohio and New York, com- manded many votes for the bill ; and the impending presidential election had its in- fluence in its favor. Two of the candidates, Messrs. Adams and Clay, voted for and avowedly supported General Jackson, who voted for the bill, was for it, as tending to give a home sup- ply of the articles necessary in time of war, and as raising revenue to pay the public debt ; ]\Ir. Crawford was opposed to it, and Mr. Calhoun had withdrawn as a Presiden- tial candidate. The Southern planting States were dissatisfied, believing that the new burdens upon imports which it im- posed, fell upon the producers of the ex- ports, and tended to enrich one section of the Union at the expense of another. The attack and support of the bill took much of a sectional aspect; Virginia, the two Carolinas, Georgia, and some others, being unanimous against it. Pennsylva- nia, New York, Ohio, and Kentucky being unanimous for it. Massachusetts, which up to this time had no small influence in commerce, voted, with all, except one member, against it. With this sectional aspect, a tarifl" for protection, also began to assume a political aspect, being taken un- der the care of the party, afterwards de- nominated as Whig. The bill was ap- proved by President Monroe ; a proof that that carefiil and strict constructionist of the constitution did not consider it as de- prived of its revenue character by the de- gree of protection which it extended. A suljject which at the present time is exciting much criticism, viz: proposed amendments to the.constitution relative to the election of President and Vice-Presi- dent, had its origin in movements in that direction taken by leading Democrats dur- ing the campaign of 1824. The electoral college has never been since the early elec- tions, an indejiendent body free to select a President and Vice-President; though in theory they have been vested with such powers, in practice they have no such prac- tical power over the elections, and have had none since their institution. In every case the elector has been an instrument, bound to obey a particular impulsion, and disobedience to which would be attended with infamy, and with every penalty which public indignation could inflict. From the beginning they have stood pledged to vote for the candidate indicated by the public will ; and have proved not only to be use- less, but an inconvenient intervention be- tween the people and the object of their choice. Mr. McDuflie in the Plouse of Representatives and Mr. Benton in the Senate, proposed amendments; the mode of taking the direct vote to be in districts, and the persons receiving the greatest number of votes for President or Vice- President in any district, to count one vote for such office respectively which is noth- ing but substituting the candidates them- seh-es for their electoral representatives. In the election of 1824 four candidates were before the people for the office of President, General Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay. None of them received a majority of the 261 electoral votes, and the election devolved upon the House of Eepresenta- tives. John C. Calhoun had a majority of the electoral votes for the office of Vice- President, and was elected. Mr. Adams was elected President by the House of Eepresentatives, although General Jack- son was the choice of the people, having received the greatest number of votes at the general election. The election of Mr. Adams was perfectly constitutional, and as such fully submitted to by the people ; but it was a violation of the demos kruico prin- ciple ; and that violation was equally re- buked. All the representatives who voted against the will of their constituents, lost their favor, and disappeared from public life. The representation in the House of Representatives was largely changed at the first general election, and presented ' a full opposition to the new President. Mr. Adams himself was injured by it, and at the ensuing presidential election was beat- en by General Jackson more than two to one. , Mr. Clay, who took the lead in the House for Mr. Adams, and afterwards took upon himself the mission of reconciling the people to his election in a series of public speeches, was himself crippled in the effort, lost his place in the democratic par- ty, and joined the Whigs (then called the national republicans). The democratic principle was victor over the theory of the Constitution, and beneficial results ensued. It vindicated the people in their right and their power. It re-established parties upon the basis of principle, and drew anew party lines, then almost obliterated under the fusion of parties during the " era of good feeling," and the efforts of leading men to make personal parties for them- selves. It showed the conservative power TENURE OF OFFICE — ELIG IBILITY. 27 of our goverment to lie in the people, more than in its constituted authorities. It showed that they were capable of exercis- ing the i'unction of self-government, and lastly, it assumed the supremacy of the de- mocracy for a long time, and until lost by causes to be referred to hereafter. The Presidential election of lS24is remarkable under another aspect — its rc-nlts cautioned all public men against future attempts to govern presidential elections in the House of Representatives ; and it put an end to the practice of caucus nominations for the Presidency by members of Congress. This mode of concentrating public opinion be- gan to be practiced as the eminent men of the Revolution, to whom public opinion awarded a preference, were passing away, and when new men, of more equal preten- sions, were coming upon the stage. It was tried several times with success and general approbation, because public sentiment was followed — not led — by the caucus. It was attempted in 1824 and failed ; all the op- ponents of Mr. Crawford, by their joint efforts, succeeded, and justly in the fact though not in the motive, in rendering these Congress caucus nominations odious to the people, and broke them down. They were dropjjed, and a different mode adopted — that of party nominations by conventions of delegates from the States. The administration of Mr. Adams com- menced with his inaugural address, in which the chief topic was that of internal national improvement by the federal gov • ernment. This declared policy of the ad- ministration furnished a ground of opposi- tion against Mr. AdamS, and went to the reconstruction of parties on the old line of strict, or latitudinous, construction of the Constitution. It was clear from the begin- ning that the new administration was to have a settled and strong opposition, and that founded in principles of government — the same principles, under different forms, which had discriminated parties at the commencement of the federal govern- ment. Men of the old school — survivors of the contest of the Adams and Jefferson times, with some exceptions, divided ac- cordingly — the federalists going for Mr. Adams, the republicans against him, with the mass of the younger generation. The Senate by a decided majority, and the House by a strong minority, were opposed to the policy of the new President. In 1826 occurred the fiimous debates in the Senate and the House, on the proposed Congress of American States, to contract alliances to guard against and prevent the establishment of any future European co- lony within its borders. The mission though sanctioned was never acted upon or carried out. It was authorized by very nearly a party vote, the democracy as a party being against it The President, Mr, Adams, stated the objects of the Congress to be as follows: "An agreement between all the parties represented at the meeting, that each will guard, by its own means, against the establishment of any future Euroi)ean colony within its own borders, may be advisable. This was, more than two years since, announced by my prede- cessor to the world, as a principle result- ing from the emancipation of both t!ie American continents. It may be so de- veloped to the new southern nations, that they may feel it as an essential appendage to their independence." Mr. Adams had been a member of Mr. Monroe's cabinet, filling the department from which the doctrine would emanate. The enunciation by him as above of this " Monroe Doctrine," as it is called, is very different from what it has of late been sup- posed to be, as binding the United States to guard all the territory of the New World from European colonization. The mes- sage above quoted was written at a time when the doctrine as enunciated by the former President through the then Secre- tary Avas fresh in the mind of the latter, and when he himself in a communication to the American Senate was laying it down for the adoption of all the American na- tions in a general congress of their depu- ties. Accordino; to President Adams, this " Monroe Doctrine" (according to which it has been of late believed that the United States were to stand guard over the two Americas, and repulse all intrusive colo- nists from their shores), was entirely con- fined to our own borders; that it was only proposed to get the other States of the New World to agree that, each for itself, and by its own means, should guard its own terri- tories ; and, consequently, that the United States, so far from extending gratuitous protection to the territories of other States, would neither give, nor receive, aid in any such enterprise, but that each should use its own means, Avithin its own borders, for its own exemption from European colonial intrusion. No que-tion in its day excited more in- temperate discussion, excitement, and feel- ing between the Executive and the Senate, and none died out so quickly, than this, relative to the proposed congress of Ameri- can nations. The chief advantage to be derived from its retrospect — and it is a real one — is a view of the firmness with Avhich the minority maintained the old policy of the United States, to avoid entangling al- liances and interference with the affairs of other nations; and the exposition, by one so competent as Mr, Adams, of the true scope and meaning of the Monroe doc- trine. At the session of 1825-26 attempt was again made to procure an amendment to ■ the Constitution, 'a relation to the mode 28 AMERICAN POLITICS. of election of President and Vice-Presi dent, so as to do away with all intermedi' ate agencies, and give the election to the direct vote of the people. In the Senate the matter was referred to a committee who reported amendments dispensing with electors, providing for districts equal in number to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State was entitled in Congress, and obviating all excuses for caucuses and conventions to concentrate public opinion by providing that in the event of no one receiving a ma- jority of the whole number of district votes cast, that a second election should be held limited to the two persons receiving the highest number of votes; and in case of an equal division of votes on the second elec- tion then the House of Representatives shall choose one of them for President, as is prescribed by the Constitution. The idea being that the first election, if not re- sulting in any candidate receiving a ma- jority, should stand for a popular nomina- tion — a nomination by the people them- selves, out of which the election is almost sure to be made on the second trial. The same plan was suggested for choosing a Vice-President, except that the Senate was to finally elect, in case of failure to choose at first and second elections. The amend- ments did not receive the requisite support of two-thirds of either the Senate or the House. This movement was not of a par- tisan character ; it was equally supported and opposed respectively by Senators and Representatives of both parties. Substan- tially the same plan was recommended by President, Jackson in his first annual mes- sage to Congress, December 8, 1829. It is interesting to note that at this Ses- sion of 1825 and '26, attempt was made by the Democrats to pass a tenure of ofllce bill, as applicable to government em- ployees and office-holders ; it provided " that in all nominations made by the President to the Senate, to fill vacancies occasioned by an exercise of the Presi- dent's power to remove from office, the fact of the removal shall be stated to the Senate at the same time that the nomina- tion is made, with a statement of the rea- sons for which such officer may have been removed." It was also sought at the same time to amend the Constitution to prohibit the appointment of any member of Con- gress to any federal office of trust or profit, during the period for which he was elec- ted ; the design being to make the mem- bers wholly independent of the Executive, and not subservient to the latter, and in- capable of receiving favors in the form of bestowals of official patronage. The tariff of 1828 is an era in our politi- cal legislation ; from it . the doctrine of " nullification " originated, and from that date began a serious division between the Xorth and the South, This tariff law was projected in the interest of the woolen manufacturers, but ended by including all manufacturing interests. The passage of this measure was brought about not because it was favored by a majority, but because of political exigencies. In the then ap- proaching presidential election, Mr. Adams, who was in favor of the " Ameri- can System," supported by Mr. Clay (his Secretary of State) was oj^posed by General Jackson. This tariff was made an admin- istration measure, and became an issue in the canvass. The New England States, which had formerly favored free trade, on account of their commercial interests, changed their policy, and, led by Mr. Webster, became advocates of the protec- tive system. The question of protective tariff had now not only become political, but sectional. The Southern States as a section, were arrayed against the system, though prior to 1816 had favored 'it, not merely as an incident to revenue, but as a substantive object. In fact these tariff?" bills, each exceeding the other in its de- gree of protection, had become a regular appendage of our presidential elections — carrying round in every cycle of four years, with that returning event ; starting in 1816 and followed up in 1820-2-4, and now in 1828, Avith successive augmentations of duties ; the last being often pushed as a party measure, and with the visible pur- pose of influencing the presidential elec- tion. General Jackson Avas elected, hav- ing received 178 electoral votes to 83 re- ceived by John Quincy Adams. Mr. Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, who was on the ticket with Mr. Adams, was de- feated for the office of Vice-President, and John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, was elected to that office. The election of General Jackson was a triumph of democratic principle, and an assertion of the people's right to govern themselves. That principle had been vio- lated in the presidential election in the House of Representatives in the session of 1824-25; and the sanction, or rebuke, of that violation was a leading question in the whole canvass. It was also a triumph over the high protective policy, and the federal internal improvement policy, and the latitudinous construction of the Con- stitution ; and of the democracy over the federalists, then called national republi- cans ; and was the re-establishment of par- ties on principle, according to the land- marks of the early years of the govern- ment. For although Mr. Adams had re- ceived confidence and office from Mr.. Madison and Mr. ]\Ionroe, and had classed with the democratic party during the " era of good feeling," yet he had previously been federal ; and on the re-establishment of old party lines which began to take place NULLIFICATION— DEMOCRATS AND FEDERALS. 29 after the election of Mr. Adams in the House of Representatives, his affinities and policy became those of his former party ; and as a party, with many indivi- dual exceptions, they became his suppor- ters and his strength. General Jackson, on the contrary, had always been demo- cratic, so classing when he was a Senator in Congress under the administration of the first Mr. Adams ; and when party lines were most straightly drawn, and upon prin- ciple, and as such now receiving the support of men and States which took this political position at that time, and maintained it for years afterwards ; among the latter, notably the Sates of Virginia and Pennsylvania. The shi)rt sessitni of 1829-30 was ren- dered famous by the long and earnest de- l)ates in the Senate on the doctrine of nul- lification, as it was then called. It started by a resolution of inquiry introduced by Mr. Foot of Connecticut ; it was united with a proposition to limit the sales of the public land^ to those then in the market — to su-ipend the surveys of the public lands — and to abolish the office of Surveyor- General. The eifect of such a resolution, if sanctioned upon inquiry and carried into legislative effect, would have been to check emigration to the new States in the West, and to check the growth and settlement of these States and Territories. It was warmly opposed by Western members. The de- bate spread and took an acrimonious turn, and sectional, imputing to the quarter of the Union from which it came an old and early policy to check the growth of the West at the outset by proposing to limit the sale of the Western lands, by selling no tract in advance until all in the rear was sold out ; and during the debate Mr. Webster referred to the famous ordinance of 1787 for the government of the north- Avestern territory, and especially the anti- slavery clause which it contained. Closely connected with this subject to which Mr. Webster's remarks, during the debate, related, was another which excited some warm discussion — the topic of slavery — and the effect of its existence or non- existence in different States. Kentucky and Ohio were taken for examples, and the superior improvement and popula- tion of Ohio were attributed to its exemp- tion from the evils of slavery. This was an excitable subject, and the more so be- cause the wounds of the Missouri contro- versy in which the North was the undis- puted aggressor, were still tender. Mr. Hayne from South Carolina answered with warmth and resented as a reflection upon the Slave States this disadvantageous com- parison. Mr. Benton of Missouri followed on the same side, and in the course of his remarks said, " I regard with admiration, that is to say, witli wonder, the sublime morality of those who cannot bear the ab- stract contemplation of slavery, at the dis- tance of five hundred or a thcmsand miles offi" This allusion to the Missouri con- troversy, and invective against the free States for their part in it, by Messrs. Hayne and Benton, brought a reply from Mr. AVebster, showing what their c(jnduct had been at the first introduction of the slavery topic in the Congress of the United States, and that they totally refused to in- terfere between master and slave in any way whatever. But the topic which be- came the leading feature of the whole de- bate, and gave it an interest which cannot die, was that of nullification — the assumed right of a State to annul an act of Congress — then first broached in the Senate — and in the discussion of which Mr. Webster and Mr. Hayne were the chamj^ion speakers on opposite sides — the latter voicing the sentiments of the Vice-Presi- dent, Mr. Calhoun. This turn in the de- bate was brought about, by Mr. Hayne having made allusion to the course of New England during the war of 1812, and espe- cially to the assemblage known as the Hartford Convention, and to which designs unfriendly to the Union had been at- tributed. This gave Mr. Webster an op- portunity to retaliate, and he referred to the public meetings which had just then taken place in South Carolina on the sub- ject of the tariff, and at which resolves were passed, and propositions adopted sig- nificant of resisistance to the act; and con- sequently of disloyalty to the Union. He drew Mr. Hayne into their defence and into an avowal of what has since obtained the current name of " XidUfication." He said, " I understand the honorable gentle- man from South Carolina to maintain, that it is a right of the State Legislature to inter- fere, whenever, in their judgment, this government transcends its constitutional limits, and to arrest the operation of its laws, * * * * that the States may law- fully decide for themselves, find each State Ibr itself, whether, in a given case, the act of the general government transcends its powers, * * * * that if the exigency of the case, in the opinion of any State government require it, such State gov- ernment may, by its own sovereign au- thority, annul an act of the general -gov- ernment, which it deems plainly and pal- pably unconstitutional." Mr. Hayne was evidently unpreipared to admit, or fully deny, the propositions as so laid down, but contented himself with stating the words of the Virginia Resolution of 1798, as fol- lows : " That this assembly doth explicitly and perem]>torily declare, that it views the powers of the federal government as result- ing from the compact, to which the States are parties, as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting that compact, as no farther valid than they 50 AMERICAN POLITICS. are autliorizcd by the grants enumerated in that compact, and that, in case of a de- liberate, palpable and dangerous exercise of other jjowers, not granted by the said compact, the States who are parties thereto have the right, and are in duty bound, to interpose, for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining, within their re- s]>ective limits, the authorities, rights, and liberties appertaining to them." This resolution came to be understood by Mr. Hayne and others on that side of the debate, in the same sense that Mr. Webster stated, as above, he understood the gentleman from the South to interpret it. On the other side of the question, he argued that the doctrine had no Ibundation either in the Constitution, or on the Vir- ginia resolutions — that the Constitution makes the federal government act upon citizens within the States, and not upon the States themselves, as in the old con- federation : that within their Constitution- al limits the laws of Congress were supreme — and that it was treasonable to resist them with force : and that the question of their constitutionality was to be decided by the Supreme Court : with respect to the Virginia resolutions, on which Mr. Hayne relied, Mr. Webster disputed the interpre- tation put upon them — claimed for them an innocent and justifiable meaning — and exempted Mr. Madison from the suspicion of having framed a resolution asserting the right of a State legislature to annul an Act of Congress, and thereby putting it in the power of one State to destroy a form of government which he had just labored so hard to establish. Mr. Hayne on his part gave (as the prac- tical part of his doctrine) the pledge of for- cible resistance to any attempt to enforce unconstitutional laws. He said, " The gentleman has called upon us to carry out our scheme practically. Now, sir, if I am correct in my view of this matter, then it follows, of course, that the right of a State being established, the federal government is bound to acquiesce in a solemn decision of a State, acting in its sovereign capacity, at least so far as to make an appeal to the people for an amendment to the Constitu- tion. This solemn decision of a State binds the federal government, under the highest constitutional obligation, not to resort to any means of coercion against the citizens of the dissenting State. * * * Suppose Congress should pass an agrarian law, or a law emancipating our slaves, or should commit any other gross violation of our constitutional rights, will any gentlemen contend that the decision of every branch of the federal government, in favor of such laws, could prevent the States from de- claring them null and void, and protecting their citizens from their operation ? * * Let me assure the gentlemen that, when- ever any attempt shall be made from any quarter, to enforce unconstitutional laws, clearly violating our essential rights, our leaders (whoever they may be) will not be found reading black letter from the musty pages of old hxw books. They will look to the Constitution, and when called upon by the sovereign authority of the State, to preserve and protect the rights secured to them by the charter of their liberties, they will succeed in defending them, or ' jierish in the last ditch.' " These words of Mr. Hayne seem almost prophetic in view of the events of thirty years later. No one then believed in any- thing serious in the new interpretation given to the Virginia resolutions — nor in anything practical from nullification — nor in forcible resistance to the tariff laws from South Carolina — nor in any scheme of dis- union. ]\Ir. Webster's closing reply was a fine piece of rhetoric, delivered in an elaborate and artistic style, and in an apparent spirit of deep seriousness. He concluded thus — " When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the last time, the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dis- figured fragments of a once glorious Union ; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent ; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood. Let their last feeble and lingering glance, rather, behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now known and honored through- out the earth, still fiill high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their ori- ginal lustre, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as, What is all this worth? nor those other words of delusion and folly. Liberty first and Union afterwards ; but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing in all its ample folds, as they fioat over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true Ameri- can heart — Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable ! " President Jackson in his first annual message to Congress called attention to the fact of exj^iration in 1836 of the charter of incorporation granted by the Federal government to a moneyed institution called The Bank of the United States, which was originally designed to assist the govern ment in establishing and maintaining a uniform and sound currency. He seriously doubted the constitutionality and expedi- ency of the law creating the bank, and was opposed to a renewal of the charter. His view of the matter was that if such an institution was deemed a necessity it should be made a national one, in the sense of being founded on the credit of the govern- ment and its revenues, and not a corpora- THE UNITED STATES BANK, 31 tion independent from and not a part of the government. The J louse of llepre- sentativcs was strongly in favor of the re- newal of the charter, and several of it-i committees made elaborate, ample and argumeutativo reports upon the subj-jct. These reports were the subject of news- paper and pamphlet publication; and lauded for their power and excellence, and triuniphaut refutation of all the President's opinions. Thus was the " war of the Bank" commenced at once in Congress, and in the public pre^s; and openly at the instance of the Bank itself, which, forgetting its po-iition as an institution of the govern- ment, for the convenience of the govern- ment, set itself up as a. power, and strug- gled for continued existence, by demand for renewal of its charter. It allied itself at the same time to the political power opposed to the President, joined in all their schemes of protective tariff, and national internal improvement, and became the head of the American system. Its moneyed and political power, numerous interested affiliations, and control over other banks and fiscal institutions, was truly great and extensive, and a power which was exer- cised and made to be felt during the strug- gle to such a degree that it threatened a danger to the country and the government almost amounting to a national calamity The subject of renewal of the charter was agitated at every succeeding session of Congress down to 1836, and many able speeches made for and against it. In the month of December, 1831, the National Republicans, as the party was then called which afterward took the name of " whig," held its convention in Balti more, and nominated candidates for Presi- dent and Vice-President, to be voted for at the election in the autumn of the ensu- ing year. Henry Clay was the candidate for the ofSce of President, and John Ser- geant for that of Vice-President. The platform or address to the people presented the party issues which were to be settled at the ensuing election, the chief subjects being the tariff, internal improvement, re- moval of the Cherokee Indians, and the renewal of the United States Bank charter. Thus the bank question was fully presented as an issue in the election by that part of its friends who classed politically against President Jackson. But it had also Demo- cratic friends without whose aid the re- charter could not be got through Congress, and they labored assiduously for it. The first Bank of the United States, chartered in 1791, was a federal measure, favored by General Hamilton, opposed by Mr. Jeffer- son, IMr. ]\Iadison, and the Republican party; and became a great landmark of party, not merely for the bank itself, but for the latitudinarian construction of the constitution in which it wa.s founded, and the precedent it established that Congress might in its discretion do what it pleased, under the ])lea of being " iicccssary'' to carry into effect some granted power. The non-renewal of the charter in 1811, wji-s the act of the Republican party, then in possession of the goveiiunent, and taking the opportunity to terminate, upon its own limitation, the existence of an institution whose creation they had not been able to prevent. The charter of the second bank, in 1816, was the act of the Republican ])arty, and to aid them in the administra- tion of the government, and, as such, was opposed by tlie Federal party — not seeming then to understand that, by its instincts, a great moneyed corporation was in sym- pathy with their own party, and would soon'be with it in action — which the bank soon was — and now struggled for a con- tinuation of its existence under the lead of those who had opposed its creation and against the party which effected it. Mr. Webster was a Federal leader on both occasions — against the charter in 1816 ; for the re-charter in 1832. The bill passed the Senate after a long and arduous con- test; and afterwards passed the Plouse, quickly and with little or no contest at all. It was sent to the President, and vetoed by him July 10, 1832 ; the message stating his objections being an elaborate review of the subject ; the veto being based mainly on the unconstitutionality of the measure. The veto was sustained. Following this the President after the adjournment re- moved from the bank the government deposits, and referred to that tact in his next annual message on the second day of December, 1833, at the opening of the first session of the twenty-third Congress. Ac- companying it was the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, Hon. Roger B. Taney, afterwards Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, giv- ing the reasons of the government for the withdrawal of the public funds. Long and bitter was the contest between the Presi- dent on the one side and the Bank and its supporters in the Senate on the other side. The conduct of the Bank produced dis- tress throughout the country, and was so intended to coerce the President. Distress petitions flooded Congress, and the Senate even passed resolutions of censure of the President. The latter, hovrever, held firm in his position. A committee of investi- gatifm was appointed by the House of Representatives to inquire into the causes of the commercial embarrassment and the public distress complained of in the numerous distress memorials presented to the two Houses during the session; and whether the Bank had been instrumental, ' through its management of money, in pro- I ducing the distress and embarrassment of I which so much complaint was made ; to 32 AMERICAN POLITICS. inquire whether the charter of the Bank had been violated, and what corruptions and abuses, if any, existed in its manage- ment ; and to inquire whether the Bank had used its corporate jjower or money to control the press, to interpose in politics, or to influence elections. The committee were granted ample powers for the execu- tion of these inquiries. It was treated with disdain and contempt by the Bank management ; refused access to the books and papers, and the directors and president refused to be sworn and testify. The committee at the next session made report of their proceedings, and asked for war- rants to be issued against the managers to bring them before the Bar of the House to answer for contempt ; but the friends of the Bank in the House were able to check the proceedings and prevent action being taken. In the Senate, the President was sought to be i^unished by a declination by that body to confirm the President's nomination of the four government direc- tors of the Bank, who had served the previous year ; and their re-nomination after that rejection again met with a similar fate. In like manner his re-nomination of Eoger B. Taney to be Secretary of the Treasury was rejected, for the action of the latter in his support of the President and the removal of the public deposits. The Bank had lost much ground in the public estimation by resisting the investi- gation ordered and attempted by the House of Eepresentatives, and in consequence the Finance Committee of the Senate made an investigation, with so weak an attempt to varnish over the affairs and acts of the corporation that the odious appellation of " white-washing committee " was fastened upon it. The downfall of the Bank speedily followed ; it soon afterwards be- came a total financial wreck, and its assets and property were seized on executions. With its financial failure it vanished from public view, and public interest in it and concern with it died out. About the beginning of March, 1831, a pamphlet was issued in Washington, by Mr. John C. Calhoun, the Vice-President, and addressed to the people of the United States, explaining the cause of a difference which had taken place between himself and the President, General Jackson, in- stigated as the pamphlet alleged, by Mr. Van Buren, and intended to inake trouble between the first and second officers of the government, and to effect the political destruction of himself (Mr. Calhoun) for the benefit of the contriver of the quarrel, the then Secretary of State, and indicated as a candidate for the presidential succession upon the termination of Jackson's term. The difl'erences grew out of certain charges against General Jackson respecting his con- duct during the Seminole war which oc- curred in the administration of President Monroe. The President justified himself in published correspondence, but the inevita- ble result followed — a rupture between the President and Vice-President — which was quickly followed by a breaking up and reconstructing the Cabinet. Some of its members classed as the political friends of Mr. Calhoun, and could hardly be ex- pected to remain as ministers to the Presi- dent. Mr. Van Buren resigned ; a new Cabinet was appointed and confirmed. This change in the Cabinet made a great figure in the party politics of the day, and filled all the opposition newspapers, and had many sinister reasons assigned to it — all to the prejudice of General Jackson and Mr. Van Buren. It is interesting to note here that during the administration of President Jackson, — in the year 1833, — the Congress of the United States, as the consequence of the earnest efforts in that behalf, of Col. E. M. Johnson, of Kentucky, aided by the re- commendation and support of the Presi- dent, passed the first laws, abolishing im- prisonment for debt, under process from the Courts of the United States : the only extent to which an act of Congress could go, by force of its enactments ; but by force of examj^le and influence, has led to the cessation of the practice of imprisoning debtors, in all, or nearly all, of the States and Territories of the Union ; and without the evil consequences which had been dreaded from the loss of this remedy over the person. The act was a total abolition of the jiractice, leaving in full force all the re- medies against fraudulent evasions of debt. The American system, and especially its prominent feature of a high protective tariff" was put in issue, in the Presidential canvass of 1832; and the friends of that system labored diligently in Congress in presenting its best points to the greatest advantage ; and staking its fate upon the issue of the election. It was lost; not only by the result of the main contest, but by that of the congressional election which took place siniullaneously with it. All the States dissatisfied with that system, were satisfied with the view of its speedy and regular extinction, under the legislation of the approaching session of Congress, ex- cepting only South Carolina. She has held aloof fi-om the Presidential contest, and cast her electoral votes for persons who were not candidates — doing nothing to aid the election of General Jackson, with whom her interests were apparently identified. On the 24th November, 1832, two weeks after the election which de- cided the fate of the tariff, that State issued an "Ordinance to nullify- certain acts of the Congress of the United States, purjDorting to be laws laying duties and imposts on the importation THE PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE. 33 of foreign commodities." It declared th:it the Congress hud exceeded its constitu- tional powers in imposing high and ex- cessive duties on the theory of "protec- tion," had unjustly discriminated in favor of one class or employmoiit, at the expense and to the injury and oj)pression of other classes and individuals; that said laws were in consequence not binding on the State and its citizens; and declaring its right and purpose to enact laws to prevent the enforcement and arrest the operation of said acts and parts of the acts of the Congress of the United States within the limits of that State after the first day of Febru iry following. This ordinance placed the S;ate in the attitude of forcible resist- ance to the laws of the United States, to take effect on the first day of February next ensuing — a date prior to the meeting of the next Congress, which the country naturally expected would take some action in reference to the tariff laws complained of. The ordinance further provided that if, in the meantime, any attempt was made by the federal government to enforce the obnoxious laws, except through the tribu- nals, all the officers of which were sworn against them, the fact of such attempt was to terminate the continuance of South Car- olina in the Union— to absolve heir from all connection with the federal government — and to establish her as a separate govern- ment, wholly unconnected with the United States or any State. The ordinance of nullification was certified by the Governor of South Carolina to the President of the United States, and reached him in Decem- ber of the same year ; in consequence of which he immediately issued a proclama- tion, exhorting the people of South Caro- lina to obey the laws of Congress; point- ing out and explaining the illegality of the procedure ; stating clearly and distinct- ly his firm determination to enforce the laws as' became him as Executive, even by resort to force if necessary. As a state paper, it is important as it contains the views of General Jackson regarding the nature and character of our federal gov- ernment, expressed in the following lan- guage: "The people of the United States formed the constitution, acting through the State Legislatures in making the com- pact, to meet and discuss its provisions, and acting in separate conventions when they ratified those provisions; but, the terms used in the constitution show it to be a government in which the people of all the States collectively are represented. We are one people in the choice of Presi- dent and Vice-President. Here the States have no other agency than to direct the mode in which the votes shall be given. * * The people, then, and not the States, are represented in the executive branch, * * * In the House of Representatives the members are all representatives of the United States, not representatives of the particular States from which they come. They are paid by the United States, not by the State, nor are they accountable to it for any act done in the performance of their legislative functions. * 4f * * * The constitution of the United States, then, forms a government, not a league; and whether it be formed by a compact between the States, or in any other man- ner, its character is the same. It is a gov- ernment in which all the people are repre- sented, which operates directly on the people individually, not upon the States— they retained all the power they did not grant. But each State, having expressly parted Avith so many powers as to consti- tute, jointly with the other States, a single nation, cannot, from that period, possess any right to secede, because such secession does not break a league, but destroys the unity of the nation, and any injury to that unity, is not only a breach which could result from the contravention of a com- pact, but it is an offence against the whole Union. To say that any State may at pleasure secede from the Union, is to say that the United States are not a nation"; because it would be a solecism to contend that any part of a nation might dissolve its connection with the other parts, to their injury or ruin, without committing any offence." Without calling on Congress for extra- ordinary powers, the President in his annual message, merely adverted to the attitude of the State, and proceeded to meet the exigency by the exercise of the powers he already possessed. The pro- ceedings in South Carolina not ceasing, and taking daily a more aggravated form iii the organization of troops, the collec- tion of arms and of munitions of war, and in declarations hostile to the Union, he found it necessary early in January to re- port the facts to Congress in a special message, and ask for extraordinary powers. Bills for the reduction of the tariff were early in the Session introduced into both houses, while at the same time the Presi- dent, though not relaxing his efforts to- wards a peaceful settlement of the diffi- culty, made steady preparations for enforc- ing the law. The result of the bills offered in the two Houses of Congress, was the passage of Mr. Clay's " compromise " Inll on the 12th of February 1833, which radi- cally changed the whole tariff system. The President in his message on the South Carolina proceedings had recom- mended to Congress the revival of some acts, heretofore "in force, to enable him to execute the laws in that State ; and the Senate's committee on the judiciary had reported a bill accordingly early in the 34 AMERICAN POLITICS. session. It was immediately assailed by several members as violent and unconsti- tutional, tending to civil war, and de- nounced as " the bloody bill " — the " force bill," &c. The bill was vindicated in the Senate, by its author, who showed that it contained no novel principle; was sub- stantially a revival of laws previously in force ; with the authority superadded to remove the office of customs from one building or place to another in case of need. The bill was vehemently opjjosed, and every effort made to render it odious to the people, and eveu extend the odium to the President, and to every person urging or aiding in its passage. Mr. Webster justly rebuked all this vitupera- tion, and justified the bill, both for the equity of its provisions, and the necessity for enacting them. He said, that an un- lawful combination threatened the integ- liuy of the Union; that the ci'isis called for a mild, temperate, forbearing but un- flexibly firm execution of the laws ; and finally, that public opinion sets with an irresistible force in favor of the Union, in favor of the measures recommended by the President, and against the new doc- trines which threatened the dissolution of the Union. The support which Mr. AVeb- ster gave to these measures was the regular result of the principles which he laid down in his first speeches against nullifi- cation in the debate with Mr. Hayne,^and he cnuld not have done less without being derelict to his own principles then avowed. He supported with transcendent ability, the cause of the constitution and of the country, in the person of a President to whom he was politically opposed, Avhose gratitude and admiration he earned ■for his patriotic endeavors. The country, without distinction of party, felt the same ; and the universality of the feeling was one of the grateful instances of popular applause and justice when great talents are seen exerting themselves for the good of the country. He was the colossal figure on the political stage during that eventful time; and his labors, splendid in their day, survive for the benefit of distant posterity. During the discussion over the re-charter of the Bank of the United States, which as before mentioned, occupied the atten- tion of Congress for several years, the country suffered from a money panic, and a general financial depression and distress was generally prevalent. In 1834 a mea- sure was introduced into the House, for equalizing the value of gold and silver, and legalizing the tender of fore'gn coin, of both metals. The good effect'* of the bill were immediately seen. . Gold began to flow into the country through all the channels of commerce, foreign and domeS' tic ; tho mint was busy ; and specie pay^ ment, which had been suspended in •^Iie country for thirty years, was 'resumed, and gold and silver became the currency of the land ; inspiring confidence in all the pur- suits of industry. As indicative of the position of the de- mocratic party at that date, on the subject of the kind of money authorized by the Constitution, Mr. Benton's speech in tho Senate is of interest. He said : " In the first place, he was one of those who be- lieved that the government of the United States was intended to be a hard money government; that it was the intention and the declaration of the Constitution of the United States, that the federal currency should consist of gold and silver, and that there is no power in Congress to issue, or to authorize any company of individuals to issue, any species of federal paper cur- rency whatsoever. Every clause in the Constitution (said Mr. B.) which bears upon the subject of money — every early statute of Congress which interprets the meaning of these clau-^es — and every his- toric recollection which refers to them, go hand in hand in giving to that instrument the meaning whicli this proi:)osition ascribes to it. The power granted to Congress to coin money is an authority to stamp me- tallic money, and is not an authority for emitting slips of paper containing promises to pay money. The authority granted to Congress to regulate the value of coin, is an authority to regulate the value of the metallic money, not of paper. The prohi- bition upon the States against making anything but gold and silver a legal ten- der, is a moral prohibition, founded in vir- tue and honesty, and is just as binding upon the Federal Government as upon the State Governments ; and that without a written prohibition ; for the difference in the nature of the two governments is such, that the States may do all things. which they are not forbid to do ; and the Federal Government can do nothing which it is not authorized by the Constitution to do. The framers of the Constitution (said Mr. B.) created a hard money government. They intended the new government to re- cognize nothing for money but gold and silver ; and every word admitted into the Constitution, upon the subject of money, defines and establishes that sacred inten- tion. Legislative enactment came quickly to the aid of constitutional intention and historic recollection. The fifth statute passed at the first session of the first Con- gress that ever sat under the present Con- stitution was full and explicit on this head. It declared, " that the fees and duties pay- able to the federal government shall be received in gold and silver coin only." It was under General Hamilton, as Secretary of the Treas^ury, in 1791, that the policy THE INCEPTION OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION, 35 of the government underwent a change. In the act constituting the Bank of the United States, he brought forward his ce- lebrated plan for the supj^ort of the public credit — that plan which unfolded the en- tire scheme of the paper system and imme- diately developed the great political line between the federalists and the republi- cans. The establishment of a national bank was the leading and predominant feature of that plan ; and the original re- port of the secretary, in favor of establish- ing the bank, contained this fatal and de- plorable recommendation : "The bills and notes of the bank, originally made payable, or which shall have become payable, on demand, in gold and silver coin, shall be receivable in all payments to the United States." From the moment of the adop- tion of this policy, the moneyed character of the government stood changed and re- versed. Federal bank notes took the place of hard money ; and the whole edifice of the government slid, at once, from the solid rock of gold and silver money, on which its framers had placed it, into the troubled and tempestuous ocean of paper currency. The first session of the 35th Congress opened December 1835. Mr. James K. Polk was elected Speaker of the House by a large majority over Mr. John Bell, the previous Speaker ; the former being sup- ported by the administration party, and the latt,er having become identified with those who, on siding with Mr. Hugh L. White as a candidate for the presidency, were considered as having divided from the democratic party. The chief subject of the President's message was the rela- tions of our country with France relative to the continued non-payment of the stip- ulated indemnity provided for in the treaty of 1831 for French spoliations of Ameri- can shipping. The obligation to pay was admitted, and the money even voted for that purpose ; but offense was taken at the President's message, and payment refused until an apology should be made. The President commented on this in his mes- sage, and the Senate had under consider- ation measures authorizing reprisals on French shipping. At this point Great Britain offered her services as mediator be- tween the nations, and as a result the in- demnity was shortly afterwards jsaid. Agitation of the slavery question in the United States really began about this time. Evil-disposed persons had largely circulated through the Southern states, pamphlets and circulars tending to stir up strifv?. and insurrection ; and this had be- come so intolerable thai it was referred to by the President in his message. Congress at the se-^sion of 1836 was flooded with pe- titions and memorials urging federal inter- ference to abolish slavery in the States ; beginning with the petition of the Society of Friends of Philadelphia, urging the abolition of slavery in the District of Co- lumbia. These petitions were referred to Committees after an acrimonious debate as to whether they should be received or not. The position of the government at that time is embodied in the following resolution which was adopted in the House of Representatives as early as 1790, and substantially re-afiirmed in 183G, as fol- lows : "That Congress have no authority to interfere in the emancipation of slaves, or in the treatment of them within any of the States ; it remaining with the several States to provide any regulations therein which humanity and true policy may re- quire." In the Summer preceding the Presi- dential election of 1836, a measure was in- troduced into Congress, which became very nearly a party measure, and 'which in its results proved disastrous to the Democrat- ic party in after years. It was a plan for distributing the public land money among the States either in the shape of credit distribution, or in the disguise of a deposit of surplus revenue ; and this for the pur- pose of enhancing the value of the State stocks held by the United States Bank, which institution, aided by the party which it fiivored, led by Mr. Clay, was the prime mover in the plan. That gentleman was the author of the scheme, and great cal- culations were made by the party which favored the distribution upon its effect in adding to their popularity. The Bill passed the Senate in its original form, but met with less favor in the House where it was found necessary. To effectuate substan- tially the same end, a Senate Bill was in- troduced to regulate the keeping of the public money in the deposit banks, and this was turned into distribution of the surplus public moneys with the States, in proportion to their representation in Con- gress, to be returned when Congress should call for it ; and this was called a deposit with the States, and the faith of the States pledged for a return of the money. It wa? stigmatized by its opponents in Con- gress, as a distribution in disguise— as a deposit never to be reclaimed ; as a mis- erable evasion of the Constitution ; as an attempt to debauch the people with their own money ; as plundering instead of de- fending the country. The Bill passed both houses, mainly by the efforts of a half dozen aspirants to the Presidency, who sought to thus increase their popularity. They were doomed to disappointment in this respect. Politically, it was no advan- tage to its numerous and emulous support- ers, and of no disservice to its few deter- mined opponents. It was a most unfortu- nate act, a plain evasion of the Constitu- tion for a bad purpose ; and it soon gave a ad overthrow to the democracy and disap- 36 AMERICAN POLITICS. pointed every calculation made upon it. To the States it was no advantage, raising expectations which were not fulfilled, and upon which many of them acted as reali- ties. The Bill was signed by the Presi- dent, but it is simple justice to him to say that he did it with a repugnance of feel- ing, and a recoil of judgment, which it re- quired great efforts of his friends to over- come, and with a regret for it afterwards which he often and publicly expressed. In a party point of view, the passage of this measure was the commencement of calam- ities, being an efficient cause in that gen- eral suspension of specie payments, which quickly occurred, and brought so much embarrassment on the Van Buren admin- istration, ending in the great democratic defeat of 1840. The presidential election of 1836 re- sulted in the choice of the democratic can- didate, Mr. Van Buren, who was elected by 170 electoral votes ; his opponent, Gene- ral Harrison, receiving seventy-three elec- toral votes. Scattering votes were given for Mr. Webster, Mr. Mangum, and Mr. Hugh L. White, the last named represent- ing a fragment of the democracy who, in a spirit of disaffection, attempted to divide the democratic party and defeat Mr. Van Buren. At the opening of the second ses- sion of the twenty-fourth Congress, Decem- ber, 1836, President Jackson delivered his last annual message, under circumstances exceedingly gratifying to him. The power- ful opposition in Congress had been broken down, and he had the satisfaction of seeing full majorities of ardent and tried friends in each House. The country was in peace and friendship with all the world ; all ex- citing questions quieted at home; industry in all its branches prosperous, and the revenue abundant. And as a happy sequence of this state of affairs, the Senate on the 16th of March, 1837, expunged from the Journal the resolution, adopted three years previously, censuring the Presi- dent for ordering the removal of the de- posits of public money in the United States Bank. He retired from the presidency with high honors, and died eight years afterwards at his home, the celebrated " Hermitage," in Tennessee, in full posses- sion of all his faculties, and strong to the last in the ruling passion of his soul — love of country. The 4th of March, 1837, ushered in an- other Democratic administration — the be- ginning of the term of Martin Van Buren as President of the United States. In his inaugural address he commented on the prosperous condition of the country, and declared it to be his policy to strictly abide by the Constitution as written — no latitu- dinarian constructions permitted, or doubt- ful powers assumed ; that his political chart should be the doctrines of the demo- cratic school, as understood at the original formation of parties. The President, however, was scarcely settled in his new office when a financial panic struck tht country with irresistible force. A general suspension of the banks, a depreciated currency, and insolvency of the federal treasury were at hand. The public money had been placed in the cus- tody of the local banks, and the notes of all these banks, and of all others in the coun- try, were received in payment of public dues. On the 10th of "May, 1837, the banks throughout the country suspended specie payments. The stoppage of the de- posit banks was the stoppage of the Trea- sury. Non-payment by the government was an excuse for non-payment by othere. The suspension was now complete ; and it was evident, and as good as admitted by those who had made it, that it was the effect of contrivance on the part of politi- cians and the so-called Bank of the United States (which, after the expiration of its national charter, had become a State cor- poration chartered by the Legislature of Pennsylvania in January, 1836) for the purpose of restoring themselves to power. The whole proceeding became clear to those who could see nothing while it was in progress. Even those of the democratic party whose votes had helped to do the mischief, could now see that the attempt to deposit forty millions with the States was destruction to the deposit banks ; that the repeal of President Jackson's order, known as the "specie circular" — requiring pay- ment for public lands to be in coin — was to fill the treasurj^ with paper money, to be found useless when wanted ; that distress was purposely created to throw blame of it upon the party in power ; that the promptitude with which the Bank of the United States had been brought forward as a remedy for the distress, showed that it had been held in reserve for that purpose ; and the delight with which the whig party saluted the general calamity, showed that they considered it their own passport to power. Financial embarrassment and general stagnation of business diminished the current receipts from lands and customs, and actually caused an absolute deficit in the public treasury. In conse- quence, the President found it an inexora- ble necessity to issue his proclamation con- vening Congress in extra session. The first session of the twenty-fifth Con- gress met in extra session, at the call of the President, on the first Monday of Sep- tember, 1837. The message was a review of the events and causes which had brought about the panic ; a defense of the policy of the " specie circular," and a recommenda- tion to break off all connection with any bank of issue in any form; looking to the establishment of an Independent Treasiuy, DEMOCRATS AND WHIGS. and tliat tlie Govcrumeut provide for the ] date, who was elected by the full Whig deficit in the treasury by the issue of vote with the aid of a few deraocratii — treasury notes and by withholding the de- friends of Mr. Calhoun, who had for seve- posit due to the States under the act then ral previous sessions been acting with the in force. The message and its reconi- \ Whigs on several occasions. The House mendations were violently assailed both in excluding the five contested seats from the Senate and House by able and efiec- New Jersey, was really Democratic ; hav- tive speakers, notably by Messrs. Clay and Webster, and also by Mr. Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, who made a formal and elaborate reply to the whole document ing 122 members, and the Whigs 113 mem- bers. The contest for the Speakership was long and arduous, neither party adhering to its original caucus candidate. Twenty under thirty-two distinct heads, and recit- ] scattering votes, eleven of whom were ing therein all the points of accusation against the democratic policy from the be- ginning of the government down to that day. The result was that the measures proposed by the Executive were in sub- stance enacted; and their passage marks an era in our financial history — making a total and complete separation of Bank and State, and firmly establishing the principle that the government revenues should be receivable in coin only. The measures of consequence discussed and adopted at this session, were the graduation of price of public lands under the pre-emption system, which was adopt- ed ; the bill to create an independent Trea^jury, which passed the Senate, but failed in the House ; and the question of the re-charter of the district banks, the proportion for reserve, and the establish- ment of such institutions on a specie basis. The slavery question was again agitated in consequence of petitions from citizens and societies in the Northern States, and a memorial from the General Assembly of Vermont, praying for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia and territories, and for the exclusion of future slave states from the Union. These peti- tions and memorials were disposed of ad- versely; and Mr. Calhoun, representing the ultra-Southern interest, in several able speeches, approved of the Missouri com- promise, he urged and obtained of the Senate several resolutions declaring that the federal government had no power to interfere with slavery in the States ; and that it would be inexpedient and impolitic to interfere, abolish or control it in the District of Columbia and the territories. These movements for and against slavery in the session of 1837-38 deserve to be no'- ticed, as of disturbing effect at the time, and as having acquired new importance from subsequent events. The first session of the twenty-sixth Congress opened December, 1839. The organization of the House was delayed by a closely and earnestly contested election from the State of New Jersey. Five De- mocrats claiming seats as against an equal number of Whigs. Neither set was admit- ted until after the election of Speaker, which resulted in the choice of Robert M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, the Whig candi- classed as Whigs, and nine as Democrats, prevented a choice on the earlier ballots, and it was really Mr. Calhoun's Democrat- ic friends uniting with a solid Whig vote on the final ballot that gained that party the election. The issue involved was a vital party question as involving the or- ganization of the House. The chief mea- sure, of public importance, adopted at this session of Congress was an act to provide for the collection, safe-keeping, and dis- bursing of the public money. It practi- cally revolutionized the system previously in force, and was a complete and effectual separation of the federal treasury and the Government, from the banks and moneyed corporations of the States. It was violent- ly opposed by the Whig members, led by Mr. Clay, and supported by Mr. Cushing, but was finally passed in both Houses by a close vote. At this time, and in the House of Re- presentatives, was exhibited for the first time in the history of Congress, the pre- sent practice of members "pairing off," as it is called ; that is to say, two member's of opposite political parties, or of opposite views on any particular subject, agreeing to absent themselves from the duties of the House, for the time being. The practice was condemned on the floor of the House by Mr. John Quincy Adams, who intro- duced a resolution: "That the practice, first openly avowed at the present session of Congress, of pairing off, involves, on the part of the members resorting to it, the violation of the Constitution of the United States, of an express rule of this House, and of the duties of both parties in the transaction, to their immediate consti- tuents, to this House, and to their coun- try." This resolution was placed in the calendar to take its turn, but not being reached during the session, was not voted on. That was the first instance of this justly condemned practice, fifty years after the establishment of the Government ; but since then it has become common, even in- veterate, and is now carried to great lengths. The last session of the twenty-sixth Con- gress was barren of measures, and neces^ sarily so, as being the last of our adminis- tration superseded by the popular voice, and soon to expire ; and therefore restric- ted by a sense of propriety, during the 38 AMERICAN POLITICS. brief remainder of its existence, to the de- tails of business and tlie routine of service. Tlie cause of this was the result of the presidential election of 1840. The same candidates who fought the battle of 1836 were again in the field. Mr. Van Buren was the Democratic candidate. His ad- ministration had been satisfactory to his party, and his nomination for a second term was commended by the party in the different States in appointing their dele- gates ; so that the proceedings of the con- vention which nominated him were en- tirely harmonious and formal in their na- ture. Mr. Richard M. Johnson, the ac- tual Vice-President, was also nominated for Vice-President. On the Whig ticket, General William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, was the candi- date for President, and Mr. John Tyler, of Virginia, for Vice-President. The lead- ing statesmen of the Whig party were again put aside, to make way for a milita- ry man, prompted by the example in the nomination of General Jackson, the men who managed presidential elections be- lieving then as now that military renown was a passport to popularity and rendered a candidate more sure of election. Availa- bility — for the purpose — was the only abili- ty asked for. Mr. Clay, the most promi- nent Whig in the country, and the ac- knowledged head of the party, was not deemed available; and though Mr. Clay was a candidate before the convention, the proceedings were so regulated that his nomination was referred to a committee, ingeniously devised and directed for the afterwards avowed purpose of preventing his nomination and securing that of Gene- ral Harrison ; and of producing the intend- ed result without showing the design, and without leaving a trace behind to show what was done. The scheme (a modifica- tion of which has since been applied to subsequent national conventions, and out of which many bitter dissensions have again and again arisen) is embodied and was executed in and by means of the following resolution adopted by the convention : " Ordered, That the delegates from each State be requested to assemble as a delega- tion, and appoint a committee, not exceed- ing three in number, to receive the views and opinions of such delegation, and com- municate the same to the assembled com- mittes of all the delegations, to be by them respectively reported to their principals ; and that thereupon the delegates from each State be requested to assemble as a delegation, and ballot for candidates for the ofHces of President and Vice-Presi- dent, and having done so, to commit the ballot designating the votes of each candi- date, and by whom given, to its commit- tee, and thereupon all the committees shall assemble and compare the several ballots, and report the result of the same to their several delegations, together with such facts as may bear upon the nomina- tion ; and said delegation shall forthwith re-assemble and ballot again for candidates for the above offices, and again commit the result to the above committees, and if it shall appear that a majority of the bal- lots are for any one man for candidate for President, said committee shall report the result to the convention for its considera- tion ; but if there shall be no such majori- ty, then the delegation shall repeat the balloting until such a majority shall be obtained, and then report the same to the convention for its consideration. That the vote of a majority of each delegation shall be reported as the vote of that State ; and each State represented here shall vote its full electoral vote by such delegation in the committee." This was a sum in poli- tical algebra, whose quotient was known, but the quantity unknown except to those who planned it ; and the result was — for General Scot^t, 16 votes ; for Mr. CLIy, 90 votes; for General Harrison, 1-18 votes. And as the law of the convention implied- ly requires the absorption of all minorities, the 106 votes were swallowed up by the 148 votes and made to count for General Harrison, presenting him as the unani- mity candidate of the convention, and the defeated candidates and all their friends bound to join in his support. And in this way the election of 1840 was effected — a process certainly not within the purview of those framers of the constitution who supposed they were giving to the nation the choice of its own chief magistrate. The contest before the people was a long and bitter one, the severest ever known in the country, up to that time, and scarcely equalled since. The whole Whig party and the large league of suspended banks, headed by the Bank of the United States making its last struggle for a new national charter in the eilbrt to elect a President friendly to it, were arrayed against the Democrats, whose hard-money policy and independent treasury schemes, met with little favor in the then depressed condition of the country. Meetings were held in every State, county and town ; the people thoroughly aroused; and every argument made in favor of the respective candidates and parties, which could pos- sibly have any effect upon the voters. The canvass was a thorough one, and the elec- tion was carried for the Whig candidates, who received 234 electoral votes coming from 19 States. The remaining 60 electo- ral votes of the other 9 States, were given to the Democratic candidate ; though the popular vote was not so unevenly divided ; the actual figures being 1,275,611 for the AVhig ticket, against 1,135,761 for the Democratic ticket. It was a c-omplete rout WHIGS AND DEMOCRATS— THE HOUR RULE. 39 of the Domocratic party, but without the moral ellect of victory. Ou March 4, 1841, was inaugurated as President, Gen'l Wni. H. Harrison, the first Chief Magistrate elected by the Whig party, and tlie first President \vho was not a Democrat, since tlie instalUitionof Gen'l Jackson, Mareli 4, 1821). His term was a short one. He issued a call for a special session of Congress to convene the 31st of May following^ to consider the condition of the revenue and finances of the country, but did not live to meet it. Taken ill with a fatal malady during the last days of March, he died on' the 4th of April follow- ing, having been in office just one month. He was succeeded by the Vice-President, John Tyler, Then, for the first time in our history as a government, the person elected to the Vice-Presidency of the United States, by the happening of a con- tingency provided for in the constitution, had devolved upon him the Presidential office. The twenty-seventh Congress opened in extra session at the call of the late Presi- dent, Mav 31, 1841. A Whig member- Mr. White of Kentucky — was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Whigs had a majority of forty-seven in the House and of seven in the Senate, and with the President and Cabinet of the same political party presented a harmony of a.spect frequently wanting during the three previous administrations. The first measure of the new dominant party was the repeal of the independent treasury act passed at the previous session ; and the next in order were bills to establish a sys- tem of bankruptcy, and for distribution of public land revenue. The former was more than a bankrupt law ; it was practi- cally an insolvent law for the abolition of debts at the will of the debtor. It applied to all persons in debt, allowed them to institute the proceedings in the district where the petitioner resided, allowed con- structive notices to creditors in newspapers — declared the abolition of the debt where effects were surrendered and fraud not proved ; and gave exclusive jurisdiction to the federal courts, at the will of the debtor. It was framed upon the model of the Eng- lish insolvent debtors' act of George the ' Fourth, and embodied most of the pro- visions of that act, but substituting a re- lease from the debt instead of a release from imprisonment. The bill passed by a close vote in both Houses. The land revenue distribution bill of this session had its origin in the fact that the States and corporations owed about two hundred millions to creditors in Europe. These debts weje in stocks, much depre- ciated by the failure in many instances to pay the" accruing interest — in some in- stances failure to provide for the principal. These creditors, becoming uneasy, wished the federal government to assume their dtbts. The suggestion was made as early as 1838, renewed in 1839, and in 1840 be- came a regular question mixed up with the Presidential election of that year, and openly engaging the active exertions of foreigners. Direct assumj)tion was not urged ; indirect by giving the public land revenue to the States was the mode pur- sued, and the one recommended in the message of President Tyler. Mr. Calhoun spoke against the measure with more than usual force and clearness, claiming that it was unconstitutional and without warrant. Mr. Benton on the same side called it a squandering of the public patrimony, and pointed out its inexpediency in the de- pleted state of the treasury, apart from its other objectionable features. It passed by a party vote. This session is remarkable for the insti- tution of the hour rule in the House of Representatives — a very great limitation upon the freedom of debate. It w^as a Whig measure, adopted to prevent delay in the enactment of pending bills. It was a rigorous limitation, frequently acting as a bar to profitable debate and checking members in speeches which really ,impart information valuable to the House and the country. No doubt the license of debate has been frequently abused in Congress, as in all other deliberative assemblies, but the incessant use of the previous question, which cuts off all debate, added to the hour rule which limits a speech to sixty minutes (constantly reduced by interrup- tions) frequently results in the transaction of busines.s in ignorance of what they are about by those who are doing it. The rule worked so well in the House, for the purpose for which it was devised — • made the majority absolute master of the body — that Mr. felay undertook to have the same rule adopted in the Senate ; but the determined opposition to it, both by his political opponents and friends, led to the abandonment of the attempt in that chamber. Much discussion took place at this ses- sion, over the bill offered in the House of Representatives, for the relief of the widow of the late President — General Harrison — appropriating one year's salary. It was strenuously opposed by the Democratic members, as unconstitutional, on account of its principle, as creating a private pen- sion list, and as a dangerous precedent. Many able speeches were made against the bill, both in the Senate and House ; among others, the following extract from the speech of an able Senator contains some interesting facts. He said : " Look at the case of Mr. Jefferson, a man than whom no one that ever existed on God's earth were the human family more indebted to. 40 AMERICAN POLITICS. His furniture and his estate were sold to satisfy his creditors. His posterity was driven from house and home, and his bones now lay in soil owned by a stranger. His family are scattered : some of his descend- ants are married in foreign lands. Look at Monroe — the able, the patriotic Monroe, whose services were revolutionary, whose blood was spilt in the war of Independence, whose life was worn out in civil service, and whose estate has been soil for debt, his family scattered, and his daughter buried in a foreign land. Look at Madi- son, the model of every virtue, public or private, and he would only mention in connection with this subject, his love of order, his economy, and his systematic regularity in all his habits of business. He, when his term of eight years had ex- pired, sent a letter to a gentleman (a son of Avhom is now on this floor) [Mr. Pres- ton], enclosing a note of five thousand dollars, which he requested him to en- dorse, and raise the money in Virginia, so as to enable him to leave this city, and re- turn to his modest retreat — his patrimonial inheritance — in that State. General Jack- son drew upon the consignee of his cot- tm\ crop in New Orleans for six thousand dollars to enable him to leave the seat of government without leaving creditors behind him. These were honored leaders of the republican party. They had all been Presidents. They had made great sacrifices, and left the presidency deeply embarrassed ; and yet the republican party who had the power and the strongest dis- position to relieve their necessities, felt they had no right to do so by appropri- ating money from the public Treasury. Democracy would not do this. It was left for the era of federal rule and federal supremacy — who are now rushing the country with steam power into all the abuses and corruptions of a monarchy, with its pensioned aristocracy — and to en- tail upon the country a civil pension list." There was an impatient majority in the House in favor of the passage of the bill. The circumstances were averse to delibera- tion — a victorious party, come into power after a heated election, seeing their elected candidate dying on the threshold of his administration, poor and beloved : it was a case for feeling more than of judgment, es- pecially with the political friends of the decea'^ed — but few of whom could follow the counsels of the head against the impul- sions of the heart. The bill passed, and was approved ; and as predicted, it established a precedent Avhich has since been followed in every similar case. The sulijeet of naval pensions received more than usual consideration at this ses- sion. The question arose on the discussion of the appropriation bill for that purpose. A difference about a navy — on the point of how much and what kind — had always been a point of difference between the two great political parties of the Union, which, under whatsoever names, are ahvays the same, each preserving its identity in prin- ciples and policy, but here the two parties divided upon an abuse which no one could deny or defend. A na^y pension fund had been established under the act of 1832, which was a just and proper law, but on the 3d of March, 1837, an act was passed entitled " An act for the more equitable distribution of the Navy Pension Fund." That act provided : I. That Invalid naval pensions should commence and date back to the time of receiving the inability, in- stead of completing the proof. II. It ex- tended the pensions for death to all cases of death, whether incurred in the line of duty or not. III. It extended the widow's pensions for life, when five years had been the law both in the army and navy. IV. It adopted the English system of pension- ing children of deceased marines, until they attained their majority'. The effect of this law was to absorb and bankrupt the navy pension fund, a meri- torious fund created out of the government share of prize money, relinquished for that purpose, and to throw the pensions, arrears as well as current and future, upon the public treasury, where it was never in- tended they were to be. It Avas to repeal this act, that an amendment was intro- duced at this session on the bringing for- ward of the annual appropriation bill for navy pensions, and long and earnest were the debates upon it. The amendment was lost, the Senate dividing on party lines, the Whigs against and the Democrats for the amendment. The subject is instruc- tive, as then was practically ratified and re- enacted the pernicious practice authorized by the act of 1837, of granting pensions to date from the time of injury and not from the time of proof; and has grown up to such proportions in recent years that the last act of Congress appropriating money for arrears of pensions, provided for the payment of such an enormous sum of money that it would have appalled the original projectors of the act of 1837 could they have seen to what their system has led. Again, at this session, the object of the tariff occupied the attention of Congress. The compromise act, as it was called, of 1833, which was composed of two parts — one to last nine years, for the benefit of manufactures ; the other to last for ever, for the benefit of the planting and con- suming interest — was passed, as herein- before stated, in pursuance of an agree- ment between Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun and their res2)ective friends, at the time the former was urging the necessity for a THE NATIONAL BANK BILL. 41 continuance of high tarifT for protection and rcvonuo, and the hitter was presenting and justifying before Congress the nullifi- cation ordinance adopted by the Legisla- ture of South Carolina. To Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun it was a political necessity, one to got rid of a stumbling-block (which protective tariff had become) ; the othrr to escape a personal peril which his nullify- ing ordinance had brought upon him, and with both, it was a piece of policy, to enable them to combine against Mr. Van Buren, bj" postponing their own conten- tion; and a device on the part of its author (Mr. Clayton, of Delaware) and Mr. Clay to preserve the protective system. It provided for a reduction of a certain per centage each year, on the duties for the ensuing nine years, until the revenue was reduced to 20 per cent, ad valorem on all articles imported into the country. In consequence the revenue was so reduced that in the last year, there was little more than half what the exigencies of the govornment required, and different modes, by loans and otherwise, were suggested to meet the deficiency. The Secretary of the Treasury had declared the necessity of loans and taxe? to carry on the govern- ment ; a loan bill for twelve millions had been passed; a tariff bill to raise fourteen million-; was depending ; and the chairman of the C )mmittee of ^V'ays and Means, Mr. Millard Fillmore, defended its necessity in an able speech. His bill proposed twenty l^er cent, additional to the existing duty on certain specified articles, suffieieat to make up the amount wanted. This en- croachment on a measure so much vaunted when passed, and Avhich had been kept inviolate while oj^erating in favor of one of the parties to it, naturally excited complaint and opposition from the other, and Mr. Gilmer, of Virginia, in a speech against the new bill, said: " In referring to the compromise act, the true character- istics of that act which recommended it strongly to him, were that it contemplated that duties were to be levied for revenue only, and in the next place to the amount only necessary to the supply of the economi- cal wants of the government. He begged leave to call the attention of the committee to the principle recognized as the lan- guage of the compromise, a principle which ought to be recognized in all time to come by every department of the government. It is, that duties to be raised for revenue are to be raised to such an amount only as is necessary for an economical administra- tion of the government. Some incidental protection must necessarily be given, and he, for one, coming from an anti-tariff por- tion of the country, would not object to it." The bill went to the Senate where it found Mr Clay and Mr. Calhoun in posi- tions very difTcrent from what they occu- pied when the compromise act was passed — then united, now divided — then concur- rent, now antagonistic, and the antago- nism general, upon all measures, waUobe special upon this one. Their connection with the subject made it their function to lead off in its consideration ; and their antagonist positions promised sharp en- counters, which did not fail to come. Mr. Clay said that he " observed that the Senator from South Carolina based his abstractions on the theories of books on English authorities, and on the arguments urged in favor of free trade by a certain party in the British Parliament. Now he, (Mr. Clay,) and his friends would not ad- mit of these authorities being entitled to as much weight as the universal practice of nations, which in all parts of the world was found to be in favor of protecting home manufactures to an extent sufficient to keep them in a flourishing condition. This was the whole difference. The Sena- tor was in favor of book theory and ab- stractions: he (Mr. Clay) and his friends, were in favor of the universal practice of nations, and the wholesome and necessary protection of domestic manufactures." Mr. Calhoun in reply, referring to his allusion to the success in the late election of the tory party in England, said: "The interests, objects, and aims of the tory party there and the whig party here, are identical. The identity of the two parties is remarkable. The tory party are the patrons of corporate monoi^olies ; and are not you ? They are advocates of a high tariff; and are not you ? They are support- ers of a national bank; and are not youf They are for corn-laws— laws oppressive to the masses of the people, and favorable to their own power; and are not you? Witness this bill. * * * The success of that party in England, and of the whig party here, is the success of the great money power, which concentrates the in- terests of the two parties, and identifies their principles." The bill was passed by a large majority, upon the general ground that the govern- ment must have revenue. The chief measure of the session, and the great object of the whig party — the one for which it had labored for ten years — was for the re-charter of a national bank. Without this all other measures would be deemed to be incomplete, and the victori- ous election itself but little better than a defeat. The President, while a member of the Democratic party, had been opposed to the United States Bank ; and to over- come any objections he might have the bill was carefully prepared, and studiously contrived to avoid the President's objec- tions, and save his consistency — a point upon which he was exceedingly sensitive. 42 AMERICAN POLITICS. The democratic members resisted strenu- ously, in order to make the measure odious, but successful resistance was impossible. It passed both houses by a close vote; and contrary to all expectation the President disapproved the act, but with such expres- sions of readiness to approve another bill which should be free from the objections which he named, as still to keep his party together, and to prevent the resignation of his cabinet. In his veto message the President fell back upon his early opinions against the constitutionality of a national bank, so often and so publicly expressed. The veto caused consternation among the whig members; and Mr. Clay openly gave expression to his dissatisfaction, in the debate on the veto message, in terms to assert that President Tyler had violated his fiiith to the whig party, and had been led off from them by new associations. He said: "And why should not President Tyler have suffered the bill to become a law Svithout his signature? Without meaning the slightest possible disrespect to him (nothing is further from my heart than the exhibition of any such feeling towards that distinguished citizen, long my per- sonal friend), it pannot be forgotten that he came into his present office under peculiar circumstances. The people did not foresee the contingency which has happened. They voted for him as Vice President. They did not, therefore, scrutinize his opinions with the care which they probably ought to have done, and would have done, if they could have looked into futurity. If the present state of the fact could have been anticipated — if at Harrisburg, or at the polls, it had been foreseen that General Harrison would die in one short month after the commencement of his administra- tion ; so that Vice President Tyler would be elevated to the presidential chair ; that a bill passed by decisive majorities of the first whig Congress, chartering a national bank, would be presented for his sanction ; and that he would veto the bill, do I hazard anything when I express the con- viction that he would not have received a solitary vote in the nominating convention, nor one solitary electoral vote in any State in the Union ? " The vote was taken on the bill over again, as required by the constitution, and so fir from receiving a two-thirds vote, it received only a bare majority, and was re- turned to the Plouse with a message stating his objections to it, where it gave rise to some violent speaking, more directed to the personal conduct of the President than to the objections to the bill stated in his message. The veto was sustained ; and so ended the second attempt to resuscitate the old United States Bank under a new name. This second movement to establish the bank has a secret history. It almost caused the establishment of a new party, with Mr. Tyler as its head ; earnest efforts having been made in that behalf by many promi- nent Whigs and Democrats. The entire cabinet, with the exception of Mr. Webster, resigned within a few days after the second veto. It was a natural thing for them to do, and was not unexpected. Indeed Mr. Webster had resolved to tender his resigna- tion also, but on reconsideration determined to remain and publish his reasons there- for in a letter to the National Intelligencer, in the following words : " Lest any misapprehension should ex- ist, as to the reasons which led me to differ from the course pursued by my late col- leagues, I wish to say that I remain in my place, first, because I have seen no sufficient reasons for the dissolution of the late Cabi- net, by the voluntary act of its own mem- bers. I am perfectly persuaded of the ab- solute necessity of an institution, under the authority of Congress, to aid revenue and financial operations, and to give the country the blessings of a good currency and cheap exchanges. Notwithstanding what has passed, I have confidence that the Presi- dent will co-operate with the legislature in overcoming all difficulties in the attain- ment of these objects ; and it is to the union of the Whig party — by which I mean the whole party, the Whig President, the Whig Congress, and the Whig people — • that I look for a realization of our wishes. I can look nowhere else. In the second place if I had seen reasons to resign my office, I should not have done so, without giving the President reasonable notice, and affording him time to select the hands to which he should confide the delicate and important affairs now pending iu this de- partment." The conduct of the President in the matter of the vetoes of the two bank bills produced revolt against him in the party ; and the Whigs of the two Houses of Con- gress held several formal meetings to con- sider what they should do in the new con- dition of affairs. An address to the people of the United States was resolved upon. The rejection of the bank bill gave great vexation to one side, and equal exultation to the other. The subject was not per- mitted to rest, however ; a national bank was the life — the vital principle— of the Whig party, Avithout which it could not live as a party ; it was the power which was to give them power and the political and financial control of the Union. A second attempt was made, four days after the veto, to accomplish the end by amend- ments to a bill relating to the currency, which had been introduced early in the session. Mr. Sargeant of Pennsylvania, moved to strike out all after the enacting clause, and insert his amendments, which were substantially the same as the vetoed THE SECOND BANK BILL. 43 bill, except changinpj the amount of capi- tal and prohibiting discounts on notes other than bills of exchange. The bill was pushed to a vote with astonishing rapidity, and passed by a decided majority. In the Senate the bill went to a select committee which reported it back without alteration, a^ had been foreseen, the committee consist- ing entirrly of friends of the measure; and there was a majority for it on final passage. Concurred in by the Senate without alter- ation, it was returned to the House, and thence referred to the President for his approval or disapproval. It was disap- proved and it Avas promulgated in language intended to mean a repudiation of tlie Prt^sident, a permanent separation of the Whig party from him, and to wash their hands of all accountability for his acts. An opening paragraph of "the address set forth that, for twelve years the Whigs had carried on a contest for the regulation of the currency, the equalization of exchanges, the economical administration of the finan- ces, and the advancement of industry — all to be accomplished by means of a national bank — declaring these objects to be mis- understood by no one and the bank itself held to be secured in the Presidential elec- tion, and its establishment the main object of the extra session. The address then proceeds to state how these plans were frustrated : " It is with profound and poignant regret that we find ourselves called upon to in- voke your attention to this point. Upon the great and leading measure touching this question, our anxious endeavors to respond to the earnest prayers of the nation have been frustrated by an act as unlocked for as it is to be lamented. We grieve to say to you that by the exercise of that power in the constitution which has ever been regarded with suspicion, and often with odium, by the people — a power which we had hoped was never to be ex- hibited on this subject, by a Whig Presi- dent — we have been defeated in two at- tempts to create a fiscal agent, which the wants of the country had demonstrated to us, in the most absolute form of proof to be eminently necessary and proper in the present emergency. Twice have we with the utmost diligence and deliberation matured a plan for the collection, safe- keeping and disbursing of the public moneys through the agency of a corpora- tion adapted to that end, and twice has it been our fate to encounter the opposition of the President, through the application of the veto power. * * * We are con- strained to say that we find no ground to justify us in the conviction that the veto of the President has been interposed on this question solely upon conscientious and well-considered opinions of constitutional ■cruple as to his duty in the case presented. On the contrary, too many proofs have 1)ecn forced upon our observation to leave us free from the apprehension tliat the Presi- dent has permitted himself to be beguiled into an opinion that by this exhihitioii of his prerogative he might he able to divert the policy of his administration into a channel which should lead to new i)oliticaI combinations, and accomplish results which must overthrow the present divisions of party in the country; and finally produce a state of things which those who elected him, at least, have never contemT)lated. * * * * * * In this state of things, the Whigs will naturally look with anxiety to the luture, and inquire what are the actual relations between the President and those who brought him into power ; and what, in the opinion of their friends in Congress, should be their course hereafter. * * * The President by his withdrawal of confi- dence from his real friends in Congress and from the members of his cabinet; by his bestowal of it upon others notwith- standing their notorious opposition to lead- ing measures of his administrations has voluntarily separated himself from those by whose exertions and suffrage he was elevated to that office through which he has reached his present exalted station. * * * * The consequence is, that those who brought the President into power can be no longer, in any manner or degree, justly held responsible or blamed for" the administration of the executive branch of the government; and the President and his advisers should be exclusively here- after deemed accountable. * * * The conduct of the President has occasioned bitter mortification and deep regret. Shall the party, therefore, yielding to sentiments of despair, abandon its duty, and submit to defeat and disgrace ? Far from suffer- ing such dishonorable consequences, the very disappointment which it has unfor- tunately experienced should serve only to redouble its exertions, and to inspire it with fresh courage to persevere with a spirit unsubdued and a resolution unshak- en, until the prosperity of the country is fully re-established, and its liberties firmly secured against all danger from the abuses, encroachments or usurpations of the ex- ecutive department of the government." This was the manifesto, so far as it con- cerns the repudiation of President Tyler, which Whig members of Congress put forth: it was answered (under the name of an address to his constituents) by Mr. Cushing, in a counter special plea — coun- ter to it on all points — especially on the main question of which party the Presi- dent was to belong to ; the manifesto of the Whigs assigning him to the de- mocracy — the address of Mr. Cushing. claiming him for the Whigs. It was es- 44 AMERICAN POLITICS. pecially severe on Mr. Clay, as setting up u caucus dictatorship to coerce the Presi- dent; and cliarged that the address em- anated from this caucus, and did not embody or represent the sentiments of all Whig leaders ; and referred to Mr. Webster's let- ter, and his remaining in the cabinet as proof of this. But it was without avail against the concurrent statements of the retiring senators, and the confirmatory statements of many members of Congress. The Whig party recoiled from the Presi- dent, and instead of the unity predicted by Mr. Webster, there was diversity and wide- spread dissension. The Whig party re- mained with Mr. Clay ; Mr. Webster re- tired, Mr. Cushing was sent on a. foreign mission, and the President, seeking to en- ter the democratic ranks, was refused by them, and left to seek consolation in pri- vacy, for his political errors and omissions. The extra session, called by President Harrison, held under Mr. Tyler, domi- nated by Mr. Clay, commenced May 31, and ended Sept. 13, IS-ll — and Avas replete with disappointed calculations, and nearly barren of permanent results. The pur- poses for which it was called into being, failed. The first annual message of Presi- dent Tyler, at the opening of the regular session in December, 1841, coming in so soon after the -termination of the extra ses- sion, was brief and meagre of topics, with few points of interest. In the month of March, 1842, Mr. Henry Clay resigned his place in the Senate, and delivered a valedictory address to that body. He had intended this step upon the close of the previous presidential cam- paign, but had postponed it to take per- sonal charge of the several measures which would be brought before Congress at the S2)ecial session — the calling of which he foresaw Avould be necessary. He resigned not on account of age, or infirmity, or dis- inclination for public life ; but out of dis- gust — -profound and inextinguishable. He had been basely defeated for the_ Presi- dential nomination, against the wishes of the Whig party, of which he was the ac- knowledged head — he had seen his leading measures vetoed by the President whom his 1 >arty had elected — the downfall of the Bank for which he had so often pledged himself — and the insolent attacks of the petty adherents of the administration in the two Houses : all these causes acting on his proud and lofty spirit, induced this withdrawal from public life for which he was so well fitted. The address opened with a retrospect of his early entrance into the Senate, and a grand encomium upon its powers and dig- nity as he had found it, and left it. Mem- ory went back to that early year, 1806, when just past thirty years of age, he en- tered the United States Senate, and com- menced his high career — a wide and lumi- nous horizon before him, and will and talent to fill it. He said : " From the year 1806, the period of my entering upon this noble theatre of my public service, with but short intervals, down to the present time, I have been engaged in the service of my country. Of the nature and value of those services which I may have ren- dered during my long career of public life, it does not become me to speak. History, if she deigns to notice me, and posterity — if a recollection of any humble service which I may have rendered, shall be transmitted to posterity — will be the best, truest, and most impartial judges; and to them I defer for a decision upon their value. But, upon one subject, I may be allowed to speak. As to my public acts and public conduct, they are for the judg- ment of my fellow citizens; but my private motives of action — that which prompted me to take the part which I may have done, upon great measures during their i:>rogress in the national councils, can be known only to the Great Searcher of the human heart and myself; and I trust I shall be pardoned for repeating again a declaration which I made thirty years ago: that whatever error I may have committed — and doubtless I have committed many during my public service — I may appeal to the Divine Searcher of hearts for the truth of the declaration which I now make, with pride and confidence, that I have been actuated by no personal motives — that I have sought no personal aggrandize- ment — no promotion from the advocacy of those various measures on which I have been called to act — that I have had an eye, a single eye, a heart, a single heart, ever devoted to what appeared to be the best interests of the country." Mr. Clay led a great party, and for a long time, whether he dictated to it or not, and kept it well bound together, Avithout the usual means of forming and leading parties. It was surprising that, without power and patronage, he was able so long and so undividedly to keep so great a party together, and lead it so unresistingly. He had great talents, but not equal to some whom he led. He had eloquence — superior in popular effect, but not equal in high oratory to that of some others. But his temperament was fervid, his will was strong, and his courage daring ; and these qualities, added to his talents, gave him the lead and supremacy in his party, Avhere he was always dominant. The farewell address made a deep impression upon the Senators present ; and after its close, Mr. Preston brought the ceremonv to a conclu- sion, by moving an adjournment, Avhich was agreed to. Again at this session was the subject of the tariff considered, but this time, as a WniGS AND DEMOCRATS. 45 matter of absolute necessity, to provide^ a revenue. Never before were the eotlcrs and the credit of the treasury at so low an ebb. A deficit of fourteen millions in the treasury — a total inability to borrow, either at home or abroad, the amount of the loan of twelve millions authorized the year before — the treasury notes below par, and the revenue3 from imports inadequate and decreasing. The compromise act of 1833 in reducing the duties gradually through nine years, to a fixed low rate ; the act of 1837 in dis- tributing the surplus revenue ; and the continual and continued distribution of the land revenue, had brought about this condition of things. The remedy was sought in a bill increasing the tariff, and suspending the land revenue distribution. Two such bills were passed in a single month, and both vetoed by the President. It Avas now near the end of August. Con- gress had been in session for an unpre- cedentedly long time. Adjournment coukl not be deferred, and could not take place without providing for the Treasury. The compromise act and the land distribution were the stumbling-blocks: it was resolved to sacrifice them together ; and a bill was introduced raising the duties above the fixed rate of twenty per cent., and that breach of the mutual assurance in relation to the compromise, immediately in terms of the assurance, suspended the land revenue distribution — to continue it sus- pended while duties above the compromise limit continued to be levied. And as that has been the case ever since, the distribu- tion of the land revenue has been sus- pended ever since. The bill was passed, and approved by the President, and Con- gress thereupon adjourned. The subject of the navy was also under consideration at this session. The naval policy of the United States was a question of party division from the origin of parties in the early years of the government — the I'ederal party favoring a strong and splendid navy, the Kepublican a moderate establishment, adapted to the purposes of defense more than of offense. And this line of division has continued. Under the Whig regime the policy for a great navy developed itself. The Secretary of the Navy recommended a large increase of ships, seamen and officers, involving a heaA'y expense, though the government Avas not in a condition to warrant any such expenditure, and no emergency required an increase in that branch of the public service. The vote was taken upon the in- crease proposed by the Secretary of the Navy, and recommended by the President; and it was carried, the yeas" and nays being well defined by the party line. The first session of the twenty-eighth Congress, which convened December 1843, exhibited in its political comjdexion, se- rious losses in the Whig fullowiiig. The Democratic candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives, was elected over the Whig candidate — the vote standing 128 to 51). Thus an adverse majority of more than two to one was the result to the Whig party at the first election after the extra session of 1841. The President's message referred to the treaty which had lately been concluded with Great Britain relative to the northwestern territory ex- tending to the Columbia river, including Oregon and settling the boundary lines ; and also to a pending treaty with Texas for her annexation to the United States ; and concluded with a recommendation for the establishment of a paper currency to be issued and controlled by the Federal government. For more than a year before the meeting of the Democratic Presidential Conven- tion in Baltimore, in May 1844, it was evident to leading Democrats that Martin Van Buren was the choice of the party. To overcome this popular current and turn the tide in favor of Mr. Calhoun, who desired the nomination, resort was had to the pending question of the annexation of Texas, Mr, Van Buren was known to be against it, and Mr. Calhoun for it. To gain time, the meeting of the convention was postponed from December previous, which had been the usual time for holding such elections, until the following May. The convention met, and consisted of two hundred and sixty-six delegates, a decided majority of whom Avere for Mr. Van Buren, and cast their votes accordingly on the first ballot. But a chairman had been selected, Avho Avas adverse to his nomination ; and aided by a rule adopted by the convention, Avhich required a concurrence of tAvo-thirds to effect a nomination, the opponents of Mr, Van Buren Avere able to accomplish his defeat, Mr, Calhoun had, before the meeting of the convention, made knoAvn his determination, in a public address, not to suffer his name to go before that as- semblage as a candidate for the presidency, and stated his reasons for so doing, Avhich Avere founded mainly on the manner in Avhich the convention was constituted ; his objections being to the mode of choosing delegates, and the manner of their giving in their votes — he contending for district elections, and the delegates to vote indi- vidually. South Carolina Avas not rej.re- sented in the couA^ention, After tlie first ballot Mr. Van Buren's A'ote sensibly de- creased, until finally, Mr. James K. Polk, who was a candidate for the Vice Presi- dency, was brought forAvard and nominated unanimously for the chief office. Mr, Geo. M. Dallas Avas chosen as his colleague for the Vice Presidency. The nomination of these gentlemen, neither of Avhom had 46 AMERICAN POLITICS. been mentioned until late in the proceed- ings of the convention, for the offices for which they were finally nominated, was a genuine surprise to the country. No voice in favor of it had been heard ; and no visible sign in the political horizon had announced it. The Whig convention nominated Henry Clay, for President ; and Theodore Fre- linghuysen for Vice-President. The main issues in the election which ensued, were mainly the party ones of Whig and Democrat, modified by the tariff and Texas questions. It resulted in the choice of the Democratic candidates, who received 170 electoral votes as against 105 for their opponents; the popular majority for the Democrats being 238,284, in a total vote of 2,834,108. Mr. Clay re- ceived a larger popular vote than had been given at the previous, election for the Whig candidate, showing that he would have been elected had he then been the nominee of his party ; though the popular vote at this election was largely increased over that of 1840. It is conceded that the 36 electoral votes of New York State gave the election to Mr. Polk. It was carried by a bare majority ; due entirely to the Gubernatorial candidacy of Mr. Silas Wright, who had been mentioned for the vice-presidential nomination in connection with Mr. Van Buren, but who declined it after the sacrifice of his friend and col- league; and resigning his seat in the Senate, became a candidate for Governor of New York. The election being held at the same time as that for president, his name and popularity brought to the presi- dential ticket more than enough votes to make the majority that gave the electoral vote of the State to the Democrats. President Tyler's annual and last mes- sage to Congress, in December 1844, con- tained, (as did that of the previous year) an elaborate paragraph on the subject of Texas and Mexico; the idea being the annexation of the former to the Union, and the assumption of her causes of grievance against the latter ; and a treaty w^as pend- ing to accomplish these objects. The scheme for the annexation of Texas was framed with a double aspect — one looking to the then pending presidential election, the other to the separation of the Southern States ; and as soon as the rejection of the treaty was foreseen, and the nominating convention had acted, the disunion aspect manifested itself over many of the South- ern States— beginning with'Soutb Carolina. Before the end of May, a great meeting took place at Ashley* in that State, to combine the slave States in a convention to unite the Southern States to Texas, if Texas should not be received into the Union ; and to invite the President to convene Congress to arrange the terms of the dissolution of the Union if the rejec- tion of the annexation should be perse- vered in. Responsive resolutions were adopted in several States, and meetings held. The opposition manifested, brought the movement to a stand, and suppressed the disunion scheme for the time being — only to lie in wait for future occasions. But it was not before the jieople only that this scheme for a Southern convention with a view to the secession of the slave States was a matter of discussion ; it was the subject of debate in the Senate ; and there it was further disclosed that the design of the secessionists was to extend the new Southern republic to the Califor- nias. The treaty of annexation was supported by all the power of the administration, but failed ; and it was rejected by the Senate by a two-thirds vote against it. Following this, a joint resolution was early brought into the House of Eepre- sentatives for the admission of Texas as a State of the Union, by legislative action ; it passed the House by a fair majority, but met with opposition in the Senate un- less coupled with a proviso for negotia- tion and treaty, as a condition precedent. A bill authorizing the President and a commissioner to be appointed to agree upon the terms and conditions of said admission, the question of slavery within its limits, its debts, the fixing of bounda- ries, and the cession of territory, was coupled or united with the resolution ; and in this shape it was finally agreed to, and became a law, with the concurrence of the President, March 3, 1845. Texas was then in a state of war with Mexico, though at that precise point of time an armistice had been agreed upon, looking to a treaty of peace. The House resolution was for an unqualified admission of the State; the Senate amendment or bill was for negotia- tion ; and the bill actually passed would not have been concurred in except on the understanding that the incoming Presi- dent (whose term began March 4, 1845, and who was favorable to negotiation) would act under the bill, and appoint commissioners accordingly. Contrary to all expectation, the outgoing President, on the last day of his term, at the instigation of his Secretary of State, Mr. Calhoun, assumed the execution of the act providing for the admission of Texas — adopted the legislative clause — and sent out a special messenger with in- structions. The danger of this had been foreseen, and suggested in the Senate; but close friends of Mr. Calhoun, speaking for the administration, and replying to the suggestion, indignantly denied it for them, and declared that they would not have the " audacity" to so violate the spirit and in- tent of the act, or so encroach upon the OREGON TREATY OF 184G. 47 rights of the new President. These state- ments from the friends of the Secretary and President that tlie plan by negotiation would be adopted, quieted the apprehen- sion of those Senators opposed to legislative annexation or admission, and thus secured their votes, without which the bill would have failed of a majority. Thus was Texas incorporated into the Union. The legisla- tive proposition sent by Mr. Tyler was ac- cepted : Texas became incorporated with the United States, and in consequence the state of war was established between the United States and Mexico ; it only being a question of time and chance when the armistice should end and hostilities begin. Although Mr. Calhoun was not in favor of war with Mexico — he believing that a money payment would settle the difl'er- ences with that country — the admission of Texas into the Union under the legisla- tive annexation clause of the statute, was really his act and not that of the Presi- dent's ; and he was, in consequence, after- AvardS openly charged in the Senate with being tlie real author of the war which followed. The administration of President Polk opened March 4, 1845 ; and on the same day, the Senate being convened for the purpose, the cabinet ministers were nomi- nated and confirmed. In December fol- lowing the 29th Congress was organized. The House of Representatives, being largely Democratic, elected the Speaker, by a vote of 120, against 70 for the Whig candidate. At this session the " Ameri- can" party— a new political organization — first made its appearance in the Na- tional councils, having elected six mem- bers of the House of Representatives, four from New York and two from Penn- sylvania. The President's first annual message had for its chief topic, the admis- sion of Texas, then accomplished, and the consequent dissatisfaction of Mexico ; and referring to the preparations on the part of the latter with the apparent intention of declaring war on the United States, either by an open declaration, or by invading Texas. The message also stated causes which would justify this government in taking the initiative in declaring war — mainly the non-compliance by Mexico with the terms of the treaty of indemnity of April 11, 1839, entered into between that State and this government relative to injuries to American citizens during the previous eight years. He also referred to the fact of a minister having been sent to Mexico to endeavor to bring about a settle- ment of the differences between the na- tions, without a resort to hostilities. The message concluded with a reference to the negotiations with Great Britain relative to the Oregon boundary ; a statement of the finances and the public debt, showing the latter to be slightly in excess of seventeen millions; and a recommendation for a re- vision of the tariff, with a view to revenue as the object, with pn^tection to home in- dustry as the incident. At this session of Congress, the States of Florida and Iowa were admitted into the Union ; the former permitting slavery within its borders, the latter denying it. Long before this, the free and the slave States were equal in number, and the prac- tice had grown up — from a feeling of jealousy and policy to keep them evenly balanced — of admitting one State of each character at the same time. Numerically the free and the slave States were thus kept even : in political power a vast in- equality was going on — the increase of population being so much greater in the northern than in the southern region. The Ashburton treaty of 1842 omitted to define the boundary line, and permitted, or rather did not prohibit, the joint occu- pation of Oregon by British and American settlers. This had been a subject of dis- pute for many years. The country on the Columbia River had been claimed by both. Under previous treaties the American northern boundary extended " to the lati- tude of 49 degrees north of the equator, and along that parallel indefinitely to the west." Attempts were made in 1842 and continuing since to 1846, to settle _ this boundary line, by treaty with Great Britain. It had been assumed that we had a divid- ing line, made by previous treaty, along the parallel of 54' degrees 40 minutes from the sea to the Rocky mountains. The sub- ject so much absorbed public attention, that the Democratic National convention of 1844 in its platform of principles de- clared for that boundary line, or war as the consequence. It became known as the 54-40 pi ink, and was a canon of political faith. The negotiations between the gov- ernments were resumed in August, 1844. The Secretary of State, Mr. Calhoun, pro- posed a line along the parallel of 49 de- grees of north latitude to the summit of the Rocky mountains and continuing that line thence to the Pacific Ocean ; and he made this proposition notwithstanding the fact that the Democratic party — to which he belonged — were then in a high state of exultation for the boundary of 54 degrees 40 minutes, and the presidential canvass, on the Democratic side, was raging upon that cry. The British Minister declined this pro- position in the part that carried the line to the ocean, but offered to continue it from the summit of the mountains to the Columbia River, a distance of some three hundred miles, and then follow the river to the ocean. This was declined by Mr. Calhoun. The President had declared in his inaugural address in favor of the 54-40 48 AMERICAN POLITICS. line. He was in a dilemma ; to maintain that position meant war with Great Britain ; to recede from it seemed impossible. The proposition for the line of 4'J degrees hav- ing been withdrawn by the American gov- ernment on its non-acceptance by the Brit- ish, had appeased the Democratic storm Avhich had been raised against the Presi- dent. Congress had come together under the loud cry of war, in which Mr. Cass was the leader, but followed by the body of the democracy, and backed and cheered by the whole democratic newspaper press. Under the authority and order of Congress notice had been served on Great Britain which was to abrogate the joint occujiation of the country by the citizens of the two powers. It was finally resolved by the British Government to propose the line of 49 degrees, continuing to the ocean, as originally offered by Mr. Calhoun ; and though the President was favorable to its accei^tance, he could not, consistently with his previous acts, accept and make a treaty, on that basis. The Senate, with whom lies the power, under the constitu- tion, of confirming or restricting all trea- ties, being favorable to it, without respect to party lines, resort was had, as in the early practice of the Government, to the President, asking the advice of the Senate upon the articles of a treaty before negoti- ation. A message was accordingly sent to the Senate, by the President, stating the ])roposition, and asking its advice, thus shifting the responsibility upon that body, and making the issue of peace or war de- pend upon its answer. The Senate advised the acceptance of the proposition, and the treaty was concluded. The conduct of the "Whig Senators, without whose votes the advice would not have been given nor the treaty made, was patriotic in preferring their country to their party — in preventing a war with Great Britain — and saving the administra- tion from itself and its party friends. The second session of the 29th Congress was opened in December, 1847. The President's message was chiefly in relation to the war with Mexico, which had been declared by almost a unanimous vote in Congress. Mr. Calhoun spoke against the declaration in the Senate, but did not vote upon it. He was sincerely opposed to the war, although his conduct had produced it. Had he remained in the cabinet, to do which he had not concealed his wish, he would, no doubt, have labored earnestly to have prevented it. Many members of Congress, of the same party with the ad- ministration, were extremely averse to the war, and had interviews with the President, to see if it was inevitable, before it was de- clared. Members were under the impression that the war could not last above three months. The reason for these impressions was that an intrigue was laid, with the know- ledge of the Executive, for a peace, even belore the war was declared, and a special agent dispatched to bring about a return to Mexico of its exiled President, General Santa Anna, and conclude a treaty of peace with him, on terms favorable to the United States. And for this purpose Con- gress granted an appropriation of three millions of dollars to be placed at the dis- posal of the President, for negotiating for a boundary which should give the United States additional territory. While this matter was pending in Con- gress, Mr. Wilmot of Pennsylvania intro- duced and moved a proviso, "that no part of the territory to be acquired should he open to the introduction of slavery " It was a proposition not necessary for the pur- pose of excluding slavery, as the only ter- ritory to be acquired was that of New Mexico and California, where slavery was already prohibited by the Mexican laws and constitution. The proviso Avas ttiere- fore nugatory, and only served to bring on a slavery agitation in the United States. For this purpose it was seized upon by Mr. Calhoun and declared to be an outrage upon and menace to the slave-holding States. It occupied the attention of Con- gress for two sessions, and became the sub- ject of debate in the State Legislatures, several of which passed disunion resolu- tions. It became the watchword of party — the synonym of civil war, and the dissolu- tion of the Union. Neither party really had anything to fear or to hope from the adoption of the proviso — the soil was free, and the Democrats were not in a position to make slave territory of it, because it had just enunciated as one of its cardinal principles, that there was " no power in Congress to legislate upoil slavery in Territo- ries." Never did two political parties con- tend more furiously about nothing. Close observers, who had been watching the pro- gress of the slavery agitation since its inauguration in Congress in 18§5, knew it to be the means of keeping up an agitation for the benefit of the political parties-^the abolitionists on one side and*the disunion- ists or nuUifiers on the other — to accom- plish their own purposes. This was the celebrated Wilmot Proviso, M'liich for so long a time convulsed the Union ; assisted in forcing Ihe issue between the North and South on the slavery question, and alnust caused a dissolution of the Union. The proviso was defeated ; that chance of the nullifiers to force the issue was lost; an- other had to be made, which was s]-eedily done, by the introduction into the Senate on the 19th February, 1847, by Mr. Cal- houn of his new slavery resolutions, de- claring the Territories to be the common property of the several S!:ates; denying TREATY OF PEACE WITH MEXICO. 49 the rijilit of Congress to prohil)it slavory ill a Territory, or to pass any law which would have the effect to deprive the citi- zens of any slave State from eniitrrating with his property (slaves) into such Terri- tory. The introduction of the resolutions was prefaced by an elahorate speech by ]\Ir. Calhoun, who demanded an immediate vote upon them. They never came to a vote ; they were evidently introduced for the mere purpose of carrying a question to the slave States on which they could be formed into a unit against the free States ; and so began the agitation which finally led to the abrogation of the Missouri Com- promise line, and arrayed the States of one section against those of the other. The Thirtieth Congrcs-, which assem- bled for its first session in December, 1847, was found, so far as respects the House of Representatives, to be ijolitically adverse to the administration. The Whigs were in the majority, and elected the S])eakcr; Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts, being chosen. The Pre-iident's message contained a full report of the progress of the war with Mexico ; the success of the American arms in that conflict; the vic- tory of Cerro Gordo, and the capture of the City of Mexico; and that negotiations were then pending for a treaty of peace. The message concluded with a reference to the excellent results from the indepen- dent treasury system. The war with Mexico was ended by the signing of a treaty of peace, in February, 1848, by the terms of which New Mexico and Upper California were ceded to the United States, and the lower Rio Grande, from its mouth to El Paso, taken for the boundary of Texas. For the territory thus acquired, the United States agreed to pay to Mexico the sum of fifteen million dol- lars, in five annual installments ; and be- sides that, assumed the claims of Ameri- can citizens against Mexico, limited to three and a quarter million dollars, out of and on account of which claims the war ostensibly originated. The victories achiev- ed by the American commanders. Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, during t!iat war, won for them national reputa- tions, by means of which they were brought Drominently forward for the Presidential succession. The question of the power of Congress to legislate on the subject of slavery in the Territories, was again raised, at this session, on the bill for the establishment of the Oregon territorial government. An amend- ment was offered to insert a provision for the extension of the Missouri compromise line to the Pacific Ocean ; which line thus extended was intended by the amendment to be permanent, and to apply to all future territories established in the West. This amendment Avas lost, but the bill was finally passed with an amendment incorporating into it the anti-slavery clause of the ordi- nance of 1787. Mr. Calhoun, in the Son- ate, declared that the exclusion of slavery from any territory was a sul)version of the Union; openly proclaimcfl the strife be- tween the North and South to be ended, and the separation of the States accom- plished. His speech was an open invoca- tion to disunion, and from that time forth, the efforts were regular to obtain a meet- ing of the members from the slave States, to unite in a call for a convention of the slave States to redress themselves. He said: " The great strife between the North and the South is ended. The North is determined to exclude the property of the slaveholder, and, of course, the slaveholder himself, from its territory. On this point there seems to be no division in the North. In the South, he regretted to say, there was some division of sentiment. The effect of this determination of the North was to convert all the Southern population into slaves ; and he would never consent to entail that disgrace on his posterity. He denounced any Southern man who would not take the same course. Gentle- men were greatly mistaken if they sup- posed the Presidential question in the South would override this more important one. The separation of the North and the South is completed. The South has now a most solemn obligation to perform — to herself— to the constitution — to the Union. She is bound to come to a decision not to permit this to go on any further, but to show that, dearly as she prizes the Union, there are questions which she regards as of greater importance than the Union. This is not a question of territorial govern- ment, but a question involving the con- tinuance of the Union." The President, in approving the Oregon bill, took occa- sion to send in a special message, point- ing out the danger to the Union from the progress of the slavery agitation, and urged an adherence to the principles of the ordi- nance of 1787— the terms of the Missouri compromise of 1820 — as also that involved and declared in the Texas case in 1845, as the means of averting that danger. The Presidential election of 1848 was coming on. The Democratic convention met in Baltimore in May of that yeai-; each State being represented in the con- vention by the number of delegates equal to the number of electoral votes it was en- titled to; saving only New York, which sent two sets of delegates, and both were excluded. The delegates were, for the most part, members of Congress and ofhce- holders. The two-thirds rule, adopted by the previous convention, was again made a law of the convention. The main ques- tion which arose upon the formation of the platform for the campaign, was the 50 AMERICAN POLITICS. doctrine advanced by the Southern mein- bers of non-interference with slavery in the States or in the Territories. The can- didates of the party were, Lewis Cass, of Michigan, for President, and General Wm. O. Butler, of Kentucky, for Vice-Presi- dent. The Whig convention, taking advan- tage of the popularity of Genl. Zachary Taylor, for his military achievements in the Mexican war, then just ended ; and his consequent availability as a candidate, nominated him for the Presidency, over Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster and General Scott, who were his competitors before the convention. Millard Fillmore was selected as the Vice- presidential candidate. A third convention was held, consisting of the disaffected Democrats from New York who had been excluded from the Baltimore convention. They met at L-tica, New York, and nominated Martin Van Bnren for President, and Charles Francis Adams for Vice President. The princi- ples of its platform, wore, that Congress should abolish slavery wherever it consti- tutionally had the power to do so— [which was intended to apply to the District of Columbia] — that it should not interfeiT with it in the slave States — and that it should prohibit it in the Territories. This party became known as " Free-soilers," from their doctrines thus enumerated, and their party cry of " free-soil, free-speech, free-labor, free-men." The result of the election, as might have been foreseen, was to lose New York State to the Baltimore candidate, and give it to the whigs, who were triumphant in the reception of 163 electoral votes for their candidates, against 127 for the democrats ; and none for ihe free-soilers. The last message of President Polk, in December following, gave him the oppor- tunity to again urge upon Congress the necessity for some measure to quiet the slavery agitation, and he recommended the extension of the Missouri compromise line to the Pacific Ocean, passing through the new Territories of California and New Mexico, as a fair adjustment, to meet as far as possible the views of all parties. The President referred also to the state of the finances; the excellent condition of the public treasury ; government loans, commanding a high premium ; gold and silver the established currency ; and the business interests of the country in a pros- jierous condition. And this was the state of affairs, only one year after emergencv from a foreign war. It would be unfair not to give credit to the President and to Senator Benton and others equally promi- nent and courageous, who nt that time had to battle against the bank theory and national paper money currency, as strongly urged and advocated, and to prove even- tually that the money of the Constitution — gold and silver — was the only currency to ensure a successful financial working of the government, and prosperity to the peo- ple. The new President, General Zachary Taylor, was inaugurated March 4, 1849. The Senate being convened, as usual, in extra session, for the purpose, the Vice President elect, Millard Fillmore, was duly installed ; and the Whig cabinet officers nominated by the President, promptly confirmed. An additional member of the Cabinet was appointed by tliis administra- tion to preside over the new " Home De- partment " since called the "Interior," created at the previous session of Con- gress. The following December Congress met in regular session — the 31st since the or- ganization of the federal governmont. The Senate consisted of sixty members, among whom were Mr. Webster, Mr. Cal- houn, and Mr. Clay, who had returned to public life. The House had 230 members ; and although the whigs had a small ma- jority, the House was so divided on the slavery question in its various phases, that the election for Speaker resulted in the choice of the Democratic candidate, Mr. Cobb, of Georgia, by a majority of three votes. The annual message of the President plainly showed that he compre- hended the dangers to the Union from a continuance of sectional feeling on the slavery question, and he averred his deter- mination to stand by the Union to the full extent of his obligations and powers. At the previous session Congress had spent six months in endeavoring to frame a sat- isfactory bill providing territorial govern- ments for California and New Slexico, and had adjourned finally without accom- plishing it, in consequence of inability to agree upon whether the Missouri compro- mise line should be carried to the ocean, or the territories be permitted to remain as they were — slavery prohibited under the laws of Mexico. Mr. Calhoun brought forward, in the debate, a new doctrine — extending the Constitution to the territory, and arguing that as that instrument recog- nized the existence of slavery, the settlers in such territory should be permitted to hold their slave property taken there, and be protected. Mr. Webster's answer to this was that the Constitution was made for States, not territories ; that it cannot operate anywhere, not even in the States for which it was made, without acts of Congress to enforce it. The proposed ex- tension of the constitution to territories, with a view to its transportation of slaveiy along with it, was futile and nugatory, without the act of Congress to vitalize slavery under it. The early part of the year had witnessed ominous movements — MR. CLAY'S COMPROMISE RESOLUTIONS, niglitly meetings of large numbers of mem- bers from the slave States, led by Mr, Calhoun, to consider the state of things between tlie North and the South. They appointed committees who prepared an address to the people. It was in this con- dition of things, ehat President Taylor ex- pressed his opinion, in his message, of the remedies required. California, New Mexico and Utah, had been left without governments. For California, he recom- mended that having a suflicient poi)ula- tion and having framed a constitution, she be admitted as a State into the Union ; and for New Mexico and Utah, without mixing the slavery question with their territorial governments, they be left to ripen into States, and settle the slavery question for themselves in their State con- stitutions. With a view to meet the wishes of all parties, and arrive at some definite and permanent adjustment of the slavery ques- tion, Mr. Clay early in the session in- troduced compromise resolutions which were practically a tacking together of the several bills then on the calendar, provid- ing for the admission of California — the territorial government for Utah and New- Mexico — the settlement of the Texas boun- dary — slavery in the District of Columbia — and for a fugitive slave law. It was seriously and earnestly opposed by many, as being a concession to the spirit of dis- union — -a capitulation under threat of se- cession ; and as likely to become the som-ce of more contentions than it proposed to quiet. The resolutions were referred to a special committee, who promptly reported a bill embracing the comjirehensive plan of com- promise which Mr. Clay proposed. Among the resolutions offered, was the following : " Resolved, that as slavery does not exist by law and is not likely to be introduced into any of the territory acquired by the United States from the Republic of Mexi- co, it is inexpedient for Congress to pro- vide by law either for its introduction into or exclusion from any part of the said ter- ritory ; and that appropriate territorial governments ought to be established by Congress in all of the said territory, and assigned as the boundaries of the proposed State of California, without the adoption of any restriction or condition on the sub- ject of slavery." Mr. Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, objected that the measure gave nothing to the South in the settlement of the question ; and he required the exten- sion of the Missouri compromise line to the Pacific Ocean as the least that he would be willing to take, with the specific reaognition of the right to hold slaveys in the territory below that line ; and that, be- fore such territories are admitted into the Union as States, slaves may be taken there from any of the United States at the option of their owner. Mr. Clay in reply, said : " Coming from, a slave State, as I do, I owe it to myself, I owe it to truth, I owe it to the subject, to say that no earthly power could induce me to vote for a specific measure for the in- troduction of slavery wlierc it had not be- fore existed, either south or north of that line. * * * If the citizens of those territories choose to establish slavery, and if they come here with constitutions es- tablishing slavery, I am for admitting them with such provisions in their consti- tutions; but then it will be their own work, and not ours, and their posterity will have to reproach them, and not us, for forming constitutions allowing the institu- tion of slavery to exist among them." Mr. Seward of New York, proposed a renewal of the Wilmot Proviso, in the fol- lowing resolution: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than by conviction for crime, shall ever be allowed in either of said territories of Utah and New Mexico ; " but his resolution was re- jected in the Senate by a vote of 23 yeas to 33 nays. Following this, Mr. Calhoun had read for him in the Senate, by his friend James M. Mason of Virginia, his last speech. It embodied the points cov- ered by the address to the people, pre- pared oy him the previous year ; the prob- ability of a dissolution of tlie Union, and presenting a case to justify it. The tenor of the speech is shown by the following ex- tracts from it: " I have, Senators, believed from the first, that the agitation of the sub- ject of slavery would, if not prevented by some timely and effective measure, end in disunion. Entertaining this opinion, I have, on all proper occasions, endeavored to call the attention of each of the two great parties Avhich divide the country to adopt some measure to prevent so great a disas- ter, but without success. The agitation haa been permitted to proceed, with almost no attempt to resist it, until it has reached a period when it can no longer be disguised or denied that the Union is in dauger. You have had forced upon you the great- est and gravest question that can ever come under your consideration ; How can the Union be preserved ?***** Instead of being weaker, all the elements in favor of agitation are stronger now than they were in 1835, when it first commenced, while all the elements of influence on the part of the South are weaker. Unless something decisive is done, I again ask what is to stop this agitation, before the great and final object at which it aims— ithe abolition of slavery in the States— is consummated ? Is it, then, not certain that if something decisive is not now done to arrest it, the South will be forced to choose between abolition and secession ? Indeed 52 AMERICAN POLITICS. as events are now moving, it will not re- quire the South to secede to dissolve the Union. * * * * If the agitation goes on, nothing will be left to hold the States together except force." He answered the question, How can the Union he saved ? \ with which his speech opened, by suggest- [ ing. " To provide for the insertion of a j provision in the constitution, by an amend- 1 ment, which will restore to the South in j substance the power she possessed of pro- ^ tecting herself, before the equilibrium be- tween the sections was destroyed by the action of the government." He did not ' state of Avhat the amendment should con- sist, but later on, it was ascertained from reliable sources that his idea was a dual executive — one President from the free, and one from the slave States, the consent of both of whom should be required to all acts of Congress before they become laws. This speech of Mr. Calhoun's, is import- ant as explaining many of his previous ac- tions ; and as furnishing a guide to those who ten years afterwards attempted to carry out practically the suggestions thrown out by him. Mr. Clay's compromise bill was rejected. It was evident that no compromise of any kind whatever on the subject of slavery, under any one of its aspects separately, much less under all put together, could possibly be made. There was no spirit of concession manifested. The numerous measures put together in Mr. Clay's bill were disconnected and separated. Each measure received a separate and inde- pendent consideration, and with a result which showed the injustice of the at- tempted conjunction ; for no two of them were passed by the same vote, even of the members of the committee which had even unanimously reported favorably upon them as a whole. Mr. Calhoun died in the spring of 1850 ; before the separate bill for the admission of California was taken up. His death took place at Washington, he having reached the age of 68 years. A eulogy upon him was delivered in the Senate by his colleague, Mr. Butler, of South Caro- lina. Mr. Calhoun was the first great ad- vocate of the doctrine of secession. He was the author of the nullification doc- trine, and an advocate of the extreme doc- trine of States Rights. He was an elo- quent speaker — a man of strong intellect. His speeches were plain, strong, concise, sometimes impassioned, and always severe. Daniel Webster said of him, that " he had the basis, the indispensable basis of all high characters, and that was unspotted integrity, unimpeached honor and char- acter ! " In July of this year an event took place which threw a gloom over the country. The President^ General Taylorj contracted a fever from exposure to the hot sun at a cele- bration of Independence Day, from which he died four days afterwards. He was a man of irreproachable private character, undoubted patriotism, and established re- putation for judgment and firmness. His brief career showed no.«deficiency of poli- tical wisdom nor want of political training. His administration was beset with difiicul- ties, with momentous questions pending, and he met the crisis with firmness and determination, resolved to maintain the Federal Union at all hazards. His first and only annual message, the leading points of which have been stated, evinces a spirit to do what was right among all the States. His death was a public calamity. ISJo man could have been more devoted to the Union nor more opposed to the slavery agitation ; and his position as a Southern man and a slavehokler — his military repu- tation, and his election by a majority of the people as well as of the State's, would have given him a power in the settlement of the pending questions of the day which no President without these qualifications could have possessed. In accordance with the Constitution, the ofiice of President thus devolved upon the Vice-President, Mr. Millard Fillmore, who was duly inaugurated July 10, 1850. The new cabinet, with Daniel Webster as Se- cretary of State, was duly appointed and confirmed by the Senate. 'The bill for the admission of California as a State in the Union, was called up in the vSenate and sought to be amended by extending the Missouri Compromise line through it, to the Pacific Ocean, so as to authorize slavery in the State below that line. The amendment was introduced and pressed by Southern friends of the late Mr. Calhoun, and made a test question. It was lost, and the bill passed by a two- third vote ; whereupon ten Southern Sena- tors offered a written protest, the conclud- ing clause of which was : '• We dissent from this bill, and solemnly protest against its passage, because in sanctioning mea- sures so contrary to former precedents, to obvious policy, to the spirit and intent of the constitution of the United States, for the purpose of excluding the slaveholding States from the territory thus to be erected into a State, this government in effect de- clares that the exclusion of slavery from the territory of the United States is an ob- ject so high and important as to justify a disregard not only of all the principles of sound policy, but also of the constitution itself. Against this conclusion we must now and for ever protest, as it is destruc- tive of the safety and liberties of those whose rights have been committed to our care, fatal to the peace and equality of the States which we represent, and must lead, if persisted in, to the dissolution of that RISE AND PROGRESS OF ABOLITION PARTY. confederacy, in Avhicli the slavcholding Stated have never souj;-ht more than equality, and in which they will not be content to remain with less." On objec- tion being made, followed by debate, the Senate refused to receive the protest, or permit it to be entered on the Journal. Tlie bill went to the House of Representa- tives, was readily passed, and promptly approved by the President. Thus was virtually accomplished the abrogation of the Missouri compromise line ; and the ex- tension or non-extension of slavery was then made to form a foundation for future political parties. The year 1S50 was prolific with disunion movements in the Southern States. The Senators who had joined with Mr. Calhoun in the address to the people, in 1S49, united with their adherents in establishing at Washington a newspaper entitled " The Southern Press," devoted to the agitation of the slavery question ; to presenting the advantages of disunion, and the organi- zation of a confederacy of Southern States to be called the ''United States South." Its constant aim was to -influence the South against the North, and advoca- ted concert of action by the States of the former section. It was aided in its efforts by newspapers published in the South, more especially in South Carolina and Mississippi. A disunion convention was actually held, in Nashville, Tennessee, and invited the assembly of a Southern Con- gress. Two States, South Carolina and Mississippi responded to the appeal ; passed laws to carry it into effect, and the former went so far as to elect its quota of Representatives to the proposed new Southern Congress. These occurrences are refeirred to as shoAving the spirit that prevailed, and the extraordinary and un- justifiable means used by the leaders to mislead and exasperate the people. The assembling of a Southern " Congress " was a turning point in the progress of disunion. Georgia refused to join ; and her weight as a great Southern State was sufficient to cause the failure of the scheme. But the seeds of discord were sown, and had taken root, only to spring up at a future time when circumstances should be more favorable to the accomplishment of the object. Although the Congress of the United States had in 1790' and again in 1836 formally declared the policy of the govern- ment to be non-interference with the States in respect to the matter of slavery within the limits of the respective States, the sub- ject continued to be agitated in conse- quence of petitions to Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, which was under the exclusive control of the fed- eral government; and of movements | throughout the United States to limit, and finally abolish it. The subject first made its i ajipcarance in national politics in 1S40, when a i>residential ticket was nominated by a party then formed favoring the abolition of slavery; it had a very slight following which was increased ten-fold at the elec- tion of 1844 when the same party again j)ut a ticket in the field with James G. Birney of Michigan, as its candidate for the Presidency; who received G2, 140 votes. The efforts of the leaders of that faction were continued, and persisted in to such an extent, that when in 1848 it nominated a ticket with Gerritt Smith for President, against the Democratic candidate, Martin Van Buren, the former received 296,232 votes. In the presidential contest of 1852 the abolition party again nominated a ticket, with John P. Hale as its candidate for President, and polled 157,926 votes. This large following was increased from time to time, until uniting with a new party then formed, called the Republican party, which latter adopted a platform en- dorsing the views and sentiments of the abolitionists, the great and decisive battle for the principles involved, was fought in the ensuing presidential contest of 1856 ; when the candidate of the Republican partv, John C. Fremont, supported by the entire abolition party, polled 1,341,812 votes. The first national platform of the Abolition party, upon which it went into the contest of 1840, fiivored the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia and Territories; the inter-state slave trade, and a general opposition to slaveiy to the full extent of constitutional power. Following the discussion of the subject of slavery, in the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives, brought about by the presenta- tion of petitions and memorials, and the passage of the resolutions in 1836 rejecting such petitions, the question was again raised by the presentation in the House, by Mr. Slade of Vermont, on the 20th December 1837, of two memorials praying the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and moving that they be re- ferred to a select committee. Great excite- ment prevailed in the chamber, and of the many attempts by the Southern members an adjournment was had. The next day a resolution was offered that thereafter all such petitions and memorials touching the abolition of slavery should, when pre- sented, be laid on the table ; v/hich resolu- tion was adopted by a large vote. During the 24th Congress, the Senate pursued the course of laying on the table the motion to receive all abolition petitions ; and both Houses during the 25th Congress continued the same course of conduct ; when finally on the 25th of January 1840, the House adopted by a vote of 114 to 108, an amend- ment to tiie rules, called the 21st Rule, which provided : — " that no petition, me- morial or resolution, or other paper, pray- 54 AMERICAN POLITICS. ing the abolition of slaveiy in the District of Cohimbia, or any state or territory, or the slave-trade between the States or ter- ritories of the United States, in which it now exists, shall be received by this House, or entertained in any way what- ever." This rule was afterwards, on the 3d of December, 1844, rescinded by the House, on motion of Mr. J. Quincy Adams, by a vote of 108 to 80; and a motion to re-instate it, on the 1st of December 1845, was rejected by a vote of 84 to 121. Within five years afterwards — on the 17th September 1850, — the Congress of the United States enacted a law, which was ap- proved by the President, abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia. On the 25th of February, 1850, there was presented in the House of Representa- tives, two petitions from citizens of Penn- sylvania and Delaware, setting forth that slavery, and the constitution which per- mits it, violates the Divine law; is incon- sistent with republican principles ; that its existence has brought evil upon the country; and that no union can exist with States which tolerate that institution ; and asking that some plan be devised for the immediate, peaceful dissolution of the Union. The House refused to receive and consider the petitions; as did also the Senate when the same petitions were pre- sented the same month. The presidential election of 1852 was the last campaign in which the Whig party appeared in National politics. It nomi- nated a ticket with General Winfield Scott as its candidate for President. His oppo- nent on the Democratic ticket was General Franklin Pierce. A third ticket was placed in the field by the Abolition party, with John P. Hale as its candidate for Presi- dent. The platform and declaration of principles of the Whig party was in sub- stance a ratification and endorsement of the several measures embraced in Mr. Clay's compromise resolutions of the pre- vious session of Congress, before referred to ; and the policy of a revenue for the economical administration of the govern- ment, to be derived mainly from duties on imports, and by these means to afford pro- tection to American industry. The main plank of the platform of the Abolition party (or Independent Democrats, as they were called) was for the non-extension and gradual extinction of slavery. The Demo- cratic party equally adhered to the com- promise measure. The election resulted in the choice of Franklin Pierce, by a popular voteof 1,601,474, and 254 electoral votes, against a popular aggregate vote of 1,542,403 (of which the abolitionists polled 157,926) and 42 electoral votes, for the Whig and Abolition candidates. Mr. Pierce was duly inaugurated as President, March 4, 1853. The first political parties in the United States, from the establishment of the fede- ral government and for many years after- wards, were denominated Federalists and Democrats, or Democratic Republicans. The former was an anti-alien party. The latter was made up to a large extent of naturalized foreigners ; refugees from Eng- land, Ireland and Scotland, driven from home for hostility to the government or for attachment to France. Naturally, aliens sought alliance with the Democratic party, which favored the war against Great Britain. The early party contests were based on the naturalization laws ; the first of which, approved March 26, 1790, re- quired only two years' residence in this country ; a few years afterwards the time was extended to five years ; and in 1798 the Federalists taking advantage of the war fever against France, and then being in power, extended the time to fourteen years. (See Alien and Sedition L:iws of 1798). Jefferson's election and Demo- cratic victory of 1800, brought the period back to five years in 1802, and re-inforced the Democratic party. The city of New York, especially, from time to time became filled with foreigners ; thus naturalized ; brought into the Democratic ranks; and crowded out native Federalists from con- trol of the city government, and to meet this condition of affairs, the first attempt at a Native American organization was made. Beginning in 1835 ; ending in failure in election of Mayor in 1837, it was revived in April, 1844, when the Native American organization carried New York city for its Mayoralty candidate by a good majority. The success of the movement there, caused it to spread to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, it was desperately opposed by the Democratic, Irish and Roman Catholic element, and so furiously, that it resulted in riots, in which two Romish Churches were burned and destroyed. The adherents of the Ameri- can organization were not confined to Federalists or Whigs, but largely of native Democrats ; and the Whigs openly voted with Democratic Natives in order to secure their vote for Henry Clay for the Presi- dency ; but when in Novem1>er, 184-1, New York and Philadelphia both gave Native majorities, and so sapped the Whig vote, that both places gave majorities for the Democratic Presidential electors, the Whigs drew off". In 1845, at the April election in New York, the natives were defeated, and the new party disappeared there. As a result of the autumn election of 1844, the 29th Congress, which organ- ized in December, 1845, had six Native Representatives ; four from New York and two from Pennsylvania. In the 30th Con- gress, Pennsylvania had one. Thereafter for some years, with the exception of a THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL. 65 small vote in Pcnnsyh'uniaand New York, Niitivisiu disappeared. An able writer of" that day— lion. A. 11. II. Stuart, of Vir- ginia — published under the uoni-de-plunie ul' '■ Madison " several letters in viiidieation of the American party (revived in 18.')2,) in whieli he said: "The vital principle of the American party is Americauism — develop- ing itself in a deep-rooted attachment to our own country — its constitution, its union, and its laws — to American men, and Ameri- can measures, and American interests — or, in other words, a fervent patriotism — which, rejecting the transcendental philan- thropy of abolitionists, and that kindred batch of wild enthusiasts, who would seek to embroil us with foreign countries, in righting the wrongs of Ireland, or Hun- gary, or Cuba — would guard with vestal vigilance American institutions and Ameri- can interests against the baneful effects of foreiun influence." About l.'>r)2, when the question of slavery in the territories, and its extension or its abolition in the States, was agitated and causing sectional differences in the coun- try, many Whigs and Democrats forsook their parties, and took sides on the ques- tions of the day. This was aggravated by the large number of alien naturalized citi- zens c-onstantly added to the ranks of voters, who took sides with the Democrats and against the Whigs. Nativism then re-appeared, but in a new form — that of a secret fraternity. Its real name and ob- jects were not revealed — even to its mem- bers, until they reached a high degree in the order ; and the answer of members on being questioned on these subjects was, " I don't know" — which gave it the popular name, by which it is yet known, of " Know- nothing." Its moving causes were the growing power and designs of the Roman Catholic Church in America ; the sudden influx of aliens; and the greed and inca- pacity of naturalized citizens for office. Its cardinal principle was : " Americans must rule America " ; and its countersign was the order of General Washington on a critical occasion during the war : " Put none but Americans on guard to-night." Its early nominations were not made pub- lic, but v/ere made by select committees and conventions of delegates. At first these nominations were confined to selec- tions of the best Whig or best Democrat on the respective tickets ; and the choice not beina; made known, but quietly voted for by all the members of the order, the effect was only visible after election, and threw all calculation into chaos. For a while it was really the arbiter of elections. On February 8, 1853, a bill passed the House of Representatives providing a ter- ritorial government for Nebraska, embrac- ing all of what is now Kansas and Nebraska. It was silent on the subject of the repeal of the IMissouri Compromise. The bill was tabled in the Senate ; to be revived at the following session. In the Senate it was amended, on motion of Mr. Douglas, to read : " That so much of the Sth section of an act api)roved JIarch 6, 1S20, (the Missouri compromise) * * * which, being inconsistent with the princi- ples of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the States and Territories, as recognized by the hjgislature of 1850, com- monly called the Compromise measures, is hereby declared inoperative and void ; it being' the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it there- from, but to leave the people thereof per- fectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." It was further amended, on motion of Senator Clayton, to prohibit " alien suffrage." In the House this amendment was not agreed to ; and the bill finally passed without it, on the 25th May, 1854. So far as Nebraska was concerned, no excitement of any kind marked the initia- tion of her territorial existence. The persons who emigrated there seemed to regard the pursuits of business as of more interest than the discussion of slavery. Kansas was less fortunate. Her territory became at once the battle-field of a fierce political conflict between the advocates of slavery, and the free soil men from the North who went there to resist the estab- lishment of that institution in the terri- tory. Diflerences arose between the Legislature and the Governor, brought about by antagonisms between the Pro- slavery party and the Free State party ; and the condition of affairs in Kansas assumed so frightful a mien in January, 1856, that the President sent a special message to Congress on the subject, January 24, 1856 ; followed by a Proclama- tion, February 11, 1856, " warning all un- lawful combinations (in the territory) to retire peaceably to their respective abodes, or he would use the power of the local militia, and the available forces of the United States to disperse them." Several applications were made to Con- gress for several successive years, for the admission of Kansas as a state in the I^nion ; upon the basis of three separate and distinct constitutions, all differing as to the main questions at issue between the contending factions. The name of Kansas was for some years synonymous with all that is lawless and anarchical. Elections became mere farces, and the officers thus fraudulently placed in power, used their authority only for their own or their party's 'interest. The party opposed_ to slavery at length triumphed ; a constitution 66 AMERICAN POLITICS. esicluding slavery was adopted in IS '9, and Kansas was admitted into the Union Jannary 29, 1861. Under tlie fugitive slave law, which was passed by Con.<:ress at tlie eession of 1850, as one of the Compromise measures, intro- duced by Mr. Clay, a long and exciting litigation occurred to test the validity and constitutionality of the act, and the several laws on which, it depended, The suit was instituted by Dred Bcott, a negro slave, in the Circuit Cottrt of the United States for the District of Missouri, in April Term, 1854, against John F, A, Banford, his alleged owner, for trespass vi d arinis, in holding the plaintifP and his wife and daughters in slavery in said District of Missouri, where by law slavery was pro- hibited ; they having been previously law- fully held in slavery by a form.er owner— Dr. Emerson — in the State of Illinois, from whence they were taken by him to Missouri, and sold to the defcndcnt, San- ford. The case went \x\) on appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, and was clearly and elaborately argued. The majority opinion, delivered by Chief Jus- tice Taney, as also tlie dissenting opinions, are reported in full in Howard's U. S. Supreme Court Reports, Volume 19, page 393. In respect to the territories the Con- stitution grants to Congress the power "to make all needful rules and regulations concerning the territory and other property belonging to the United States.'' The Court was of opinion that the clause of the Constitution applies only to the terri- tory within the original States at the tiiue the Constitution was adopted, and that it did not apply to future territory acquired by treaty or conquest from foreign na- tions. They were also of opinion that the power of Congress over such future terri- torial acquisitions was not unlimited, that the citizens of the States migrating to a territory were not to be regarded as colonists, subject to absolute power in Congress, but as citizens of the United States, with all the rights of citizenship guarantied by the Constitution, and that no legislation was constitutional which at- tempted to deprive a citizen of his property on his becoming a resident of a territory. This question in the case arose under the act of Congress prohibiting slavery in the territory of upper Louisiana, (acquired from France, afterwards the State), and of which the territory of Missouri was formed. Any obscurity as to what constitutes citizenship, will be re- moved by attending to the distinction be- tween local rights of citizenship of the United States according to tlie Constitu- tion. Citizenship at large in the sense of the Constitution can be conferred on a foreigner only by the naturalization laws of Congress. But each State, in the exer. «ise of its? local and reserved sovereignty, m-iy place foreigners or other persons on a footing with its own citizens, as to politi- cal rights and privileges to be enjoyed within its own dominion. But State regu- lations of thi3 character do not make the persons on whom such rights are conferred citizens of the United States or entitle them to the privileges and immunities of citizens in another State. See 5 Wheaton, (U. S, Supreme Court Reports), page 49. The Court said in The Dred Scott case, above referred to, that : — '* The right of property in a slave is distinctly and ex- pressly affirmed in the Constitution. The right to traffic in it like the ordinary article of merchandise and property was guar- antied to the citizens of the United States, in every State that might desire it for twenty years, and the government in ex- press terms is pledged to protect it in all future time if the slave escapes from his owner. This is done in plain words — too plain to be misunderstood, and no word can be found in the Constitution which gives Congress a greater power over slave property, or Avhich entitles property of that kind to less protection than the prop- erty of any other description. The only power conferred is the power coupled with the duty of guarding and protecting the owner in his rights. LTpon these considera- tions, it is the opinion of the Court that the Act of Congress which prohibited a citizen from holding and owning property of this kind in the territory of the United States north of the line therein mentioned, is not warranted by the Constitution and is therefore void ; and that neither Dred Scott himself, nor any of his family were made free by being earned into this terri- tory ; even if they had been carried there by the owner with the intention of becom- ing a permanent resident." The abolition of slavery by the 13th amendment to the Constitution of the ITnited States ratified and adopted December 18, 1865, has put an end to these discussions formerly so numerous. As early as 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska controversy on the territorial governnumt bill, resulted in a division of the "Wh'g party in the North. Those not sufficiently opposed to slaver}' to enter the new Repub- lican party, then in its ineipiency, allied themselves Avith the Know-Nothing order, which now accepting the name of Ameri- can party established a separate and in- dependent political existence. The party had no hold in the West ; it was entirely Middle State at this time, and polled a large vote in Massachusetts, Delaware and New York. In the State elections of 1855 the American party made a stride South- ward. In 1855, the absence of natural- ized citizens was universal in the South, and even so late as 1881 the proportion of THE AMERICAN RITUAL, 57 foreign-born population in the Southern States, with the exception of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas was under two per cent. At the early date — 1855— the na- tivLst feeling among the Whigs of that section, made it easy to transfer them to the American party, which thus secured in both the Eastern and Southern States, the election of Governor and Legislature in the States of New Llampshire, Massachu- setts, Rliode Island, Connecticut, New York, California and Kentucky ; and also elected i)art of its State ticket in Mary- land, and Texas ; and only lost the States of Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisi- ana, and Texas, b/small majorities against it. The order began preparations for a cam- paign as a National party, in 1856. It aimed to introduce opposition to aliens and Ro- man Catholicism as a national question. On the 21st of February, 1856, the Nation- al Council held a session at Philadelphia, and proceeded to formulate a declaration of principle -i, and make a platform, which were as follows : " An humble acknowledgement to the Supreme Being, for his protecting care vouchsafed to our fathers in their success- ful Revolutionary struggle, and hitherto manifested to us, their descendants, in the preservation of the liberties, the indepen- dence, and the union of these States. 2d. The perpetuation of the Federal Union, as the palladium of our civil and religious liberties, and the only sure Bul- w'ark of American independence. 8d. Americans must rule America, and to this end, native-born citizens should be selected for all state, federal, and munici- pal offices or government employment, in preference to all others ; nevertheless, 4tli. Persons born of American par- ents residing temporarily abroad, should be entitled to all the rights of native-born citizens ; but, 5th. No person shall be selected for po- litical station (whether of native or for- eign birth), who recognizes any allegiance or obligation, of any description, to any foreign })rince, potentate, or power, or who refuses to recognize the Federal and State constitutions (each within its sphere) as paramount to all other laws, as rules of po- litical action. , 6th. The unqualified recognition and maintenance of the reserved rights of the several States, and the cultivation of har- mony and fraternal good will, between the citizens of the several States, and to this end, non-interference by congress with questions appertaining solely to the indi- vidual States, and non-intervention by each State with the affairs of any other State. 7th. The recognition of the right of the native-born and naturalized citizens of the United States, permanently residing in any territory thereof, to frame their con- stitution and laws, and to regulate their domestic and social affairs in their owa mode, subject only to the provisions of the Federal Constitution, with the jjrivilegeof admission into the Union, whenever they have the rccjuisite population for one rep- resentative in Congress. — Provided always, that none but those who are citizens of the United States, under the Constitution and laws thereof, and who have a fixed resi- dence in any such territory, ought to j^ar- ticipate in the formation of the Constitu- tion, or in the enactment of laws for said Territory or State. 8th. An enforcement of the principle that no State or Territory ought to admit others than citizens of the United States to the right of suffrage, or of holding politi- cal office. 9th. A change in the laws of naturali- zation, making a continued residence of twenty-one years, of all not hereinbefore provided for, an indispensable requisite for citizenship hereafter, and excluding all paupers, and persons convicted of crime, from lauding upon our shores ; but no in- terference with the vested rights of foreign- ers. 10th. Opposition to any union between Church and State ; no interference with re- ligious faith, or worship, and no test oaths for office. 11th. Free and thorough investigation into any and all alleged abuses of public functionaries, and a strict economy in pub- lic expenditures. 12th. The maintenance and enforce- ment of all laws constitutionally enacted; until said laws shall be repealed, or shall be declared null and void by competent judicial authority. The American Ritual, or Constitution, rules, regulations, and ordinances of the Order were as follows : — AMERICANS' RITUAL. ConstiltUion of the Nalionnl Cmincil of the United States of North America. Art. 1st. This organization shall be known by the name and title of The National Council of the Uxitp:d States of North America, and its juris- diction and power shall extend to all the states, districts, and territories of the United States of North America. Art. 2d. The object of this organization shall be to protect every American citizen in the legal and proper exercise of all his civil and religious rights and privileges ; to resist the insidious policy of the Church of Rome, and all other foreign influence against our republican institutions in all lawful ways ; to place in all offices of honor trust, or profit, in the gift of tlie people, or by appointment, none but native-born Protestant citizens, and to protect, preserve, 58 AMERICAN POLITICS. and uphold the union of these state3 and the constitution of the same. Art. 3d. Sec. 1.— A person to become a member of any subordinate council must be twenty-one years of age ; he must be- lieve in the existence of a Supreme Being as the Creator and preserver of the uni- verse. He must be a native-born citizen ; a Protestant, either born of Protestant parents, or reared under Protestant influ- ence ; and not united in marriage with a Roman Catholic ; provided, nevertheless, that in this last respect, the state, district, or territorial councils shall be authorized to so construct their respective constitu- tions as shall best promote the interests of the American cause in their several juris- dictions ; and provided, moreover, that no member who may have a Roman Catholic wife shall be eligible to office in this order; and provided, further, should any state, district, or territorial council prefer the words " Roman Catholic" as a disquali- fication to membership, in place of " Pro- testant" as a qualification, they may so consider this constitution and govern their action accordingly. Sec. 2. — There shall be an interval of three weeks between the conferring of the first and second degrees; and of three months between the conferring of the second and third degrees — provided, that this restriction shall not apply to those who may have received the second degree pre- vious to the first day of December next ; and provided, further, that the presidents of state, district, and territorial councils may grant dispensations for initiating in all the degrees, officers of new councils. Sec. 3. — The national council shall hold its annual meetings on the first Tuesday in the month of June, at such place as may be designated by the national council at the previous annual meeting, and it may adjourn from time to time. Special meet- ings may be called by the President, on the written request of five delegations repre- senting five state councils ; provided, that sixty days' notice shall be given to the state councils previous to said meeting. Sec. 4. — The national council shall be composed of seven delegates from each state, to be chosen by the state councils ; and each district or territory where a diS' trict or territorial council shall exist, shall be entitled to send two delegates, to be chosen from said council— provided that in the nomiiiation of candidates for Presi- dent and Vice President of the United States, and each state shall be entitled to cast the same number of votes as they shall have members in both houses of Congress, In all sessions of the national council, thirty-two delegates, representing thirteen states, territories, or districts, shall consti' tute a quorum for the transaction of busi- nesa. Sec. 5. — The national council shall be vested with the following powers and privi- leges : It shall be the head of the organization for the United States of North America, and shall fix and establish all signs, grips, passwords, and such other secret work, as may seem to it necessary. It shall have the power to decide all matters appertaining to national politics. It shall have the power to exact Irom the state councils, quarterly or annual state- ments as to the number of members under their jurisdictions, and in relation to all other matters necessary for its information. It shall have the power to form state, territorial, or district councils, and to grant dispensations for the formation of such bodies, when five subordinate councils shall have been put in operation in any state, territory, or district, and application made. It shall have the power to determine upon a mode of punishment in case of any dereliction of duty on the part of its mem- bers or officers. It shall have the power to adopt cabal- istic characters for the purpose of writing or telegraphing. Said characters to be communicated to the presidents of the state councils, and by them to the presi- dents of the subordinate councils. It shall have the power to adopt any and every measure it may deem necessary to secure the success of the organization ; provided that nothing shall be done by the said national council in violation of the constitution ; and provided further, that in all political matters, its members may be instructed by the state councils, and if so instructed, shall carry out such instruc- tions of the state councils which they repre- sent until overruled by a majority of the national council. Art. 4. The President shall always preside over the national council when present, and in his absence the Vice President shall preside, and in the absence of both the national council shall npjioint a president pro tempore; and the jn-csiding officers may at all times call a member to the chair, but such appointment shall not extend be- yond one sitting of the national council. Art. 5, Sec. 1.— The officers of the National Council shall be a President,Vice- President, Chaplain, Corregponding Secre- tary, Recording Secretary, Trcasuier, and two Sentinels, with such other officers as the national council may see fit to appoint from time to time ; and the secretaries and sentinels may receive such compensation as the national council shall determine, Sec. 2.— The duties of the several officers created by this constitution shall be such as the wbrk of this organization prescribes. Art. 6, Sec. 1.— All officers provided for by this constitution, except the sentinels, shall be elected annually by ballot. The THE AMERICAN RITUAL. 59 president may appoint sentinels from time to time. Sec. 2.— A majority of all the votes cast shall be requisite to an election for an office. t^ee. 8.— All oflicers amldelegates of this council, and of all state, district, territorial, and subordinate councils, must be invested with all the degrees of this order. [-(ec. 4. — All vacancies in the elective offices shall be filled by a vote of the na- tional council, and only for the unexpired term of the said vacancy. Art. 7. Sec.l. — The national council shall entertain and decide all cases of appeal, and it shall establish a form of appeal. See. 2. — The national council shall levy, a tax upon the state, district, or territorial councils, for the support of the national council, to be paid in such manner and at such times as the national council shall determine. Art. 8. — This national council may alter and amend this constitution at its regular annual meeting in June next, by a vote of the majority of the whole number of the members present, (Cincinnati, Nov. 24, 1854.) RULES AXD REGULATIOXS, Eule 1.— Each State, District, or Terri- tory, in which there may exist five or more subordinate councils working under dispensations from the National Council of the United States of North America, or under regular dispensations from some State, District, or Territory, are duly em- powered to establish themselves into a State, District, or Territorial council, and when so established, to form for them- selves constitutions and by-laws for their government, in pursuance of, and in con- sonance with the Constitution of the National Council of the United States; provided, however, that all State, District, or Territorial constitutions shall be subject to the approval of the National Council of the United States. (June, 1854.) Rule 2.— All State, District, or Terri- torial councils, when established, shall have full power and authority to establish all subordinate councils within their re- spective limits ; and the constitutions and by-laws of all such subordinate councils must be approved by their respective State, District, or Territorial councils. (June, 1854.) Rule 3.— All State, District, or Terri- torial councils, when established and until the formation of constitutions, shall work under the constitution of the National Council of the United States. (June, 1854.) Rule 4. — In all cases where, for the con- venience of the organization, two State or Territorial councils may be established, the two councils together shall be entitled to but thirteen delegates* in the National *NoTE.— See Constitution, Art. 3, Sec. 4, p. 5. Council of tlio United States — the proy)or- tioned nundjer of delegates to depend on the number of members in the organiza- tions; provided, that no State shall be al- lowed to have more than one State coun- cil, without tlie consent of the National Council of the United States. {June, 1854.) Rule 5. — In any State, District, or Ter- ritory, where there may be more than one organization working on the same basis, (to wit, the lodges and " councils,") the same shall be required to combine; the officers of each organization shall resign and new officers be elected ; and thereafter these bodies shall be known as State coun- cils, and subordinate councils, and new charters shall be granted to them by the national council. (June, 1854.) Rule 6. — It shall be considered a penal offence for any brother not an officer ol" a subordinate council, to make use of the sign or summons adopted for public noti- fication, except by direction of the Presi- dent; or for officers of a council to post the same at any other time than from mid- night to one hour before daybreak, and this rule shall be incorporated into the by- laws of the State, District, and Territorial councils. (June, 1854.) Rule 7. — The determination of the neces- sity and mode of issuing the posters for public notification shall be intrusted to the State, District, or Territorial councils. (June, 1854.) Eule 8.— The respective State, District, or Territorial councils shall be required to make statements of the number of mem- bei-s within their respective limits, at the next meeting of this national council, and annually thereafter, at the regular annual meeting. (June, 1854.) Rule 9. — The delegates to the National Council of the United States of North America shall be entitled to three dollars per day for their attendance upon the national council, and for each day that may be necessary in going and returning from the same ; and five cents per mile for every mile they may necessarily travel in going to, and returning from the place of meeting of the national council ; to be computed by the neare-st mail route : which shall be paid out of the treasury of the national council. (November, 1854.) Rule 10.— Each State, District, or Terri- torial council shall be taxed four cents per annum for every member in good standing belonging to each subordinate council un- der its jurisdiction on the first day of April, which shall be reported to the na- tional council, and paid into the national treasury, on or before the first day of the annual session, to be held in June ; and on the same dav in each succeeding year. And the first fiscal year shall be considered as commencing on the first day of Decern- GO AMERICAN POLITICS. ber, 1854, and ending on the fifteenth day ] of May, 1855. (November, 1854.) Rule 11.— The following shall be the | key to determine and ascertain the pur- j port of any communication that may be , addressed to the President of a State, Dis- J trict, or Territorial council by the Presi- ' dent of the national council, who is hereby instructed to communicate a knowledge of, the same to said officers : ABCDEFGHI JKLM 1 7 13 19 25 2 8 14 20 26 3 9 15 NOPQRSTUVWXYZ 21 4 10 16 22 6 11 17 23 6 12 18 24 Rule 12. — The clause of the article of the constitution relative to belief in the Supreme Being is obligatory upon every State and subordinate council, as well as upon each individual member. (June, 1854.) Rule 13.— The following shall be the compensation of the officers of this coun- cil: 1st. The Corresponding Secretary shall be paid two thousand dollars per annum, from the 17th day of June, 1854. 2d. The Treasurer shall be paid five hundred dollars per annum, from the 17th day of June, 1854. 3d. The Sentinels shall be paid five dol- lars for every day they may be in attend- ance on the sittings of the national coun- cil. 4th. The Chaplain shall be paid one hundred dollars per annum, from the 17th day of June, 1854. 5th. The Recording Secretary shall be paid five hundred dollars per annum, from the 17th day of June, 1854. 6th. The Assistant Secretary shall be paid five dollars per day, for every day he may be in attendance on the sitting of the national council. All of which is to be paid out of the national treasury, on the draft of the President. (November, 1854.) SPECIAL VOTING. Vote 1st.— This national council hereby grants to the State of Virginia two State councils, the one to be located in Eastern and the other in Western Virginia, the Blue Ridge Mountains being the geo- graphical line between the two jurisdic- tions. (June, 1854.) Vote 2d.— The President shall have power, till the next session of the national council, to grant dispensations for the for- mation of State, District, or Territorial councils, in form most agreeable to his own discretion, upon proper application being made. (June, 1854.) Vote 3d.— The seats of all delegates to and members of the present national coun- cil shall be vacated on the first Tuesday in June, 1855, at the hour of six o'clock in the forcuoou; and the national council convening in annual session upon that day, shall be composed exclusively of del- egates elected under and in accordance with the provisions of the constitution, as amended at the present session of this national council ; ])rovidcd, that this reso- lution shall not apply to the officers of the national council. (November, 1854.) Vote 4th. — The Corresponding Secretary of this council is authorized to have print- ed the names of the ' delegates to this national council ; also, those of the Presi- dents of the several State, District, and Territorial councils, together with their address, and to forward a copy of the same to each person named ; and further, the Corresponding Secretaries of each State, District, and Territory are requested to forward a copy of their several con- stitutions to each other. (November, ' 1854.) Vote 5th. — In the publication of the constitution and the ritual, under the di- rection of the committee— brothers Desh- ler, Damrell, and Stephens — the name, signs, grips, and passwords of the order shall be indicated by [***], and a copy of the same shall be furnished to each State, District, and Territorial council, and to each member of that body. (Novem- ber, 1854.) Vote 6th. — A copy of the constitution of each State, District, and Territorial coun- cil, shall be submitted to this council for examination, (November, 1854.) Vote 7th.— It shall be the duty of the Treasurer, at each annual meeting of this body, to make a report of all mojieys re- ceived or expended in the interval. (No- vember, 1854.) Vote 8th.— Messrs. Gifford of Pa., Bar- ker of N. Y., Deshler of N. J., Williamson of Va., and Stephens of Md., are appointed a committee to confer with similar commit- tees that have been appointed for the pur- pose of consolidating the various American orders, with power to make the necessary arrangement for such consolidation — sub- ject to the approval of this national coun- cil, at its next session. (November, 1854.) Vote 9th. — On receipt of the new ritual by the members of this national council who have received the third degree, they or any of them may, and they are hereby empowered to, confer the third degree upon members of this body in their respective states, districts, and territories, and upon the presidents and other officers of their state, district, and territorial councils. And further, the presidents of the state, district, and territorial councils shall in the first instance confer the third degree upon as many of the presidents and officers of their subordinate councils as can be as- sembled together in their respective local- ities ; and afterwards the same may be con- ferred upon officers of other subordinate THE AMERICAN RITUAL. 61 eouncils, by any presiding officer of a coun- cil who shall have previously received it under the provisions of the constitution. (November, 1854.) Vote 10th. — To entitle any delegate to a seat in this national council, at its annual session in June next, he must present a properly authenticated certificate that he was duly elected as a delegate to the same, or appointed a substitute in accordance with the requirements of the constitutions of state, territorial, or district councils. And no delegate shall be received from any state, district, or territorial council which has not adopted the constitution and ritual of this national council. (November, 1854.) Vote 11th. — The committee on printing the constitution and ritual is authorized to have a sufficient number of the same print- ed for the use of the order. And no state, district, or territorial council shall be al- lowed to reprint the same. (November, 1854.) Vote 12th.— The right to establish all subordinate councils in any of the states, districts, and territories represented in this national council, shall be confined to the state, district, and territorial councils which they represent. (November, 1854.) Constitution for the Goverkment of Subordinate Councils. Art. I. Sec. 1. — Each subordinate coun- cil shall be composed of not less than thir- teen members, all of whom shall have re- ceived all the degrees of the order, and shall be known and recognised as Council, No. , of the of the county of , and State of North Caro- lina. Sec. 2. — No person shall be a member of any subordinate council in this state, un- less he possesses all the qualifications, and comes up to all the requirements laid down in the constitution of the national council, and whose wife (if he has one), is not a Eoraan Catholic. Sec. 8. No ajiplication for membership shall be received and acted on from a per- son residing out of the state, or resides in a county where there is a council in ex- istence, unless upon special cause to be stated to the council, to be judged of by the same ; and such person, if the reasons be considered sufficient, may be initiated the same night he is proposed, provided he resides five miles or more from the place where the council is located. But no per- son can vote in any council, except the one of which he is a member. Sec. 4. Every person applying for mem- bership, shall be voted for" by ballot, in open council, if a ballot is requested by a single member. If one-third of the votes cast be against the applicant, he shall be rejected. If any applicant be rejected, he shall not be again proposed within six months thereafter. Nothing h(;rein con- tained shall be construed to prevent the initiation of applicants privately, by those empowered to do so, in localities where there are no councils within a convenient distance. Sec. 5. Any member of one subordinate council wishing to change his membership to another council, shall apply to the coun- cil to which he belongs, either in writing or orally through another member, and the question shall be decided by the council. If a majority are in favor of granting him an honorable dismission, he shall receive the same in writing, to be signed by the president and countersigned by the secre- tary. But until a member thus receiving an honorable dismission has actually been admitted to membership in another coun- cil, he shall be held subject to the disci- pline of the council from which he has re- ceived the dismission, to be dealt with by the same, for any violation of the require- ments of the order. Before being received in the council to which he wishes to trans- fer his membership, he shall present said certificate of honorable dismission, and shall be received as new members are. Sec. 6. Applications for the second de- gree shall not be received except in second degree councils, and voted on by second and third degree members only, and ap- plications for the third degree shall be received in third degree councils, and voted on by third degree members only. Art. II. — Each subordinate council shall fix on its own time and place for meeting: and shall meet at least once a month, but where not very inconvenient, it is recom- mended that they meet once a week. Thir- teen members shall form a quorum for the transaction of business. Sjiecial meet- ings may be called by the president at any time, at the request of four members of the order. Art. III. — Sec. 1. The members of each subordinate council shall consist of a pre- sident, vice-president, instructor, secre- tary, treasurer, marshal, inside and outside sentinel, and shall hold their offices for the term of six months, or until their succes- sors are elected and installed. Sec. 2. The officers of each subordinate council (except the sentinels, who shall be appointed by the president), shall be elect- ed at the first regular meetings in January and July, separately, and by ballot ; and each shall receive a majority of all the votes cast to entitle him to an election. No member shall be elected to any office, unless he be present and signify his assent thereto at the time of his election. Any vacancy which may occur by death, resig- nation, or otherwise, shall be filled at the next meeting thereafter, in the manner and form above described. G2 AMERICAN POLITICS. Sec. 3. The President.— It shall be the duty of the president of each subordinate council, to preside in the council, and cn- ibrce a due observance of the constitution and rules of the order, and a proper respect for the state council and the national coun- cil ; to have sole and exclusive charge of the charter and the constitution and ritual of the order, which he must always have with him when his council is in session, to see that all officers perform their respec- tive duties; to announce all ballotings to the council ; to decide all questions of order ; to give the casting vote in all cases of a tie ; to convene special meetings when deemed expedient ; to draw warrants on the treasurer for all sums, the payment of which is ordered by the council ; and to perform such other duties as are demanded of him by the constitutions and ritual of the order. Sec. 4. The vice-president of each sub- ordinate council shall assist the president in the discharge of his duties, whilst his council is in session ; and, in his absence, shall perform all the duties of the presi- dent. Sec. 5. The instructor shall perform the duties of the president in the absence of the president and vice-president, and shall, under the direction of the president, per- form such duties as may be assigned to him by the ritual. Sec. 6. The secretary shall keep an ac- curate record of the proceedings of the council. He shall write all communica- tions, fill all notices, attest all warrants drawn by the president for the payment of money ; he shall keep a correct roll of all the members of the council, together with their age, residence, and occupation, in the order in which they have been admit- ted ; he shall, at the expiration of every three months, make out a report of all work done during that time, which report he shall forward to the secretary of the state council ; and when superseded in his ofiice shall deliver all books, papers, &c., in his hands to his successor. Sec. 7. The treasurer shall hold all mo- neys raised exclusively for the use of the state council, which he shall pay over to the secretary of the state council at its regular sessions, or whenever called upon by the president of the state council. He shall receive all moneys for the use of the subordinate council, and pay all amounts drawn for on him, by the president of the subordinate council, if attested by the se- cretary. Sec. 8. The marshal shall perform such duties, under the direction of the president, as may be required of him by the ritual. Sec. 9. The inside sentinel shall have charge of the inner door, and act under the directions of the president. He shall admit no person, unless he can prove him- self a member of this order, and of the same degree in which the council is opened, or by order of the president, or is satisfac- torily vouched for. Sec. 10. The outside sentinel shall have charge of the outer door, and act in ac- cordance with the orders of the president. He shall permit no person to enter the outer door unless he give the password of the degree in whith the council is at work, or is properly vouched for. Sec. 11. The secretary, treasurer, snd sentinels, shall receive such compensation as the subordinate councils may each con- clude to allow. Sec. 12. Each subordinate council may levy its own iees for initiation, to raise a fund to pay its dues to the state council, and to defray its own expenses. Each council may, also, at its discretion, initiate without charging the usual fee, these it considers unable to pay the same. Sec. 13. The president shall keep in his possession the constitution and ritual of the order. He shall not suffer the same to go out of his possession under any pre- tence whatever, unless in case of absence, when he may put them in the hands of the vice-president or instructor, or whilst the council is in session, for the informa- tion of a member wishing to see it, for the purpose of initiation, or conferring of degrees. Art. IV. Each subordinate council shall have power to adopt such by-laws, rules, and regulations, for its own government, as it may think proper, not inconsistent with the constitutions of the national and state councils. Form of Application for a Charter TO Organize a kew Council. Post Office county, Date . To President of the State Council of North Carolina : — We, the undersigned, members of the Third Degree, being desirous of extending the influence and usefulness of our organi- zation, do hereby ask for a warrant of dis- pensation, instituting and organizing us as a subordinate branch of the order, under the jurisdiction of the State Council of the State of North Carolina, to be known and hailed as Council No. , and to be lo- cated at , in the county of , St^te of North Carolina. And we do hereby pledge ourselves to be governed by the Constitution of the State Council of the State of North Caro- lina, and of the Grand Council of the U. S. N. A., and that we will in all things con- form to the rules and usages of the order. Names. Eesidences. THE AMERICAN RITUAL. 63 FORM OF DISMISSION FROM ONE COUNCIL TO ANOTHER. This is to certify that Brother -, a member of Council, No. , having made an application to chanjre his mem- bership from this council to that of Council, No. , at , in the county of , I do hereby declare, that said brother has received an honorable dismis- sion from this council, and_ is hereby re- commended for membership in Coun- cil, No. , in the county of , N. C. ; provided, however, that until Brother — — has been admitted to membership in said council, he is to be considered subject to the discipline of this council, to be dealt with by the same for any violation of the requirements of the order. This the day of , 185—, and the year of American Independence. President, Council, No. . Secretary. FORM OF CERTIFICATE FOR DELEGATES TO THE STATE COUNCIL. Council, No. , county of , N. C. This is to certify that and were at the regular meeting of this council, held on the , 185 — , duly elected delegates to represent this council in the next an- nual meeting of the state council, to be held in , on the 3d Monday in Novem- ber next. And by virtue of the authority in me reposed, I do hereby declare the said and to be invested with all the rights, powers, and privileges of the delegates as aforesaid. This being the day of , 185 — , and the year of our national independence. President of Council, No. Secretary. FORM OF NOTICE From the Suhordinate Council to the Sttite Council, whenever any Member of a Subordinate Council is expelled. Council, No. , county of , N. C. To the President of the State Council of North Carolina: Sir : — This is to inform you that at a meeting of this council, held on the day of ■, 185 — , was duly ex- pelled from membership in said council, and thus deprived of all the privileges, rights, and benefits of this organization. In accordance with the provisions of the constitution of the state council, you are hereby duly notified of the same, that you may officially notify all the subordinate councils of the state to be upon their guard against the said , as one unworthy to associate with patriotic and good men, and {if expelled for violating his obligation) as a" perjurer to God and his country. The said is about years of age, and is by livelihood a Duly certified, this the day of 185 — , and in the year of our national independence. President of Council, No. , Secretary. First Degree Council. To be admitted to membership in this order, the applicant shall be — 1st. Proposed and found acceptable. 2nd. Introduced and examined under the guarantee of secrecy. 3rd. Placed under the obligation which the order imposes. 4th. Required to enrol his name and place of residence. 5th. Instructed in the forms and usages and ceremonies of the order. 6th. Solemnly charged as to the objects to be obtained, and his duties. [A recommendation of a candidate to this order shall be received only from a brother of approved integrity. It shall be accompanied by minute particulars as to name, age, calling, and residence, and by an explicit voucher for his qualifications, and a personal pledge for h's fidelity. These particulars shall be recorded by the secretary in a book kept for that purpose. The recommendation may be referred, and the ballot taken at such time and in such a manner as the state council may prescribe ; but no communication shall be made to the candidate until the ballot has been declared in his favor. Candidates shall be received in the ante-room by the marshal and sec- retary.] outside. Marshal. — Do you believe in a Supreme Being, the Creator and Preserver of the universe? Ans. — I do. Marshal. — Before proceeding further, we require a solemn obligation of secrecy and truth. If you will take such an obligation, you will lay your right hand upoii the Holy Bible and cross. (When it is known that the applicant is a Protestant, the cross may be omitted, or afiirmation may be allowed.) obligation. You do solemnly swear for affirm) that you will never reveal anything said or done in this room, the names of any persons present, nor the existence of this society, whether found worthy to proceed or not, and that all your declarations shall be true, so help you God? Ans. — " I do." 3Iarshal. — Where were you born ? Marshal. — Where is your permanent residence t 64 AMERICAN POLITICS. (If born out of the jurisdiction of the United States, the answer shall be written, the candidate dismissed with an admonition of secrecy, and the brother vouching for him suspended from all the privileges of the order, unless upon satisfactory proof that he has been misinformed.) Marshal. — Are you twenty-one years of age? Ans. — " I am." Marshal. — Were you born of Protestant parents, or were you reared under Protes- tant influence ? Ans. — " Yes." Marshal. — If married, is your wife a Eo- man Catholic ? ("No" or "Yes" — the answer to be valued as the Constitution of the State Council shall provide.) Marshal. — Are you willing to use your influence and vote only for native-born American citizens for all offices of honor, trust, or profit in the gift of the people, to the exclusion of all foreigners and aliens, and Eoman Catholics in particular, and without regard to party predilections ? Ans. — " I am." (The marshal shall then repair to the council in session, and present the written list of names, vouchers, and answers to the president, who shall cause them to be read aloud, and a vote of the council to be taken on each name, in such manner as pre- scribed by its by-laws. If doubts arise in the ante-room, they shall be referred to the council. If a candidate be dismissed, he shall be admonished to secrecy. The candidates declared elected shall be con- ducted to seats within the council, apart from the brethren. When all are present the president by one blow of the gavel, shall call to order and say :) President. — Brother marshal, introduce the candidates to the vice-president. Marshal. — Worthy A^ice-President, I pre- sent to you these candidates, who have duly answered all questions. Vice- President, rising in his place.— Gen- tlemen, it is my oflEice to welcome you as friends. When you shall have assumed the patriotic vow by which we are all bound, we will embrace you as brothers. I am authorized to declare that our obligations enjoin nothing which is inconsistent with the duty which every good man owes to his Creator, his country, his family, or himself. We do not compel you, against your convictions, to act with us in our good work ; but should you at any time wish to withdraw, it will be our diity to grant you a dismissal in good faith. If satisfied with this assurance, you will rise upon your feet [peiusing till they do so), place the left hand upon the breast, and raise the right hand towards heaven. (The brethren to remain seated till called up.) OBLIGATION. In the presence of Almighty God and these witnesses, you do solemnly promise and swear, that you will never betray any of the secrets of this society, nor commu- nicate them even to proper candidates, ex- cept within a lawful council of the order ; that you never will permit any of the secrets of this society to be written, or in any other manner made legible, except lor the purpose of official instruction ; that you will not vote, nor give your influence for any man for any office in the gift of the people, unless he be an American born citizen, in favor of Americans ruling . America, nor if he be a Roman Catholic ; that you will in all political matters, so far as this order is concerned, comply with the will of the majority, though it may conflict with your personal preference, so long as it does not conflict with the Con- stitution of the United States of America, or that of the state in which you reside ; that you will not, under any circumstances whatever, knowingly 'recommend an un- worthy person for initiation, nor suffer it to be done, if in your power to prevent it ; that you will not, under any circumstances, expose the name of any member of this order, nor reveal the existence of such an association ; that you will answer an impe- rative notice issued by the proper authori- ty ; obey the command of the state council, president, or his deputy, while assembled by such notice, and respond to the claim of a sic/n or err/ of the order, unless it be physically impossible ; and that you will acknowledge the State Council of as the legislative head, the ruling authori- ty, and the supreme tribunal of the order in the state of , acting under the jurisdiction of the National Council of the United States of North America. Binding yourself in the penalty of ex- communication from the order, the forfei- ture of all intercourse Avith its members, and being denounced in all the societies of the same, as a wilful traitor to your God and your country, (The president shall call up every per- son jiresent, by three blows of the gavel, when the candidates shall all repeat after the vice-president in concert:) All this I voluntarily and sincerely promise, with a full understanding of the solemn sanctions and penalties. Vice-President. — You have now taken solemn oaths, and made as sacred promises as man can make, that you will keep all our secrets inviolate ; and we wish you dis- tinctly to understand that he that takes these oaths and makes these promises, and then violates them, leaves the foul, the deep and blighting stain of perjury resting I on his soul. THE AMERICAN RITUAL. 65 President. — (Having seated all by one blow of the gavel.) — Brother Instructor, these new brothers having complied witli the demand of the order, are entitled to the secrets and privileges of the same. You will, therefore, invest them with every- thing appertaining to the first degree. Iiisfnidor. — Brothers: the practices and proceedings in our order are as follows : We have pass-words necessary to be used tT obtiin admission to our councils; forms for our conduct while there ; means of re- cog'iizing each other when abroad; means of mutual protection; and methods for giving notices to members. At t'.ie outer door you will* (rrea^-e amj ordincii'ij alarm to attract the attention of th3 out-iide sentinel). When the wicket is opened you will pronounce the (ivords — whafs the pass), in a whisper. The outside sentinel will re- ply { Gii-c it), when you will give the term pass-word and be admitted to the ante- room. You will then proceed to the inner door and give (one rap). When the wicket is opened, give your name, the number of, and location of your council, the explanation of the term pass, and the degree pass-word. If these be found correct, you will be admitted; if not, your name Avill be re- ported to the vice president, and must be properly vouched for before you can gain admission to the council. You will then proceed to the centre of the room and ad- dress the [President) with the countersign, which is performed thus [placing the rigid hand diagonally/ across the mouth). When this salutation is recognized, you will quietly take your seat. This sign is peculiar to this degree, and is never to be used outside the council room, nor during the conferring of this degree. When retiring, you will address the ( Vice President) in the same manner, and also give the degree pass-word to the inside sentinel. The " term pass-word " is ( Wc are). (The pass-word and explanation is to be established by each State Council for its respective subordinates.) The "explanation" of the " term-pass,'' to be used at the inner door, is [our country'' s hope.) The "degree pass-word " is [Native). The "traveling pass-word" is [The memorii of our pilgrim fathers). (This word is changed annually by the * In the Kitual the words in parenthosen are omitted. In the key to the Kitual. tlioy are written in figures — the alphabet used being the same as printed below. So throughout. Key to Unlock Ccmmvnicaliov*. ABCDEFGHTJKLM 1 7 13 19 25 2 8 14 20 26 3 l» 15 NOPQRSTUVWXTZ 21 4 10 16 22 5 11 17 23 G 12 18 24 5 President of the National Council of the United States, and is to be made and used only when the brother is traveling beyond the jurisdiction of his own state, district, or territory. It and all otlicr pa-ss-words must be communicated in a wliisjxr, and no brother is entitled to comnnmicatc them to another, without authority from the presiding officer.) " The sign of recognition " is [grasping the right lappcl of the coat with the right hand, the fore finger being extended in- wards. ) The "answer" is given by [a similar action loith the left hand.) The "grip" is given by [an ordinary shake of the hand). The person challenging shall [then draw the fore finger along the palm of the hand). Tlie answer will be given by [a similar ac- tion forming a link by hooking together the ends of the fore finger) ; when the follow- ing conversation ensues — the challenging party first saying [is that yours?) The answer, [it is.) Then the response [how did you get /<.^), followed by the rejoinder [it is my birth-right). Public notice for a meeting is given by means of a [piece of white paper the shape of a heart). (In cities * the *** of the *** where the meeting is to be held, will be written legi- bly upon the notice; and upon the election day said *** will denote the *** where your presence is needed. This notice will never be passed, but will be *** or thrown upon the sidewalk with a *** in the centre. ) If information is wanting of the object of the gathering, or of the jdace, &c., the inquirer will ask of an undoubted brother ( where' s when ?) The brother will give the information if possessed of it ; if not it will be yours and his duty to continue the in- quiry, and thus disseminate the call throughout the brotherhood. If the color of the paper (be red), it will denote actual trouble, which requires that you come prepared to meet it. The " cry of distress " — to be used only in time of danger, or where the American interest requires an immediate assemblage of the brethren — is [oh, oh, oh.) The re- sponse is [hio, hio, h-i-o.) The "sign of caution" — to be given when a brother is speaking unguardedly before asti'anger — is [drawing the fore fing- er and thumb together acro.HS the eyes, the rest of the hand being closed), which sig- nifies " keep dark." Brothers, you are now initiated into and made acquainted with the work and or- ganization of a council of this degree of the order ; and the marshal will present * noncerninc; what 13 said of cities, the key to the Ritual says : " Considered unnecessary to decipher what is said in regard to cities." 66 AMERICAN POLITICS. you to tlie worthy president for admoni- tion. President. — It has no doubt, been long a]ii)urciit t(i you, brothers, tliat foreign in- fluence and Ixonian Catholicism have been making steady and alarniiiig progress in our country. You cannot have failed to observe the significant transition of ihe foreigner and Romanist from a character quiet, retiring, and even abject, to one bold, threatening, turbulent, and despotic in its appearance and assumptions. You must have become alarmed at the syste- matic and rapidly augmenting power of these dangerous and unnatural elements of our national condition. So it is, brothers, with others beside yourselves in every state of the Union. A sense of danger has struck the great heart of the nation. In every city, town, and hamlet, the dangler lias been seen and the alarm sounded. And hence true men have devised this or- der as a means of disseminating patriotic principles, of keeping alive the fire of na- tional virtue, of fostering the national in- telligence, and of advancing America and the American interest on the one side, and on the other of checking the strides of the foreigner or alien, or thwarting the ma- chinal ions and subverting the deadly plans of the papist and Jesuit. Note. — The President shall impress up- on the initiates the importance of secrecy, the manner of proceeding in recommend- ing candidates for initiation, and the re- sponsibility of the duties which they have assumed. Second Degree Council. Mar.sJial. — Worthy President : These brothers have been duly elected to the sec- ond degree of this order. I present them to you for obligation. President. — Brothers: You will place your left hand upon your right breast, and extend your right hand towards the flag of our country, preparatory to obligation. (Each council room should have a neat American flag festooned over the platform of the President.) OBLIGATION. You, and each of you, of your own free will and accord, in the presence of Al- mighty God and these witnesses, your left hand resting upon your right breast, and your right hand extended to the flag of your country, do solemnly and sincerely swear, that you will not under any cir- cumstances disclose in any manner, nor suffer it to be done by others, if in your power to prevent it, the name, signs, pass- words, or other secrets of this degree, ex- cept in open council for the purpose of in- struction ; that you will in all things con- form to all the rides and regulations of this order, and, to the constitution and by-laws I of this or any other council to which you may be attached, so long as they do not I conflict with the Constitution of the United I States, nor that of the State in which you I reside; that you will under all circum- ' stances, if in your power so to do, attend I to all regular signs or summons that may ; be thrown or sent to you by a brother of this or any other degree of this order ; thnt you will support in all political matters, frr all i)olitical offices, members of this order in preference to other persons ; that if it may be done legally, you will, when elect- ed or aiipointcd to any official station con- ferring on you the power to do so remove all foreigners, aliens, or Eoman Catholics from office or place, and that you will in no case appoint such to any office or place in your gift. You do also promise and swear that this and all other obligations which you have previously taken in this order shall ever be kept through life sacred and inviolate. All this you promise and declare, as Americans, to sustain and abide by, without any hesitation or mental reservation whatever. So help you God and keep you steadfast. (Each will answer " I do." President. — Brother Marshal, you will now present the brothers to the instructor for instructions in the second degree of the order. Marshal. — Brother Instructor, by direc- tion of our worthy president, I present these brothers before you that you may in- struct them in the secrets and mysteries of the second degree of the order. Instructor. — Brothers, in this degree we have an entering sign and a countersign. At the outer door proceed [as in tlie first degree). At the inner doer you will make [tu-o raps), and proceed as in the first de- gree, giving the second degree pass-word, which is American, instead of that of ihe first degree. If found to be correct, you will then be admitted, and proceed [to the centre of the room), giving the countersign, which is made thus [extending the right arm to the national flag over the president, the pabn of the hand being vpvards). The sign of recognition in this degree is the same as in the first degree, with the addition of [the middle fngcr), and the re- sponse to be made in a [similar manner.) Marshal, you will now present the broth- ers to the worthy president for admonition. Marshal. — Worthy President, I now pre- sent these candidates to you for admo- nition. President. — Brothers, you are now duly initiated into the second degree of this or- der. Renewing the congratulations which we extended to you upon your admission to the first degree, we admonish you by every tie that may nerve patriots, to aid us in our efforts to restore the political institu- tions of our country to their original THE AMERICAN RITUAL. 67 purity/ ' Be^in with tlie youth of our land. Instil into their minds the less^ons of our country's history — the glorious battles and the brilliant deeds of patriotism of our fathers, through whieh we received the in- estimable blessings of civil and religious liberty. Point them to the example of the sages and the statesmen who founded our government. Implant in their bosoms an ardent love for the Union. Above all else, keep alive in their bosoms the memory, the maxims, and the deathless example of our illustrious Washixgton. Brothers, recalling to your minds the solemn obligations which you have sever- ally taken in this and the first degree, I now pronounce you entitled to all the privileges of membership in this the second degree of our order. Third Degree Council. Marslial. — Worthy President, these bro- thers having been duly elected to the third degree of this order, I present them before you for obligation. President. — Brothers, you will place yourselves in a circle around me, each one crossing your arms upon your breasts, and grasping firmly each other's hands, hold- ing the right hand of the brother on the right and the left hand of the brother on the left, so as to form a circle, symbolical of the links of an unbroken chain, and of a ring which has no end. Note. — This degree is to be conferred with the national flag elevated in the cen- tre of the circle, by the side of the presi- dent or instructor, and not on less than five at any one time, in order to give it solem- nity, and also for the formation of the cir- cle — except in the first instance of confer- ring; it on the officers of the state and sub- ordinate councils, that they may be em- powered to progress with the work. The obligation and charge in this de- gree may be given by the president or in- structor, as the president may prefer. OBLIGATION. You, and each of you, of yoiir own free will and accord, in the presence of Al- mighty God and these witnesses, with your hands joined in token of that fraternal af- fection which should ever bind together the States of this Union — forming a ring, in token of your determination that, so far as your eff'orts can avail, this Union shall have no end — do solemnly and sincerely swear [or affirm] that you will not under any circumstances disclose in any manner, nor suffer it to be done by others if in your power to prevent it, the name, signs, pass- words, or other secrets of this degree, ex- cept to those to whom you may prove on trial to be brothers of the same degree, or in open council, for the purpose of instruc- tion ; that you do hereby solemnly declare your devotion to the Union of these States ; that in the discharge of your duties as American citizens, you will uphold, main- tain, and defend it ; that you will discour- age and discountenance any and every at- tempt, coming from any and every quarter, which you believe to be designed or calcu- lated to destroy or subvert it, or to weaken its bonds; and that you will use your influ- ence, so far as in your power, in endeavor- ing to procure an amicable and equitable adjustment of all political discontents or diflerences which may threaten its injury or overthrow. You further promise and swear [or aflSrm] that you will not vote for any one to fill any oflice of honor, profit or trust of a i)olitical character, whom you know or believe to be in favor of a disso- lution of the Union of these States, or who is endeavoring to produce that result ; that you will vote for and support for all polit- ical offices, third or union degree members of this order in preference to all others; that if it may be done consistently with the constitution and laws of the land, you will, when elected or appoiiited to any official station which may confer on you the power to do so, remove from office or place all persons whom you know or believe to be in favor of a dissolution of the Union, or who are endeavoring to produce that result ; and that you will in no case appoint such per- son to any political office or place whatever. All this you promise and swear [or affirm] upon your honor as American citizens and friends of the American Union, to sustain and abide by without any hesitation or mental reservation whatever. You also promise and swear [or aflirmj that this and all other obligations which you have pre- viously taken • in this order, shall ever be kept sacred and inviolate. To all this you pledge your lives, your fortunes, and your sacred honors. So help you God an4 keep you steadfast. (Each one shall answer, "I do.") President. — Brother Marshal, you will now present the brothers to the instructor for final instruction in this third degree of the order. Marshal. — Instructor, by direction of our worthy president, I present these brothers before you that you may instruct them in the secrets and mysteries of this the third degree of our order. Instructor. — Brothers, in this degree as in the second, we have an entering pass- word, a degree password, and a token of salutation. At the outer door {make any ordinary alarm. The outside sentinel will say U ; you say ni ; the sentinel will re- join on). This will admit you to the inner door. At the inner door you will make [three] distinct [raps). Then announce your name, with the number (or name) 68 AMERICAN POLITICS. and location of the council to which you belong, giving the explanation to the pass- word, which is [safe). If found correct, you will then be admitted, when you will proceed to the centre of the room, and placing the [hands on the breast inth the fingers interlocked), give the token of salu- tation, which is [by bowing to the president). You will then quietly take your seat. The sign of recognition is made by the same action as in the second degree, with the addition of [the third Jinger), and the response is made by (a similar action with the left hand.) (The grip is given by taking hold of the ha7id in the usual way, and then by slipping the jinger around on the top of the thumb ; then extending the liftlefnger and pressing the inside of the tcrist. The person chal- lenging shall say, do you knoio ichat that is ? The answer is yes. The challenging party shall say, further, what is it f The answer is, Union. [The instructor will here give the grip of this degree, with explanations, and also the true password of this degree, which is [Union.)] CHARGE. To be given by the president. Brothers, it is with great pleasure that I congratulate you upon your advancement to the tliird degree of our order. The re- sponsibilities you have now assumed, are more serious and weighty than those which preceded, and are committed to such only as have been tried and found worthy. Our obligations are intended as solemn avowals of our duty to the land that gave us birth ; to the memories of our fathers ; and to the happiness and welfare of our children. Consecrating to your country a spirit un- selfish and a fidelity like that which dis- tinguished the patriots of the Revolution, you have pledged your aid in cementing the bonds of a XJnion which we trust will endure for ever. Your deportment since your initiation has attested your devotion to the principles we desire to establish, and has inspired a confidence in your patriot- ism, of which we can give no higher proof than your reception here. The dangers which threaten American liberty ari.-^e from foes without and from enemies within. The first degree pointed out the source and nature of our most im- minent peril, and indicated the first mea- sure of safety. The second degree defined the next means by which, in coming time, such assaults may be rendered harmless. The third degree, which you have just re- ceived, not only reiterates the lessons of the other two, but it is intended to avoid and provide for a more remote, but no less terrible danger, from domestic enemies to our free institutions. Our object is briefly this : — to perfect an organization modeled after that of the Con- stitution of the United States, and coex- tensive with the confederacy. Its object and principles, in all matters of national concern, to be uniform and identical whilst in all local matters the component parts shall remain independent and sovereign within their respective limits. The great result to be attained — the only one which can secure a perfect guarantee as to our future — is union; permanent, enduring, fraternal union ! Allow me, then, to impress upon your minds and memories the touching sentiments of the Father of his Country, in his Farewell Address :— " The unity of government which consti- tutes you one people," says Washington, " is justly dear to you, for it is the main pillar in the edifice of your real independ- ence, the support of your tranquillity at home, of your peace abroad, of your safety, your prosperity — even that liberty you so justly prize. " * * It is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your National Unioyi, to your col- lective and individual happiness. You should cherish a cordial, habitual, and im- movable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it, as the palladium of your political safety and pros- perity ; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety ; discountenancing what- ever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned ; and in- dignantly frowning upon the dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now bind together the various parts." Let these words of paternal advice and warning, from the greatest man that ever lived, sink deep into your hearts. Cherish them, and teach your children to reverence them, as you cherish and reverence the memory of Washington himself. The Union of these states is the great conserva- tor of that liberty so dear to the American heart.. Without it, our greatness as a na- tion would disappear, and our boasted self- government prove a signal failure. The very name of liberty, and the hopes of struggling freedom throughout the world, must perish in the wreck of this Union. Devote yourselves, then, to its maintenance, as our fathers did to the cause of independ- ence ; consecrating to its support, as you have sworn to do, your lives, your fortunes, and your sacred honors. Brothers: Recalling to your minds the solemn obligations which you have sever- ally taken in this and the preceding degrees, I now pronounce you entitled to all the privileges of membership in this organiza- tion, and take pleasure in informing you that you are now members of the order of [the American Union.) POLITICAL NOMINATIONS IN 1856, G9 American, \Vlilg, Republican and Demo- cratic Nominations of 185C. The American convention met the next day after the session of the National Coun- cil of the Order, on the 22d I'ebruary, 1856. It was composed of 227 delegates ; all the States being represented except Maine, Vermont, (Georgia and South Car- olina. Hon. Millard Fillmore was nom- inated for President, and Andrew J. Don- elson for Vice-President. The Whig Convention met at Baltimore, September, 17, 1856, and endorsed the nominations made by the American par- ty, and in its platform declared that " without adopting or referring to the pe- culiar doctrines of the party which has already selected Mr. Fillmore as a candi- date" * * * Resolved, that in the present exigency of political affairs, we are not called upon to discuss the subordi- nate questions of the administration in the exercising of the constitutional powers of the government. It is enough to know that civil Avar is raging, and that the Union is in peril ; and proclaim the con- viction that the restoration of Mr. Fill- more to the Presidency will furnish the best if not the only means of restoring peace." The first National Convention of the new Republican party met at Philadelphia, June 18, 1856, and nominated John C. Fremont for President, and "William L. Dayton for Vice-President. Since the previous Presidential election, a new party consisting of the disaffected former adhe- rents of the other parties — Native and In- dependent Democrats, Abolitionists, and Whigs opposed to slavery — had sprung into existence, and was called by its adhe- rents and friends, the Republican party. This convention of delegates assembled in pursuance of a call addressed to the people of the United States, without regard to past political differences or divisions, who were opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. To the policy of President Pierce's administration : To the extension of slavery into free territory: In favor of the admission of Kansas as a free State : Of restoring the action of the fed- eral government to the principles of Wash- ington and Jefferson. It adopted a platform, consisting of a set of resolutions, the principal one of which was : " That we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, of any individual, or association of individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States, while the present Constitution shall be maintained." And closed with a resolution : " That we invite the approbation and co-operation of the men of all parties, however different from us in other respects, in support of the principles herein declared ; and believing that the spirit of our institutions, as well as the Constitution of our country, guar- anties liberty of conscience and etiiiality of rights among citizens, we ojjpose all legis- lation impairing their security." The Democratic Convention, met at Cincinnati, in May 1856, and nominated James Buchanan for President, and John C. Breckenridge for Vice-President. It adopted a platform which contained tlie material portions of all its previous plat- forms, and also defined its position on the new issues of the day, and declared (1) that the revenue to be raised should not exceed I the actual necessary expenses of the gov- } ernment, and for the gradual extinction of : the public debt; (2) that the Constitution ' does not confer upon the general govern- I ment the power to commence and carry on a general system of internal improvements ; (3) for a strict construction of the powers granted by the Constitution to the fedeial government; (4) that Congi'ess has no power to charter a national bank; (5) that Congress has no power to interfere with slavery in the States and Territories ; the people of which have the exclusive right and power to settle that question for them- selves. (6) Opposition to native American- ism. At the election which followed, in No- vember, 1856, the Democratic candidates were elected, though by a popular minority vote, having received 1,838,160 popular votes, and 174 electoral votes, against 2,215,768 popular votes, and 122 electoral votes for John C. Fremont, the Republican candidate, and Mr. Fillmore, the Whig and American candidate. The aggregate vote cast for Mr. Fillmore, who Avas the nominee on both the Whig and American tickets, was 874,534, and his electoral vote was eight ; tliat of the State of Maryland. This was the last na- tional election at which the Whigs ap- {)eared as a party, under that name ; they having joined with the American and with, the Republican parties, and finally united with the latter after the downfall and ex- tinction of the former. In the State elec- tions of that year, (1856) the American party carried Rhode Island and Maryland; and in the 35th Congress, which met in December, 1857, the party had 15 to 20 Representatives and five Senators. When the 36th Congress met, in 1859, it had be- come almost a border State or Southern ))arty, having two Senators; one from Kentucky and one from Maryland; and 23 Representatives, five from Kentucky, seven from Tennessee, three from Mary- land, one from Virginia, four from North Carolina, two from Georgia, and one from Louisiana. The American party had none of the elements of persistence. It made another desperate effort, however, in the next Presidential campaign, but having 70 AMERICAN POLITICS, failed to carry the South, disapiDcared finally from politics. The new Republican party polled a very large vote — 1,341,234 out of a total vote of 4,053,928 — and its candidates received 114 A'otes out of 296, in the electoral college ; having secured majorities in all the i'ree States, except Illinois, Indiana, Pennsyl- vania, New Jersey and California. The successful candidate, Mr. James Buchanan, was duly inaugurated as Presi- dent of the United States, and entered upon the discharge of his duties as such, March 4, 1857. After the election of November, 1856, the Republican Association of Washington issued an address to the people, in which the results of the election were examined, and the future policy of the party stated. It is an interesting f)aper, as laying the foundation of the campaign of 1860, which followed, and is here given in full : "Republican Association of Washington. Address to the Rejnihlican-B of the United Slatei. " Washington, Kov. 27, 1856. " The Presidential contest is over, and at last we have some materials to enable us to form a judgment of the results. " Seldom have two parties emerged from a conflict with less of joy in the victors, more of hope in the vanquished. The pro-slaver\' party has elected its Presiden- tial candidate, only, however, by the votes of a minority, and that of such a character as to stamp the victory as the offspring of sectionalism and temporary causes. The Eepublicans, wherever able to present clearly to the public the real issue of the canvass — slavery restriction or slavery ex- tension — have carried the people with them by unprecedented majorities; almost break- ing up in some States the organization of their adversaries. A sudden gathering to- gether of the people, alarmed at the in- roads of the slave power, rather than a well organized party, with but a few months to attend to the complicated de- tails of party Avarfare ; obstructed by a se- cret Order, Avhich had pre-occupied the field, and obtained a strong hold of the national and religious prejudices of the masses ; opposed to an old party, com- mencing the canvass with the united sup- port of a powerful section, hardened by long party drill, accustomed to victory, wielding the whole power of the federal administration — a party w'hich only four years ago carried all but four of the States, and a majority of the popular vote — still, under all these adverse circumstances, they have triumphed in eleven, if not twelve of the free States, pre-eminent for enterprise and general intelligence, and containing one halfofthe whole population of the'coun- try ; given to their Presidential candidate nearly three times as many electoral votes as were cast by the Whig party in 1852 ; and this day control the governments of fourteen of the most powerful States of the Union. "Well may our adversaries tremble in the hour of their victory. 'The Demo- cratic and Black Republican parties,' they say, 'are nearly balanced in regard to power. The fonner was victorious in the recent struggle, but success was hardly won, with the aid of important accidental ad- vantages. The latter has abated nothing of its zeal, and has suffered no pause in its preparations for another battle.' " With such numerical force, such zeal, intelligence, and harmony in counsel ; with so many great States, and more than a million voters rallied to their standard by the efforts of a few months, why may not the Republicans confidently expect a vic- tory in the next contest? The necessity for their organization still exists in all its force. Mr. Buchanan has always proved true to the demands of his party. He fully accepted the Cincinnati platform, and pledged himself to its policy — a policy of filibustering abroad, propa- gandism at home. Prominent and controll- ing among his supporters are men com- mitted, by word and deed, to that policy ; and what is there in his character, his an- tecedents, the nature of his northern sup- port, to authorize the expectation that he wdll disregard their will? Nothing will be so likely to restrain him and counteract their extreme measures, as a vigorous and growing Republican organization, as noth- ing would be more necessary to save the cause of freedom and the Union, should he, as we have every reason to believe, con- tinue the pro-slavery policy of the present incumbent. Let us beware of folding our arms, and waiting to see what he will do. AVe know the ambition, the necessities, the schemes of the slave power. Its policy of extension and aggrandizement and univer- sal empire, is the law of its being, not an accident — is settled, not fluctuating. Covert or open, moderate or extreme, according to circumstances, it never changes in spirit or aim. With Mr. Buchanan, the elect of a party controlled by this policy, administer- ing the government, the safety of the country and of free institutions must rest in the organization of the Republican party. What, then, is the duty before us? Organization, vigilance, action ; action on the rostrum, through the press, at the bal- lot-box ; in state, county, city, and town elections ; everywhere, at all times ; in every election, making Republicanism, or loyal- ty to the policy and principles it advocates, the sole political test. No primary or municipal election should be suffered to go by default. The party that would sue- THE KANSAS STRUGGLE. 71 cecd nationally must trmmph in states — triumph in the state elections, must be prepared by nnmicipal success. Next to the remaining power in the states already under their control, let the j Republicans devote themselves to the work of disseminating their principles, and initiating the true course of political i actio'.i in the states which have decided the j election against them. This time we have failed, for reasons nearly all of which may be removed by proper eifort. Many thousand honest, but not well-informed voters, wdio supported Mr. Buchanan under the delu- sive impression that he would favor the cause of free Kansas will soon learn their niistalce, anil be anxious to correct it. The timid policy of the Republicans in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, in post- poning their independent action, and tem- porizing Avith a i)arty got up for purposes not harmonizing with their own, and the conduct of ]Mr. Fillmore's friends in either voting for Mr. Buchanan, or dividing the opposition by a separate ticket, can hardly be repeated again. The true course of the Republicans is to organize promptly, bold- ly, and honestly upon their own principles, so clearly set forth in the Philadelphia platform, and, avoiding coalitions with other parties, appeal directly to the masses of all parties to ignore all organizations and issues which would divert the jniblic mind from the one danger that now threat- ens the honor and interests of the country, and the subtlety of the Union— slavery propagandism allied with disunionism. Let us not forget that it is not the want of generous sentiment, but of sufficient in- formation, that prevents the American peo- ple from beinj^ united in action against the aggressive policy of the slave power. Were these simple questions submitted to-day to the people of the United States :— Are you in favor of the extension of slavery? Arc you in favor of such extension by the aid or connivance of the federal government? And could they be permitted to record their votes in response, without embarrassment, without constraint of any kind, nineteen- twentieths of the people of the free States, and perhaps more than half of the people of the slave States, would return a decided negative to both. . Let us have faith in the people. Let us beUeve, that at heart they are hostile to the extension of slavery, desirous that the territories of the Union be consecrated to free labor and free institutions; and that they require only enlightenment as to the most effectual means of securing this end, to convert their cherished sentiment into a fixed principle of action. The times are pregnant with warning. That a disunion party exist? in the South, no longer admits of a doubt. It accepts the election of Mr. Buchanan as affording time and means to consolidate its strength and mature its plans, which comprehend not only the enslavement of Kansas, and the recognition of slavery in all territory of the United States, but the conversion of the lower half of California into a slave State, the organization of a new slavery territory in the Gadsden purchase, the fu- ture annexation of Nicaragua and sulyu- gation of Central America, and the ac(pii- sition of Cuba; and, as the free States are not expected to submit to all this, ultimate dismemberment of the Union, and tJic for- mation of a great slaveholding confeder- acy, with foreign alliances with Brazil and Russia. It may assume at first a moderate tone, to prevent the sudden alienation of its Northern allies ; it may delay the develop- ment of its plot, as it did under the Pierce administration; but the repeal of the Mis- souri compromise came at last, and so will come upon the country inevitably the final acts of the dark conspiracy. When that hour shall come, then will the honest Dem- ocrats of the free States be driven into our ranks, and the men of the slave States who prefer the republic of Washington, Adams and Jefferson — a republic of law, order and liberty — to an oligarchy of slavehold- ers and slavery propagandists, governed by Wise, Atchison, Soule, and Walker, founded in fraud and violence and seeking aggran- dizement by the spoliation of nations, will bid God speed to the labors of the Repub- lican party to preserve liberty and the Union, one and inseparable, perpetual and all powerful. Washington, D. C, Nov. 27, 185G. Tlie Kansas Stnsggle. It was the removal of the interdiction against slavery, in all the territory north of 36'' 30,' by the repeal of tlie Missouri Compromise 'which gave legality to the struggle for Kansas, and it was the doe- trine of popular sovereignty which gave an impartial invitation to^'both sides to en- ter the struggle. The aggressive men of both parties'hurried emigrants to the Ter- ritory. Each accused the other of organ- ized efforts, and soon in the height of the excitement these charges were rather con- fessed than denied. A new question was soon evolved by the strugirle, for some who entered from the South took their slaves with them. The Free State men now contended that sla- I very was a local institution and confined to the States where it existed, and that it I an emigrant passed into the territory with { his slaves these became free. The South- ern view was, that slaves were recognized I as propertv by the National Constitution ; j that therefore their masters had a right to I take them there and hold them under con- AMERICAN POLITICS. stitutional guarantees, the same as any other property ; that to assert anything else would be to deny the equality of the States within their comnion territory, and degrade them from the rank of equals to that of inferiors. This last proposition had such force that it would doubtless have received more general recognition if the North had not felt that the early compact dedicating the territories north of 36" 30' to freedom, had been violated. In answer to this proposition they therefore pro- claimed in their platforms and speeclies, and there was no other logical answer, " that freedom was National, and slavery Sectional." We cannot enter upon a full description of the scenes in Kansas, but bloodshed and rapine soon followed the attempts of the opposing parties to get control of its government. What were called the " Bor- der Piuffians" by the Free State men, be- cause of active and warlike organization in Missouri and upon its borders, in the earlier parts of the struggle, seemed to have the advantage. They were supported by friends near at hand at all times, and warlike raids were frequent. The Free State men had to dej^end mainly upon New England for supplies in arms and means, but organizations were in turn rapidly completed to meet their calls, and the struggle soon became in the highest degree critical. The pro-slavery party sustained the Territorial government appointed by the administration ; the anti-slavery party re- pudiated it, because of its presumed com- mittal to slavery. The election for mem- bers of the Territorial legislature had been attended with much violence and fraud, and it was claimed that these things prop- erly annulled any action taken by that body. A distinct and separate convention was called at Topeka to frame a State con- stitution, and the Free State men likewise elected their own Governor and Legisla- ture to take the place of those appointed by Buchanan, and when the necessary preliminaries were completed, they ap- plied for admission into the Union. After a long and bitter struggle Congress decided the question by refusing to admit Kansas under the Topeka Constitution, and by re- cognizing the authority of the territorial government. These proceedings took place during the session of 1856-7, which ter- minated immediately before the inaugura- ation of President Buchanan. At the beginning of Buchanan's admin- istration in 1857, the Republicans almost solidly faced the Democrats. There still remained part of the division caused by the American or Know-Nothing party, but its membership in Congress had already been compelled to show at least the ten- dency of their sentiments on the great question which was now rapidly dividing the two great sections of the Union. The result of the long Congressional struggle over the admission of Kansas and Nebras- ka was simply this : " That Congress was neither to legislate slavery into any Terri- tory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom ; but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States,"* and it was specially prescribed that when the Territory of Kansas shall be admitted as a State, it shall be admitted into the Union with or without slavery as the con- stitution adopted should prescribe at the time of admission. This was, as it proved, but a temporary settlement on the principle of popular sovereignty, and was regarded at the time as a triumph of the views of Stephen A. Douglas by the friends of that great poli- tician. The more radical leaders of the South looked upon it with distrust, but the blood of the more excitable in both sections was rapidly rising toward fever heat, and the border men from the Free and Slave States alike were preparing to act upon a compromise which in eil'ect in- vited a conflict. The Presidential election in 1856 had singularly enough encouraged the more aggressive of both sections. Buchanan's election was a triumph for the South; Fremont's large vote showed the power of a growing party as yet but partially or- ganized, and crippled by schisms which grew out of the attempt to unite all ele- ments of opposition to the" Democrats. The general plan of the latter was now changed into an attempt to unite all of the free-soil elements into a party organization against slavery, and from that time lor- ward until its total abolition slavery was the paramount issue in the minds of the more aggressive men of the north. Lin- coln voiced the feelings of the Republi- cans when he declared in one of his Illi- nois speeches : — " We will, hereafter, speak for freedom, and against slavery, as long as the Consti- tution guaranties free speech ; until every- where, on this wide land, the sun shall shine, and the rain shall fall, and the wind shall blow upon no man who goes forth to unrequited toil." In the Congressional battle over the ad- mission of Kansas and Nebraska, Douglas was the most conspicuous figure, and the language which we have quoted from Buchanan's inaugural was the literal meaning which Douglas had given to his idea of "popular" or "squatter sover- eignty." Prior to the Kansas struggle the Free * President Buchanan's Inauguriil Address. THE LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE. 73 Soilcrs of the North had regarded Douglas as an ally of the South, and his admitted ambition for the Presidency gave color to this suspicion. He it was who reported and carried through Congress the bill for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, a measure which at that time was thought to obstruct Houthcrn designs in the territories of the great West, but this repeal proved in fact the first plain steps toward the free- dom of the territories. Having repealed that compromise, something must take its place, and what better than "popular sovereignty," thought Douglas. Terri- tories contiguous to the Slave States, or in the same latitude, would thus naturally revert to slavery ; while those farther north, and at that time least likely of early set- tlement, would be dedicated to freedom. There was a grave miscalculation just here. Slave-owners were not apt to change their homesteads, and could not with either profit or convenience carry their property to new lauds which might or might not be fruitful in the crops best adapted to slave labor. Slave-owners were few in number compared with the free citizens of the North and the thousands of immigrants annually landing on our shores. People who had once moved from the New Eng- lanil or Middle States westward, were rather fond of it, and many of these swelled the tide which constantly sought homes in the territories ; and where these did not go in person their sons and daugh- ters were quite willing to imitate the early adventures of their parents. All the^e counted for the North under the doctrine of "popular sovereignty," and it was the failure of that doctrine to aid the South which from this time forward caused that section to mistrust the friendship of Douglas. No political writer has since questioned his motives, and we doubt if it can be done successfully. His views may have under- gone some change since 1850, and it would be singular if they had not ; for a mind as discerning as his could hardly fail to note the changes going on all about him, and no Avhere more rapidly than in his own State. He thought his doctrine at least adapted to the time, and he stood by it with rare bravery and ability. If it had been accepted by the Republicans, it would have been fatal to their organization as a party. We doubt the ability of any party to stand long upon any mere compromise, made to suit the exigencies and avoid the dangers of the moment. It may be said that our government, first based on a con- federacy and then a constitution, with a system of checks and balances, with a di- vision of power between the people and the States, is but a compromise ; but the assertion will not hold good. These things were adopted because of a belief at the time that they were in themselves right, or as nearly right as those who participated in their adoption were given to see the right. There was certainly no attempt at a division of right and tvronri, and the closest investigation will show nothing be- yond a surrender of power for the good of all, which is in itself the very essence and beginning of government. We have said that Douglas fought bravely for his idea, and every movement in his most remarkable campaign with Lincoln for the U. S. Senate demonstrate .1 the fact. The times were full of agitation and excitement, and these were increased when it bet-une apparent that Buchanan's administration would aid the effort to make Kansas a slave State. Douglas was the first to see that the application of ad- ministration machinery to his principle, would degrade and rob it of its fairness. He therefore resented Buchanan's inter- ference, and in turn Buchanan's friends sought to degrade him by removing him from the chairmanship of the Sonate Com- mittee on Territories, the jjosition which had given him marked control over all questions pertaining to the organization of territories and the admission of new States. Tlie liliicoln and Douglas Debate. The Senatorial term of L^ouglas was drawing near to its close, when in July, 1858, he left Washington to enter upon the canvass for re-election. The Republican State Convention of Illinois had in the month previous met at Springfield, and nominated Abraham Lincoln as a candi- date for United States Senator, this with a view to pledge all Republican members of the Legislature to vote for him — a practice since gone into disuse in most of the States, because of the rivalries which it engenders and the aggravation of the dangers of de- feat sure to follow in the selection of a can- didate in advance. " First get your goose, then cook it," inelegantly describes the basic principles of improved political tac- tics. But the Republicans, particularly of the western part of Illinois, had a double purpose in the selection of Lincoln. He was hot as radical as they, but he well re- presented the growing Republican senti- ment, and he best of all men could cope with Douglas on the stump in a canvass which they desired should attract the at- tention of the Nation, and give shape to the sentiment of the North on all questions pertaining to slavery. The doctrine of ' popular sovereignty " was not acceptable to the Republicans, the recent repeal of the Missouri compromise having led them, or the more radical portion of them, to despise all compromise measures. The plan of the Illinois Republicans, if 74 AMERICAN POLITICS. indeed it was a well-settled plan, accom- plislicd even more than was anticipated, thou<,di it did not result in immediate suc- cess. It gave to the debate which followed between Lincoln and Douglas a world-wide celebrity, and did more to educate and train the anti-slavery sentiment, taken in connection with the ever-growing excite- ment in Kansas, than anything that could have happened. Lincoln's speech before the convention which nominated him, gave the fii'.^t clear expression to the idea that there was an "irrepressible conflict" between freedom and slavery. Wm. H. Seward on October 25th following, at Rochester, N. Y., ex- pressed the same idea in these words : "It is an iry-epressible conjiict between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the United States will sooner or later become either an entire slaveholding Na- tion, or an entirely free labor Nation." Lincoln's words at Sin-ingfield, in July, 1858, were : " If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could bet- ter judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated with the avowed object, and confident promise of putting an end to the slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion it will not cease, until a • crisis shall have been reached and passed. ' A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the LTnion to be dis- solved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it Avill cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ulti- mate extinction ; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South." Douglas arrived in Chicago on the 9th of July, and was warmly received by en- thusiastic friends. His doctrine of '"' pop- ular sovereignty " had all the attractions of novelty and apparent fairness. For months it divided many Eepublicans, and at one time the New York Tribune showed indications of endorsing the position of Douglas — a fact probably traceable to the attitude of jealousy and hostility manifested toward him by the Buchanan administra- tion. Neither of the great debaters were to be wholly free in the coming contest. Douglas was undermined by Buchanan, who feared him as a rival, and by the more bitter friends of slavery, who could not see that the new doctrine was safely in their interest ; but these things were dwarfed in the State conflict, and those who shared such feelings had to make at least a show of friendship until they saw the result. Lincoln was at first handicapped by the doubts of that class of Republicans who thought " popular sovereignty " not bad Republican doctrine. On the arrival of Douglas he replied to Lincoln's Springfield speech; on the 16th he spoke at Bloomington, and on the 17th, in the afternoon, at Springfield. Lincoln had heard all three speeches, and replied to the last on the night of the day of its delivery. He next addressed to Douglas the following challenge to debate : Chicago, July 24th, 1858. Hon. S. a. Douglas; — My Dear Sir: — Will it be agreeable to you to make an ar- rangement to divide time, and address the same audience, during the present canvass? etc. Mr. Judd is authorized to receive your a'nswer, and if agreeable to you, to en- ter into terms of such agreement, etc. Your obedient servant, A. LiNCOLiSr, Douglas promptly accepted the chal- lenge, and it was arranged that there should be seven joint debates, each alternately opening and closing, the opening speech to occupy one hour, the reply one hour and a half, and the closing half an hour. They spoke at Ottawa, August 21st ; Free- port, August 27th ; Jonesboro', September 15th ; Charleston, September 18th ; Gales- burg, October 7th ; Quincy, October 13th ; and Alton, October 15th. We give in Book III of this volume their closing speeches in full. Great crowds attended, and fomc of the more enterprising daily journals gave pho- nographic reports of the speeches. The enthusiasm of the North soon ran in Lin- coln's favor, though Douglas had hosts of friends ; but then the growing and the aggressive party was the Reiniblican, and even the novelty of a new and attractive doctrine like that of " popular sovereignty" could not long divert their attention. The prize suspended in view of the combat- ants was the United States Senatorship, and to close political observers this was plainly within the grasp of Douglas by reason of an apportionment which would give his party a majority in the Legisla- ture, even though the ]iopular majority should be twenty thousand against liim— a system of apportionment, by the way, not confined to Illinois alone, or not pecu- liar to it in the work of any of the great par- ties at any period when jiarty lines were drawn. Buchanan closely watched the fight, and it was charged and is still believed by the friends of the " Little Giant," that the THE LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE. 75 administration secretly employed its ])a- tronage and power to deicat him. Certain it is that a tew prominent Democrats de- serted the standard of Douglas, and that some of theni were rewarded. In the heat of the battle, however, Douglas' friends were careless of the views of the adminis- tration. He was a greater leader than Buchanan, and in Illinois at least he over- shadowed the administration. He lacked neither money nor friends. Special trains of cars, banners, cannon, bands, proces- sions, were all supplied with lavish hands. The democracy of Illinois, nor yet of any other State, ever did so well before or since, and if the administration had been with him this enthusiasm might have spread to all other States and given his doctrine a larger and more glorious life. Only the border States of the South, how- ever, saw opportunity and glory in it, while the office-holders in other sections stood off and awaited results. Lincoln's position was different. He, doubtless, early realized that his chances for election were remote indeed, with the apportionment as it was, and he sought to impress the nation with the truth of his convictions, and this without other dis- play than the force of their statement and publication. Always a modest man, he Avas never more so than in this great battle. He declared that he did not care for the local result, and in the light of what tran- spired, the position was wisely taken. Douglas was apparently just as earnest, though more ambitious ; for he declared in the vehemence of the advocacy of his doctrine, that " he did not care whether slavery was voted up or voted down." Douglas had more to lose than Lincoln — a place which his high abilities had hon- ored in the United States Senate, and which intriguing enemies in his own party made him doubly anxious to hold. Beaten, and he was out of the field for the Presi- dency, with his enthroned rival a candi- date for re-election. Successful, and that rival must leave the field, with himself in direct command of a great majority of the party. This view must have then. been presented, but the rapid rise in public feel- ing made it in part incorrect. The calcu- lation of Douglas that he could at one and the same time retain the good will of all his political friends in Illinois and those of the South failed him, though he did at the time, and until his death, better represent the majority of his party in the whole country than any other leader. At the election which followed the de- bate, the popular choice in the State as a whole was for Lincoln by 126,084 to 121,- 940 for Douglas; but the apportionment of 1850 gave to Douglas a plain majority of the Senators and Representatives. At the Freeport meeting, August 27th, there were sharp (jue-tions and answ(TS between the debaters. They were l)n)U^ht on by Lincoln, who, after alluding to some questions propounded to him at Ottawa, said : " I now propose that I will answer any of the interrogatories, upon condition that he will answer questions from me not ex- ceeding the same number, to which I give him an opportunity to respond. Tjic judge remains silent; I now say that I will an- swer his interrogatories, whether he an- swer mine or not, and that after I have done so I shall propound mine to him. "I have supposed myself, since the or- ganization of the Republican party at Bloomington in May, 18)0, bound as a party man by the platforms of the party, there, and since. If, in any interrogatories which I shall answer, I go beyond the scope of what is within these platforais, it Avill be perceived that no one is responsil)le but myself. " Having said thus much, I will take up the judge's interr<);i-at(iiies as I find them printed in the Cliiahjo 77»u's. and answer them seriatim. In order that there may be no mistake about it, I have copied the interrogatories in writing, and also my answers to them. The first one of these interrogatories is in these words : Question 1.— I desire to know whether Lincoln to-day stands, as he did in 1854, in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law ? Answer. — I do not now, nor ever did, stand in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law. Q. 2. — I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to-day, as he did in 1854, against the admission of any more slave States into the Union, even if the people want them ? A.~l do not now, nor ever did, stand pledged against the admission of any more slave States into the Union. Q_ 3 — I want to know, whether he stands pledged against the admission of a new State into the Union, with such a Consti- tution as the people of the State may see fit to make? A.—l do not stand pledged against the admission of a new State into the Union, with such a Constitution as the people of the State may see fit to make. Q_ 4. — I want to know whether he stands to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia? A.—l do not stand to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Co- lumbia. Q. 5.— I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to the prohibition of the slave trade between the different States ? _ A. — I do not stand pledged to ])rohibi- tion of the slave trade between the different . States. 76 AMERICAN POLITICS. Q. 6. — I desire to know whether he stands pledged to prohibit slavery in all the Territories of the United States, North as well as South of the Missouri Compro- mise line ? A.— I am impliedly, if not expressly, pledged to a belief in the right and duty of Congress to prohibit slavery in all of the United States' Territories. Q. 7. — I desire him to answer, whether he is opposed to the acquisition of any new territory, unless slavery is first prohibited therein ? A. — I am not generally opposed to honest acquisition of territory ; and in any given case, I would or would not oppose such ac- quisition, according as I might think such acquisition would or would not aggravate the slavery question among ourselves. " Now, my friends, it will be perceived upon an examination of these questions and answers, that so far, I have only an- swered that I was not pledged to this, that, or the other. The judge has not framed his interroga- tories to ask me anything more than this and I have answered in strict accordance with the interrogatories, and have answered truly, that I am not 2)ledged at all upon any of the points to which I have an- swered. But I am not disposed to hang upon the exact form of his interrogatories. I am rather disposed to take up, at least some of these questions, and state what I really think upon them. " The fourth one is in regard to the abo- lition of slavery in the District of Colum- bia. In relation to that, I have my mind very distinctly made up. I should be very glad to see slavery abolished in the Dis- trict of Columbia. I believe that Congress possesses the constitutional power to abolish it. Yet, as a member of Congress, I should not, with my present views, be in favor of endeavoring to abolish slavery in the Dis- trict of Columbia, unless it should be upon these conditions : First, That the aboli- tion should be gradual ; Second, That it should be on a vote of a majority of quali- fied voters in the District; and Third, That compensation should be made to un- willing owners. With these three condi- tions, I confess I would be exceedingly glad to see Congress abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and in the lan- guage of Henry Clay, 'sweep from our Capital that foul blot upon our nation.' " I now proceed to propound to the judge the interrogatories, so tar as I have framed them, I will bring forward a new in- stalment when I get them ready. I will bring now only four. The first one is :— 1. If the people of Kansas shall, by means entirely unobjectionable in all other respects, adopt a State Constitution and ask admission into the Union under it before they have the requisite number of inhabitants, according to the English bill — some ninety-three thousand — will he vote to admit them? 2. Can the people of the United States Territory, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a State Constitution ? 3. If the Supreme Court of the United States shall decide that States cannot ex- clude slavery from their limits, are you in favor of acquiescing in, adopting and fol- lowing such decision as a rule of political action ? 4. Are you in favor of acquiring addi- tional territory in disregard of how much acquisition may affect the nation on the slavery question ? Tt these questions Mr. Douglas said: " In reference to Kansas, it is my opinion that, as she has pojjulation enough to con- stitute a slave State, she has people enough for a free State. I hold it to be a sacred rule of universal application, to reqtiire a Territory to contain the requisite popula- tion for a member of Congress, befcre it is admitted as a State into the Union. 2. " It matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide, as to the ab- stract question whether slavery may or may not go into a Territory under the Constitution, the people have the lawful means to introduce it, or exclude it as they please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist a day, or an hour, anywhere, unless it is supjiortcd by local police regulations. These police regulations can only be estab- lished by the local legislature, and if the people are opposed to slavery, they will elect representatives to that body, who will, by unfriendly legislation, efTec'tually pre- vent the introduction of it into their midst. If, on the contrary, they are for it, their legislation will favor its extension. Hence, no matter what the decision of the Su- preme Court may be on that abstract question, still the right of the peojde to make a slave Territory or a free Terri- tory is perfect and complete under the Nebraska bill. " 3. The third question which Mr. Lin- coln presented is, if the Supreme Court of the United States shall decide that a State of this Union cannot exclude slavery from its own limits, will I submit to it? I am amazed that Mr. Lincoln should ask such a question. He casts an imputation upon the Su- preme Court of the United States by sujj- posing that they would violate the consti- tution of the United States. I tell him that such a thing is not possible. It would be an act of moral treason that no man on the bench cotild ever descend to. Mr. Lincoln, himself, would never, in his par- tisan feelings, so far forget what was right as to be guilty of such an act. THE KANSAS STRUGGLE. 77 4. "With our natural increase, growing with a rapidity unknown in any other part of the globe, with the tide of emigration that is fleeing from despotism in the old world, to seek refuge in our own, there is a constant torrent pouring into this coun- try that requires more land, more terri- tory upon which to settle, and just as fast as our interests and our destiny require an additional territory in the North, in the South, or on the Island of the Ocean, I am for it, and when we require it, will leave the people, according to the Nebraska bill, free to do as they please on the sub- ject of slavery, and every other ques- tion." The bitterness of the feelings aroused by the canvass and boldness of Douglas, can both be well shown by a brief abstract from his speech at Freeport. He had per- sisted in calling the Repul)licans " Black Republicans," although the crowd, the great majority of which was there against him, insisted that he should say " White Eepublican." In response to these oft re- peated demands, he said : — "Now, there are a great many Black Republicans of you who do not know this thing was done. ("White, white, and great clamor)." I wish to remind you that while Mr. Lincoln was speaking, there was not a Democrat vulgar and black- guard enough to interrupt him. But I know that the shoe is pinching you. I am clinching Lincoln now, and you are scared to death for the result. I have seen this thing before. I have seen men make ap- pointments for discussions and the mo- ment their man has been heard, try to in- terrupt and prevent a fair hearing of the other side. I have seen your mobs before and defy your wrath. (Tren\endous ap- plau-;e.) " ]My friends, do not cheer, for I need my whole time. " I have been put to severe tests. I have stood by my principles in fair weather and in foul, in the sunshine and in the rain. I have defended the great principle of self-government here among you when Northern sentiment ran in a torrent against me, and I liave defended that same great principle when Southern sentiment came down like an avalanche upon me. I Avas not afraid of any test they put to me. I knew I was right — I knew my principles were sound— I knew that the people would see in the end that I had done right, and I knew that the God of Heaven would smile upon me if I was faithful in the per- formance of my duty." As an illustration of the earnestness of Lincoln's position we need only quote two paragraphs from his speech at Alton : — "Is slavery wrong? That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles — right and wrong — tliroughout the world. Tliey are two jirinciples that have stood face to face from tlie Ijeginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of huimunty, and the other the divine right of Kings. It is the same principle in whatever siiape it develops itself. Itis thesamc sj)irit that says, ' you work and toil, and earn bread, and I'll eat it.' No matter in what shai)e it comes, whether from the mouth of a King who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and life by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle." And again : — " On this subject of treating it as a wrong, and limiting its spread, let me say a word. Has anything ever threatened the existence of this Union save and except this very institution of slavery ? What is it that we hold most dear among us ? Our own liberty and prosperity. What has ever threatened our liberty and prosperity save and except this institution of slavery ? If this is true, how do you propose to im- prove the condition of things? by enlarging slavery ? — by spreading it out and making it bigger? You may have a Avenor cancer upon your person and not be able to cut it out, lest you bleed to death ; but surely it is no way to cure it, to engraft it and spread it over your whole body. That is no proper way of treating what you regard a wrong. You see this peaceful Avay of dealing with it as a wrong— restricting^ the spread of it, and not allowing it to go into new countries where it has not already existed. That is the peaceful way, the old-fashioned way, the way in which the tiithers themselves set us the ex- ample." The administration of Pierce had left that of Buchanan a dangerous legacy. He found the pro-slavery party in Congress temporarily triumphant, it is true, and supported by the action of Congress in re- jecting the "Topeka constitution and rec- ognizing the territorial government, but he found that that decision was not accep- talde either to the majority of the people in the country or to a rapidly rising anti- slavery sentiment in the North. Yet he saw but one course to pursue, and that was to sustain the territorial government, which had issued the call for the Lecomi)ton con- vention. He Avas supported in this view by the action of the Supreme Court, which had decided that slavery existed in Kansas under the constitution of the United States, and that the people therein could only re- lieve themselves of it by the election of deleo-ates who would prohibit it in the constitution to be framed by the Lecomp- 78 AMERICAN POLITICS. ton convention. The Free State men re- fused to recognize the call, made little, if any, preparation for the election, yet on the last day a number of them voted for State officials and a member of Congress under the Lecompton constitution. This had the etfect of suspending hostilities be- tween the parties, yet peace was actually maintained only by the int*vention of U. S. troops, under the command of Col. Sumner, who afterwards won distinction in the war of the rebellion. The Free State people stood firmly by their Topeka constitution, and refused to vote on ques- tions affecting delegates to the Lecompton convention. They had no confidence in Governor Walker, the ai)pointee of Presi- dent Buchanan, and his proclamations passed unheeded. They recognized their own Governor Robinson, who in a message dated December 7th, 1857, explained and defended their position in these words : " The convention which framed the con- stitution at Topeka originated with the people of Kansas territory. They have adopted and ratified the same twice by a direct vote, and also indirectly through two elections of State officers and members of the State Legislatuie. Yet it has pleased the administration to regard the whole proceeding as revolutionary." The Lecompton convention, proclaimed by Governor Walker to be lawfully con- stituted, met for the second time, Sept. 4th, 1857, and proceeded to frame a constitu- tion, and adjourned finally Nov. 7th. A large majority of the delegates, as in the first, were of course pro-slavery, because of the refusal of the anti-slavery men to participate in the election. It refused to submit the whole constitution to the people, it is said, in opposition to the desire of President Buchanan, and part of his Cabinet. It submitted only the question of whether or not slavery should exist in the new State, and this they were required to do under the Kansas-Nebraska act, if indeed they were not required to submit it all. Yet such was the hostility of the pro-slavery men to submission, that it was only by three majority the proposition to submit the main question was adopted — a confession in advance that the result was not likely to favor their side of the con- troversy. But six weeks' time was also allowed for preparation, the election being ordered for Dec. 21st, 1857. Still another advantage was taken in the printing of the ballots, as ordered by the convention. The method prescribed was to endorse the bal- lots, "Constitution wnth Slavery," and " Constitution with no Slavery, thus com- pelling the voter, however adverse his views, as to other parts of the Constitution, to vote for it as a whole. As a consequence, (at least this was given as one of the rea- sons,) the Free State men as a rule refused to participate in the election, and the result as returned was 6,143 votes in favor of slavery, and 589 against it. The constitu- tion was anuonuced as adopted, an election was ordered on the first Monday of Janu- ary, 1858, for State ofBcers, members of the Legislature, and a member of Congress. The opponents of the Lecompton constitu- tion did not now refrain from voting, partly because of their desire to secure the repre- sentative in Congress, but mainly to secure an opportunity, as advised by their State officers, to vote down the Lecompton con- stitution. Both parties warmly contested the result, but the Free State men won, and with their general victory secured a large majority in the Legislature. • The ballots of the Free State men were now headed with the words " Against the Lecompton Constitution," and they re- turned 10,226 votes against it, to 134 for it with slavery, and 24 for it against slavery. This return was certified by J. W. Denver, "Secretary and Acting Governor," and its validity was endorsed by Douglas in his report from the Senate Territorial Com- mittee. It was in better accord with his idea of popular sovereignty, as it showed almost twice as large a vote as that cast under the Lecompton plan, the fairness of the return not being disputed, while that of the month previous was disputed. But their previous refusal to vote on the Lecompton constitution gave their oppo- nents an advantage in position strangely at variance with the wishes of a majority of the people. The President of that conven- tion, J. Calhoun, forwarded the document to the President with an official request that it be submitted to Congress. This was done in a message dated 2d February, 1858, and the President recommended the admission of Kansas under it. This message occasioned a violent debate in Congress, which continued for three months. It was replete with sectional abuse and bitterness, and nearly all the members of both Houses participated. It finally closed with the passage of the " Act for the admission of the State of Kansas into the LInion," passed May 4th, 1858. This Act had been reported by a committee of conference of both Houses, and was passed in the Senate by 31 to 22, and in the House by 112 to 103. There was a strict party vote in the Senate with the exception of Mr. Douglas, C. E. Stuart of Michigan, and D. C. Broderick of Cal- ifornia, who voted Avith the Republican minority. In the House several anti- Lecompton democrats voted with the Re- publican minority. These Avere Messrs. Adrian of New Jersey ; Chapman of Penn- sylvania ; Clark of New York ; Cockerill of Ohio ; Davis of Indiana ; Harris of Il- linois ; Haskin of New York ; Hickman of Pennsylvania; McKibben of California; THE KANSAS STRUGGLE. 79 Marshall of Illinois; iSIorgau of New York ; Morris, Shaw, and Smith of Illinois. The Americans who voted with the Repub- licans were Crittenden of Kentucky ; Davis of Maryland ; Marshall of Kentucky ; Ricaud of Maryland ; Underwood of Ken- tucky. A number of those previously classed as Anti-Lccompton Democrats voted against their colleagues of the same faction, and consequently against the bill. These were Messrs. Coekerill, Gweaheck, Hall, Lawrence, Pendleton and Cox of Ohio; English' and Foley of Indiana; and Jones of I'ennsylvania. The Americans who voted against the bill were Kennedy of ]\Iaryland ; Anderson of Missouri ; Eus- tis of Louisiana ; Gilmer of North Caro- lina; Hill of Georgia; Maynard, Ready and Zollicoffer of Tennessee; and Trippe of Georiiia. licconipton Constitution. The folloAving are the political features of the Lecompton constitution : Article VII. — SlarerT/. Sec. 1. The right of property is before and higher than any constitutional sanc- tion, and the right of the owner of a slave to such slave and its increase is the same, and as inviolable as the right of the owner of any property whatever. Sec. 2. The legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of the owners, or without paying the owners previous to their emancipation a full equivalent in money for the slaves so emanci])ated. They shall have no power to prevent emigrants to the state from bringing with them such persons as are deemed slaves by the laws of any one of the United States or territories, so long as any person of the same age or description shall be continued in slavery by the laws of this state : Provided, That such person or slave be the bona fide property of such emigrants : And provided, also, That laws may be passed to prohibit the introduc- tion into this state of slaves who have committed high crimes in other states or territories. They shall have power to pass laws to permit the owners of slaves to emancipate them, saving the rights of creditors, and preventing them from be- coming a public charge. They shall have power to oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with humanity, to provide for them necessary food and clothing, to ab- stain from all injuries to them extending to life or limb, and, in case of their neglect or refusal to comply with the direction of such laws, to have such slave or slaves sold for the benefit of the owner or owners. Sec. 8. In the prosecution of slaves for crimes of higher grade than petit larceny, the legislature shall have no power to de- prive them of an impartial trial by a petit Sec. 4, Any person who shall mali- ciously dismember, or deprive a slave of life, shall suflcr such punishment as would be inflicted in case the like offence had been committed on a free white person, and on the like proof, except in case of insurrection of such slave. Free Negroes. Bill of Eighth, Sec. 23. Free negroes shall not be allowed to live in this state under any circumstances. Article VIII. — Elections and Rights of Suffrage. Sec. 1. Every male citizen of the United States, above the age of twenty- one years, having resided in this state one year, and in the county, city, or town in which he may offer to vote, three months next preceding any election, shall have the qualifications of an elector, and be en- titled to vote at all elections. And every male citizen of the United States, above the age aforesaid, who may be a resident of the state at the time this constitution shall be adopted, shall have the right of voting as aforesaid ; but no such citizen or inhabitant shall be entitled to vote ex- cept in the county in which he shall actually reside at the time of the -elec- tion. The Topeka Constitution. The following are the political features of the Topeka constitution : Slavery. Bill of Eights, Sec. 6. There shall be no slavery in this state, nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime. Amendments to the Constitution. Sec. 1. All propositions for amend- ments to the constitution shall be made by the General Assembly. * Sec. 2. A concurrence of two-thirds of the members elected to each house shall be * necessary, after which such proposed amendments shall be again referred to the legislature elected next succeeding said publication. If passed by the second legislature by a majority of two-thirds of the members elected to each house, such amendments shall be republished as afore- said, for at least six months prior to the next general election, at which election such proposed amendments shall be sub- mitted to the people for their approval or ^0 AMERICAN POLITICS. rejection ; and if a majority of the electors voting at such election shall adopt such amendments, the same shall become a part of the constitution. Sec. 3. When more than one amend- ment is submitted at the same time, they shall be so submitted as to enable the electors to vote upon each amendment separately. No convention for the forma- tion of a new constitution shall be called, and no amendment to the constitution shall be, by the general assembly, made before the year 1865, nor more than once in five years thereafter. Submission of Constitution to the People. Schedule, Sec. 2. That this constitution shall be submitted to the people of Kansas for ratification on the 15th day of Decem- ber next. That each qualified elector shall express his assent or dissent to the constitution by voting a written or printed ticket, labelled "Constitution," or "No Constitution;" which election shall be held by the same judges, and conducted under the same regulations and restric- tions as is hereinafter provided for the election of members of the general assembly. The Douglas Amendment. The following i.s the Douglas amend- ment, which really formed the basis of the bill for admission : " It being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any state or territory, nor to exclude it there- from, but to leave the people thereof per- fectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." The bill which passed on the 4th of May was known as the English bill, and it met the approval of Buchanan. To the measure was attached " a fundamental condition precedent," which arose from the fact that the ordinance of the convention accom- panying the constitution claimed for the new State a cession of the public lands six times greater than had been granted to other States, amounting in all to 23,500,- 000 acres. In lieu of this Congress pro- posed to submit to a vote of the people a proposition specifying the number of acres and the purposes for which the money arising fi-om their sale were to be used, and the acceptance of this was to be followed by a proclamation that "thereafter, and without further proceedings from Congress the admission of the State of Kansas, into the Union, upon an equal footing with the original States in all respects whate^'er, shall be complete and absolute." The con- dition was never fulfilled, for the people at the election on the 2d of August, 1858, rejected it by a majority of 9,513, and Kan- sas was not admitted under the Lecompton constitution. Finally, and after continued agitation, more peaceful, however, than that which characterized the earlier stages of the strug- gle, the territorial legislature of Kansas called an election for delegates to meet and form a constitution. They assembled in convention at Wyandot, in July, 1859, and reported a constitution prohibiting slavery. This was adopted by a majority exceeding 4000, and under it Kansas was admitted to the Union on the 29th of January, 1861. The comparative quiet between the re- jection of the English proposition and the adoption of the Wyandot constitution, was at one time violently disturbed by a raid made by John Brown at Harper's Ferry, with a view to excite the slaves to insur- rection. This failed, but not before Gov. Wise, of Virginia, had mustered his militia, and called for the aid of United States troops. The more radical anti-slavery men of the North were at first shocked by the audacity of an offense which many looked upon as an act of treason, but the anxiety of Virginia to hang Brown and all his followers who had been captured alive, changed a feeling of conservatism in the North to one of sympathy for Brown and deeper hatred of slavery. It is but fair to say that it engendered hostility to the Union in the South. The right and wrong of slavery was thereafter more generally discussed than ever. The talent of the South favored it; while, with at least a large measure of truth it can be said that the talent of the North opposed it. So bitter grew the feeling that soon the churches of the. sections began to divide, no other political question having ever be- fore disturbed the Union. We have not pretended to give a com- plete history of the Kansas trouble either in that State or in Congress, nor yet a full history of the many issues raised on ques- tions which were but subsidiary to the main one of slavery. Our object is to show the relation of the political parties through- out that struggle, for we are dealing with the history of parties from a national view, and not with battles and the minor ques- tions or details of parliamentary struggles. The contest had cemented the Democrats of the South as it had the Republicans of the North ; it divided both the Democrats of the North and the Americans in all sections. John Bell, of Tennessee, and Sam Houston of Texas, recognized leaders of the Americans, had shown their sym- pathy with the new stand taken by Doug- las, as early as 1854. Bell, however, was less decided than Houston, and took his position with many qualifications. Hous- ton opposed even the repeal of the Mis- souri Compromise, and made the last speech THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION, 81 against it in the Senate. He closed with those words: " In the discharge of my duty I have acted fearlessly. The events of the future are left in the hands of a wise Providence, and, in my opinion, on the decision which Ave make upon this question must depend union or disunion." Tlicse sentiments were shared by many Americans, and the great majority of them dril'ted into the Republican party. The Abolilionists from the beginning of the s^ru.^gle, allied themselves with the Repub- licans, a few of their leaders proclaiming, h'lwcver, that this party was not sufficiently advanced in its views. The Cliarleston Convention. Such was the condition of the parties when the Democratic national convention met at Charleston, S. C, on the 23d of April, 1860, it being then the custom of the Democratic party, as it is of all major- ity parties, to call its convention first. It was composed of delegates from all the thirty-three States of the Union, the whole number of votes being 303. After the ex- amplii of former Democratic conventions it adopted the two-third rule, and 202 votes were required to make nominations for President and Vice-President. Caleb Cush- ing, of Mass., presided. From the first a radical difference of opinion was exhibited among the members on the question of slavery in the Territories. Almost the entire Southern and a minority of the Northern portion believed in the Dred Scott decision, and held that slave property was as valid under the constitution as any other class of property. The Douglas delegates stood firmly by the theory of popular sovereignty, and avowed their in- difference to the fact whether it would lead to the protection of slave property in the territories or not. On the second day a committee on resolutions consisting of one member from each State, selected by the State delegates, was named, and then a resolution was resolved unanimously "that this convention will not proceed to ballot for a candidate for the Presidency until the platform shall have been adopted." On the fifth day the committee on resolutions presented majority and minority reports. After a long discussion on the respective merits of the two reports, they were both, on motion of Mr. Bigler, of Pennsylvania, re-committed to the Committee on Reso- lutions, with a view, if possible, to promote harmony; but this proved to be impracti- cable. On the sixth day of the Conven- tion (Saturday, April 28th,) at an evening session, Mr. Avery, of North Carolina, and Mr. Samuels, of Iowa, from the majority and minority of the committee, again made opposite and conflicting reports on the question of slavery in tlu! Territories. On this question tlie committee had divided from the b(>ginning, the one portion em- bracing the fifteen members from the slaveholdin^ States, with those from Cali- fornia and Oregon, and the other consist- ing of the members from all the free States east of the Rocky ^Mountains. On all other questions botli rejiorts substantially agreed. The following is the rejxjrt of the major- ity made on this subject by Mr. Avery, of North Carolina, the chairman of the com- mittee : " Resolved, That the platform adopted by the Democratic party at Cin- cinnati be affirmed with the following ex- planatory resolutions : 1st. That the Gov- ernment of a Territory, organized by an act of Congress, is provisional and tempo- rary, and during its existence all citizens of the United States have an equal right to settle with their property in the Terri- tory, without their rights, either of person or property, being destroyed or imjjaired by Congressional or Territorial legislation. 2d. That it is the duty of the Federal Gov- ernment, in all its departments, to protect, when necessary, the rights of persons and property in the Territories, and wherever else its constitutional authority extends. 3d. That when the settlers in a Territory having an adequate population form a State Constitution, the right of sovereignty commences, and being consummated by admission into the Union, they stand on an equal footing with the people of other States, and the State thus organized ought to be admitted into the Federal Union whether its constitution prohibits or recog- nizes the institution of slavery." The following is the report of the minor- ity, made by Mr. Samuels, of Iowa. After re-affirming the Cincinnati platform by the first resolution, it proceeds: "Inas- much as differences of opinion exist in the Democratic party, as to the nature and ex- tent of the powers of a Territorial Legisla- ture, and as to the powers and duties of Congress, under the Constitution of the United States, over the institution of slavery within the Territories, Resolved, That the Democratic party will abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States upon questions of constitu- tional law." After some preliminary remarks,^ Islr. Samuels moved the adoption of the minor- ity report as a substitute for that of the majority. This gave rise to an earnest and excited debate. The diflerence be- tween the parties was radi^-al and irrecon- cilable. The South insisted that the Cin- cinnati platform, whose true construction in regard to slavery in the Territories had alwavs been denied by a portion of the Democratic party, should be explained and 82 AMERICAN POLITICS. settled by an express recognition of the principles decided by the Supreme Court. The North, on the other hand, refused to recognize this decision, and still main- tained the power to be inherent in the peo2)le of a Territory to deal with the Question of slavery according to their own iscretion. The vote was then taken, and the minority report was substituted for that of the majority by a vote of one hun- dred and sixty-five to one hundred and thirty-eight. The delegates irom the six New England States, as well as from New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, fourteen free States, cast their entire vote in favor of the minority report. New Jersey and Pennsylvania alone among the free States east of the Rocky Mountains, refused to vote as States, but their delegates voted as individuals. The means employed to attai^i this end were skillfully devised by the minority of the Pennsylvania delegation in favor of nominating Mr. Douglas. The entire del- egation had, strangely enough, placed this power in their hands, by selecting two of their number, Messrs. Cessna and Wright, to represent the whole on the two most im- portant committees of the Convention — that of organization and that of resolu- tions. These gentlemen, by adroitness and parliamentary tact, succeeded in abrogat- ing the former practice of casting the vote of the State as a unit. In this manner, whilst New York indorsed with her entire thirty-five votes the peculiar views of Mr. Douglas, notwithstanding there was in her delegation a majority of only five votes in their favor on the question of Territorial sovereignty, the effective strength of Penn- sylvania recognizing the jiidgment of the Supreme Court, was reduced to three votes, this being the majority of fifteen on the one side over tv/elve on the other. The question next in order before the Convention was upon the adoption of the second resolution of the minority of the committee, which had been substituted for the report of the majority. On this ques- tion Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkan- sas, Texas, Florida, and Mississippi re- fused to vote. Indeed, it soon appeared that on the question of the final adoption of this second resolution, which in fact amounted to nothing, it had scarcely any friends of either party in the Convention. The Douglas party, without explanation or addition, voted against it. On the other hand, the old Democracy could not vote for it without admitting that the Supreme Court had not already placed the right over slave property in the Territories on the same footing with all other property, and therefore they also voted against it. In consequence the resolution was nega- tived .by ..a, vote of only twenty-one in its fiivor to two hundred and thirty-eight. Had the seven Southern States just men- tioned voted, the negatives would have amounted to two hundred and eighty-two, or more than thirteen to one. Thus both the majority and the minority resolutions on the Territorial question were rejected, and nothing remained before the Conven- tion except the Cincinnati platform. At this stage of the proceedings (April 30th), the States of Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Tex- as, and Arkant^as, having assigned their reasons for the act, withdrew in succession from the Convention. Alter these seven States had retired, the delegation ircm Virginia made an effort to restore har- mony. Mr. Russell, their chairman, ad- dressed the Convention and portrayecl the alarming nature of the crisis. He ex- pressed his fears that we were on the eve of a revolution, and if this Convention should prove a failure it would be the last National Convention of any party which Avould ever ass-emble in the United States. " Virginia," said he, " stands in the midst of her sister States, in garments red with the blood of her children slain in the first outbreak of the 'irrepressible conflict.' But, sir, not when her children fell at mid- night beneath the weapon of the assassin, was her heart penetrated with so profound a grief as that which will wring it when she is obliged to choose between a sepa- rate destiny with the South, and her com- mon destiny with the entire Republic." Mr. Russell was not then prepared to answer, in behalf of his delegation, whether the events of the day (the defeat of the majority rei^ort, and the withdrawal of the seven States) Avere sufficient to justify her in taking the irrevocable step in question. In order, therefore, that they might have time to deliberate, and if they thought proper make an effort to restore harmony in the Convention, he expressed a desire that it might adjourn and afford them an opportunity for consultation. The Con- vention accordingly adjourned until the next day, Tuesday, May 1st ; and imme- diately after its reassembling the delega- tion from Georgia, making the eighth State, also withdrew. In the mean time the Virginia delega- tion had consulted among themselves, and had conferred with the delegation of the other Southern States which still remained in the Convention, as to the best mode of restoring harmony. In consequence Mr. Howard, of Tennessee, stated to the Con- vention that " he had a proposition to pre- sent in behalf of the delegation from Ten- nessee, whenever, under parliamentary rules, it would be proper to present it." In this Tennessee was joined by Kentucky and Virginia. He should propose the fol- lowing resolution whenever it would be in THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION, 83 •order: ' Ecsolred, Tliat the citizens of tlie United States have an equal right to set- tle with their jirnperty in the Territories of the United States ; and that, under the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, which we recognize as the correct exposition of the Constitution of the United States, neither the rights of person nor property can be destroyed or inpaired by Congressional or Territorial legislation.' '' On a subsequent day (May 3d), Mr, Rus- sell informed the Convention that this re- solution had, "he believed, received the approbation of all the delegations from the Southern States which remained in the Convention, and also received the ap- probation of the delegation from New York, He was informed there was strength enough to pass it when in order," Mr. IToward, however, in vain attempted to obtain a vote on his resolution. When he moved to take it up on the evening of the day it had been offered, he was met by cries of "Not in order," "Not in order," The manifest purpose was to postpone its consideration until the hour should arrive which had been fixed by a previous order of the Convention, in opposition to its first order on the same subject, for the balloting to commence for a Presidential candidate, when it would be too late. This the friends of Mr. Douglas accomplished, and no vote was ever taken upon it either at Charleston or Baltimore, Before the balloting commenced Mr. Howard succeeded, in the face of strong opposition, with the aid of the thirty-five votes from New York, in obtaining a vote of the Convention in re-affirmance of the two-thirds rule. On his motion they re- solved, by 141, to 112 votes, " that the Pre- sident of the Convention be and he is here- by directed not to declare any person nominated for the office of President or Vice-President, unless he shall have re- ceived a number of votes equal to two- thirds of the votes of all the electoral col- leges." _ It was well known at the time that this resolution rendered the regular nomination of Mr. Douglas impossible. The balloting then commenced (Tuesday evening, May 1st), on the eighth day of the session. Necessary to a nomination, under the two-thirds rule, 202 votes. On the first ballot Mr, 'Douglas received 145.T votes ; Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, 42 ; Mr, Guthrie, of Kentucky, 35.} ; Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee, 12 ; Mr, Dickinson, of New York, 7 ; Mr, Lane, of Oregon, 6 ; Mr. Toucey, of Connecticut, 2} ; Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, 1|, and Mr. Pearce, of Mary- land, 1 vote. The voting continued until May 3d, during which there were fifty-four addi- tional ballotings. Mr, Douglas never rose to more than 152i, and ended in 15U votes, 202 votes being necessary to a nomi- nation. Until 1824 nominations had been made by Congressional caucus. In these nouo I)articii)ated except Senators and Demo- cratic States, and Representatives from Democratic Congressional districts. The simple majority rule governed in these caucuses, because it was morally certain that, composed as they were, no candidate could be selected against the will of the Democratic States on whom his election depended. But when a change was made to National Conventions, it was at once perceived that if a mere majority could nominate, then the delegates from Anti- Democratic States might be mainly instru- niental in nominating a candidate for whom they could not give a single electo- ral vote. Whilst it would have been harsh and inexi)edient to exclude these States from the Convention altogether, it would have been unjust to confer on them a con- trolling jiower over the nomination. To compromise this difficulty, the two-thirds rule was adopted. Under its operation it would be almost impossible that a candi- date could be selected, without the votes of a simple majority of delegates from the Democratic States, This was the argu- ment of its friends. It had now become manifest that it was impossible to make a nomination at Charleston. The friends of Mr. Douglas adhered to him and would vote for him and him alone, whilst his opponents, ap- prehending the eflect of his principles should he be elected President, were equally determined to vote against his nomination. In the hope that some compromise might yet be effected, the Convention, on the motion of Mr, Eussell, of Virginia, resolved to adjourn to meet at Baltimore on Monday, the 18th June ; and it was " re- spectfully recommended to the Democratic party ot the several States, to make pro- vision for supplying all vacancies in tjieir respective delegations to this Convention when it shall re-assemble," The Convention re-assembled at Balti- more on the 18th June, 1860, according to its adjournment, and Mv. Gushing, the President, took the chair. Immediately after the reorganization of the Convention, Mr. Howard, of Tennes- see, offered a resolution, " that the Presi- dent of this Convention direct the ser- geant-at-arms to issue tickets of admission to the delegates of the Convention, as orig- inally constituted and organized at Charles- ton." Thus the vitally important question was distinctly presented. It eoon, how- ever, became manifest that no such reso- lution could prevail. In the absence of the delegates who had withdrawn at Charleston, the friends of Mr, Douglas constituted a controUiag majority. At ikQ 84 AMERICAN POLITICS. threshold they resisted the admission of the original delegates, and contended that by withdrawing they had irrevocably re- signed their seats. In support of this po- sition, they relied upon the language of the resolution adjourning the Convention to Baltimore, which, as we have seen, "recommended to the Democratic party of the several States to make provision for supplying all vacancies in their respective delegations to this Convention, when it shall reassemble." On the other hand, the advocates of their readmission con- tended that a simple withdrawal of the delegates was not a final renunciation of their seats, but they were still entitled to reoccupy them, whenever, in their judg- ment, this course would be best calculated to restore the harmony and promote the success of the Democratic party ; that the Convention had no right to interpose be- tween them and the Democracy of their respective States ; that being directly re- sponsible to this Democracy, it alone could accept their resignation ; that no such re- signation had ever been made, and their authority therefore continued in full force, and this, too, with the approbation of their constituents. In the mean time, after the adjournment from Charleston to Baltimore, the friends of Mr. Douglas, in several of these States, had proceeded to elect delegates to take the place of those who had withdrawn from the Convention. Indeed, it was manifest at the time, and has since been clearly proved by the event, that these delegates represented but a small minority of the party in their respective States. These new delegates, nevertheless,appeared and demanded seats. * After a long and ardent debate, the Convention adopted a resolution, offered by Mi\ Church, of New York, and modi- fied on motion of Mr, Gil more, of Penn- sylvania, as a substitute for that of Mr. Howard, to refer "the credentials of all persons claiming seats in this Convention, made vacant by the secession of delegates at Charleston, to the Committee on Cre- dentials.'' They thus prejudged the ques- tion, by deciding that the seats of these del(^ates had been made and were still vacant. The Committee on Credentials had been originally composed of one dele- gate from each of the thirty-three States, but the number was now reduced to twen- ty-five, in consequence of the exclusion of eight of its members from the States of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Car- olina, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida. The committee, therefore, now stood 16 to 9 in favor of the nomination of Mr. Douglas, instead of 17 to 16 against it, according to its original organization. * From Mr. Biichanan's AdminiRtration on the eve of tlm KebtUiuii, published by D. x^ppleton & Co., 1866. The committee, through their chairman, Mr. Krum, of Missouri, made their report on the 21st June, and Governor Stevens, of Oregon, at the same time presented a minority report, signed by himself and eight other members. It is unnecessary to give in detail these conflicting reports. It is suflScient to state that whilst the report of the majority maintained that the delegates, by with- drawing at Charleston, had resigned their seats, and these were still vacant ; that of the minority, on the contrary, asserted the right of these delegates to resume their seats in the Convention, by virtue of their original appointment. On the next day (June 22), the impor- tant decision was made between the con- flicting reports. Mr. Stevens moved to substitute the minority report for that of the majority, and his motion was rejected by a vote of 100^ to 150. Of course no vote was given from any of the excluded States, except one half vote from each of the parties in Arkansas. The resolutions of the majority were then adopted in succession. Among other mo- tions of similar character, a motion had been made by a delegate in the majority to reconsider the vote by which the Con- vention had adopted the minority report, as a substitute for that of the majority, and to lay his own motion on the table. This is a common mode resorted to, ac- cording to parliamentary tactics, of de- feating every hope of a reconsideration of the pending question, and rendering the first decision final. Mr. Cessna with this view called for a vote on laying the motion to reconsider on the table. Should this be negatived, then the question of reconsideration would be open. The President stated the question to be first " on laying on the table the mo- tion to reconsider the vote by which the Convention refused to amend the majority report of the Committee on Credentials by substituting the report of the minority." On this question New York, for the first time since the meeting at Baltimore, voted with the minority and changed it into a majority. "When New York was called," says the report of the proceedings, " and re- sponded thirty-five votes" (in the nega- tive) "the response was greeted with loud cheers and applause." The result of the vote was 113^ to 138*—" so the Convention refused to lay on the table the motion to reconsider the minority report." The Con- vention then adjourned until evening, on motion of Mr. Cochrane, of New York, amidst great excitement and confusion. This vote of New York, appearing to in- dicate a purpose to harmonize the party by admitting the original delegates from the eight absent States, was not altogether un- expected. Although voting as a unit, it THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION. 85 wa-i Icjiown that her dok^gation were greatly divided among themselves. The exact strength of the minority was afterwards stated by Mr. Bartlett, one of ita members, in the Breckinridge Convention. He said : " Upon all questions and especially upon the adoption of the majority report on cre- dentials, in which we had a long contest, the line was strictly drawn, and there were thirty on one side and forty on the other." The position of New York casting an un- divided vote of thirty-five, with Dean Rich- mond at their head, had been a controlling power from the commencement. Strong expectations were, therefore, now entertained that after the New York dele- gation had recorded their vote against a motion which would have killed the mi- nority report beyond hope of revival, they woulcl now follow this up by taking the next step in advance and voting for its re- consideration and adoption. On the even- ing of the very same day, however, they reversed theh* course and voted against its reconsideration. They were then cheered by the opposite party from that which had cheered them in the morning. Thus the actiiMi of the Convention in favor of the majority report became final and conclu- sive. Mr. Cessna, of Pennsylvania, at once moved " that the Convention do now pro- ceed to nominate candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States." Mr. Russell rose and stated, " It has be- come my duty now, by direction of a large majority of the delegation from Virginia, respectfully to inform you and this body, that it is not consistent with their convic- tions of duty to participate longer in its deliberations." Mr. Lander next stated " that it became his duty, as one of the delegates from North Carolina, to say that a very large majority of the delegation from that State were compelled to retire permanently from_ this Convention, on account, as he conceived, of the unjust course that had been pursued toward some of their fellow-citizens of the South. The South had heretofore relied upon the Northern Democracy to give them the rights which were justly due them ; but the vote to-day had satisfied the majority of the North Carolina delegation that these rights were now refused them, and, this being the case, they could no longer re- main in the Convention." Then followed in succession the with- drawal of the delegations from Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, California, Oregon, and Arkansas. The Convention now ad- journed at half-past-ten o'clock until the next morning at ten. Soon after the assembling of the Con- vention, the President, Mr. Gushing, whilst ■ tendering his thanks to its members for their candid and honorable support in the performance of his duties, stated that not- withstanding the retirement of the delega- tions of several of the Slates at Charleston, in his solicitude to maintain the harmony and union of the Democratic party, he had continued in his post of labor. "To that end and in that sense," said he, " I hadtlie honor to meet you, gentlemen, here at Baltimore. But circumstances have since transpired which compel me to pause. The delegations of a majority of the States have, either in whole or in part, in one form or another, ceased to participate in the deliberations of the Convention. * * * In the present circumstances, I deem it a duty of self-respect, and I deem it still more a duty to this Convention, as at present organized, * * * to resign my seat as President of this Convention, ia order to take my place on the floor as a member of the delegation from Massachu- setts. * * * I deem this above all a duty which I owe to the members of this Convention, as to whom no longer would my action represent the will of a majority of the Convention." Governor Tod, of Ohio, one of the Vice- Presidents, then took the vacant chair, and was greeted with hearty and long-continued cheers and applause from members of the Convention. Mr. Butler, of Massachusetts, now an- nounced that a portion of the Massachu- setts delegation desired to retire, but was interrupted by cries of "No," "No," " Call the roll." Mr. Cessna called for the original question, to wit, that the Conven- tion now proceed to a nomination for Pres- ident and Vice-President. The President here ordered the Secre- tary to call the States. Maine, New Hamp- shire, and Vermont were called, and they gave an unbroken vote for Stephen A. Douglas. When Massachusetts was called, Mr. Butler rose and said he had a respect- ful paper in his hand which he would desire the President to have read. A scene of great confusion thereupon ensued, cries of " I object" being heard upon all sides. Mr. Butler, not to be bafiled, contended for his right at this stage to make remarks pertinent to the matter, and cited in his support the practice of the Conventions at Baltimore in 1848 and 1852, and at Cin- cinnati in 1856. He finally prevailed, and was permitted to proceed. He then said he " would now withdraw from the Con- vention, upon the ground that there had been a withdrawal, in whole or in part, of a majority of the States; and further, which was a matter more personal to him- self, he could not sit in a convention where the African slave trade, which was piracy according to the laws of his country, was openly advocated." Mr. Butler then retired, followed by General Cushiug and four others of the 86 AMERICAN POLITICS Massachusetts delegation. All of these had voted with the South and against Douglas. The balloting now proceeded. Mr. Douglas received 173j votes; Mr. Guthrie l);Mr. Breckinridge 6J ; Mr. Bocock and Mr. Seymour each 1 ; and Mr. Dickerson and Mr. Wise each half a vote. On the next and last ballot Mr. Douglas received 181 J votes, eight of those in the minority having changed their votes in his favor. To account for this number, it is ])roper to state that a few delegates from five of the eight States which had withdrawn still remained in the Convention. On the last ballot Mr. Douglas received all of their votes, to wit : 3 of the 15 votes of Virginia, 1 of the 10 votes of North Carolina, li of the 3 votes of Arkansas, 3 of the 12 votes of Tennessee, 8 of the 12 votes of Ken- tucky, and 2\ of the 8 votes of Maryland, making in the aggregate 14 votes. To this number may be added the 9 votes of the new delegates from Alabama and the 6 from Louisiana, which had been admitted to the exclusion of the original dele- gates. Mr. Douglas was accordingly declared to be the regular nominee of the Democra- tic party of the Union, upon the motion of Mr. Church, of New York, when, accord- ing to the report of the proceedings, "The whole body rose to its feet, hats were waved in the air, and many tossed aloft ; shouts, screams, and yells, and every boisterous mode of expressing approbation and unanimity, were resorted to." Senator Fitzpatrick, of Alabama, was then unanimously nominated as the candidate for Vice-President ; and the Convention adjourned sine die on the 23d June, the sixth and last day of its ses- sion. On the same day, but after the ad- journment, Mr. Fitzpatrick declined the nomination, and it was immediately con- ferred on Mr. Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, by the Executive Committee. Thus ended the Douglas Convention. But another Convention assembled at Baltimore on the same 23d June, styling itself the " National Democratic Conven- tion." It was composed chiefly of the delegates who had just withdrawn from the Douglas Convention, and the original delegates from Alabama and Louisiana. One of their first acts was to abrogate the two-third rule, as had been done by the Douglas Convention. Both acted under the same necessity, because the preserva- tion of this rule would have prevented a nomination by either. Mr. Gushing was elected and took the chair as President. In his opening ad- dress he said : " Gentlemen of the Con- vention, we assemble here, delegates to the National Democratic Convention, duly accredited thereto from more than twenty States of the Union, for the purpose of nominating candidates of the Democratic party for the offices of President and Vice- President of the United States, for the purpose of announcing the principles of the party, and for the purpose of continu- ing and re-establishing that party upon the firm foundations of the Constitution, the Union, and the coequal rights of the several States." Mr. Avery, of North Carolina, who had reported the majority resolutions at Charleston, now reported the same from the committee of this body, and they "were adopted unanimously, amid great applause." The Convention then proceeded to select their candidates. Mr. Loring, on behalf of the delegates from Massachusetts, who with Mr. Butler had retired from the Douglas Convention, nominated John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, which Mr. Dent, representing the Pennsylvania dele- gation present, " most heartily seconded." Mr. Ward, from the Alabama delegation, nominated E. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia; Mr. Ewing, from that of Tennessee, nomi- nated Mr. Dickinson, of New York ; and Mr. Stevens, from Oregon, nominated General Joseph Lane. Eventually all these names were withdrawn except that of Mr. Breckinridge, and he received the nomination by a unanimous vote. The Avhole number of votes cast in his favor from twenty States was 103-3. General Lane was unanimously nomi- nated as the candidate for Vice-President. Thus terminated the Breckinridge Conven- tion. The Chicago Repnhllcau Convention. The Republicans had named May 16th, 1860, as the date and Chicago as the place for holding their second National Conven- tion. They had been greatly encouraged by the vote for Fremont and Dayton, and, what had now become apparent as an ir- reconcilable division of the Democracy, encouraged them in the belief that they could elect their candidates. Those of the great West were especially enthusiastic, and had contributed freely to the erection of an immense " Wigwam," capable of holding ten thousand people, at Chicago. All the Northern States were fully repre- sented, and there were besides partial de- legations from Delaware, Maryland, Ken- tucky, Missouri and Virginia, with occa- sional delegates from other Slave States, there being none, however, from the Gulf States. David Wilmot, of Penna., author of the Wilmot proviso, was made tempo- rary chairman, and George Ashman, of Mass., permanent President. No differ- ^ ences were excited by the report of the com- mittee on platform, and the proceedings THE AMERICAN CONVENTION. 87 throughout were characterized by great harmony, though there was a somewhat sharp contest for the Presidential nomina- tion. The prominent candidates were Wni. H. Seward, of New York ; Abraham Lin- coln, of Illinois ; Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio ; Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, and Edward Bates, of Missouri. There were three ballots, Mr. Lincoln receiving in the last 354 out of 44G votes. Mr. Sew- ard led the vote at the beginning, but he was strongly opposed by gentlemen in his own Stiite as prominent as Horace Greeley and Thurlow AVeed, and his nomination was thou^dit to be inexpedient. Lincoln's successful debate with Douglas was still fresh in the minds of the delegates, and every addition to his vote so heightened the enthusiasm that the convention was finally carried ''off its feet," the delegations rapidly changing on the last ballot. Lin- coln had been a known candidate but a month or two before, while Seward's name had been everywhere canvassed, and where opposed in the Eastern and Middle States, it was mainly because of the belief that his views on slavery were too radical. He was more strongly favored by the Abolition branch of the party than any other candi- didate. When the news of his success was first conveyed to Mr. Lincoln he was sit- ting in the office of the State Journal, at Sprin.^field, which was connected by a telegraph wire with the Wigwam. On the close of the third ballot a despatch was handed Mr. Lincoln. He read it in silence, and then announcing the result said: " There is a little woman down at our house would like to hear this — I'll go down and tell her," and he started amid the shout? of personal admirers. Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, was nominated for Vice- President with much unanimity, and the Chicago Convention closed its work in a single day. Tlie American Convention. A "Constitutional Union," really an American Convention, had met at Balti- more on the 9th of May. Twenty States were represented, and John Bell, of Ten- nessee, and Edward Everett, of Massachu- setts, were named for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency, Their friends, though known to be lesi* in number than either those of Douglas, Lincoln or Breckinridge, yet male a vigorous canvass in the hope that th? election would be thrown into the H )use, and that there a compromise, in the vote by S'atc'S would naturally turn toward their candidates. The result of the great contest is elsewhere given in our Tabulated History of Politics, THE PRINCIPLES IITVOLVED. Lincoln received large majorities in nearly JvU of the free States, his popular vote being l,8r)6,4r)2; electoral vote, 180. Douglas was next in the popular estimate, receiving 1, 87"), ir)7 vot -s, with but 12 elec- tors. Breckinridge had S47,9r);? votes, with 76 electors; Bell, with 570,031 votes, had 39 electors. The principles involved in the contro- versy are given at length in the Book of Platforms, and were briefly these: The Republican party asserted that slavery should not be extended to the territories"'; that it could exist only by virtue of local and positive law; that freedom was na- tional ; that slavery was morally wrong, and the nation should at least a*nticii)ate its gradual extinction. The Douglas wing of the Democratic party adhered to the doctrine of popular sovereignty, and claimed that in its exercise in the terri- tories they were indifferent whether slavery was voted up or down. The Breckinridge wing of the Democratic jiarty asserted both the moral and legal right to hold slaves, and to carry them to the territories, and that no power save the national constitu- tion could prohibit or interfere with it out- side of State lines. The Americans sup- porting Bell, adhered to their peculiar doctrines touching emigration and natural- ization, but had abandoned, in most of the States, the secrecy and oaths of the Know- Nothing order. They were evasive and non-committal on the slavery question. Preparing for Secession. Secession, up to this time, had not been regarded as treasonable in all sections and at all times. As shown in many previous pages, it had been threatened by the Hart- ford Convention ; certainly by some of tho people of New England who opposed the war of 1812. Some of the more extreme Abolitionists had favored a division of the sections. The South, ])articularly the Gulf States, had encouraged a secret organiza- tion, known as the "Order of the Lone Star," previous to and at the time of the annexation of Texas. One of its objects was to acquire Cuba, so as to extend slave territory. The Gulf States needed more slaves, and though the law made partici- pancy in the slave trade piracy, many car- goes had been landed in parts of the Gulf without protest or prosecution, just prior to the election of 1860. Calhoun had threatened, thirty years before, nullifica- tion, and before that again, secession in the event of the passage of the Public Land Bill. Jefferson and Madison ha I indicated that doctrine of State Rights on which secession was based in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1798, facts which were daily discussed by the people of the South during this most exciting of all Presidential campaigns. The leaders in the South had anticipated defeat at the election, and many of them 88 AMERICAN POLITICS. made early preparations for the withdrawal of their States from the Union. Some of the more extreme anti-slavery men of the North, noting these preparations, for a time favored a plan of letting the South go in peace. South Carolina was the first to adopt a secession ordinance, and before it did so, Horace Greeley said in the New York Tribune : " If the Declaration of Independence justified the secession from the British Empire of three millions of colonists in 1776, we can not see why it would not jus- tify the secession of five millions of South- rons from the Federal Union in 1861." These views, however, soon fell into dis- favor throughout the North, and the period of indecision on either side ceased when Fort Sumter was fired upon. The Gulf States openly made their prcjiarations as soon as the result of the Presidential elec- tion was known, as a rule pursuant to a previous understanding. The following, condensed from Hon. Edward McPher- son's " Political History of the United States of America during the Great Rebellion,'" is a correct statement of the movements which followed, in the several Southern States : SOUTH CAROLINA. November 5th, 1860. Legislature met to choose Presidential electors, who voted for Breckinridge and Lane for President and Vice President. Gov. William H. Gist recommended in his message that in the event of Abraham Lincoln's election to the Presidency, a convention of the people of the State be immediately called to consider and determine for themselves the mode and measure of redress. He ex- pressed the opinion that the only alterna- tive left is the " secession of South Caro- lina from the Federal Union." 7th. United States officials resigned at Charleston. 10th. U. S. Senators James H. Ham- mond and James Chestnut, Jr., resigned their seats in the Senate. Convention called to meet Dec. 17th. Delegates to be elected Dec. 6th. 13th. Collection of debts due to citi- zens of non-slaveholding States stayed. Francis W. Pickens elected Governor. 17th. Ordinance of Secession adopted unanimously. 21st. Commissioners appointed (Barn- well, Adams, and Orr) to proceed to Washington to treat for the possession of U. S. Government property within the lim- Jts of South Carolina. Commissioners ap- gointed to the other slaveholding States, outhern Congress proposed. 24th. Eepresentatives in Congress with- drew. Gov. Pickens issued a proclamation " announcing the repeal, Dec. 20th, 1860, by the good people of South Carolina," of the Ordinance of May 23d, 1788, and " the dissolution of the union between the State of South Carolina and other States under the name of the United States of Ameri- ca," and proclaiming to the world " that the State of South Carolina is, as she has a right to be, a separate, sovereign, free and independent State, and, as such, has a right to levy war, conclude peace, negotiate treaties, leagues, or covenants, and to do all acts whatsoever that rightfully apper- tain to a free and independent State. " Done in the eighty-fifth year of the sovereignty and independence of South Carolina." Jan. 3d, 1861. South Carolina Com- missioners left Washington. 4th. Convention a]>i)ointed T. J. With- ers, L. M. Keitt, W. W. Bovce, Jas. Cliest- nut, Jr., E. B. Rhett, Jr., R'. W. Barnwell, and C. G. Memminger, delegates to South- ern Congress. 5th. Convention adjourned, subject to the call of the Governor. 14th. Legislature declared that any at- tempt to reinforce Fort Sumter would be considered an open act of hostility and a declaration of war. Approved the Gov- ernor's action in firing on the Star of the West. Accepted the services of the Cataw- ba Indians. 27th. Received Judge Robertson, Com- missioner from Virginia, but rejected the proposition for a conference and co-oper- ative action. March 26th. Convention met in Charles- ton. April 3d. Ratified "Confederate" Con- stitution — yeas 114, nays 16. 8th. Transferred forts, etc., to " Con- federate " government. GEORGIA. November 8th, 1860. Legislature met pursuant to previous arrangement. 18th. Convention called. Legislature appropriated $1,000,000 to arm the State. Dec. 3d. Resolutions adopted in the Leg- islature proposing a conference of the Southern States at Atlanta, Feb. 20th. January 17th, 1861. Convention met. Received Commissioners from South Caro- lina md Alabama 18th. Resolutions declaring it the right and duty of Georgia to secede, adopted — yeas 165, nays 130. 19th. Ordinance of Secession passed — yeas 208, nays 89. 21st. Senators and Representatives in Congress withdrew. 24th. Elected Delegates to Southern Congress at Montgomery, Alabama. 28th. Elected 'Comrnissioners to other Slaveholding States. 29th. Adopted an address " to the South and the world." PREPARING FOR SECESSION. 89 Maroli Tth. Convention reassembled. IGtli. Ratified the " Confederate " Consli- tution — yeas 96, nays T). 20th. Ordinance passed autliorizing the "Couiodi'iatL-'' govornniont to occupy, use and pi)s-c\s^ tiie Torts, luivy yards, arsenals, and custom houses within the limits of said State. April 2Gth. Governor Brown issued a proclamation orderinii; the repudiation by the citizens of Georgia of all debts due Northern men. MISSISSIPPI. November 26tb, ISGO. Legislature met Nov. 2Gth, and adjourned Nov. 30th. Elec- tion for Convention fixed for Dec. 20th. Convention to meet Jan Tth. Convention bills and secession resolutions passed unani- mously. Commissioners appointed to other Slaveholding States to secure " their co- operation in effecting measures for their common defence and safety." Jan. 7th, 1861. Convention assembled. 9th. Ordinance of Secession yeas 81, nays 15. In the ordinance the people of the State of Mississippi express their consent to form a federal union with such of the States as have seceded or may secede from the Union of the United States of America, upon the basis of the present Constitution of the United States, except such parts thereof as embrace other portions than such seceding States. 10th. Commissioners from other States received. Resolutions adopted, recogniz- ing South Carolina as sovereign and inde- pendent. •Tan. 12th. Representatives in Congress withdrew. 19th. The committee on the Confederacy in the Legislature reported resolutions fo provide for a Southern Confederacy, and to establish a provisional government for seceding States and States hereafter seced- ing. 21st. Senators in Congress withdrew. March 30th. Ratified "Confederate" Constitution — yeas 78, nays 7. FLORIDA. November 2Gth, 18G0. Legislature met. Governor M. S. Perry recommended imme- diate secession. Dec. 1st. Convention bill passed. Jan. 3d, 1861. Convention met. Tth. Commissioners from South Carolina and Alabama received and heard. 10th. Ordinance of Secession passed — yeas 62, nays T. 18th. Delegates appointed to Southern Congress at Montgomery. 21st. Senators and Represcntattves in Congress withdrew. Feb. 14th. Act passed by the Legisla- ture declaring that after any actual collision between Federal troops and those in the emuluy of Florida, the act of holding ollico under the Federal government shall be declared treason, and the i)erson convicted shall suffer death. Transferred control of government i»ropcr(y captured, to the " Con- federate " government. LOUISIANA. December 10th, 1860. Legislature met. 11th. Convention called for Jan. 23d. Military bill passed. 12th. Commissioners from Mississippi re- ceived and heard. Governor instructed to communicate with Governors of other southern States. Jan 23d, 18(il. Convention met and organized. Received and heard Commis- sioners from South Carolina and Alabama. 25th. Ordinance of Secession passed — yeas 113, nays IT. Convention refused to submit the ordinance to the people by a vote of 84 to 45. This was subsequently reconsidered, and the ordinance was sub- mitted. The vote upon it as declared was 20,448 in favor, and 1T,29G against. Feb. 5th. Senators withdrew from Con- gress, also the Representatives, except John E. Bouligny. State flag adopted. Pilots at the Balize prohibited from bringing over the bar any United States vessels of war. March Tth. Ordinance adopted in secret session transferring to " Confederate " States government $536,000, being the amount of bullion in the U. S. mint and customs seized by the State. 16th. An ordinance voted down, submit- ting the " Confederate " Constitution to the people — yeas 26, navs T4. 21st. Ratified- the' "Confederate "Consti- tution — yeas 101, nays T. Governor author- ized to transfer the arms and property captured from the United States to the " Confederate" Government. 2Tth. Convention adjourned sine die. ALABAMA. January Tth, 1861. Convention met. 8th. Received and heard the Commis- sioner from South Carolina. 11th. Ordinance of Secession passed in secret session — yeas 61, nays 39. Proposi- tion to submit ordinance to the people lest — yeas 4T, nays 53. 14th. Legislature met pursuant to pre- vious action. 19th. Delegates elected to the Southern Congress. 21st. Representatives and Senators in Congress withdrew. 26th. Commissioners appointed to treat with the United States Government relative to the United States forts, arsenals, etc., within the State. The Convention requested the people of the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, 90 AxMERICAN POLITICS. Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Mis- souri to meet the people of Alabama by their delegates in Convention, February 4th, 1861, at Montgomery, for the purpose of consulting as to the most effectual mode of securing concerted or harmonious action in whatever measures may be deemed most desirable for their common peace and security. Military bill passed. Commis- sioners appointed to other Slaveholding States. March 4th. Convention re-assembled. 13th. Eatified "Confederate" Constitu- tion, yeas 87, nays 6. Transferred control forts, of arsenals, etc., to " Confederate" Government. ARKANSAS. January 16th, 1861. Legislature passed Convention bill. Vote of the people on the Convention was 27,412 for it, and 15,- 826 against it, February 18th, Delegates elected. March 4th. Convention met. 18th. The Ordinance of Secession de- feated — yeas 35, nays 39, The convention effected a compromise by agreeing to sub- mit the question of co-operation or seces- sion to the people on the 1st Monday in August, May 6th. Passed Secession Ordinance — yeas 69, nays 1. Authorized her delegates to the Provisional Congress, to trani^fer the arsenal at Little Rock and hospital at Na- poleon to the " Confederate " Government. January 21st, 1861. Legislature met. 28th. People's State Convention met. 29th. Legislature passed a resolution de- claring that the Federal Government has no power to coerce a Sovereign State after she has pronounced her separation from the Federal Union. February 1st. Ordinance of Secession passed in Convention — yeas 166, nays 7. Military bill passed. 7th. Ordinance passed, forming the foun- dation of a Southern Confederacy. Dele- gates to the Southern Congress elected. Also an act passed submitting the Ordi- nance of Secession to a vote of the people. 23d. Secession Ordinance voted on by the people ; adopted by a vote of 34,794 in favor, and 11,235 against it. March 4th. Convention declared the State out of the Union, Gov. Houston issued a proclamation to that effect. 16th. Convention by a vote of 127 to 4 deposed Gov. Houston, declaring his seat vacant. Gov. Houston issued a proclama- tion to the people protesting against this action of the Convention. 20th. Legislature confirmed the action of the Convention in deposing Gov. Hous- ton by a vote of 53 to 11. Transferred forts, etc., to "Confederate" Government. 2od. Ratified the " Confederate" Consti- tution — yeas 68, nays 2. NOKTH CAROLINA. November 20th, 1860. Legislature met. Gov. Ellis recommended that the Legisla- ture invite a conference of the Southern States, or failing in that, send one or more delegates to the neighboring States so as to secure concert of action. He recommended a thorough reorganization of the militia, and the enrollment of all persons between 18 and 45 years, and the organization of a corps of ten thousand men ; also, a Con- vention, to assemble immediately after the proposed consultation with other Southern States shall have terminated. December 9th, Joint Committee on Fed- eral Relations agreed to report a Conven- tion Bill. 17th. Bill appropriating $300,000 to arm the State, debated. 18th. Senate passed above bill — yeas, 41, nays, 3. 20th. Commissioners from Alabama and Mississippi received and heard — the latter, J. Thompson, by letter. 22d. Senate bill to arm the State failed to pass the. House. • 22d. Adjourned till January 7th. January "Sth, 1861. Senate Bill arming the State passed the House, yeas, 73, nays, 26. 30th. Passed Convention Bill — election to take place February 28th. No Secession Ordinance to be valid without being rati- fied by a majority of the qualified voters of the State. 31st. Elected Thos. L. Clingman United States Senator, February 13th. Commissioners from Georgia publicly received. 20th. Mr. Hoke elected Adjutant Gen- eral of the State. Military Bill passed. 28th. Election of Delegates to Conven- tion took place. 28th. The vote for a Convention was 46,671; against 47,333— majority against a Convention 661. May 1st. Extra session of the Legisla- ture met at the call of Gov. Ellis, The same day they passed a Convention Bill, ordering the election of delegates on the 15th. 2d, Legislature adjourned. 13th, Election of delegates to the Con- vention took place, 20th, Convention met at Raleigh, 21st. Ordinance of Secession passed ; also the " Confederate " Constitution rati- fied. June Sth. Ordinance passed, ceded the arsenal at Fayetteville, and transfej-red magazines, etc., to the " Confederate '* Government. PREPARING FOR SECESSION. 91 TENNESSEE. January 6th, 1861. Legislature met. 12th. Passed Convention Bill. 30th. Commissioners to Washington appointed. February 8th. People voted no Conven- tion : 07,360 to 54,156. IMay 1st. Legislature passed a joint re- solution authorizing the Governor to ap- point Ooininissioners to enter into a mili- tary k'U!iiie with the authorities of the " ConH;(ierate '' States. 7th. Legislature in secret session rati- fied the league entered into by A. O. W. Totten, Gustavus A. Henry, AVashington Barrow, Conamissioners for Tennessee, and Henry W. Hilliard, Commissioner for " Confederate " States, stipulating that Tennessee until she became a member of the Confederacy placed the whole military force of the State under the control of the President of the " Confederate" States, and turned over to the " Confederate " States all the public property, naval stores and munitions of war. Passed the Senate, yeas 14, nays 6, absent and not voting 5; the House, yeas 42, nays 15, absent and not voting, 18. Also a Declaration of In- dependence and Ordinance dissolving the Federal relations between Tennessee and the United States, and an ordinance adopt- ing and ratifying the Confederate Consti- tution, these two latter to be voted on by the people on June 8th were passed. June 24th. Gov. Isham G. Harris de- clared Tennessee out of the Union, the vote for Separation being 104,019 against 47,238. VIRGINIA. January 7th, 1861. Legislature con- vened. 8th. Anti-coercion resolution passed. 9th. Resolution passed, asking that the stafm quo be maintained. 10th. The Governor transmitted a des- patch from the Missisjsippi Convention, an- nouncing its unconditional secession from the Union, and desiring on the basis of the old Constitution to form a new union with the seceding States. The House adopted — yeas 77, nays 61, — an amendment submit- ting to a vote of the people the question of referring for_ their decision any action of the Convention dissolving Virginia's con- nection with the Union, or changing its organic law. The Ptichmond Enquirer denounced "the emasculation of the Con- vention Bill as imperilling all that Virgin- ians held most sacred and dear." 16th. Commissioners Hopkins and Gil- mer of Alabama received in the Legisla- ture. 17tlt. Resolutions passed proposing the Crittenden resolutions as a basis for adjust- ment, and requesting General Government to avoid collision with Southern States. Gov. Letcher comnuinicated the Resolu- tions of the Legishiturc of New York, ex- pressing the utmost disdain, and saying that " the threat conveyed can inspire no terror in Ireemen." The resolutions were directed to be returned to the Governor of New York. 18th. $1,000,000 appropriated for tlie defence of tlie State. 19th. Passed resolve that if all efTorts to reconcile the ditl'erences of the country fail, every consideration of honor and in- terest (Icmnnds that Virginia shall unite her (Icstinics witli her sister slavcliolding States. Also that no reconstruction of the Union can be permanent or satisfactory, which will not secure to each section self- protecting power against any invasion of the Federal Union upon the reserved rights of either. (See Hunter's proposition for adjustment.) 21st. Replied to Commissioners Hop- kins and Gilmer, expressing inability to make a definite response until after the meeting of the State Convention. 22d. The Governor transmitted the re- solutions of the Legislature of Ohio, with unfavorable comment. His message was tabled by a small majority. 30th. ■ The House of Delegates to-day tabled the resolutions of the Pennsylvania Legislature, but referred those of Tennes- see to the Committee on Federal Relations. February 20th. The resolutions of the Legislature of Michigan were returned without comment. 28th. Ex-President Tyler and James A. Seddon, Commissioners to the Peace Con- gress, presented their report, and denounced the recommendation of that body as a de- lusion and a sham, and as au insult and an oifense to the South. Proceedings of Virginia Convention. February 4th. Election of delegates to the Convention. 13th. Convention met. 14th. Credentials of John S. Preston, Commissioner from South Carolina, Fulton Anderson from Mississippi, and Henry L. Benning from Georgia, were received. 18th. Commissioners from Mississippi and Georgia heard ; both pictured the dan- ger of Virginia remaining with the North; neither contemplated such an event as re- union. 19th. The Commissioner from South Carolina was heard. He said his people believed the Union unnatural and mon- strous, and declared that there was nO human force — no sanctity of human touch, — ■that could re-unite the iieople of the North with the people of the South — ^that it could never be done unless the economy of God were changed. 92 AMERICAN POLITICS. 20tli. A committee reported that in all but sixteen counties, the majority for sub- mitting the action of the Convention to a vote of the jjeople was 52,857. Numerous resolutions on Federal Eelations intro- duced, generally expressing attachment to the Union, but denouncing coercion. 26th. Mr. Goggin of Bedford, in his speech, denied the right of secession, but admitted a revolutionary remedy for wrongs committed upon a State or section, and said wherever Virginia went he was with her. March 2d. Mr. Goode of Bedford offered a resolution that, as the powers delegated to the General Government by Virginia had been perverted to her injury, and as the Crittenden propositions as a basis of adjustment had been rejected by their Korthern confederates, therefore every consideration of duty, interest, honor and patriotism requires that Virginia should de- clare her connection with the Government to be dissolved. 5th. The thanks of the State were voted to Hon. John J. Crittenden, by yeas 107, nays 16, for his efforts to bring about an honorable adjustment of the national diffi- culties. Mr. Harvie of Amelia offered a resolution, requesting Legislature to make needful appropriations to resist any attempt of the Federal authorities to hold, occupy or possess the property and places claimed by the United States in any of the seceded States, or those that may withdraw or col- lect duties or imposts in the same. 9th. Three reports were made from the Committee on Federal Relations. The majority proposed to submit to the other States certain amendments to the Constitu- tion, awaiting the response of non-slave- holding States before determining whether " she will resume the powers granted by her under the Constitution of the United States, and throw herself upon her reserved rights ; meanwhile insisting that no coer- cion be attempted, the Federal forts in se- ceded States be not reinforced, duties be not collected, etc.," and proposing a Con- vention at Frankfort, Kentucky, the last IMonday in May, of the States of Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Arkansas. Henry A. Wise differed in details, and went fur- ther in the same direction. Messrs. Lewis E. Harvie, Robert L. Montague and Sam- uel C. Williams recommended the immedi- ate passage of an Ordinance of Secession. Mr. Barbour of Culpeper insisted upon the immediate adoption by the non-slavehold- ing States of needed guarantees of safety, and provided for the appointment of three Commissioners to confer with the Confed- erate authorities at Montgomery. 19th. Committee on Federal Relations reported proposed amendments to the Constitution, which were the substitute of Mr. Franklin of Pa., in "Peace Confer- ence," changed by using the expression " involuntary servitude " in place of " per- sons held to service." The right of owners of slaves is not to be impaired by congres- sional or territorial law, or any pre-exist- ing law in territory hereafter acquired. Involuntary servitude, except for crime, to be prohibited north of 36^30^ but shall not be prohibited by Congress or any Ter- ritorial legislature south of that line. The third section has some verbal alterations, providing somewhat better security for property in transit. The fifth section pro- hibits tiie importation of slaves from places beyond the limits of the United States. The sixth makes some verbal changes in relation to remuneration for fugitives by Congress, and erases the clause relative to the securing of privileges and immunities. The seventh forbids the granting of the elective franchise and right to hold office to persons of the African race. The eighth provides that none of these amendments, nor the third paragraph of the second sec- tion of the first article of the Constitution, nor the third paragraph of the second sec- tion of the fourth article thereof, shall be amended or abolished without the consent of all the States. 25th. The Committee of the Whole re- fused (yeas 4, nays 116) to strike out the majority report and insert Mr. Carlile's " Peace Conference " substitute. 26th. The Constitution of the " Confede- rate" States, proposed by Mr. Hall as a sub- stitute for the report of the committee, re- jected — yeas 9, nays 78. 28th. The first and second resolutions reported by the committee adopted. April 6th. The ninth resolution of the majority report came up. !Mr. Bouldin offered an amendment striking out the whole, and inserting a substitute declaring that the independence of the seceded States should be acknowledged without delay, which was lost — yeas 68, nays 71. 9th. Mr. Wise's substitute for the tenth resolution, to the effect that Virginia re- cognizes the independence of the seceding States was adopted — yeas 128, nays 20. April 17. Ordinance of Secession passed in secret session — yeas 88, nays 55, one excused, and eight not voting. Same day the Commissioners adopted and ratified the Constitution of the Provi- sional Government of the " Confederate" States of America, this ordinance to cease to have legal effect if the people of Vir- ginia voting upon the Ordinance of Seces- sion should reject it. 25th. A Convention was made between Commissioners of Virgijiia, chosen by the Convention, and A. H. Stephens, Commis- sioner for " Confederates," stipulating that Virginia until she became a member of the Confederacy should place her military PREPARING FOR SECESSION. 93 force under the direction of the President of the "Confederate" States; also turn over to " Confederate " States all her pub- lic propertv, naval stores, and munitions of war. Sign'ed by J. T^'ler, W. B. Preston, S. McD. Moore', James P. Ilolcombe, Jas. C. Bruce, Lewis E. Harvie — for Virginia ; and A. H. Stephens for " Confederate " States. June 25th. Secession vote announced as 128,884 for, and 32,134 against. July. The Convention passed an ordi- nance to the effect that any citizen of Vir- ginia holding office under the Government of the United States after the 31st of July, 18G1, should be forever banished from the State, and be declared an alien enemy. Also that any citizen of Virginia, hereafter undertaking to represent the State of Vir- ginia in the Congress of the United States, should, in addition to the above ijenalties, be considered guilty of treason, and his property be liable to confiscation. A pro- vision was inserted exempting from the penalties of the act all officers of theUnited States outside of the United States, or of the Confederate States, until after Julv 1st, 1862. KENTUCKY. December 12th, 1860. Indiana militia offer their services to quell servile insur- rection. Gov. Magoffin declines accepting them. January 17th, 1861. Legislature con- vened. 22d. The House by a vote of 87 to 6 re- solved to resist the invasion of the. South at all hazards. 27th. Legislature adopted the Virginia resolutions requiring the Federal Govern- ment to protect Slavery in the Territories and to guarantee the right of transit of slaves through the Free States. February 2d. The Senate passed by a vote of 25 to 11, resolutions appealing to the Southern States to stop the revolution, protesting against Federal coercion and providing that the Legislature reassemble on the 24th of April to hear the responses from sister States, also in favor of making an application to call a National Conven- tion for proposing amendments to the Con- stitution of the United States, also by a vote of 25 to 14 declared it inexpedient at this time to call a State Convention. 5th. The House by a vote of 54 to 40 passed the above resolutions. March 22d. State Rights Convention as- sembled. Adopted resolutions denouncing any attempt on the part of the Govern- ment to collect reven'ue as coercion ; and affirming that, in case of any such attempt, the border States should make common cause Avitli the Southern Confederacy. They also recommended a border State Convention. April 24th. Gov. MagofRn called an extra session of the Legislature. Afay 2()th. Gov. Magollin issued a neu- trality i)rorhunation. September 11th. The House of Repre- sentatives by a vote of 71 to 26, adopted a resolution directing the Governor to issue a proclamation ordering the Confederate troops to evacuate Kentucky soil. The Governor vetoed the resolution, which was afterwards passed over his veto, and accordingly he issued the required procla- mation. October 29th, Southern Conference met at Russellville. H. C. Burnett elected Chairman, R. McKee Secretary, T. S. Bryan Assistant Secretary. Remained in secret session two days and then adjourned sine die. A series of resolutions reported by G. W. Johnson were a(loi)ted. They recite the unconstitutional and oppressive acts of the Legislature, proclaim revolu- tion, provide for a Sovereignty Convention at Russellville, on the 18th of November, recommend the organization of county guards, to be placed in the service of and paid by the Confederate States Govern- ment ; pledge resistance to all Federal and State taxes, for the prosecution of the Avar on the part of the United States ; and ap- point Eobert McKee, John C. Breckin- ridge, Humphrey Marshall, Geo. W. Ew- ing, H. W. Bruce, Geo. B. Hodge, William Preston, Geo. W. Johnson, Blanton Dun- can, and P. B. Thompson to carry out the resolutions. November 18th. Convention met and remained in session three days. 20th. It passed a Declaration of Inde- pendence and an Ordinance of Secession. A Provisional Government consisting of a Governor, Legislative Council of ten, a Treasurer, and an Auditor were agreed upon. Geo. W. Johnson was chosen Gov- ernor. Legislative Council were : Willis B. Machen, John W. Crockett, James P. Bates, Jas. S. Chrisman, Phil. B. Thomp- son, J. P. Burnside, H. W. Bruce, J. W. Moore, E. M. Bruce, Geo. B. Hodge. MARYLAND, Nov. 27th, 1860. Gov. Hicks declined to call a special session of the Legislature, in response to a request for such convening from Thomas G. Pratt, Sprigg Harwood, J. S. Franklin, N. H. Green, Llewellyn Boyle, and J. Pinkney. December 19th. Gov. Hicks replied to A. H. Handy, Commissioner from INIissis- sippi, declining to accept the programme of Secession. 20th. Wm. H. Collins, E^q., of Balti- more, issued an address to the people, in favor of the Union, and in March a second address. 31st. The " Clipper " denied the exist- .ence of an organization in Maryland to 94 AMERICAN POLITICS. prevent the inauguration of President Lin- coln. A. H. Handy of Mississippi addressed citizens of Baltimore in favor of disunion. January 3d, 1861. Henry Winter Davis issued an address in favor of the Union. 3d. Numerous Union meetings in vari- ous part of the State. Gov. Hicks issued an address to the people against seces- sion. 11th. John C. Legrand in a letter to Hon. Eeverdy Johnson replied to the Union speech of the latter. 14th. James Carroll, former Democratic candidate for Governor, announced his de- sire to go with the seceding States. 16th. Wm. A. Spencer, in a letter to Walter S. Cox, Esq., declared against the right of Secession but for a Convention. 16. Marshal Kane, in a letter to Mayor Berrett, denied that any organization ex- ists to prevent the inauguration of Presi- dent Lincoln, and said that the President elect would need no armed escort in pass- ing tkrough or sojourning within the limits of Baltimore and Maryland. 24th. Coleman Yellott declared for a Convention. 30th. Messrs. John B. Brooke, President of the Senate, and E. G. Kilbourn, Speaker of the House of Delegates, asked the Gov- ernor to convene the Legislature in re- sponse to public meetings. Senator Ken- nedy published his opinion that Mary- land must go with Virginia. February 18th. State Conference Con- vention held, and insisted upon a meeting of the Legislature, At a meeting in How- ard Co., which Speaker E. G. Kilbouru addressed, a resolution was adopted that "immediate steps ought to be taken for the establishment of a Southern Confed- eracy, by consultation and co-ojjeration with such other Southern and Slave States as may be ready therefor." April 21st. Gov. Hicks wTote to Gen. Butler, advising that he do not land his troops at Annapolis. Butler replied that he intended to land there and march thence to Washington. Gov. Hicks pro- tested against this and also against his having taken forcible possession of the Annapolis and Elkridge railroad. 24th. A special election of ten delegates to the Legislature took place at Baltimore. The total vote cast in all the wards was 9,249. The total vote cast at the Presi- dential election in November, 18G0, was 30,148. 26th. Legislature reassembled at Fred- erick, Annapolis being occupied by Union troops. 29th. Gov. Hicks sent a message to the Legislature communicating to them the correspondence between himself and Gen. Butler and the Secretary of War relative to the landing of troops at Annapolis. The House of Delegates voted against Secession, 53 to 13. Senate unanimously. May 2d. The Committee on Federal Re- lations, " in view of the seizure of the railroads by the General Government and the erection of fortifications," presented resolutions appointing Commissioners to the President to ascertain whether any be- coming arrangements with the General Government are practicable, for the main- tenance of the peace and honor of the State and the security of its inhabitants. The report was adopted, and Otho Scott, Robt. M. McLane, and Wm. J. Ross were appointed such Commissioners. Mr. Yellott in the Senate introduced a bill to appoint a Board of Public Safety. The powers given to the Board included the expenditure of the two millions of dol- lars proposed by Mr. J^nine for the defence of the State, and the entire control of the military, including the removal and ap- pointment of commissioned ofiicers. It was ordered to a second reading by a vote of 14 to 8. The Board was to consist of Ezekiel F. Chambers, Enoch Louis Lowe, John V. L. MacMahon, Thomas G. Pratt, Walter Mitchell, and Thomas Winans. Gov. Hicks was made ex-offido a member of the Board. This measure was strongly pressed by the Disunionists for a long time, but they were finally compelled to give way, and the bill never passed. 6th. The Commissioners reported the result of their interview with the Presi- dent, and expressed the opinion that some modification of the course of the General Government towards Maryland ought to be expected. 10th. The House of Delegates passed a series of resolutions reported by the Com- mittee on Federal Relations by a vote of 43 to 12. The resolutions declare that Maryland protests against the war, and does earnestly beseech and implore the President of the United States to make peace with the " Confederate " States ; also, that " the State of Maryland desires the peaceful and immediate recogition of the independence of the Confederate States." Those who voted in the negative are Messrs. Medders, Lawson, Keene, Routzahn, Naill, Wilson of Harford, Bay- less, McCoy, Fiery, Stake, McCleary, and Gorsuch. 13th. Both Houses adopted a resolution providing for a committee of eight mem- bers, (four from each House) to visit the President of the United States and the President of the Southern Confederacy. The committee to visit President Davis were instructed to convey the assurance that Maryland sympathizes with the Con- federate States, and that the people of Maryland are enlisted with their whole hearts on the side of reconciliation and [ peace. PREPARING FOR SECESSION. 95 June lltli. Messrs. Mclvaig, Yell ott and Harding, Commissioners to visit President Davis, presented their report ; accompany- ing which is a letter from Jefferson Davis, expressing his gratification to hear that the State of Maryland was in sympathy with themselves, was enlisted on the sule of peace and reconciliation, and avowing his perfect willingness for a cessation of hostilities, and a readiness to receive any proposition for peace from the United States Government. 20th. The House of Delegates, and June 22d, the Senate adopted resolutions un- qualifiedly protesting against the arrest of Ross Winails and sundry other citizens of Maryland, as an "oppressive and tyran- nical assertion and exercise of military jurisdiction within the limits of Maryland, over the persons and property of her citi- zens, by the Government of the. United States." MISSOURI. January 15th, 1861. Senate passed Con- vention "Bill— yeas 31, nays 2. Passed House also. February 28th. Convention met; motion to go into secret session, defeated. A reso- lution requiring members to take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the State of Missouri, was lost —65 against 30. March 4. Resolution passed, 64 yeas, 35 n-ays, appointing committee to notify Mr. Glenn, Commissioner of Georgia, that the Convention was ready to hear any com- munication from his State. Mr.Glenn was introduced, read Georgia's articles of se- cession, and made a speech urging Mis- souri to join her. 5th. Resolutions were read, ordering that the protest of St. Louis against co- ercion be reduced to writing, and a copy sent to the President of the United States ; also, resolutions were adoptedinforming the Commissioner from Georgia that Missouri dissented from the position taken by that State, and refused to share the honors of secession with her. 6tli. Resolutions were offered by several members and referred, calling a Conven- tion of the Southern States which have not seceded, to meet at Nashville, April 15th, providing for such amendments to the Constitution of the United States as shall secure to all the States equal rights in the Union, and declaring strongly against seces/iion. 9th. The Committee on Federal Rela- tions reported a series of resolutions, set- ting forth that at present there is no ade- quate cause to impel Missouri to leave the Union, but that on the contrary she Avill labor for such an adjustment of existing troubles as will secure peace and the rights and equality of all the States ; that the people of Missouri regard the amendments to the Constitution proposed by Mr. Crit- tenden, with their extension to territory hereafter to be required, a basis of adjust- ment which would forever remove all diffi- culties ; and that it is expedient for the Legislature to call a Convention for pro- posing uiuciKliiuMits to the Cdiistitution. The Semite pus-^ed n-.lMtioiis that their Senators lie instructed, and tlicir Repre- sentatives requested, to ojjposc the pas- sage of all acts granting su[)plies of men and money to coerce the seceding States into submission or subjugation ; and that, should such acts be passed by Congress, their Senators be instructed, and their Re- presentatives requested, to retire from the halls of Congress. 16th. An amendment of the fifth resolu- tion of the majority report of the Com- mittee on Federal Relations, asserting that Missouri would never countenance nor aid a seceding State in making war upon the General Government, nor provide men and money for the purpose of aiding the General Government to coerce a seceding State, was voted down. 27th. The following resolution was passed by a vote in the House of 62 against 42:— Resolved, That it is inexpedient for the General Assembly to take any steps for calling a National Convention to propose amendments to the Constitution, as recom- mended by the State Convention. July 22d. The Convention reassembled. 23d. Resolution passed, by a vote of 65 to 21, declaring the office of President, held by General Sterling Price at the last session of the Convention, vacant. A committee of seven were appointed to re- port what action they deem it advisable to take in the dislocated condition of the State. 25th. The committee presented their re- port. It alludes at length to the present unparalleled condition of things, the reck- less course of the recent Government,^ and flight of the Governor and other State officers from the capitol. It declares the offices of Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Secretary of State vacant, and pro- vides that their vacancies shall be filled by the Convention, the officers so appointed to hold their positions till August, 1862, at which time it provides for a special elec- tion by the people. It repeals the ninth section of the sixth article of the Consti- tution, and provides that the Supreme Court of the State shall consist of seven members ; and that four members, in ad- dition to the three now comprising the Court, shall be appointed by the Governor chosen by this Convention to hold office till 1862, when the people shall decide whether the change shall be permanent. It abolishes the State Legislature, and or- 96 AMERICAN POLITICS. dains that in case, before the 1st of August, 1862, the Governor chosen by this Con- vention shall consider the public exigen- cies demand, he shall order a special elec- tion for the members of the State Legisla- ture. It recommends the passage of an ordinance repealing the following bills, passed by the Legislature in secret session, in May last: The military fund bill, the bill to suspend the distribution of the school fund, and the bill for cultivating friendly relations with the Indian tribes. It repeals the bill authorizing the appoint- ment of one major-general of the Missouri militia, and revives the militia law of 1859. A resolution was passed that a commit- tee of seven be appointed by the President to prepare an address to the people of the State of Missouri. November 26th. Jefferson Davis trans- mitted to the " Confederate " Congress a message concerning the secession of Mis- souri. It was accompanied by a letter from Governor Jackson, and also by an act dissolving the union with the United States, and an act ratifying the Constitu- tion of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States; also, the Convention between the Commissioners of Missouri and the Commissioners of the Confederate States. Congress unanimously ratified the Convention entered into between the Hon. E. M. T. Hunter for the rebel Government and the Commissioners for Missouri. Inter-state Commissioners. The seceding States, as part of their plan of operation, appointed Commissioners to visit other slaveholding States. They were as follows, as announced in the news- papers : South Carolina. To Alabama, A. P. Calhoun. To Georgia, James L. Orr, Ex-M. C. To Florida, L. W. Spratt. To Mississippi, M. L. Bonham, Ex-M. C. To Louisiana, J. L. Manning. To Arkansas, A. C. Spain. To Texas, J. B. Kershaw. To Virginia, John S. Preston, Alabama. To North Carolina, Isham W. Garrett. To Mississippi, E. W. Pettus. To South Carolina, J. A. Elmore. To Maryland, A. F. Hopkins. To Virginia, Frank Gilmer. To Tennessee, L. Pope Walker. To Kentucky, Stephen F. Hale. To Arkansas, John Anthony Winston, Georgia. To Missouri, Luther J. Glenn. To Virginia, Henry L. Benning. Mississippi. To South Carolina, C. E. Hooker. To Alabama, Jos. W. Matthews, Ex-GoT. To Georgia, William L. Harris. To Louisiana, Wirt Adams. To Texas, H. H. Miller. To Arkansas, George R. Fall. To Florida, E. M. Yerger, To Tennessee, T. J. Wharton, Att'y-Gen. To Kentucky ,W. S. Featherstone, Ex-M. C. To North Carolina, Jacob Thompson, Ex- M. C. To Virginia, Fulton Anderson, To Maryland, A, H, Handy, Judge. To Delaware, Henry Dickinson. To Missouri, Russell, Southern Congress. This body, composed of Deputies elected by the Conventions of the Seceding States, met at IMontgomery, Alabama, February 4th, 1861, to organize a Southern Confed- eracy. Each State had a representation equal to the number of members of the Thirty-sixth Congress. The members were : South Carolina. Robert W. Barnwell, Ex-U, S. Senator. R. Barnwell Rhett, " " James Chestnut, jr., " " " Lawrence M. Keitt, Ex-M. C. William W. Bovce, " " Wn. Porcher Miles, " " C. G. Memminger. Thomas J Withers. Alabama% W. P. Chilton. i Stephen F. Hale. David P. Lewis. Thomas Fearn, Richard W. Walker. Robert H. Smith. Colin J. McRae. John Gill Shorter. J. L. M. Curry, Ex-M. C. Florida. J. Patten Anderson, Ex-Delegate from Washington Territory. Jackson Morton, Ex-U. S. Senator. James Powers, Mississippi. W. S. Wilson. Wiley P. Harris, Ex-M. C. James T. Harrison, Walter Brooke, Ex-U. S. Senator. William S. Barry, Ex-M. C, A. M. Clayton. Georrjia. Robert Toombs, Ex-U. S. Senator. Howell Cobb, Ex-M. C. Martin J. Crawford, " " Augustus R Wright, " " PREPARING FOR SECESSION. 97 Augustus H. Keenan. Benjamin H. Hill. Francis S. Bartow. E. A. Nisbet. Thomas R. R. Cobb. Alexander H. Stephens, Ex-M. C. Louisiana. Duncan F. Kenner. Charles M. Conrad, Ex-U. S. Senator. Henry Marshall. John "Perkins, jr. G. E. Sparrow. E. De Clouet. Texas. (Admitted March 2d, 1861.) Louis T. Wigfall, Ex-U. S. Senator. John Hemphill, " " John H. Reagan, Ex-M. C. T. N. Waul. John Grceg. W. S. Oldham. W. B. Ochiltree. Proceedings of the Southern Congress. February 4th, 1831. Howell Cobb of Georgia elected President, Johnson J. Hooper of Alabama, Secretary. Mr. Cobb announced that secession " is now a fixed and irrevocable fact, and the separation is perfect, complete and perpetual." 6th. David L. Swain, M. W. Ransom, and John L. Bridgers, were admitted as Commissioners from North Carolina, un- der resolutions of the General Assembly of that State, passed January 29th, 1861," to effect an honorable and amicable adjust- ment of all the difficulties that disturb the country, upon the basis of the Critten- den resolutions, as modified by the Legis- lature of Virginia," and to consult with the delegates to the Southern Congress for their " common peace, honor and safety." 7th. Congress notified that the State of Alabama had placed $500,000 at its dispo- sal, as a loan to the provisional government of the Confederacy of Seceding States. 8th. The Constitution of the Provisional Government adopted. * *The Provisional Constitution adopted by the Secedod States differs from the Constitutiou of the United Statts in several important particulars. The alterations and additions are as follows : ALTERATIONS. 1st. The Provisional Constitution differs from the o'her in this : That the legislative powers of the Provisional Government are vested in the Congress now assembl'^d. and this body exercises all the functions that are exer- cised by either or both branches of the United States Government. 2d. The Provisional President holds hie office for one year, unless sooner superseded by the establishment of a permanent Government. 3d. Each State is erected into a distinct judicial dis- trict, the judge having all the powers heretofore vested in the district and circuit courts ; and the several district judges together compose the supreme bench— a majority of them coustitutiag a quorum. 7 9th. Jefferson Davi.s, of Mississippi, elected Provisional President of the ("on- federate States of America, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-1'rcsident. The question of attacking Fort Sumter luia been referred to the Congress. 11th. Mr. Stephens announced his ac- ceptance. Committee appointed to prepare a permanent Constitution. 12th. The Congress assumed "charge of all questions and difficulties now exist- ing between the sovereign States of this Confederacy and the Government of the United States, relating to the occupation of forts, arsenals, navy yards, custom-houses, and all other public establishments."* The resolution was directed to be communicated to the Governors of the respective States of the Confederacy. 15th. Official copy of the Texas Ordi- nance of Secession presented. 16th. President Davis arrived and re- ceived with salute, etc. 18th. President Davis inaugurated. 19th. Tariff law passed. 21st. Robert Toombs appointed Secre- tary of the State ; C. G. Memminger, Secre- tary of the Treasury ; L. Pope Walker, of 4th. Whenever the word " Union " occurs in the United States Conntitution the word '■ Confederacy " ii substituted. THE FOLLOWING ABE THE ADDITIONS. 1st. The President may veto any separate appropriation without vetoing the whole bill in which it is con- tained. 2(1. The African slave-trade is prohibited. 3(1 Congress is empowered to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of this Coufed- eracv. 4tii. K\\ appropriations must be upon the demand of the President or heads of departments. OMISSIONS. 1st, There is no prohibition on members of Congress holding other offices of honor and emolument under the Provisional Government. 2d. There is no provision for a neutral spot for the location of a scat of government, or for sites for forts, ar- senals, and dock-yards ; consequently there is no reference made to the territorial powers of the Provisional Govein- nient. ?A The section in the old Constitution in reference to capitation and other direct tax is omitted ; also, the sec- tion providing that no ta.x or duty shall bo laid on any exp'>rts. 4th. The prohibition on .St.ites keeping troops or ships of war in time of peace is omitted uth. The Constitution being provisional merely, no provision is made for its ratification. AMENDMENTS. 1st. The fugitive slave clause of the old Constitution \i so amended as to contain the word "slave," and to pro- vide for full compensatit>n in c;ises of abduction of forci- ble rescue on the part of the Statu in which such abduc- tion or re-icue mav take place. 2d. Congress, by a vote of two-thirds, may at any time alter or amend the Constitution. TEMPOR.^RT PROVISIONS. 1st. The Provisional Government is required to take immediate steps for the settlement of all matters brtwe-i louse grounds in Boston in 18591, described the orator at the delivery of this great speech. The evening before he seemed to be so careless that Mr. Ever- ett feared that he might not be fully aware of the gravity of the occasion. But when the hour came, the man was there. ' As I saw him in the evening, if I may borrow an illustration from his favorite amuse- ment,' said Mr. Everett, * he was as un- concerned and as free of spirit as some here have often seen him while floating in his fishing-boat along a hazy shore, gently rocking on the 'tranquil tide, dropping his line here and there with the varying for- tune of the sport. The next morning he was like some mighty admiral, dark and terrible, casting the long shadow of his frowning tiers far over the sea, that seemed to sink beneath him; his broad pennant streaming at the main, the Stars and Stripes at the fore, the mizzen, and the peak, and bearing down like a tempest upon his an- tagonist, with all his canvas strained to the wind, and all his thunders roaring from his broadsides.' This passage well sug- gests that indescribable impres;--ion of great oratory Avhich Rufus Choate, in his eulogy of Webster at Dartmouth College, conveys by a felicitous citation of what Quintilian says of Hortensius, that there was some spell in the spoken word which the reader misses." As we have remarked, the Republicans were awaiting the coming of a near and greater power to themselves, and at the same time jealously watching the move- ments of the friends of the South in Con- gress and in the President's Cabinet. It needed all their watchfulness to ])revent advantages which the secessionists thought they had a right to take. Thus Jefferson Davis, on January 9th, 18G0,_ introduced to the senate a bill " to authorize the sale of public arms to the several States and Territories," ancj as secession became more probable he sought to press its passage, but failed. Floyd, the Secretarj' of War, Avas far more successful, and his conduct was made the subject of the following historic and most remarkable report : — Transfer of U. S. Arms South In 1859-60. Report (Abstract of) made by Mr. B. Stanton, from the Committee on Military 110 AMERICAN POLITICS. Affairs, in House of Eepresentatives, Feb. 18th, 1861. The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the resolution of the House of Eepresentatives of 31st of De- cember last, instructing said committee to inquire and report to the House, how, to whom, and at what price, the public arms distributed since the first day of January, A. D. 1860, have been disposed of; and also into the condition of the forts, arsenals, dock-yards, etc., etc., submit the following report : That it appears from the papers herewith submitted, that Mr. Floyd, the late Secre- tary of War, by the authority or under color of the law o'f March 3d, 1825, author- izing the Secretary of War to sell any arms, ammunition, or other military stores which should be found unsuitable for the public service, sold to sundry persons and States 31,610 flint-lock muskets, altered to per- cussion, at $2.50 each, between the 1st day of January, A. D. 1860, and the 1st day of "January, a.d., 1861. It will be seen from the testimony of Colonel Craig and Captain Maynadier, that they differ as to whether the arms so sold had been found, "upon proper iiispcction, to be unsuitable for the public service." Whilst the Committtee do not deem it important to decide this question, they say, that in their judgment it would require a very liberal construction of the law to bring these sales within its provisions. It also appears that on the 21st day of November last, Mr. Belknap made applica- tion to the Secretary of War for the pur- chase of from one to two hundred and fifty thousand United States muskets, flint-locks and altered to percussion, at $2.15 each; but the Secretary alleges that the acceptance was made under a misapprehension of the price bid, he supposing it was $2.50 each, instead of $2.15. Mr. Belknap denies all knowledge of any mistake or misapprehension, and insists upon the performance of his contract. The present Secretary refuses to recog- nize the contract, and ' the muskets have not been delivered to Mr. Belknap. Mr. Belknap testifies that the muskets were intended for the Sardinian govern- ment. It will appear by the papers herewith submitted, that on the 29th of December, 1859, the Secretary of War ordered the transfer of 65,000 percussion muskets, 40- 000 muskets altered to percussion, and 10- 000 percussion rifles, from the Springfield Armory and the Watertown and Wat^er- vliet Arsenals, to the Arsenals at Fayette- ville, N. C, Charleston, S. C, Augusta, Ga., Mount Vernon, Ala., and Baton Rouge, La., and that these arms were distributed during the spring of 1860 as follows : To niarleston .\rsenal, Tu Nonh Carolina Arsenal, To Augusta Arsenal, To Mount Vernon Arsi^nal, To Baton Kouge Arsenal, Percussion Altered musketa. 6,720 9,o20 7,r20 6,7-'0 11,420 muskt'ts. 9,280 15480 12,380 9,280 18,580 Kifles. 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,(J00 05,000 40,000 10,000 All of these arms, except those sent to the North Carolina Arsenal,* have been seized by the authorities of the several States of South Carolina, Alabama, Loui- siana and Georgia, and are no longer in possession of the United States. It will appear by the testimony herewith presented, that on the 20th of October last the Secretary of War ordered forty colum- biads and four thirty-two pounders to be sent from the Arsenal at Pittsburg to the fort on Ship Island, on the coast of Missis- sippi, then in an unfinished condition ,> and seventy columbiads and seven thirty-two pounders to be sent from the same Arsenal to the fort at Galveston, in Texas, the building of which had scarcely been com- menced. This order was given to the Secretary of War, without any report from the Engineer department showing that said works were ready for their armament, or that the guns were needed at either of said points. It will be seen by the testimony of Cap- tain Wright, of the Engineer department, that the fort at Galveston cannot be ready for its entire armament in less than about five years, nor for any part of it in less than two ; and that the fort at Ship Island will require an appropriation of $85,000 and one year's time before it can be ready for any part of its armament. This last named fort has been taken possession of by the State authorities of Mississippi. The order of the late Secretary of War (Floyd) was countermanded by the present Secretary (Holt) before it had been fully executed by the shipment of said guns from Pittsburg.f It will be seen by a communication from the Ordnance ofiice of the 21st of January last, that by the last returns there were re- maining in the United States arsenals and armories the following small arms, viz : Percussion muskets and muskets altered to percussion of calibre 69 499,554 Percussion rifles, calibre 54 42,011 Total., 541,565 * These were afterwards seized. fThe attempted removal of tliese heavy g:uns from Al- legheny Arsenal, late in December, 18G0, created intense excitement. A monster mass meetinfc assembled at the cajl of the Mayor of the city, and citizens of all jjarties aided in the effort to prevent the shipment. Tluough the interposition of Hon. J. K. Moorhead, Hon. R. Mc- Kiiiglit, Judge Shaler. Judge Wilkins, Judge Shannon, and others inquiry was instituted, and a revocation of the order obtained." The Secessionists in Congress bitterly complained of the " mob law " which thus interfered with the routine of governraenUl affairs.-McPherson's History. SECESSION. Ill Of these 60,878 were deposited in the arsenals of South Carolina, Alabama, and Louisiana, and are in the possession of the authorities of those States, reducing the number in possession of the United States to 480,G87. Since the date of said communication, the foil )win^jj additional forts and military posts have been taken possession of by parties acting under the authority of the States in which they are respectively situ- ated, viz : Fort Tiloultrle, South Carolina. Fort M'lr^an, Alabama. Baton Rouge Barracks, Louisiana. Fort Jackson, Louisiana. Fort St. Philip, " Fort Pike, Louisiana. Oglethorpe Barracks, Georgia. And the department has been unofficially advised that the arsenal at Chattahoochee, Forts ]McRea and Barrancas, and Barracks, hive been seized by the authorities of Florida. To what further extent the small arms in possession of the United States may have been reduced by these figures, your committee have not been advised. The whole number of the sea-board forts in the United States is fifty-seven; their appropriate garrison in war would require 26,420 men ; their actual garrison at this time is 1,834 men, 1.308 of whom are in the forts at Governor's Island, New York ; Fort McHenry, Maryland ; Fort Monroe, Virginia, and at Alcatraz Island, California, in the harbor of San Francisco. From the facts elicited, it is certain that the regular military force of the United States, is wholly inadequate to the pro- tection of the forts, arsenals, dockyards, and other property of the United States in the present disturbed condition of the country- The regular army numbers only 18,000 men when recruited to its maximum strength, and the whole of this force is required for the protection of the border settlements against Indian depreda- tions. Unless it is the intention of Con- gress that the forts, arsenals, dock-yards and other public propertv, shall be exposed to capture and spoliation, the President must be armed with additional force for their protection. In the opinion of the Committee the law of February 28th, 1795, confers upon the President ample power to call out the mili- tia, to execute the laws and protect the public property. But as the late Attorney-General has given a diflferent opinion, the Commit- tee to remove all doubt upon the subject, report the accompanying bill, etc. OTHER ITEMS. bj/ Sale Kince the firnt of and the place whence sold. 1860. Arsenals. Date of Sale. Where nold. Feb 3 St. Louis. Mar 14 New York. June 11 St. Louis. Aug 31 SpriiiKfield. Nov. 13 Uo. Sep. 27 Baton Kouge. Nov 14 do. Nov. 6 Wasbinston. Nov. 16 St. Louis. Nov. 24 Watervliet. Statenmnt of Arms distributed jMiuary, IStiU, to wlioni suUl To whom sold. No. J. W. Zachario & Co 4,000 .Limes T. Ames 1,000 Captain G. Barry 80 W. C. N. Swift 400 do 80 State of Alabama 1 000 do 2,500 State of Virginia r),00il Phillips county, .\rk. 50 G. B. Lamar 10,000 The arms were all flint-lock muskets altered to percussion, and were all sold at $2.50 each, except those purchased by Cap- tain G. Barry and by the Phillips county volunteers, for which $2 each were paid. The Mobile Advertiser says : " During the past year 135,430 muskets have been quietly transferred from the Northern Ar- senal at Springfield alone, to those in the Southern States. We are much obliged to Secretary Floyd for the foresight he has thus displayed in disarming the North and equipping the South for this emergency. There is no telling the quantity of arms and munitions which were sent South from other Northern arsenals. There is no doubt but that every man in the South who can carry a gun can now be supplied from pri- vate or public sources. The Springfield contribution alone would arm all the mili- tiamen of Alabama and Mississippi." General Scott, in his letter of December 2d, 1862, on the early history of the Rebel- lion, states that '' Rhode Island, Delaware and Texas had not drawn, at the end of 1860, their annual quotas of arms for that year, and Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Kentucky only in part; Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Kansas were, by order of the Secretary of War, supplied with their quotas for 1861 in advance, and Pennsylvania and Maryland in part." This advance of arms to eight Southern States is in addition to the transfer, about the same time, of 115,000 muskets to South- ern arsenals, as per Mr. Stanton's report. Governor Letcher of A''irginia, in his Message of December, 1861, says, that for some time prior to secession, he had been engaged in purchasing arms, ammunition, etc. ; among which were 13 Parrott rifled cannon, and 5,000 muskets. He desired to buy from the United States Government 10,000 more, when buying the 5,000, but he says " the authorities declined to sell them to us, although five times the number were then in the arsenal at Washington. " Had Jefferson Davis' bill relative to the purchase of arms become a law, the result might have been different. This and similar action on the part of the South, especially the attempted seizure and occupation of forts, convinced many 112 AMERICAN POLITICS. of the Republicans that no compromise could endure, however earnest its advo- cates from the Border States, and this earnestness was unquestioned. Besides their attachment to the Union, they knew that in the threatened war they would be the greatest sufferers, with their people di- vided neighbor against neighbor, their lands laid waste, and their houses destroy- ed. They had every motive for earnest- ness in the effort to conciliate the disagree- ing sections. The oddest partisan feature in the en- tire preliminary and political struggle was the attempt, in the parlance of the day, of " New York to secede from New York" — an oddity verified by Mayor Wood's recom- mendation in favor of the secession of New York city, made January 6th, 1861. The document deserves a place in this history, as it shows the views of a portion of the citizens then, and an exposition of their interests as presented by a citizen before and since named by repeated elections to Congress. Mayor 'Wood's Secession Message. To the Honorable the Common Council : Gentlemejt: — We are entering upon the public duties of the year under circum- stances as unprecedented as they are gloomy and painful to contemplate. The great trading and producing interests of not only the city of New York, but of the entire country, are ]jrostrated by a mone- tary crisis ; and although similar calami- ties have before befallen us, it is the first time that they have emanated from causes having no other origin than that which may be traced to political disturbances. Truly, may it now be said, " We are in the midst of a revolution bloodless as yet." Whether the dreadful alternative implied as probable in the conclusion of this pro- phetic quotation may be averted, " no hu- man ken can divine." It is quite certain that the severity of the storm is unexam- pled in our history, and if the disintegra- tion of the Federal Government, with the consequent destruction of all the material interests of the people shall not follow, it will be owing more to the interposition of Divine Providence, than to the inherent preventive power of our institutions, or the intervention of any other human agency. It would seem that a dissolution of the Federal Union is inevitable. Having been formed originally on a basis of general and mutual protection, but separate local inde- pendence — each State reserving the entire and absolute control of its own domestic affairs, it is evidently impossible to keep them together longer than they deem themselves fairly treated by eacL oth£r, or longer than the interests, honor and fra- ternity of the people of the several States are satisfied. Being a Government created by opinion, its continuance is dependent upon the continuance of the sentiment which foi'med it. It cannot be preserved by coercion or held together by force. A resort to this last dreadful alternative would of itself destroy not only the Gov- ernment, but the lives and property of the people. If these forebodings shall be realized, and a separation of the States shall occur, momentous considerations will be pre- sented to the corporate authorities of this city. We must provide for the new re- lations which will necessarily grow out of the new condition of public affairs. It will not only be necessary for us to settle the relations which we shall hold to other cities and States, but to establish, if we can, new ones with a portion of our own State. Being the child of the Union, having drawn our sustenance from its bosom, and arisen to our present power and strength through the vigor of our mother — when deprived of her maternal advantages, we must rely upon our own resources and assumea position predicated upon the new phase which public affairs will present, and upon the inherent strength which our geographical, commer- cial, political, and financial pre-eminence imparts to us. With our aggrieved brethren of the Slave States, we have friendly relations and a common sympathy. We have not participated in the warfare upon their con- stitutional rights or their domestic insti- tutions. While other portions of our State have unfortunately been imbued Avith the fanatical spirit which actuates a portion of the people of New England, the city of New York has unfalteringly preserved the integrity of its principles in adherence to the compromises of the Constitution and the equal rights of the people of all the States. We have respected the local in- terests of every section, at no time oppress- ing, but all the while aiding in the devel- opment of the resources of the whole country. Our ships have penetrated to every clime, and so have New York capi- tal, energy and enterprise found their way to every State, and, indeed, to almost every county and town of the American Union. If we have derived sustenance from the Union, so have we in return disseminated blessings for the common benefit of all. Therefore, New York has a right to ex- pect, and should endeavor to preserve a continuance of uninterrupted intercourse with every section. It is, however, folly to disguise the fact that, judging from the past, New York may have more cause of apprehension from the aggressive legislation of our own State CONGRESS ON THE EVE OP THE REBELLION. 113 than from external dangers. We have already largely suffered from this cause. For the past five years, our interests and corporate rights have been repeatedly trampled upon. Being an integral portion of the State, it has been assumed, and in effect tacitly admitted on our part by non- resistance, that all political and govern- mental power over us rested in the State Legislature. Even the common right of taxing ourselves for our own government, has been yielded, and we are not permit- ted to do so without this authority. * * * Thus it will be seen that the political connection between the people of the city and the State has been used by the latteV to our injury. The Legislature, in which the present partizan majority has the power, has become the instrument by which we are plundered to enrich their speculators, lobby agents, and Abolition politicians. Laws are passed through their malign influence by which, under forms of legal enactment, our burdens have been increased, our substance eaten out, and our municipal liberties destroyed. Self- government, though guaranteed by the State Constitution, and left to every other county and city, has been taken from us by this foreign power, whose dependents have been sent among us to destroy our liberties by subverting our political sys- tem. How we shall rid ourselves of this odi- ous and oppressive connection, it is not for me to determine. It is certain that a dissolution cannot be peacefully accom- plished, except by the consent of the Legislature itself. Whether this can be obtained or not, is, in my judgment, doubt- ful. Deriving so much advantage from its power over the city, it is not probable that a partizan majority will consent to a separation — and the resort to force by vio- lence and revolution must not be thought of for an instant. We have been distin- guished as an orderly and law-abiding people. Let us do nothing to forfeit this character, or to add to tlie present dis- tracted condition of public affliirs. Much, no doubt, can be said in favor of the justice and policy of a separation. It may be said that secession or revolution in any of the United States would be subver- sive of all Federal authoritv, and, so far as the Central Government is concerned, the resolving of the community into its original elements — that, if part of the States form new combinations and Gov- ernments, other States may do the same. California and her sisters of the Pacific will no doubt set up an independent Re- public and husband their own rich min- city, instead of supporting by her contri- butions in revenue two-thirds of the ex- penses of the United States, become also equally independent? As a free city, with but nominal duty on imports, her local Government could be supported without taxation upon her people. Thus we could live free from taxes, and have; cheap goods nearly duty free. In this she would have the whole and united support of the Southern States, as well as all the other States to wJiose interests and rights under the Constitution she has always been true. _ It is well for individuals or communi- ties to look every danger square in the face, and to meet 'it calmly and bravely. As dreadful as the severing of the bonds that have hitherto united the States has been in contemplation, it is now appar- ently a stern and inevitable fact. We have now to meet it with all the conse- quences, whatever they may be. If the Confederacy is broken up the Government is dissolved, and it behooves every distinct community, as well as every individual, to take care of themselves. When Disunion has become a fixed and certain fact, why may not New York dis- rupt the bands which bind her to a venal and corrupt master — to a people and a party that have plundered her revenues, attempted to ruin her commerce, taken away the power of self-government, and destroyed the Confederacy of which she was the proud Empire City? Amid the gloom which the present and prospective condition of things must cast over the country. New York, as a Free City, may shed the only light and hope of a future reconstruction of our once blessed Con- federacy. But I am not prepared to recommend the violence implied in these views. In stating this argument in favor of freedom, " peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must," let me not be misunderstood. The redress can be found only in appeals to the mag- nanimity of the people of the whole State. The events of the past two months have no doubt effected a change in the popular sentiment of the State and National poli- tics. This change may bring us the de- sired relief, and we may be able to obtain a repeal of the law to which I have re- ferred, and a consequent restoration of our corporate rights. Fernando Wood, Mayor. January 6th, 1861. Congress on the Eve of the Rebellion. It should be borne in mind that all of the propositions, whether for compromise. era! resources. The Western States, equally j authority to suppress insurrection, or new rich in cereals and other agricultural pro- 1 laws to collect duties, had to be considered ducts, will probably do the same. Then I by the Second Session of the 36th Con- it may be said, why should not New York I gress, which was then, with the exception 114 AMERICAN POLITICS. of the Republicans, a few Americans, and the anti-Lecompton men, supporting the administration of Buchanan. No Congress ever had so many and such grave proposi- tions presented to it, and none ever showed more exciting political divisions. It was composed of the following persons, some of whom survive, and most of whom are historic characters : JoHi^ C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, Vice-President; Maine — H. Hamlin,* W. P. Fessenden. Keiv Hampshire — John P. Hale, Daniel Clark. Vermont — Solomon Foot, J. Collamer. Massachusetts— Henry Wilson, Charles Sumner. Bhode Island — James F. Simmons, H. B. Anthony. Connerticut — L. S. Foster, Jas. Dixon. New York — William H. Seward, Preston King. Neiv Jersey—J. C. Ten Eyck, J. E. Thom- son. Pennsjilvania — S. Cameron, Wm. Bigler. DrhiH-are—J. A. Bayard, W. Saulsbury. Man/hind — J. A. Pearce, A. Kennedy. Vir,}inia—R. M. T. Hunter, James M. Mason. South Carolina — Jas. Chesnut,t James H. Hammond.! North Carolina — Thomas Bragg, T. L. Clingman. ^/Vf/„„,,„_B. Fitzpatrick, C. C. Clay, Jr. 3Iississij)pi — A. Ct. Brown, Jeff. Davis. Louisiana — J. P. Benjamin, John Sli- dell. Tennessee — A. 0. P. Nicholson, A. John- son. Arl-ansas—B,. W. Johnson, W. K. Se- bastian. Kcntuchj—h. W. Powell, J. J. Critten- den. Jfis.soi/r/— Jas. S. Green, Trusten Polk. Ohio—B. F. Wade, Geo. E. Pugh. Indiana— 3. D. Bright, G. N. Fitch. Illinois—^. A. Douglas, L. Trumbull. Michi(/nn—Z. Chandler, K. S. Bingham. Florida— V*. L. Yulee, S. R. Mallory. Georgia — Alfred Iverson, Robt. Toombs. Texas— 3o\\n Hemphill, L. T. Wigfall. Wisconsin — Charles Durkee, J. R. Doo- little. Iowa — J. M. Grimes, Jas. Harlan. California — M. S. Latham. William M. Gwin. Minnesota— H. M. Rice, M. S. Wilkin- son.. Oregon — Joseph Lane, Edward D. Ba- ker. *Resignfd January 17Ui, 18G1, and succeeded by Hon. Lot M. Mdi-rill. •J- Did not attend. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. William Pennington, of New Jersey, Speaker. Maine — D. E. Somes, John J. Perry, E. B. French, F. H. Morse, Istael Washburn, Jr.,* S. C. Foster. Netv Hampishire — Gilman Marston, M. W. Tappan, T. M. Edwards. Vermont— E. P. Walton, J. S. Morrill, H. E. Royce. Massachusetts — Thomas D. Eliot, James BufSnton, Charles Francis Adams, Alexan- der H. Rice, Anson Burlingame, John B. Alley, Daniel W. Gooch, Charles R. Train, Eli Thayer, Charles Delano, Henry L. Dawes. Rhode Island — C. Robinson, W. D. Brayton. Connecticut — Dwight Loomis, John Woodruff, Alfred A. Burnham, Orris S. Ferry. Delaware — W. G. Whiteley. Neio York — Luther C. Carter, James Humphreys, Daniel E. Sickles, W. B. Ma- clay, Thomas J. Barr, John Cochrane, Gorge Briggs, Horace F. Clark, John B. Haskin, Chas. H. Van Wyck, William S. Kenyon, Charles L. Beale, Abm. B. Olin, John H. Reynolds, Jas. B. McKean, G. W. Palmer, ' Francis E. Spinner, Clark B. Cochrane, James H. Graham, Richard Franchot, Roscoe Conkling, R. H. Duell, M. Ludley Lee, Charles B. Hoard, Chas. B. Sedgwick, M. Butterfield, Emory B. Pottle, Alfred Wells, William Irvine, Al- fred Ely, Augustus Frank, Edwin R. Rey- nolds, Elbridge G. Spaulding Reuben E. Fenton. New Jersey — John T, Nixon, John L. N. Stratton, Garnett B. Adrain, Jetur R. Riggs, Wm. Pennington (Speaker). Pennsylvania — Thomas B. Florence, E. Joy Morris, John P. Verree, William Mill- ward, John Wood, John Hickman, Henry C. Longnecker, Jacob K. McKenty, Thad- deus Stevens, John W. Kellinger, James H. Campbell, George W. Scranton, Wil- liam H. Dimmick, Galusha A. Grow, James T. Hale, Benjamin F. Junkin, Edward McPherson, Samuel S. Blair, John Covode, William Montgomery, James K. Moorhead, Robert McKnight, William Stewart, Chapin Hall, Elijah Babbitt. Maryland — Jas. A. Stewart, J. M. Harris, H. W. Davis, J. M. Kunkel, G. W. Hughes. Virginia — John S. Millson, Muscoe R. H. Garnett, Daniel C. De Jarnette, Roger A. Pryor, Thomas S. Bocock, William Smith," Alex. R. Boteler, John T. Harris, Albert G. Jenkins, Shelton F. Leake, . Henry A. Edmundson, Elbert S. Martin, Sherrard Clemens. * Resigned and succeeded January 2d, ISCl, by Hon. Stephen Coburn. SECESSION. 115 Sduth Carolina — John McQueen, Win. Porcher Miles, Lawrence M. Keitt, Mill- eds^e L. Bonham, John D. i\.sliiiiore, Wni. W. Bovce. Xorih Carolina— W. N. H. Smith, Thos. Ruffia. W. Winslow, L. O'B. Branch, John A. Gihner, Jas. M. Leach, Burtjn Craige, Z. B. Vance. Georgia — Peter E. Love, M. J. Crawford, Thos. Hardeman, Jr., L. J. Gartrell, J. W. H. Underwood, James Jackson, Joshua Hill, John J. Jones. Alabama — Jas. L. Pugh, David Clopton, Svdenh. Moore, Geo. S. Houston, W. R. W. Cobb, J. A. Stallworth, J. L. M. Curry. Mis.iis,^}ppi — L. Q. C. Lamar, Reuben Davis, William Barksdale, O. R. Single- ton, John J. McRae. Louisiana — John E. Bouligny, Miles Tavlor, T.G.Davidson, John M. Landrum. b/iio—G. H. Pendleton, John A. Gur- ley, C. L. Vallandigham, William Allen, James M. Ashley, Wm. Howard, Thomas Corwin, Benj. Stanton, John Carey, C. A. Trimble, Chas. D. Martin, Saml. S. Cox, John Sherman, H. G. Blake, William Hel- mick, C. B. Tompkins, T. C. Theaker, S. Edgerton, Edward Wade, John Hutchins, John A. Bingham. Kcntuchj — Henry C. Burnett, Green Adams, S. O. Peyton, F. M. Bristow, W. C. Anderson, Robert Mallory, Wm. E. Slmms, L. T. Moore, John Y. Brown, J. W. Stevenson. Tennessee — T. A. R. Nelson, Horace Maynard, R. B. Brabson, William B. Stokes, Robert Hatton, James H. Thomas, John V. Wright, James M. Quarles, Em- erson Etheridge, Wm. T. Avery. Indiana~\Ym. E. Niblack, Wm. H. English, Wm. M'Kee Dunn, Wm. S. PIol- man, Davicl Kilgore, Albert G. Porter, John G. Davis, James Wilson, Schuvler Collax, Chas. Case, John U. Pettit. Illinois — E. B. Washburne, J. F. Farns- w^orth, Owen Lovejoy, Wm. Kellogg, I. X. Morris, John A. McClernand, James C. Robinson, P. B. Fouke, John A. Logan. Arkansas — Thomas C. Hindmau, Albert Rust, Missouri — J. R. Barrett, T. L. Anderson, John B. Clark, James Craig, L. H. Wood- son, .John S. Phelps, John W. Xoell. Michir/an — William A. Howard, Henry Waldroli, F. W. Kellogg, De W. C. Leach. Florida — George S. Hawkins. Texas — John H. Regan, A. J. Hamilton. loica — S. R. Curtis, Wm. Vandever. California — Charles L. Scott, John C. Burch. Wisconsin — John F. Porter, C. C. Wash- burne, C. H. Larrabee. Minnesota — Cyrus Aldrich, Wm. Win- dom. Oregon — Lansing Stout. /va«S(7.?— Martin F. Conway, (sworn Jan. 30th, 1S61). MR. Lincoln's views. While the various propositions above given were under consideration, Mr. Lin- coln was of course an interested observer from his home in Illinois, where he awaited the legal time for taking his scat as President. His views on the efforts at compromise were sought by the editor of the New York Ti-ibune, and expressed as follows : '' ' I will suffer death before I will con- sent or advise my friends to consent to any concession or compromise which looks like buying the privilege of taking posses- sion of the Government to which v/e have a constitutional right ; because, whatever I might think of the merits of the various propositions before Congress, I should re- gard anj^ concession in the face of menace as the destruction of the government it- self, and a consent on all hands that our system shall be brought down to a level with the existing disorganized state of af- fairs in Mexico. But this thing will here- after be, ais it is now, in the hands of the people; and i-f they desire to call a conven- tion to remove any grievances complained of, or to give new guarantees for the per- manence of vested rights, it is not mine to oppose.' " JUDGE black's VIEAVS. Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, was then Buchanan's Attorney General, and as his position has since been made the subject of lengthv controversy, it is pertinent to give the following copious ex- tract from his " Opinion upon the Powers of the President," in response to an official inquiry from the Executive :— The existing laws put and keep the Federal Government strictly on the defen- sive. You can use force only to repel an assault on the public property, and aid the courts in the performance of their duty. If the means given you to collect tlie revenue and execute the other laws be in- sufficient for that purpose. Congress may extend and make them more effectual to that end. If one of the States should declare her independence, your action cannot depend upon the rightfulness of the cause unon which such declaration is based. Whether the retirement of a State from the Union be the exercise of a right reserved in the Constitution or a revolutionary movement, it is certain that you have not in either case the authority to recognize her in- dependence or to absolve her from her Federal obligations. Congress or the other States in convention assembled must take such measures as may be necessary and proper. In such an event I see no course for you but to go straight onward in the path you have hitherto trodden, that is, execute the laws to the extent of 116 AMERICAN POLITICS. the defensive means placed in your hands, and act generally upon the assumption that the ])re,sent constitutional relations between the States and the Federal Gov- ernment continue to exist until a new order of things shall be established, either by law or force. Whether Congress has the constitutional right to make war against one or more States, and require the Executive of the Federal Government to carry it on by means of ibrce to be drawn from the other States, is a question for Congress itself to consider. It must be admitted that no such power is expressly given ; nor are there any words in the Constitution which imply it. Among the powers enumerated in article I. section 8, is that " to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and to make rules concerning captures on land and water.'' This certainly means nothing more than the power to commence, and carry on hostilities against the foreign enemies of the nation. Another clause in the same section gives Congress the power " to provide for calling forth .the militia," and to use them within the limits of the State. But this power is so restricted by the words which immediately follow, that it can be exercised only for one of the fol- lowing purposes : 1. To execute the laws of the Union; that is, to aid the Federal officers in the performance of their regular duties. 2. To suppress insurrections against the States ; but this is confined by article IV. section 4, to cases in which the State herself shall apply for assistance against her own people. 3. To repel the invasion of a State by enemies who come from abroad to assail her in her own territory. All these provisions are made to protect the States, not to authorize an attack by one part of the country upon another ; to preserve their peace, and not to plunge them into civil war. Our forefathers do not seem to have thought that war was calculated " to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tran- quillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." There was undoubtedly a strong and universal conviction among the men Avho framed and ratified the Constitu- tion, that military force would not only be useless, but pernicious as a means of hold- ing the States together. If it be true that war cannot be declared, nor a system of general hostilities carried on by the central government against a State, then it seems to follow that an attempt to do so would be ipso facto an ex- pulsion of such State from the Union. Being treated as an alien and an enemy, she would be compelled to act accordingly. And if Congress shall break up the present Union by unconstitutionally putting strife and enmity, and armed hostility, between different sections of the country, instead of the " domestic tranquillity " which the Constitution was meant to insure, will not all the States be absolved from their Federal obligations? Is any portion of the people bound to contribute their money or their blood to carry on a contest like that? The right of the General Government to preserve itself in its whole constitutional vigor by repelling a direct and positive aggression upon its property or its officers, cannot be denied. But this is a totally different thing from an offensive war to punish the jteople for the political mis- deeds of their State governments, or to prevent a threatened violation of the Con- stitution, or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of the United States is supreme. The States are colleagues of one another, and if some of them shall conquer the rest and hold them as sub- jugated provinces, it would totally destroy the whole theory upon which they are now connected. If this view of the subject be as correct as I think it is, then the Union must totally perish at the moment when Con- gress shall arm one part of the people against another for any purpose beyond that of merely protecting the General Government in the exercise of its proper constitutional functions. I am, very re- spectfully, yours, etc., J. S. Black. To the President of the United States. The above expressions from Lincoln and Black well state the position cf the Repub- lican and the administration Democrats on the eve of the rebellion, and they are given for that purpose. The views of the * original secessionists are given in South Carolina's declaration. Those of the con- servatives of the South who hesitated and leaned toward the Union, were best ex- pressed before the Convention of Georgia in the SPEECH OF ALEX. H. STEPHEKS. This step (of secession) once taken can never be recalled ; and all the baleful and withering consequences that must follow, will rest on the convention for all coming time. When we and our posterity shall see our lovely South desolated by the de- mon of war, irhich this act of yours will in- evitably invite and call forth ; when our green "fields of waving harvest shall be "trodden down by the murderous soldiery and fiery car of war sweeping over our land ; our temples of justice laid in ashes ; all the horrors and desolations of war upon us ; who but this Convention will be held re- sponsible for it ? and who but him who shall have given his vote for this unwise SECESSION. 117 and ill-timed measure, as I honestly think and believe, shall be held to strict account for thu suicidal act hy the present genera- tion^ and probably cursed and execrated by posterity for all coming time, for the wide and desolating ruin that will inevitably follow this act you now propose to perpe- trate? Pause, I entreat you, and consider for a moment what reasons you can give that will even satisfy yourselves in calmer moments — what reason you can give to your fellow sufferers in the calamity that it will bring upon us. What reasons can you give to the nations of the earth to Justify it ? They will be the calm and deliberate judges in the case; and what cause or one overt act can you name or point, on which forest the plea of justification? What right has the North assailed ? What inter- est of the South has been invaded ? What justice has been denied? and what claim founded in justice and right has been withheld? Can either of you to-day name one governmental act of wrong, deliber- ately and purposely done by the govern- ment of Washington, of which the South has a right to complain ? I challenge the answer. While on the other hand, let me show the facts (and believe me, gentlemen, I am not here the advocate of the North ; but I am here the friend, the firm friend, and lover of the South and her institutions, and for this reason I speak thus plainly and faithfully for yours, mine, and every other man's interest, the words of truth and soberness), of which I wish you to judge, and I will only state facts which are clear and undeniable, and which now stand as records authentic in the history of our country. When we of the South de- manded the slave-trade, or the importation of Africans for the cultivation of our lands, did they not yield the jright for twenty years ? When we asked a three-fifths rep- resentation in Congress for our slaves, was it not granted ? When we asked and de- manded the return of any fugitive from justice, or the recovery of those persons owing labor or allegiance, was it not incor- porated in the Constitution, and again rat- ified and strengthened by the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850? But do you reply that in many instances they have violated this compact, and have not been faithful to their engagements ? As individual and local communities, they may have done so ; but not by the sanction of Government ; for that has always been true to Southern interests. Again, gentlemen, look at another act : when we have asked that more territory should be added, that we might spread the institution of slavery, have they not yielded to our demands in giving us Louisiana, Florida and Texas, out of which four States have been carved, and ample territory for four more to be add- ed in due time, if you by this unwise and impolitic act do not destroy this hope, and perhaps, by it lose all, and have your last slave wrenched from you by stern military rule, as South America and Mexico were ; or by the vindictive decree of a universal emancipation, which may reasonably be ex- pected to follow 1 But, again, gentlemen, what have we to gain by this proposed change of our i ela- tion to the General Government? We have always had the control of it, and can yet, if we remain in it, and are as united as we have been. We have had a majority of the Presidents chosen from the South ; as well as the control and management of most of those chosen from the North. We have had sixty years of Southern Presi- dents to their twenty-four, thus controlling the Executive department. So of the Judges of the Supreme Court, we have had eighteen from the South, and but eleven from the North; although nearly four- fifths of the judicial business has arisen in the Free States, yet a majority of the Court has always been from the South. This we have required so as to guard against any interpretation of the Constitution unfa- vorable to us. In like manner we have been equally watchful to guard our inter- ests in the Legislative branch of Govern- ment. In choosing the presiding Presi- dents [pro tern.) of the Senate, we have had twenty-four to their eleven. Speakers of the House we have had twenty-three, and they twelve. While the majority of the Representatives, from their greater population, have always been from the North, yet we have so generally secured the Speaker, because he, to a great extent, shapes and controls the legislation of the country. Nor have we had less control in every other department of the General Government. Attorney-Generals we have had fourteen, while the North have had but five. Foreign ministers we have had eighty-six, and they but fifty-four. While three-fourths of the business which de- mands diplomatic agents abroad is clearly from the Free States, from their greater commercial interest, yet we have had the principal embassies so as to secure the world-markets for our cotton, tobacco, and sugar on the best possible terms. We have had a vast majority of the higher offices of both army and navy, while a larger pro- portion of the soldiers and sailors were drawn from the North. Equally so of Clerks, Auditors, and Comptrollers filling the executive department, the records show for the last fifty years that of the three thousand thus employed, we have had more than two-thirds of the same, while we have but one-third of the white popu- lation of the Republic. Again, look at another item, and one, be assured, in which we have a great and vital interest; it is that of revenue, or 118 AMERICAN POLITICS. means of supporting Government. From of- ficial documents, we learn that a fraction over three-fourths of the revenue collected for the support of the Government has uniformly been raised from the North. Pause now while you can, gentlemen, and contemplate carefully and candidly these important items. Look at another necessary branch of Government, and learn from stern statistical facts how mat- ters stand in that department. I mean the mail and Post-Office privileges that we now enjoy under the General Government as it has been for years past. The expense for the transportation of the mail in the Free States was, by the report of the Post- master-General for the year 1860 a little over $13,000,000, while the income was $19,000,000. But in the Slave States the transportation of the mail was $14,716,000, while the revenue from the same was $8,- 001,026, leaving a deficit of $6,704,974, to be supplied by the North for our accom- modation, and without it we must have been entirely cut oft' from this most essen- tial branch of Government. Leaving out of view, for the present, the countless millions of dollars you must ex- pend in a war with the North ; with tens of thousands, of your sons and brothers slain in battle, and offered up as sacrifices upon the altar of your ambition — and for what, we ask again ? Is it for the over- throw of the American Government, es- tablished by our common ancestry, cement- ed and built up by their sweat and blood, and founded on the broad principles of JRight, Justice and Humanity 1 And as, such, I must declare here, as I have often done before, and which has been repeated by the greatest and wisest of statesmen and patriots in this and other lands, that it is the best and freest Government — the most equal in its rights, the most just in its de- cisions, the most lenient in its measures, and the most aspiring in its principles to elevate the race of men, that the sun of heaven ever shone upon. Now, for you to attempt to overthrow such a government as this, under which we have lived for more than three-quarters of a century — in which we have gained our wealth, our standing as a nation, our domestic safety while the elements of peril are around us, with peace and tranquillity accompanied with unbounded prosperity and rights un- assailed — is the height of madness, folhj, and wickedness, to which 1 can neither lend my sanction nor my vote." The seven seceding States (South Caro- lina, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Ala- bama, Louisiana and Texas,) as shown by data previously given, organized their Provisional Government, with Jefferson Davis, the most radical secession leader, as President; and Alex. H. Stephens, the most conservative leader, as Vice Presi- dent. The reasons for these selections were obvious ; the first met the views of the cotton States, the other example was needed in securing the secession of other States. The Convention adopted a consti- tution, the substance of which is given elsewhere in this work. Stephens delivered a speech at Savannah, March 21st, 1861, in explanation and vindication of this instru- ment, which says all that need be said about it : " The new Constitution has put at rest forever all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institutions — African slavery as it exists among us — the proper status of the negro in our form of civiliza- tion. This was the inwiediate raiise of the late rupture and present n ralufiaii. JfjJ'cr- son, in his forecast, had aid ii-ijxdid this as the ^ rock upon which the old Union xvould split.'' He was right. What was conjec- ture with him, is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the for- mation of the old Constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature : that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was, that soriiehow or other, in the order of Provi- dence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not in- corporated in the Constitution,- was the prevailing idea at the time. The Constitu- tion, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last, and hence no argument can be justly used against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the common sen- timent of the day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This Avas an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the idea of a government built upon it ; when the ' storm came and the wind blew, it fell.' "Our new Government is founded ttpon exactly the opposite idea ; its fotindations are laid, its corner-stone rests upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man. That slavery — subordina- tion to the sitperior race, is his natural and normal condition. This, our new Govern- ment, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical and moral truth. This truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all other truths in the various departments of science. It has been so even amongst us. Many who hear me, perhaps, can recollect well, that this truth was not generally ad- mitted, even within their day. The errors SECESSION. 119 of the past generation still clung to many as late as twenty years ago. Those at the North who stilf cling to these errors, with a zeal above knowledged, we justly denom- inate fanatics. * * * " In the conflict thus far, success has been, on our side, complete throughout the length and breadth of the Confederate Sttites. It is upon this, as I have stated, our actual fabric is firmly ])lanted ; and I cannot permit myself to doubt the ultimate success of a full recognition of this prin- ciple throughout the civilized and enlight- ened world. " As I have stated, the truth of this prin- ciple may be slow in development, as all truths are, and ever have been, in the var- ious bi'anches of science. It was so 'with the principles announced by Galileo — it was so with Adam Smith and his principles of political economy — it was so with Har- vey and his theory of the circulation of the blood. It is stated that not a single one of the medical jirdl'ession, living at the time of the announcement of the truths made by him, admitted them. Now they are universally acknowledged. May we not, therefore, look with confidence to the ulti- mate universal acknowledgment of the truths upon which our system rests. It is tlie first government ever instituted upon principles of strict conformity to nature, and the ordination of Providence, in fur- nishing the materials of human society. j\Iany governments have been founded upon the principle of certain classes ; but the classes thus enslaved, were of the same race, and'in violation of the laws of nature. Our system commits no such violation of nature's laws. The negro, by nature, or by the curse against Canaan, is fitted for that condition which he occupies in our sys- tem. The architect, in the construction of buildings, lays the foundation with the proper materials, the granite ; then comes the brick or the marble. The substratum of our society is made of the material fitted by nature for it, and by experience we know that it is best, not only for tlie superior, but for the inferior race that it sh )uld be so. It is, indeed, in conformity with the ordinance of the Creator. It is n')t for us to inquire into the wisdom of His ordinances, or to question them. For His own purposes He has made one race to differ from another, as He has made 'one star to differ from another star in glory.' " The great objects of humanity are best attained when conformed to His laws and decrees, in the formation of governments, as well as in all things else. Our Confed- eracy is founded upon principle-* in strict conformity with these laws. This s'one which was first rejected by the first builders ' is become the chief stone of the corner ' in our new edifice. "The progress of disintegration in the old Union may be expected to go on with almost absolute certainty. We are now the nucleus of a growing power, which, if we are true to ourselves, our destiny, and high mission, will become the controlling power on this continent. To what extent accessions will go on in the process of time, or where it will end, the future will deter- mine." It was determined by the secession of eleven States in all, the Border States ex- cept Mi-souri, remaining in the Union, and West Virginia dividing from old Virginia for the purpose of keei)ing her place in the Union. The leaders of the Confederacy relied to a great extent upon the fact that President Buchanan, in his several messages and re- plies to commissioners, and in the expla- nation of the law by his Attorney-General, had tied his own hands against any attempt to reinforce the garrisons in the Southern forts, and they acted upon this faith and made preparations for their capttire. Tiie refusal of the administration to reinforce Fort Moultrie caused the resignation of General Cass, and by this time the Cabinet was far from harmonious. As early as the 10th of December, Howell Cobb resigned as Secretary of the Treasury, because of his "duty to Georgia;" January 26th, John B. Floyd resigned because Buchanan would not withdr iw the troops from South- ern forts ; and before that, Attorney Gene- ral Black, without publicly expressing his views, also resigned. Mr. Buchanan saw the wreck around him, and his adminis- tration closed in profound regret on the part of many of his northern friends, and, doubtless, on his own part. His early policy, and indeed up to the close of 1860, must have been unsatisfactory even to himself, for he supjilied the vacancies in his cabinet by devoted Unionists— by Philip F. Thomas of Maryland, Gen'l Dix of New York, Joseph Holt of Kentucky, and Ed- win M. Stanton of Pennsylvania — men who held in their hands the key to nearly every situation, and who did much to protect and restore the Union of the States. In the eyes of the North, the very last acts of Buchanan were the best. With the close of Buchanan's adminis- tration all eyes turned to Lincoln, and fears were entertained that the date fixed by law for the counting of tlie electoral vote — February 15th, 1861 — would inau- gurate violence and bloodshed at the seat of government. It passed, however, peace- ably. Both Houses met at 12 high noon in the hall of the House, Vice-President Breckinridge and Speaker Pennington, both democrats, sitting side by side, and the count was made without serious chal- lenge or question. On the nth of February Mr. Lincoln 120 AMERICAN POLITICS. left his home for Washington, intending to perform the journey in easy stages. On parting with his friends at Springfield, he said . " My Friends : No one, in my position, can realize the sadness I feel at this part- ing. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than ?. quarter of a century. Here my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. I go to assume a task more difficult than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot suc- ceed without the same Divine blessing which sustained him ; and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support." And I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I might receive that Di- vine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. Again, I bid you all an affectionate fare- well." Lincoln passed through Indiana, Ohio, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania on his way to the Capitol. Because of threats made that he should not reach the Capitol alive, some friends in Illinois em- ployed a detective to visit Washington and Baltimore in advance of his arrival, and he it was who discovered a conspiracy in Baltimore to mob and assassinate him. He therefore passed through. Baltimore in the night, two days earlier than was antici- pated, and reached Washington in safety. On the 22d of February he spoke at Inde- pendence Hall and said : " All the political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, from the sentiments which originated in, and were given to the world from, this hall. I never had a feel- ing, politically, that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declara- tion of Independence. ******** " It was not the mere matter of the sepa- ration of the Colonies from the mother- land, but that senthncvt in the Declaration of Independence, which gave liberty, not alone to the peo])le of this country, but, I hope, to the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that, in due time, the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of men. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Indepen- dence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved upon that basis? If it can, I wiil consider myself one of the happiest men in the world, if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful ! But if this country cannot be saved without giving up the principle, I was about to say, ' I would rather be assassinated on the spot than surrender it.' * * * * * I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and if it be the pleasure of Al- mighty God, to die by ! " Lincoln's First Administration. Such was the feeling of insecurity that the President-elect was followed to Wash- ington by many watchful friends, while Gen'l Scott, Col. Sumner, Major Hunter and the members of Buchanan's Cabinet quickly made such arrangements as secured his safety. Prior to his inauguration he took every opportunity to quell the still rising political excitement by assuring the Southern people of his kindly feelings, and on the 27th of February,* "when waited upon by the Mayor and Common Council of Washington, he assured them, and through them the South, that he had no disposition to treat them in any other way than as neighbors, and that he had no dis- position to withhold from them any consti- tutional right. He assured the people that they would have all of their rights under the Constitution — * not grudgingly, but freely and fairly.' " He was j)eacefully inaugurated on the 4th of March, and yet Washington was crowded as never before by excited multi- tudes. The writer himself witnessed the military arrangements of Gen'l Scott for preserving the peace, and with armed ca- valry lining every curb stone on the line of march, it would have been difficult in- deed to start or continue a riot, though it was apparent that many in the throng were ready to do it if occasion offered. The inaugural ceremonies were more than usually impressive. On the eastern front of the capitol, surrounded by such of the members of the Senate and House who had not resigned their seats and entered the Confederacy, the Diplomatic Corps, the Judges of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Taney, the author of the Dred Scott decision ; the higher officers of Army and Navy, while close by the side of the new President stood the retiring one — James Buchanan — tall, dignified, reserved, and to the eye of the close observer appa- rently deeply grieved at the part his party and position had compelled him to play in a National drama which was now reaching still another crisis. Near by. too, stood Douglas (holding Lincoln's hat) more gloomy than was his wont, but determined as he had ever been. Next to the two Presidents he was most observed. If the country could then have been pacified, Lincoln's inaugural was well cal- culated to do it. That it exercised a wholesome influence in behalf of the Union , * From tlie " History of Abraham Lincoln and the Overtbrow of Slavery," by Hon. Isaac N. Arnold. MR. LINCOLN'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 121 and especially in the border States, soon became apparent. Indeed, its sentiments seemed for weeks to check the wild spirit of secession in the cotton States, and it took all the efforts of their most fiery ora- tors to rekindle the flame which seemed to have been at its highest when Major An- derson was compelled to evacuate Fort Moultrie. It is but proper in this connection, to make a few quotations from the inaugural address, for Lincoln then, as he did during the remainder of his life, better reflected the more popular Kepublican sentiment than any other leader. The very first thought was upon the theme uppermostiu the nunds of all. We quote : " Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administra- tion their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their in- spection. It is found in nearly all the pub- lished speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those "speeches Avhen I declare that ' I have no purpose directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no law- ful right to do so, and I have no inclina- tion to do so.' Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar decla- rations, and had never recanted them. And more than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to them- selves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read : ' ResoJced, That the maintenance invio- late of the rights of the States, and es- pecially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to the balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our politi- cal fabric depend, and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.' I now reiterate these sentiments ; and in doing so, I only press upon the public at- tention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that the prop- erty, peace, and security of no section are to be in anywise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause — as cheerfully to one section as to another." After conveying this peaceful assurance, he argued the question in his own way, and in a way matchless for its homely force : " Physically speaking, we cannot sepa- rate. We cannot remove our respective sections from each other, nor build an im- passable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other ; but the different parts of our coun- try cannot do this. They cannot but re- main face to face ; and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that in- tercourse more advantageous or more satis- factory after separation than before ? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws ? Can treaties be more faith- fully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends ? Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight always ; and when after "much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you. " This country, with its instittttions, be- longs to the people who inhabit it. When- ever they shall grow weary of the existing Government they can exercise their con- stitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionari/ right to dismember or over- throw it. I cannot be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the National Constitu- tion amended. While I make no recom- mendation of amendments, I fully recog- nize the rightful authority of the people over the whole stibject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the in- strument itself; and I should under exist- ing circumstances, favor rather than op- pose a fair opportunity being afibrded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add that to me the convention mode seems pref- erable, in that it allows amendments to ori- ginate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject propositions originated by others, not es- pecially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish to either accept or refuse. I under- stand a proposed amendment to the Con- stitution — which amendment, however, I have not seen — has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institu- tions of the States, including that of per- sons held to service. To avoid misconstruc- tion of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amend- ments so far as to say that, holding such a provision now to be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable. " The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and they have conferred none upon him to fix terms for 122 AMERICAN POLITICS. the separat'.on of the States. The peoj^le themselves can do this also if they choose ; but the Executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer the present Government, as it came to his hands, and to transmit it, unimpaired by him, to his successor. * , * * " In ijour hands, my dissatisfied fellow- countrymen, and not in mine, is the mo- mentous issue of civil war. The Govern- ment will not assail yuu. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the ag- gressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to ' pre- serve, protect and defend it' "I am loth to close. We are not ene- mies but friends. We must not be ene- mies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and jsatriot grave to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." Lincoln appointed a Caljinet in thorough accord with his own views, and well suited to whatever shades of difference there were in the Republican party. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State, and Salmon P. Chase represented the more advanced anti-slavery element ; General Simon Cameron, Secre- tary of War, from the first saw only a pro- longed war in which superior Northern resources and appliances would surely win, while Seward expressed the view that " all troubles would be over in three months ;" Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy ; Caleb B. Smith of the Interior ; Edward Bates, Attorney General, and Montgomery Blair, Postmaster General, represented the more conservative Republican view — the two last named being well adapted to retaining the National hold on the Border States. _ Political events now rapidly succeeded each other. As early as March 11, John Forsyth of Alabama and Martin J. Craw- ford of Georgia, submitted to the Secretary of State a proposition for an unofficial inter- view. Mr. Seward the next day, front " purely public considerations," declined. On the 13th the same gentlemen sent a sealed communication, saying they had been duly accredited by the Confederate government as Commissioners, to negotiate for a speedy adjustment of all questions growing out of the political separation of seven States, which had formed a govern- ment of their own, etc. They closed this remarkable document by requesting the Secretary of State to appoint as early a day as possible in order that they may present to the President of the United States the credentials which they bear, and the objects of the mission with which they are charged. Mr. Seward's reply in substance, said that his " official duties were confined, subject to the direction of the President, to the conducting of the foreign relations of the country, and do not at all embrace domestic questions or questions arising be- tween the several States and the Federal Government, is unable to comply with the request of Messrs. Forsyth and 'Crawford, to appoint a day on which they may pre- sent the evidences of their autliority and the object of their visit to the I*resident of the United States. On the contrary, he is obliged to state to Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford that he has no authority, nor is he at liberty to recognize them as diploma- tic agents, or hold correspondence or other communication with them." An extended correspondence followed, but the administration in all similar cases, refused to recognize the Confederacy as a government in anyway. On the' 13th of April the President granted an inter- view to Wm. Ballard Preston, Alex. H. Stuart, and George W. Randolph, who had been sent by the Convention of Virginia, then in session, under a resolution recited in the President's reply, the text of which is herewith given : — Gentlemen: As a committee of the Virginia Convention, now in session, you present me a preamble and resolution in these words : " Whereas, in the opinion of this Con- vention, the uncertainty which j^revails in the public mind as to the policy which the Federal Executive intends to jKirsue t( )ward the seceded States is extremely injurious to the industrial and commercial interests of the country, tends to keep up an excite- ment which is unfavorable to the adjust- ment of pending difficulties, and threatens a disturbance of the public peace : Therefore, " Eesohed, That a committee of three delegates be appointed to wait on the Pre- sident of the United States, present to him this preamble and resolution, and respect- fully ask him to communicate to this Con- vention the policy which the Federal Exe- cutive intends to pursue in regard to the Confederate States." " In answer I have to say, that, having at the beginning of my official term ex- pressed my intended policy as plainly as I was able, it is with deep regret and some mortification I now learn that there is great and injurious uncertainty in the pub- lic mind as to what that policy is, and what course I intend to pursue. " Not having as yet seen occasion to change, it is now my purpose to pursue the course marked out in the inaugural address. I commend a careful consideration of the whole document as the best expression I can give of my purposes. As I then and therein said, I now repeat : MR. LINCOLN'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 125 " The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government, and to collect the duties and imposts ; but beyond what is necessary for these objects there will be no invasion, no using offeree against or among the people anywhere." "" By the words ' property and places be- longing' to the Government' I chiefly allude to the military posts and property which were in the possession of the Govern- ment when it came into my hands. " But if, as now appears to be true, in pursuit of a purpose to drive the United States authority from these places, an un- provoked assault has been made upon Fort Sumter, I shall hold myself at liberty to repossess, if I can, like places which had been seized before the Government was devolved upon me. And, in any event, I shall, to the best of my ability, repel force by force. " In case it proves true that Fort Sum- ter has been assaulted, as is reported, I shall perhaps cause the United States mails to be withdrawn from all the States which claim to have seceded, believing that the commencement of actual war against the Government justifies and possibly demands it." " I scarcely need to'say that I consider the military posts and property situated within the States which claim to have seceded as yet belonging to the Govern- ment of the United States as much as they did before the supposed secession. " Whatever else I may do for the pur- pose, I shall not attempt to collect the duties and impo-;ts by any armed invasion of any part of the country— not meaning by this, however, that I may not land a force deemed necessary to relieve a fort upon the border of the country. " From the fact that I have quoted a part of the inaugural address, it must not inferred that I repudiate any other part, the whole of which I reaffirm, except so far as wliat I now say of the mails may be regarded as a modification." We have given the above as not only fiiir but interesting samples of the semi- oliicial and official transactions and corre- spondence of the tim3. To give more could not add to the interest of what is but a description of the political situation. The Border states and some others were "halting between two opinions." North Carolina at first voted down a proposition to secede by 46,671 for, to 47,333 against, but the secessionists called another con- vention in May, the work of which the people ratified, the minority, however, being very large. Before Lincoln had entered office most of the Southern forts, arsenals, docks, cus- tom houses, etc., had been seized, and now that preparations were being made for ac- tive warfare by the Confeileracy, many offi- cers of the army and navy resigned or de- serted, and joined it. The most notable were General Robert E. Leef who for a time hesitatt'd as to his " duty," and Gene- ral David l']. Twiggs, the second officer in rank in the United States Army, but who had purposely been jdaced by Secretary Floyd in command of the Department of Texas to facilitate his joining the Con- federacy, which he intended to do from the beginning. All officers were permitted to go, the administration not seeking to restrain any, under the belief that until some open act of war was committed it ought to remain on the defensive. This was wise political policy, for it did more than all else to hold the Border States, the position of which Douglas understood iully as well as any statesman of that hour. It is remarked of Douglas (in Arnold's " His- tory of Abraham Lincoln") that as early as January 1, 1861, he said to General Charles Stewart, of New York, who had made a New Year's call at his residence in Washington, and inquired, " What will be the result of the efibrts of Jefferson Davis, and his associates, to divide the Union?" " Rising, and looking," says my informant, " like one inspired, Douglas replied, ' The cotton States are making an effort to draw in the border States to their schemes of secession, and I am but too fearful they will succeed. If they do succeed, there will be the most terrible civil war the world has ever seen, lasting for years.' Pausing a moment, he exclaimed, ' Vir- ginia will become a charnel house, but the end will be the triumph of the Union cause. One of their first efforts will be to take possession of this Capitol to give them prestige abroad, but they will never suc- ceed in taking it — the North Avill rise en masse to defend it ; — but Washington will become a city of hospitals — the churches will be used for the sick and wounded — • even this house (Minnesota block, after- wards, and during the war, the Douglas Hospital ) may be devoted to that purpose before the end of the war.' The friend to whom this was said inquired, 'What justi- fication for all this?' Douglas replied, 'There is no justification, nor any pretense of any — if they remain in the Union, I will go as" far as the Constitution will permit, to maintain their just rights, and I do not doubt a majority of Congress would do the same. But,' said he, again rising on his feet, and extending his arm, ' if the South- ern States attempt to secede froni this Union, without further cause, I am in fii- vor of their having just so many slaves, and just so much slave territory, as they can hold at the point of the bayonet, and NO MORE.' " In the border states of Maryland, Vir- ginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Mis- 124 AMERICAN POLITICS. souri there were sharp political contests between the friends of secession and of the Union. Ultimately the Unionists tri- umphed in Maryland, Kentucky and Mis- souri — in the latter state by the active aid of U. S. troops — in Maryland and Ken- tucky by military orders to arrest any mem- bers of the Legislature conspiring to take their states out. In Tennessee, the Union men, under the lead of Andrew Johnson, Governor ("Parson") Brownlow, Horace Maynard and others, who made a most gal- lant fight to keep the state in, and they had the sympathy of the majority of the people of East Tennessee. The Secessionists took Virginia out April 17th, and North Caro- lina May 20th. The leading Southerners encouraged the timid and hesitating by saying the North would not make war; that the political divisions would be too great there, and they were supported in this view by the speeches and letters of lead- ers like Clement L. Vallandigham. On the other hand they roused the excitable by warlike preparations, and, as we have stated, to prevent reconsideration on the part of those who had seceded, resolved to fire upon Sumter. Beauregard acted under direct instructions from the govern- ment at Montgomery when he notified Ma- jor Anderson on the 11th of April to sur- render Fort Sumter. Anderson replied that he would evacuate on the 15th, but the original summons called for surrender by the 12th, and they opened their fire in ad- vance of the time fixed for evacuation — a fact which clearly established the purpose to bring about a collision. It was this ag- gressive spirit which aroused and united the North, and made extensive political division therein impossible. The Southern leaders, ever anxious for the active aid of the Border States, soon saw that they could only acquire it through higher sectional excitement than any yet cultivated, and they acted accordingly. Eoger A. Pryor, in a speech at Richmond April 10th, gave expression to this thought, when he said in response to a serenade : — " Gentlemen, I thank you, especially that you have at last annihilated this ac- cursed Union, [applause,] reeking with corruption, and insolent with excess of tyranny. Thank God, it is at last blasted and riven by the lightning wrath of an outraged and indignant people. [Loud applause.] Not only is it gone, but gone forever. [Cries of ' You're right,' and ap- plause.] In the expressive language of Scripture, it is water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up [Applause.] Like Lucifer, son of the morning, it has fallen, never to rise again. [Continued applause.] For my part, gentlemen, if Abra- ham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to- morrow were to abdicate their offices and were to give me a blank sheet of paper to write the conditions of reannexation to the defunct Union, I would scornfully spurn the overture. * * * * I invoke you, and I make it in some sort a personal appeal — personal so far as it tends to our assistance in Virginia— I do invoke you, in your demonstrations of popular opinion, in your exhibitions of official intent, to give no countenance to this idea of recon- struction. [Many voices, emphatically, ' Never,' and applause.] In Virginia they all say, if reduced to the dread dilemma of this memorable alternative, they will es- pouse the cause of the South as against the interest of the Northern Confederacy, but they whisper of reconstruction, and they say Virginia must abide in the Union, with the idea of reconstructing the Union which you have annihilated. I pray you, gentle- 7nen, rob them of that idea. Proclaim to the world that upon no condition, and under no circumstance, will South Carolina ever again enter into political association with the Abolitionists of New England. [Cries of ' Never," and applause.] " Do not distrust Virginia. As sure as to-morrow's sun Avill rise upon us, just so sure will Virginia be a member of this Southern Confederation. [Applause.] And I trill tell you, gentlemen, uhai icill put her in the Southern Confederation in less than an hour by Shrewsbury clock — STRIKE A BLOW ! [Tremendous applause.] The very moment that blood is shed, old Virginia will make common cause with her sisters of the South. [Applause.] It is impossible she should do otherwise." Warlike efforts were likewise used to keep some of the states firmly to their pur- pose. Hon. Jeremiah Clemens, formerly United States Senator from Alabama, and a member of the Alabama Seceding Con- vention who resisted the movement until adopted by the body, at an adjourned Re- construction meeting held at Huntsville, Ala., March 13, 1864, made this significant statement : — Mr. Clemens, in adjourning the meeting, said he would tell the Alabamians how their state was got out of the Union. " In 1861," said Mr. C, " shortly after the Con- federate Government was put in operation, I was in the city of Montgomery. One dav I stepped into the office of the Secre- tary of War, General Walker, and found there, engaged in a very excited discussion, Mr. Jefferson Davis, Mr. Memminger, Mr. Benjamin, Mr. Gilchrist, a member of our Legislature from Loundcs county, and a number of other prominent gentlemen. They were discussing the propriety of im- mediately opening fire on Fort Sumter, to which General Walker, the Secretary of War, appeared to be opposed. Mr. Gil- christ said to him, ' Sir, unless you sprinkle blood in the face of the people of Alabama . they will be back in the old Union in less MR. LINCOLN'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 125 than ten days ! ' The next clay General Beauregard opened his batteries on Sumter, and Alabama was saved to the Confed- eracy." When the news flashed along the wires that SunittT had been lired upon, Lincoln ininiodiately used his war powers and is- sued a call for 75,000 troops. All of the northern governors responded with prompt- ness and enthusiasm ; but this was not true of the governors of the southern states which at that time had not seceded, and the Border States. We take from McPherson's admirable condensation, the evasive or hostile replies of the Governors referred to, and follow it with his statement of the military calls and legislation of both governments, but for the purposes of this work omit details which are too extended. KEPLIES OF SOUTHERN STATE GOVERNORS TO LINCOLN'S CALL FOR 75,000 TROOPS. Governor Burton, of Delaware, itsued a proclamation, April 26, recommending the formation of volunteer companies for the protection of the lives and property of the people of Delaware against violence of any sort to which they may be exposed, the companies not being subject to be or- dered by the Executive into the United States service, the law not vesting him with such authority, but having the option of offering their services to the General Government for the defence of its capital and the support of the Constitution and laws of the country. Governor Hicks, of Maryland, May 14, issued a proclamation for the troops, stat- ing that the four regiments would be de- tailed to serve within the limits of Mary- land or for the defence of the capital of the United States. Governor Letcher, of Virginia, replied that " The militia of Virginia will not be furnished to the powers of Washington for any such use or purpose as they have in view. Your object is to subjugate the southern States, and a requisition made upon me for such an object— an object, in my judgment, not within the purview of the Constitution or the act of 1795 — will not be complied with. You have chosen to inaugurate civil war, and having done 80 we will meet it in a spirit as determined as the Administration has exhibited to- ward the South." Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, re- plied April 15 : " Your dispatch is received, and if gen- uine — which its extraordinary character leads me to doubt — I have to say in reply that I regard the levy of troops made by the Administration, for the purpose of sub- jugating the States of the South, as in vio- lation of the Constitution and a usurpation of power. I can be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of the country, and to this war upon the liberties of a free peo- ple. You can get no troops from North Carolina. I will rejjly more; in detail when your call is received by mail." Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, re- plied, April 15 : " Your dispatch is received. In answer I say emphatically, Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purjjose of subdu- ing her sister Southern States." Governor Harris, of Tennessee, replied, April 18: " Tennessee will not furnish a single man for coercion, but fifty thousand, if necessa- ry, for the defence of our rights or those of our southern brethren." Governor Jackson, of Missouri, replied : '' Your requisition is illegal, unconstitu- tional, revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical, and cannot be complied with." Governor Rector, of Arkansas, replied, April 22 : " None will be furnished. The demand is only adding insult to injury." ALL other calls FOR TROOPS. May 3, 1861— The President called for thirty-nine volunteer regiments of infantry and one regiment of cavalry, with a mini- mum aggregate of 34,506 officers and en- listed men, and a maximum of 42,034; and for the enlistment of 18,000 seamen. May 3, 18G1— The President directed an increase of the regular army by eight regi- ments of infantry, one of cavalry, and one of artillery — minimum aggregate, 18,054; maximum, 22,714. August 6 — Congress legalized this in- crease, and all the acts, orders, and pro- clamations respecting the Army and Navy. July 22 and 25, 1861— Congress author- ized tiie enlistment of 500,000 volunteers. September 17, 1861 — Commanding offi- cer at Hatteras Inlet, N. C, authorized to enlist a regiment of loyal North Carolini- ans. November 7, 1861— The Governor of Missouri was authorized to raise a force of State militia for State defence. December 3, 1861— The Secretary of War directed that no more regiments, bat- teries, or independent companies be raised by the Governors of States, except upon the special requisition of the War Depart- ment. July 2, 1862— The President called for three hundred thousand volunteers. Under the act of July 17, 1862. August 4, 1862— The President ordered a draft of three hundred thousand militia, for nine months unless sooner discharged ; and directed that if any State shall not, by the 15th of August, furnish its quota of the additional 300,000 authorized by law, the deficiency of volunteers in that State will 1 also be made up by special draft from the 126 AMERICAN POLITICS. militia. AVednesday, September 3, was subsequently fixed for the draft. May 8, 1863 — Proclamation issued, de- fining the relations of aliens to the con- scription act, holding all aliens who have declared on oath their intention to become citizens and may be in the country within sixty-five days fi'om date, and all who have declared their intention to become citizens and have voted. June 15, 1863 One hundred thousand men, for six months, called to repel the invasion of Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. October 17, 1863 — A proclamation was issued lor 300,000 volunteers, to serve for three years or the. war, not, however, ex- ceeding three years, to fill the places of those whose terms expire "during the coming year," these being in addition to the men raised by the ])resent draft. In States in default under this call, January 5, 1864, a draft shall be made on that dav. February 1, 1864— Draft for 500,000 men for three years or during the war, ordered for Marcli 10, 1864. March 14, 1864— Draft for 200,000 ad- ditional for the army, navy and marine corps, ordered for April 15, i864, to supply the force required for the navy and to pro- vide an adequate reserve force for all con- tingencies. April 23, 1864—85,000 one hundred day men accepteil, tendered l)y the Governors of Ohio, Indian;i, Illinois, Iowa, and Wis- consin ; 30,000,20,000, 20,000, 10,000 and 5,000 being tendered respectively. UNION MILITARY LEGISLATION. 1861, July 22— The President was au- thorized to accept the services of volun- teers, not exceeding five hundred thousand, for a period not exceeding three years. July 27, this authority was duplicated. 1861, July 27 — Nine regiments of in- fantry, one of cavahy, and one of artillerj^, added to the regular army. August 5 — Passed bill approving and legalizing the orders of the President re- S])ecting the armv and navy, issued from 4th of March to that date. 1862, July 17— Authorized the President, when calling forth the militia of the States, to specify the period of such service, not exceeding nine months; and if by reason of defects in existing laws or in the execu- tion of them, it shall be found necessary to provide for enrolling the militia, the President was authorized to make all necessary regulations, tlie enrollment to in- clude all al^le bodied male citizens between eightecTi and forty-five, and to be appor- tioned according to representative popula- tion. He was authorized, in addition to the volunteers now authorized, to accept 100,000 infantry, for nine months; also, for twelve months, to fill up old regiments, as many as may be presented for the pur- pose. 1863, February 7 — Authorized the Gov- ernor of Kentucky, by the consent and under the direction of the President, to raise twenty thousand volunteers, for twelve months, for service within the limits of the State, for repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, and guarding and protecting the public property — two regi- ments to be mounted riflemen. With the consent of the President, these troops may be attached to, and become a part of, the body of three years' volunteers. 1863, March 3— The conscription act passed. It included as a part of the na- tional forces, all able bodied male citizens of the United States, and persons of lor- eign birth who shall have declared on oath their intention to become citizens under and in pursuance of the laws thereof, be- tween the ages of twenty-one and forty- five years, except such as are rejected as physically or mentally unfit for the service ; also, the Vice President, the judges of the various courts of the United States, the heads of the various executive departments of the Government, and the Governors of the several States ; also, the only son liable to military service, of a widow dependent upon his labor for support ; also, the only son of aged or infirm parent or parents, dependent upon his labor for support ; also, where there are two or more sons of aged or infirm parents, subject to draft, the father, or if he be dead, the mother, may elect Avhich son shall be exempt ; also, the only brother of children not twelve years old, having neither father nor mother, de- jiendent upon his labor for support; also, the father of motherless children under twelve years of age, dependent upon his labor for support; also, where there area iather and sons in the same family and household, and two of them arfe in military service of the United States as non-crm- missioned officers, musicians, or privates, the residue of such family ; provided that no person who has been convicted of any felony shall be enrolled or permitted to serve in said forces. It divided the forces into two classes : 1st, those betAveen twenty and thirty-five and all unmarried persons above thirty-five and under forty-five ; 2d, all others liable to military duty. It di- vided the country into districts, in each of which an enrollment board was established. The persons enrolled were made subject to be called into the military service tor two years from July 1, 1863, and continue in service for three years. A drafted person was allowed to furnish an acceptable sub- stitute, or pay $'300, and be discharged from further liability under that dratt. Persons failing to report, to be considered deserters. All persons drafted shall be as- signed by the Presidant to military duty MR. LINCOLN'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 127 in such corps, regiments, or branches of the service as the exigencies of the service may require. 1864, Feb. 24 — Provided for equalizing the draft by calcuhiting the quota of each district or precinct and counting tlie num- ber previously furnished by it. Any per- son enrolled may furnish an acceptable substitute who is not liable to draft, nor, at any time, in the military or naval ser- vice of the United States ; and such per- son so furnishing a substitute shall be ex- empc from draft during the time for which su,h substitute shall not be liable to draft, not exceeding the time for which such sub- stitute shall have been accepted. If such substitute is liable to draft, the name of the person furnishing him shall a^ain be placed on the roll and shall be liable to draft in future calls, but not until the pre- sent enrollment shall be exhausted. The exemptions are limited to such as are re- jected as physically or mentally unfit for the service ; to persons actually in the military or naval service of the Government, and all persons who have served in the military or naval service two years during the pre- sent war and been honorably discharged therefrom. The separate enrollment of classes is re- pealed and the two classes consolidated. Members of religious denominations, who shall by oath or affirmation declare that they are conscientiously opposed to the bearing of arms, and who are pro- hibited from doing so by the rules and articles of faith and practice of said re- ligious denomination, shall when drafted, be considered non-combatants, and be as- signed to duty in the hospitals, or the care of freedmen, or shall pay $300 to the benefit of sick and wounded soldiers, if they give proof that their deportment has been uniformly consistent with their de- claration. No alien who has voted in county. State or Territory shall, because of alienage, be exem])t from draft. " All able-bodied male colored persons between the ages of twenty and forty-five years, resident" in the United States, shall be eni'olled according to the provisions of this act, and of the act to which this is an amendment, and form part of the national forces ; and when a slave of a loyal master shall be drafted and mustered into the ser- vice of the United States, his master shall have a certificate thereof; and thereupon such slave shall be free, and the bounty of one hundred dollars, now payable by law for each drafted man, shall be paid to the person to whom such drafted person was owing service or labor at the time of his muster into the service of the United States. The Secretary of War shall appoint a com- mission in each of the slave States repre- sented in Congress, charged to award to each loyal person to whom a colored volun- teer may owe service a just compensation, not exceeding three hundred dollars, for each such colored volunteer, payable out of the fund derived from commuta- tions, and every such colored volunteer on being mustered into the service shall be free. And in all cases where men of color have been enlisted, or have volunteered in the military service of the United States, all the provisions of this act so far as the payment of bounty and compensation are provided, shall be equally applicable, as to those who may be hereafter recruited. But men of color, drafted or enlisted, or who may volunteer into the military service, while they shall be credited on the quotas of the several States, or sub-divisions of States, wherein they are respectively draft- ed, enlisted, or shall volunteer, shall not be assigned as State troops, but shall be mustered into regiments or companies as United States colored troops." 1864, Feb. 29— Bill passed reviving the grade of Lieutenant General in the army, and Major General Ulysses S. Grant was appointed March 2d. 1864, June 15 — All persons of color shall receive the same pay and emoluments, ex- cept bounty, as other soldiers of the regular or volunteer army from and after Jan. 1, 1864, the President to fix the bounty for those hereafter mustered, not exceeding $100. 1864, June 20 — The monthly pay of pri- vates and non-commissioned officers was fixed as follows, on and after May 1 : Sergeant majors, twenty-six dollars; quartermaster and commissary sergeants of Cavalry, artillery, and infantry, twenty- two dollars ; first sergeants of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, twenty-four dollars ; sergeants of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, twenty dollars ; sergeants of ordnance, sappers and miners,, and pontoniers, thirty- four dollars ; corporals of ordnance, sap- pers and miners, and pontoniers, twenty dollars ; privates of engineers and ordnance of the first class, eighteen dollars, and of the second class, sixteen dollars ; corporals of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, eighteen dollars ; chief buglers of cavalry, twenty- three dollars ; buglers, sixteen dollars ; far- riers and lilacksmiths, of cavalry, and arti- ficers of artillery, eighteen dollars ; privates of cavalry, artillery and infantry, sixteen dollars ; principal musicians of artillery and infantry, twenty-two dollars; leaders of brigade and regimental bands, seventy- five dollars; musicians, sixteen dollars; hospital stewards of the first class, thirty- three dollars ; hospital stewards of the second class, twenty-five dollars ; hospital stewards of the third class, twenty-three dollars," July 4 — This bill became a law : Be it enacted, &c. That the President of 12^ AMERICAN POLITICS. the United States may, at his discretion, at any time hereafter call for any number of men as volunteers for the respective terms of one, two, and three years for military service ; and any such volunteer, or, in case of draft, as hereinafter provided, any sub- stitute, shall be credited to the town, town- shij), ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of a county not so subdivided towards the quota of which he may have volunteered or engaged as a substitute ; and every volunteer who is accepted and mustered into the service for a term of one year, unless sooner discharged, shall re- ceive, and be paid by the United States, a bounty of one hundred dollars ; and if for a term of two years, unless sooner dis- charged, a bounty of two hundred dollars; and if for a term of three years, unless sooner discharged, a bounty of three hun- dred dollars ; one third of which bounty shall be paid to the soldier at the time of his being mustered into the service, one- third at the expiration of one-half of his term of service, and one-third at the expi- ration of his term of service. And in case of his death while in service, the residue of his bounty unpaid shall be paid to his widow, if he shall have left a widow ; if not, to his children ; or if there be none, to his mother, if she be a widow. * * * * * * * Sec. 8. That all persons in the naval service of the United States, who have en- tered said service during the present rebel- lion, who have not been credited to the quota of any town, district, ward, or State, by reason of their being in said service and not enrolled prior to February twenty-four, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, shall be enrolled and credited to the quotas of the town, ward, district, or State, in which they respectively reside, upon satisfactory proof of their residence made to the Secre- tary of War. "confederate" military legislation. February 28, 1S61, (four days before the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln) — The "Con- federate " Congress passed a bill provid- ing — 1st. To enable the Government of the Confederate States to maintain its jurisdic- tion over all questions of peace and war, and to provide for the public defence, the President be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to assume control of all mili- tary operations in. every State, having re- ference to a connection with questions be- tween the said States, or any of them, and Powers foreign to themselves. 2d. The President was authorized to re- ceive from the several States the arms and munitions of war which have been ac- quired from the United States. 3d. He WAS authorized to receive into Goverumeut service such forces in the ser- vice of the States, as may be tendered, in such number as he may require, for any time not less than twelve months, unless sooner discharged. March 6, 18G1— The President was au- thorized to employ the militia, military and naval forces of the Confederate States to repel invasion, maintain rightful possession of the territory, and secure public tran- quillity and independence against threat- ened assault, to the extent of 100,000 men, to serve for twelve months. May 4, 1861 — One regiment of Zouaves authorized. May 6, 1861 — Letters of marque and re- prisal authorized. 1861, August 8 — The Congress author- ized the President to accept the services of 400,000 volunteers, to serve for not less than twelve months nor more than three years after they shall be mustered into ser- vice, unless sooner discharged. The Kichmond Enquirer of that date an- nounced that it was ascertained from offi- cial data, before the passage of the bill, that there were not less than 210,000 men then in the field. August 21 — Volunteers authorized for local defence and special service. 1862, January — Publishers of newspa- pers, or other printed matter are prohibited from giving the number, disposition, move- ment, or destination of the land or naval forces, or description of vessel, or battery, fortification, engine of war, or signal, un- less first authorized by the President or Congress, or the Secretary of War or Navy, or commanding officer of post, district, or expedition. The penalty is a fine of $1,000 and imprisonment not over twelve months. 1862, February — The Committee on Na- val Affairs were instructed to inquire into the expediency of placing at the disposal of the President five millions of dollars to build gunboats. 1862 — Bill passed to " regulate the de- struction of property under military neces- sity," referring particularly to cotton and tobacco. The authorities are authorized to destroy it to keep it from the enemy ; and owners, destroying it for the same purpose, are to be indemnified upon proof of the value and the circumstances of the de- struction. 1862, April 16 — The first "conscription" bill became a law. 1864, February. The second conscription bill became a law. The Richmond Sentinel of February 17, 1864, contains a synopsis of what is called the military bill, heretofore forbidden to be printed : The first section provides that all white men residents of the Confederate States, between the ages of seventeen and fifty, shall be in the military service for the war. The second section provides that all be- MR. LINCOLN'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 129 tween eighteen and forty-five, now in ser- vice, shall be continued during the war in the same regiments, battalions, and com- panies to which they belong at the passage of this act, with the organization, officers, &c., provided that companies from one State organized against their consent, expressed at the time, with regrets, &c., from another State, shall have the privilege of being transferred to the same arm in a regiment from their own State, and men can be trans- ferred to a company from their own State. Section three gives a bounty eight months hence of $100 in rebel bonds. Section four provides that no person shall be relieved from the operations of this act heretofore discharged for disability, nor shall those who furnished substitutes he ex- empted, where no disability now exists ; but exempts religious persons who have paid an exemption tax. * * * The tenth section provides that no per- son shall be exempt except the following ; ministers, superintendents of deaf, dumb and blind, or insane asylums ; one editor to each newspaper, and such employees as he may swear to be indispensable ; the Con- federate and State public printers, and the journeymen printers necessary to perform the public printing ; one apothecary to each drug store, who was and has been contin- uously doing business as such since Octo- ber 10, 1862 ; physicians over 30 years of age of seven years' practice, not including dentists ; presidents and teachers of col leges, academies and schools, who have not less than thirty pupils ; superintendents of public hospitals established by law, and such physicians and nurses as may be in- dispensable for their efficient management. One agriculturist on such ferm where there is no white male adult not liable to duty employing fifteen able-bodied slaves, between sixteen and fifty years of age, up- on the following conditions : The party exempted shall give bonds to deliver to the Government in the next twelve months, 100 pounds of bacon, or its equivalent in salt pork, at Government se- lection, and 100 pounds of beef for each such able-bodied slave employed on said farm at commissioner's rates. In certain cases this may be commuted in grain or other provisions. The person shall further bind himself to sell all surplus provisions now on hand, or which he may raise, to the Government, or the families of soldiers, at commissioner" rates, the person to be allowed a credit of 25 per cent, on any amount he may deliver in three months from the passage of this act; Provided that no enrollment since Feb. 1, 1864, shall deprive the person enrolled from the benefit of this exemption. In addition to the above, the Secretary of War is authorized to make such details as the public security requires. 9 The vote in the House of Representa- tives was — yeas, 41 ; nays, 31. GUEKEILLAS. 1862, April 21— The President was au- thorized to commission such officers as he may deem proper, with authority to form bands of partisan rangers, in companies, battalions or regiments, either as infantry or cavalry, to receive the same pay, rations, and quarters, and be subject to the same regulations as other soldiers. For any arms and munitions of war captured from the enemy by any body of partisan rangers, and delivered to any quartermaster at des- ignated place, the rangers shall pay their full value.* The following resolution, in relation to partisan service, was adopted by the A^ir- ginia Legislature, May 17, 1862 : Whereas, this General Assembly places a high estimate upon the value of the ran- ger or partisan service in prosecuting tne present war to a successful issue, and re- gards it as perfectly legitimate ; and it be- ing understood that a Federal commander on the northern border of Virginia has in- timated his purpose, if such service is not discontinued, to lay waste by fire the por- tion of our territory at present under his power. Resolved Inj the General Assembly, That in its opinion, the policy of employing such rangers and partisans ought to be carried out energetically, both by the authorities of this State and of the Confederate States, without the slightest regard to such threats. By another act, the President was au- thorized, in addition to the volunteer force authorized under existing laws, to accept the services of volunteers who may ofier them, without regard to the place of en- listment, to serve for and during the exist- ing war. 1862, May 27— Major General John B. Floyd was authorized by the Legislature of Virginia, to raise ten thousand men, not now in service or liable to draft, for twelve months. 1862, September 27 — The President was authorized to call out and place in the mil- itary service for three years, all white men who are residents, between the ages of thirty-five and forty-five, at the time the call may be made, not legally exempt. And such authority shall exist in the President, during the present war, as to all persons who now are, or hereafter may become eighteen years of age, and all persons be- tween eighteen and forty-five, once en- rolled, shall serve their full time. * 1864, February 15— Eepealed the above act, but pro- vided for continuinf:; organizations of partisan rangers, arting as regular cavalry and so to continue ; and autlior- iziiig the Secretary of War to provide for uniting all liandsof partisan rangers with other organizations and. bringing them under the general discipline of the pro- visional army. 130 AMERICAN POLITICS. THE TWENTY-NEGKO EXEMPTION" LAW. 1862, October 11— Exempted certain classes, described in the repealing law of the next session, as follows : The dissatisfaction of the people with an act passed by the Confederate Congress, at its last session, by which persons owning a certain number of slaves were exempted : from the operation of the conscription law, j has led the members at the present session to reconsider their work, and already one branch has passed a bill for the repeal of the obnoxious law. This bill provides as follows : " The Congress of the Confederate States do enact, That so much of the act ap- proved October 11, 1862, as exempts from military service ' one person, either as agent, owner, or overseer, on each planta- tion on which one white person is required to be kept by the laws or ordinances of any State, and on w^hich there is no white male adult not liable to military service, and in States having no such law, one person, as agent, owner, or overseer on such planta- tion of twenty negroes, and on which there is no white male adult not liable to mili- tary service ;' and also the following clause in said act, to wit : ' and furthermore, for additional police of every twenty negroes, on two or more plantations, within five miles of each other, and each having less than twenty negroes, and on which there is no white male adult not liable to military duty, one person, being the oldest of the owners or overseers on such plantations,' be and the same are hereby repealed ; and the persons so hitherto exempted by said clauses of said act are hereby made subject to military duty in the same manner that they would be had said clauses never been embraced in said act." THE POSITION OF DOUGLAS. After the President had issued his first call, Douglas saw the danger to which the Capitol was exposed, and he promptly called upon Lincoln to express his full approval of the call. Knowing his politi- cal value and that of his following Lin- coln asked him to dictate a despatch to the Associated Press, which he did in these words, the original being left in the posses- sion of Hon. George Ashmun of Massachu " April 18, 1861, Senator Dpuglas, called on the President, and had an interesting conversation, on the present condition of the country. The substance of it was, on the part of Mr. Douglas, that while he was ■unalterably opposed to the administration in all its political issues, he was prepared to fully sustain the President, in the exercise of all his Constitutional functions, to pre- serve the Union, maintain the Government, and defend the Federal Capitol. A firm po- licy and prompt action was necessary. The Capitol Avas in danger, and must be de- fended at all hazards, and at any expense of men and money. He spoke of the pre- sent and future, without any reference to the past." Douglas followed this with a great speech at Chicago, in which be uttered a sentence that was soon quoted on nearly every Northern tongue. It was simply this, " that there now could be but two parties, patriots and traitors." It needed nothing more to rally the Douglas Democrats by the side of the Administration, and in the general feeling of patriotism awakened not only this class of Democrats, but many Northern supporters of Breckinridge also enlisted in the Union armies. The leaders who stood aloof and gave their sympathies to the South, were stigmatized as " Copper- heads," and these where they were so im- pudent as to give expression to their hos- tility, were as odious to the mass of North- erners as the Unionists of Tennessee and North Carolina were to the Secessionists — with this difference — that the latter were compelled to seek refuge in their moun- tains, while the Northern deader who sought to give " aid and comfort to the enemy " was either placed under arrest by the government or proscribed politically by his neighbors. Civil war is ever thus. Let us now pass to THE POLITICAL LEGISLATION^ INCIDENT TO THE WAR. The first session of the 37th Congress began July 4, 1861, and closed Aug. 6. The second began December 2, 1861, and closed July 17, 1862. The third began December 1, 1862 and closed March 4, 1863. All of these sessions of Congress were really embarrassed by the number of vol- unteers offering from the North, and sufli- ciently rapid provision could not be made for them. And as illustrative of how political lines had been broken, it need only be remarked that Benjamin F. Butler, the leader of the Northern wing of Breck- inridge's su.pporters, was commissioned as the first commander of the forces which Massachusetts sent to the field. New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio — the great West— all the States, more than met all early require- ments. So rapid were enlistments thatno song was as popular as that beginning with the lines : " We are coming, Father Abraham, Six hundred thousand strong." The first session of the 37th Congress w^as a special one, called by the President. McPherson, in his classification of the membership, shows the changes in a body made historic, if such a thing can be, not onlv bv its membership present, but that which had gone or made itself subject to MR. LINCOLN'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION, 131 •expulsion by siding with the Confederacy. We quote the list so concisely and correct- ly presented : MEMBERS OF THE 37TH CONGRESS. 3Iarch 4, 1861, to March 4, 1863. Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, Presi- dent of the Senate. SENATORS. Maine— Lot M. Morrill, Wm. Pitt Fes- senden. Neiv Hampshire — John P. Hale, Daniel Clark. Vermont — Solomon Foot, Jacob CoUa- mer. Massachusetts — Charles Sumner, Henry Wilson. Ehode Island — James F. Simmons,* Henry B. Anthony. Connecticut — James Dixon, Lafayette S. Poster. Neio York — Preston King, Ira Harris. New Jersey — John B. Thomson,* John €. Ten Eyck. Pennsylvania — David Wilmot, Edgar Cowan. Delawarer— James A. Bayard, Willard Saulsbury. Maryland — Anthony Kennedy, James A. Pearce.* Virginia* Ohio — Benjamin F. Wade, John Sher- man. Kentucky — Lazarus W. Powell, John C. Breckinridge.* Tennessee — Andrew Johnson. Indiana — Jesse D. Bright,* Henry S. Lane. Illinois — O. H. Browning,* Lyman Trumbull. Missouri— Tm^tQn Polk,* Waldo P. Johnson.* Michigan — Z. Chandler, K. S. Bing- ham.* Iowa — James W. Grimes, James Harlan. Wisconsin — James R. Doolittle, Timothy 0. Howe. California — Milton S. Latham, James A. McDougall. Minnesota — Henry M. Rice, Morton S. Wilkinson, Oregon — Edward D. Baker,* James W. Nesmith. Kansas — James H. Lane, S. C. Pomeroy. REPRESENTATIVES. Galusha a. Grow, of Pennsylvania, Speaker of the House. Maine — John N. Goodwin, Charles W. Walton,* Samuel C. Fessenden, Anson P. Morrill, John H. Rice, Frederick A. Pike. New Hamjjshire — Gilman Marston, Ed- ward H. Rollins, Thomas M. Edwards. Verinont — E. P. Walton, Jr., Justin S. MorriU, Portus Baxter. * Se« memorandum at the eml of list. Massachusetts — Thomas D. Eliot, James Buffinton, Benjamin F. Thomas, Alexan- der H. Rice, William Appleton,* John B. Alley, Daniel W. Gooch, Charles R. Train, Goldsmith F. Bailey,* Charles Delano, Henry L. Dawes. Rhode 76Z«?uZ — William P. Sheffield, George H. Browne. Connecticut — D wight Loomis, James E. English, Alfred A. Burnham,* George C. Woodruff. New I'or/c— Edward H. Smith, Moses F. Odell, Benjamin Wood, James E, Kerri- gan, William Wall, Frederick A. Conk- ling, Elijah Ward, Isaac C. Delaplaine, Edward Haight, Charles H. Van Wyck, John B. Steele, Stephen Baker, Abraham B. Olin, Erastus Corning, James B. Mc- Kean, William A. Wheeler, Socrates N. Sherman, Chauncey Vibbard, Richard Franchot, Roscoe Conkling, R. Holland Duell, William E. Lansing, Ambrose W. Clark, Charles B. Sedgwick, Theodore M. Pomeroy, Jacob P. Chamberlain, Alexan- der S. Diven, Robert B. Van Valkenburgh, Alfred Ely, Augustus Frank, Burt Van Horn, Elbridge G. Spalding, Reuben E. Fenton. New Jersey — John T. Nixon, John L. N. Stratton, William G. Steele, George T. Cobb, Nehemiah Perry. Pennsrjlvania—WiWiam E. Lehman, Charles J. Biddle,* John P. Verree, Wil- liam D. Kelley, William Morris Davis, John Hickmanj Thomas B. Cooper,* Syd- enham E. Ancona, Thaddeus Stevens, John W. Killinger, James H. Campbell, Hen- drick B. Wright, Philip Johnson, Galusha A. Grow, James T. Hale, Joseph Baily, Edward McPherson, Samuel S. Blair, John Covode, Jesse Lazear, James K. Moorhead, Robert McKnight, John W. Wallace, John Patton, Elijah Babbitt. Delaivare — George P. Fisher. Mcmjland— John W. Crisfield, Edwin H. Webster, Cornelius L. L. Leary, Henry May, Francis Thomas, Charles B. Calvert. Virginia — Charles H. Upton,* William G. Brown, John S. Carlile,* Kellian V. Whaley. Ohio — George H. Pendleton, John A. Gurley, Clement L. Vallaudigham, William Allen, James M. Ashley, Chilton A. White, Richard A. Harrison, Samuel Shella- barger, Warren P. Noble, Carey A. Trim- ble, Valentine B. Horton, Samuel S. Cox, Samuel T. Worcester, Harrison G. Blake, Robert H. Nugen, William R Cutler, James R. Morris, Sidney Edgerton, Albert G. Riddle, John Hutchins, John A. Bing- ham. Kentucky — Henry C. Burnett,* James S. Jackson,* Henry Grider, Aaron Harding, Charles A. WicklifFe, George W. Dunlap, Robert Mallory, John J. Crittenden, Wil- liam H. Wadsworth. John W. Menzies. See memornnduni at end of list. 132 AMERICAN POLITICS. Tennessee — Horace Maynard * Andrew J. Clements,* George W. Bridges.* Indiana — John Law, James A. Cravens, W. McKee Dunn, William S. Holman, George W. Julian, Albert G. Porter, Dan- iel W. Voorhees, Albert S. White, Schuyler Colfax, William Mitchell, John P. C. Shanks. Illinois — Elihu B. Washburne, Isaac N. Arnold, Owen Lovejoy, William Kellogg, William A. Richardson,* John A. Mc- Clernand,* James C. Robinson, Philip B. Fouke, John A. Logan.* Missouri — Francis P. Blair, Jr., James S. Rollins, John B. Clark,* Elijah H. Nor- ton, John W. Reid,* John S. Phelps,* John W. Noell. Michigan— -BrAAXeY F. Granger, Fer- nando C. Beaman, Francis W. Kellogg, Rowland E. Trowbridge. loH-a— Samuel R. Curtis,* William Van- dever. Wisconsin — John F. Potter, Luther Han- chett,* A. Scott Sloan. Minnesota— Qjxvi?, Aldrich, William Win- dom. Oregon — Andrew J. Thayer.* Kansas — Martin F. Conway. MEMOBAKDUM OF CHANGES. The following changes took place during the Congress : IN SENATE. BTiode Island— 1%Q,2, Dec. 1, Samuel G. Arnold succeeded James F. Simmons, re- signed. New Jersey— 1862, Dec. 1, Richard S. Field succeeded, by appointment, John R. Thompson, deceased Sept. 12, 1862. 1863, Jan. 21, James, W. Wall, succeeded, by election, Richard S. Field. Maryland— 1%QZ, Jan. 14, Thomas H. Hicks, first by appointment and then by election succeeded James A. Pearce, de- ceased Dec. 20, 1862. Virginia— l^Ql, July 13, John S. Carlile and Waitman T. Willey, sworn in place of Robert M. T. Hunter and James M. Mason, withdrawn and abdicated. Kentnclcy—lSQl, Dec. 23, Garrett Davis succeeded John C. Breckinridge, expelled December 4. Indiana — 1862, March 3, Joseph A. Wright succeeded Jesse D. Bright, expelled Feb. 5, 1863, Jan. 22, David Turpie, super- seded, bv election, Joseph A. Wright. Illinois— im^, Jan. 30, William A. Rich- ardson superseded, by election, O. H. Browning. Missouri— 1^Q>1, Jan. 24, R. Wilson suc- ceeded Waldo P. Johnson, expelled Jan. 10. 1862, Jan. 29, John B. Henderson suc- ceeded Trusten Polk, expelled Jan. 10. Michigan— 1%%^, Jan. 17, Jacob M. How- ard succeeded K. S. Bingham, deceased October 5, 1861. * Sec memorandum at end of list. Ore^oji— 1862, Dec. 1, Benjamin F. Hard- ing succeeded Edward D. Baker, deceased Oct. 21, 1862. IN HOUSE OF REPBESENTATIVES Maine — 1862, December 1, Thomas A. D. Fessenden succeeded Charles W. Wal- ton, resigned May 26, 1862. Massachusetts — 1861, December 1, Amasa Walker succeeded Goldsmith F. Bailey, deceased May 8, 1862; 1861, December 2, Samuel Hooper succeeded William Apple- ton, resigned. Connecticut — 1861, December 2, Alfred A. Burnham qualified. Pennsylvania — 1861, December 2,Charles J. Biddle qualified ; 1862, June 3, John D. Stiles succeeded Thomas B. Cooper, de- ceased April 4, 1862. Virgi7iia,—I861, July 13, John S. Carlile resigned to take a seat in the Senate ; 1861, December 2, Jacob B. Blair, succeeded John S. Carlile, resigned; 1862, February 28, Charles H. Upton unseated by a vote of the House; 1862, May 6, Joseph Segar qualified. Ke7itucky— 1862, December, 1, George H. Yeaman succeeded James S. Jackson, de- ceased ; 1862, March 10, Samuel L. Casey succeeded Henry C. Burnett, expelled De- cember 3, 1861. re?me*-see— 1861, December 2, Horace Maynard qualified ; 1862, January 13, An- drew J. Clements qualified ; 1863, Febru- ary 25, George W. Bridges qualified. ^Illinois— 1861, December 12, A. L. Knapp qualified, in place of J. A. McClernand, re- signed; 1862, June 2, William J. Allen qualified, in place of John A. Logan, re- signed ; 1863, January 30, William A. Rich- ardson withdrew to take a seat in the Senate. Missouri— 1862, January 21, Thomas L. Price succeeded John W. Reid, expelled December 2, 1861 ; 1862, January 20, Wil- liam A. Plall succeeded John B. Clark, ex- pelled July 13, 1861 ; 1862, May 9, John S. Phelps qualified. loica— 1861, December 2, James F. Wil- son succeeded Samuel R. Curtis, resigned August 4, 1861. Wisconsin— 186S, January 26, Walter D. Mclndoe succeeded Luther Hanchett, de- ceased November 24, 1862. Oregon— 1861, July 30, George K. Shiel succeeded Andrew J. Thayer, unseated. Louisiana— 186S, February 17, Michael Hahn qualified ; 1863, February 23, Ben- jamin F. Flanders qualified. Lincoln, in his message, recited the events which had transpired since his inauguration, and asked Congress to con- fer upon him the power to make the conflict short and decisive. He wanted 400,000 men, and four hundred millions of money, remarking that " the people will save their MR. LINCOLN'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. V6'6 govermneut if the government itself will do its part only indirterently well." Con- gress responded by adding an hundred thousand to each request. There were exciting debates and scenes during this session, for many of the South- ern leaders remained, either through hesi- tancy or with a view to check legislation and aid their section by adverse criticism on the measures proposed. Most promi- nent in the latter list was John C. Breckin- ridge, late Vice President and now Senator from Kentucky. With singular boldness and eloquence he opposed every war mea- sure, and spoke with the undisguised pur- pose of aiding the South. He continued this course until the close of the extra session, when he accepted a General's commission in the Confederate army. But before its close, Senator Baker of Oregon, angered at his general course, said in reply to one of Breckinridge's speeches, Aug. 1st : " What would the Senator from Ken- tucky, have? These speeches of his, sown broadcast over the land, what clear distinct meaning have they? Are they not intend- ed for disorganization in our very midst ? Are they not intended to destroy our zeal ? Are they not intended to animate our enemies ? Sir, are they not words of bril- liant 23olished treasox, even in the very Capitol of the Republic ?" [Here there were such manifestations of applause in the gal- leries, as were with difficulty suppressed.] Mr. Baker resumed, and turning directly to Mr. Breckinridge, inquired : " What would have been thought, if, in another Capitol, in another republic, in a yet more martial age, a Senator as grave, not more eloquent or dignified than the Senator from Kentucky, yet with the Roman purple flowing over his shoulders, had risen in his place, surrounded by all the illustrations of Roman glory, and de- clared that the cause of the advancing Hannibal was just, and that Carthage ought to be dealt with in terms of peace? What would have been thought if, after the bat- tle of Cannae, a Senator there had risen in his place, and denounced every levy of the Eoman people, every expenditure of its treasure, and every app'iial to the old recol- lections and the old glories ?" There was a silence so profound through- out the Senate and galleries, that a pinfall could have been heard, while every eye was fixed upon Breckinridge. Fessenden ■exclaimed in deep low tones, " he would have been hurled from the Tarpeian Rock !" Baker resumed : " Sir, a Senator himself learned far more than myself, in such lore, ( Mr. Fessenden ) tells me, in a low voice, " he would have been hurled from the Tarpeian Rock." It is a grand commentary upon the American Constitution, that we permit these words of the Senator from Ken- tucky, to be uttered. I ask the Senator to recollect, to what, save to send aid and comfort to the enemy, do these pre- dictions amount to ? Every word thus utter- ed, falls as a note of inspiration upon every Confederate ear. Every sound thus utter- ed, is a word, (and falling from his lii)s, a mighty word) of kindling and triumph to the foe that determines to advance." The Republicans of the North were the distinctive "war party," i. e., they gave unqualified support to every demand made by the Lincoln administration. Most of the Democrats, acting as citizens, did like- wise, but many of those in official position, assuming the prerogative of a minority, took the liberty in Congress and State Legislature to criticise the more imjjortant war measures, and the extremists went so far, in many instances, as to organize oppo- sition, and to encourage it among their constituents. Thus in tlie States bordering the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, organized and individual efforts were made to encour- age desertions, and the " Knights of the Golden Circle," and the "Sons of Liberty," secret societies composed of Northern sym- pathizers with the South, formed many troublesome conspiracies. Through their action troops were even enlisted in South- ern Indiana, Illinois and Missouri for the Confederate armies, while the border States in the Union sent whole regiments to bat- tle for the South. The " Knights of the Golden Circle " conspired to release Con- federate prisoners of war, and invited Mor- gan to raid their States. One of the worst forms of oj^position took shape in a con- spiracy to resist the draft in New York city. The fury of the mob was several days beyond control, and troops had to be recalled from the front to suppress it. The riot was really political, the prejudices of the mob under cover of resistance to the draft, being vented on the negroes, many of whom were killed before adequate num- bers could be sent to their succor. The civil authorities of the city were charged with winking at the occurrence, and it was afterwards ascertained that Confederate agents really organized the riot as a move- ment to " take the enemy in the rear." The Republican was as distinctively the war ])arty during the Great Rebellion, as the Whigs were during the Revolution, the Democratic-Republicans during the War of 1812, and the Democi'ats during the War with Mexico, and, as in all of these war decades, kept the majority sentiment of the country with them. This is such a plain statement of facts that it is neither jiartisan to assert, nor a mark of party- fealty to deny. The history is indelibly written. It is stamped upon nearly every war measure, and certainly upon every political measure incident to growing out of the rebellion. 134 AMERICAN POLITICS. These were exciting and memorable scenes in the several sessions of the 37th Congress. During the first many Southern Senators and Eepresentatives withdrew after angry statements of their reasons, generally in obedience to calls from their States or immediate homes. In this way the majority was changed. Others re- mained until the elope of the first session, and then more quietly entered the rebellion. We have shown that of this class was Breckinridge, who thought he could do more good for his cause in the Federal Congress than elsewhere, and it is well for the Union that most of his colleagues dis- agreed with him as to the propriety and wisdom of his policy. If all had followed his lead or imitated his example, the war would in all probability have closed in an- other compromise, or possibly in the ac- complishment of southern separations. These men could have so obstructed legis- lation as to make all its early periods far more discouraging than they were. As it was the Confederates had all the advan- tages of a free and fair start, and the etfect was traceable in all of the early battles and negotiations with foreign powers. There was one way in which these advan- tages could have been supported and con- tinued. Breckenridge, shrewd and able politician as he was, saw that the way was to keep Southern Representatives in Con- gress, at least as long as Northern senti- ment would abide it, and in this way win victories at the very fountain-head of power. But at the close of the extra ses- sion this view had become unpopular at both ends of the line, and even Brecken- ridge abandoned it and sought to hide his original purj^ose by immediate service in the Confederate armies. It will be noted that those who vacated their seats to enter the Confederacy were afterwards expelled. In this connection a curious incident can be related, occuring as late as the Senate session of 1882 : The widow of the late Senator Nichol- son, of Tennessee, who was in the Senate when Tennessee seceded, a short time ago sent a petition to Congress asking that the salary of her late husband, after he return- ed to Tennessee, might be paid to her. Mr. Nicholson's term would have expired in 1865 had he remained in his seat. He did not appear at the special session of Congress convened in July, 18(31, and with other Senators from the South was expelled from the Senate on July 11th of that yenr. The Senate Committee on Claims, after examining the case thoroughly, submitted to the Senate an adverse report. After giving a concise history of the case the committee say : " We do not deem it proper, after the expiration of twenty years, to pass special acts of Congress to compen- sate the Senators and Representatives who seceded in 1861 for their services in the- early part of that year. We recommend that the claim of the petitioner be disal- lowed." The Sessions of the 37th Congress changed the political course of many pub- lic men. It made the Southern believers in secession still more vehement ; it sepa- rated the Southern Unionists from their former friends, and created a wall of fire between them ; it changed the temper of Northern Abolitionists, in so far as to drive from them all spirit of faction, all pride of methods, and compelled them to unite with a republican sentiment which was ipaking sure advances i'rom the original declara- tion that slavery should not be extended to the Territories, to emancipation, and, finally, to the arming of the slaves. It changed many Northern Democi-ats, and from the ranks of these, even in represen- tative positions, the lines of the Repub- licans were constantly strengthened on pivotal questions. On the 27th of July Breckinridge had said in a speech : " When traitors become numerous enough treason becomes respectable." Senator Andi'ew Johnson, of Tennessee, replied to this, and said : " God being willing, whether traitors be many or few, as I have hitherto waged war against traitors and treason, I intend to continue it to the end." And yet John- son had the year before warmly supported Breckinridge in his presidential campaign. Among the more conspicuous Republi- cans ai^d anti-Lecompton Democrats in this session were Charles Sumner, a man who then exceeded all others in scholarly attainments and as an orator, though he was not strong in current debate. Great care and preparation marked every impor- tant effort, but no man's speeches were more admired throughout the North, and hated thrf)Ughout the South, than those of Charles Sumner. An air of romance sur- rounded the man, because he was the first victim of a senatorial outrage, when beaten by Brooks of South Carolina ; but, sneered his political enemies, " no man more care- fully preserved his wounds for exhibition to a sympathetic world." He had some minor weaknesses, which were constantly displayed, and these centred in egotism and high personal pride — not very popular traits — but no enemy was so malicious as to deny his greatness. Fessenden of Maine was one of the great lights of that day. He was apt, almost beyond example, in debate, and was a re- cognized leader of the Republicans until, in the attempt to impeach President John- son, he disagreed with the majority of ln's party and stepped " down ancl out." Yet no one questioned his integrity, and all be- lieved that his vote was cast on this ques- tion in a line with his convictions. The leading character in the House was Thad- MU. LINCOLN'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 135 deus Stevens, an original Abolitionist in sentiment, but a man eminently practical and shrewd in all his methods. The chances of politics often carry men into the Presidential Chair, into Cabinets, and with later and demoralizing frequency into Senate seats ; but chance never makes a Commoner, and Thaddeus Stevens was throughout the war, and up to the hour of his death, recognized as the great Com- moner of the Northern people. He led in every House battle, and a more unflinch- ing "party leader was never known to par- liamentary bodies. Limp and infirm, he was not liable to personal assault, even in days when such assaults were common ; but when on one occasion his fiery tongue had so exasperated the Southerners in Congress as to make them show their knives and pistols, he stepped out into the aisle, and facing, bid them defiance. He was a Radical of the Radicals, and con- stantly contended that the government — the better to preserve itself— could travel outside of the Constitution. What cannot be said of any other inan in history, can be said of Thaddeus Stevens. When he lay dead, carried thus from Washington to his home in Lancaster, with all of his people knowing that he was dead, he was, on the day following the arrival of his corpse, and within a few squares of his re- sidence, unanimously renominated by the Republicans for Congress. If more poetic and less practical sections or lands than the North had such a hero, hallowed by such an incident, both the name and the inci- dent would travel down the ages in song and story.* The " rising " man in the 37th Congress was Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, elected Speaker of the 38th, and subsequently Vice President. A great parliamentarian he was gifted with rare eloquence, and with a kind which won friends without offending enemies — something too rare to last. In the House were also Justin S Morrill, the author of the Tariff Bill which supplied the " sinews of war," Henry L Dawes of Massachusetts, then " the man of Statistics" and the "watch-dog of the treasury." Roscoe Conkling was then the admitted leader of the New York delega- tion, as he was the admitted mental superior of any other in subsequent terms in the Senate, up to the time of his resigna- tion in 1881. Reuben E. Fenton, his factional opponent, was also there. Ohio was strongly represented in both parties — Pendleton, Cox and Vallaiidigham on the side of the Democrats ; Bingham and Ash- ley on the part of the Republicans. Illi- nois showed four prominent anti-Lecomp- ton supporters of the administration — *This incident was related to the writer by Col. A. K. McCluie of Philadelphia, who was in Lancaster at the time. Douglas in the Senate; Logan, McCler- nand and Richardson in the House; while prominent among the Rei)ublicans were Lovejoy (an original Abolitionist), Wa.sh- burne, a candidate for the Presidential nomination in 1880— Kellogg and Arnold. John F. Potter was one of the ])roiiiinent Wisconsin men, wlio had won additional fame by accei>ting the challenge to duel of Roger A. Pryor of Virginia, and naming the American rille as the v*'capon. Fortu- nately the duel did not come oil'. Penn- sylvania had then, as she still has. Judge Kelley of Philadelphia, chairman of Ways and Means in the 4(5tli Congress ; also Edward ^dcPherson, frequently since Clerk of the House, temporary President of the Cincinnati Convention, whose decision overthrew the unit rule, and author of several valuable political works, some of which we freely quote in this history. John Hickman, subsequently a Republi- can, but one of the earliest of the anti- Lecompton Democrats, was an admitted leader, a man of rare force and eloquence. So radical did he become that he refused to support the re-election of Lincoln. He was succeeded by John M. Broomall, who made several fine speeches in favor of the constitutional amendments touching slavery and civil rights. Here also were James Campbell, Hendricks B. Wright, John Covode, James K. Morehead, and' Speaker Grow — the father of the Home- stead Bill, which will be found in Book v., giving the Existing Political Laws. At this session Senator Trumbull of Illinois, renewed the agitation of the slavery question, by reporting from the Judiciary Committee of which he was Chairman, a bill to confiscate all property and free all slaves used for insurrectionary purposes.* Breckinridge fought the bill, as indeed he did all bills coming from the Republicans, and said if passed it would eventuate in "the loosening of all bonds." Among the facts stated in support of the measure was this, that the Confederates had at Bull Run used the negroes and slares against the Union army — a state- ment never well established. The bill passed the Senate by 33 to 6, and on the od of August passed the House, though several Republicans there voted againstit, fearing a too rapid advance would preju- dice the Union cau-^e. Indeed this fear was entertained by Lincoln when he re- commended COMPENSATED EMANCIPaTIOX in the second session of the 37th Congress, which recommendation excited oflicial dis- cussion almost up to the time the emanci- pation proclamation was issued as a war necessity. The idea of compensated eman- *Arnold"s "History of Abraham Lincoln." 136 AMERICAN POLITICS. cipation originated with or was first form- ulated by James B. McKean of New York, who on Feb. 11th, 1861, at the 2d session of the 36th Congress, introduced the fol- lowing resolution : Whereas, The "Gulf States" have as- sumed to secede from the Union, and it is deemed important to prevent the " border slave States " from following their exam- | pie ; and whereas it is believed that those | who are inflexibly opposed to any measure of compromise or concession that involves, or may involve, a sacrifice of principle or the extension of slavery, would neverthe- less cheerfully concur in any lawful measure for the emancipation of the slaves : Therefore, Resolved, That the select committee of five be instructed to inquire whether, by the consent of the people, or of the State governments, or by compensating the slaveholders, it be practicable for the Gen- eral Government to procure the emancipa- tion of the slaves in some, or all, of the "bor- der States ;" and if so, to report a bill for that purpose. Lincoln was so strongly impressed with the fact, in the earlier struggles of the war, that great good would follow compensated emancipation, that on March 2d, 1862, he sent a special message to the 2d session of the 37th Congress, in which he said : " I recommend the adoption of a joint resolution by your honorable bodies, which shall be substantially as follows : Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giv- ing to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to comj^en- sate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of sys- tem. " If the proposition contained in the resolution does not meet the approval of Congress and the country, there is the end ; but if it does command such approval, I deem it of importance that the States and people immediately interested should be at once distinctly notified of the fact, so that they, may begin to consider whether to accept or reject it. The Federal Govern- ment would find its highest interest in such a measure, as one of the most efficient means of self-preservation. The leaders of the existing insurrection entertain the hope that this Government will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the independence of some part of the disaffected region, and that all the slave States north of such part will then say, 'the Union for which we have struggled being already gone, we now choose to go with the southern section.' To deprive them of this hope, substantially ends the rebellion ; and the initiation of emancipation completely deprives them of it as to all the States initiating it. The point is not that cdl the States tolerating slavery would very soon, if at all, initiate emancipation; but that, while the offer is equally made to all, the more northern shall, by such initiation, make it certain to the more southern that in no event will the former ever join the latter in the"ir pro- posed confederacy. I say ' initiation,' be- cause, in my judgment, gradual, and not sudden emancipation, is better for all. In the mere financial or pecuniary view, any member of Congress, with the census tables and Treasury reports before him, can readily see for himself how very soon the current expenditures of this war would purchase, at fair valuation, all the slaves in any named State. Such a proposition on the part of the General Government sets up no claim of a right by Federal authority to interfere with slavery within State limits, referring, as it does the abso- lute control of the subject in each case to the State and its people immediately in- terested. It is proposed as a matter of per- fectly free choice with them. " In the annual message last December, I thought fit to say, ' the Union must be preserved; and hence all indispensable means must be employed.' I said this not hastily, but deliberately. War has been made, and continues to be an indispensa- ble means to this end. A practical reac- knowledgment of the national authority would render the war unnecessary, and it would at once cease. If, however, resist- ance continues, the war must also continue ; and it is impossible to foresee all the inci- dents which may attend, and all the ruin which may follow it. Such as may seem indispensable, or may obviously promise great efficiency toward ending the strug- gle, must and will come. " The proposition now made, though an offer only, I hope it may be esteemed no offence to ask whether the pecuniary con- sideration tendered would not be of more value to the States and private persons concerned, than are the institution, and property in it, in the present aspect of affairs ? " While it is true that the adoption of the proposed resolution would be merely initiatory, and not within itself a practical measure, it is recommended in the hope that it would soon lead to important prac- tical results. In full view of my great re- sponsibility to my God and to my country, I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the people to the subject." Mr. Conkling called the question up in the House March 10th, and under a sus- pension of the rules, it was passed by 97 to 36. It passed the Senate April 2, by 32 to 10, the Republicans, as a rule, voting for it, the Democrats, as a rule, voting against it; and this was true even of those in the Border States. COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION. 137 The fact last stated excited t\w notice of President Lincoln, and in July, lS()-2, he sought an interview with the Border State Congressmen, the result of which is con- tained in'McPherson's Political Histori/ of the Great Rebellion, as follows : Tlie President's Appeal to tlie Border States. The Eepresentatives and Senators of the border slaveholding States, having, by special invitation of the President, been convened at the Executive Mansion, on Saturday morning last, (July 12,) Mr. Lincoln addressed them as follows from a written paper held in his hand : " Gentlemen : After the adjournment of Congress, now near, I shall have no opportunitv of seeing you for several months. Believing that you of the border States hold more power for good than any other equal number of members, I feel it a duty which I cannot justifiably waive, to make this appeal to you. "I intend no reproach or conaplaint when I assure you that, in my opinion, if you all had voted for the resolution in the gradual emancipation message of last March, the war would now be substantially ended. And the plan therein proposed is yet one of the most potent and swift means of ending it. Let the States which are in rebellion see definitely and certainly that in no event will the States you represent ever join their proposed Confederacy, and they cannot much longer maintain the contest. But you cannot divest them of their hope to ultimately have you with them so long as you show a determination to perpetuate the institution within your own States. Beat them at elections, as you have overwhelmingly done, and, noth- ing daunted, they still claim you as their own. You and I know what the lever of their power is. Break that lever before their- faces, and they can shake you no more forever. "Most of you have treated me with kindness and consideration, and I trust you will not now think I improperly touch what is exclusively your own, when, for the sake of the whole country, I ask, ' Can you, for your States, do better than to take the course I urge? ' Discarding punctilio and maxims adapted to more manageable times, and looking only to the unorece- dentedly stern facts of our case, can you do better in any possible event ? You prefer that the constitutional relations of the States to the nation shall be practicallv restored without disturbance of the insti- tution ; and, if this were done, my whole duty, in this respect, under the Constitu- tion and my oath of office, would be per- formed, pint it is not done, and we are trying to accomplish it by war. The incidents of the war cannot be avoided. If the war continues long, as it must, if the object be not sooner attained, the in- stitution in your States will be ex- tinguished by mere friction and abrasion — by the mere incidents of the war. It will be gone, and you will have nothing valuable in lieu of it. Mueh of its value is gone already. How much better for you and for your people to take the step which at once shortens the war and secures substantial compensation for that which is sure to be wholly lost in any other event! How much better to thus save the money which else we sink forever in the war! How much better to do it while we can, lest the war ere long render us pecuniarily unable to do it ! How much better for you, as seller, and the nation, as buyer, to sell out and buy out that without which the war could never have been, than to sink both tlie thing to be sold and the price of it in cutting one another's throats ! " I do not speak of .emancipation at once, but of a decision at once to emancipate fjmd^ialhj. Room in South America for colonization can be obtained cheaply and in abundance, and when numbers shall be large enough to be company and encour- agement for one another, the freed people will not be so reluctant to go. "I am pressed with a difficulty not yet mentioned, one which threatens division among those who, united, are none too strong. An instance of it is known to you. General Hunter is an honest man. He was, and I hope still is, my friend. I valued him none the less for his agreeing with me in the general wish that all men everywhere could be freed. He proclaimed all men free within certain States, and I repudiated the proclamation. He expected more good and less harm from the measure than I could believe would follow. _ Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offence, to many whose support the country cannot afford to lose. And this is not the end of it. The pressure in this direction is still upon me, and is increas- ing. By conceding what I now ask you can relieve me, and, much more, can re- lieve the country in this important point. " Upon these considerations I have again beeged vour attention to the mes- sage of "March last. Before leaving the Capitol, consider and discuss it among vourselves. You are patriots and states- "men, and as such I pray you consider this proposition ; and at the least commend it to the consideration of your States and people. x\.s you would perpetuate popular government " for the best people in the world, I beseech you that you do in no* wise omit this. "Our common countrj- is in great peril, demanding the loftiest 138 AMERICAN POLITICS. views and boldest action to bring a speedy relief. Once relieved, its form of govern- ment is saved to the world, its beloved history and cherished memories are vin- dicated, and its happy future fully assured and rendered inconceivably grand. To you, more than to any others, the privi- lege is given to assure that happiness and swell that grandeur, and to link your own names therewith forever." At the conclusion of these remarks some conversation was had between the President and several members of the delegations from the border States, in which it was represented that these States could not be expected to move in so great a matter as that brought to their notice in the foregoing address while as yet the Congress had taken no step beyond the passage of a resolution, expressive rather of a sentiment than presenting a substan- tial and reliable basis of action. The President acknowledged the force of this view, and admitted that the border States were entitled to expect a substantial pledge of pecuniary aid as the condition of taking into consideration a proposition so important in its relations to their social system. It was further represented, in the con- ference, that the people of the border States were interested in knowing the great importance which the President attached to the policy in question, while it was equally due to the country, to the President, and to themselves, that the representatives of the border slave-holding States should publicly announce the mo- tives under which they were called to act, and the considerations of public policy urged upon them and their constituents by the President. With a view to such a statement of their position, the members thus addressed met in council to deliberate on the reply they should make to the President, and, as the result of a comparison of opinions among themselves, they determined upon the adoption of a majority and minority an- swer. KEPLY OF THE MAJORITY. The following paper was yesterday sent to the President, signed by the majority of the Representatives from the border slave- holding States : — Washington, July 14, 18G2. To the President : The undersigned, Representatives of Kentucky, Virginia, Missouri, and Mary- land, in the two Houses of Congress, have listened to your address with the profound sensibility naturally inspired by the high source from which it emanates, the earn- estness which marked its delivery, and the overwhelming importance of the sub- ject of which it treats. We have given it a most respectful consideration, and now lay before you our response. We regret that want of time has not permitted us to make it more perfect. We have not been wanting, Mr. Presi- dent, in respect to you, and in devotion to the Constitution and the Union. We have not been indifferent to the great dif- ficulties surrounding you, compared with which all former national troubles have been but as the summer cloud ; and we have freely given you our sympathy and support. Repudiating the dangerous here- sies of the secessionists, we believed, with you, that the war on their part is aggressive and wicked, and the objects for which it was to be prosecuted on ours, defined by your message at the opening of the pres- ent Congress, to be such as all good men should approve. We have not hesitated to vote all supplies necessary to carry it on vigorously. We have voted all the men and money you have asked for, and even more ; we have imposed onerous taxes on our people, and they are paying them with cheerfulness and alacrity ; we have encouraged enlistments and sent to the , field many of our best men ; and some of our number have offered their persons to the enemy as pledges of their sincerity and devotion to the country. We have done all this under the most discouraging circumstances, and in the face of measures most distasteful to us and injurious to the interests we repre- sent, and in the hearing of doctrines avowed by those who claim to be your friends, must be abhorrent to us and our constituents. But, for all this, we have never faltered, nor shall we as long as we have a Constitution to defend and a Gov- ernment which protects us. And we are ready for renewed efforts, and even greater sacrifices, yea, any sacrifice, when we are satisfied it is required to preserve our admirable form of government and the priceless blessings of constitutional li- berty. A few of our number voted for the resolution recommended by your message of the Oth of March last, the greater por- tion of us did not, and we will briefly state the prominent reasons Avhich in- fluenced our action. In the first place, it proposed a radical change of our social system, and was hur- ried through both Houses with undue haste, without reasonable time for consid- eration and debate, and with no time at all for consultation with our constituents,, whose interests it deeply involved. It seemed like an interference by this Gov- ernment with a question which peculiarly and exclusively belonged to our respective States, on which they had not sought ad- vice or solicited aid. Many of us doubted COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION 139 the constitutional power of this Govern- ment to make appropriations of money for the object designated, and all of us thought our finances were in no condition to bear the immense outlay which its adoption and faithful execution would impose upon the national Treasury If we pause but a moment to think of the debt its accept- ance would have entailed, we are appalled bv its magnitude. The proposition was addressed to all the States, and embraced the whole number of slaves. According to the census of 1860 there were then nearly four million slaves in the country ; from natural increase they exceed that number now. At even the low average of $300, the price fixed by the emancipa- tion act for the slaves of this District, and greatly below their real worth, their value runs up to the enormous sum of $1,200,- 000,000 ; and if to that we add the cost of deportation and colonization, at 8100 each, which is but a fraction more than is ac- tuallv paid bv the Maryland Colonization Society, we have $400,000,000 more. We were liot willing to impose a tax on our people sufficient to paj^ the interest on that sum, in addition to the vast and daily in- creasing debt already fixed upon them by the exigencies of the war, and if we had been willing, the country could not bear it. Stated in this form the proposition is noth- ing less than the deportation from the country of $1,600,000,000 worth of produc- ing labor, and the sulDstitution in its place of an interest-bearing debt of the same amount. But, if we are told that it was expected that only the States we represent would accept the i^roposition, we respectfully submit that even then it involves a sum too great for the financial ability of this Government at this time. According to the census of 1860— Sign's. Kentuckv had 22"', 400 Maryland S7,1S8 Virginia 4iM 1,8^7 Delaware 1,708 Missouri 114,965 Tennessee 275,784 Making in the whole _. 1,196,112 At the same rate of valuation these would amount to.... $358,933,500 Add for deportation and colo- nization $100 each 118,244,533 And we have the enormous sum of. $478,038,133 We did not feel that we should be justi fied in voting for a measure which, if car ried out, would add this vast amount to our public debt at a moment when the Treasury was reeling under the enormous expenditure' of the war. Again, it seemed to us that this resolu- tion was but the annunciation of a senti- ment which could not or was not likely to be reduced to an actual tangible proposi- tion. No movement was tiien made to [irovidc and appropriate the funds required to carry it into efi'ect ; and we were not en- couraged to believe that funds would be provided. And our belief has been fully justified by subsequent events. Not to mention other circumstances, it is quite sufficient for our purpose to bring to your notice the fact that, while this resolution was under consideration in the Senate, our colleague, the Senator from Kentucky, moved an amendment appropriating $500,- 000 to the object therein designated, and it was voted down with great un animity. What confidence, then, could we reasonably feel that if we committed ourselves to the policy it proposed, our constituents would reap the fruits of the promise held out ; and on what ground could we, as fair men, approach them and challenge their sup- port? The right to hold slaves is a right apper- taining to all the States of this Union. They have the right to cherish or abolish the institution, as their tastes or their in- terests may prompt, and no one is autho- rized to question the right or limit the en- joyment. And no one has more clearly affirmed that right than you have. Your inaugural address does you great honor in. this respect, and inspired the country with confidence in your fairness and respect for the law. Our States are in the enjoyment of that right. We do not feel called on ta defend the institution or to affirm it is one which ought to be cherished ; perhaps, if we were to make the attempt, we might find that we differ even among ourselves. It is enough for our purpose to know that it is a right ; and, so knowing, we did not see why we should now be expected tO' yield it. We had contributed _ our full share to relieve the country at this terrible crisis ; we had done as much as had been required of others in like circumstances ; and Ave did not see why .sacrifices should be expected of us from" which others, no more loyal, were exempt. Nor could we see what good the nation would derive from it. Such a sacrifice submitted to Irv us would not have strengthened the arm of this Government or weakened that of the enemv. It was not necessary as a pledge of our loyalty, for that had been mani- festecl beyond" a reasonable doubt, in every form, and at every place possible. There was not the remotest probability that the States Ave represent would join in the re- bellion, nor is there noAV, or of the'r elect- ing to go Avith the southern section in the CA-entof a reeon:nition of the independence oi anv part of the disaffected region. Our 140 AMERICAN POLITICS. States are fixed unalterably in their reso- 1 lution to adhere to and support the Union. They see no safety for themselves, and no hope for constitutional liberty but by its preservation. They will, under no cir- 1 cumstances, consent to its dissolution ; and ; we do them no more than justice when we [ assure you that, while the war is conducted i to prevent that deplorable catastrophe, they will sustain it as long as they can | muster a man or command a dollar. Nor will they ever consent, in any event, to unite with the Southern Confederacy. The \ bitter fruits of the peculiar doctrines of that region will forever prevent them from placing their security and happiness in the custody of an association which has incor- porated in its organic law the seeds of its own destruction. Mr. President, we have stated with frank- ness and candor the reasons on which we forbore to vote for the resolution you have mentioned ; but you have again presented this proposition, and appealed to us with an earnestness and eloquence which have not failed to impress us, to " consider it, and at the least to commend it to the con- sideration of our States and people." Thus appealed to by the Chief Magistrate of our beloved country, in the hour of its greatest peril, we cannot wholly decline. We are willing to trust every question relating to their interest and happiness to the con- sideration and ultimate judgment of our own people. While differing from you as to the necessity of emancipating the slaves of our States as a means of putting down the rebellion, and while protesting against the propriety of any extra-territorial inter- ference to induce the people of our States to adopt any particular line of policy on a subject which peculiarly and exclusively belongs to them, yet, when you and our brethren of the loyal States sincerely be- lieve that the retention of slavery by us is an obstacle to peace and national harmony, and are willing to contribute pecuniary aid to compensate our States and jaeople for the inconveniences produced by such a change of system, Ave are not unwilling that our people shall consider the propriety of putting it aside. But we have already said that we re- garded this resolution as the utterance of a sentiment, and we had no confidence that it would assume the shape of a tangi- ble, practical proposition, which would yield the fruits of the sacrifice it required. Our people are influenced by the same want of confidence, and will not consider the proposition in its present impalpable form. The interest they are asked to give up is to them of much importance, and they ought not to be expected even to en- tertain the proposal until they are assured that when they accept it their just expect- ations will not be frustrated. We regard your plan as a proposition from the Nation to the States to exercise an admitted con- stitutional right in a particular manner and yield up a valuable interest. Before they ought to consider the proposition, it should be presented in such a tangible, practical, eificient shape as to command their confidence that its fruits are contin- gent only upon their acceptance. We can- not trust anything to the contingencies of future legislation. If Congress, by proper and necessary legislation, shall provide sufficient funds and place them at your disposal, to be ap- plied by you to the payment of any of our States or the citizens thereof who shall adopt the abolishment of slavery, either gradual or immediate, as they may deter- mine, and the expense of deportation and colonization of the liberated slaves, then will our State and people take this propo- sition into careful consideration, for such decision as in their judgment is demanded by their interest, their honor, and their duty to the whole country. We have the honor to be, with great respect, C. A. WiCKLIFFE, Ch'n, Garrett Davis, R. Wilson, J. J. Crittendek", John S. Carlile, J. W. Crisfield, J. S. Jackson, H. Grider, John S. Phelps, Francis Thomas, Chas. B. Calvert, C. L. Leary, Edwin H. Webster, E. Mallory, Aaron Harding, James S. Rollins, J. W. Menzies, Thomas L. Price, G. W. DUNLAP; Wm. a. Hall. Others of the minority, among them Sen- ator Henderson and Horace Maynard, for- warded separate replies, but all rejecting the idea of compensated emancipation. Still Lincoln adhered to and advocated it in his recent annual message sent to Con- gress, Dec. 1, 1862, from Avhicli we take the following paragraphs, which are in themselves at once curious and interesting : " We have two million nine hundred and sixty-three thousand square miles. Europe has three million and eight hundred thou- sand, with a population averaging seventy- three and one-third persons to the square mile. Why may not our country, at some time, average as many? Is it less fertile? Has it more waste surface, by mountains, rivers, lakes, deserts, or other causes ? Is it inferior to Europe in any natural ad- EMANCIPATION. 141 vantage ? If, then, we are at some time to be as "populous as Europe, how soon? As to when this may be, we can judge by the past and the present ; as to when it unll be, if ever, depends much on whether we maintain tlie Union. Several of our States are already above the average of Europe — seventy-three and a third to the square mile. Massachusetts has 157 ; Rhode Island, 133 ; Connecticut, 99 ; New York and New Jersey, each, 80. Also two other great states, Pennsylvania and Ohio, are not far below, the former having 63 and the latter 59. The states already above the European average, except New York, have increased in as rapid a ratio, since passing that point, as ever before ; while no one of them is equal to some other parts of our country in natural capacity for sus- taining a dense population. ■'Taking the nation in the aggregate, and we find its population and ratio of in- crease, for the several decennial periods, to be as follows : 1790 3,929,827 Ratio of increase. 1800 5,305,937 35.02 per cent. 1810 7,239,814 36.45 " 1820 9,638,131 33.13 " 1830 12,866,020 33.49 " 1S40 17,069,453 32.67 " 1850 23,191,876 35.87 " 1860 31,443,790 35.58 This shows an annual decennial increase of 34.69 per cent, in population through the seventy years from our first to our last census yet taken. It is seen that the ratio of increase, at no one of these seven periods is either two per cent, below or two per cent, above the average ; thus showing how inflexible, and, consequently, how reliable, the law of increase in our case is. Assum- ing that it will continue, gives the follow- ing results : 1870 42,323,341 1880 56,967,216 1890 76,677,872 1900 103,208,415 1910 138,918,526 1920 186,984,335 1930 251,680,914 " These figures show that our country may be as populous as Europe now is at some point between 1920 and 1930 — say about 1925 — our territory, at seventy-three and a third persons to the square mile, be- ing of capacity to contain 217,186,000. " And we ^vill reach this, too, if we do not ourselves relinquish the chance by the folly and evils of disunion, or by long and exhausting war springing from the only great element of natif)n'il discord among us. While it cannot be foreseen exactly how much one huge example of secession, breeding lesser ones indefinitely, would re- tard population, civilization, and prosperity no one can doubt that the extent of it would be very great and injurious. The proposed emancipation would short- en the Avar, i)erpctuate peace, insure this increase of pojtulation, and proportionately the wealth of the country. With these, we should pay all the emancipation would cost, together with our other debt, easier than we should pay our other debt without it. If we had allowed our old national debt to run at six per cent, per annum, simple in- terest, from the end of our revolutionary struggle until to-day, without ])aying any- thing on either principal or interest, each man of us would owe less upon that debt now than each man owed upon it then ; and this because our increase of men through the whole period has been greater than six per cent. ; has run faster than the interest upon the debt. Thus, time alone relieves a debtor nation, so long as its popu- lation increases foster than unpaid interest accumulates on its debt. "This fact would be no excuse for de- laying payment of what is justly due ; but it shows "the great importance of time in this connection — the great advantage of a l^olicy by which we shall not have to pay until we number a hundred millions, what, by a different policy, we would have to pay now, when we number but thirty-one mil- lions. In a word, it shows that a dollar will be much harder to pay for the war than will be a dollar for emancipation on the proposed plan. And then the latter will cost no blood, no precious life. It will be a saving of both." Various propositions and measures re- lating to compensated emancipation, were afterwards considered in both Houses, but it was in March, 1863, dropped after a refusal of the House to suspend the rules for the consideration of the subject. Binanclpatloii as a AVar Necessity. Before the idea of compensated emanci- pation had been dropped, and it was con- stantly discouraged by the Democrats and Border Statesmen, President Lincoln had determined upon a more radical policy, and on the 22d of September, 1862, issued his celebrated ])r()clamation declaring that he would enianci])ate "all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States" — by the first of January, 1863, if such sections were not " in good faith represented in Congress." He followed this by actual emancipation at the time stated. Proclamation of Sept. 33, 1S63. I, Abraham Lixcolx, President of the United States of America, and Commander- in-Chief of the army and navy thereef, do 142 AMERICAN POLITICS. hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as hei'etofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States and each of the States and the peo- ple thereof, in which States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed. That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practicat measure tender- ing pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all slave States, so called, the people thereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, imme- diate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respected limits; and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent with their consent upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the Governments existing there, will be continued. That on the iirst day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun- dred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such jjersons, and will do no act or acts to repress such per- sons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, de- signate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof respective- ly, shall then be in rebellion against the United States ; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed con- clusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not in rebellion against the United States. That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled " An act to make an additional article of war," approved March 13, 1862, and which act is in the words and figures following : '' Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Fepresentatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the following shall be promulga- ted as an additional article of war, for the government of the army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such. " Article — . All. officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective com- mands for the purpose of returning fugi- tives from service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service. "Sec. 2. A7id be it further enacted, That this act " shall take effect from and after its passage." Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled " An act to suppress insur- rection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the w^ords and figures following : " Sec. 9. Andbeit further enacted, That all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Govern- ment of the United States or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escap- ing from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army ; and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them, and coming under the control of the Government of the United States ; and all slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deem- ed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves. "Sec. 10. Andbeit further enacted, That no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United Stages in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto ; and no person engaged in the military or naval service of the LTnited States shall, under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on'^the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other per- son, or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from, the service." And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the military and na- val service of the United States to observe, obey, and enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the act • and sections above recited. And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United States who shall have remained EMANCIPATION. 143 loyal thereto throughout the rebellion shall (upon the restoration of the constitutional relation between the United States and their respective States and people, if that relation shall have been suspended or dis- turbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of slaves. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun- dred and sixty-two, and of the Indepen- dence of the' United States the eighty- seventh. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. • By the President : William H. Seward, Secretary of State. Proclamation of January 1, 1863. Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the Presi- dent of the United States, containing among other things, the following, to wit : " That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever, free; and the Executive Govern- ment of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual free- dom. "That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respec- tively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States ; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by mem- bers chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testi- mony, be deemed conclusive e\'idence that such State, and the people thereof, are then in rebellion against the United States." Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lixcoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander- in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, in time of actual armed re- hellion against the authority and Govern- ment of the United States, and as a fii and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in tiie year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accord- ance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hun- dred days from the day first above men- tioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebel- lion against the United States, the follow- ing, to wit : Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jef- ferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, La- fourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans,) Mis- sissippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Eliza- beth City, York, Princess Ann, and Nor- folk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth,) and which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. , And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all vio- lence, unless in necessary self-defence ; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. And I further declare and make known that such persons, of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Con- stitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be aflixed. Done at the city of Washington this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States of America tlie eighty- seventh. Abraham Lincoln. Bv the President : 'William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 144 AMERICAN POLITICS. These proclamations were followed by many attempts on the part of the Demo- crats to declare them null and void, but all such were tabled. The House on the 15th of December, 1862, endorsed the first by a vote of 78 to 51, almost a strict party vote. Two classed as Democrats, voted for emancipation — Haight and Noell ; seven classed as Republicans, voted against it — Granger, Harrison, Leary, Maynard, Benj. F. Thomas, Francis Thomas, and Whaley. Just previous to the issuance of the first proclamation a meeting of the Governors of the Northern States had been called to consider how best their States could aid the general conduct of the war. Some of them had conferred with the President, and while that meeting and the date of the emancipation proclamation are the same, it was publicly denied on the floor of Con- gress by Mr. Boutwell (June 25, 1864,) that the proclamation was the result of that meeting of the Governors. That they fully endorsed and knew of it, however, is shown by the following Address of loyal Governors to the President. Adopted at a meeting of Governors of loyal States, held to take measures for the more active support of the Govern- ment, at Altoona, Pennsylvania, on the 22d day of September, 1862. After nearly one year and a half spent in contest with an armed and gigantic re- bellion against the national Government of the United States, the duty and purpose of the loyal States and people continue, and must always remain as they were at its origin — namely, to restore and perpetuate the authority of this Government and the life of the nation. No matter what con- sequences are involved in our fidelity, this work of restoring the Republic, preserving the institutions of democratic liberty, and justifying the hopes and toils of our fathers shall not fail to be performed. And we pledge without hesitation, to the President of the United States, the most loyal and cordial support, hereafter as heretofore, in the exercise of the functions of his great office. We recognize in him the Chief Executive Magistrate of the nation, the Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, their responsible and constitutional head, whose riglitful authority and power, as well as the constitutional powers of Congress, must be rigorously and religiously guarded and preserved, as the condition on which alone our form of Government and the constitu- tional rights and liberties of the people themselves can be saved from the wreck of anarchy or from the gulf of despotism. In submission to the laws which may have been or which may be duly enacted. and to the lawful orders of the President,, co-operating always in our own spheres with the national Government, we mean to continue in the most vigorous exercise of all our lawful and proj^er powers, contend- ing against treason, rebellion, and the pub- lic enemies, and, whether in public life or in private station, supporting the arms of the Union, until its cause shall conquer, until final victory shall perch upon its standard, or the rebel foe shall yield a dutiful, rightful, and unconditional sub- mission. And, impressed with the conviction that an army of reserve ought, until the war shall end, to be constantly kept on foot, to be raised, armed, equipped, and trained at home, and ready for emergencies, we re- spectfully ask the President to call for such a force of volunteers for one year's service, of not less than one hundred thousand in the aggregate, the quota of each State to be raised after it shall have filled its quota of the requisitions already made, both for volunteers and militia. We believe that this would be a measure of military pru- dence, while it would greatly promote the military education of the people. We hail with heartfelt gratitude and en- couraged hope the proclamation of the President, issued on the 22d instant, de- claring emancipated from their bondage all persons held to service or labor as slaves in the rebel States, whose rebellion shall last until the first day of January now next ensuing. The right of any per-- son to retain authority to compel any por- tion of the subjects of the national Gov- ernment to rebel against it, or to maintain its enemies, implies in those who are al- lowed possession of such authority the right to rebel themselves ; and therefore the right to establish martial law or mili- tary government in a State or territory in rebellion implies the right and the duty of the Government to liberate the minds of all men living therein by appropriate proclamations and assurances of protection, in order that all who are capable, intel- lectually and morally, of loyalty and obedience, may not be forced into treason as the unwilling tools of rebellious traitors. To have continued indefinitely the most efficient cause, support, and stay of the re- bellion, would have been, in our judg- ment, unjust to the loyal people whose treasure and lives are made a willing sacri- fice on the altar of patrotism — would have- discriminated against the wife who is com- pelled to surrender her husband, against the parent who is to surrender his child to the hardships of the camp and the perils of battle, in favor of rebel masters per- mitted to retain their slaves. It would liave been a final decision alike against humanity, justice, the rights and dignity of the Government, and against sound and REPEAL OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW 145 wise national policy. The decision of the President to strike at the root of the re- bellion will lend new vigor to the efforts and new life and hope to the hearts of the people. Cordially tendering to* the Presi- dent onr respectful assurance of personal and official confidence, we trust and be- lieve that the policy now inaugurated will be crowned with success, will give speedy and triumphant victories over our enemies, and secure to this nation and this people the blessing and favor of Almighty God. We believe that the blood of tlie heroes who have already fallen, and those who may yet give their lives to their country, will not have been shed in vain. The splendid valor of our soldiers, their patient endurance, their manly patriotism, and their devotion to duty, demand from us and from all their countrymen the homage of the sincevest gratitude and the pledge of our constant reinforcement and support. A just regard for these brave men, whom we have contributed to j^lace in the field, and for 0ae importance of the duties which may lawfully pertain to us hereafter, has called us into friendly con- ference. And now, j^resenting to our national Chief Magistrate this conclusion of our deliberations, we devote ourselves to our country's service, and we will surround the President with our constant support, trusting that the fidelity and zeal of the loyal States and people will always assure him that lie will be constantly maintained in pursuing with the utmost vigor this war for the preservation of the national life and the hope of humanity. A. G. CURTIN, John A. Andrew, Richard Yates, Israel Washburne, Jr., Edward Solomon, Samuel J. Kirkwood, O. P. Morton, By D. G. Rose, his representative, Wm. SpractUe, F. H. Peirpoint, David Tod, N. S. Berry, Austin Blair. Repeal of tlie Fugitive Slave LaTV. The first fugitive slave law passed was that of February 12th, 1793, the second and last that of September 18th, 1850. Vari- ous efforts had been made to repeal the lat- ter before the war of the rebellion, with- out a prospect of success. The situation was now different. The war spirit was high, and both Houses of Congress were in the hands of the Republicans as early as December, 1861, but all of them were not then ready to vote for repeal, while the 10 Democrats were at first solidly against it. The bill had passed the Senate in 1850 by 27 yeas to 12 nays ; the House by 109 yeas to 76 nays, and yet as late as 1861 such was still the desire of many not to offend the political prejudices of the Border States and of Democrats whose ;ii(l was counted upon in th(> war, that sullicicnt votes could not be had until June, 1S(;4, to pass there- pealing l)ill. Rei)ublicau sentiniLMit ad- vanced very slowly in the early years of the war, when the struggle looked doubt- ful and when there was a strong desire to hold for the Union every man and county not irrevocably against it; when success could be foreseen the advances were more rapid, but never as rapid as the more rad- ical leaders desired. The record of Con- gress in the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law will illustrate this political fact, in itself worthy of grave study by the poli- tician and statesman, and therefore we give it as compiled by McPherson : — Second Session, TUlrty-Seventh Congress.* In Senate, 1861, December 26 — Mr. Howe, of Wisconsin, introduced a bill to repeal the fugitive slave law ; which w:is referred to the Committee on the Judici- arv. 1862, May 24— Mr. Wilson, of Massachu- setts, introduced a bill to amend the fugi- tive slave law ; which was ordered to be printed and lie on the table. June 10 — Mr. Wilson moved to take up the bill ; which was agreed to — Yeas 25,, nays 10, as follows : Yeas — Messrs. Anthony, Browning,, Chandler, Clark^ Cowan, Dixon, Doolittle,, Fessenden, Foot, Grimes, Hale, Harlan,, Harris, Howard, Howe, King, Lane of Kan- sas, Morrill, Pomeroy, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wilson, of Massachusetts. — 25. Nays — Messrs. Carlile, Davis, Latham, * On the 23d of July, 18G1, the Attorney General, in answer to a letter from the United States Marshal of Kansas, inquiring whether he should assist in the execu- tion of the fugitive slave law, wrote : Attorney General's Office, July 23, 1861. J. L. BIcDoWELL, U. S, Marshal, Kansas : Your letter, of the 11th of July, received 19th, (under frank of Senator Xane, of Kansas, ) asks advice whether you should give your official services in the execution of the fugitive slave law. It is the President's constitutional duty to " take care that the laws be faithfully executed." That means all the laws. He has no right to discriminate, no right to exe- cute the laws he likes, and leave unexecuted those he dislikes. And of course you and I, his subordinates, can have no wider.latitude of discretion than he has. Mis- souri is a State in the Union. The insurrectionary dis- orders in Missouri are but individual crimes, and do not change the legal status of the State, nor change its rights and obligations as a member of the Union. ^ refusal by a ministerial officer to execute any law which properly belongs to his office, is an official misde- meanor, of which I have no doubt the President would take notice. Very respectfully EbWAKD BATES. 146 AMERICAN POLITICS. McDougaU, Kesmith, Poicell, Saulsbury, Stark, VVilley, Wright— 10* The bill was to secure to claimed fugi- tives a right to a jury trial in the district court for the United States for the district in which they may be, and to require the claimant to prove his loyalty. The bill repeals sections 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of the act of 1850, and that part of section 5, which authorizes the summoning of the posse coviitatus. When a warrant of return is made either on jury trial or confession of the party in the presence of counsel, hav- ing been warned of his rights, the fugitive is to be surrendered to the claimant, or the marshal where necessary, who shall remove Jiim to the boundary line of the district, and there deliver him to the claimant. The bill was not further considered. In House, 1861, December 20— Mr. Julian offered this resolution : Resolved, That the Judiciary Committee be instructed to report a bill, so amending the fugitive slave law enacted in 1850 as to forbid the recai:tture or return of any fu- gitive from labor without satisfactory proof first made that the claimant of such fugi- tive is loyal to the Government. Mr. Holman moved to table the resolu- tion, which was disagreed to — yeas 39, nays 78, as follows : Yeas— Messrs. Ancona, Joseph Baily, Biddle, George H. Browne, Cobb, Cooper, Cox, Cravens, Crittenden, Dunlap, English. Fouke, Grider, Harding, Holman, Johnson, Lait, Lazear, Leary, Lehman, Mallory, Mor- ris, Noble, Noell, Norton, Nugen, Odell, Pendleton, Robinson, Shiel, John B. Steele, WiUiam G. Steele, Vallandigham, Wads- worth, Webster, Chilton A. White, Wick- liffe, Woodrvff, Wright— m. Nays — Messrs. Aldrich, Alley, Arnold, Babbitt, Baker, Baxter, Beaman, Bingham, Francis P. Blair, Samuel S. Blair, Blake, Bufiinton, Burnham, Chamberlain, Clark, Oolfax, Frederick A. Conkling, Roscoe Conkling, Cutler, Davis, Dawes, Delano, Duell, Edwards, Eliot, Fessenden, Fran- chot, Frank, Gooch, Goodwin, Gurley, Hale, Hanchett, Harrison, Hooper, Hutch- ins, Julian, William Kellogg, Lansing, Loomis, Lovejoy, McKnight, McPherson, Marston, Mitchell, Moorhead, Anson P. Morrill, Justin S. Morrill, Olin, Patton, Pike, Pomeroy, Porter, John H. Rice, Rid- dle, Edward H. Rollins, Sargent, Sedg- wick, Shanks, Shellabarger, Sherman, .Sloan, Spaulding, Stevens, Benjamin F. Thomas, Train, Vandever. Wall, Wallace, Walton, Washburne, Wheeler, Whaley, Albert S. White, Wilson, Windom, Wor- cester — 78. The resolution was then adopted — yeas 78, nays 39. 1862, June 9— Mr. Julian, of Indiana, -* Eepublicans in Roman; Democrats in italics. introduced into the House a resolution in- structing the Judiciary Committee to re- port a bill for the purpose of repealing the fugitive slave law ; which was tabled — yeas 66, nays 51, as follows : . Yeas — Messrs. William J. Allen, Anco- na, Baily, Biddle, Francis P. Blair, Jacob B. Blair, George H. Broirne, William G, Brown, Burnham, Calvert, Casey, Clem- ents, Cobb, Corning, Crittenden, Delano, Diven, Granger, Grider, Haight, Hale, Harding, Holman, Johnson, William Kel- logg, Kerrigan, A'n'/jijj, Lazear, Low, May- nard, Menzirs, ^Moorhead, Morris, Noble, Noell, Norton, Odell, Pendleton, John S. Phelps, Timothy G. Phelps, Porter, Rich- ardson, Robinson, James S. Rollins, Sar- gent, Segar, Sheffield, Shiel, Smith, John B. Steele, William (rr Steele, Benjamin F. Thomas, Francis Thomas, Trimble, Val- landigham, N ei'ree, Vibbard, Voorhees, Wads- u'07'th, Webster, Chilton A. Wliite, Wick- lijfe. Wood, Woodruff, Worcester, Wright —66. Nays — Messrs. Aldrich, Alley, Baker, Baxter, Beaman, Bingham, Blake, Buffin- ton, Chamberlain, Colfax, Frederick A. Conkling, Davis, Dawes, Edgerton, Ed- wards, Eliot, Ely, Franchot, Gooch, Good- win, Hanchett, Hutchins, Julian, Kelley, Francis W. Kellogg, Lansing, Lovejov, IMcKnight, McPherson, Mitchell, Anson P. ^lorrill. Pike, Pomeroy, Potter, Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Riddle, Edward H. Rollins, Shellabarger, Sloan, SpaHlding, Stevens, Train, Trowbridge, Van Horn, Van ValkenburghjWall, Wallace, Wash- burne, Albert S. White, Windom — 51. Same day — Mr. Colfax, of Indiana, of- fered this resolution : Resolved, That the Committee on the Ju- diciary be instructed to report a bill modi- fying the fugitive slave law so as to require a jury trial in all cases where the person claimed denies under oath that he is a slave, and also requiring any claimant under such act to prove that he has been loyal to the Government during the present rebellion. Which was agreed to — yeas 77, nays 43, as follows : Yeas — Messrs. Aldrich, Alley, Arnold, Ashley, Babbitt, Baker, Baxter, Beaman, Bingham, Francis P. Blair, Blake, Bufiin- ton, Burnham, Chamberlain, Colfax, Fred- erick A. Conkling, Davis, Dawes, Delano, Diven, Edgerton, Edwards, Eliot, Ely, Franchot, Gooch, Goodwin, Granger, Gur- ley, Haight, Hale, Hanchett, Hutchins, Julian, Kelley, Francis W. Kellogg, Wil- liam Kellogg,' Lansing, Loomis, Lovejoy, Lowe, McKnight, McPherson, Mitchell, Anson P. Morrill, Justin S. Morrill, Nixon, Timothy G. Phelps, Pike, Pomeroy, Por- ter, Potter, Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Riddle, Edward H. Rollins, Sargent, Shanks, Sheffield, Shellabarger, Sloan, Spaulding, Stevens, Stratton, Benjamin F. REPEAL OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAWS. 147 Thomas, Train, Trimble, Trowbridge, Van Valke II burgh, V^erree, Wall, Wallace, Washburne, Albert, S. White, Wilson, Windom, Worcester — 77. Nays — Messrs. William J. Allen,^ Ancoiia, ■Baily, Biddle, Jacob B. Blair, William G. Brown, Calvert, Casey, Clements, Cobb, Corning, Crittenden, Fouke, Grider, Hard- ing, Uolman, Johnson, Knapp, Maynard, Menzies, Noble, ^oeW, Norton, Pendleton, John S. Phelps, Richardson, Robinson, James S Rollins, Segar, Shiel, Smith, John B. Steele, William G. Steele, Francis Thom- as, Vallandigham, Vibbard, Voorhees, Wuds- toorth, Webster, Chilton A. Wliite, Wick- Uffe, Wood, Wright.— iS. Third Session, Tliirty-SevciitK Congress. In Senate, 1863, February 11— Mr. Ten Eyck, from the Committee on the Judici- ary, to whom was referred a bill, intro- duced by Senator Howe, in second session, December 26, 1861, to repeal the fugitive slave act of 1850, reported it back without amendment, and with a recommendation that it do not pass. First Session, Tlilrty-Eiglitli Coi»gress. In House, 1863, Dec. 14. — Mr. Julian, of Indiana, offered this resolution : Resolved, That the Committee on the Ju- diciary be instructed to report a bill for a repeal of the third and fourth sections of the " act respecting fugitives from justice and persons escaping from the service of their masters," approved February 12, 1793, and the act to amend and supplementary to the aforesaid act, approved September 18, 1850. Mr. Holman moved that the resolution lie upon the table, which was agreed to — yeas 81, nays 73, as follows : Yeas — Messrs. James C. Allen, William J. Allen, Ancona, Anderson, Baily, Au- gustus C. Baldwin, Jacob B. Blair, Bliss, Brooks, James S. Brown, William G. Browne, Clay, Cobb, Coffroth, Cox, Cravens, Creswell, Dawson, Demming, Denison, Eden, Edger- fon, Eldridge, English, Flnck, Ganson, Grider, Griswold, Tlall, Harding, Harring- ton, Benjamin G. Harris, Charles M. Har- ris, Higby, Holman, Hutchins, William Johnson, Kernan, King, Knapp, Law, La- zear, Le Blond, Jjong, Mallory, Marcy, Mar- vin, McBride, McDowell, McKinney, Wil- liam H. Miller, James R. Morris, Morrison, Nelson, Noble, Odell, John 0' Neil, Pendle- ton, William H. Randall, Robinson, Rogers, James S. Rollins, Ross, Scott, Smith, Smith- €rs, Stebbins, John B. Steele, Stuart, Siveat, Thomas, Voorhees, Wadsworth, Ward, Wheeler, Chilton A. White, Joseph W. White, Williams, Winfield, Fernando Wood, Yea- man — 81. Nays — Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Arnold, Ashley, John D. Baldwin, Baxter, Beaman, Blaine, Blow, Boutwell, Boyd, Brandegee, Broomall, Ambrose W. Clark, Freeman Clark, Cole, Henry Winter Da- vis, Dawes, Dixon, Donnelly, Driggs, Du- mont, Eckley, Eliol, Farnsworth, Feuton, Frank, Garfield, Gooch, (rrinuell, Hooper, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, Hulburd,Jenckcs, Julian, Fran- cis W. Kellogg, Orlando Kellogg, Loan, Longvear, Lovejoy, McClurg, Mclndoe, Samuel F. Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Amos Mvers, Leonard Myers, Norton, Charles O'Neill, Orth, Patters()n,Pike, Pom- croy, Price, Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Edward H. Rollins, Schenck, Scofield, Shannon, Spalding, Thayer, Van Valkenburgh, Elihu B. Wash- burne, William B. Washburn, Whaley, Wilder, Wilson, Windom, Woodbidge— 73. 1864, June 6, Mr. Hubbard, of Connec- ticut, oftered this resolution : Resolved, That the Committee on the Ju- diciary be instructed to rei)ort to this House a bill for the repeal of all acts and parts of acts which provide for the rendi- tion of fugitive slaves, and that they have leave to make such report at any time. Which went over under the rule. May 30, he had made an ineftectual effort to otier it, Mr. Holman objecting. REPEALING BILLS. 1864, April 19, the Senate considered the bill to repeal all acts for the rendition of fugitives from service or labor. The bill was taken up — yeas 26, nays 10. Mr. Sherman moved to amend by insert- ing these words at the end of the bill : Except the act approved February 12, 1793, entitled " An act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters." Which was agreed to — yeas 24, nays 17, as follows : Yeas — Messrs. Buckalew, Carlile^ Col- lamer, Cowan, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Foster, Harris, Henderson, Hendricks, Howe, Johnson, Lane of Indiana, McDou- gall, Nesmith, Poioell, Riddle, Saulsbury, Sherman, Ten Evck, Trumbull, Van Win- kle, Willey— 24." Nays — Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Clark, Conness, Fessenden, Grimes, Hale, How- ard, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sprague, Sumner, Wil- kinson, Wilson — -17. Mr. Saulsbury moved to add these sec- tions : And he it further enacted, That no white inhabitant of the United States shall be arrested, or imprisoned, or held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, except in cases arising in the land or na- val forces, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger, without due process of law. And be it further enacted. That no per- son engaged in the executive, legislative, 148 AMERICAN POLITICS. or judicial departments of the Government of the United States, or holding any office or trust recognized in the Constitution of the United States, and no person in mili- tary or naval service of the United States, shall, without due process of law, arrest or imprison anywhite inhabitant of the Uni- ted States who is not, or has not been, or shall not at the time of such arrest or im- prisonment be, engaged in levying war against the United States, or in adhering to the enemies of the United States, giv- ing them aid and comfort, nor aid, abet, procure or advise the same, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger. And any person as aforesaid so arresting, or imprisoning, or holding, as aforesaid, as in this and the second section of this act mentioned, or aiding, abetting, or procuring, or advising the same, shall be deemed guilty of fel- onv, and, upon conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction, shall be imprisoned for a term of not less than one nor more than five years, shall pay a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than 15000, and shall be forever incapable of holding any office or public trust under the Gov- ernment of the United States. Mr. Hale moved to strike out the word "white" wherever it occurs; W'hich was agreed to. The amendment of Mr. Saulsbury, as amended, was then disagreed to— yeas 9, nays 27, as follows : Yeas — Messrs. Btickalew, Carlile, Cowan, Davis, Hendricks, McDougall, Powell, Rid- dle, Saulsbury — 9. Nays— Messrs. Anthony, Clark, Colla- mer, Conness, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harris, Howard, Howe, Lane of Indiana, Lane, of Kansas, Morgan, Mor- rill, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Sumner, Teii Evck, Trumbull, Van Win- kle, Wilkinson, Willey, Wilson— 27. Mr. CoxNESS moved to table the bill ; which Was disagreed to— yeas 9, (Messrs. Buckalew, Carlile, Conness, Davis, Hen- dricks, Nesmith, Powell, Riddle, Saulsbury,) nays 31. It was not again acted upon. 1864, June 13— The House passed this bill, introduced by Mr. Spalding, of Ohio, and reported from the Committee on the Judiciary by Mr. Morris, of New York, as follows : Be it enacted, etc., that sections three and four of an act entitled " An act respecting fugitives from justice and persons escaping from the service of their masters," passed February 12, 1793, and an Act entitled " An act to amend, and supplementary to, the act entitled ' An act respecting fugi- tives from justice, and persons escaping from their masters,' passed February 12, 1793," passed September 18, 1850, be, and the same are hereby, repealed. Yeas 86, nays 60, as follows : Yeas — Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Ar- nold, Ashley, John D. Baldwin, Baxter, Beaman, Blaine, Blair, Blow, Boutwell, Boyd, Brandegee, Broomall, Ambrose W. Clarke, Freeeman Clark, Cobb, Cole, Cres- well, Henry Winter Davis, Thomas T. Da- avis, Dawes, Dixon, Donnelly, Driggs, Eck- ley, Eliot, Farnsworth, Fenton, Frank, Gar- field, Gooch, Grisivold, Higby, Hooper, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, John K. Hubbard, Hulburd, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Ju- lian, Kelley, Francis W. Kellogg, O. Kel- logg, Littlejohn, Loan, Longyear, Marvin, McClurg, Mclndoe, Samuel F. Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Daniel Morris, Amos Mvers, Leonard Myers, Norton, Charles O'Neill, Orth, Patterson, Perham, Pike, Price, Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Schenck, Scofield, Shannon, Sloan, Spald- ing, Starr, Stevens, Thayer, Thomas, Tracy, Upson, Van Valkenburgh, Webster, Wha- ley, Williams, Wilder, Wilson, Windom, Woodbridge — 86. Nays — Messrs. James C. Allen, William J. Allen, Ancona, Augustus C. Baldwin^ Bliss, Brooks, James S. Brown, Chanter, Coffroth, Cox, Cravens, Daioson, Denison, Eden, Edgerton, Eldridge, English, Finck, Gunson, Grider, Harding, Harrington, Charles M. Harris, Herrick,^ Holmauy Hut chins, Kalbjieisch, Kernan, King, Knapp, Law, Lazear, Le Blond, Mallory, Marcy, McDowell, McKinney, Wm. H. Miller, James R. Morris, Morrison, Odell, Pendleton, Pruyn, Radford, Robinson, Jas. S. Rollins,. ^ Ross, Smithers, John B. Steele, Wm. G. Steele, Stiles, Strouse, Stuart, Sioeat, Wads- icorth. Ward, Wheeler, Chilton A. White, Josejjh W. White, Fernando Wood — 60. June 22 — This bill was taken up in the Senate, when Mr. Saulsbury moved this substitute : That no person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escap- ing into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be de- livered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due ; and Congress shall pass all necessary and pro- per laws for the rendition of all such per- sons who shall so, as aforesaid, escape. Which was rejected — yeas 9, nays 29, as follows : Yeas— Messrs. Buckalew, Carlile, Cowan, Davis, 3fcDougall, Powell, Richardson, Riddle, Saulsbury — 9. Nays— Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chand- ler, Clark, Conness, Dixon, Foot, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris, Hicks, Howard, Howe, Johnson, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sprague, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey— 29. FINANCIAL LEGISLATION — INTEUiNAL TAXES. 149 Mr. Johnson, of Marj'Lind, moved an amendment to substitute a clause repeal- ing the act of 1850 ; which was rejected — yeTis 17, nays 22, as follows : Yeas— Messrs. Buckulew, Carlile, Cowan, Davis, Harris, Hicks, Johnson, Lane of Indiana, McDougall, Powell, Bichardson, Riildle, Saulshurij, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Willey— 17. Nays— Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chand- ler, Clark, Conness, Dixon, Fessenden, Foot, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Howard, Howe, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sprague, Sumner, Wade, Wilson— 22. The bill then passed— yea3 27, nays 12, as follows : Yeas — Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chand- ler, Clark, Conness, Dixon, Fessenden, Foot, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris, Hicks, Howard, Howe, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Pomeroy, Ram- sey, Sprague, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trum- bull, Wade, Wilson— 27. Nays — Messrs. Buckakw, Carlile, Cowan, Daois, Johnson, McDougall, Powell, llich- wdson, Riddle, Saulsbur;/, Van Winkle, Willey— 12. Abraham Lincoln, President, approved it, June 28, 1864. Seward as Secretary of State. Wm. H. Seward was a master in diplo- macy and Statecraft, and to his skill the Unionists were indebted for all avoidance of serious foreign complicati(^n3 while the war was going on. The most notable case coming under his supervision was that of the capture of Mason and Slidell,by Com- modore Wilkes, who, on the 8th of Novem- ber, 1861, had intercepted the Trent with San Jacinto. The prisoners were Confed- erate agents on their way to St. James and St. Cloud. Both had been prominent Sen- ators, early secessionists, and the poinilar impulse of the North was to hold and pun- ish them. Both Lincoln and Seward wisely resisted the passions of the hour, and when Great Britain demanded their release under the treaty of Ghent, wherein the right of future search of vessels was dis- avowed, Seward yielded, and referring to the terms of the treaty, said : " If I decide this "case in favor of my own Government, I must disavow its most cherished principles, and reverse and for- ever , abandon its essential policy. The country cannot afford the sacrifice. If I maintain those principles and adhere to that policv, I must surrender the case itself." The North, with high confidence in their President and Cabinet, readily conceded the wisdom of the argument, especially as it was clinched in the newspapers of the day by. one of LincoRi's homely remarks : " One war at a tittie." A war with Great Britain was thus happily avoided. With the incidents of the war, however, save as they attected politics and politi- cians, this work has little to do, and we therefore pass the suspension of the tcrit of habeas corpus, v;hich suspension was em- ployed in breaking up the Maryland Legis- lature and other bodies when they con- templated secession, and it facilitated the arrest and punishment of men throughout the North who were suspected of giving " aid and comfort to the enemy." The alleged arbitrary character of these arrests caused much complaint from Democratic Senators and Representatives, but the right was fully enforced in the face of every form of protest until the war closed. The most prominent arrest was that of Clement L. Vallandigham, member of Congress from Ohio, who was sent into the Southern lines. From thence he went to Canada, and when a candidate for Governor in Ohio, was de- feated by over 100,000 majority. Financial Iiegislatioii— Internal Taxes. The Financial legislation during the war was as follows : 1860, December 17 — Authorized an issue of $10,000,000 in Treasury notes, to be redeemed after the expiration of one year from the date of issue, and bearing such a rate of interest as may be ofiered by the lowest bidders.' Authority was given to issue these notes in payment of warrants in favor of public creditors at their par value, bearing six per cent, interest per annum, 1861, February 8— Authorized a LOAN of $25,000,000, bearing interest at a rate not exceeding six per cent, per annum, and reimbursable within a period not' beyond twenty years nor less than ten years. This loan was made for the payment of the cur- rent expenses, and was to be awarded to the most favorable bidders. March 2— Authorized a LOAN of $10,- 000,000, bearing interest at a rate not ex- ceeding six per cent, per annum, and re- imbursable after the expiration of ten years from July 1, 1861. In case propo- sals for the loan were not acceptable, au- thority was given to issue the Avhole amount in Treasury notes, bearing in- terest at a rate not exceeding six per cent, per annum. Authority Avas also given to substitute Treasure notes for the whole or any part of the loans for which the Sec- retarv was by law authorized to contract and issue bonds, at the time of the passage of this act, and such treasury notes were to be made receivable in payment of all pub- lic dues, and redeemable at any time within two vears from March 2, 1861. March 2— Authorized an issue, should the Secretarv of the Treasury deem it ex- pedient, of '$2,800,000 in coupon bonds, bearing interest at the rate of six per cent. 15(3 AMERICAN POLITICS. per annum, and redeemable in twenty years, for the payment of expenses incurred by the Territories of Washington and Oregon in the suppression of Indian hos- tilities during the year 1855-'56. July 17— Authorized a loan of $250,000,- 000, for which could be issued bonds bear- ing interest at a rate not exceeding 7 per cent, per annum, irredeemable for twenty years, and after that redeemable at the pleasure of the United States. Treasury notes bearing interest at the rate of 7.30 per cent, per annum, payable three years after date ; and United States notes without interest, payable on demand, to the extent of $50,- 000,000. (Increased bv act of February 12, 1862, to $60,000,000.') The bonds and treasury notes to be is- sued in such proportions of each as the Secretary may deem advisable. August 5— Authorized an issue of bonds bearing 6 per cent, interest per annum, and payable at the pleasure of the United States after twenty years from date, which may be issued in exchange for 7.30 trea- sury notes ; but no such bonds to be issued for a less sum than $500, and the whole amount of such bonds not to exceed the whole amount of 7.30 treasury notes issued. Febnianj 6, 1862— Making $50,000,000 of notes, of denominations less than $5, a legal tender, as recommended by Secretary Chase, was passed January 17, 1862. In the House it received the votes of the Re- publicans generally, and 38 Democrats. In the Senate it had 30 votes for to 1 against, that of Senator Powell. 1862, February 25 — Authorized the issue of $15,000,000 in Ir2 AMERICAN POLITICS. Richardson, James S. Rollins, Sheffield, Smith, John B. Steele, Wm. G. Steele. TAXES IN INSURRECTIONARY DISTRICTS, 1864. In Senate, June 27— The bill passed the Senate without a division. July 2 — It passed the House without a division. Many financial measures and proposi- tions were rejected, and we shall not at- tempt to give the record on these. All that were passed and went into operation can be more readily understood by a glance at our Tabulated History, in Book VII., which gives a full view of the financial history and sets out all the loans and reve- nues.. We ought not to close this review, however, without giving here a tabulated statement, from " McPherson's History of the Great Rebellion," of Treasury notes 391,623,530 00 Sequestration . 1,862,550 27 Customs ■ 934,798 68 Export duty on cotton . . . 8,101 78 Patent fund 10,794 04 Miscellaneous, including re- payments by disbursing offi- cers .... 24,498,217 93 Total .$601,522,893 EXPENDITURES DURING THAT TIME. War Department . . Navy Department Civil, miscellaneous, etc . . . Customs Public debt Notes cancelled and redeemed Total expenditures Total receipts . . $377,988,244 00 38,437,661 00 11,629,278 00 56,636 00 32,212,290 00 59,044.449 00 . 1519,368,559 00 . 601,522,893 00 The Confederate DeT>t. December 81, 1862, the receipts of the Treasury from the commencement of the " Permanent CTOvernment," (February 18, 1862,) were as follows : $82,154,334 00 RECEIPTS. Patent fund Customs Miscellaneous Repayments of disbursing offi- cers Interest on loans Call loan certificates .... One hundred million loan . . Treasury notes 215,554,885 00 Interest bearing notes . . . 113,740.000 00 War tax 16,664,513 00 Loan 28tli of February, 1861 . 1,375,476 00 Coin received from Bank of Louisiana 2,539,799 00 $13,920 00 668,566 00 2,291,812 00 3,839,263 00 26,583 00 59,742,796 00 41,398,286 00 Total $457,855,704 00 Total debt up to December 31, 1862 556,105,100 00 Estimated amount at that date necessary to support the Gov- ernment to July, 1863, was 357,929,229 00 Up to December 31, 1862, the issues of the Treasury were : Notes $440,678,510 00 Redeemed 30,193,479 50 Balance in treasury . . . But from this amount is to be deducted the amount of all Treasury notes that have been funded, but which have not yet received a true estimation, $65,000,000 ; total remaining, $17,- 154,334. CONDITION OF THE TREASURY, JANUARY 1, 1864. Jan. 25— The Secretary of the Treasury (C. G. Memminger) laid before the Senate a statement in reply to a resolution of the 20th, asking information relative to the funded debt, to call certificates, to non-in- terest and interest-bearing Treasury notes, and other financial matters. From this it appears that, January, 1864, the funded debt was as follows : Act Feb. 28, 1 861, 8 f, cent., 15,000,000 00 Act May 16, 1861, 8 f. cent , 8,774.900 00 Act Aug. 19, 1861, 8 Y ceut., 100,000,000 00 Act Apr. T2, 1802, 8 r>, c-nt., 3,(;r2,300 00 Act Feb. ■2". 1 si;:',, s 1' r.M.t , !t.xV.s.-.,ono 00 ActF..l,.-o,ls,,:;.7V-.ut., i;:;,iU:.,7.X. 00 Act Jiui- -;;, iM;:',,(;>'ri^i,t , 2,s:;i,7oo oo Act Ajiril ;-;(), l.sGo (cuttou interest coupons) 8,252,000 00 Outstanding. .... .$410,485,03050 From January 1, 1863, to September 30, 1863, the receipts of the Treasury were : For 8 per cent, stock . For 7 per cent, stock . For 6 per cent, stock . For 5 per cent, stock . For 4 per cent, stock . Cotton certificates . . Interest on loans . . War tax $10 292,900 70 757,650 70 6,810,050 00 22,992,900 00 482,200 00 2,000,000 00 140,210 00 4,128,988 97 Call certificates Non-interest bearing Treasury notes out- standing : Act May 16, 1801— Payable two years after date 8,320,875 00 Act Aug. 19, 1861— General currency' 189,719,25100 Act Oct. 13, 1861— All de- nominations 131,028,366 50 Act March 23— All denomi- nations 391,829,702 50 Interest-bearing Treasury notes outstand- Amount of Treasury notes under So, outstanding Jan. 1, 1864, viz: Act April 17, 1802, denomi- nations of $1 and $2 4,860,277 50 Act Oct. 13, 1862, $ 1 and $ 2 2,34i,80(.) 00 Act March 23, 1863, 50 ! .3,419,000 00 $297,871,650 00 89,206,770 00 720,898,095 00 102,465,450 00 10,424,077 50 debt, Jan. 1, 1804 81,220,800,(>12 60 CONFEDERATE TAXES. 153 ITS CONDITION, MARCH 31, 1864. The Register of the Treasury, Robert Tyler, gave a statement, which a^jpeared in the Richmond Sentinel after the passage of the funding law, which gives the amount of outstanding non-interest-bearing Trca- :3ury notes, March 31, 18(J4, as $796,264,403, as follows : Act May 16, 1861— Ten-yccar notes $7,201,375 00 Act Aug. 19, 1861— General currency 154,865,631 00 Act Apr. 19, 1862 — ones and twos 4,516,509 00 Act Oct. 18, 1862— General currency 118,997,321 50 Act Mar. 23, 1863— General currency 511,182,566 50 Total $796,264,403 00 He also publishes this statement of the issue of non-interest-bearing Treasury notes since the organization of the " Con- federate" government: Fifty cents .^91 1,258 50 Ones 4,882,000 00 Twos 6,086,320 00 Fives 79,090,315 00 Tens 157,982,750 00 Twenties 217,425,120 00 Fifties 188,088,200 00 Total $973,277,363 50 Confederate Taxes. We also append as full and fair a state- ment of Confederate taxes as can be pro- cured, beginning with a summary of the act authorizing tlie issue of Treasury notes and bonds, and providing a war tax for their redemption : THE TAX ACT OF JULY, 1861. The Richmond Enquirer gives the fol- lowing summary of the act authorizing the issue of Treasury notes and bonds, and providing a war tax for their redemption : Section one authorizes the issue of Treasury notes, payable to bearer at the' expiration of six months after the ratifica- tion of a treaty of peace between tlie Con- federate States and the United States. The notes are not to be of a less denomi- nation than five dollars, to be re-issued at pleasure, to be received in payment of all public dues, except the export duty on cot- ton, and the whole issue outstanding at one time, including the amount issued under former acts, are not to exceed one hundred millions of dollars. Section two provides that, for the pur- pose of funding the said notes, or for the purpose of purchasing specie or military stores, &c., bonds may be issued^ payable not more than twenty years after date, to the amount of one hundred millions of dol- lars, and Ijeariug an interest of eight per cent, per annum. This amount includes the thirty millions already authorized to be issued. The bonds are not to be issued in less amounts than $100, except when the suljscrii)tion is for a less amount, when they may be issued as low as $50. Section three provides that holders of Treasury notes may at any time exchange them for bonds. Section four ])rovides that, for the special purpose of paying the principal and inter- est of the public debt, and of sujiporting the Government, a ■<\-ar tax shall be as- sessed and levied of fiity cents upon each one hundred dollars in value of the follow- ing property in the Confederate States, namely : Real estate of all kinds ; slaves ; merchandise ; bank stocks ; railroad and other corporation stocks; money at in- terest or invested by individuals in the purchase of bills, notes, and other securi- ties for money, except the bonds of the Confederate States of America, and cash on hand or on deposit in bank or elsewhere ; cattle, horses, and mules ; gold watches, gold and silver plate ; j>ianos and pleasure carriages : Provided, hoioever, That when the taxable property, herein above enu- merated, of any head of a fiimily is of value less than five hundred dollars, such tax- able property shall be exempt from taxa- tion under this act. It provides further that the property of colleges, schools, and religious associations shall be exempt. The remaining sections provide for the collection of the tax. THE TAX ACT OF DECEMBER 19, 1861. An act supplementary to an act to authorize the issue of Treasury notes, and to pro- vide a war tax for their redemption. Sec. 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the Sec- retary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to pay over to the several banks, which have made advances to the Government, in anticipation of the issue of Treasury notes, a sufficient amount, not exceeding $10,000,000, for the principal and interest due upon the said advance, according to the engagements made with them. Sec. 2. The time affixed by the said act for making assignments is hereby extend- ed to the 1st day of January next, and the time for the completion and delivery of the lists is extended to the 1st day of March next, and the time for the report of the said lists to the chief collector is extended to the 1st day of May next; and in cases where the time thus' fixed shall be found insufficient, the Secretary of the Treasury shall have power to make further exten- sion, as circumstances may require. Sec. 3. The cash on hand, or on deposit in the bank, or elsewhere, mentioned in 154 AMERICAN POLITICS. the fourth section of said act, is hereby de- clared to be subject to assessment and tax- ation, and the money at interest, or invest- ed by individuals in the purchase of bills, notes, and other securities for money, shall \ be deemed to include securities for money belonging to non-residents, and such se- curities shall be returned, and the tax thereon paid by any agent or trustee hav- ' ing the same in possession or under his control. The term merchandise shall be construed to include merchandise belong- ing to any non-resident, and the property shall be returned, and the tax paid by any person having the same in possession as agent, attorney, or consignee: Provided, That the words "money at interest," as used in the act to which this act is an amendment, shall be so construed as to in- clude all notes, or other evidences of debt, bearing interest, without reference to the consideration of the same. The exception allowed by the twentieth section for agri- cultural products shall be construed to em- brace such products only when in the hands of the producer, or held for his ac- count. But no tax shall be assessed or levied on any money at interest when the notes, bond, bill, o/ other security taken for its payment, shall be worthless from the insolvency and total inability to pay of the payer or obligor, or person liable to make such payment ; and all securities for money payable under this act shall be assessed according to their value, and the assessor shall have the same power to as- certain the value of such securities as the law confers upon him with respect to other property. Sec. 4. That an amount of money, not exceeding $25,000, shall be and the same is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be disbursed under the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury, to the chief State tax collectors, for such expenses as shall be actually incurred for salaries of clerks, office hire, stationery, and inciden- tal charges; but the books and printing required shall be at the expense of the de- partment, and subject to its approval. Sec. 5. The lien for the tax shall attach from the date of the assessment, and shall follow the same into every State in the Confederacy ; and in case any person shall attempt to remove any property which may be liable to tax, beyond the jurisdiction of the State in which the tax is payable, without payment of the tax, the collector of the district may distrain upon and sell the same, in the same manner as is pro- vided in cases where default is made in the payment of the tax. Sec." 6. On the report of any chief col- lector, that any county, town or district, or any part thereof, is occupied by the public enemy, or has been so occupied as to occasion destruction ofcrops or property,, the Secretary of the Treasury may suspend the collection of tax in such region until the same can be reported to Congress, and its action had thereon. Sec. 7. In case any of the Confederate States shall undertake to pay the tax to be collected within its limits before the time at which the district collectors shall enter upon the discharge of their duties, the Secretary of the Treasury may suspend the appointment of such collectors, and may direct the chief collector to appoint assess- ors, and to take proper measures for the making and perfecting the returns, assess- ments and lists required by law; and the returns, assessments and lists so made, shall have the same legal validity, to all intents and purposes, as if made according to the provisions of the act to which this act is supplementary. Sec. 8. That tax lists already given, varying from the provisions of this act, shall be corrected so as to conform thereto. THE TAX act OF APRIL 24, 1863. [From the Kichmond Whig, April 21.] We present below a synopsis of the bill to lay taxes for the common defence and to carry on the government of the Confed- erate States, Avhicli has passed both branches of Congress. It is substantially the bill proposed by the committee on conference : 1. The first section imposes a tax of eight per cent, upon the value of all naval stores, salt, wines and spirituous liquors, tobacco, manufactured or unmanufactured,, cotton, wool, flour, sugar, molasses, syrup, rice, and other agricultural products, held or owned on the 1st day of July next, and not necessary for family consumption for the unexpired portion of the year 1863, and of the growth or production of any year preceding the year 1863 ; and a tax of one per cent, upon all moneys, bank notes or other currency on hand or on de- posit on the 1st day of July next, and on the value of all credits on which the in- terest has not been paid, and not employed in a business, the income derived from which is taxed under the provisions of this act: Provided, That all moneys owned, held or deposited beyond the limits of the Confederate States shall be valued at the current rate of exchange in Confederate treasury notes. The tax to be assessed on the first day of July and collected on the first day of October next, or as soon there- after as may be practicable. 2. Ever}' person engaged, or intending to engage," in any business named in the fifth section, shall, within sixty days after the passage of the act, or at the time of be- ginning business, and on the first of Janu- ary in each year thereafter, register with the district collector a true account of the CONFEDERATE TAXES. 155 name and residence of each person, firm, or corporation engaged or interested in the business, with a statement of the time for which, and the place and manner in which the same is to be conducted, &c. At the time of the registry there shall be paid tlie specific tax for the year ending on the next 31st of December, and such other tax as may be due upon sales or receipts in such business. 3. Any person failing to make such registry and pay such tax, shall, in addi- tion to all other taxes upon his business im- posed by the act, pay double the amount of the specific tax on such business, and a like sum for every thirty days of such failure. 4. Eequires a separate registry and tax for each business mentioned in the fifth section, and for each place of conducting the same ; but no tax for mere storage of goods at a place other than the registered place of business. A new registry required upon every change in the place of conduct- ing a registered business, upon the death of any person conducting the same, or upon "the transfer of the business to an- other, but no additional tax. 5. Imposing the following taxes for the year ending 31st of December, 1863, and "for each year thereafter : Bankers shall pay $500. Auctioneers, retail dealers, tobacconists, pedlers, cattle brokers, apothecaries, pho- tographers, and confectioners, $50, and two and a half per centum on the gross amount of sales made. Wholesale dealers in liquors, $200, and five per centum on gross amount of sales. Retail dealers in liquors, $100, and ten per centum on gross amo.unt of sales. "Wholesale dealers in groceries, goods, wares, merchandise, &c., $200, and two and a half per centum. Pawnbrokers, money and exchange bro- kers, $200. Distillers, $200, and twenty per centum. Brewers, $100, and two and a half per cen- tum. Hotels, inns, taverns, and eatins-houses, first class, $500 ; second class, $300 ; third class, $200 ; fourth class, 100 ; fifth class, $30. Every house where food or refresh- ments are sold, and every boarding house where there shall be six boarders or more, shall be deemed an eating house under this act. Commercial brokers or commission mer- chants, $200, and two and a half per cen- tum. Theatres, $500, and five per centum on all receipts. Each circus, $100^ and $10 for each exhibition. Jugglers and other persons exhibiting shows, $.50. Bowling alleys and billiard rooms, $40 for each alley or table registered. Livery stable keepers, lawyers, physi- cians, surgeons, and dentists, $50. Butchers and bakers, $50, and one per centum. 6. Every person registered and taxed is required to make returns of the gross amount of sales from the passage of the act to the 30th of June, and every three months thereafter. 7. A tax upon all salaries, except of per- sons in the military or naval service, of one per cent, when not exceeding $1,500, and two per cent, upon an excess over that amount: Provided, That no taxes shall be imposed by virtue of this act on the salary of any person receiving a salary not ex- ceeding $1,000 per annum, or at a like rate for another period of time, longer or shorter. 8. Provides that the tax on annual in- comes, between $500 and $1,500, shall be five per cent. ; between $1,500 and $3,000, five jjer cent, on the fii'st $1,500 and ten. per cent, on the excess ; between $3,000 and $5,000, ten per cent. ; between $5,000 and $10,000, twelve and a half per cent. ; over $10,000, fifteen per cent., subject to the following deductions : On incomes de- rived from rents of real estate, manufac- turing, and mining establishments, &c., a sum sufficient for necessary annual repairs ; on incomes from any mining or manufac- turing business, the rent, (if rented,) cost of labor actually hired, and raw material ; on incomes from navigating enterprises, the hire of the vessel, or allowance for wear and tear of the same, not exceeding ten per cent. ; on incomes derived from the sale of merchandise or any other property, the prime cost of transportation, salaries of clerks, and rent of buildings ; on incomes from any other occupation, the salaries of clerks, rent, cost of labor, material, &c. ; and in case of mutual insurance compa- nies, the amount of losses paid by them during the year. Incomes derived from other sources are subject to no deductions whatever. All joint stock companies and corpora- tions shall pay one tenth of the dividend and reserved fund annually. If the an- nual earnings shall give a profit of more than ten and less than twenty per cent, on capital stock, one eighth to be paid; if more than twenty per cent., one sixth. The tax to be collected on the 1st of Janu- ary next, and of each year thereafter. 9. Eelates to estimates and deductions, investigations, referees, &c. 10. A tax of ten per cent, on all profits in 1862 by the purchase and sale of flour, corn, bacon, pork, oats, hay, rice, salt, iron or the manufactures of iron, sugar, mo- lasses made of cane, butter, woolen cloths, shoes, boots, blankets, and cotton cloths. Does not apply to regular retail business. 11. Each farmer, after reserving for his 156 AMERICAN POLITICS. own use fifty bushels sweet and fiftj^ bushels Irish potatoes, one handred bushels corn or fifty bushels wheat produced this year, shall pay and deliver to the Con- federate Government one tenth of the grain, potatoes, forage, sugar, molasses, cot- ton, wool, and tobacco produced. After reserving twenty bushels peas or beans he shall deliver one tenth thereof. 12. Every farmer, planter, or grazier, one tenth of the hogs slaughtered by him, in cured bacon, at the rate of sixty pounds of bacon to one hundred pounds of pork ; one per cent, upon the value of all neat cattle, horses, mules, not used in cultivation, and asses, to be paid by the owners of the same ; beeves sold to be "taxed as income. 13. Gives in detail, the duties of post quartermasters under the act. 1-1. Relates to the duties of assessors and collectors. 15. Makes trustees, guardians, «&c., re- sponsible for taxes due from estates, &c., under their control. 16. Exempts the income and moneys of hospitals, asylums churches, schools, and colleges from taxation under the act. 17. Authorizes the Secretary of the Trea- sury to make all rules and regulations ne- cessary to the operation of the act. 18. Provides that the act shall be in force for two years from the expiration of the present year, unless sooner repealed ; that the tax on naval stores, flour, wool, cotton, tobacco, and other agricultural ])ro- ducts of the growth of any year preceding 1863, imposed in the first section, shall be le- vied and collected only for the present year. The tax act of February 17, 1864, levies, in addition to the above rates, the follow- ing, as stated in the Richmond Sentinel of February, 1864: Sec. 1. Upon the value of real, personal, and mixed property, of every kind and de- scription, except the exemptions hereafter to be named, five per cent. ; the tax levied on property employed in agriculture to be credited by the value of property in kind. On gold and silver ware, plate, jewels, and watches, ten per cent. The tax to be levied on the value of property in 1860, except in the case of land, slaves, cotton, and tobacco, pur- chased since January 1st, 1862, upon which the tax shall be levied on the price paid. Sec. 2. A tax of five per cent, on the value of all shares in joint stock companies of any kind, whether incorporated or not. The shares to be valued at their market value at the time of assessment. Sec. 3. Upon the market value of gold and silver coin or bullion, five per cent. ; also the same upon moneys held abroad, or all bills of exchange drawn therefor. A tax of five per cent, on all solvent credits, and on all bank bills and papers used as currency, except non-interest-bear- ing Confederate Treasury notes, and not employed in a registered business taxed twenty-five per cent. Sec. 4. Promts in trade and business taxed as follows : On the purchase and sale of agricultural products and mercantile wares generally, from January 1, 1S63, to Januarj' 1, 1865, ten per cent.' in addition to the tax under the act of April 24, 1863. The same on the purchase and sale of coin, exchange, stocks, notes, and credits of any kind, and any property not in- cluded in the foregoing. On the amount of profits exceeding twenty-five per cent, of any bank, banking company, or joint stock company of any de- scription, incorporated or not, twenty-five per cent, on such excess. Sec 5. The following are exempted from taxation. Five hundred dollars' worth of property for each head of a family, and a hundred dollars additional for each minor child ; and for each son in the army or navy, or who has fallen in the service, and a mem- ber of the family when he enlisted, the further sum of $500. One thousand dollars of the property of the widow or minor children of any ofiicer, soldier, sailor, or marine, who has died in the service. A like amount of property of any ofii- cer, soldier, sailor, or marine, engaged in the service, or who has been disabled therein, provided said property, exclusive of furniture, does not exceed in value $1,000. When property has been injured or de- stroyed by the enemy, or the owner unable temporarily to use or occupy it by reason of the presence or proximity of the enemy, the assessment may be reduced in propor- tion to the damage sustained by the owner, and the tax in the same ratio by the dis- trict collector. Sec. 6. The taxes on property for 1864 to be assessed as on the day of the passage of this act, and collected 'the 1st of June next, with ninety days extension west of the Mississippi. The additional tax on incomes or profits for 1863, to be paid forthwith ; the tax on incomes, &c., for 1864, to be collected according to the acts of 1863. Sec. 7. Exempts from tax on income for 1864, all property herein taxed ad valorem. The tax on Confederate bonds in no case to exceed the interest payable on the same; and said bonds exempt from tax when held by minors or lunatics, if the in- terest do not exceed one thousand dollars. THE TAX LAW. We learn that, according to the construc- tion of the recent tax law in the Treasury Department, tax payers will be required to state the articles and objects subjected to a specific or ad valorem tax, held, owned, or CONFEDERATE TAXES. 157 possessed by them on the 17th day of Febru- ary, 1864, the date of the act. The daily wages of detailed soldiers and other employes of the Government are not liable to taxation as income, although they may amount, in the aggregate, to the sum of ;?1,000 per annum. A tax additional to both the above was imposed as follows, June 1, 1864 : A bill to provide supplies for the army, and to prescribe the mode of making im- pressments. Sec. 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, Every person required to pay a tax in kind, under the provisions of the "Act to lay taxes for the common defense and carry on the Govern- ment of the Confederate States," approved April 24, 1863, and the act amendatory thereof, approved February 17, 1864, shall, in addition to the one tenth required by said acts to be paid as a tax in kind, de- liver to the Confederate Government, of the products of the present year and of the year 1865, one other tenth of the several products taxed in kind by the acts afore- said, which additional one tenth shall be ascertained, assessed and collected, in all respects, as is provided by law for the said tax in kind, and shall be paid for, on de- livery, by the Post-Quartermasters in the several districts at the assessed value there- of, except that payment for cotton and to- bacco shall be made by the agents of the Treasury Department appointed to receive the same. Sec. 2. The supplies necessary to the support of the producer and his family, and to carry on his ordinary business, shall be exempted from the contribution required by the preceding section, and from the ad- ditional impressments authorized by the act : Provided, hoioever, That nothing here- in contained shall be construed to repeal or affect the provisions of an act entitled " An act to authorize the impressment of meat for the use of the army, under certain circumstances,'' approved Feb. 17, 1864, and if the amount of any article or product so necessary cannot be agreed upon be- tween the assessor and the producer, it shall be ascertained and determined by disinterested freeholders of the vicinage, as is provided in cases of disagreement as to the estimates and assessments of tax in kind. If required by the assessor, such freeholder shall ascertain whether a pro- ducer, who is found unable to furnish the additional one tenth of any one product, cannot supply the deficiency by the de- livery of an equivalent in other products, and upon what terms such commutation shall be made. Any commutation thus awarded shall be enforced and collected, in all respects, as is provided for any other contribution required by this act. Sec. 3. The Secretary of War may, at his discretion, decline to assess, or, after assessment, may decline to collect the whole or any part of the additional one tenth herein provided for, in any district or locality ; and it shall be liis duty promptly to give notice of any such de- termination, specifying, with reasonable certainty, the district or locality and the product, or the proportion thereof, as to which he so declines. Sec. 4. The products received for the contribution herein required, shall be dis- posed of and accounted for in the same manner as those received for the tax in kind ; and the Secretary of War may, whenever the exigencies of the public ser- vice will allow, authorize the sale of pro- ducts received from either source, to pub- lic officers or agents charged in any State with the duty of providing for the families of soldiers. Such sale shall be at the prices paid or assessed for the products sold, including the actual cost of collec- tions. Sec. 5. If, in addition to the tax in kind and the contribution herein required, the necessities of the army or the good of the service shall require other supplies of food or forage, or any other private property, and the same cannot be procured by con- tract, then impressments may be made of such supplies or other property, either for absolute ownership or for temporary use, as the public necessities may require. Such impressments shall be made in accordance with the provisions, and subject to the re- stricti,ons of the existing impressment laws, except so far as is herein otherwise pro- vided. Sec. 6. The right and the duty of mak- ing impressments is hereby confided exclu- sively to the officers and agents charged in the several districts with the assessment and collection of the tax in kind and of the contribution herein required ; and all officers and soldiers in any department of the army are hereby expressly prohibited from undertaking in any manner to inter- fere with these officers and agents in any l^art of tlieir duties in respect to the tax in kind, the contribution, or the impressment herein provided for : Provided, That this prohibition shall not be applicable to any district, county, or parish in which there shall be no officer or agent charged with the appointment and collection of the tax in kind. Sec. 7. Supplies or other property taken by impressment shall be paid for by the post quartermasters in the several districts, and shall be disposed of and accounted for by them as is required in respect to the tax in kind and the contribution herein re- quired ; and it shall be the duty of the post quartermasters to equalize and appor- tion the impressments within their dis- 158 AMERICAN POLITICS. tricts, as far as practicable, so as to avoid oppressing any portion of the community. Sec. 8. If any one not autliorized by law to collect the tax in kind or the contribu- tion herein required, or to make impress- ments, shall undertake, on any pretence of such authority, to seize or impress, or to collect or receive any such property, or shall, on any such pretence, actually obtain such property, he shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by fine not exceeding five times the value of such property, and be imprisoned not exceeding five years, at the discretion of the court having jurisdic- tion. And it shall be the duty of all offi- cers and agents charged with the assess- ment and collection of the tax in kind and of the contribution lierein required, promptly to report, through the post quar- termasters in the several districts, any vio- lation or disregard of the provisions of this act by any officer or soldier in the service ■of the Confederate States. Sec. 9. That it shall not be lawful to impress any sheep, milch cows, brood mares, stud horses, jacks, bulls, or other stock kept or necessary for raising horses, mules, or cattle. The following is the vote by which the bill passed the Senate : Yeas — Messrs. Caperton, Graham, Haynes, Jemison, Johnson (Ark.), John- son (Mo.), Mitchell, Orr, Walker, Watson —10. Nays — Messrs. Baker, Burnett, Henry, Hunter, Maxwell, Semmes, Sparrow — 7. Admitting West Virginia. An important political movement in the early years of the war was the separation of West Virginia from the mother State, which had seceded, and her admission in- to the Union. SECOND SESSION, THIRTY-SEVENTH CON- GRESS. In Senate, 1862, July 14.— The bill pro- viding for the admission of the State of West Virginia into the Union, passed— yeas 23, nays 17, as follows : Yeas— Messrs. Anthony, Clark, Colla- mer, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris, Howe, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morrill, Pomeroy, Rice, Sherman, Simmons, Ten Eyck, Wade, Wilkinson, Willey, Wilson of Massachu- setts— 23. Nays— Messrs. Bayard, Browning, Car- lile, Chandler, Cowan, Davis, Howard, Kennedy, King, McDougal, Poivell, Sauls- bury, Stark, Sumner, Trumbull, Wilson of Missouri, Wright — 17. During the pendency of this bill, July 14, 1862, Mr. Sumner moved to strike from the first section of the second article the words : " the children of all slaves born within the limits of said State shall be free," and insert: Within the limits of the said State there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in punishment of crimes whereof the party shall be duly convicted. Which was rejected — yeas 11, nays 24, as follows : Yeas — Messrs. Chandler, Clark, Grimes, King, Lane of Kansas, Pomeroy, Sumner, Trumbull, Wilkinson, Wilmot, Wilson, of Massaehusetts-11. NAYS-Messrs. Anthony, Bayard,BTOwn- ing, Carlile, Collamer, Doolittle, Foot Fos- ter, Harris, Henderson, Howe, Kennedy, Lane of Indiana, Poivell, Bice, Saulsbury, Sherman, Simmons, Stark, Ten Eyck, Wade, Wiley, Wilson of Missouri, Wright --24. Mr. Willey proposed to strike out all after the word "That" in the first section, and insert : That the State of West Virginia be, and is hereby, declared to be one of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the origi- nal States in all respects whatever, and un- til the next general census shall be entitled to three members in the House of Kepre- sentatives of the United States : Provided always. That this act shall not take effect until after the proclamation of the Presi- dent of the United States hereinafter pro- vided for. Sec 2. It being represented to Congress that since the convention of the 26th of November, 1861, that framed and proposed the constitution for the said State of West Virginia, the people thereof have expressed a wish to change the seventh section of the eleventh article of said constitution by striking out the same, and inserting the following in its place, namely, "The chil- dren of slaves born within the limits of this State after the 4th day of July, 1863, shall be free, and no slave shall be permit- ted to come into the State for permanent residence therein :" therefore, Be it further enacted, That whenever the people of West Virginia shall, through their said convention, and by a vote to be taken at an election to be held within the limits of the State at such time as the con- vention may provide, make and ratify the change aforesaid and properly certify' the same under the hand of the president of the convention, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to issue his proclamation stating the fact, and there- upon this act shall take effect and be in force from and after sixty days from the date of said proclamation. Mr Lane of Kansas moved to amend the amendment by inserting after the word "Heiein,' and before the word, "There- fore" the words: COLOR IN WAR POLITICS. 159 And that all slaves within the said State who shall at the time aforesaid be under the age of ten years shall be free when they arrive at the age of twenty-one years ; and all slaves over ten and under twenty- one yea'-s shall be free when they arrive at the age of twenty-five years. Which was agreed to— yeas 25, nays 12, as follows : Yeas— Messrs. Anthony, Clark, CoUa- mer, Doolittle, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Har- lan, Harris, Howard, Howe, King, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morrill, Pome- roy, Sherman, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson, Wilmot, Wil- son, of Massachusetts — 25. Nats — Messrs. Browning, Carlile, Davis, Henderson, Kennedi/, McDougaU, Powell, Sanlsbunj, Stark Willey, Wilson of Mis- souri, Wright— 12. The amendment as amended was then agreed to. A motion to postjione the bill to the first ]\Ionday of the next December was lost — yeas 17, nays 23. In House, July 16 — The bill was post- poned until the second Tuesday of the next December— ryeas 63, nays 33. THIRD SESSION, THIRTY-SEVENTH CON- GRESS. 1863, Dec. 10, the House passed the bill — yeas 96, nays 57. 1863, April 20, the President issued a proclamation announcing the compliance, by West Virginia, of the conditions of ad- mission. COLOR IN WAR POLITICS. Emancipation and its attendant agita- tions brought to the front a new class of political questions, which can best be grouped under the above cajstion. The following is a summary of the legislation : Second Session, Tliirty-Scventli Congress. To Remove Disqiuilifiaition of Color in Carnjiinj the Mails. In Senate, 1862, April 11 -The Senate considered a bill "to remove all disquali- fication of color in carrying the mails of the United States." It directed that after the passage of the act no person, by reason of color, shall be disqualified from em- ployment in carrying the mails, and all acts and parts of acts establishing such dis- qualification, including especially the seventh section of the act of March 3, 1825, are hereby rejiealed. The vote in the Senate w\as, yeas 24, nays 11, as follows: Yeas — Messrs. Anthony, Browning, Chandler, Clark, CoUamer, Dixon, Doolit- tle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Howard, Howe, King, Lane of Kansas^ Morrill, Pomeroy, Sherman, Simmons, Sumner, Wade, Wilkinson, and Wilson of Massachusetts— 24. Nays — Messrs. Davi.^, Henderson, Ken- nedy, Lane of Indiana, l.ntham, Nesmith, Powell, Stark, Willey, Wilsan of Missouri, Wright— 11." In House, May 21 — It was considered in the House and laid on the table— veas 83, nays 43. First Session, Thirty-Eiglith Congress. 1864, February 26 — The Senate con- sidered the bill— the question being on agreeing to a new section proposed by tlie Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads — as folloAvs : Sec. 2. That in the courts of the United States there shall be no exclusion of any witness on account of color. Mr. Powell moved to amend by inserting after the word "States" the words: "in all cases for robbing or violating the mails of the United States." No further progress was made on the bill. NEGRO SUFFRAGE IN MONTANA TERRI- TORY. 1864, March 18— The House passed,with- out a division, a bill in the usual form, to provide a temporary government for the Territory of Montana. March 31 — The Senate considered it, when Mr. Wilkinson moved to strike from the second line of the fifth section, (defin- ing the qualifications of voters, ) the words "white male inhabitant" and insert the words: " male citizen of the United States, and those who have declared their inten- tion to become such ;" which was agreed to— yeas 22, nays 17, as follows : Yeas — Messrs. Brown, Chandler, Clark, Collamer,Conness, Dixon, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris, Howard, Howe, Morgan, Morrill, Pome- roy, Sumner, Wade, Wilkinson, Wilson — 22. Nays— Messrs. Bwl-alew, Carlile, Cowan, Davis, Harding, Henderson, Johnson, Lane of Indiana, Nesmith, Powell, Riddle, Sauls- bvn/, Sherman, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Willey— 17. The bill was then passed — ^yeas 29, nays 8, (Messrs. Buckalew, Davis, Johnson. Powell, Riddle, Saulshury, Van Winkle, Willey.) April 15 — The Senate adopted the report of the Committee of Conference on the Montana bill, which recommended the Senate to recede from their second amend- ment, and the House to agree to the first and third amendments of the Senate, (in- cluding the above.) April 15 — Mr. Beaman presented the re- port of the Committee of Conference on the Montana bill, a feature of which was that the House should recede from its dis- * Republicans in roman : Democrats in italics. 160 AMERICAN POLITICS. agreement to the Senate amendment strik- ing out the word "white" in the descrip- tion of those authorized to vote. Mr. Hohnau moved that the report be tabled ; which was lost by the casting vote of the Speaker — yeas 66, nays 66. Upon agreeing to the report the yeas were 54, nays 85. On motion to adhere to its amendments, and ask another Committee of Conference, Mr. Webster moved instructions : And that said committee be instructed to agree to no report that authorizes any other than free white male citizens, and those who have declared their intention to become such, to vote. Which was agreed to — yeas 75, nays 67. April 15 — The Senate declined the con- ference upon the terms proposed by the House resolution of that day. April 18 — The House proposed a further free conference, to which, April 25, the Senate acceded. May 17— In Senate, Mr. Morrill sub- mitted a report from the Conference Com- mittee who recommend that qualified voters shall be : All citizens of the United States, and those who have declared their intention to become such, and who are otherwise de- scribed and qualified under the fifth sec- tion of the act of Ccmgress providing for a temporary government for the Territory of Idaho apisroved March 3, 1863. The report was concurred in — yeas 26, nays 13. May 20 — The above report was made by Mr. AVebster in the House, and agreed to — yeas 102, nays 26. IN WASHINGTON CITY.* 1864, May 6-rThe Senate considered the bill for the registration of voters in the city of Washington, when Mr. Cowan moved to insert the word " white " in the first section, so as to con- fine the right of voting to white male citizens. May 12 — Mr. Morrill moved to amend the amendment by striking out the words — * In 1860 a vote was had in the State of New York on a proposition to permit negro suffrage without a property qualification. The result of the city was— yeas 1,640, nays 37,471. In the State— yeas 197,505. nays 337,984. In 1864 a like proposition wasdeieated- yeas 85,406, nays 224,336. In 1862, in August, a vote was, liad in the State of Illi- nois, on several propositions relating to negroes and mulattoes, with this result : For excluding them from the State 171.893 Against 71,306 100,587 Against granting them suffrage or right to office 21',920 Tor 35,649 176,271 For the enactment of laws to prohibit them from going to, or voting in, the State 108,938 Against 44,414 154,524 — tVom McPJierson's History of the Great Bebellion. • And shall have paid all school taxes and all taxes on personal property properly as- sessed against him, shall be entitled to vote for mayor, collector, register, members of the board of aldermen and board of common council, and assessor, and for every officer authorized ,to be elected at anV election under any act or acts to which this is amendatory or supplementary, and inserting the words — And shall within the year next preced- ing the election have paid a tax, or been assessed with a part of the revenue of the District, county, or cities, therein, or been exempt from taxation having taxable estate, and who can read and write with facility, shall enjoy the privileges of an elector. May 26 — Mr. Sumner moved to amend the bill by adding this proviso : Provided, That there shall be no exclu- sion of any person from the registiy on ac- count of color. May 27 — Mr. Harlan moved to amend the amendment by making the word " per- son" read "persons," and adding the words — Who have borne arms in the military service of the United States, and have been honorably discharged therefrom. Which was agreed to yeas 26, nays 12, as follows : Yeas — Messrs. Anthony, Chandler, Clark, Collamer, Conness, Dixon, Fessen- den. Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris, Johnson, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Pomeroy,. Eamsey, Sherman, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Willey, Wilson— 26. Nays — Messrs. Buckalew, Carlile, Cow- an, Davis, Hendricks, McDoxigall, Powell Bichardson, Smilsburi/, Sumner, Van Winkle, Wilkinson— 12. May 28 — Mr. Sumner moved to add these words to the last proviso : And provided further, That all persons, without distinction of color, who shall, within the year next preceding the election, have paid a tax on any estate, or been as- sessed with a part of the revenue of said District, or been exempt from taxation having taxable estate, and who can read and write with facility, shall enjoy the- privilege of an elector. But no ]ierson now entitled to vote in the said District, continuing to reside therein, shall be dis- fi-anchised hereby. Which was rejected— yeas 8, nays 27, as follows : Yeas— Messrs. Anthony, Clark, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Pomeroy, Kamsey, Sum- ner, Wilkinson — 8. js^AYS- Messrs. Buckalew, Carlile, Colla- mer, Cowan, Pavis, Dixon, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Har- ris, Hendricks, Hicks, Johnson, Lane of Indiana, McDougall, Morrill, Powell, Sauls- COLOR IN WAR POLITICS. 161 bury Sherman, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Willey, Wilson— 27. The other proposition of Mr. Sumner, amended on motion of Mr. Harlan, wits then rejected— yeas 18, nays 20, as follows: Yeas — Messrs. Anthony, Chandler, Clark, Dixon, Foot, Foster, JBale, Harlan, Howard, Howe, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Pomeroy, Ramsev, Sherman, Sumner, Wilkinson, Wilson— 18. 'Nays — Messrs. Biickalew, Carlile, Co- wan, Davis, Grimes, Harris, Hendricks, Hicks, Johnson, Lane of Indiana, McDou- gall, Morrill, Nesmith, Powell, Richardson, Saulsburi/, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Van AVinkle, Willey— 20. The bill then passed the Senate, and afterward the House, without amendment. Tliird Session, THlrty-Seventli Coiisress. Excluding Colored Persons from Cars. In Senate— 1863, February 27— Pending a supplement to the charter of the Wash- ington and Alexandria Railroad Company, Mr. Sumner offered this proviso to the first section : That no person shall be excluded from the cars on account of color. Which was agreed to— yeas 19, nays 18, as follows : Yeas— Messrs. Arnold, Chandler, Clark, Fessenden, Foot, Grimes, Harris, Howard, King, Lane of Kansas, Morrill, Pomeroy, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wil- kinson, Wilmot, Wilson, of Massachusetts —W. Nays — Messrs. Anthony, Bayard, Car- lile, Cowman, Davis, Henderson, Hicks, Howe, Kennedy, Lane of Indiana, Latham, McDougall, Powell, Richardson, Saulsbury, Turpie, AVilley, Wilson of Missouri — IS. March 2. — The House concurred in the amendment without debate, under the pre- vious question. First Session, Tliirty-Kiglitli Congress. In Senate— 1864, February 10 — Mr. Sumner offered the following : Resolved, That the Committee on the District of Columbia be directed to con- sider the expediency of further providing by law against the exclusion of colored persons from the equal enjoyment of all railroad privileges in the District of Colum- bia. Which was agreed to — yeas 30, nays 10. February 24 — Mr. Willey, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, made this report, and the committee were discharged ; The Committee on the District of Co- lumbia, who were required by resolution of the Senate, passed February 8, 1864, "to consider the expediency of further providing' by law against the exclusion of colored persons from the equal enjoyment of all railroad privileges in the District of 11 Columbia," have had the matter thus re- ferred to them under consideration, and beg leave to report : The act entitled " An act to incorporate the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company," approved May 17, 1862, makes no distinction as to passengers over said road on account of the color of the pas- sengers, and that in the opinion of the committee colored persons are entitled to all the privileges of said road which other persons have, and to all remedies for any denial or breach of such privileges which belongs to any person. The committee therefore ask to be dis- charged from the further consideration of the premises. March 17 — The Senate considered the bill to incorporate the Metropolitan Rail- road Company, in the District of Columbia^ the pending question being an amendment^ offered by Mr. Sumner, to add to the four- teenth section the words : Provided, That there shall be no regula- tion excluding any person from any car on account of color. Which was agreed to — yeas 19, nays 17, as follows : Yeas — Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Clark, Conness, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harlan, Howe, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sumner, Wade, Wilkinson, Wilson— 19. Nays — Messrs. Buckalew, Carlile, Davis, Doolittle, Harding, Harris, Hendricks, Johnson, Lane of Indiana, Powell, Riddle, Saulsbury, Sherman, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Willey— 17. The bill then passed the Senate. June 19 — The House refused to strike out the proviso last adopted in the Senate — yeas 60, nays 76. And the bill passed the House and waa approved by the President. Second Session, Tliirty-SeventH Congress. Colored Persons as Wiluesses. In Senate — Pending the confiscation bill, June 28, 1862. Mr. Sumner moved these words as an addition to the 14th section : And in all the proceedings under this act there shall be no exclusion of any wit- ness on account of color. Which was rejected — yeas 14, nays 25, as follows : Yeas — Messrs. Chandler, Grimes, Har- lan, Howard, King, Lane of Kansas, Mor- rill, Pomeroy, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson, Wilmot— 14. Nays — Messrs. Anthony, Browning, Carlile, Clark, Collamer, Cowan, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Harris, Henderson, Lane of Indiana, Nes- mith, Pearce, Powell, Sherman, Simmons, Stark, Ten Eyck, Willey, Wilson of Mis- souri, Wright — 25. 162 AMERICAN POLITICS. Pending the consideration of the supple- ment to the emancipation bill for the Dis- trict of Columbia, 1862, July 7 — Mr. Sumner moved a new section : That in all the judicial proceedings in the District of Columbia there shall be no exclusion of any witness on account of color. Which was adopted — yeas 25, nays 11. The bill then passed — yeas 29, nays 6 ; (Messrs. Carlile, Davis, Kennedy, Powell, Wilson, of Missouri, Wright.) July 9 — The bill passed the House — yeas 69, nays 36. There was no separate vote on the above proposition. Pending the consideration in the Senate of the House bill in relation to the com- petency of witnesses in trials of equity and admiralty, 1862, July lo^Mr. Sumner offered this proviso to the first section : Provided, That there shall be no exclu- sion of any witness on account of color. Which was rejected — yeas 14, nays 23. First Session, Tlilrty-Elglitli Congress. 1864, June 25 — Pending the civil appro- priation bill, in Committee of the Whole, Mr. Sumner offered this proviso : Provided, That in the courts of the United States there shall be no exclusion of any witness on account of color. Mr. Buckalew moved to add : Nor in civil actions because he is a party to or interested in the issue tried. Which was agreed to ; and the amend- ment as amended was agreed to — yeas 22, nays 16. The Senate subsequently concurred in this amendment — yeas 29, nays 10. IN HOUSE. June 29— The question being on agree- ing to the amendment, Mr. Mallory moved to add this proviso to the section amended in the Senate : Provided, That negro testimony shall only be taken in the United States courts in those States the laws of which authorize such testimony. Which was rejected — yeas 47, nays 66. The amendment of the Senate was then agreed to — yeas 67, nays 48. COLORED SCHOOLS. June 8. — The House passed a bill to pro- vide for the public instruction of youth in Washington city, with an amendment pro- viding for separate schools for the colored children, by setting apart such a propor- tion of the entire school fund as the num- ber of colored children between the ages of six and seventeen bear to the whole num- ber of children in the District. The bill, with amendments, passed both Houses ■without a division. On all of these questions of color, the Democrats invariably, on test votes, were found against any concession of rights to the negro. These were frequently aided by some Republicans, more conservative than their colleagues, or representing closer districts where political prejudices would affect their return to their seats. It will be observed that on nearly all these ques- tions Senator Charles Sumner took the lead. He was at that time pre-eminently the Moses of the colored man, and led him from one right to another through Sena- torial difficulties, which by the way, were never as strong as that in the House, where Thaddeus Stevens was the boldest cham- pion of " the rights of the black man." In the field, rather in the direction of what should be done with the " contrabands " and escaped slaves, the Secretary of W^^"' General Cameron, was their most radical friend, and liis instructions were so out- spoken that Lincoln had to modify^ them. As early as December 1, 1861, General Cameron wrote : " While it is plain that the slave prop- erty of the South is justly subjected to all the consequences of this rebellious war, and that the Government would be untrue to its trust in not employing all the rights and powers of war to bring it to a speedy close, the details of the plan for doing so, like all other military measures, must, in a great degree, be left to be determined by^ particular exigencies. The disposition of other property belonging to the rebels that becomes subject to our arms is governed by the circumstances of the case. The Gov- ernment has no power to hold slaves, none to restrain a slave of his liberty, or to ex- act his service. It has a right, however, to use the voluntary service of slaves lib- erated by war from tlieir rebel masters, like any other property of the rebels, in what- ever mode may be most efficient for the de- fence of the Government, the prosecution of the war, and the suppression of rebel- lion. It is clearly a right of the govern- ment to arm slaves when it may become necessary as it is to take gunpowder from the enemy. Whether it is expedient to do so is purely a military question. The right is unquestionable by'the laws of war. The expediency must be determined by circum- stances, keeping in view the great object of overcoming the rebels, re-establishing the laws, and restoring peace to the na- tion. " It is vain and idle for the Government to carry on this war, or hope to maintain its existence against rebellious force, with- out enjoying all the rights and powers of war. As has been said, the right to de- Ijrive the rebels of their property in slaves and slave labor is as clear and absolute as the right to take forage from the field, or cotton from the warehouse, or powder and COLOR IN WAR POLITICS. 168 arms from the magazine. To leave the enemy in the possession of such property as forage and cotton and military stores, and the means of constantly reproducing them, would be madness. ll is, therefore, equal madness to leave them in peaceful and secure possession of slave property, more valuable and efficient to them for war than forage, cotton and military stores. •Such policy would be national suicide. What to do with that species of property is a question that time and circumstances will solve, and need not be anticipated further than to repeat that^they cannot be held by the Government as slaves. It would be useless to keep them as prisoners of war ; and self-preservation, the highest duty of a Government, or of individuals, demands that they should be disposed of or em- ployed in the most effective manner that will tend most speedily to suppress the in- surrection and restore the authority of the Government. If it shall be found that the men who have been held by the rebels as slaves are capable of bearing arms and per- forming efficient military service, it is the right, and may become the duty, of this Government to arm and equip them, and employ their services against the rebels, under proper military regulations, disci- pli'ie and command. " But in whatever manner they may be used by the Government, it is plain that, once libei"ated by the rebellious act of their masters, they should never again be re- stored to bondage. By the master's trea- son and rebellion he forfeits all right to the labor and service of his slave ; and the slave of the rebellious master, by his ser- vice to the Government, becomes justly en- titled to freedom and protection. "The disposition to be made of the slaves of rebels, after the close of the war, can be safely left to the wisdom and pat- riotism of Congress. The representatives of the people will unquestionably secure to the loyal slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the Consti- tution of the country." [Subsequent events proved the wisdom •of this policy, and it was eventually adopt- ed by an Administration which proclaimed its policy " to move not ahead but with the people."] President Lincoln and his Cabinet mod- ified the above language so as to make it read : " It is already a grave question what shall be done with those slaves who were abandoned by their owners on the advance of our troops into southern territory, as at Beaufort district, in South Carolina. The number left within our control at that point is very considerable, and similar cases will probably occur. What shall be done with them ? Can we afford to send them forward to their masters, to be by them armed against us, or used in pro- ducing supplies to .sustain the rebellion ? Their labor may be useful to us ; withheld from the enemy it lessens his military re- sources, and withholding them has no ten- dency to induce the horrors of insurrec- tion, even in the rebel communities. They constitute a military resource, and, being such, that they should not be turned over to the enemy is too plain to discuss. Why deprive him of supplies by a blockade, and voluntarily give him men to produce them ? "•The disposition to be made of the slaves of rebels, after the close of the war, can be safely left to the wisdom and pat- riotism of Congress. The Representatives of the people will unquestionably secure to the loyal slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the Constitution of the country." Secretary Cameron was at all times in favor of " carrying the war into Africa," and it was this stern view of the situation which eventually led him to sanction measures which brought him into plainer differences with the Administration. Lin- coln took offense at the printing of his re- port before submitting it to him. As a re- sult he resigned and went to Russia as [Minister, on his return being again elected to the United States Senate — a i)lace which he filled until the winter of 1.S77, when he resigned, and his son, J. Donald Cameron, was elected to the vacancy, and re-elected for the term ending in 1885. General B. F. Butler was the author of the " contra- band " idea. A year later the views of the Administration became more radical on questions of color, and July 22, 1862, Sec- retary Stanton ordered all Generals in comrnand " to seize and use any property, real or personal, which may be necessary or convenient for their several commands, for supplies, or for other military purposes ; and that while property may be destroyed for proper military objects, none shall be destroyed in wantonness or malice. " Second. That military and naval com- manders shall employ as laborers, within and from said States, so many persons of African descent as can be advantageously used for military or naval purposes, giving them reasonable wages for their labor. " Third. That, as to both property, and persons of African descent, accounts shall be kept sufficiently accurate and in detail to show quantities and amounts, and from whom both property and such persons shall have come, as a basis upon which compensation can be made in proper cases ; and the several departments of this Gov- ernment shall attend to and perform their appropriate parts towards the execution of these orders." The manner and language employed by General ]\IcClellan in promulgating this 164 AMERICAN POLITICS. order to the Army of the Potomac, led to his political difFerer.ces with the Adminis- tration, and in the end caused him to be the Democratic candidate for President in 1864, against Lincoln. His language is peculiar and some of it worthy of presenta- tion as of political importance. He said : " Inhabitants, especially women and children, remaining peaceably at their homes, must not be molested; and wher- ever commanding officers find families peculiarly exposed in their persons or property to marauding from this army, they will, as heretofore, so far as they can do with safety and without detriment to the service, post guards for their protection. " In protecting private property, no refer- ence is intended to persons held to service or labor by reason of African descent. Such persons will be regarded by this army, as they heretofore have been, as oc- cupying simply a peculiar legal status, under State laws, which condition the mili- tary authorities of the United States are not required to regard at all in districts where military operations are. made neces- sary by the rebellious action of the State governments. " Persons subject to suspicion of hostile purposes, residing or being near our forces, will be, as heretofore, subject to arrest and detention, until the cause or necessity is removed. All such arrested parties will be sent, as usual, to the Provost Marshal General, with a statement of the facts in each case. " The general commanding takes this occasion to remind the oflicers and soldiers of this army that we are engaged in sup- porting the Constitution and the laws of the United States and suppressing rebel- lion against their authority ; that we are not engaged in a war of rapine, revenge, or subjugation ; that this is not a contest against populations, but against armed forces and political organizations ; that it is a struggle carried on with the United States, and should be conducted by us upon the highest principles known to Christian civilization." At this time such were the prejudices of Union soldiers against negroes, because of growing political agitation in the North, that many would loudly jeer them when seen within the lines. The feeling was even greater in the ranks of- civilians, and yet Congress moved along, step by step. The 37th abolished slavery in the District of Columbia ; prohibited it in all the terri- tories ; confirmed the freedom of the slaves owned by those in arms against the govern- ment; authorized the employment of colored men in fortifications, their enlist- ment, etc. ; and enacted an additional article of war, which prohibited any officer from returning or aiding the return of any fugitive slave. These were rapid strides, but not as rapid as were demanded by the more radical wing of the Republican party. We have shown that most of them were ojjposed by the Democrats, not solidly sure where they were plainly political, but this party became less solid as the war ad- vanced. Senator Wilson was the author of the bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. It excited much debate, and the range of the speeches covered the en- tire question of slavery. Those from the Border States opposed it (a few Republicans and. all Democrats) but some of the Demo- crats of the North supported it. The vote in the Senate was 29 for to 6 against. In the House Frank P. Blair, Jr., advocated colonization in connection with the bill,^ but his idea met with little favor. Crit- tenden, Wickliffe and Vallandigham were prominent in opposition. Its most promi- nent advocates were Stevens of Pennsyl- vania, and Bingham of Ohio. The vote was 92 for to 38 against. The bill of Arnold, of Illinois, " to ren- der freedom national and slavery sectional," the leading idea in the platform of the convention which nominated Lincoln, pro- hibited slavery in " all the Territories of the United States then existing, or there- after to be formed or acquired in any Avay." It was vehemently opposed, but passed with some modifications by 58 ayes to 60 noes, and it also jiassed the Senate. In the Spring of 1862 General David Hunter brought the question of the enlist- ment of colored troops to a direct issue by raising a regiment of them. On the 9th of June following, Mr. Wickliffe of Ken- tucky, succeeded in getting the House to adopt a resolution of inquiry. Corres- pondence followed with General Hunter. He confessed the fact, stated that " he found his authority in the instructions of Secre- taiy Cameron, and said that he hoped by fall to enroll about fifty thousand of these hardy and devoted soldiers." When this reply was read in the House it was greeted with shouts of laughter from the Republi- cans, and signs oi" anger from the others. A great debate followed on the amendment to the bill providing for the calling out of the militia, clothing the President with full power to enlist colored troops, and to pro- claim "he, bis mother, and wife and chil- dren forever free," after such enlistment. Preston King, of New York, was the author of this amendment. Davis, of Kentucky, and Carlisle of W^ est Virginia, were promi- nent Senators in opposition; while Ten Eyck, of New Jersey, Sherman of Ohio, and Browning of Illinois sought to modify it. Garrett Davis said in opposition : " Do you expect us to give our sanc- tion and approval to these things ? No, no ! We would regard their authors as our worst enemies ; and there is no foreign despot- COLOR IN WAR POLITICS. 165 ism tliat could come to our rescue, thiit we would not fondly embrace, before we would submit to any such condition of things." Senator Fessendcn of Maine, in advo- cacy of the amendment, said : " I tell the President frona my place here as a Senator, and I tell the generals of our urmv, they must reverse their practices and'course of proceeding on this subject. -X- * * Treat your enemies as enemies, as the worst of enemies, and avail yourselves like men of every power which God has placed in your hands, to accomplish your purpose, within the rules of civilized Avar- fare." The bill passed, so modified, as to give freedom to all who should perform military service, but restricting liberty to the fami- lies of such only as belonged to rebel mas- ters. It passed the House July IGtli, 1862, and received the sanction of the President, who said : — "And the promise made must be kept!" General Hunter for his part in beginning colored enlistments, was out- lawed by the Confederate Congress. Hunter followed with an order freeing the slaves in South Carolina. In January, 1863, pursuant to a sugges- tion in the annual report of Secretary Stanton, who was by this time as radical as his predecessor in office, the House passed a bill authorizing the President to enroll into the laud and naval service such number of volunteers of African descent as he might deem useful to suppress the rebellion, and for such term as he might prescribe, not exceeding five years. The slaves of loyal citizens in the Border States were excluded from the provisions ■of this bill. In the Senate an adverse re- port was made on the ground that the President already possessed these powers. In January, 1863, Senator Wilson, who was by this time chairman of the Military Committee of the Senate, secured the pas- sage of a bill which authorized a draft for the National forces from the ranks of all male citizens, and those of foreign birth who had declared their intentions, etc. The bill contained the usual exemp- tions. CONFEDERATE USE OF COLORED MEK. In June, 1861, the rebel Legislature of Tennessee passed this enlistment bill, which became a law : Sec. 1. Be it enacted hi/ the General Assembly of the State of Temiessee, That from and after the passage of this act the G-overnor shall be, and he is hereby, authorized, at his discretion, to receive into the military service of the State all male free persons of color between the ages of fifteen and fifty, or such numbers as may be necessary, Avho may be sound in mind and body, and capable of actual ser- vice. 2. That such free persons of color shall receive, each, eight dollars per month, as pay, and such jjersons shall be entitled to draw, each, one ration per day, and shall be entitled to a yearly allowance each for clothing. 3. That, in order to carry out the provi- sions of this act, it shall be the duty of the sheriffs of the several counties in this State to collect accurate information as to the number and condition, with the names of free persons of color, subject to the pro- visions of this act, and shall, as it is prac- ticable, report the same in writing to the Governor. 4. That a failure or refusal of the sheriffs, or any one or more of them, to perform the duties required, shall be deemed an offence, and on conviction thereof shall be punished as a misde- meanor. 5. That in the event a sufficient number of free persons of color to meet the wants of the State shall not tender their services, the Governor is empowered, through the sheriffs of the different counties, to press such persons until the requisite number is obtained. 6. That when any mess of volunteers shall keep a servant to wait on the mem- bers of the mess, each servant shall be al- lowed one ration. This act to take effect from and after its passage. W. C. Whitthorne, Speaker of the House of Bepresentatives. B. L. Stovall, Speaker of the Seriate. Passed June 28, 1861. 1862, November 2 — Governor Joseph E. Brown, of Georgia, issued a call announc- ing that if a sufficient supply of negroes be not tendered Avithin ten days. General Mercer will, in pursuance of authority given him, proceed to impress, and asking of every planter of Georgia a tender of one fifth of his negroes to complete the fortifi- cations around Savannah. TliLs one fifth is estimated at 15,000. 1863. The Governor of South Carolina in July, issued a proclamation for 3,000 negroes to work on the fortifications, " the need for them being pressing." the changing sentiment of congress. In the Rebel House of Representatives, December 29th, Mr. Dargan, of Alabania, introduced a bill to receive into the mili- tary service all that portion of population in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida, known as " Creoles." Mr. Dargan supported the bill in some remarks. He said the Creoles were a mixed-blooded race. Lender the treaty of Paris in 1803, and the treaty of Spain in 1810, they were recognized as freemen. 166 AMERICAN POLITICS. Many of them owned large estates, and i copy of " An act to increase the efficiency- were intelligent men. They were as much j of the army by the employment of free devoted to our cause as any class of men in negroes c.nd slaves in certain capacities,'' the South, and were even anxious to go lately passed by the Eebel Congress. The into service. They had applied to him to | negroes are to perform " such duties as the be received into service, and he had ap plied to Mr. Eandolph, then Secretary of ^Var. Mr. Randolph decided against the application, on the ground that it might furnish to the enemy a pretext of arming our slaves against us. Some time after this he was again applied to by them, and he went to the present Secretary of War, Mr. Seddon, and laid the matter before him. Mr. Seddon refused to entertain the proposition, on the ground that it did not come up before him through the military authorities. To obviate this objection. Gen. Maury, at Mobile, soon afterwards represented their wishes to the War De- partment. Mr. Seddon refused the offer of their services, on the ground that it would be incompatible with the position we occu- pied before the world ; that it could not be done. Mr. Dargan said he differed with the Secretary of War. He cared not for " the world." He cared no more for their opinions than they did for ours. He was anxious to bring "into service every free man, be he who he may, willin^_ to_ strike for our cause. He saw no objection to employing Creoles ; they would form_ a potent element in our army. In his dis- trict alone a brigade of them could be raised. The Crisis had been brought upon us by the enemy, and he believed the time would yet come when the question would not be the Union or no Union, but whether Southern men should be permitted to live at all. In resisting subjugation by such a barbarous foe he was for employing all our available force. He would go further and say that he urns for arming and putting the slaves into military service. He was in favor even of emlpoying them as a military arm in the defence of the country. 1S(U! The ]\Iayor oif" Charleston, Charles Macbeth, summons all slaveholders within the city to furnish to the military authori- ties forthwith, one-fourth of all their male slaves between the ages of fifteen and fifty, to labor upon the fortifications. The penalty announced, in case of failure to comply with this requisition is a fine of $200 for every slave not forthcoming. Compensa- tion is allowed at the rate of $400 a year. All free male persons of color between the ages of fifteen and fifty are required to give themselves up for the same purpose. Those not complying will be imprisoned, and set to work upon the fortifications along the coast. To free negroes no other compensation than rations is allowed. Secretary of War or Commanding General may prescribe.'' Th.e first section is as follows : Tlie Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That all male free ne- groes, and other free persons of color, not including those who are free under the treaty of Paris, of 1803, or under the treaty of Spain, of 1819, resident in the Confed- erate States, between the ages of eighteen and filty years, shall be held liable to per- form such duties with the army, or in con- nection with the military defences of the country, in the way of work upon the fortifications, or in government works for the production or preparation of materials of war, or in military hospitals, as the Sec- retary of War or the Commanding General of the Trans-Mississippi Department may, from time to time, prescribe; and while engaged in the performances of such duties shall receive rations and clothing and compensation at the rate of eleven dollars a month, under such rules and regulations as the said Secretary may establish : Fro- vided, That the Secretary of War or the Commanding General of the Trans-Missis- sippi Department, with the approval of the President, may exempt from the opera- tions of this act such free negroes as the interests of the country may require should be exempted, or such as he may think proper to exempt on the ground of justice,, equity or necessity. The third section provides that when the Secretary of War shall be unable _ to procure the services of slaves in any mili- tary department, then he is authorized to impress the services of as many male slaves, not to exceed twenty thousand, as may be required, from time to time, to dis- charge the duties indicated in the first sec- tion of the act. The owner of the slave is to be paid for his services ; or, if he be killed or " escape to the enemy," the owner shall receive his full value. Governor Smith, of Virginia, has made a call for five thousand male slaves to work on the batteries, to be drawn from fifty counties. The call for this force has been made by the President under a resolution of Congress. "confederate" legislation UrON NE- GRO PRISONERS AND THEIR WHITE OFFICERS WHEN CAPTURED.""' 1863, May 1— An act was approved de- claring that the commissioned officers of NEGROES IN THE ARMY. *I)ecember 23, 1862— Jefferson Davis issued a procla- ^ • 1 mation of outlawry against Major General B. F. ButUn The Richmond press publish the official the last two clauses of which are : COLOR IN WAR POLITICS. 167 the enemy ought not to be ck^ivered to the authorities of the respective States, (as suggested in Davis's message ;) but all cap- tives taken by the Confederate forces ought to be dealt with and disposed of by the Confederate Government. President Lincoln's emancipation pro- clamations of September 22, 1862, and January 1, 1863, were resolved to be in- consistent with the usages of war among civilized nations, and should be re- pressed by retaliation ; and the President is authorized to cause full and complete retaliation for every such violation, in such manner and to such extent as he may think proper. Every white commissioned officer com- manding negroes or mulattoes in arms against the Confederate States shall be deemed as inciting servile insurrection, and shall, if captured, be put to death, or be otherwise punished, at the discretion of the court. Every person charged with an offence made punishable under the act shall be tried by the military court of the army or corps of trooi)s capturing him ; and, after conviction, the President nmy commute the punishment in such manner and on such te I'liis as he may deem proper. All negroes and mulattoes who shall be engaged in war or taken in arms against the Confederate States, or shall give aid or comfort to the enemies of the Confederate States, shall, when captured in the Con- federate States, be delivered to the author- ities of the State or States in which they shall be captured, to be dealt with accord- ing to the present or future laws of such State or States. Passage of tUe Thirteentli Amendment. The first amendment to the Constitution growing out of the war, and one of its di- rect results, was that of abolishing slavery. It was first introduced to the House De- cember 14th, 1863, by James M. Ashley of Ohio. Similar measures were introduced by James M. Wilson, Senators Henderson, Sumner and others. On the 10th of Feb- ruary, Senator Trumbull reported Hen- derson's joint resolution amended as fol- lows: " That the following article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall be Third. That all negro slaves captured in arms lie at once delivered over to the executive authorities of the respective States to which they belong, to be dealt with according to tln' l.iw^ of s;iiJ Stati's. Fourth. TIjiu th.- like oi.ln-, I xocuted in all cases ■with respe'-t tn all i .mmi-iii.iieil ..tticers of the United States when f'liu I s-rving i'l inmp;i;iy with .said slaves in insurrection against the authorities of the diflei'ent States of this Confederacy. valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the said Constitution, namely : " Art. 13, Sec. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as a punish- ment for crime, whereof the i)arty shall have been duly convicted, shall exi.st with- in the United States, or any i)lace subject to their jurisdiction. Sec. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legisla- tion."' The Senate began the consideration of the question March 28th, Senator Trumbull opening the debate in favor of the amend- ment. He predicted that within a year the necessary number of States would rat- ify it. Wilson of Massachusetts made a long and able speech in favor. Davis of Kentucky and Saulsbury of Delaware led the opposition, but Reverdy Johnson, an independent Democratic Senator from Maryland, surprised all by his bold sup- port of the measure. Among other things he said : " I think history will bear me out in the statement, that if the men by whom that Constitution was framed, and the people by whom it was adopted, had anticipated the times in which we live, they would have provided by constitutional enactment, that that evil and that sin should in some comparatively unremote day be removed. Without recurring to authority, the writ- ings public or private of the men of that day, it is sufficient for my purpose to state what the facts will justify me in saying, that every man of them who largely par- ticipated in the deliberations of the Con- vention by which the Constitution was adopted, earnestly desired, not only upon grounds of political economy, not only up- on reasons material in their character, but upon grounds of morality and religion, that sooner or later the institution should terminate." Senator McDougall of California, op- posed the amendment. Harlan of Iowa, Hale of New Hampshire, and Sumner, made characteristic speeches in favor. Saulsbury advocated the divine right of slavery. It passed April 8th, by 38 ayes to 6 noes, the latter comprising Davis and Powell of Kentucky ; McDougall of Cali- fornia ; Hendricks of Indiana ; Saulsbury and Riddle of Delaware. Arnold of Illinois, was the first to se- cure the adoption in the House (Feb. 15, 1864,) of a resolution to abolish slavery; but the Constitutional amendment required a two-thirds vote, and this it was difficult to obtain, though all the power of the Ad- ministration was 1 )ent to that purpose. The discussion began May 31st ; the vote was reached June 15th, but it then failed of the required two-thirds — 93 for to 65 against, 23 not voting. Its more pro- nounced advocates were Arnold, Ashley, 168 AMERICAN POLITICS. Broomall, Stevens, and Kelly of Pennsyl- vuuiu; Farnsworth and Ingcrsoll of Illi- nois, and many t)thers. Ite ablest oppo- nents were Holman, Wood, Mallory, Cox and Pendleton — the latter rallying nearly all of the Democrats against it. Its Dem- ocratic friends were McAllister and Bailey of Pennsylvania; Cobb of Wisconsin; Griswold and Odell of New York. Before the vote was announced Ashley changed his vote so as to move a reconsideration and keep control of the question. At the next session it was passed, receiving every Ee- publican and 16 Democratic votes, 8 Dem- ocrats purposely refraining, so that it would surely Y>a»s. Admission of Representatives from Louisiana. The capture of New Orleans by Admiral Farragut, led to the enrollment of 60,000 citizens of Louisiana as citizens of the United States. The President thereupon appointed a Military Governor for the en- tire State, and this Governor ordered an election for members of Congress under the old State constitution. This was held Dec. 3, 1862, when Messrs. Flanders and Hahn were returned, neither receiving 3,000 votes. They received certificates, pre- sented them, and thus opened up a new and grave political question. The Demo- crats oi)posed their admission on grounds so well stated by Voorhees of Indiana, that we quote them : "Understand this principle. If the Southern Confederacy is a foreign power, an independent nationality to-day, and you have conquered back the territory of Lou- isiana, you may then substitute a new sys- tem of laws in the place of the laws of that State. You may then supplant her civil in- stitutions by institutions made anew for her by the proper authority of this Government — not by the executive — ^but by the legisla- tive branch of the Government, assisted by the Executive simply to the extent of sign- ing his name to the bills of legislation. If the Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, (Mr. Stevens) is correct; if the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Conway) is correct, and this assumed power in the South is a power of the earth, and stands to-day upon equal terms of nationality with ourselves, and reconquer back State by State its territory by the power of arms, then we may govern them independently of their local laws. But if the theory we have been proceo(ling ui)on here, that this Union is unbrcikcn ; that no States have sundered the bonds that bind us together; that no successful disunion has yet taken ])lace, — if that theory is still to prevail in these halls. tJien this cannot be done. You are as much bound to uphold the laws of Louisiana in all their extent and in all their parts, as you are to uphold the laws of Pennsylvania or New York, or any other State whose civil policy has not been disturbed." Michael Hahn, one of the E-epresenta- tives elect, closed a very eifective speech, which secured the personal good will of the House in favor of his admission, in these words : "And even, sir, within the limits of the dreary and desolated region of the rebel- lion itself, despair, which has already tak- en hold of the people, will gain additional power and strength, at the reception of the news that Louisiana sends a message of peace, good-will, and hearty fellowshijD to the Union. This intelligence will sound more joyful to patriot ears than all the oft repeated tidings of 'Union victories.' And of all victories, this will be the most glorious, useful and solid, for it speaks of re- orcianization, soon to become the great and difficult problem with which our statesmen will have to familiarize themselves, and when this shall have commenced, we will be able to realize that God, in his infinite mercy has looked down upon our misfor- tunes, and in a spirit of paternal love and pity, has addressed us in the language as- cribed to him by our own gifted Longfel- low: " I am weary of your quarrels, Weary of your wars and bloodshed, Weary of your prayers for vengeance, Of your wranglings and dissensions ; All your strength is in }'our Union, All your danger is in discord, Therefore, be at peace, henceforward, And as brothers live together." Mr. Speaker, Louisiana — ever loyal, hon- ora]jle Louisiana — seeks no greater bles- sing in the future, than to remain a part of this great and glorious Union. She has stood by you in the darkest hours of the rebellion ; and she intends to stand by you. Sir, raise your eyes to the gorgeous ceil- ings which ornament this Hall, and look upon her fair and lovely escutcheon. Care- fiilly read the patriotic words which sur- round her affectionate pelican family, and you will find there inscribed, 'justice, Union, ConJidenceJ Those words have with us no idle meaning; and would to God that other members of this Union, could properly appreciate our motto, our motives and our position ! " The debate attracted much attention, because of the novelty of a question upon which, it has since been contended, would have turned a different plan of reconstruct- ing the rebellious States if the President's plans had not been destroyed by his assas- sination. Dawes, of Massachusetts, was the Chairman of the Committee on Elec- tions, and he closed the debate in favor of admission. The vote stood 92 for to 44 against, almost a strict party test, the Democrats voting no. RECONSTRUCTION. 169 KECOKSTRUCTION. In the House as early as Dec. 15, 1863, Henry Winter Davis moved that so much of the President's message as relates to the duty of the United States to guaranty a llepublicau form of government to the States in which the governments recog- nized by the United States have been ab- rogated' or overthrown, be referred to a select committee of nine to report the bills necessary and proper for carrying into ex- ecution the foregoing guarantee, was passed, and on May 4th, 18G4, the House adopted the first reconstruction bill by 74 yeas to 66 nays — a strict party vote.* The Senate passed it by yeas 18, nays 14 — Doolittle, Henderson, Lane of Indiana, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, and Van Winkle voting with the Democrats against it. The bill authorizes the President to ap- point in each of the States declared in re- bellion, a Provisional Governor,'jwith the pay and emoluments of a brigadier ; to be charged with the civil administration until a State government therein shall be recog- nized. x4.s soon as the military resistance to the United States shall have been sup- pressed, and the people sufficiently re- turned to their obedience to the Constitu- tion and laws, the Governor shall direct the marshal of the United States to enroll all the white male citizens of the United States, resident in the State in their re- spective counties, and whenever a majority of them take the oath of allegiance, the loyal people of the State shall be entitled to elect delegates to a convention to act upon the re-establishment of a State gov- ernment — the proclamation to contain de- tails prescribed. Qualified voters in the army may vote in their camps. No person who has iield or exercised any civil, mili- tary, State, or Confederate office, under the rebel occupation, and who has voluntarily borne arms against the United States, shall vote or be eligible as a delegate. The convention is required to insert in the con- stitution provisions — 1st. No person who has held or exercised any civil or military office, (except offices merely ministerial and military offices be- low a colonel,) State or Confederate, under the usurping power, shall vote for, or be a member of the legislature or governor. 2d. Involuntary servitude is forever pro- hibited, and the freedom of all persons is guarantied in said State. 3d. No debt. State or Confederate, cre- ated by or under the sanction of the usurp- ing power, shall be recognized or paid by the State. Upon the adoption of the constitution by the convention, and its ratification by the electors of the State, the Provisional Gov- * McPhersoii's History, page 317. ernor shall so certify to the President, who, alter obtaining the assent of Congress, shall, by proclamation, recognize the gov- ernment as established, and none other, as the constitutional government of the State; and from the date of such recognition, and not before, Sehat'inij on Amendment to the Constiiu- tioi, „f Dip rnileil Slates. Be if re-'iolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of tlie United States of America, in Congress assembled, ftwo- thirds of both houses concurring,) That the following article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid as part of the Constitution, namely: I Here follows the 14th amendment. See Book IV.J Reconstruction Act of Tliii-ty-lViiitU Coii- gressi. An Act to provide for the more efficient gooernmeid of the rebel tilutes. Whereas no legal State governments or adequate protection for life or property now exists in the rebel States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, ^lississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, ami Arkansas; and whereas it is necessary that peace and good order should be enforced in said States until loyal and republican State governments can be legally established : Therefore Be if eiiaefcd, dx., That said rebel States shall be divided into military districts and made subject to the military authority of the United States, as hereinafter prescribed, and for that purpose Virginia shall consti- tute the first district ; North Carolina and South Carolina the second district ; Geor- gia, Alabama, and Florida the third dis- trict ; Mississippi and Arkansas the fourth district ; and Louisiana and Texas the fifth district. Sec. 2. That it shall be the duty of the President to assign to the command of each of said districts an officer of the army, not below the rank of brigadier general, and to detail a sufficient military foi'ce to enable such officer to perform his duties and enforce his authority within the dis- trict to which he is assigned. Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of each officer assigned as aforesaid to protect all persons in their rights of person and property, to suppress insurrection disor- der, and violence, and to punisn. or cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and criminals, and to this end he may allow local civil tribunals to take jurisdiction of and to try offenders, or, when in his judgment it may be necessary for the trial of offenders, he shall have power to organize military commissions or tribunals for that purpose ; and all in- terference under color of State authority with the exercise of military authority un- der this act shall be null and void. Sec. 4. That all persons put under mili- tary arrest by virtue of this act shall be tried without unnecessary delay, and no cruel or unusual punishment shall be in- flicted ; and no sentence of any military commission or tribunal herebj' authorized, affecting the life or liberty of any person, shall be executed until it is approved by the officer in command of the district, and 172 AMERICAN POLITICS. the laws and regulations for the govern ment of the army shall not be afTected by this act, exce^^t in so far as they conflict ■with its ]>ro visions : Provided, That no sentence of death under the provisions of this act shall be carried into effect Avithout the api3roval of the President. Sec. 5. That when the peo^ile of any one of said rebel States shall have formed a constitution of government in conformity with the Constitution of the United States in all respects, framed by a convention of delegates elected by the male citizens of .said State twenty-one years old and up- ward, of whatever race, color, or previous condition, who have been resident in said State for one year previous to the day of such election, except .such as may be dis- franchised for participation in the rebel- lion, or for felony at common law, and when such constitution shall provide that the elective franchise shall be enjoyed by all such persons as have the qualifications herein stated for electors of delegates, and when such constitution shall be ratified by a majority of the persons voting on the question of ratification who are qualified as electors for delegates, and when such con- stitution shall have been submitted to Congress for examination and approval, and Congress shall have approved the sauie, and when said State, by a vote of its legislature elected under said constitution, shall have adopted the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and known as article fourteen, and when said article shall have become a part of the Constitu- tion of the United States, said State shall be declared entitled to representation in Congress, and Senators and Representa- tives shall be admitted therefrom on their taking the oaths prescribed by law, and then and thereafter the preceding sections of this' act shall be inoperative in said State : Provided, That no person excluded from the privilege of holding office by said proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States shall be eligible to election as a member of the convention to frame a constitution for any of said rebel States, nor shall any such person vote for members of such convention. Sec. 6. That until the people of said rebel States shall be by law admitted to repre- sentation in the Congress of the United States, any civil gove'rnments which may exist therein shall be deemed provision.al only, and in all respects subject to the paramount authority of the United States at any time to abolish, modify, control, or supersede the same ; and in all elections to any office under such provisional govern- ments all persons shall be entitled to vote, and none others, who are entitled to vote under the provisions of the fifth section of this act ; and no person shall be eligible to any office under any such provisional gov- ernments who would be disqualified from holding office under the provisions of the third article of said constitutional amend- ment. Passed March 2, 18(37. Suiiplemeiital Reconstruction Act of For- tieth Congress. An Act supplementary to an act entitled " An act to provide for the moreefiicient government of the rebel States," passed March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and to facilitate restora- tion. Be it enacted, S:r.., That before the first day of September, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, the commanding general in each district defined by an act entitled " An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States," passed March second, eighteen hundred and sixty- seven, shall cause a registration to be made of the male citizens of the United States, twenty-one years of age and up- wards, resident in each county or pai-ish in the State or States included in his dis- trict, which registration shall include only those persons who are qualified to vote for delegates by the act aforesaid, and who shall have taken and subscribed the fol- ■ lowing oath or affirmation : " I, , do solemnly swear, (or afiirm,) in the presence of Almighty God, that I am a citizen of the State of ; that I have resided in said State for months next {^receding this day, and now reside in the county of , or the parish of , in said State, (as the case maybe ;) that I am twenty-one years old ; that I have not been disfranchised for participa- tion in any rebellion or civil war against the United States, nor for felony commited against the laws of any State or of the United States ; that I have never been a member of any State legislature, nor held any executive or judicial office in any State and afterwards engaged in insurrec- tion or rebellion against the United States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; that I have never taken an oath as a member of Congress of the United States, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, and afterwards engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; that I will faithftdly support the Constitution and obey the laws of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, encourage others so to do, so help me God;" which oath or affirm- ation may be administered by any register- ing officer. RECONSTRUCTION, 173 Sec. 2. That after the completion of the registration hereby provided for in any State, at such time and phxees therein as the commanding general shall appoint and direct, of which at least thirty days' public notice shall be given, an ek'cti:)n shall l)c held of delegates to a convention for the purpose of establishing a constitution and civil government for such State loyal to the Union, said convention in each State, except Virginia, to consist of the same number of members as the most numerous branch of the State legislature of such State in the year eighteen hundred and sixty, to be apportioned among the several districts, counties, or parishes of such State by the commanding general, giving to each representation in the ratio of voters or registered as aforesaid, as nearly as may be. The convention in Virginia shall con- sist of the same number of members as represented the territory now constituting Virginia in the most numerous branch of the legislature of said State in the year eighteen hundred and sixty, to be ap- pointed as aforesaid. Sec. 3. That at said election the regis- tered voters of each State shall vote for _ or against a convention to form a constitution therefor under this act. Those voting in favor of such a convention shall have written or printed on the ballots by which they vote for delegates, as aforesaid, the words " For a convention," and those vot- ing against such a convention shall have written or printed on such ballots the words " Against a convention." The per- son appointed to superintend said election, and to make return of the votes given thereat, as herein provided, shall count and make return of the votes given for and against a convention ; and the command- ing general to whom the same shall have been returned shall ascertain and declare the total vote in each State for and against a convention. If a majority of the votes given on that question shall be for a con- vention, then such convention shall be held as hereinafter provided; but if a majority of said votes shall be against a convention, then no such convention shall be held un- der this act : Provided, That such con- vention shall not be held unless a maj ority of all such registered voters shall have voted on the question of holding such con- vention. Sec. 4. That the commanding general of each district shall appoint as many boards of registration as may be necessary, con- sisting of three loyal officers or persons, to make and complete the registration, su- perintend the election, and make return to him of the votes, lists of voters, and of the persons elected as delegates by a phirality of the votes cast at said election ; and upon receiving said returns he shall open the same, ascertain the persons elected as dele- gates according to the returns of the oflB- cers who conducted said election, and make proclamation thereof; and if a ma- jority of the votes given on that question hall be for a convention, the commanding general, within sixty days from the date of election, shall notify the delegates to as- semble in convention, at a (iine and place to be mentioned in the notifi'-atinn, and said convention, when organized, shall pro- ceed to frame a constitution and civil gov- ernment according to the provisions of this act and the act to which it is supplement- ary ; and when the same shall have been so framed, said constitution shall be sub- mitted by the convention for ratification to the persons registered under the provisions of this act at an election to be conducted by the officers or persons appointed or to be appointed by the commanding general, as hereinbefore provided, and to be held after the expiration of thirty days from the date of notice thereof, to be given by said convention ; and the returns thereof shall be made to the commanding general of the district. Sec. 5. That if, according to said ^re- turns, the constitution shall be ratified by a majority of the votes of the registered electors qualified as herein specified, cast at said election, (at least one-half of all the registered voters voting upon the question of such ratification,) the president of the convention shall transmit a copy of the same, duly certified, to the President of the United States, who shall forthwith transmit the same to Congress, if then in session, and if not in session, then imme- diately upon its next assembling ; and if it shall, moreover, appear to Congress that the election was one at which all the reg- istered and qualified electors in the State had an opportunity to vote freely and with- out restraint, fear, or the influence of fraud; and if the Congress shall be satisfied that such constitution meets the approval of a majority of all the qualified electors in th« State, and if the said constitution shall be declared by Congress to be in conformity with the provisions of the act to which this is supplementarv, and the other provisions of said act shall have been complied with, and the said constitution shall be approved by Congress, the State shall be declared entitled to representation, and Senators and Representatives shall be admitted therefrom as therein provided. Sec. 6. That all elections in the States mentioned in the said " Act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States," shall, during the operation of said act, be by ballot ; and all officers making the said registration of voters and conduct- ing said elections shall, before entering up^on the discharge of their duties, take and subscribe the oath prescribed by the act approved July second, eighteen hun- 174 AMERICAN POLITICS. dred and sixty-two, entitled "An act to prescribe an oath of ottice : * Provided, That if any person sliall knowingly and falsely take and subscribe any oath in this act prescribed, such person so offending and being thereof duly convicted, shall be sub- ject to the pains, penalties, and disabilities which by law are provided for the punish- ment of the crime of wilful and corrupt perjury. k^EC. 7. That all expenses incurred by the several commanding generals, or by virtue of any orders issued, or appoint- ments made, by them, under or by virtue of this act, shall be paid out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. Sec. 8. That the convention for each State shall prescribe the fees, salary, and compensation to be paid to all delegates and other officers and agents herein au- thorized or necessary to carry into eflect the purposes of this act not herein other- wise provided for, and shall provide for the levy and collection of such taxes on the property in such State as may be ne- cessary to pay the same. Sec. 9. That the word article, in the sixth section of the act to which this is supplementary, shall be construed to mean section. Passed March 23, 1867. Votes of State Legislatures on tlie Foiir- teentli Coiistitutioual Ameuilnieut.t LOYAL STATES. Ratified — Twenty-one States. Maine — Senate, January 16, 1867, yeas * This act is in these words : Be it enacted, d-c. That hereafter every person elected or appointed to any office oi' honor or proiit under tlie government of the United States, either in the civil, mili- tary, or naval departments of the public service, except- ing the President of the United States, shall, before en- tering upon the duties of such office, and before being entitled to any of the salary or other emoluments there- of, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation : " I, A B, do solemnly swear 'or affirm) that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed linstility tlicreto; tliat I have never sought nor accepted ii"r ;itfi miiti-d to exercise the functions of any office wh:it.'\ . i-. uimI' r uny authority or pretended authority, in liii>iiiit\ i.> ili>- United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pre- tended government, authority, power, or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto ; and I do further swear 'or affirm) that, to the best of my knowle.ltre and ability, I will supiioi-t and defend the Cunstitntioi] n!' tlie UnitiMl States, iimiiiist all ciiriuips, tMi-oi-ii and dnni.-stic; that 1 will l.rar true faith and al- without any mental reser\ and that I will well and fa of the office on which I am God;" which said ci,Ttb, s,, preserved amoiij;- tli'- tili- gress, or Bepartniciit t.. win tain. And any iii'i-.in « 1,,, oath shall be <;iiilt\ .t prrjii iillv .lisrhaiLiv tli.-,luti.-s ut t.. clltrr; so lu-l|. nif irn and si-nud, shall be 111- Court, ilouse of Con- lie said office may apper- lU falsely take the said and on convietinn. in ad- dition to tho ]ii-nalti's niiw prescribed for tliaf nffcn^i'. shall be dciniviil ..t lii< office, and reudeivd iniaiial'l^ forever aftiT, of Imldint,' any office or plar^- inidir ilic United States. t Compiled by Hon. Edward McPhorsou in his Hand Book of Politics for 1868. 31, navs ; House, January 11, 1867, yeas 126, nays 12. New "Hampshire — Senate, July 6, 1866, yeas 9, navs 3 ; House, June 28, 1866, yeas 207, navs 112. Ferwonif— Senate, October 23, 1866, yeas 28, nays ; House, October 30, 1866, yeas 199, nays 11. Massachusetts — ^SENATE, March 20, 1867, yeas 27, nays 6 ; House, March 14, 1867, yeas 120, nays 20. Rhode Island — Senate, February 5, 1867, yeas 26, nays 2 ; House, February 7, 1867, yeas 60, nays 9 Connecticut — Senate, June 25, 1866, yeas 11, nays 6 ; House, June 29, 1866, yeas 131, nays 92. Neio York — Senate, January 3, 1867, yeas 23, nays 3 ; House, January 10, 1867, yeas 76, nays 40. Neic Jerseij — SENATE, September 11, 1866, yeas 11, nays 10; House, September 11, 1866, yeas 34, nays 24. Pennsylvania — SENATE, January 17, 1867, yeas 20, nays 9 ; House, February 6, 1867, yeas 68, nays 29. West Virginia — SENATE, January 15, 1867, yeas 15, nays 3 ; House, January 16, 1867, yeas 43, nays 11. Ohio — Senate, January 3, 1867, yeas 21, nays 12 ; House, January 4, 1867, yeas 54, nays 25. Tennessee — Senate, July 11, 1866, veas 15, nays 6 ; House, July 12, 1866, yeas 43, nays 11. Indiana — Senate, January 16, 1867, yeas 29, nays 18 ; House, January 23, 1867, yeas — , nays — . Illinois — Senate, January 10, 1867, yeas 17, nays 7 ; House, January 16, 1867, yeas 59, nays 25. Michigan — SeNATE, 1867, yeas 25, navs 1 ; House, 1867, yeas 77, nays 16." Missouri — Senate, January 5, 1867, yeas 26, nays 6 ; House, January 8, 1867, yeas 85, nays 34. Minnesota — Senate, January 16, 1867, yeas 16, nays 5 ; House, January 15, 1867, yeas 40, nays 6. Zajisas— Senate, January 11, 1867, unanimously ; House, January 10, 1867, yeas, 75, nays 7. Wisconsin — Senate, January 23, 1867, veas 22, nays 10; House, February 7, 1867, yeas 72, nays 12. Oregon—* Senate, , 1866, yeas 13, navs 7; House, September 19, 1866, yeas 25,' nays 22. Nevada— * Besktts,, January 22, 1867, yeas 14, nays 2; House, January 11, 1867, yeas 34, nays 4. Rejected— Tfiree States. Delaware — Senate, ; House, February 7, 1867, yeas 6, nays 15. GENERAL McCLELLAN'S LETTERS, J 75 Maryland— iilS.y ATE, March 2P,, 18G7, yeas 4, nays 13 ; House, March 28, 18G7, yeas 12, nays 45. Kentucky — Senate, January 8, 18G7, yeas 7, nays 24 ; House, January 8, 18G7, yeas 2G, nays 62. Not aded— Three States. Iowa, California, Nebraska. INSURRECTIONARY STATES. Rejected — Ten States. Virginia — Senate, January 9, 1S(J7, unanimously ; HousE, January 9, 18G7, 1 for amendment. North Varulina — SENATE, December 13, 18(36, yeas 1, nays 44 ; House, December 13, 1866, yeas 10, nays 93. Soutk Carolina — Senate ; House, December 20, 1866, yeas 1, nays 95. Geurtjia — Senate, November 9, 1866, yeas 0,'uays 36 ; House, November 9, 1866, yeas 2, nays 131. i'7'*r;V/rf— Senate, December 3, 1866, yeas 0, nays 20 ; House, December 1, 1866, yeas 0, nays 49. Alabama — Senate, December 7, 1866, yeas 2, nays 27; House, December 7, 1866, yeas 8, nays 69. i1//.sv/6's?"p/»i— Senate, January 30, 1867, yeas 0, nays 27 ; House, January 25, 1867, yeas 0, nays 88. • Louisiana -Senate, February 5, 1867, unanimously ; House, February 6, 1867, unanimously. Texas — Senate, ; House, Oc- tober 13, 1866, yeas 5, nays 67. Arkansas — Senate, December 15, 1866, yeas 1, nays 24 ; House, December 17, 1866, yeas 2, nays 68. The i)assage of the 14tli Amendment and of the Reconstruction ^Vcts, tius followed by Presidential proclamations dated August 20, 1866, declaring the insurrection at an end in Texas, and civil authority existing throughout the whole of the United States. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1864. The Republican National Convention met at Baltimore, June 7th, 1864, and re- nominated President Lincoln unanimous- ly, save the vote of Missouri, which was cast for Gen. Grant. Hannibal Hamlin, the old Vice-President, was not re-nomi- nated, because of a desire to give part of the ticket to the Union men of the South, who pressed Senator Andrew Johnson of Tennessee. " Parson " Brownlow made a strong appeal in his behalf, and by his elo- quence captured a majority of the Con- vention. The Democratic National Convention met at Chicago, August 29th, 1864, and nominated General George B. McClellan, of New Jersey, for President, and George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, for Vice-President. General McClellan was made available for the Democratic nomination through cer- tain political letters wliich lu' had written on points of diflerence between himself and the Lincoln administration. Twcj of these letters are suHicient to show his own and the views of the party which nominated him, in the canvass which followed : Gen. McClellan 'm lictters. Oh PoUticdl AdminiftratUin, July 7, l.S(i2. Headiiuaktkiis Army of tiik Potomac, Camp nkar Uakhison's Landing, Va., July 7, l«0.i. Mr. President: — You have been fully inlbrmed that the rebel army is in the front, with the purpose of overwhelming us by attacking our positions or reducing us by blocking our river communications. I cannot but regard our condition as criti- cal, and I earnestly desire, in view of pos- sible contingencies, to lay before your ex- cellency, for your private consideration, my general views concerning the existing state of the rebellion, although they do not strictly relate to the situation of this army, or strictly come within the scope of my official duties. These views amount to convictions, and are deeply impressed upon my mind and heart. Our cause must never be abandoned ; it is the cause of free in- stitutions and self-government. The Con- stitution and the Union must be preserved, whatever may be the cost in time, treasure, and blood. If secession is successful, other dissolutions are clearly to be seen in the future. Let neither military disaster, polit- ical faction, nor foreign war shake your settled purpose to enforce the equal opera- tion of the laws of the United States upon the people of every State. The time has come when the govern- ment must determine upon a civil and military policy, covering the whole ground of our national trouble. The responsil:»ility of determining, de- claring, and supporting such civil and mil- itary policy, and of directing the whole course of national affiiirs in regard to the rebellion, must now be assumed and exer- cised by you, or our cause will be lost. The Constitution gives you power, even for the present terrible exigency. This rebellion has assumed the charac- ter of a war ; as such it should be regarded, and it should be conducted upon the high- est principles known to Christian civiliza- tion. It should not be a war looking to the subjugation of the })eople of any State, in any event. It should not be at all a war upon population, but against armed forces and political organizations. Neither confiscation of property, political execu- tions of persons, territorial organization of States, or forcible abolition of slavery, should be contemplated for a moment. In prosecuting the war, all private property and unarmed persons should be strictly protected, subject only to the ne- cessity of military operations ; all private 176 AMERICAN POLITICS. property taken for military use should be paid or receipted for; pillage and waste should be treated as high crimes ; all un- necessary trespass sternly prohibited, and offensive demeanor by the military towards citizens promptly rebuked. Military ar- rests should not be tolerated, except in places where active hostilities exist ; and oaths, not required by enactments, consti- tutionally made, should be neither de- manded nor received. Military government should be confined to the preservation of public order and the protection of political right. Military power should not be allowed to interfere with the relations of servitude, either by supporting or impairing the authority of the master, except for repressing disorder, as in other cases. Slaves, contraband under the act of Congress, seeking military pro- tection, should receive it. The right of the government to appropriate permanent- ly to its own service claims to slave labor should be asserted, and the the right of the owner to compensation therefor should be recognized. This principle might be ex- tended, upon grounds of military necessity and security, to all the slaves of a particu- lar State, thus working manumission in such State ; and in Missouri, perhaps in AVestern Virginia also, and possibly even in Maryland, the expediency of such a measure is only a question of time. A system of policy thus constitutional, and pervaded by the influences of Christianity and freedom, would receive the support of almost all truly loyal men, would deeply impress the rebel masses and all foreign nations, and it might be humbly hoped that it would commend itself to the favor of the Almighty. Unless the principles governing the future conduct of our struggle shall be made known and approved, the eflbrt to obtain requisite forces will be almost hope- less. A declaration of radical views, es- pecially upon slavery, will rapidly disin- tegrate our present armies. The policy of the government must be supported by con- centi'ations of military power. The na- tional forces should not be dispersed in expeditions, posts of occupation, and nu- merous armies, but should be mainly col- lected into masses, and brought to bear upon the armies of the Confederate States. Those armies thoroughly defeated, the political structure which they support would soon cease to exist. In carrying out any system of policy which you may form, you will require a commander-in-chief of the army, one who possesses your confidence, understands your views, and who is competent to exe- cute your orders, by directing the military forces of the nation to the accomplishment of the objects by you proposed. I do not ask that place for myself. I am willing to serve you in such position as you may as- sign me, and I will do so as faithfully as. ever subordinate served superior. I may be on the brink of eternity ; and as I hope forgiveness from my Maker, I have written this letter with sincerity to- wards you and from love for my country. Very respectfully, your obedient servant^ George B.' McClellan, Major- General Commanding. His Excellency A, LixcOLX, President. IN FAVOR OF THE ELECTION OF GEORGE W. WOODWARD AS GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA, Orange, New Jersey, October 12, 18G3. Dear Sir : — My attention has been called to an article in the Philadelphia Press, asserting that I had written to the managers of a Democratic meeting at Allentown, disapproving the objects of the meeting, and that if I voted or spoke it would be in favor of Governor Curtin, and I am informed that similar assertions have been made throughout the State. It has been my earnest endeavor hereto- fore to avoid participation in party politics. 1 had determined to adhere to this course, but it is obvious that I cannot longer maintain silence under such misrepresen- tations. I therefore request you to deny that I have written any such letter, or entertained any such views as those at- tributed to me in the Philadelphia Press, and I desire to state clearly and distinctly ,. that having some days ago had a full con- versation with Judge Woodward, I find that our views agree, and I regard his elec- tion as Governor of Pennsylvania called for by the interests of the nation. I understand Judge Woodward to be in favor of the prosecution of the war with all the means at the command of the loyal States, until the military power of the re- bellion is destroyed. I understand him to be of the opinion that while the war is urged with all possible decision and energy, the policy directing it should be in consonance with the principles of humanity and civilization, working no in- jury to private rights and property not demanded by military' necessity and recog- nized by military law among civilized na- tions. And, finally, I understand him to agree with me in the opinion that the sole great objects of this war are the restoration of the unity of the nation, the preservation of the Constitution, and the supremacy of the laws of the country. Believing our opinions entirely agree upon these points, I would, were it in my power, give to Judge Woodward my voice and vote. I am, very respectfully, yours, George B. McClellan. Hon. Charles J. Biddle. LlNCOLx\S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 177 The views of Mr. Lincoln were well known ; they were felt in the general con- duct of the war. The Re{>ublicans adopted as one of their maxims the words of their candidate, " that it was dangerous to swap horses while crossing a stream." The cam- paign was exciting, and was watched by both armies with interest and anxiety. In this election, by virtue of an act of Con- gress, the soldiers in the field were per- mitted to vote, and a large majority of every branch of the service sustained the Adniinistration, though two years before GentTal McClellan had been the idol of the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln and Johnson' received 212 electoral votes, against 21 for McClellan and Pendleton. Lincoln's Second Aclsnlnistratlon. In President Lincoln's second inaugural address, delivered on the 4th of March, 1865, he spoke the following words, since oft quoted as typical of the kindly disposi- tion of the man believed by his party to be the greatest President since Washington : " With malice toward none> with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the Nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and orphans — to do all which may achieve a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." Lincoln could well aiford to show that generosity which never comes more prop- erly than from the hands of the victor. His policy was about to end in a great triumph. In less than five weeks later on General Lee had surrendered the main army of the South to General Grant at Appomattox, on terms at once magnani- mous and so briefly stated that they won the admiration of both armies, for the rebels had been permitted to retain their horses and side arms, and to go at once to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observed their paroles and the laws in force where they resided. Lee's surrender was rapidly followed by that of all Southern troops. Next came a grave political work — the actual reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion. This work gave renewed fresh- ness to the leading political issues incident to the war, and likewise gave rise to new issues. It was claimed at once that Lin- n pt bv for own, because of his anxiety for the prompt admission of Louisiana and Arkansas, but it had certainly never taken definite shape, nor was there time to get such a policy in shape, between the surrender of Lee and his own assassination. On the night of the 15th of April, six days after the sur- render, J. Wilkes Booth shot him while 12 sitting in a box in Ford's theatre. The nation stood appalled at the deed. No man was ever more sincerely mourned in all sections and by all classes. The South- ern leaders iliouglit that this rash act had lost to them a life which had never been harsh, ami while firm, was ever generous. The North had looked upon him as "Father Abraham," and all who viewed the result of the shooting from sectional or partisan standpoints, thought his policy of " keep- ing with the people," would have shielded every proper interest. No {)ublic man ever felt less "pride of opinion" than Lincoln, and we do believe, had he lived, that he would have shaped events, as he did dur- ing the war, to the best interests of the victors, but without unnecessary agitation or harshness. All attempts of Avriters to evolve from his proclamation a reconstruc- tion policy, applicable to peace, have been vain and impotent. He had none which would not have changed with changing circumstances. A " policy " in an execu- tive ofiice is too often but another name for executive egotism, and Lincoln was almost absolutely free from that weakness. On the morning of Mr. Lincoln's death, indeed within the same hour (and very properly so under the circumstances), the Vice President Andrew Johnson was in- augurated as President. The excitement was painfully high, and the new President, in speeches, interviews and proclamations if possible added to it. From evidence in the Bureau of Military Justice he thought the assassination of Lincoln, and the attempted assassination of Secretaiy Seward had been procured by Jefterson Davis, Clement C. Clay, Jacob Thompson, Geo. N. Saunders, Beverly Tucker, Wm. C. Cleary, and " other rebels and traitors harbored in Canada." The evidence, how- ever, fully drawn out in the trial of the co- conspirators of J. Wilkes Booth, showed that the scheme was hair-brained, and from no responsible political source. The proclamation, however, gave keenness to the search for the fugitive Davis, and he was soon captured while making his way through Georgia to the Florida coast with the intention of escaping from the country. He was imprisoned in Fortress Monroe, and an indictment for treason was found against him, but he remained a close pris- oner for nearly two years, until times when political policies had been changed or modified. Horace Greeley was one of his bondsmen. By this time ttere was grave doubt whether he could be legally con- victed, * " now that the charge of inciting Wilkes Booth's crime had been tacitly abandoned. ]\Ir. Webster (in his Bunker Hill oration) had only given clearer ex- pression to the American doctrine, that, * From Greeley's Recollections of a Busy Life, page 413» 178 AMERICAN POLITICS. after a revolt has levied a regular army, and fought therewith a pitched battle, its champiojis, eveu though utterly defeated, cannot be tried and convicted as traitors. This may be an extreme statement; but surely a rebellion which has for years main- tained great armies, levied taxes and con- scriptions, negotiated loans, fouglit scores of sanguinary battles with alternate suc- cesses and reverses, and exchanged tens of thousands of prisoners of war, can hardly fail to have achieved thereby the position and the rights of a lawful belligerent." This view, as then presented by Greeley, was accejited by President Johnson, who from intemperate denunciation had become the friend of his old friends in the South. Oreeley's view w^as not generally accepted by the North, though most of the leading men of both parties hoped the responsi- bility of a trial would be avoided by the escape and flight of the prisoner. But he was confident by this time, and sought a trial. He was never tried, and the best reason for the fact is given in Judge Un- derwood's testimony before a Congressional Committee (and the Judge was a Republi- can) "that no conviction was possible, ex- cept by packing a jury." Aiidrov Joliiison. On the 29th of April, 1865, President Johnson issued a proclamation removing all restrictions upon internal, domestic and coastwise and commercial intercourse in all Southern States east of the Mississippi ; the blockade was removed May 22, and on May 29 a proclamation of amnesty was issued, with fourteen classes excepted therefrom, and the requirement of an "iron-clad oath" from those accepting its provisions. Proclamations rapidly fol- lowed in shaping the lately rebellious States to the conditions of peace and re- storation to the Union. These States were required to hold conventions, repeal seces- sion ordinances, accept the abolition of slavery, repudiate Southern war debts, pro- vide for Congressional representation, and elect new State Officers and Legislatures. The several constitutional amendments were of course to be ratified by the vote of the people. These conditions were eventually all complied wdth, some of the States being more tardy than others. The irreconcila- bles charged upon the Military officers, the Freedmen's Bureau, and the stern ap- plication of the reconstruction acts, these results, and many of them showed a politi- cal hostility which, after the election of the new Legislatures, took shape in what were in the North at the time denounced as "the black codes." These were passed by all of the eleven States in the rebellion. The codes varied in severity, according to the views of the Legislatures, and for a time they seriously interfered with the recognition of the States, the Republicans charging that the design was to restore slavery under new forms. In South Carolina Gen'l Sickles issued military orders, as late as January 17, 1866, against the enforcement of such laws. To assure the rights, of the freedmen the 14th amendment of the Constitution was passed by Congress, June ISth, 1866. President Johnson opposed it, refused to sign, but said he would submit it to the several States. This was done, and it was accepted bv the required three-fourths, January 28 th, 1868. This had the eflect to do away with many of the "black codes," and the States which desired re- admission to the Union had to finally give them up. Since reconstruction, and the political ousting of what were called the "carpet bag governments," some of the States, notably Georgia, has passed class laws, which treat colored criminals difier- ently fi'om white, under what are now known as the " conduct laws." Terms of sentence are served out, in any part of the State, under the control of public and private contractors, and " vagrants " are subjected to sentences which it is believed would be less extended under a system of confinement. Joliiisoii's Policy. While President Johnson's policy did not materially check reconstruction, it en- couraged Southern politicians to political effort, and with their well known tact they were not long in gaining the ascendancy in nearly every State. This ascendancy excited the fears and jealousies of the North, and the Republicans announced as their object and platform " that all the re- sults of the war" should be secured before Southern reconstruction and representa- tion in Congress should be completed. On this they were almost solidly united in Congress, but Horace Greeley trained an independent sentiment which favored com- plete amnesty to the South. President Johnson sought to utilize this sentiment, and to divide the Republican party through his policy, which now looked to the same ends. He had said to a delega- tion introduced by Gov. Oliver P. Morton, April 21, 1865 : "Your slaverj"^ is dead, but I did not murder it. As "Macbeth said to Banquo's bloody ghost: ' Never shake thy gory locks at me ; Thou canst not say I did it.' " Slavery is dead, and you must pardon me if I do not mourn over its dead body ; you can bury it out of sight. In restoring IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF JOHNSON. 179 •the State, leave out that di:>turbitig- uiid dangerous element, and use only those parts of the machinery which will move in harmony. " But' in calling a convention to restore the State, who shall restore and re-estab- lish it ? Shall the man who gave his in- fluence and his means to destroy the Government ? Is he to participate in the great work of reorganization ? Shall he who brought this misery upon the State be permitted to control its destinies? If this be so, then all this precious blood of our brave soldiers and officers so freely poured out will have been wantonly spilled. All the glorious victories won by our noble ar- mies will go for nought, and all the battle- fields which have been sown with dead heroes during the rebellion will have been made memorable in vain." In a speech at Washington, Feb. 22nd, 18G6, Johnson said: " The Government has stretched forth its strong arm, and with its physical power it has put down treason in the field. That is, the section of country that arrayed itself against the Government has been con- quered by the force of the Government itself. Now, what had we said to those people? AVe said, ' No compromise ; we can settle this question with the South in eight and forty hours.' " I have said it again and again, and I repeat it now, 'disband your armies, ac- knowledge the supremacy of the Constitu- tion of the United States, give obedience 1;o the law, and the whole question is set- tled.' " What has been done since ? Their ar- mies have been disbanded. They come now to meet us in a spirit of magnanimity iind say, ' We were mistaken ; we made the effort to carry out the doctrine of se- cession and dissolve this Union, and hav- ing traced this thing to its logical and physical results, we now acknowledge the flag of our country, and promise obedience to the Constitution and the supremacy of the law.' " I say, then, when you comply with the Constitution, when you yield to the law, when you acknowledge allegiance to the Government — I say let the door of the Union be opened, and the relation be re- stored to those that had erred and had strayed from the fold of our fathers." It is not partisanship to say that John- son's views had undergone a change. He did not admit this in his speeches, but the fact was accepted in all sections, and the leaders of parties took position accordingly — nearly all of the Republicans against him, nearly all of the Democrats for him. So radical had this difference become that he vetoed nearly all of the political bills ]>assed by the Republicans from 1866 until the end of his administration, but such was the Republican preponderance in both Houses of Congress that they pa.ssed them over his head by the necessary two-thirds vote. He vetoed the several Freedmen's Bureau Bills, the Civil Rights Bill, that for the admission of Nebraska ' and Colo- rado, the Bill to permit Colored Suffrage in the District of Columbia, one of the Reconstruction Bills, and finally made a direct issue with the powers of Congress by his veto of the Civil Tenure Bill, March 2, 1867, the substance of which is shown in the third section, as follows : Sec. 3. That the President shall have power to fill all vacancies which may hap- pen during the recess of the Senate, by rea- son of death or resignation, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session thereafter. And if no appointment, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall be made to such office so vacant or temporarily filled as aforesaid during such next session of the Senate, such office shall remain in abeyance without any salary, fees, or emoluments attached thereto, until the same shall be filled by appointment thereto, by and with the advice and con- sent of the Senate ; and during such time all the powers and duties belonging to such office shall be exercised by such other offi- cer as may by law exercise such powers and duties in case of a vacancy in such office. The bill originally passed the Senate by 22 to 10 — all of the nays Democrats save Van Winkle and Willey. It passed the House by 112 to 41 — all of the yeas Re- publicans ; all of the nays Democrats save Hawkins, Latham and Whaley. The Senate passed it over the veto by 35 to 11 — a strict party vote ; the House by 138 to 40— a strict party vote, except Latham (Rep.) who voted nay. The refusal of the President to enforce this act, and his attempted removal of Secretary Stanton from the Cabinet when against the wish of the Senate, led to the effort to impeach him. Stanton resisted the President, and General Grant took an active part in sustaining the War Secre- tary. He in fact publicly advised him to " stick," and his attitude showed that in the great political battle which must fol- low, they would surely have the support of the army and its great commander. Impeachment Trial of Aiidre^v JolmsoM. * The events which led to the impeach- ment of President Johnson, may be briefly stated as follows : On the 21st of Febru- ary, 1868, the President issued an order to Mr. Stanton, removing him from office as Secretary of War, and another to General Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General of the ■e by John Sully, 180 AMERICAN POLITICS. Army, ajipoiuting him Secretary of War ad interim, directing the one to surrender and the other to receive, all the books, pa- pers, and public property belonging to the War Department. As these orders fill an important place in the history of the im- peachment, we give them here. The or- der to Mr. Stanton reads : " By virtue of the power and authority vested in me as President by the Constitu- tion and laws of the United States, you are hereby removed from office as Secretary for the Department of War, and your functions as such will terminate upon the receipt of this communication. You will transfer to Brevet Major-General Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General of the Army, who has this day been authorized and em- powered to act as Secretary of War ad interim, all records, books, papers, and other public property now in your custody and charge." The order to General Thomas reads : "The Hon. Edwin M. Stanton having been this day removed from office as Secre- tary for the Department of War, you are hereby authorized and empowered to act as Secretary of War ad interim, and will immediately enter upon the discharge of the duties pertaining to that office. Mr. Stanton has been instructed to transfer to you all the records, books, and other public property now in his custody and charge." These orders having been officially com- municated to the Senate, that body, after an earnest debate, passed the following resolution : " Resolved, by the Senate of the United States, That under the Constitution and laws of the United States the President has no power to remove the Secretary of War and designate any other officer to per- form the duties of that office." The President, upon the 24:th, sent a message to the Senate, arguing at length that not only under the Constitution, but also under the laws as now existing, he had the right of removing Mr. Stanton and appointing another to fill his place. The point of his argument is : That by a special proviso in the Tenure-of-Office Bill the va- rious Secretaries of Departments "shall hold their offices respectively for and dur- ing the term of the President by whom they may have been appointed, and for one month thereafter, subject to removal by and with the advice of the Senate." The President affirms that Mr. Stanton was ap- pointed not by him, but by his predeces- sor, Mr. Lincoln, and held office only by the sufferance, not the appointment, of the present Executive ; and that therefore his tenure is, by the express reading of the law excepted from the general provision, that every person duly appointed to office, " by and with the advice and consent of the Senate," etc., shall be " entitled to hold office until a successor shall have been in like manner appointed and duly qualified, excei^t as herein otherwise provided." The essential point of the President's argument, therefore, is that, as Mr. Stanton was not appointed by him, he had, under the Ten- ure-of-Office' Bill, the right at any time to remove him ; the same right which his own successor would have, no matter whether the incumbent had, by sufferance, not by appointment of the existing Executive, held the office for weeks or even years. " If," says the President, " my successor would have the power to remove Mr. Stan- ton, after permitting him to remain a peri- od of two weeks, because he was not ap- pointed by him, I who have tolerated Mr. Stanton for more than two years, certainly have the same right to remove him, upon the same ground, namely that he was not appointed by me but by my predecessor." In the meantime General Thomas pre- sented himself at the War Department and demanded to be placed in the position to which he had been assigned by the Pres- ident. Mr. Stanton refused to surrender his post, and ordered General Thomas to proceed to the apartment which belonged to him as Adjutant-General. This order was not obeyed, and so the two claimants to the Secretaryship of War held their ground. A sort of legal by-play then en- sued. Mr. Stanton entered a formal com- plaint before Judge Carter, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, charging that General Thomas had illegally exercised and attempted to exercise the duties of Secretary of War ; and had threatened to " forcibly remove the complainant from the buildings and apart- ments of the Secretary of War in the War Department, and forcibly take possession and control thereof under his pretended appointment by the President of the United States as' Secretary of War ad in- terim ; " and praying that he might be ar- rested and held to answer this charge. General Thomas was accordingly arrested, and held to bail in the sum of $15,000 to appear before the court on the 24th. Ap- pearing on that day he was discharged from custody and bail ; whereupon he en- tered an action against Mr. Stanton for false imprisonment, laving his damages at $150,000. On the 22d of February the House Committee on Reconstruction, through its Chairman, Mr. Stevens, presented a brief report, merely stating the fact of the at- tempted removal by the President of Mr. Stanton, and closing as follows : "Upon the evidence collected by the Committee, which is hereafter presented, and in virtue of the powers with which they have been invested by the House, they are of the opinion that Andrew John- i son. President of the United States, should IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF JOHNSON. 181 be impeaclied of high crimes and misde- meanors. They, therefore, recommend to the House the adoption of the following resolution : " Resolved, That Andrew Johnson, Pres- ident of the United States be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors." After earnest debate, the question on the resolution was adopted, on the 24th, by a vote of 126 to 47. A committee of two members — Stevens and Bingham — were to notify the Senate of the action of the House ; and another committee of seven — Boutwell, Stevens, Bingham, Wilson, Lo- gan, Julian, and Ward — to prepare the articles of impeachment. On the 25th (February) Mr. Stevens thus announced to the Senate the action which had been taken by the House : " In obedience to the order of the House of Eepresentatives we have appeared be- fore you, and in the name of the House of Representatives and of all the people of the United States, we do imiieach Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, of high crimes and misdemeanors in office. And we further inform the Senate that the House of Representatives will in due time exhibit ])articular articles of impeachment iigainst him, to make good the same; and in their name we demand that the Senate take due order for the appearance of the said Andrew Johnson to answer to the said impeachment." The Senate thereupon, by a unanimous vote, resolved that this message from the House should be referred to a select Com- mittee of Seven, to be appointed by the chair, to consider the same and report thereon. The Committee subsequently made a report laying down the rules of jirocedure to be observed on the trial. On the 29th of February the Committee of the House appointed for that purpose presented the articles of impeachment ■which they had drawn up. These, with slight modification, were accepted on the 2d of March. They comprise nine articles, eight of which are based upon the action of the President in ordering the removal of Mr. Stanton, and the apjjointment of General Thomas as Secretary of War. The general title to the impeachment is : " Articles exhibited by the House of Representatives of the TJnited States, in the name of themselves and all the people of the United States, against Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, as maintenance and support of their im- peachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors in oflice." Each of the articles commences with a preamble to the effect that the President, "unmindfiil of the high.duties of his office, of his oath of office, and of the require- ments of the Constitution that he should take care that the laws be faithfully exe- cuted, did unlawfnlly and in violation of the laws and Constitution of the United States, perform the several acts specified in the articles respectively ; " closing with the de- claration: "Whereby the said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did then and there eonunit and was guilty of a high misdemeanor in office." The phraseology is somewliat varied. In some cases the offense is designated as a "mis- demeanor," in others as a " crime." The whole closes thus : ' "And the House of Representatives, by protestation, saving to themselves the lib- erty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any further articles or other accusation or impeachment against the said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, and also of replying to his answers which he shall make to the articles herein pre- ferred against him, and of offering proof to the same and every jsart thereof, and to all and eveiy other article, accusation, or impeachment which shall be exhibited by them as the case shall require, do demand that the said Andrew Johnson may be put to answer the high crimes and misdemean- ors in office herein charged against him, and that such proceedings, examinations, trials, and judgments may be thereupon had and given as may be agreeable to law and justice." • The following is a summary in brief of the points in the articles of imjjeachment, legal and technical phraseology being omit- ted: Article 1. Unlawfully ordering the re- moval of Mr. Stanton as Secretary of War, in violation of the provisions of the Tenure of-Office Act. — Article 2. ITnlawfully ap- pointing General Lorenzo Thomas as Sec- retary of War ad interim. — vl?VifZe 3 is sub- stantially the same as Article 2, with the addition that there was at the time of the appointment of General Thomas no va- cancy in the office of Secretary of War. — Article 4 charges the President with " con- spiring with one Lorenzo Thomas and other persons, to the House of Representatives unknown," to prevent, by intimidation and threats, Mr. Stanton, the legally-appointed Secretary of War, from holding that office. — Article 6 charges the President with con- spiring with General Thomas and others to hinder the execution of the Tenure-of- Offiee Act ; and, in pursuance of this con- spiracy, attempting to prevent Mr. Stanton froni acting as Secretary of War. — Article 6 charges that the President conspired with General Thomas and others to take forcible possession of the War Department. — Arti- cle 7 repeats the charge, in other terms, that the President conspired with General Thomas and others to hinder the execution of the Tenure-of-Office Act, and to pre- vent Mr. Stanton from executing the office of Secretary of War. — Article 8 again 182 AMERICAN POLITICS. charges the Pi-esident with conspiring with General Thomas and others to take posses- sion of the property in the War Depart- ment.— ^r//c/e 9 charges that the President called before him General Emory, Avho was in command of the forces in the Depart- ment of Washington, and declared to him that a law, passed on the 3()th of June, 18*37, directing that "all orders and in- structions relating to military operations,^ issued by the President or Secretary of War, shall be issued through the General (.f the Armv, and, in case of his inability, through the next in rank," was unconsti- tutional, and not binding upon General Emory ; the intent being to induce General Emory to violate the law, and to obey or- ders issued directly from the President. The foregoing articles of impeachment were adopted on the 2d of March, the votes upon each slightly varying, the aver- age being 125 ayes to 40 nays. The ques- tion then came up of appointment of man- agers on the part of the House to conduct the impeachment before the Senate. Upon this question the Democratic members did not vote ; 118 votes were cast, 60 being necessary to a choice. The following was the result, the number of votes cast for each elected manager l)eing given : Stevens of Penn., 105 ; Butler, of Mass., 108 ; Bing- ham, of Ohio, 114; Boutwell, of Mass., 113; Wilson, of Iowa, 112; Williams, of Penn., 107 ; Logan, of 111., 106. The fore- going seven Representatives were, there- fore, duly chosen as Managers of the Bill of Impeachment. The great body of the Democratic members of the House entered a formal protest against the whole course of proceedings involved in the impeach- ment of the President. They claimed to represent " directly or in principle more than one-half of the people of the United States." This protest was signed by forty- five Representatives. On the 3d the Board of Managers pre- sented two additional articles of impeach- ment, which were adopted by the House. The first charges, in substance-, that " The President, unmindful of the liigh duties of his oftice and of the harmony and courtesies which ought to be main- tained betv/een the exectitive and legisla- tive branches of the Government of the United States, designing to set aside the rightful authority and powers of Congress, did attempt to bring into disgi'ace the Con- gress of the United States and the several branches thereof, to impair and destroy the regard and respect of all the good people of the United States for the Congress and legislative power thereof, and to excite the odium and resentment of all the good people of the United States against Con- gress and the laws by it enacted ; and in pursuance of his said design openly and publicly, and before divers assemblages convened in divers parts thereof to meet and receive said Andrew Johnson as the Chief Magistrate of the United States, did on the 18th day of August, in the year of our Lord 1866, and on divers other days and times, as well before as afterward,, make and deliver with a lotid voice certain intemi:)erate, inllammatory, and scandalous harangues, and did therein utter loud threats and bitter menaces as well against Congress as the laws of the United States duly enacted thereby." To this article are appended copious ex- tracts from speeches of Mr. J(jhnson. The second article is substantially as follows : " The President did, on the 18th day of August, 1866, at the City of Washington, by public speech, declare and affirm, in substance that the Thirty-ninth Congress of the United States was not a Congress of the United States, authorized by the Constitution to exercise legislative power under the same, but, on the contrary, was. a Congress of only a part of the States,, thereby denying and intending to deny that the legislation of said Congress was valid or obligatory upon him, except in so far as he saw fit to approve the same, and did devise and contrive means by which he might prevent EdAvin M. Stanton from forthwith resuming the lunctions of the office of Secretary for the Department of War ; and, also, by further unlawfully de- vising and contriving means to ])revent the execution of an act entitled ' An act mak- ing appropriations for the support of the army for the fiscal year ending June 30,, 1868, and for other purposes,' approved March 2, 1867 ; and also to prevent the execution of an act entitled 'An act to- provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States,' passed March 2, 1867^ did commit and was guilty of a high mis- demeanor in office." On the 4th of March the Senate notified the House that they were ready to receive the Managers of the Impeachment. They appeared, and the articles were formallv read. The Senate had meanwhile adopted the rules of procedure. Chief Justice Chase sent a comm.unication to the Senate to the etfect that this body, when acting upon an impeachment, was a Court presided over by the Chief Justice, and that all orders and rules should be framed by the Court. On the 5th the Court was formally organized. An exception was taken to the eligibility of Mr. Wade as a member of the Court, on the ground that he was a party interested, since, in the event of the impeachment be- ing sttstained, he, as President of the Senate,, would become Acting President of the United States. This objection was with- drawn, and Mr. Wade was sworn as a mem- ber of the Court. On the 7th the summons for the President to appear was formally served upon him. On the 13th the Court IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF JOHNSON. 183 was again formally reopened. The Presi- dent appeared by his counsel, Hon. Henry Stanbery, of Ohio ; Hon. Wm. M. Evarts, of New York ; Hon. Wm. S. Grocsbeck, jf Ohio ; Hon. Benjamin R. Curtis, of Massa- chusetts; Hon. Thomas A. R. Nelson, of Tennessee, who asked for forty days to pre- l)are an answer to the indictment. ^ This was refused, and ten days granted ; it be- ing ordered that the proceedings should reopen on the 23d. Upon that day the President appeared by his counsel, and presented his answer to the articles of im- peachment. This reply was in substance as follows : The first eight articles in the Bill of Im- peachment, as briefly summed up in our last record, are based upon the action of the President in ordering the removal of Mr. Stanton, and the temporary appoint- ment of General Thomas as Secretary of War. The gist of them is contained in the first article, charging the unlawful removal of Mr. Stanton ; for, this failing, the others would fail also. To this article a con- siderable part of the President's answer is devoted. It is mainly an amplifica- tion of the points put forth in the Mes- sage of February 24th, in which he gave his reasons for liis orders. The President cites the laws by which this department of the administration was created, and the rules laid down for the duties pertaining ti) it ; prominent among which are : that the Secretary shall " conduct the business of the department in such manner as the President of the United States shall from time to time order and instruct; " and that he should " hold the ofiice during the plea- sure of the President ; " and that Congress had no legal right to deprive the President of the power to remove the Secretary. He was, however, aware that the design of the Tenure-of-Office Bill was to vest this power of removal, in certain cases, jointly in the Executive and the Senate ; and that, while believing this act to be unconstitutional, yet it having been passed over his veto by the requisite majority of two-thirds, he con- sidered it to be his duty to ascertain in how far the case of Mr. Stanton came within the provisions of this law ; after consideration, he came to the conclusion that the case did not come within the pi'ohibitions of the law, and that, by that law he still had the right of removing Mr. Stanton ; but that, wishing to have the case decided by the Su- preme Court, he, on the 12th of August, issued the order merely suspending, not removing, Mr. Stanton, a ]iower expresly granted by the Tenure-of-Ofiice Act, and appointed General Grant Secretary of War ad interim. The President then recites the subsequent action in the case of Mr. Stanton ; and, as he avers, still believing that he had the constitutional power to re- move him from office, issued the order of February 21st, for such removal, designing to thus bring the matter before the Su- preme Court. He then proceeds formally to deny that at this time Mr. Stanton was in lawful possession of the oliice of Secre- tary of War; and tliat, conse<|Ucntly, the order for his removal was in violation of the Tenure-of-Otficc Act; and that it was in violation of the Constitution or of any law ; or that it constituted any official crime or misdemeanor. In regard to the seven succeeding arti- cles of im])eachmcnt the President, while admitting the facts of the order ai)pointing General "^Thomas as Secretary of War ud iiiteriin, denies all and every of the crimi- nal charges therein set forth. So of the ninth article, charging an effort to induce General Emory to violate the law, the President denies all such intent, and calls attention to the fact that while, for urgent reasons, he signed the bill prescribing that orders to the army should be issued only through the General, he at the same tinie declared it to be, in his judgment, unconsti- tutional ; and affirms that in his interview with General Emory he said no more than, he had before officially said to Congress — that is, that the law was unconstitutional. As to the tenth article, the first of the supplementary ones, the President, while admitting that he made certain public si>eeches at the times and places specified, does not admit that the passages cited are fair reports of his remarks ; denies that he has ever been unmindful of the courtesies wliich ought to be maintained between the executive and legislative departments ; but he claims the perfect right at all times to express his views as to all public matters. The reply to the eleventh article, the second supplementary one, is to the same general purport, denying that he ever af- firmed that the Thirty-ninth Congress was not a valid Congress of the United States, and its acts obligatory only as they were approved by him ; and denying that he had, as charged in the article, contrived unlawful means for preventing Mr. Stanton from resuming the functions of Secretary of War, or for preventing the execution of the act making appropriations for the sup- port of the army, or that to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States. In his answer to this article the President refers to his reply to the first ar- ticle, in which he sets forth at length all the steps, and the reasons therefor, relating to the removal of jMr. Stanton. In brief, the answer of the President to the articles of impeachment is a general denial of each and every criminal act charged in the ar- ticles of impeachment. The counsel for the President then asked for a delay of thirty days after the replication of the managers of the impeachment should have been rendered, before the trial should 184 AMERICAN POLITICS. formally proceed. This was refused, and the inaniigers of the impeachment stated that their replication would be presented the next day : it was that, " The 8ei"uite will commence the trial of the President upon the articles of impeach- ment exhibited against him on Monday, the 30th day of March, and proceed there- in with all "dispatch under the rules of the Senate, sitting upon the trial of an im- peachment." The replication of the Plouse of Repre-- sentatives was a simple denial of each and every averment in the answer of the Pres- ident, closing thus : " The House of Representatives . . . .do say that the said Andrew Johnson, Presi- dent of the United States, is guilty of the high crimes and misdemeanors mentioned in the said articles, and that the said House of Representatives are ready to prove the same." The trial began, as appointed, on March 80. There being twenty-seven States rep- resented, there were fifty-four Senators, who constituted the Court, presided over by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio. Senators : California, Cole, Con- ness ; Connecticut, Dixon, Ferry; Delau-are, Bayard, Saulsbury ; Indiana, Hendricks, Morton ; Illinois, Trumbull, Yates ; loiva, Grimes, Harlan ; Kansas, Pomeroy, Ross ; Kentucky, Davis, McCreery ; Maine, Fes- senden, Morrill (LotM.) ; Maryland, John- son, Vickers ; Massachusetts, Sumner, Wil- Si^n ; Michigan, Chandler, Howard ; Minne- sota, Norton, Ramsay ; Missouri, Drake, Henderson ; Nebraska, Thayer, Tipton ; Nevada, Nye, Stewart; New Hampshire, Cragin, Patterson (J. W.) ; New Jersey, Cattell, Frelinghuysen ; New York, Conk- lin, Morgan ; Ohio, Sherman, Wade ; Ore- gon, Corbett, Williams ; Pennsylvania, Buckalew, Cameron; Rhode Island, An- thony, Sprague ; Tennessee, Fowler, Patter- son (David); Vermont, Edmunds, Merrill, ( J. S.) ; West Virginia, Van Winkle, Wil- ley; Wisconsin, Doolittle,. Howe. Managers for the Prosecution: Messrs. Bingham, Boutwell, Butler, Logan, Ste- vens, Williams, Wilson. Counsel for the President. Messrs. Cur- tis, Evarts, Groesbeck, Nelson, Stanbery. The following was the order of proce- dure : The Senate convened at 11 or 12 o'clock, and was called to order by the president of tiiat body, who, after prayer, would leave the chair, which was immedi- ately assumed l)y the Chief Justice, who wore his official robes. The prosecution was mainly conducted by Mr. Butler, who examined the witnesses, and, in conjunc- tion with the others, argued the points of law which came up. The defense, during the early ])art of the trial, was mainly con- ducted by Mr. Stanbery, who had resigned the ofiice of Attorney-General for this pur- pose, but, being taken suddenly ill, Mr. Evarts took his place. According to the rule at first adopted, the trial was to be opened by one counsel on each side, and summed up by two on each side ; but this rule was subsequently modified so as to al- low as many of the managers and counsel as chose to sum up, either orally or by filing written arguments. THE PROSECUTION. The whole of the first day (March 30) was occupied by the opening speech of Mr. Butler. After touching upon the import- ance of the case, and the wisdom of the framers of the Constitution in providing for its possible occurrence, he laid down the fol- lowing proposition, supporting it by a copi- ous array of authorities and precedents : " We define, therefore, an impeachable high crime or misdemeanor to be one, in its nature or consequences, subversive of some fundamental or essential principle of government, or highly prejudicial to the public interest, and this may consist of a violation of the Constitution, of law, of an ofticial oath, or of duty, by an act com- mitted or omitted, or, without violating a positive law, by the abuse of discretionary powers from improper motives, or for any improper purpose." He then proceeded to discuss the nature and functions of the tribunal before which the trial is held. He asked : " Is this pro- ceeding a trial, as that term is understood, so far as relates to the rights and duties of a court and jury upon an indictment for crime ? Is it not rather more in the nature of an inquest?" The Constitution, he urged, " seems to have determined it to be the latter, because, under its provisions, the right to retain and hold office is the only subject to be finally adjudicated; all preliminary inquiry being carried on solely to determine that question, and that alone." He then proceeded to argue that this body now sitting to determine the accusation, is the Senate of the United States, and not & court. This question is of consequence, he argued, because, in the latter case, it would be bound by the rules and prece- dents of common law-statutes ; the mem- bers of the court would be liable to chal- lenge on many grounds ; and the accused might claim that he could only be convicted when the evidence makes the fact clear be- yond reasonable doubt, instead of by a pre- ponderance of the evidence. The fact that in this case the Chief Justice presides, it was argued, does not constitute the Senate thus acting a court, for in all cases of im- peachment, save that of the President, its regular presiding officer presides. Moreo- ver, the procedures have no analogy to those of an ordinary court of justice. The accused merely receives a notice of the case pending against him. He is not re- IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF JOHNSON. 185 quii-ed to appear personally, and the case will go on without his presence. Mr. Butler thus ^unliued up his position in this regard : •' A constitutional trihunal solely, you arc bound by no law, either statute or com- mon, which nuiy limit your constitutional prerogative. You consult no precedents save those of the law and custom of par- liamentary bodies. You are a law unto yourselves, bound only by the natural i)rinciples of equity and justice, and that salus populi suprema est lex" Mr. Butler then proceeded to consider the articles of impeachment. The first eight, he says, " set out, in several distinct Ibrms, the acts of the President in remov- ing Mr. Stanton and appointing General Thomas, differing, in legal effect, in the ]:)urposes for which, and the intent with which, either or both of the acts were done, and the legal duties and rights in- fringed, and the Acts of Congress violated in so doing." In respect to all of these articles, Mr. Butler says, referring to his former definition of what constituted an impeachable high crime : " All the articles allege these acts to be in contravention of his oath of office, and in disregard of the duties thereof. If they are so, however, the President might have the power to do them under the law. Still, being so done, they are acts of official mis- conduct, and, as we have seen, impeacha- ble. The President has the legal power to do many acts which, if done in disregard of his duty, or for improper purposes, then the exercise of that power is an official misdemeanor. For example, he has the power of jjardon ; if exercised, in a given case, for a corrupt motive, as for the pay- ment of money, or wantonly pardoning all criminals, it would be a misdemeanor." Mr. Butler affirmed that every fact charged in the first article, and substan- tially in the seven following, is admitted in the reply of the President ; and also that the general intent to set aside the Tenure-of-"Office Act is therein admitted and justified. He then proceeded to dis- cuss the whole question of the power of the President for removals from office, and especially his claim that this power was imposed upon the President by the Consti- tution, and that it could not be taken from Mm, or be vested jointly in him and the Senate, partly or in whole. This, Mr. Butler affirmed, was the real question at issue before the Senate and the American people. He said : " Has the President, under the Constitu- tion; the more than royal prerogative at will to remove fi-om office, or to suspend from office, all executive officers of the United States, either civil, military or naval, and to fill the vacancies, without any restraint whatever, or possibility of re- straint, by the Senate or by Congress, through laws duly enact(,'(l? 'The House of Representatives, in l)ehairof thv [)eople, join issue by aifimiing that the exercise of such j^owers is a high misdemeanor in office. If the affirmative is maintained by the respondent, then, so far as the first eight articles are concerned — unless such corrupt purposes are shovv^n as will of themselves make the exercise of a legal power a crime — the res])ondent must go, and ought to go, quit and free. This point as to the legal right of the President to make removals from office, which constitutes the real burden of the articles of impeachment, was argued at length. Mr. Butler assumed that the Sen- ate, by whom, in conjunction with the House, the Tenure-of-Office Act had been passed over the veto of the President, would maintain the law to be constitu- tional. The turning point was whether the special case of the removal of Mr. Stanton came v/ithin the provisions of this law. This rested upon the proviso of that law, that — " The Secretaries shall hold their office during the term of the President by whom they may have been appointed, and for one month thereafter, subject to removal by and with the advice ancl consent of the Seniite." The extended argument upon this point, made by Mr. Butler, was to the effect that Mr. Stanton having been appointed by Mr. Lincoln, whose term of office reached to the 4th of March, 1869, that of Mr. Stanton existed until a month later, unless he was previously removed by the concurrent ac- tion of the President and Senate. The point of the argument is, that Mr. Johnson is merely serving out the balance of the term of Mr. Lincoln, cut short by his as- sassination, so that the Cabinet officers ap- pointed by Mr. Lincoln held their places, by this very proviso, during that term and for a month thereafter; for, he argued, if Mr. Johnson was not merely serving out the balance of Mr. Lincoln's term, then he is entitled to the office of President for four full years, that being the period for which a President is elected. If, continues the argument, Mr. Stanton's commission was vacated by the Tenure-of-Office Act, it ceased on the 4th of April, 1865 ; or, if the act had no retroactive effect, still, if Mr. Stanton held his office merely under his commission from Mr. Lincoln, then his functions would have ceased upon the passage of the bill, March 2, 1867 ; and, consequently, Mr. Johnson, in " employ- ing " him after that date as Secretary of War, was guilty of a high misdemeanor, which would give ground for a new arti- cle of impeachment. After justifying the course of Mr. Stan- ton in holding on to the secretaryship in 186 AMERICAN POLITICS. opposition to the wish of the President, on the ground that " to desert it now would be to imitate the treachery of his accidental chief," ^Ir. Butler proceeded to discuss the reasons assigned by the Presi- dent in his answer to the articles of im- peachment for the attemjit to remove Mr. Stanton. These, in substance, were, that the President believed the Tenure-of-Of- fice Act was unconstitutional, and, there- fore, void and of no effect, and that he had the right to remove him and appoint another person in his place. Mr. Butler urged that, in all of these proceedings, the President professed to act upon the as- sumption that the act was valid, and that his action was in accordance Avith its pro- visions. He then went on to charge that the appointment of General Thomas as Secretary of War ad interim, was a sepa- rate violation of law. By the act of Feb- ruary 20, 1863, which repealed all previous laws inconsistent with it, the President was authorized, in case of the " death, resignation, absence from the seat of Gov- ernment, or sickness of the head of an executive department," or in any other case where these officers could not perform their respective duties, to appoint the head of any other executive department to ful- fil the duties of the office " until a succes- sor be appointed, or until such absence or disability shall cease." Now, urged Mr, Butler, at the time of the appointment of General Thomas as Sectary of War ad interim, Mr. Stanton "had neither died nor resigned, was not sick nor absent, and, consequently. General Thomas, not being the head of a department, but only of a bureau of one of them, was not eligi- ble to this appointment, and that, there- fore, his api5ointment was illegal and void. The ninth article of impeachment, wherein the President is charged with en- deavoring to induce General Emory to take orders directly from himself, is dealt with in a rather slight manner. Mr. But- ler says, " If the transaction set forth in this article stood alone, we might well ad- mit that doubts might arise as to the suffi- ciency of the proof;" but, he adds, " the surroundings are so pointed and signifi- cant as to leave no doubt in the mind of an impartial man as to the intents and purposes of the President " — these intents being, according to Mr. Butler, " to induce General Emory to take orders directly from himself, and thus to hinder the exe- cution of the Civil Tenure Act, and to prevent ]\Ir. Stanton from holding his office of Secretary of War." As to the tenth article of impeachment, based upon various speeches of the Presi- dent, Mr. Butler undertook to show that the reports of these speeches, as given in the article, were substantially correct; and accepted the issue made thereupon as to whether they are " decent and becom- ing the President of the United States, and do not tend to bring the office into ridicule and disgrace." After having commented upon the eleventh and closing article, which charges the President with having denied the au- thority of the Thirty-ninth Congress, ex- cept so far as its acts were approved by him, Mr. Butler summed up the purport of the articles of impeachment in these words : " The acts set out in the first eight arti- cles are but the culmination of a series of wrongs, malfeasances, and usurpations committed by the respondent, and, there- fore, need to be examined in the light of his precedent and concomitant acts to grasp their scope and design. The last three articles presented show the perver- sity and malignity with which he acted, so 'that the man as he is known may be clearly spread upon record, to be seen and known of all men hereafter We have presented the facts in the con- stitutional manner ; we have brought the criminal to your bar, and demand judg- ment for his so great crimes." The remainder of Monday, and a por- tion of the following day, were devoted to the presentation of documentary evidence as to the proceedings involved in the order for the removal of Mr. Stanton and the appointment of General Thomas. The prosecution then introduced witnesses to testify to the interviews between Mr. Stanton and General Thomas. They then brought forward a witness to show that General Thomas had avowed his deter- mination to take forcible possession of the War Office. To this ]Mr. Stanbery, for the defense, objected. The Chief Justice. de- cided the testimony to be admissible. Thereupon Senator Drake took exception to the ruling, on the ground that this ques- tion should be decided by the Senate — not by the presiding officer. " The Chief Jus- tice averred that, in his judgment, it was his duty to decide, in the first instance, upon any question of evidence, and then, if any Senator desired, to submit the deci- sion to the Senate. Upon this objection and appeal arose the first conflict in the Senate as to the powers of its presiding officer. Mr. Butler argued at length in favor of the exception. Although, in this case, the decision was in favor of the prosecution, he objected to the power of the presiding officer to make it. Thi.s point was argued at length by the mana- gers for the impeachment, who denied the right of the Chief Justice to make such decision. It was then moved that the Senate retire for private consultation on this point. There was a tie vote— 25 ayes and 25 nays.— The Chief Justice gave his casting vote in favor of the motion for IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF JOHNSON. 187 consultation. The Senate, by a vote of 31 to 19, sustained the Chief Justice, deciding; that " the presiding ofticer may rule ou all questions of evidence and on incidental questions, which decision will stand as the judgment of the Senate for decision, or he may, at his option in the first instance, submit any such question to a vote of the members of the Senate." In the further progress of the trial the Chief Justice, in most important cases, submitted the ques- tion directly to the Senate, without him- self giving any decision. Next morning (April 1) j\Ir. Sumner offered a resolution to the eftect that the Chief Justice, in giv- ing a casting vote, "acted without author- ity of the Constition of the United States." This was negatived by a vote of 27 to 21, thus deciding that the presiding officer had the right to give a casting vote. The witness (Mr. Burleigh, delegate from Dakotah,) who had been called to prove declarations of General Thomas, was then asked whether, at an interview between them, General Thomas had said anything as " to the means by which he intended to obtain, or was directed by the President to obtain, posession of the V^r Department." To this question Mr. Stanbery objected, on the ground that any statements made by General Thomas could not be used as evi- dence against the President. Messrs. But- ler and Bingham argued that the testi- mony was admissible, on the ground that there was, as charged, a conspiracy be- tween the President and General Thomas, and that the acts of one conspirator were binding upon the other ; and, also, that in these acts General Thomas was the agent of the President. The Senate, by 39 to 11, decided that the question was admissible. Mr, Burleigh thereupon testified sub- stantially that General Thomas informed him that he had been directed by the Pres- ident to take possession of the War De- partment ; that he was bound to obey his superior ofiicer ; that, if Mr. Stanton ob- jected, he should use force, and if he bolt- ed the doors they would be broken down. The witness was then asked whether he had heard General Thomas make any statement to the clerks of the War Office, to the effect that, when he came into con- trol, he would relax or rescind the rules of Mr. Stanton. To this question objection was made by the counsel of the President on the ground of irrelevancy. The Chief Justice was of opinion that the question was not admissible, but, if any Senator de- manded, he would submit to the Senate whether it should be asked. The demand having been made, the Senate, by a vote of 28 to 22, allowed the question to be put, whereupon Mr. Burleigh testified that General Thomas, in his presence, called before him the heads of the divisions, and told theni that the rules laid down bv Mr. Stanton were arbitrary, and that he should relax tliem — that he should not hold them strictly to their letters of instruction, but shduUl consider them as gentlemen who would do their duty — that they could come in or go out when they chose. Mr. Bur- leigh further testified that, subsequently, General Thomas had said to him that the only thing which prevented him from tak- ing possession of the War De})artment was his arrest by the United States marshal. Other Avitnesses were called to prove the declarations of General Thomas. Mr. Wilkeson testified that General Thomas said to him that he should demand possess- ion of the War Department, aijd, in case Mr. Stanton should refuse to give it up, he should call ujion General Grant for a suf- ficient force to enable him to do so, and he did not see how this could be refused. Mr. Karsener, of Delaware, testified that he saw General Thomas at the President's house, told him that Delaware, of which State General Thomas is a citizen, expect- ed him to stand firm ; to which General Thomas replied that he was standing firm, that he would not disappoint his friends, but, that, in a few days, he would " kick that fellow out." meaning, as the witness supposed, My. Stanton. Thursddij, April 2(1. — Various witnesses were introduced to testily to the occur- rences when General Thomas demanded possession of the War Department. After this General Emory was called to testify to the transactions which form the ground of the ninth article of impeachment. His testimony was to the effect that the Presi- dent, on the 22d of February, requested him to call ; that, upon so doing, the Pres- ident asked respecting any changes that had been made in the disposition of the troops around Washington; that he in- formed the President that no important changes had been made, and that none could be made without an order from Gen- eral Grant, as provided for in an order founded upon a law sanctioned by the President. The President said that this law was unconstitutional. Emory replied that the President had approved of it. and that it was not the prerogative of the officers of the army to decide upon the constitu- tionality of a law, and in that opinion he was justified by the opinion of eminent counsel, and thereupon the conversation ended. _ The prosecution then endeavored to in- troduce testimony as to the appointment of Mr. Edmund Cooper, the Private Sec- retary of the President, as Assistant Sec- retary of the Treasury, in support of the eighth and eleventh articles of impeach- ment, which charge the President with an unlawful attempt to control the dis]iosition of certain public funds. This testimony, by a vote of 27 to 22, was ruled out. " The prosecution now, in support of the 188 AMERICAN POLITICS, tenth and eleventh articles of iinpeach- nient, cli;ir 130 56 26 7 13 841^ "7 12 82^ 113i| "7 12 '•i'm 763^ 137>^ i 12 80 "3 56^ 144M 12 87 '"Yz ■■3 135>4 22 "e 12 1071^ 13M is 4 1423^ ie 12 121 13 "9 2 135>^ 19 12 132 "k 317 ... AVinfi^ld S Hancock Sanford E Church Joel Parker ... Reverdy Johnson Thomas A Hendricks ... F P Blair Jr Thomas Ewing J. Q.Adams.. .„ George B McCleTlan ... Franklin Pierce John T. Hoffman Stephen J. Field . . Thomas H. Seymour ... Necessary to choice 212 * General Blair was nominated unanimou.sly on the first ballot. READMISSION OF REBELLIOUS STATES. 193 ern men had settled in the South. All of them were now denounced as political ad- venturers by the rebels who opposed the amendments, reconstruction and frcedman's bureau acts. Many of thtse organized themselves first into Ku Klux Klans, secret societies, organized with a view to affright negroes from participancy in the elections, and to warn white men of opposing politi- cal views to leave the country. The object of the organization broadened with the troubles which it produced. Efforts to affright were followed by midnight assaults, by horrible whippings, outrages and mur- ders, hardly a fraction of which could be traced to the perpetrators. Doubtless many of the stories current at the time were exaggerated by partisan newspapers, but all of the official reports made then and since go to show the dangerous exces- ses which political and race hostilities may reach. In Georgia the whites, by these agencies, soon gained absolute politi- cal control, and this they used with more wisdom than in most Southern States, for under the advice of men like Stevens and Hill, they passed laws providing for free public schools, etc., but carefully guarded their newly acquired power by also passing tax laws which virtually disfranchised more thaii half the blacks. Later on, several Southern States imitated this form of po- litical sagacity, and soon those in favor of " a white man's government," (the popular battle cry of the period) had undisputed control in Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas — States which the Re- publicans at one time had reason to believe they could control. Tlie Eiiforcenieiit Acts. To repress the Ku Klux outrages, Con- gress in May 31, 1870, passed an act giving to the President all needed powers to pro- tect the freedmen in their newly acquired rights, and to punish the perpetrators of all outrages, whether upon whites or blacks. This was called in Congress the Enforce- ment Act, and an Amendatory Enforce- ment Act was inserted in the Sundrv Civil Bill, June 10, 1872. The Ku Kliix Act was passed April 20, 1871. All of these measures were strongly advocated by Sena- tor Oliver P. Morton, who through this advocacy won new political distinction as the special champion of the rights of the blacks. Later on James G. Blaine, then the admitted leader of the House, opposed some of the. supplements for its better en- forcement, and to this fact is traceable tlie refusal on the part of the negroes of the South to give him that warm support as a Presidential candidate which his high abili- ties commanded in other sections. The several Enforcement Acts and their supplements are too voluminous for inser- 13 tion here, and they are of little use save as relics of the bitter days of reconstruction. They have little force now, although some of them still stand. They became a dead letter after the defeat of the " carpet-bag governments," but the President enforced them as a rule with moderation and wisdom. The enforcement of the Ku Kkix Act led to tlie disbanding of that oiganization after the trial, arrest and convi(;tion of many of the leaders. These trials brought out the facts, and awakened many South- ern minds, theretofore incredulous, to the enormity of the secret political crimes which had been committed in all the South- ern States, and for a time popular senti- ment even in the South, and amongst for- mer rebel soldiers, ran strongly against the Klan. With fresh political excitements, however, fresh means of intimidation were employed at elections. Rifle clubs were formed, notably in South Carolina and Mississippi, while in Louisiana the " White League' sprang into existence, and was organized in all of the neighboring States. These were more difficult to deal with. They were open organizations, created un- der the semblance of State militia acts. They became very popular, especially among the younger men, and from this time until the close of the Presidential election in 1876, were potent factors in several Southern States, and we shall have occasion further on to describe their more important movements. Readmlssioii of Rebellions States. Before the close of 1869 the Supreme Court, in the case of Texas vs. White, sus- tained the constitutionality of the Recon- struction acts of Congress. It held that the ordinances of secession had been " ab- solutely null ; " that the seceding States had no right to secede and had never been out of the Union, but that, during and after their rebellion, they had no govern- ments " competent to represent these States In their relations with the National gov- ernment," and therefore Congress had the power to re-establish the relations of any rebellious State to the LTnion. This de- cision fortified the position of the Repub- licans, and did much to aid President Grant in the difficult work of reconstruc- tion. It modified the assaults of the Dem- ocrats, and in some measure changed their purpose to make Reconstruction the pivot around which smaller political issues should revolve. The regular session of the 41st Congress met Dect 4th. 1869, and before its close Virginia, Georgia, Texas, and Mississippi had all complied with the conditions of re- construction, and were re-admitted to the Union. This practically completed the work of reconstruction. To summarize :^ 194 AMERICAN POLITICS, Tenncs'^ce was re-admitted July 24th, 18G(j; Arkansas, June 22d, 1868;" North Carolina, (South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia and Florida under the act of June 25th, 1868, which provided that as soon as they fulfilled the conditions imposed by the acts of March, li 67, they should be re- admitted. All did this promptly except Georgia. Virginia was re-admitted Jan- uary 2r)th, 1870; Mississippi, Feb. 23d, 1870 ; Texas, March 30th, 1870. Georgia, the most powerful and stubborn of all, had passed State laws declaring negroes incapa- ble of holding office, in addition to what Avas known as the " black code," and Con- gress refused full admission until she had revoked the laws and ratified the 15th Amendment. The State finally came back into the Union July 15th, 1870. The above named States completed the ratification of the 15th amendment, and the powers of reconstruction were plainly used to that end. Some of the Northern States had held back, and for a time its ratification by the necessary three-fourths was a matter of grave doubt. Congress next passed a bill to enforce it, May 30th, 1870. This made penal any interference, by force or fraud, with the right of free and full manhood suffrage, and authorized the President to use the army to jirevent violations. The measure was generally supported by the Republicans, and opposed by all of the Democrats. The Republicans through other guards about the ballot by passing an act to amend the naturalization laws, which made it penal to use false naturalization papers, authorized the appointment of Federal supervisors of elections in cities of over 20,000 inhabitants ; gave to these power of arrest for any offense committed in their view, and gave alien Africans the right to naturalize. The Democrats in their oppo- sition laid particular stress upon the extra- ordinary powers given to Federal super- visors, while the Repul>licans charged that Seymour had carried New York by gigan- tic naturalization frauds in New York city, and sought to sustain these charges by the unprecedented vote polled. A popular quotation of the time was from Horace Greeley, in the New York Tribune, who showed that under the manipulations of the Tweed ring, more votes had been cast for Seymour in one of the warehouse wards of the city, " than there were men, women, children, and cats and dogs in it." The I**2,640 ; Elegius Fromentin, $3,000 ; John Gaillard, President, $6,000; Robert H. Goldsborough, $2,840 ; Christopher Gore, $1,940; Alexander Contee Hanson, $o30; Martin D. Hardin, $900 ; Robert G. Har- per .^1,450 ; Outerbridge Horsey, !i?3,000 ; Jeremiah B. Howell, $3,000; William Hunter, $2,930; Rufus King, $2,660; Abner Lacock, $3,000 ; Nathaniel :Macon, ^^2,946 ; Jeremiah xMason of New Hamp- shire, $2,(]«0 ; Armistead T. Mason of Vir- ginia', 5=^2,360 ; Jeremiah Morrow, $3,000 ; James Noble, $920; Jonathan Roberts, 153,000 ; Benjamin Ruggles, $3,000 ; Nathan Sa'nford, $2,720; William Smith, i:r540; Montfor't Stokes, $810; Charles Tait, $3 000; Isham Talbot. $2,730; John Tay- lor of South Carolina, $1,990 ; Waller Tay- lor of Indiana, $920 ; Thomas W. Thomp- son $2,850 ; Isaac Tichenor, $3,000 ; Georgo M. Troup, $830 ; James Turner. $2,060 ; I Joseph B. Varnum, $3,000 ; William H. 216 AMERICAN POLITICS. Wells, $2,G10; John Williams, $3,000; James J. Wilson, $3,000. Act of 1818. — Under the retroactive provision of the act of January 22, 1818, the following named Senators drew the amounts for compensation and mileage op- posite their respective names : Messrs. Eli P. Ashmun, $668; James Barbour, $520 ; James Burril, $762 ; George W. Campbell, $1,008 ; John J. Crittenden, $1,007.20 ; David Daggett, $690.40 ; Samuel W. Dana, $283.20; Mahlon Dickerson, $628.80; John W. Eppes, $584; James Fisk, $848 ; Elegius Fromentin, $1,393.60 ; John Gailiard, $880 ; Robert H. Golds- borough, $483.20; Outerbridge Horsey, $485.60 ; William Hunter, $543.20 ; Henry Johnson, $1,273.60 ; Rufus King, $627.20 ; Abner Lacock, $649.60; Walter Leake, $1,384; Nathaniel Macon, $600 ; David L. Morril, $876; Jeremiah Morrow, $776; James Noble, $918.40 ; Harrison Gray Otis, $792.80 ; Jonathan Roberts, $564.80 ; Ben- jamin Ruggles, $688; Nathan Sanford, $616 ; William Smith, $774.40 ; Montfort Stokes, $745.60 ; Clement Storer, $875.20 ; Charles Tait, $952; Isham Talbot, $872; Waller Tavlor, $1,080; Isaac Tichenor, $784; Geo«gc M. Troup, $952; Van Dyke, $380.80; Thomas H. Williams of Mississippi, $1,433.60 ; John Williams of Tennessee, $861.60; James J. Wilson, $568. Act of 1856. — Under the retroactive provision of the act of August 16, 1856, the following named Senators drew the amounts opposite their respective names : Messrs. Stephen Adams, $2,243.77; Philip Allen, $2,202.79; James A. Bayard, $2,088.03; James Bell, $1,083.93; John Bell, $2,268.36; J. P. Benjamin, $2,210.99 ; Asa Biggs, $2,161.81 ; William Bigler, $1,- 594.24; "jesse D. Bright, president pro tempore, $6,772.40 ; R. Brodhead, $2,251.- 97 ; A. G. Brown, $2,251.97 ; A. P. Butler, $2,202.70 ; Lewis Cass, $2,251.97 ; C. C. Clay, jr., $2,251.97 ; J. M. Clayton, $2,292.- 95 ; J. Collamer, $2,219.18 ; J. J. Critten- den, $2,243.79 ; H. Dodge, $2,292.95 ; S. A. Douglas, $2,268.36 ; C. Durkee, $2,235.56 ; J. J. Evans, $2,121.70 ; W. S. Fessenden, $2,276.56 ; H. Fish, $2,237.28 ; B. Fitzpat- rick, $2,194.59 ; S. Foot, $2,292.94 ; L. F. S. Foster, $2,112.62; H. S. Gever, $2,276.- 56 ; J. P. Hale, $887.10 ; H. Hamlin, $1,- 989.68 ; J. Harlan, $2,268.36 ; S. Houston, $2,292.95; R. M. T. Hunter, 2,210.99; A. Iverson, $2,210.99; C. T.James, $2,210.99; R. W. Johnson, $632.21 ; G. W. Jones, $2,235.58; J. C. Jones, $2,047.05; S. R. Mallory, $2,276.56 ; J. M. Mason, $2,170 ; J. A. Pearce, $2,l»i.59; T. G. Pratt, $2,- 129.02; G. E. Pugh, $2,096.21 ; D. S. Reid, $2,235.58; T. J. Rusk, $2,292.95 ; W. K. Sebastian, $2,137.22 ; W. H. Seward, $2,- 292.95; John Slidell, $2,276.56; C. E. Stuart, $2,292.95; C. Sumner, $2,292.95; J. B. Thompson, $2,235.57; John R. Thomson, $2,022.46 ; Robert Toombs. $2,- 006.07 ; Isaac Toucey, $2,292.65 ; L. Trum- bull, $2,251.97 ; B. F. Wade, $2,202.79 ; J. B. Weller, $2,251 97 ; H. Wilson, $2,178.- 20 ; W. Wright, $2,120.82 ; D. L. Yulee, $2,194.59. Act of 1866. — Under the retroactive provision of the act of July 28, 1866, the following named Senators received the amounts opposite their respective names : Messrs. H. B. Anthony, $2,805 56 ; B. Gratz Brown, $2,805 56 ; C. R. Buckalew, $2,805 56 ; Z. Chandler, $2,805 56 ; D. Clark, $2,805 56 ; J. Collamer, $1.366 15; J. Conness, $2,805 56; E. Cowan, $2,- 805 56 ; A. H. Cragin, $2,805 56 ; J. A. J. Creswell, $2,805, 56 ; G. Davis, $2,805 56 ; J. Dixon, $2,805 56; J. R. Doolittle, $2,- 805 56; W. P. Fessenden, $2,805 56; S. Foot, $2,136 76 ; L. F. S. Foster, President pro tempore, $261 93 ; J. W. Grimes, $2,- 805 56 ; J. Guthrie, $2,805 56 ; I. Harris, $2,805 56 ; J. B. Henderson, $2,805 56 ; T. A. Hendricks, $2,805.56 ; J. M. Howard, $2,805 56 ; T. 0. Howe, $2,805 56 ; R. John- son, $2,805 56 ; "H. S. Lane, $2,805 56 ; J. H Lane, $2,710 49;- James A. Mc- Dougall, $2,805 56 ; E. D. Morgan, $2,- 805 56 ; L. M. Morrill, $2,805 56 ; J. W. Nesmith, $2,806 56; D. S. Norton, $2,- 805 56 ; J. W. Nye, $2,805 56; S. C. Pome- roy, $2, 805 56 ; A. Ramsev, $2,805 56 ; G. R. Riddle, $2,805 56 ; W. 'Saulsburv, $2,- 805 56 ; J. Sherman, $2,805 56 ; W. M. Stewart, $2,805 56 ; C. Sumner, $2,805 56 ; L. Trumbull, $2,805 56 ; P. G. Van Winkle, $2,805 56; B. Wade, $2,805 56; W. T. Willev, $2,805 56; G. H. Williams, $2,- 805 56; H. Wilson, $2,805 56; W. Wright, $2 805 56 ; R. Yates, $2,805 56 ; J. Harlan, $350 ; L. P. Poland, $1,361 ; John P. Stock- ton, $2,131 20 ; S. J. Kirkwood, $2,361 10 ; G. F. Edmunds, $666 66 ; E. G. Ross, $180 40. Act of 1873. — Under the retroactive provision of the act of March 3, 1873, the following named Senators received the sums set opposite their respective names : Messrs. A. Ames, $2,840 ; J. L. Alcorn, $2,312 39 ; J. T. Bayard, $4,865 60 ; F. P. Blair, $3,761 60 ; A. I. Boreman, $4,514 ; W. G. Brownlow, $4,588 ; A. Caldwell, $2,- 647 60 ; S. Cameron, $4,856 ; M. H. Car- penter, $3,887 60 ; E. Casserly, $970 40 ; Z, Chandler, $3,906 80; P. Clavton, $2,600; C. Cole, $970 40 ; H. Cooper, $3,760 ; H. G. Davis, $4,635 20 ; O. S. Ferry, $4,652 ; T. W. Ferrv, $3,920 ; J. W. Flanagan, $2,- 000; A. Gilbert, $3,680; George Goldtk- waite, $3,924 80 ; M. C. Hamilton, $2,480 ; Joshua Hill, $4,083 20 ; P. W. Hitchcock, $2,852 80 ; T. O. Howe, $3,689 60 , J. W. Johnston, $4,705 60 ; John T. Lewis, $4,- 804 40; John A. Logan, $3,800; W. B. Machen, $552 98; L. M. Morrill, $4,190; J. S. Morrill, (draft in favor of the treas- RETURNING BOARDS. 217 urerof the State of Vermont,) $4,386 80; T. M. Norwood, $4,169 GO ; J. W. Nve, $2,- 076 80 ; T. W. Osborn, $3,440 ; J. W. Pat- terson, $4,280; S. C. Pomeroy, $8,320; John Pool, $4,620 80 ; M. W. Ransom, $4,- 817 60 ; B. F. Rice, $3,200 ; T. J. Robert- son, $4,374 80 ; F. A. Sawyer, $4,294 40 ; George E. Spencer, $4,106; W. Sprague, $4,508 ; W. M. Stewart, $1,486 40 ; J. P. Stockton, $4,790 ; T. W. Tipton, $3,358 ; Lyman Trumbull, $3,980 ; G, Vickers, $4,- 880 ; J. R. West, $2,468 80. III. — Xdiues of Senators who covered into the Treasury amounts due them under re- troactive provisions of law, with date of such action. There is no record in my office showing that any Senator covered into the Trea- sury any money to which he was entitled by the "retroactive provisions of either of the acts of September 22, 1789, March 19, 1816, Januirv 22, 1818, August 16, 1856, or July 28, 1866. The fallowing Senators covered into the Treasury the amounts due them under the retroactive provision of the act of March 3, 1873, namelv : 1873.— May 26, H. B. Anthony, $4,497 20 ; June 23, W. A. Buckindiam, $4,553 60 ; Mav 21, R. E. Fenton, $4,184; June 2, F. T. Frelinghuysen, $4,644 80 ; Mav 19, H. Hamlin, $4,136 ; August 14, O. P. Morton, $3,922 40 ; April 9, D. D. Pratt, $4,121 60 ; August 25, A. Ramsey, $3,041 40 ; March 28, C. Schurz, $3,761 60 ; May 9, John Scott, $4,733 06 ; July 11, John Sherman, $4,336 40 ; May 2, C. Sumner, $4,445 60 ; Mav 22, A. G.Thurman, $4,359 20 ; March 28, "Henry Wilson, $4,4 4S ; September 6, George G. Wright, $3,140 80. Note. — -Several of these Senators, as ■well as others who have not either drawn or covered into the Treasury the amounts due them under the retroactive provision of the act of 1873, expressed to me their intention to allow the money to lapse into the Treasury by the ordinary operation of law, which they supposed would occur July 3, 1873. After learning that it could not be covered in, except by their order, before July 3, 1875, some gave me written instructions to anticipate the latter date. I am unable to furnish from any informa- tion in my office the names of Senators who themselves paid into the Treasury salary drawn under the act of 1873 or pre- vious acts. I have not furnished the names of Senators who have left increased salary undrawn, as this information was not called for in the resolution. IV. — A Comparative Statement. Total compensation and allowance of Senators, under act of July 28, 1866, from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1872: Com- pensation, $370,000; mileage, $37,041 20 ; stationery and newspapers, $9,250; total, $416,291 20; average per Senator, $5,- 625 5512. Under same act, from March 4, 1872, to March 3, 1873, during which year members of the Senate received mileage for attend- ing the special session of the Senate, held in May, 1872, the following amounts were paid : Compensation, $370,000 ; mileage, $59,002 80 ; newspapers ami stationery, $9,- 250 ; total, $438,252 80 ; average per Sen- ator, $5,922 23if . Total compensation and allowance of Senators under act of March 3, 1873: Compensation, $555,000 ; traveling ex- penses, based uj^onthe certificates of forty- six Senators, (twenty-eight having pre- sented none,) amounting to $4,607 95, giv- ing an average of $100 17x74=$7,412 58 ; total, $562,412 58 ; average per Senator, $7,600 17. In connection with this were statements, prepared by the Secretary of the Senate, and laid before that body by Senator Cameron, January 9, 1874, of the amounts of mileage paid in dollars (cents omitted) at particular dates under the acts of 1856 and 1866, are given. The act of 1856 tixed mileage at forty cents per mile each way, and the act of 1866 fixed it at twenty cents per mile each way. Retimiiug Boards. At the second session of the 42d Con- gress that body, and the President as well, were compelled to consider a new question in connection with politics — an actual con- flict of State Governments. There had al- ways been, in well regulated State govern- ments, returning boards, but with a view the better to guard the newly enfranchised citizens of the South from intimidation, the Louisiana Republicans, under very bold and radical leaders, had greatly strengthened the powers of her returning boards. It could canvass the votes, reject the returns in part or as a whole of parishes where force or fraud had been used, and could declare results after such revision. The Governor of Louisiana had made several removals and appointments of State officers for the purpose mainly of making a friendly majority in the return- ing board, and this led to the appointment of two bodies, both claiming to be the le- gitimate returning board. There soon followed tw^o State governments and legis- latures, the Democratic headed by Gover- nor John McEnery, the Republican by Governor Wm. Pitt Kellogg, later in the U. S. Senate. Kellogg brought suit against the Democratic officers before Judge Durell, of the Federal District Court, and obtained an order that the U. S. Marshal (S. B. Packard, afterwards Governor), should seize the State House and prevent the meetings of the McEnexy 218 AMERICAN POLITICS. legislature. Then both governments were hastily inaugurated, and claimed the re- cognition of Congress. The Benate Com- mittee reported that Judge Durell's deci- sion was not warranted, but the report refused a decisive recognition of either government. A bill was introduced de- claring the election of Nov. 4, 1872, on which this condition of attairs was based, relation thereto, and to repeal an aot en- titled " An act to prevent unjust discrim- ination and extortions in the rates to be charged by the different railroads in this State for the transportation of freights on said roads," approved April 7, A. D. 1871. Section 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the null and void, and providing for a new i General Assembly, If any railroad corpo- election, but this bill was defeated by a ration, organized or doing business in this close vote. Later on, Louisiana claimed State under any act^ of incorporation, or „ large share in National politics. Some- _ what similar troubles occurred in Alabama, I which may hereafter be enacted, or Arkansas, and Texas, but they were settled i railroad corporation organized or with far greater ease than those of Louisi- -"" ^ *''— ^ o„;...i i..,. +i ana. The correspondence in all of these cases was too voluminous to reproduce here, and Ave shall dismiss the subject until the period of actual hostilities Avere reached in Louisiana. The Grangers. So early as 1867 a secret society had been formed first in Washington, known as the Patrons of Husbandry, and it soon succeeded in forming subordinate lodges or granges in Illinois, Wisconsin, and other States. It was declared not to be politi- cal; that its object was co-operation among farmers in purchasing supplies from first hands, so as to do away with middle-men, but, like many other secret organizations, it was soon perverted to political purposes, and for a time greatly disturbed the politi- cal parties of the Western States. This was especially true of the years 1873-74, when the Grangers announced a contem- plated war on railroad corporations, and succeeded in carrying the legislatures of I ^^^^^ "^^ id Wisconsin, and inducing them | tne prov Illinois subsequently to pass acts, the validity of which the Supreme Courts of the State, under a temporary popular pressure which was apparently irresistible, could not sus- tain. The effect of these laws Avas to al- most bankrupt the Illinois Central, there- tofore wealthy, to cripple all railroads, to interfere largely Avith foreign exports, and to react against the interests of the people of the States passing them, that the demand for repeal Avas soon very much greater than the original demand for pas- sage. As these laAvs, though repealed, are still often referred to in the discussion of political and corporate questions, Ave give the text of one of them : Illluois Railroad Act of 1813. An Act to prevent extortion and unjust discrimination in the rates charged for the transportation of passengers and freights on railroads in this State, and to punish the same, and prescribe a mode of procedure and rules of evidence in general laAV of this State now in force, or ' :)r any which may hereafter be organized under the laws of any other State, and doing business in this State, shall charge, collect, demand, or receive more than a fair and reasonable rate of toll or compensation for the trans- portation of passengers or freight of any description, or for the use and transporta- tion of any railroad car upon its track, or any of the branches thereof, or upon any railroad within this State Avhich it has the right, license, or permission to use, oper- ate, or control, the same shall be deemed guilty of extortion, and upon conviction thereof shall be dealt with as hereinafter provided. Sec. 2. If any such railroad corporation aforesaid shall make any unjust discrimi- nation in its rates or charges of toll, or compensation, for the transportation of passengers or fi-eight of any description, or for the use and transportation of any railroad car upon its said road, or upon any of the branches thereof, or upon rail- roads connected thereAvith, Avhich it has the right, license, or permission to operate, control, or use, Avithin this State, the same hall be deemed guilty of having violated isions of this act, and upon con- tion thereof shall be dealt with as here- inafter provided. Sec. 3. If any such railroad corporation shall charge, collect, or receive for the transportation of any passenger, or freight of any description, upon its railroad, for any distance within this State, the same or a greater amount of toll or compensa- tion than is at the same time charged, col- lected, or received for the transportation, in the same direction, of any passenger, or like quantity of freight of the same class, over a greater distance of the same rail- road ; o"r if it shall charge, collect, or re- ceive at any point upon this railroad a higher rate of toll or compensation for re- ceiving, handling, or delivering freight of the same class and quantity than it shall at the same time charge, collect, or receive at any other ])oint upon the same railroad ; or if it shall charge, collect or receive for the transportation of any passenger, or freight of any description, over its railroad a greater amount as toll or compensation ILLINOIS RAILROAD ACT OF 1873. 219 than shall at the same time be charged, collected, or received by it for the trans- portation of any passenger or like quantity of freight of the same class, being trans- ported'in the same direction over any por- tion of the same railroad of equal distance ; or if it shall charge, collect, or receive from any person or persons a higher or greater amount of toll or compensation than it shall at the same time charge, collect, or receive from any other person or persons for receiving, handling, or delivering freight of the same class and like quantity at the same point upon its railroad ; or if it shall charge, collect, or receive from any person or persons for the transportation of any freight upon its railroad a higher or great- er rate of toll or compensation than it shall at the same time charge, collect, or receive from any other person or persons for the transportation of the like quantity of freight of the same class being transported from the same direction over equal distances of the same railroad ; or if it shall charge, collect, or receive from any person or per- sons for the use and transportation of any railroad car or cars upon its railroad for any distance the same or a greater amount of toll or compensation than is at the same time charged, collected, or received from any person or persons for the use and trans- portation of any railroad car of the same class or number, for a like purpose, being transported in the same direction over a greater distance of the same railroad; or if it shall charge, collect, or receive from any person or persons for the use and trans- portation of any railroad car or cars upon its railroad a higher or greater rate of toll or compensation than it shall at the same time charge, collect, or receive from any other person or persons for the use and transportation of any railroad car or cars of the same class or number, for a like pur})ose, being transported from the same point in the same direction over an equal distance of the same railroad ; all such dis- criminating rates, charges, collections, or receipts, whether made directly or by means of any reljate, drawback, or other shift or evasion, shall be deemed and taken against such railroad corporation as prima facie evidence of the unjust discriminations prohibited by the provisions of this act, and it shall not be deemed a sufficient ex- cuse or justification of such discriminations on the part of such railroad corporation, that the railway station or point at which it shall charge, collect, or receive the same strued so as to exclude other evidence tend- ing to show any unjust discrimination in freight and passenger rates. Tiic pro- visions of this section shall extend and ap- ply to any railroad, the branches thereof, and any road or roads wliich any railroad corporation has the riglit, license, or per- mission to use, operate, or control, wholly or in part, witlain the State: Provided, hoivever, That nothing herein c )ntained shall be so construed as to prevent railroad corporations from issuing commutation, excursion, or thousand mile tickets, as the same are now issued by such corporations. Sec. 4. Any such railroad corporation guilty of extortion, or of making any un- just discrimination as to passenger or freight rates, or the rates for the use and transportation of railroad cars, or in re- ceiving, handling, or delivering freights shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not less than one thousand dol- lars ($1,000) nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for the first offense; and for the second offense not less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) nor more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000;) and for the third offense not less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) nor more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000;) and for every subsequent offense and convic- tion thereof shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000:) Provided, That in all cases under this act either party shall have the right of trial by jury. 'Sec. 5. The fines hereinbefore provided for may be recovered in an action of debt in the name of the people of the State of Illinois, and there may be several counts joined in the same declaration as to extor- tion and unjust discrimination, and as to passenger and freight rates, and rates for Ihe use and transportation of railroad cars, and for receiving, handling, or delivering freights. If, upon the trial of any case instituted under this act, the jury shall find for the people, they shall assess and return with their verdict the amount of the fine to be imposed upon the defendant, at any sum not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) nor more than five thou- sand dollars ($5,000,) and the court_ shall render judgment accordingly; and if the jury shall find for the people, and that the defendant has been once before convicted of a violation of the provisions of this act, thev shall return such finding with their verdict, and shall assess and return with or les-; rates of toll or compensation for the I their verdict the amount of the fine to be transportation of such passenger or freight, imposed upon the defendant, at any suni or for the use and transportation of such not less than five thousand dollars (5!.),0()()) railroad car the greater distance than for the shorter distance, is a railway station or point at which there exists competition with any other railroad or means of trans- portation. This section shall not be Con- nor more than ten thousand dollars ($H» 000,) and the court shall render judgment accordingly; and if the jury shall find for the people, and that the defendant has been twice before convicted of a violation 220 AMERICAN POLITICS. of the provisions of this act, with respect to extortion or unjust discrimination, they shall return such finding with their ver- dict, and shall assess and return with their verdict the amount of the fine to be im- posed ujion the defendant, at any sum not less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) nor more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000;) and in like manner for every subsequent offense and conviction such de- fendant shall be liable to a fine of twenty- five thousand dollars ($25,000.) Provided,^ That in all cases under the provisions of this act a preiJonderance of evidence in favor of the people shall be sulficient to authorize a verdict and judgment for the people. Sec. 6. If any such railroad corporation shall, in violation of any of the provisions of this act, ask, demand, charge, or receive of any person or corporation, any extor- tionate charge or charges for the transpor- tation of any passengers, goods, mer- chandise, or property, or for receiving, handling, or delivering freights, or shall make any unjust discrimination against any person or corporation in its charges therefor, the person or corporation so of- fended against may for each ofiense re- cover of such railroad corporation, in any form of action, three times the amount of the damages sustained by the party ag- grieved, together with cost of suit and a reasonable attorney's iee, to be fixed by the court where the same is heard, on ap- peal or otherwise, and taxed as a part of the costs of the case. Sec. 7. It shall be the duty of the rail- road and warehouse commissioners to j^er- sonally investigate and ascertain whether the provisions of this act are violated by any railroad corporation in this State, and to visit the various stations upon the line of each railroad for that purpose, as often as practicable; and whenever the facts in any manner ascertained by said commis- sioners shall in their judgment warrant such prosecution, it shall be the duty of said commissioners to immediately cause suits to be commenced and prosecuted against any railroad corporation which may violate the provisions of this_ act. Such suits and prosecutions may be insti- tuted in any county in the State, through or into which the line of the railroad cor- poration sued for violating this act may extend. And such railroad and ware- house commissioners are hereby author- ized, when the facts of the case presented to them shall, in their judgment, warrant the commencement of such action, to em- j>loy counsel to assist the Attorney General in conducting such suit on behalf of the State. No such suits commenced by said commissioners shall be dismissed, except said railroad and warehouse commissioners and the Attorney General shall consent thereto. Sec. 8. The railroad and warehouse commissioners are hereby directed to make for each of the railroad corporations doing business in this State, as soon as practi- cable, a schedule of reasonable maximum rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freight and cars on each of said railroads ; and said schedule shall, in. all suits brought against any such railroad corporations, wherein is in any way in- volved the charges of any such railroad corporation for the transportation of any passenger or freight or cars, or unjust dis- crimination in relation thereto, be deemed and taken, in all courts of this State, as prima facie evidence that the rates therein fixed are reasonable maximum rates of charges for the transportation of passen- gers and freights and cars upon the rail- roads for which said schedules may have been respectively prepared. Said commis- sioners shall, from time to time, and as often as circumstances may require, change and revise said schedules. When such schedules shall have been made or revised as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of said commissioners to cause publication thereof to be made for three successive weeks, in some public new^spaper published in the city of Springfield in this state : " Frovided, That the schedules thus prepared shall not be taken as prima facie evidence as herein provided until schedules shall have been prepared and published as aforesaid lor all the railroad companies now organ- ized under the laws of this State, and until the fifteenth day of January, A. D. 1874, or until ten days after the meeting of the next session of this General Assembly, provided a session of the General Assembly shall be held previous to the fifteenth day of January aforesaid." All such schedules, purporting to be printed and published as aforesaid, shall be received and held, in all such suits, as prima facie the schedules of said commissioners, without lurtlier proof than the production of the paper in which they were published, together with the certificate of the publisher of paid paper that the schedule therein contained is a true copy of the schedule furnished for publication by said commissioners, and that it has been published the above speci- fied time ; and any such paper purporting to have been published at said city, and to be a public newspaper, shall be presumed to have been so published at the date thereof, and to be a public newspaper. Sec. 10. In all cases under the provi- sions of this act, the rules of evidence shall be the same as in other civil actions, ex- cept as hereinbefore otherwise provided. All fines recovered under the provisions of this act shall be paid into the county treasury of the county in which the suit is SUPPLEMENTARY CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 221 trie 1, by the person collecting the same, in the manner now provided hy law, to be used for county purposes. The remedies hereby given shall be regarded as cumula- tive to the remedies now given by law against railroad corporations, and this act shall not be construed as repealing any statute giving such remedies. Suits com- menced under the provisions of this act shall have precedence over all other busi- ness, except criminal business. Sec. 11. The term "railroad corpora- tion," contained in this act, shall be deemed and taken to mean all corpora- tions, companies, or individuals now own- ing or operating, or which may hereafter own or operate any railroad, in whole or in part, in this State ; and the provisions of this act shall apply to all persons, firms, an 1 companies, and to all associations of persons, whether incorporated or other- wise, that shall do business as common carriers upon any of the lines of railways in this State (street railways excepted) the same as to railroad corporations therein- before mentioned. Sec. 12. An act entitled " An act to pre- vent unjust discriminations and extortions in the rates to be charged by the different railroads in this State for the transporta- tion of freight on said roads," approved April 7, A."D. 1871, is hereby repealed, but such repeal shall not affect nor repeal any penalty incurred or right accrued under said act prior to the time this act takes effect, nor any proceedings or prose- cutions to enforce such rights or penalties. Approved May 2, 1873. S. M. CULLOM, Speaker House of Representatives. John Early, President of the Senate. John L. Beveridge, Governor, The same spirit, if not the same organi- zation, led to many petitions to Congress for the regulation of inter-state commerce and freight rates, and to some able reports on the subject. Those which have com- manded most attention were by Senator Windom of Minnesota and Representative Reagan of Texas, the latter being the au- thor of a bill which commanded much consideration from Congress in the sessions of 1878-'80, but Avhich has not yet secured favorable action. In lieu of such bill Senator Cameron, of Pennsylvania, intro- duced a joint resolution for the appoint- ment of a Commission to investigate and report upon the entire question. Final action has not yet been taken, and at this writing interest in the subject seems to have flagged. The disastrous political action attempted by the Grangers in Illinois and Wisconsin, led to such general condemnation that sub- sequent attempts were abandoned save in isolated cases, and as a rule the society has passed away. The j)rinciple upon wliich it was based was wholly unsound, and if strictly carried out, would destroy all home improvements and enterprise. I'arties and societies based upon a class, and directed or perverted toward political objects, are very happily short-lived in this Keimblic of ours. If they could thrive, the Re[)ub- lic could not long endure. Supplementary Civil Rights Bill. Senator Sumner's Supplementary Civil Rights Bill was passed by the second ses- sion of the 43d Congress,'though its great author had died the year before — March nth, 1874. The text of the Act is given in Book V. of this volume, on Existing Political Laws. Its validity was sustained by the U. S. District Courts in their in- structions to grand juries. The first con- viction under the Act was in Philadelphia, in February, 1876. Rev. Fields Cook, pastor of the Third Baptist colored church of Alexandria, Virginia, was refused sleep- ingand eating accommodations at the Bing- ham House, by Upton S. Newcomer, one of its clerks ; and upon the trial of the case, in the U. S. District Court, JoHX Cadwalader, Judge, instructed the jury as follows : The fourteenth amendment of the Con- stitution of the United States makes all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, citizens of the United States, and provides that no State shall make or en- force any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States ; nor shall any State * * * deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. This amendment expressly gives to Congress the power to enforce it by appropriate legislation. An act of Congress of March 1, 1875, enacts that all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theatres and other places of public amusement, subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law, and applicable alike to citizens of every race and color, and makes it a crimi- nal offense to violate these enactments by denying to any citizen, except for reasons by law applicable to citizens of every race and color, * * * the full enjoyment of any of the accommodations, advantages, facili- ties or privileges enumerated. As the law of Pennsylvania had stood until the 22d of March, 18G7, it was not wrongful for inn- keepers or carriers by land or water to dis- 222 AMERICAN POLITICS. criminate against travelers of the colored race to such an extent as to exclude them from any part of the inns or public con- veyances which was set apart for the ex- clusive accommodation of white travelers. The Legislature of Pennsylvania, by an act of 22d of March, 1867, altered the law in this respect as to passengers on railroads. But the law of the State was not changed as to inns by any act of the State Legisla- ture. Therefore, independently of the amendment of the Constitution of the United States and of the act of Congress now in question, the conduct of the de- fendant on the occasion in question might, perhaps, have been lawful. It is not ne- cessary to express an opinion upon this point, because the decision of the case de- pends upon the effect of this act of Con- gress. I am under opinion that under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitu- tion the enactment of this law was within the legislative power of Congress, and that we are bound to give eflect to the act of Congress according to its fair meaning. According to this meaning of the act I am of opinion that if this defendant, being in charge of the business of receiving travelers in this inn, and of providing necessary and proper accommodations for them in it, re- fused such accommodations to the witness Cook, then a traveler, by reason of his color, the defendant is guilty in manner and form as he stands indicted. If the case depended upon the unsupported tes- timony of this witness alone, there might be some reason to doubt whether this de- fendant was the person in charge of this part of the business. But under this head the additional testimony of Mr. Annan seems to be sufficient to remove all reason- able doubt. If the jury are convinced of the defendant's identity, they will con- sider whether any reasonable doubt of his conduct or motives in refusing the accom- modations to Fields Cook can exist. The case appears to the court to be proved ; but this question is for the jury, not for the court. If the jury have any reasonable doubt, they should find the defendant not guilty; otherwise they will find him guilty. The jury brought in a verdict of guilty, March 1, 1876, and the Court imposed a fine of $500. Tlie Morton Amendment. In the session of '73, Senator Morton, of Indiana, introduced an amendment to the Constitution providing for the general choice of Presidential Electors by Con- gressional districts, and delivered several speeches on the subject which attracted much attention at the time. Since then many amendments have been introduced on the subject, and it is a matter for an- nual discussion. We quote the Morton Amendment as the one most likely to com- mand favorable action : " Resolved by the Seriate and House ofRep- resenfatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of each House concurring therein :) That the fol- lowing article is hereby proposed as an imendment to the Constitution of the United States, and, when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the Constitution, to wit : " Article — . "I. The President and Vice-President shall be elected by the direct vote of the people in the manner following: Each State shall be divided into districts, equal in number to the number of Representa- tives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress, to be composed of con- tiguous territory, and to be as nearly equal in population as may be ; and the person having the highest number of votes in each district for President shall receive the vote of that district, which shall count one pres- idential vote. " II. The person having the highest number of votes for President in a State shall receive two presidential votes from the State at large. " III. The person having the highest number of presidential votes in the United States shall be President. " IV. If two persons have the same number of votes in any State, it being the highest number, they shall receive each one presidential vote from the State at large ; and if more than two persons shall have each the same number of votes in any State, it being the highest number, no presidential vote shall be counted from the State at large. If more persons than one shall have the same number of votes, it being the highest number in any district, no presidcntud vote shall be counted from that district. " V. The foregoing provisions shall ap- ply to the election of Vice-President. "VI. The Congress shall have power to provide for holding and conducting the elections of President and Vice-President, and to establish tribunals for the decision of such elections as may be contested." VII. The States shall be divided into districts by the legislatures thereof, but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter the same. The present mode of election is given in Book V. of this volume. Tlie Wlilslty Ring. During 1875 an extensive Whisky Ring, organized to control revenue legislation and avoidance of revenue taxes, was dis- THE WHITE LEAGUE, 223 covered in the West. It was an associa- tion of distillers in collusion with Federal officers, and for a time it succeeded in de- frauding the government of the tax on dis- tilled spirits. This form of corruption, after the declaration by President Grant — •'let no guilty man escape" — was traced by detectives to the portals of the White House, but even partisan rancor could not connect the President therewith. O. E. Babcock, however, was his private Secre- tary, and upon him was charged complicity with the fraud. He was tried and acquit- ted, but had to resign. Several Federal officers were convicted at St. Louis. Iinpeacliineiit of Belknap. Another form of corruption was dis- covered in 1876, when the House im- peached Wm. W. Belknap, the Secretary of War, on the charge of selling an Indian trading establishment. The first and main specification was, that — On or about the second day of Novem- ber, eighteen hundred and seventy, said William W. Belknap, while Secretary of War as aforesaid, did receive from Caleb P. Marsh fifteen hundred dollars, in con- sideration of his having appointed said John S. Evans to maintain a trading- establishment at Fort Sill aforesaid, and for continuing him therein. The following summary of the record shows the result, and that Belknap escaped punishment by a refusal of two-thirds to vote "guilty:" The examination of witnesses was be- gun, and continued on various days, till July 26, when the case was closed. August 1. — The Senate voted. On the first article, thirty-five voted guilty, and twenty-five not guilty. On the second, third " and fourth, Mr. Maxey made the thirty-sixth who voted guilty. On the fifth, Mr. Morton made the thirty-seventh who voted guilty. The vote on first was : Voting' Guilty — Messrs. Bayard, Booth, Cameron of Pennsylvania, Cockrell, Cooper, Davis, Dawes, Dennis, Edmunds, Gordon, Hamilton, Harvey, Hitchcock, Kelly, Kernan, Key, McCreery, McDonald, Merrimon, Mitchell, Morrill of Vermont, Norwood, Oglesby, Randolph, Ransom, Eobertson, Sargent, Saulshury, Sherman, Stevenson, Thurman, Wadleigh, Wallace, Whyte, Withers— ^b. Voting Not Guilty — Messrs. Allison, Anthony, Boutwell, Bruce, Cameron of Wisconsin, Christiancy, Conkling, Cono- ver, Cragin, Dorsey, Eaton, Ferry of Michi- gan, Frelinghuvsen, Hamlin, Howe, In- gills, Jones of Nevada, Logan, McMillan, Paddock, Patterson,- Spencer, West, Win- dom, Wright — 25. Mr. Jones of Florida declined to vote. Those " voting not guilty" generally de- nied jurisdiction, and so voted accordingly. Belknap had resigned and the claim was set up that he was a private citizen. The "White IiCa$;uc. By 1874 the Democrats of the Soutli, who then generally classed themselves as Conservatives, had gained control of all the State governments except those of Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina. In nearly all, the Rcjiublicaii govcnnncnts had called upon President Grant for mili- tary aid in maintaining their positions, but thisAvas declined except in the presence of such outbreak as the proper State authori- ties could not suppress. In Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas, Grant declined to interfere save to cause the Attorney General to give legal advice. The coudition of all these governments demanded constant attention from the Ex- ecutive, and his task was most diflicult and dangerous. The cry came from the Demo- cratic partisans in the South for home-rule ; another came from the negroes that they were constantly disfranchised, intimidated and assaulted by the White League, a body of men organized in the Gulf States for the i^urpose of breaking up the " carpet- bag governments." 'So conflicting were the stories, and so great the fear of a final and destructive war of races, that the Con- gressional elections in the North were for the first time since the war greatly in- fluenced. The Forty-fourth Congress, which met in December, 1875, had been changed by what was called " the tidal wave," from Republican to Democratic, and M. C. Kerr, of Indiana, was elected Speaker. The Senate remained Republican with a re- duced margin. The troubles in the South, and especially in Louisiana, had been in the year previous and Avere still of the gravest character. Gen'l Sheridan had been sent to New Or- leans and on the 10th of January, 1875, made a report which startled the country as to the doings of the White League. As it still remains a subject for frequent quo- tation Ave give its text : Sheridan's report. Neav Orleans, January 10, 1875. Hon. W. W. Belknap, Secretary of War : Since the year 1866, nearly thirty -five hundred persons, a great majority of whom were colored men, have been killed and Avounded in this State. In 1868 the official record shows that eighteen hundred and eighty-four Avere killed and Avounded. From 1868 to the present time, no official investigation has been nu\de, and the civil authorities in all but a fcAV cases have beeu AMERICAN POLITICS. unable to arrest, convict and punish per- petrators. Consequently, there are no cor- rect records to be consulted for informa- tion. There is ample evidence, however, to show that more than twelve hundred persons have been killed and wounded du- ring this time, on account of their political sentiments. Frightful massacres have oc- curred in the parishes of Bossier, Caddo, Catahoula, Saint Bernard, Saint Landry, Grant and Orleans. The general charac- ter of the massacres in the above named parishes is so well known that it is unneces- sary to describe them. The isolated cases can best be illustrated by the following in- stances which I have taken from a mass of evidence now lying before me of men killed on account of their political princi- ples. In Natchitoches Parish, the num- ber of isolated cases reported is thirty- three. In the parish of Bienville, the number of men killed is thirty. In Red River Parish the number of isolated cases of men killed is thirty-four. In Winn Par- ish the number of isolated cases where men were killed is fifteen. In Jackson Parish the number killed is twenty ; and in Cata- houla Parish the number of isolated cases reported where men were killed is fifty ; and most of the country parishes through- out the State will show a corresponding state of affairs. The following statement will illustrate the character and kind of these outrages. On the 29th of August, 1874, in Red River Parish, six State and parish oflicers, named Twitchell, Divers, Holland, Howell, Edgerton and Willis, were taken, together with four negroes, under guard, to be carried out of the State, and were deliberately mui'dered on the 30th of August, 1874. The White League tried, sentenced, and hung two negroes on the 28th of August, 1874. Three negroes were shot and killed at Brownsville, just before the arrival of the United States troops in the parish. Two White Leaguers rode up to a negro cabin and called for a drmk of water. When the old colored man turned to draw it, they shot him in the back and killed him. The courts were all broken up in this district, and the district judge driven out. In the parish of Caddo, ])rior to the arrival of the United States troops, all of the olficers at Shreveport were com- pelled to abdicate by the White League, which took possession of the place. Among those obliged to abdicate were Walsh, the mayor, Rapers, the sheriff, Wheaton, clerk of the court, Durant, the recorder, and Ferguson and Renfro, administrators. Two colored men, who had given evidence in regard to frauds committed in the parish, were compelled to flee for their lives and reached this city last night, having been smuggled through in a cargo of cotton. In the parish of Bossier the White League have attempted to force the abdication of Judge Baker, the United States Commis- sioner and parish judge, together with O'Neal, the sheriff, and Walker, the clerk of the court ; and they have compelled the parish and district courts to suspend 0[iera- tions. Judge Baker states that the White Leaguers notified him several times that if he became a candidate on the republican ticket, or if he attempted to organize the republican party, he should not live until election. They also tried to intimidate him through his family by making the same threats to his wife, and when told by him that he was a United States commissioner, they notified him not to attempt to exercise the functions of his office. In but few of the country parishes can it be truly said that the law is properly enforced, and in some of the par- ishes the judges have not been able to hold court for the past two years. Human life in this State is held so cheaply, that when men are killed on account of ])olitical opinions, the murderers are regarded rather as heroes than as criminals, in the locali- ties where they reside, and by the White League and their supporters. An illustra- tion of the ostracism that prevails in the State may be found in a resolution of a White League club in the parish of De Soto, which states, "That they pledge themselves under (no?) circumstances after the coming election to employ, rent land to, or in any other manner give aid, com- fort, or credit, to any man, white or bla( k, Avho votes against the nominees of the white man's party." Safety for individuals who express their opinion in the isolated portion of this State has existed only when that opinion was in favor of the principles and party supported by the Ku-Klux and White League organizations. Only yes- terday Judge Myers, the parish judge of the parish of Natchitoches, called on me upon his arrival in this city, and stated that in order to reach here alive, he was obliged to leave his home by stealth, and after nightfall, and make his" way to Little Rock, Arkansas, and come to this city by way of Memphis. He further states that while his father was lying at the point of death in the same village, he was unable to visit him for fear of assassination ; and yet he is a native of the parish, and pro- scribed for his political sentiments only. It is more than probable that if bad gov- ernment has existed in this State it is the result of the armed organizations, which have now crvstallized into what is called the White League ; instead of bad government developing" them, they have by their ter- rorism prevented to a considerable extent the collection of taxes, the holding of courts, the punishment of criminals, and vitiated public sentiment by familiarizing it with the scenes above described. 1 am now engaged in compiling evidence for a THE WHITE LEAGUE. 225 detailed report upon tlie above subject, but it will be some time before I can obtain all the requisite data to cover the cases that have occurred throughout the State. I will also report in due time upon the same subject in the States of Arkansas and Mis- sissippi. P. H. Sheridan, Lieutenant- General. President Grant said in a special mes- sage to Congress, January 13, 1875 : — " It has been bitterly and persistently alleged that Kellogg was not elected. Whether he was or not is not altogether certain, nor is it any more certain that his competitor, McEnery, was chosen. The election was a gigantic fraud, and there are no reliable returns of its result. Kellogg obtained possession of the office, and in my opinion has more right to it than his competitor. " On the 20th of February, 1873, the Committee on Privileges and Elections of the Senate made a report, in which they say they were satisfied by testimony that the manipulation of the election machinery by Warmoth and others was equivalent to twenty thousand votes ; and they add, to recognize the McEnery government ' would be recognizing a government based upon fraud, in defiance of the wishes and intention of the voters of the State.' As- suming the correctness of the statements in this report, (and they seem to have been generally accepted by the country,) the great crime in Louisiana, about which so much has been said, is, that one is holding the office of governor who was cheated out of twenty thousa'nd votes, against another whose title to the office is undoubtedly based on fraud, and in defiance of the wishes and intentions of the voters of the State. " Misinformed and misjudging as to the nature and extent of this report, the sup- porters of McEnery proceeded to displace by force in some counties of the State the appointees of Governor Kellogg; and on the 13th of April, in an efiijrt ot'^that kind, a butchery of citizens was committed at Colfax, which in blood-thirstiness and bar- barity is hardly surpassed by any acts of savage warfare. " To put this matter beyond controversy, I quote from the charge of Judge Woods, of the United States circuit court, to the jury in the case of the United States vs. Criiikshank and others, in New Orleans, in March, 1874. He said : " * In the case on trial there are many facts not in controversy. I proceed to state some of them in the presence and hearing of counsel on both sides ; and if I state as a conceded fact any matter that is disputed, they can correct me.' -- After stating the origin of the diffi- 15 culty, which grew out of an attempt of white persons to drive the parish judge and sheriff, appointees of Kellogg, from office, and their attempted protection by colored persons, which led to some fight- ing in which quite a number of negroes were killed, the judge states: " ' Most of those who were not killed were taken prisoners. Fifteen or sixteen of the blacks had lifted the boards and taken refuge under the fioor of the court- house. They were all captured. About thirty-seven men were taken j)risoners ; the number is not definitely fixed. They Avere kept under guard until dark. They were led out, two by two, and shot. Most of the men were shot to death. A few were wounded, not mortally, and by pre- tending to be clead were afterward, during the night, able to make their escape. Among them was the Levi Nelson named in the indictment. " ' The dead bodies of the negroes killed in this affair were left unburied until Tues- day, April 15, when they were buried by a deputy marshal and an officer of the militia from New Orleans. These persons found fifty-nine dead bodies. They show- ed pistol-shot wounds, the great majority in the head, and most of them in the back of the head. In addition to the fifty-nine dead bodies found, some charred remains of dead bodies were discovered near the court-house. Six dead bodies were found under a warehouse, all shot in the head but one or two, which were shot in the breast. '"The only white men injured from the beginning of these troubles to their close were Hadnot and Harris. The court- house and its contents were entirely con- sumed. " ' There is no evidence that any one in the crowd of whites bore any lawful war- rant for the arrest of any of the blacks. There is no evidence that either Nash or Cazabat, after the affiiir, ever demanded their offices, to which they had set up claim, but Eegister continued to act as parish judge, and Shaw as Sheriff. " ' These are facts in this case, as I under- stand them to be admitted.' " To hold the people of Louisiana gen- erally responsible for these atrocities would not be just ; but it is a lamentable fact that insuperable obstructions were thrown in the way of punishing these murderers, and the so-called conservative papers of the State not only justified the massacre, but denounced as Federal tyranny and despot- ism the attempt of the United S^tates offi- cers to bring them to justice. Fierce de- nunciations ring through the country about office-holding and election matters in Louisiana, while even,' one of the Colfax miscreants goes unwhipped of justice, and no way can'be found in this boasted land 226 AMERICAN POLITICS. of civilization and Christianity to punish the perpetrators of this blood/ and mon- strous crime. " Not unlike this was the massacre in August last. Several northern young men of capital and enterprise had started the little and flourishing town of Coushatta. Some of them were republicans and office- holders under Kellogg. They were there- fore doomed to death. Six of them were seized and carried away from their homes and murdered in cold blood. No one has been punished; and the conservative press of the State denounced all efforts to that end, and boldly justified the crime." The House on the 1st of March, 1875, by a strict party vote, 155 Rejiublicans to 86 Democrats, recognized the Kellogg gov- ernment. The Senate did the same on March 5th, by 33 to 23, also a party vote. Under the influence of the resoiution unanimously adopted by the House of Eepresentatives of the United States, recommending that the House of Repre- sentatives of that State seat the persons rightfully entitled thereto from certain districts, the whole subject was, by consent of parties, referred to the Special Commit- tee of the House who examined into Louisiana affairs, viz. : Messrs. George F. Hoar, William A. Wheeler, William P. Frye, Charles Foster, William Walter Phelps, Clarkson N. Potter and Samuel S. Marshall, who, after careful examination, made an award, which was adopted by the Legislature in April, 1875. It is popularly known as the " Wheeler Comjjromise." Text of tlie \i^l\eeler Compromise. Neav Orleans, March, 1875. Whereas, It is desirable to adjust the difficulties growing out of the general elec- tion in this State, in 1872, (he action of the Returning Board in declaring and pro- mulgating the results of the general elec- tion, in tiie month of November last, and the organization of the House of Repre- sentatives, on the 4th day of January last, such adjustment being deemed necessary to the re-establishment of peace and order in this State. Now, therefore, the undersigned mem- bers of the Conservative party, claiming to have been elected members of the House of Representatives, and that their certifi- cates of election have been illegally with- held by the Returning Board, hereby severally agree to submit their claims to seats in the House of Representatives to the award and arbitrament of George F. Hoar, William A. Wheeler, William P. Frye, Charles Foster, William Walter Phelps, Clarkson N. Potter, and Samuel S. Marshall, who are hereby authorized to examine and determine the same upon the equities of the several cases ; and when such awards shall be made, we hereby severally agree to abide by the same : And such of us as may become members of the House of Representatives, under this arrangement, hereby severally agree to sustain by our influence and votes the joint resolution herein set forth. [Here follow the signatures of the Demo- crats who claimed that their certificates of election as members of the House of Re- presentatives had been illegally withheld by the Returning Board.] And the undersigned claiming to have been elected Senators from the Eighth and Twenty-Second Senatorial Districts, hereby agree to submit their claims to the fore- going award and arbitrament, and in all respects to abide the results of the same. [Here follow the signatures of the Demo- crats, who made a like claim as to seats in the Senate.] And the undersigned, holding certifi- cates of election from the Returning Board, hereby severally agree that upon the com- ing in of the award of the foregoing arbi- trators they will, when the same shall have been ratified by the report of the Commit- tee on Elections and Qualifications of the body in session at the State House claim- ing to be the House of Representatives, attend the sitting of the said House for the purpose of adopting said report, and if said report shall be adopted, and the mem- bers embraced in the foregoing report shall be seated, then the undersigned seve- rally agree that immediately upon the adoption of said report they will vote for the following joint resolution : [Here follow the signatures of the Demo- cratic members of the House of Represen- tatives in relation to whose seats there was no controversy.] JOINT RESOLUTION. Resolved, by the General Assevibhj of the State of Louisiana, That said Assembly, without approving the same, will not dis- turb the present State Government claim- ing to have been elected in 1872, known as the Kellogg Government, or seek to im- peach the Governor for any past official acts, and that henceforth it will accord to said Governor all necessary and legitimate support in maintaining the laws and ad- vancing the peace and prosperity of the people of this State : and that the House of Representatives, as to its members, as constituted under the award of George F. Hoar, W. A. Wheeler, W. P. Frye, Charles Foster, Samuel S. Marshall, Clarkson N. Potter, and William Walter Phelps, shall remain Avithout change except by resignation or death of members until a new general election, and that the Senate, as now organized, shall also remain un- changed except so far as that body shall make changes on contests. TEXT OF THE WHEELER COMPROMISE. 227 TEXT OF THE AWARD. New York, March 13, 1875. The undersigned having been requested to examine the cUiims of the persons here- inafter named to seats in the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana, and having examined the re- turns and the evidence relating to such claims, are of opinion, and do hereby find, award and determine, that F. S. Goode is entitled to a seat in the Senate from the Twenty-second Senatorial District ; and that J.' B. Elam is not entitled to a seat in the Senate from the Eighth Senatorial District; and that the following named persons are entitled to seats in the House of Representatives from the following named parishes respectively: From the Parish of Assumption, R. R. Beaseley, E. F. X. Dugas ; from the Parish of Bien- ville, James Brice ; from the Parish of De Soto, J. S. Scales, Charles Schuler ; from the Parish of Jackson, E. Kidd ; from the Parish of Rapides, James Jeffries, R. C. Luckett, G. W. Stafford ; from the Parish of Terrebone, Edward McCoUum, W. H. Keyes ; from the Parish of Winn, George A. Kelley. And that the following named persons are not entitled to seats which they claim from the following named parishes respectively, but that the persons now holding seats from said parishes are entitled to retain the seats now held by them ; from the Parish of Avoyelles, J. O. Quinn ; from the Parish of Iberie, W. F. Schwing ; from the Parish of Caddo, A. D. Land, T. R. Vaughan, J. J. Horan. We are of opinion that no person is en- titled to a seat from the Parish of Grant. In regard to most of the cases, the undersigned are unanimous ; as to the others the decision is that of a majority. George F. Hoar, W. A. Wheeler, W. P. Frye, Charles Foster, Clarkson N. Potter, William Walter Phelps, Samuel S. Marshall. This adjustment and award were accept- ed and observed, until the election in No- vember, 1876, when a controversy arose as to the result, the Republicans claiming the election of Stephen B. Packard as Govern- or by about 3,500 majority, and a Republi- can "Legislature ; and the Democrats claim- ing the election of Francis T. Nicholls as Governor, by about 8,000 majority, and a Democratic Legislature. Committees of gentlemen visited New Orleans, by request of President Grant and of various politi- cal organizations, to witness the count of the votes by the Returning Board. And in December, 1876, on the meeting of Con- gress, committees of investigation were ap- pointed by the Senate and by the House of Representatives. Exciting events were now daily transpiring. On the 1st of Jan- uary, 1877, the Legislature organized in the State House without cxliil)itions of vio- lence. The Democrats did not unite in the proceedings, but met in a separate build- ing, and organized a separate Legislature. Telegraphic communication was had be- tween the State House and the Custom House, where was the oifice of Marshal Pitkin, who with the aid of the United States troops, was ready for any emergency. About noon the Democratic members, ac- companied by about 500 persons, called at the State House and demanded admission. The officer on duty replied that the mem- bers could enter, but the crowd could not. A formal demand was then made uj)on General Badger and other officials, by the spokesman, for the removal of the obstruc- tions, barricades, police, etc., which ]>re- ventedthe ingress of members, which being denied. Col. Bush, in behalf of the crowd, read a formal protest, and the Democrats- retired. Gov. Kellogg was presented by a committee with a copy of the protest, and' he replied, that as chief magistrate and conservator of the peace of the State, be- lieving that there was danger of the or- ganization of the General Assembly being violently interfered with, he had caused a police force to be stationed in the lower portion of the building ; that he had no motive but to preserve the peace ; that no member or attache of either house will be interfered with in any way, and that no United States troops "are stationed in the capitol building. Clerk Trezevant declined to call the House to order unless the police- men were removed. Upon the refusal to do so, he withdrew, when Louis Saner, a mem- ber, called the roll, and 68 members — a full House being 120 — answered to their names. Ex-Gov. Hahn was elected Speaker, re-, ceiving 53 votes as against 15 for Ex-Gov. Warmoth. The Senate was organized by Lieutenant- Governor Antoine with 19 present — a full Senate being 30 — eight of whom held over, and 11 were returned by the Board. Gov. Kellogg's message was presented to each House. The Democrats organized their Legisla- ture in St. Patrick's hall. The Senators were called to order by Senator Ogdcn. Nineteen Senators, including nine holding over, and four, who Avcre counted out by the board, were present. The Democratic members of the House were called to order by Clerk Trezevant, and 61 answered to their names. Louis Bush was elected Speaker. January 3d— Republican Legislature passed a Resolution asking for military pro- tection against apprehended Democratic violence, and it was telegraphed to the , President. 228 AMERICAN POLITICS. On Sunday, January 8th, Gov. Kellogg telegraphed to President Grant to the same effect. January 8 th — Stephen B. Packard took the oath of office as Governor, and C. C. Antoine as Lieutenant-Governor, at the State House at 1 : 30, in the presence of the Legislature. January 8 — Francis T. Nicholls and L. A. Wiltz to-day took the oath of office of Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, re- spectively, on the balcony of St. Patrick's hall. By the 11th of January both parties were waiting for the action of the authorities at Washington. Gov. Packard to-day com- missioned A. S. Badger Major-General of the State National Guard, and directed him to organize the first division at once. Two members of the Packard Legislature, Mr. Barrett, of Rapides, and Mr. Kennedy, of St. Charles, had withdrawn from that body and gone over to the Nicholls Legis- lature. Messrs. Breux, Barrett, Kennedy, Es- topival, Wheeler, and Hamlet, elected as Eepublican ■;, under the advice of Pinch- back — a defeated Republican candidate for IF. S. Senator, left the Packard or Repub- lican, and joined the Nicholls Legislature. On the 15th, Governor Packard, after receiving a copy of the telegram of the President to General Augur, issued a proclamation aimed at the " organized and armed combination and conspiracy of men now offering unlawful and violent resist- ance to the lawful authority of the State government." The Nicholls court issued an order to Sheriff Handy to provide the means for protecting the court from any violence or intrusion on the part of the adherents of " S. B. Packard, a wicked and shameless impostor." Governor Packard on the 16th, in a let- ter to Gen. Augur, acknowledges the re- ceipt of a communication from his aide- de-camp asking for assurances from him that the President's wishes concerning the preservation of the present status be re- spected, and says that the request would have been more appropriate if made im- mediately after his installation as Gov- ernor and before many of the main branches of the Government had been forcibly taken possession of by the oppo- sition. He savs : " I had scarcely taken the oath of office when the White League . were called to arm-^ ; the Court room and the records of the Supreme Court of the State were forcibly taken possession of, and various ])recinct police-stations were captured in like manner by overwhelm- ing forces. Orders had been issued by the Secretary of War early on that day that all unauthorized anned bodies should de- sist. A dispatch from yourself of the same date to the Secretary of War, conveyed the assurances that Nicholls had promised the disbandment of his armed forces. * * * * It was my understanding, that neither side should be permitted to inter- fere with the status of the other side. Yet the day after this order was received and the pledge given by Nicholls, a force of several hundred armed White Leaguers repaired to the State Arsenal and took there- from into their own keeping five pieces of artillery, and a garrison of armed men was placed in and around the Supreme Court building. That on the following day, Jan- uary 11, an armed company of the White League broke into and took possession of the office of the Recorder of Mortgages. * * * * In view of all these facts it seemed to me that to give the pledge ver- bally asked of me this morning would be to sanction revolution, and by acquies- cence give it the force of accomplished fact, and I therefore declined." Many telegrams followed between the Secretary of War, J. Don. Cameron, Gen'l Augur and Mr. Packard, the latter daily complaining of new " outrages by the White League," while the Nicholls gov- ernment professed to accord rights to all classes, and to obey the instructions from Washington, to faithfully maintain the status of affairs until decisive action should be taken by the National government. None was taken, President Grant being unwilling to outline a Southern policy for his successor in office. Election of Hayes and "Wheeler. The troubles in the South, and the al- most general overthrow of the " carpet bag government," impressed all with the fact that the Presidential election of 1876 would be exceedingly close and exciting, and the result confirmed this belief The Green- backers were the first to meet in National Convention, at Indianapolis, May 17th. Peter Cooper of New York was nominated for President, and Samuel F. Cary of Ohio, for Vice President. The Republican National Convention met at Cincinnati, June 14th, with James G. Blaine recognized as the leading candi- date. Grant had been named for a third term, and there was a belief that his name would be presented. Such was the feeling on this question that the House of Con- gress and a Republican State Convention m Pennsylvania, had passed resolutions declaring that a third term for President would be a violation of the " unwritten law " handed down through the examples of Washington, and Jackson. His name, however, was not then presented. The "unit rule " at this Convention was for the first time resisted, and by the friends of Blaine, THE ELECTORAL COUNT 229 with a view to release from instructions of State Conventions some of his friends. New York had instructed for Conkling, and Pennsylvania for Hartranft. In both of these states some delegates had been chosen by their respective Congressional districts, "in advance of any State action, and these elections were as a rule confirmed by the State bodies; Where they were not, there were contests, and the right of dis- trict representation was jeopardized if not destroyed by the reinforcement of the unit rule. It was therefore thought to be a question of much importance by the war- ring interests. Hon. Edw. McPherson was the temporary Chairman of the Conven- tion, and he took the earliest opportunity presented to decide against the binding force of the unit rule, and to assert the lib- erty of each delegate to vote as he pleased. The Convention sustained the decision on an appeal. Ballots of the Cincinnati Republican Convention, 1876 : Ballots Blaine, 12 3 4 5 6 7 285 296 292 293 287 308 351 Conkling, 113 114 121 126 114 111 21 Bristow, 99 93 90 84 82 81 Morton, 124 120 113 108 95 85 Hayes, 61 64 67 68 102 113 384 Hartranft, 58 63 68 71 69 50 Jewell, 11 Washb'ne, 113 3 4 Wheeler, 3 3 2 2 2 2 Gen. Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, was nominated for President, and Hon. Wm. A. Wheeler, of New York, for Vice President. The Democratic National Convention met at St. Louis, June 28th. Great interest was excited by the attitude of John Kel- ly, the Tammany leader of New York, who was present and opposed with great bitterness the nomination of Tilden. He afterwards bowed to the will of the major- ity and supported him. Both the unit and the two-thirds rule were observed in this body, as they have long been by the Dem- ocratic partv. On the second ballot, Hon. Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, had 535 votes to 203 for all others. His leading competitor was Hon. Thomas A. Hen- dricks, of Indiana, who wa« nominated for Vice President. The Electoral Count. The election followed Nov. 7th, 1876, Hayes and Wheeler carrying all of the Northern States except Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Indiana; Tilden and Hendricks carried all of the Southern States except South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana. The three last named States were claimed by the Democrats, but their members of the Congressional Investiga- ting Committee (piietcd rival claims as to Soutli Carolina by agreeing that it had fairly chosen the Republican cKctors. So close was the /esult that success or failure hinged upon the returns of Florida and Louisiana, and for days and weeks conflict- ing stories and claims came I'rom these States. The Democrats claimed that they had won on the face of the returns Irom Louisiana, and that there was no authority to go behind these. The Republicans pub- licly alleged frauds in nearly all of the Southern States ; that the colored vote had been violently suppressed in the Gulf States, but they did not formally dispute the face of the returns in any S'.ate save where the returning boards gave them the victory. This doubtful state of affairs in- duced a number of prominent politicians of both the great parties to visit the State capitals of South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana to witness the count. Some of these were appointed by President Grant ; others by the Democratic National Com- mittee, and both sets were at the time called the " visiting statesmen," a phrase on which the political changes were rung for months and years thereafter. The electoral votes of Florida were de- cided by the returning board to be Repub- lican by a majority of 926, — this after throwing out the votes of several districts where fraudulent returns were alleged to be apparent or shown by testimony. The Board was cited before the State Supreme Court, which ordered a count of the face of the returns ; a second meeting only led to a second Republican return, and the Republican electors were then declared to have been chosen by a majority of 206, though before this was done, the Electoral College of the State had met and cast their four votes for Hayes and Wheeler. Both parties agreed very closely in their counts, except as to Baker county, from which the Republicans claimed 41 majority, the Dem- ocrats 95 majority — the returning board ac- cepting the Republican claim. In Louisiana the Packard returning board was headed by J. Madison Wells, and this body refused "to permit the Demo- crats to be represented therein. It was in session three weeks, the excitement all the time being ;it fever heat, and finally niade the following average returns : Republican electors, 74,436; Democratic, 70,505; Re- publican majority, 3,931. McEnery, who claimed to be Governor, gave the Demo- cratic electors a certificate based on an average vote of 83,635 against 75,759, a Democratic majority of 7,876. In Oregon, the three Republican electors had an admitted majority of the popular vote, but on a claim that one of the number was a Federal otfice-holder and therefore ineligible, the Democratic Governor gave a certificate to two of the Republican elec- 230 AMERICAN' POLITICS. tors, and a Mr. Cronin, Democrat. The three Republican electors were certified by the Secretary of State, who was the can- vassing officer by law. This Oregon busi- ness led to grave suspicions against Mr. Tilden, who was thereafter freely charged by the Republicans with the use of his immense private fortune to control the re- sult, and thereafter, the New York Tribune, with unexampled enterprise, exposed and reprinted the " cipher dispatches " from Gramercy, which Mr. Pelton, the nephew and private secretary of Mr. Tilden, had sent to Democratic " visiting statesmen " in the four disputed sections. In 1878, the Potter Investigating Committee subse- quently confirmed the " cipher dispatches" but MV. Tilden denied any knowledge of them. The second session of the 44th Congress met on Dec. 5th, 1876, and while by that time all knew the dangers of the approach- ing electoral count, yet neither House would consent to the revision of the joint rule regulating the count. The Republi- cans claimed that the President of the Sen- ate had the sole authority to open and an- nounce the returns in the presence of the two Houses ; tlie Democrats plainly disputed this right, and claimed that the joint body could control the count under the law. Some Democrats went so far as to say that the House (which was Democratic, with Samuel J. Randall in the Speaker's chair) could for itself decide when the emergency had arrived in which it was to elect a President. There was grave danger, and it was as- serted that the Democrats, fearing the President of the Senate would exercise the power of declaring the result, were preparing first to forcibly and at least with secrecy swear in and inaugurate Tilden. Mr. Watterson, member of the House from Kentucky, boasted that he had completed arrangements to have 100,000 men at Washington on inauguration day, to see that Tilden was installed. President Grant and Secretary of War Cameron, thought the condition of affairs critical, and both made active though secret preparations to secure the safe if not the peaceful inaugu- ration of Hayes. Grant, in one of his sen- tentious utterances, said he " would have peace if he had to fight for it." To this end he sent for Gov" Hartranft of Penn- sylvania, to know if he could stop any at- tempted movement of New York troops to "Washington, as he had information that the purpose was to forcibly install Tilden. Gov. Hartranft replied that he could do it with the National Guard and the Grand Army of the Republic. He was told to return to Harrisburg and prepare for such an emergency. This he did, and as the Legislature was then in session, a Repub- lican caucus was called, and it resolved, without knowing exactly why, to sustain any action of the Governor with the re- sources of the State. Secretary Cameron also sent for Gen'l Sherman, and for a time went on with comprehensive prepa- rations, which if there had been need for completion, would certainly have put a speedy check upon the madness of any mob. There is a most interesting unwrit- ten history of events then transpiring which no one now living can fully relate without unjustifiable violations of political and personal confidences. But the danger was avoided by the patriotism of prominent members of Congress representing both of the great political parties. These gentle- men held several important and private conferences, and substantially agreed upon a result several days before the exciting struggle which followed the introduction of the Electoral Commission Act. The leaders on the part of the Republicans in these conferences were Conkling, Edmunds, Frelinghuysen ; on the part of the Demo- crats Bayard, Gordon, Randall and Hewitt, the latter a member of the House and Chairman of the National Democratic Committee. The Electoral Commission Act, the basis of agreement, was supported by Conkling in a speech of great power, and of all men engaged in this great work he was at the time most suspected by the Republicans, who feared that his admitted dislike to Hayes would cause him to favor a bill which would secure the return of Tilden, and as both of the gentlemen were New Yorkers, there was for several days grave fears of a combination between the two. The result showed the injustice done, and convinced theretofore doubting Republi- cans that Conkling, even as a partisan, was faithful and far-seeing. The Electoral Commission measure was a Democratic one, if we are to judge from the character of the votes cast for and against it. In the Senate the vote stood 47 for to 17 against. There were 21 Republicans for it and 16 against, while there were also 26 Demo- crats for it to only 1 (Eaton) against. In the House much the same proportion was maintained, the bill passing that body by 191 to 86. The following is the text of the ELECTOBAL COMMISSIOX ACT. An act to provide for and regulate the counting of votes for President and Vice- President, and the decision of questions arising thereon, for the term commencing March fourth. Anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-seven. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Reiiresentatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Senate and House of Representatives shall meet in the hall of the House of Represen- tatives, at tlie hour of one o'clock post THE ELECTORAL COUNT. 231 meridian, on the first Thursday in Febru- ary, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-seven ; the President of tlie Senate shall be their presiding officer. Two tellers shall be previously appointed on the part of the Senate, and two on the part of the House of Representatives, to whom shall be handed, as they are opened by the Pre- sident of the Senate, all the certificates, and papers purporting to be certificates, of the electoral votes, which certificates and papers shall be opened, presented and acted upon in the alphabetical order of the States, beginning with the letter A; and said tellers having then read the same in presence and hearing of the two Houses, shall make a list of the votes as they shall appear from the said certificates ; and the votes having been ascertained and counted as in this act provided, the result of the same shall be delivered to the President of the Senate, who shall thereupon announce the state of the vote, and the names of the persons, if any elected, which announce- ment shall be deemed a sufficient declara- tion of the persons elected President and Vice-President of the United States, and, together with a list of the votes, be entered on the journals of the Houses. Upon such reading of any such certificate or paper when there shall only be one return from a State, the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state cleasdy and concisely, and without argu- ment, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one Senator and one Member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received. When all objections so made to any vote or paper from a State shall have been re- ceived and read, the Senate shall there- upon withdraw, and such objections shall be submitted to the Senate for its decision ; and the Speaker of the House of Represen- tatives shall, in like manner, submit such objections to the House of Representatives for its decision ; and no electoral vote or votes from any State from which but one return has been received shall be rejected, except by the affirmative vote of the two Houses. When the two Houses have votes,' they shall immediately again meet and the presiding officer shall then an- nounce the decision of the question sub- mitted. Sec. 2. That if more than one return, or paper purporting to be a return from a State, shall have been received by the President of the Senate, purporting*^ to be the cer- tificate of electoral votes given at the last preceding election for President and Vice- President in such State (unless they shall be duplicates of the same return), all such returns and papers shall be opened by him in the presence of the two Houses when met , by reason of fraudulent returns made from other States and allowed to be counted provisionally by the Electoral Commission, and subject to judicial revision, and praying said court to make the revision contemplated by the act establishing said commission; and upon such revision to declare the returns from the States of Louisiana and Florida, which were counted for Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler, fraudulent and void, and that the legal electoral votes of said States were cast for Samuel J. Tilden as President, and Thomas A. Hendricks as Vice President, and that by virtue there- of and of 184 votes cast by other States, of which 8 were cast bv the State of Mary- land, the said Tilden and Hendricks were 234 AMERICAN POLITICS. duly elected, and praying said Court to decree accordingly. \ It was this resolution which induced the Clarkson N. Potter resolution of investi- gation, a resolution the passage of which was resisted by the Republicans through filibustering for many days, but was finally passed by 146 Democratic votes to 2 Demo- cratic votes (Mills and Morse) against, the Republicans not voting. Tile Ciplier Despatclies. An amendment offered to the Potter resolution but not accepted, and defeated by the Democratic majority, cited some fair specimens of the cipher disjiatches exposed by the New York Tribune. These are matters of historical interest, and con- vey information as to the methods which politicians will resort to in desperate emer- gencies. We therefore quote the more per- tinent portions. Resolved, That the select committee to whom this House has committed the in- vestigation of certain matters affecting, as is alleged, the legal title of the President of the United States to the high oftice which he now holds, be and is hereby in- structed in the course of its investigations to fully inquire into all the facts connected with the election in the State of Florida in November, 1876, and especially into the circumstances attending the transmission and receiving of certain telegraphic dis- patches sent in said year between Tallahas- see in said State and New York City, viz. : " Tallahassee, November 9, 1876, " A. S. Hewitt, New York : " Comply if possible with my telegram. "Geo, P, Raeey." Also the following : "Tallahassee, December 1, 1876. " W. T. Pelton, New York : "Answer Mac's dispatch immediately, or we will be embarrasssed at a critical time. WiLKiNso^sr Call." Also the following : " Tallahassee, Dece7nber 4, 1876. " W. T. Pelton : "Things culminating here. Answer Mac's despatch to-day. W. Call." And also the facts connected with all telegraphic dispatches between one John F. Coyle and said Pelton, under the lat- ter's real or fictitious name, and with any and all demands for money on or about December 1, 1876, from said Tallahassee, on said Pelton, or said Hewitt, or with any attempt to corrupt or bribe any official of the said State of Florida by any person acting for said Pelton, or in the interest of Samuel J, Tilden as a presidential candi- date. Also to investigate the charges of in- timidation at Lake City, in Columbia county, where Joel Niblack and other white men put ropes around the necks of colored men and proposed to hang them, but released them on their promise to join a Democratic club and vote for Samuel J. Tilden. Also the facts of the election in Jackson county, where the ballot-boxes were kept out of the sight of voters, who voted through openings or holes six feet above the ground, and where many more Republican votes were thus given into the hands of the De- mocratic inspectors than were counted or returned by them. Also the facts of the election in Waldo precinct,, in Alachua county, where the passengers on an emigrant-train, passing through on the day of election, were al- lowed to vote. Also the facts of the election in Manatee county, returning 235 majority for the Tilden electors, where there were no county officers, no registration, no notice of the election, and where the Republican party, therefore, did not vote. Also the facts of the election in the third precinct of Key West, giving 342 Demo- cratic majority where the Democratic in- spector carried the ballot-box home, and pretended to count the ballots on the next day, outside of the precinct and contrary to law. Also the facts of the election in Hamil- ton, where the election-officers exercised lio control over the ballot-box, but left it in unauthorized hands, that it might be tampered with. Also the reasons why the Attorney- General of the State, Wm. Archer Cocke, as a member of the Canvassing Board, ofii- cially advised the board, and himself voted, to exclude the Hamilton county and Key West precinct returns, thereby giving, in any event, over 500 majority to the Re- publican electoral ticket, and afterwards protested against the result which he had voted for, and whether or not said Cocke was afterward rewarded for such protest by being made a State Judge. OREGON, And that said committee is further in- structed and directed to investigate into all the facts connected with an alleged at- tempt to secure one electoral vote in the State of Oregon for Samuel J, Tilden for President of the United States, and Thom- as A. Hendricks for Vice-President, by un- lawfully setting up the election of E. A. Cronin as one of such presidential electors elected from the State of Oregon on the 7th of November, the candidates for the THE CIPHER DESPATCHES. 235 presidential electors on the two tickets be- ing as follows : On the Republican ticket : W. C. Odell, J. C. Cartwright, and John W. Watts. On the Democratic ticket : E. A. Cronin, W. A. Laswell, and Henry Klippel. The votes received by each candidate, as shown by the official vote as canvassed, declared, "and certified to by the Secretary of State under the seal of the State, — the Secretary being under the laws of Oregon sole can'vassing-officer, as will be shown hereafter, — being as follows : W. K. Odell received 15,206 votes John C. Cartwright received.... 15,214 " John W. Watts received 15,206 " E. A. Cronin received 14,157 " W. A. Laswell receiyed 14,149 " Henry Klippel received 14,136 " And by the unlawful attempt to bribe one of said legally elected electors to recognize said Cronin as an elector for President and Vice-President, in order that one of the electoral votes of said State might be cast for said Samuel J. Tilden as President and for Thomas A. Hendricks as Vice-Presi- dent ; and especially to examine and inquire into all the tiicts relating to the sending of money from New York to some place in said Oregon for the purposes of such bribery, the parties sending and receiving the same, and their relations to and agency for said Tilden, and more particu- larly to investigate into all the circum- stances attending the transmission of the following telegraphic despatches : "Portland, Oregon, Kov. 14, 1876. " Gov. L. F, Grovee, : " Come down to-morrow if possible. "W. H. Effinger, " A. NOLTNER, " C. p. Bellinger." " Portland, November 16, 1876. " To Gov. Grover, Salem ; " We want to see you particularly on account of despatches from the East. " William Strong, S. H. Reed, "C.P.Bellinger, W.W.Thayer, " C. E. Bronaugh." Also the following cipher despatch sent from Portland, Oregon, on the 28th day of November, 1876, to New York City : " Portland, November 28, 1876. " To W. T. Pelton, No. 15 Gramercy Park, New York : " By vizier association innocuous negli- gence cunning minutely previously read- mit doltish to purchase afar act with cunning atiir sacristy unweighed afar pointer tigress cattle superannuated sylla- bus dilatoriness misapprehension contra- band Kouutz bisulcuous top usher spinifer- 0U8 answer. J. H. N. Patrick, " I fully endorse this. " James K. Kelly." Of which, when the key was discovered, the following was found t© bt; the true in- tent and meaning: "Portland, NovemJicr 28, 1876. " To W. T. Pelton, No. 15 Gramercy J'ark, New York: " Certificate will be issued to one Demo- crat. Must purchase a Republican elector to recognize and act with Democrats and secure the vote and prevent trouble. De- posit $10,000 to my credit with Kountz Brothers, Wall Street. Answer. J. H. N. Patrick. " I fully endoree this. " James K. Kelly." Also the following : " New York, November 25, 1876. " A. Bush, Salem : "Use all means to prevent certificate. Very important. C. E. Tilton." Also the following : "December 1, 1876. " To Hon. Sam. J. Tilden, No. 15 Gra- mercy Park, New York : " I shall decide every point in the case of post-office elector in favor of the highest Democratic elector, and grant certificate accordingly on morning of 6th instant. Confidential. Governor." Also the following : " San Francisco, December 5. " Ladd & Bush, Salem : " Funds from New York will be de- posited to your credit here to-morrow when bank opens. I know it. Act accordingly. Answer. W. C. Griswold." Also the following, six days before the foregoing : " New York, November 29, 1876. " To J. H. N. Patrick, Portland, Oregon : " Moral hasty sideral vizier gabble cramp by hemistic welcome licentiate muskeete compassion neglectful recoverable hathouse live innovator brackish association dime afar idolater session hemistic mitre." [No signature.] Of which the interpretation is as follows: " New York, November 29, 1876. " To J. H. N. Patrick, Portland, Oregon : " No. How soon will Governor decide certificate ? If you njake obligation con- tingent on the result in March, it can be done, and slightly if necessary." [No signature.] Also the following, one day later : 236 AMERICAN POLITICS. " Portland, November 30, 1876. " To W. T. Pelton, No. 15 Gramercy Park, New York : "Governor all right without reward. Will issue certificate Tuesday. This is a secret. Republicans threaten if certificate issued to ignore Democratic claims and fill vacancy, and thus defeat action of Gover- nor. One elector must be paid to recog- nize Democrat to secure majority. Have employed three lawyers, editor of only Re- publican paper as one lawyer, fee $3,000. Will take $5,000 for Republican elector ; must raise money ; can't make fee contin- gent. Sail Saturday. Kelly and Bellin- ger will act. Communicate with them. Must act promptly." [No signature]. Also the following : " San Francisco, December 5, 1876. " To KouNTZE Bros., No. 12 Wall St., New York : " Has my account credit by any funds lately ? How much ? " J. H. N. Patrick." Also the following : " New York, December 6. " J. H. N. Patrick, San Francisco : " Davis deposited eight thousand dollars December first. Kountze Bros." Also the following : " San Francisco, December 6. " To James K. Kelly : "The eight deposited as directed this morning. Let no technicality prevent winning. Use your discretion." [No signature.] And the following: "New York, December 6. "Hon. Jas. K. Kelly: "Is your matter certain? There must be no mistake. All depends on you. Place no reliance on any favorable report from three southward, Sonetter. Answer quick." [No signature.] Also the following: "December 6, 1876. "To Col. W. T. Pelton, 15 Gramercy Parle, N. Y.: "Glory to God I Hold on to the one vote in Oregon! I have one hundred thousand men to back it up ! " Corse." And said committee is further directed to inquire into and bring to light, so far as it may be possible, the entire correspondence and conspiracy referred to in the above telegraphic despatches, and to ascertain what were the relations existing between any of the parties sending or receiving said despatches and W. T. Pelton, of New York, and also what relations existed between said W. T. Pelton and Samuel J. Tilden, of New York. April 15, 1878, Mr. Kimmel introduced a bill, which was never finally acted upon, to provide a mode for trying and deter- mining by the Supreme Court of the United States the title of the President and Vice- President of the United States to take their respective ofiices when their election to such offices is denied by one or more of the States of the Union. The question of the title of President was finally settled June 14, 1878, by the following report of the House Judiciary Commitee : Report of the Judiciary Committee. June 14 — Mr. Hartridge, from the Committee on the Judiciary, made the fol- lowing report : The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom were referred the bill (H. R. No. 4315) and the resolutions of the Legisla- ture of the State of Maryland directing judicial proceedings to give effect to the electoral vote of that State in the last elec- tion of President and Vice-President of the United States, report back said bill and resolutions with a recommendation that the bill do not pass. Your committee are of the opinion that Congress has no power, under the Consti- tution, to confer upon the Supreme Court of the United States the .original juris- diction sought for it by this bill. The only clause of the Constitution which could be plausibly invoked to enable Con- gress to provide the legal machinery for the litigation proposed, is that which gives the Supreme "Court original jurisdiction in " cases " or " controversies " between a State and the citizens of another State. The committee are of the opinion that this expression " cases " and " controversies " was not intended by the framers of the Constitution to embrace an original pro- ceeding by a State in the Supreme Court of the United States to oust any incum- bent from a political office filled by the de- claration and decision of the two Houses of Congress clothed with the constitutional power to count the electoral votes and de- cide as a final tribunal upon the election for President and Vice-President. The Forty-fourth Congress selected a commis- sion to count the votes for President and Vice-President, reserving to itself the riguc to ratify or reject such count, in the way prescribed in the act creating such com- mission. By the joint action of the two Houses it ratified the count made by the commission, and thus made it the expres- sion of its own judgment. All the Departments of the Federal THE HAYES ADMINISTRATION, 237 Government, all the State governments in their relations to Federal authority, for- eign nations, the people of the tjnited States, all the material interests and indus- tries of the country, have acquiesced in, and acted in accordance with, the pro- nounced finding of that Congress. In the opinion of this committee, the present Congress has no power to undo the work of its predecessor in counting the electoral vote, or to confer upon any judicial tri- bunal the right to pass upon and perhaps set a,side the action of that predecessor in reference to a purely political question, the decision of which is confided by the Con- stitution in Congress. But apart from these fundamental ob- jections to the bill under consideration, there are features and provisions in it which are entirely impracticable. Your committee can find no warrant of authority to summon the chief-justices of the supreme courts of the several States to sit at Washington as a jury to try any case, however grave and weighty may be its nature. The right to summon must carry with it the power to enforce obedience to the mandate, and the Committee can see no means by which the judicial officers of a State can be compelled to assume the fiinctions of jurors in the Supreme Court of the United States. There are other objections to the prac- tical working of the bill under considera- tion, to which we do not think it necessary to refer. It may be true that the State of Mary- land has been, in the late election for President and Vice-President, dej^rived of her just and full weight in deciding who were legally chosen, by reason of frauds perpetrated by returning boards in some of the States. It may also be true that these fraudulent acts were countenanced or encouraged or participated in by some who now enjoy high offices as the fruit of such frauds. It is due to the present gen- eration of the people of this country and their posterity, and to the principles on which our Government is founded, that all evidence tending to establish the fact of such fraudulent practices shouhl be calmly, carefully, and rigorously examined. But your committee are of the opinion that the consequence of such examination, if it disclose? guilt upon the part of any in high official position, should not be an ef- fort to set aside the judgment of a former Congress as to the election of a President and Vice-President, but should be confined to the punishment, by legal and constitu- tional means, of the offenders, and to the preservation and perpetuation of the evi- dences of their guilt, so that the American people may be protected from a recurrence of the crime. Your committee, therefore, recommend the adoption of the accompanying resolu- tion : Resolved, That the two Houses of the Forty-fourth Congress having counted the votes cast for President and Vice-Presi- dent of the United States, and having de- clared Rutherford B. Hayes to be elected President, and William A. Wheeler to be elected Vice-President, tliere is no power in any subsequent Congress to reverse that declaration, nor can any such power be exercised by the courts of the United States, or any other tribunal that Congress can create under the Constitution. We agree to the foregoing report so far as it states the reasons for the resolution adopted by the committee, but dissent IVum the concluding portion, as not Imviii':- in- ference to such reasons, as not pot incut to the inquiry before us, and as giving an implied sanction to the propriety of the pending investigation ordered by a ma- jority vote of the Houseof Representatives, to which we were and are opposed. Wm. p. Frye. O. D. Conger. E. G. LAPHAMi Leave was given to Mr. Knott to pre- sent his individual views, also to Mr. But- ler (the full committee consisting of Messrs. Knotty Lynde, Harris, of Virginia, Hartridge, Stenger, McMuhon, Culberson, Frye, Butler, Conger, Lapham.) The question being on the resolution re- ported by the committee, it was agreed to — yeas 235, nays 14, not voting 42. The Hayes Administration. It can be truthfully said that from the very beginning the administration of Pre- sident Haves had not the cordial support of the Republican party, nor was it solidly opposed by the Democrats, as was the last administration of General Grant. His early withdrawal of the troops from the Southern States,— and it was this with- drawal and the suggestion of it from the " visiting statesmen " which overthrew the Packard government in Louisiana, — em- bittered the hostility of many radical Re- publicans. Senator Conkling was conspi- cuous in his opposition, as was Logan of Illinois; and when he reached Washing- ton, the younger Senator Cameron, of Pennsylvania. It was during this admi- nistration, and because of its conservative tendencies, that these three leaders formed the purpose to bring Grant again to the Presidency. Yet the Hayes' administra- tion was not always conservative, and many Republicans believed that its mode- ration had afforded a much needed breath- ing spell to the country. Toward its close alF became better satisfied, the radical por- 238 AMERICAN POLITICS. tion by the President's later efforts to pre- vent the intimidation of negro voters in the South, a form of intimidation which was now accomplished by means of rifle clubs, still another advance from the White League and the Ku Klux. He made this a leading feature in his annual message to the Congress which began December 2d, 1878, and by a virtual abandonment of his earlier policy he succeeded in reuniting what were then fast separating wings of his own party. The conference report on the Legislative Appropriation Bill Avas adopted by both Houses June 18th, and approved the 21st. The Judicial Expenses Bill was vetoed by the President June 23d, on the ground that it would deprive him of the means of executing the election laws. An attempt on the part of the Democrats to pass the Bill over the veto failed for want of a two-thirds vote, the Republicans voting solidly against it. June 2(3th the veltoed bill was divided, the second division still forbidding the pay of deputy marshals at elections. This was again vetoed, and the President sent a special message urging the necessity of an appropriation to pay United States marshals. Bills were accord- ingly introduced, but were defeated. This failure to appropriate moneys called for continued until the end of the session. The President was compelled, therefore, to call an extra session, which he did March 19th, 1879, in words which briefly explain the cause :— THE EXTRA SESSIOX OF 1879. "The failure of the last Congress to make the requisite appropriation for legis- lative and judicial purposes, for the ex- penses of the several executive departments of the Government, and for the support of the Army, has made it necessary to call a special' session of the Forty-sixth Con- gress. "The estimates of the appropriations needed, which were sent to Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury at the opening of the last session, are renewed, and are herewith transmitted to both the Senate and the House of Representatives. " Regretting the existence of the emer- gency which requires a special session of Congress at a time when it is the general judgment of the country that the public welfare Avill be best promoted by perma- nency in our legislation, and by peace and rest, I commend these few necessary mea- sures to your considerate attention." By this time both Houses were Demo- cratic. In the Senate there were 42 De- mocrats. 33 Republicans and 1 Independent (David Davis). In the Hou-^e 149 Demo- crats, 130 Republicans, and 14 Nationals — a name then assumed by the Greenbackers and Labor-Reformers. ' The House passed the Warner Silver Bill, providing for the Appropr " I \u unlimited coinage of silver, the Senate Fi- nance Committee refused to report it, the Chairman, Senator Bayard, having refused to report it, and even after a request to do so from the Democratic caucus, — a course of action which heralded him evory where as a "hard-money" Democrat. The main business of the extra session was devoted to the consideration of the Appropriation Bills which the regular ses- sion had failed to pass. On all of these the Democrats added "riders" for the purpose of destroying Federal supervision of the elections, and all of these political riders were vetoed by President Hayes. The discussions of the several measures and the vetoes were highly exciting, and this excitement cemented afresh the Re- publicans, and caused all of them to act in accord with the administration. The De- mocrats Avere equally solid, while the Na- tionals divided — Forsythe, Gillette, Kelley, Weaver, and Yocum generally voting with the Republicans; De La Matyr, Steven- son, Ladd and Wright with the Demo- crats. President Hayes, in his veto of the Army riation Bill, said : lave maturely considered the im- portant questions presented by the bill en- titled 'An Act making appropriations for the support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, and for other pur- poses,' and I now return it to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, with my objections to its approval. "The bill provides, in the usual form, for the appropriations required for the support of the Army during the next fiscal year. If it contained no other provisions, it would receive my prompt approval. It includes, however, further legislation, which, at- tached as it is to appropriations which are requisite for the efficient performance of some of the most necessary duties of the Government, involves questions of the gravest character. The sixth section of the bill is amendatory of the statute now in force in regard to the authority of persons in the civil, military and naval service of the United States ' at the place where any general or special election is held in any State.' This statute was adopted February 25, 1865, after a protracted debate in the Senate, and almost without opposition in the House of Representatives, by the con- current votes of both of the leading political parties of the country, and became a law by the approval of President Lincoln. It was re-enacted in 1874 in the Revised Sta- tutes of the United States, sections 2002 and 5528. * * -^^ -x- * * * " Upon the assembling of this Congress, in pursuance of a call for an extra session, which was made necessary by the failure of the Forty-fifth Congress to make the THE HAYES ADMINISTRATION. 239 needful appropriations for the support of the Government, the question was presented whether the attempt made in the last Con- gress to engraft, by construction, a new principle upon the Constitution should be persisted in or not. This Congress has ample opportunity and time to pass the appropriation bills, and also to enact any political measures which may be deter- mined upon in separate bills by the usual they pleased, and lawfully elected Abra " The last act of Democratic domination in this Capitol, eighteen years ago, was striking and dramatic, perhaps heroic. Tiien the Democratic party said to the Re- publicans, ' If you elect the man of your choice as President of the United States we Avill shoot your Government to death ; ' and the people of this country, refusing to be coerced by threats or violence, voted as and orderly methods of proceeding. But the majority of both Houses have deemed it wise to adhere to the principles asserted and maintained in the last Congress by the majority of the House of Representatives. That principle is that the House of Repre- sentatives has the sole right to originate bills for raising revenue, and therefore ha President of the United -li holding a ham Lincoln States. "Then your leaders, th majority in the other branch of ConLTcss, were heroic enough to withdraw ironi their seats and fling down the gage of mortal battle. We called it rebellion ; but we recognized it as courageous and manlv to the right to withhold appropriations upon I avow your purpose, take all the risks/and which the existence of the Government may } fight it out on the open field. Notwith- ,1 1 .,.,1.,., xK_ o__,x .1 .K . T-.„^ _• gtaujiing your utmost efforts to destroy it, the Government was saved. Year by year since the war ended, those who resisted" vou have come to believe that yon have finidly depend, unless the Senate and the Pres dent shall give their assent to any legisla- tion which the House may see fit to attach to _ appropriation bills. To establish this principle is to make a radical, dangerous, renounced your jjurposeto'destnjy, and are and unconstitutional change in the charac ter of our institutions. The various De partments of the Government, and the Army and Navy, are established by the Constitution, or by laws passed in pursuance thereof. Their duties are clearly defined, and tlieir support is carefully provided for by law. The money required for this pur- pose has been collected from the people, and is now in the Treasury, ready to be paid out as soon as the appropriation bills are passed. Whether appropriations are made or not, the collection of the taxes will go on. The public money will accu- mulate in the Treasury. It was not the in- tention of the framers of the Constitution that any single branch of the Government should have the power to dictate conditions upon which this treasure should be applied to the purpose for which it was collected. Any such intention, if it had been enter- tained, would have been plainly expressed in the Constitution." The vote in the House on this Bill, not- withstanding the veto, was 148 for to 122 against — a party vote, save the division of the Nationals, previously given. Not re- ceiving a two-thirds vote, the Bill fiiiled. The other appropriation bills with po- litical riders shared the same fate, as did the bill to prohibit military interference at elections, the modification of the law touch- ing supervisors and marshals at congres- sional elections, etc. The debates on these measures were bitterly partisan in their character, as a few quotations from the Congressional Record will show : The Republican view was succinctly and very eloquently stated by General Garfield, when, in his speech of the 29th of March, 1879, he said to the revolutionary Demo- cratic House : willing to maintain the Government. In that belief you have been permitted to re- turn to power in the two Houses. " To-day, after eighteen years of defeat, the book of your domination is again opened, and your first act awakens every unhappy memory and threatens to destroy the confidence which your professions of patriotism inspired. You turned down a leaf of the history that recorded your last act of power in 1861, and you have now signal- ized your return to power by beginning a second chapter at the same page ; not this time by a heroic act that declares war on the battle-field, but you say if all the legis- lative powers of the Government do not consent to let you tear certain laws out of the statute-book, you will not shoot our Government to death as you tried to do in the first chapter ; but you declare that if we do not consent against our will, if you cannot coerce an independent branch of this Government against its will, to allow you to tear from the statute-books some laws put there by the will of the people, you will starve the Government to death. [Great applause on the Republican side.] " Between death on the field and death by starvation, I do not know that the American people will see any great differ- ence. The end, if successfully reached, would be death in either case. Gentlemen, you have it in your power to kill this Gov- ernment ; you have it in your power, by withholding these two bills, to smite the' nerve-centres of our Constitution with the paralysis of death ; and you have declared your purpose to do this, if you cannot break down that fundamental element of free consent which up to this hour has always ruled in the legislation of this Govern- ment." 240 AMERICAN POLITICS. The Democratic view was ably given by Eepresentative Tucker of Virginia, April 3, 1879 : " I tell you, gentlemen of the House of Representatives, the Army dies on the ?A>fh day of June, unless we resuscitate it by legislation. And what is the question here on this bill ? Will you resuscitate the Army after the 30th of June, with the power to use it as keepers of the polls ? That is the question. It is not a question of repeal. It is a question of re-enact- ment. If you do not appropriate this money, there will be no Army after the 30th of June to be used at the polls. The only way to secure an Army at the polls is to appropriate the money. Will you ap- propriate the money for the Army in order that they may be used at the jwlls ? We say no, a thousand times no. * * * The gentlemen on the other side say there must be no coercion. Of whom ? Of the Presi- dent ? But what right has the President to coerce us ? There may be coercion one way or the other. He demands an uncon- ditional supply. We say we will give him no supply but upon conditions. * * * When, therefore, vicious laws have fas- tened themselves upon the statute-book which imperil the liberty of the people, this House is bound to say it will appro- priate no money to give effect to such laws until and except upon condition that they are repealed. [Applause on the Demo- cratic side.] * * We will give him the Army on a single condition that it shall never be used or be present at the polls when an election is held for members of this House, or in any presidential election, or in any vState or municipal election. * * * Clothed thus with unquestioned power, bound by clear duty, to expunge these vi- cious laws from the statute-book, following a constitutional method sanctioned by venerable precedents in English history, we feel that we have the undoubted right, and are beyond cavil in the right, in de- claring that with our grant of supply there must be a cessation of these grievances, and we make these appropriations condi- tioned on securing a free ballot and fair juries for our citizens." The Senate, July 1, passed the House bill placing quinine on the free list. The extra session finally passed the Ap- propriation bills without riders, and ad- journed July 1st, 1879, with the Republi- can party far more firmly united than at the beginning of the Hayes administra- tion. The attempt on the part of the Demo- crats to pass these political riders, and their threat, in the words of Garfield, who had then succeeded Stevens and Blaine as the Republican Commoner of the House, re- awakened all the partisan animosities which the administration of President Hayes had up to that time allayed. Even the' President caught its spirit, and plainly manifested it in his veto messages. It was a losing battle to the Democrats, for they had, with the view not to "starve the gov- ernment," to abandon their position, and the temporary demoralization which fol- lowed bridged over the questions pertain- ing to the title of President Hayes, over- shadowed the claims of Tilden, and caused the North to again look with grave con- cern on the establishment of Democratic power. If it had not been for this extra session, it is asserted and believed by many, the Republicans could not have so soon gained control of the lower House, which they did in the year following ; and that the jilan to nominate General Han- cock for the Presidency, which originated with Senator Wallace of Pennsylvania, could not have otherwise succeeded if Til- den's cause had not been kept before his party, unclouded by an extra session Avhich was freighted with disaster to the Demo- cratic party. The Negro E^xodus. During this summer political comment, long after adjournment, was kept active by a great negro exodus from the South to the Northwest, most of the emigrants going to Kansas. The Republicans ascrilxd this to ill treatment, the Democrats to the opera- tions of railroad agents. The people of Kansas welcomed them, but other States, save Indiana, were slow in their manifes- tations of hospitality, and the exodus soon ceased for a tim'e. It was renewed in South Carolina in the winter of 1881-82, the de- sign being to remove to Arkansas, but at this writing it attracts comparatively little notice. The Southern journals generally advise more liberal treatment of the blacks in matters of education, labor contracts, etc., while none of the Northern or West- ern States any longer make efforts to get the benefit of their labor, if indeed they ever did. Closing HoiiTs of tlie Ilnyes Administra- tion. At the regular session of Congress, which met December 1st, 1879, President Hayes advised Congress against any further legis- lation in reference to coinage, and favored the retirement of the legal tenders. The most important political action ta- ken at this session was the passage, for Congress was still Democratic, of a law to prevent the use of the army to keep the peace at the polls. To this Wjfis added the Garfield proviso, that it should not be con- strued to prevent the Constitutional use of the army to suppress domestic violence in a State — a proviso Avhich in the view of the Republicans rid the bill of material partisan objections, and it was therefore CLOSING HOURS OF HAYES' ADMINISTRATION. 241 passed and approved. The " political ri- ders " were again added to the Appropria- tion and Deiiciency bills, hut were again vetoed and failed in this form to become laws. Upon these questions President Hayes showed much firmness. During the session the Democratic opposition to the General Election Law was greatly tem- pered, the Supreme Court having made an important decision, which upheld its con- stitutionality. Like all sessions under the administration of President Hayes and since, nothing was done to provide perma- nent and safe methods for completing the electoral count. On this question each party seemed to be afraid of the other. The session adjourned June 16th, 1880. The second session of the 46th Congress began December 1st, 1880. The last an- nual message of President Hayes recom- mended the eai-liest practicable retirement of the legal-tender notes, and the mainte- nance of the present laws for the accumula- tion of a sinking fund sufficient to extin- guish the public debt within a limited peri- od. The laws against polygamy, he said, should be firmly and eflectively executed. In the course of a lengthy discussion of the civil service the President declared that in his opinion " every citizen has an equal right to the honor and profit of en- tering the public service of his^ country. The only just ground of discrimination is the measure of character and capacity he has to make that service most useful to the people. Except in cases where, upon just and recognized principles, as upon the theory of pensions, offices and promotions are bestowed as rewards for past services, their bestowal upon any theory which dis- regards personal merit is an act of injus- tice to the citizen, as well as a breach of that trust subject to which the appointing power is held. Considerable space was given in the Message to the condition of the Indians, the President recommending the passage of a law enabling the govern- ment to give Indians a title-fee, inaliena- ble for twenty-five years, to the farm lands assigned to them by allotment. He also repeats the recommendation made in a former message that a law be passed admit- ting the Indians who can give satisfactory proof of having by their own labor sup- ported their families for a number of years, and who are willing to detach themselves from their tribal relations, to the benefit of the Homestead Act, and authorizing the government to grant them patents contain- ing the same provision of inalienability for a certain period. The Senate, on the 19th, appointed a committee of five to investigate the causes of the recent negro exodus from the South. On the same day a committee was appoint- ed by the House to examine into the sub- ject of an inter-oceanic ship-canal. 16 The payment of the award of the Hali- fax Fisheries (Jommlssion — $5,500,000 — to the British government was made by the American minister in London, November 23, 1879, accompanied by a communica- tion protesting against the payment being understood as an acquiescence in the re- sult of the Commission " as furnishing any just measure of the value of a participa- tion by our citizens in the inshore fisheries of the British Provinces." On the 17th of December 1879, gold was sold in New York at par. It was first sold at a premium January 13, 1862. It reached its highest rate, $2.85, July 11, 1864. The electoral vote was counted without any partisan excitement or disagreement. Georgia's electoral college had met on the second instead of the first Wednesday of December, as required by the Federal law. She actually voted under her old Confed- erate law, but as it could not change the result, both parties agreed to the count of the vote of Georgia " in the alternative," /. e. — " if the votes of Georgia were counted the number of votes for A and B. for Presi- dent and Vice-President would be so many, and if the votes of Georgia were not counted, the number of votes for A and B. for President and Vice-President would be so many, and that in either case A and B are elected." Among the bills not disposed of by this session were the electoral count joint rule; the funding bill ; the Irish relief bill ; the Chinese indemnity bill; to restrict Chinese immigration ; to amend the Constitution as to the election of President ; to regulate the pay and number of supervisors of elec- tion and special deputy-marshals ; to abro- gate the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty ; to pro- hibit military interference at elections ; to define the terms of office of the Chief Su- pervisors of elections ; for the appointment of a tariff commission; the political assess- ment bill ; the Kellogg-Spofford case ; and the Fitz-John Porter bill. The regular appropriation bills were all completed. The total amount appropria- ted was about $186,000,000. Among the special sums voted were $30,000 for the cen- tennial celebration of the Yorktown vic- tory, and $100,000 for a monument to com- memorate the same. Congress adjourned March 8d, 1881, and President H^iyes on the following day re- tired from office. The effect of his admin- istration was, in a political sense, to strengthen a growing independent senti- ment in the ranks of the Republicans-— an element more conservative generally in its views than those represented by Conkling and Blaine. This sentiment began with Bristow, who while in the cabinet made a show of seeking out and punishing all cor- ruptions in government office or service. On this platform and record he had con- 242 •AMERICAN POLITICS. tested with Hayes the honors of the Presi- dential nominations, and while the latter was at the time believed to well represent the same views, they were not urgently pressed during his administration. Indeed, without the knowledge of Hayes, what is believed to be a most gigantic "steal," and which is now being prosecuted under the name of the Star RfUite cases, had its birth, and thrived so well that no import- ant discovery was made until the incoming of the Garfield administration. The Hayes administration, it is now fashionable to say, made little impress for good or evil upon the country, but impartial historians will give it the credit of softening party as- perities and aiding very materially in the restoration of better feeling between the North and South. Its conservatism, al- ways manifested save on extraordinary oc- casions, did that much good at least. The Campaign of 1880. The Republican National Convention met June 5th, 1880, at Chicago, in the Ex- position building, capable of seating 20,000 people. The excitement in the ranks of the Republicans was very high, because of the candidacy of General Grant for what was popularly called a "third term," though not a third consecutive term. His three powerful Senatorial friends, in the face of bitter protests, had secured the in- structions of their respective State Conven- tions for Grant. Conkling had done this in New York, Cameron in Pennsylvania, Logan in Illinois, but in each of the three States the opposition was so impressive that no serious attempts were made to substi- tute other delegates for those which had previouslv been selected by their Congres- sional districts. As a result there was a large minority in the delegations of these States opposed to the nomination of Gene- ral Grant, and the votes of them could only be controlled by the enforcement of the unit rule. Senator Hoar of Massachusetts, the President of the Convention, decided against its enforcement, and as a result all of the delegates were free to vote upon ei- ther State or District instructions, or as they chose. The Convention was in session three days. We present herewith the Ballots. 7 8 9 10 11 12 Grant, 305 306 308 305 305 304 Blaine, 281 284 282 282 281 283 Sherman, 94 91 90 91 62 93 Edmunds, 32 31 31 30 31 31 Washburne, 31 32 32 22 32 33 Windom, 10 10 10 10 10 10 Garfield, 1 1 1 2 2 1 Hayes, 1 2 Ballots, 13 14 15 16 17 18 Grant, 305 305 309 306 303 305 Blaine, 285 285 281 283 284 283 Sherman, 89 89 88 88 90 92 Edmunds, 31 31 31 31 31 31 Washburne, 33 35 36 36 34 35 Windom, 10 10 10 10 10 10 Garfield, 1 PI ayes, 1 1 Davis, 1 McCrary, 1 Ballots, 19 20 21 22 23 24 Grant, 305 308 305 305 304 305 Blaine, 279 276 276 275 274 279 Sherman, 95 93 96 95 98 93 Edmunds, 31 31 31 31 31 31 Washburne, 31 35 35 35 36 35 Windom, 10 10 10 10 10 10 Garfield, 1 1 1 1 2 2 Hartranft, 1 1 1 1 Ballots, 25 26 27 Grant, 302 303 306 Blaine, 281 280 277 Sherman, 94 93 93 Edmunds, 31 31 31 Washburne, 36 35 36 Windom, 10 10 10 Garfield, 2 2 2 There was little change from the 27th ballot until the 36th and final one, V 'hich resulted as follows : BALLOTS. Ballots. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Grant, 304 305 305 305 305 305 Blaine, 284 282 282 281 281 281 Sherman, 93 94 93 95 95 95 Edmunds, 34 32 32 32 32 31 Washburne, 30 32 31 31 31 31 Windom, 10 10 10 10 10 10 Garfield, 1 1 1 2 2 Harrison, 1 Whole number of votes 755 Necessary to a choice 378 Grant 306 Blaine 42 Sherman 3 Washburne 5 Garfield 399 As shown. General James A. Garfield, of Ohio, was nominated on the 36th ballot, the forces of General Grant alone remain- ing solid. The result was due to a sudden union of the forces of Blaine and Sherman, it is believed with the full consent of both, for both employed the same wire leading from the same room in Washington in telegraphing to their friends at Chicago. The object was to defeat Grant. After Garfield's nomination there was a tempo- rary adjournment, during which the friends of the nominee consulted Conkling and his leading friends, and the result was the selection of General Chester A. Arthur THE CAMPAIGN OF 1880. 243 of New York, for Vice-rresident. The object of this selection was to cany New York, the great State which was then al- most universall}^ believed to hold the key to the Presidential position. The Democratic National Convention met at Cincinnati, June 22d. Tilden had up to the holding of the Pennsylvania State Convention "been one of the most prominent candidates. In this Convention there was a bitter struggle between the Wallace and Randall factions, the former fivvoriug Hancock, the latter Tilden. Wal- lace, after a contest for sharper than he expected, won, and bound the delegation by the unit rule. When the National Convention met, John Kelly, the Tam- many leader of New York, was again there, as at St. Louis four years before, to oppose Tilden, but the latter sent a letter disclaiming that he was a candidate, and yet really inviting a nomination on the is- sue of '" the fraudulent counting in of Hayes." There were but two ballots, as follows : FIRST BALLOT. Hancock 171 Bayard 153^ Payne 81 Thurman 63 J Field 66 Morrison 62 Hendricks 46 J Tilden 38 Ewing 10 Seymour 8 Randall 6 Loveland 5 McDonald 3 McClellan 3 English 1 Jewett 1 Black 1 Lothrop 1 Parker 1 SECOND BALLOT, Hancock Tilden Bayard Hendricks 30 Thus General Winfield S. Hancock, of New York, was nominated on the second ballot. Wm. H. English, of Indiana, was nominated for Vice-President. The National Greenback-Labor Conven- tion, held at Chicago, June 11, nominated General J. B. Weaver, of Iowa, for Presi- dent, and General E. J. Chambers, of Texas, for Vice-President. In the canvass which followed, the Re- publicans were aided by such orators as Conkling, Blaine, Grant, Logan, Curtis, Boutwell, while the Camerons, father and son, visited the October States of Ohio and Indiana, as it was believed that these would determine the result, Maine having in September very unexpectedly defeated the Republican State ticket by a small ma- jority. The Democrats were aided l)y Bayard, Voorhees, Randall, Wallace, Hill, Hampton, Lamar, and hosts of their best orators. Every issue was recalled, but for the first time in the history of the Repub- licans of the West, they accepted the tariff issue, and made open war on Watterson's plank in the Democratic j)!atf()rni — " a tarift" for revenue only." Iowa, Ohio, and Indiana, all elected the Re])ublican State tickets with good margins ; West Virginia went Democratic, but the result was, not- withstanding this, reasonably assured to the Republicans. The Democrats, how- ever, feeling the strong personal popularity of their leading candidate, ])ersisted willi high courage to the end. In Noveml)cr all of the Southern States, with New Jer- sey, California,* and Nevada in the North, went Democratic ; all of the others Re- ]iublican. The Greenbackers held only a balance of power, which they could not exercise, in California, Indiana, and New Jersey. The electoral vote of ( Jarlield and Arthur was 214, that of Hancock and i:ng- lish 155. The popular vote was Ropubii- can, 4,442,950; Democratic, 4,442,0;;-); Greenback or National, 306,867 ; scatter- ing, 12,576. The Congressional elections in the same canvass gave the Republicans 147 members ; the Democrats, 136 ; Green- backers, 9 ; Independents, 1. Fifteen States elected Governors, nine of them Rejmblicans and six Democrats. General Garfield, November 10, sent to Governor Foster, of Ohio, his resignation as a Senator, and John Sherman, the Secretary of the Treasury, was in the win- ter following elected as his successor. The third session of the Forty-sixth Congress was begun December 6. The President's Message was read in both Houses. Among its recommendations to Congress were the following : To create the office of Captain-General of the xVrray for General Grant; to defend the inviola- bility of the constitutional amendments ; to promote free popular education by grants of public lands and appropriations from the United States Treasury ; to ap- propriate $25,000 annually for the expen- ses of a Commission to be appointed by the President to devise a just, unilbrm, and efiicient system of competitive exami- nations, and to supervise the application of the same throughout the entire civil service of the government ; to pass a law defining the relations of Congressmen to appointments to oSice, so as to end Con- gressional encroachment upon the appoint- ing power ; to repeal the Tenure-of-ol!ice Act, and pass a law protecting office- holders in resistance to political assess- ments ; to abolish the present system of executive and judicial government in Utah, and substitute for it a government by a commission to be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, or, in case the present government is con- tinued, to withhold from all who practice * One Democratic elector was defeated, beins cut by over 500 voters ou a local issue. 244 AMERICAN POLITICS. polygamy the right to vote, hold office, and sit oil jurieij ; to repeal the act authorizing the coinage of the silver dollar of 412^ grains, and to authorize the coinage of a new silver dollar equal in value as bullion with the gold dollar; to take favorable ac- tion on the bill providing for the allotment of lands on the different reservations. Two treaties between this country and China were signed at Pekin, November 17, 1881, one of conimerce, and the other se- curing to the United States the control and regulation of the Chinese immigration. President Hayes, P'ebruary 1, 1881, sent a message to Congress sustaining in the main the findings of the Ponca Indian Commission, and approving its recom- mendation that they remain on their reser- vation in Indian Territory. The Presi- dent suggested that the general Indian policy for the future should embrace the following ideas: First, the Indians should be prepared for citizenship by giving to their young of both sexes that industrial and general education which is requisite to enable them to be self-supporting and capable of self-protection in civilized com- munities; second, lands should be allot- ted to the Indians in severalty, inalienable for a certain period; third, the Indians should have a fair compensation for their lands not requii-ed for individual allot- ments, the amount to be invested, witli suitable safeguards, for their benefit; fourth, with tliese prerequisites secured, the Indians should be made citizens, and invested with the rights and charged with the responsibilities of citizenship. The Senate, February 4, passed Mr. Morgan's concurrent resolution declaring that the President of the Senate is not in- vested by the Constitution of the United States with the right to count the votes of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, so as to determine what votes shall be received and counted, or Avhat votes shall be rejected. An amendment was added declaring in effect that it is the duty of Congress to pass a law at once providing for the orderly counting of the electoral vote. The House concurred February 5, but no action by bill or otherwise has since been taken. Senator Pendleton, of Ohio, December 15,1881, introduced a bill to regulate the civil service and to promote the efficiency thereof, and also a bill to prohibit Federal officers, claimants, and contractors from making or rcccivin'::; as,^essments or contri- butions for politiciil i)urposes. The Burnside Educational Bill passed the Senate December 17, 1881. It pro- vides that the proceeds of the sale of pub- lic land and the earnings of the Patent Office shall be funded at four per cent., and the interest divided among the States in proportion to their illiteracy. An amendment by Senator ^lorgan provides for the instruction of women in the State agricultural colleges in such branches of technical and industrial education as are suited to their sex. No action has yet been taken by the House. On the 9t"h of February the electoral votes were counted by the "Vice-President in the presence of both Houses, and Gar- field and Arthur were declared elected President and Vice-President of the United States. There was no trouble as to the count, and the result previously stated was formally announced. The Three Per Cent. Funding Bill. The o percent. Funding Bill passed the House March 2, and was on the following day vetoed by President Hayes on the ground that it dealt unjustly w'ith the Na- tional Banks in compelling them to accept and employ this security for their circu- lation in lieu of the old bonds. This fea- ture of the bill caused several of the Banks to surrender their circulation, conduct which for a time excited strong political prejudices. The Republicans in Congress as a rule contended that the debt could not be surely lunded at 3 per cent. ; that 3] was a safer figure, and to go below this might render the bill of no effect. The same views were entertained by President FT ayes and Secretary Sherman. The Dem- ocrats insisted on 3 per cent., until the veto, when the general desire to fund at more favoral)le rates broke party lines, and a 3^ per cent, funding bill was passed, with the feature objectionable to the National Banks omitted. The Republicans were mistaken in their view, as the result proved. The loan was floated so easily, that in the session of 1882 Secretary Sherman, now a Senator, him- self introduced a 3 per cent, bill, which passed the Senate Feb. 2d, 1882, in this shape : — Be it enacted, &c. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to receive at the Treasury and at the office of any Assistant Treasurer of the United States and at any postal money order of- fice, lawful money of the United States to the amount of fifty dollars or any multiple of that sum or any bonds of the United States, bearing three and a-half j^er cent, interest, which are hereby declared valid, and to issue in exchange therefore an equal amount of registered or coupon bonds of the United States, of the denom- ination of fifty, one hundred, five hundred, one thousand and ten thousand dollars, of such form as he may prescribe, bearing in- terest at the rate three per centum per annum, payable either quarterly or semi- annually, at the Treasury of the United HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL LOANS. 245 States. Sucli bonds shall be exempt from all taxation by or under state authority, and be payable at the pleasure of the United States. " Provided, That the bonds herein authorized shall not be called in and paid so long as any bonds of the United ^Slates heretofore issued bearing a higher rate of interest than three per centum, and w :ii.;h shall be redeemable at the pleasure of the United States, shall be outstanding and uncalled. The last of the said bonds originally issued and their substitutes under this act shall be first called in and this order of payment shall be followed until all shall have been paid." The money deposited under this act shall be promptly applied solely to the re- demption of the bonds of the United States bearing three and a-half per centum in- terest, and the aggregate amount of de- posits made and bonds issued under this act shall not exceed the sum of two hun- dred million dollars. The amount of law- ful money so received on deposit, as afore- said, shall not exceed, at any time, the sum of twenty-five million dollars. Be- fore any deposits ai-e received at any pos- tal money otfije under this act, the post- master at such olR.^e shall file with the Secretary of the Treasury his bond, with satisfactory security, conditioned that he will promptly transmit to the Treasury of tha United States the money received by him in conformity with regulations to be prescribed by such secretary ; and the de- posit with any postmaster shall not at any time, exceed the amount of his bond. Section- 2. Any national banking asso- ciation now organized or hereafter or- ganized desiring t^ withdraw its circulat- ing notes upon a deposit of lawful money with the Treasury of the United States as provided in section 4 of the Act of June 20, 1874, enr/itled " An act fixing the amount of United States notes providing for a re listribution of National bank cur- rency and for other purposes," shall be re- quired to give thirty days' notice to the Controller of the Currency of its intention to deposit lawful money and withdraw its circulating nates; provided that not more than five million of dollars of lawful m >-iey shall be deposited daring any cal- ender month for this purpose ; and pro- vided further, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to bonds called for redemption by the Secretary of the Trea- sury. Sectiox 3. That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to authorize an in- crease of the public debt. In th3 pa^t few years opinions on the rites of interest have undergone wonderful changes. Many supposi-d — indeed it was a "standard" argument— that rates must ever be higher in new than old countries, that these higher rates comported with and aided the higher rates i)ai monevs received from these banks tliul he pnid the first installment of salary due I're.-ideut Washiuglon, Senators, Representatives and officers of Congress, during the first ses- sion under the Constitution, which began at the citv of New York, Mareh 4, 1789. " The first ' Bank of the United States ' appears to have been proposed by Alex- ander Hamilton in December, 179(1, and it was incorporated by an act of Congress, approved February 25, 17!n, with a capi- tal stock of $10,060,000 divided into 25,- 000 shares at $400 each, 'i'lie government subscription of $2,000,000, under authority of the act, was paid by giving to the bank bills of exchange on Holland equivalent to gold, and borrowing from the bank a like sum for ten years at 6 i)er cent, inter- est. The bank went into operation very soon after its charter was obtained, and declared its first dividend in July, 1792. It was evidently well managed, and was of great benefit to the Government and the people at large, assisting the Government by loans in cases of emergency, and forc- ing the * wildcat ' banks of the country to keep their issues ' somewhere within reasonable bounds.' More than $100,000,- 000 of Government money was received and disbursed by it without the loss of a single dollar. It made semi-annual divi- dends, averaging about 8h per cent., and its stock rose to a high price. The stock belonging to the United States was sold out at different times at a profit, 2,220 shares sold in 1802 bringing an advance of 45 per cent. The government subscrijition, vvith ten years' interest amounted to $3,200- 000, while there was received in dividends and for stock sold $3,773,580, a profit of neatly 28.7 per cent. In 1796 the credit of the Grovernment was very low, as shown by its utter failure to negotiate a loan for the purpose of paying a debt to the Bank of the United States for moneys boiTowcd and used, partly to i)ay the expenses of sup- pressing the whisky insurrection in Penn- sylvania and to buy a treaty with the pirates of Algiers. On a loan authorized for $5,000,000, only $80,000 could be ob- tained, and this at a discount of 12| per cent.; and, there being no other immediate resource, United States Bank stock to the amount of $1,304,260 was sold at a pre- mium of 25 per cent. " Under an act approved June 30, 1798, the President was authorized to accept such vessels as were suitable to be armed ibr the public service, not exceeding twelve in number, and to issue certificates, or other evidences of the public debt of the United States, in payment. The ships George Washington, Merrimack. 3Iaryland and Patapseo, i)rig Richmond, and frigates Boston, Philadeli)hia, John Adams, Essex and New York, were purchased, and 6 per 248 AMERICAN POLITICS. cent, stock, redeemable at the pleasure of Congress, was issued in payment to the amount of $711,700. "The idea of creating a navy by the purchase of vessels built by private parties and issuing stock in payment therefor, seems to have originated with Hamilton. " In the years 1797 and 1798 the United States, though nominally at peace with all the world, was actually at war with France — a war not formally declared, but carried on upon the ocean with very great viru- lence. John Marshall, Elbridge Gerry and Charles C. Pinckney were appointed en- voys extraordinary to the French Repub- lic, with power for terminating all differ- ences and restoring harmony, good under- standing and commercial and I'riendly in- j tercourse between the two nations ; but their eflibrts were in vain, and extensive prep.'i rations were made to resist a French invasion. It was evident that the ordinary revenues of the country would be inade- quate for the increased expenditure, and a loan of $5,000,000 was authorized by an act approved July 16, 1798, redeemable at pleasure after fifteen years. The rate of interest was not specified in the act, and the market rate at the time being 8 per cent, this rate was paid, and it was thought by a committee of Congress that the loan was negotiated ' upon the best terms that could be procured, and with a laudable eye to the public interest. ' A loan of $'3,600,000 was authorized by an act ap- proved May 7, 1800, for the purpose of meeting a large deficit in the revenues of the preceding year, caused by increased expenditures rendered necessary on ac- count of the difficulties with France, and stock bearing 8 per cent, interest, reim- bursable after fifteen years, was issued to the amount of $1,481,700, on which a pre- mium was realized of nearly 5| per cent. These are the only two instancea in which the Government has paid 8 per cent, in- terest on its bonds. " The province of Louisiana was ceded to the United States by a treaty with France, April 30, 1803, in payment for which 6 per cent, bonds, payable in fifteen years, were issued to the amount of $11,- 250,000, and the balance Avhich the Gov- ernment agreed to pay for the province, amounting to $3,750,000, was devoted to reimbursing American citizens for French depredations on their commerce. These claims were paid in money, and the stock redeemed by purchases made under the di- rection of the Commissioners of the Sink- ing Fund within twelve years. Under an act approved February 11, 1807, a portion of the ' old 6 per cent.' and ' deferred stocks" was refunded into new stock, bear- ing the same rate of interest, but redeema- ble at the pleasure of the United States. This was done for the purpose of placing it within the power of the Government to reimburse the amount refunded within a short time, as under the old laws these stocks could only be redeemed at the rate of 2 per cent, annually. Stock was issued amounting to $6,294,051, nearly all of which was redeemed within four years. Under the same act old ' 3 per cent, stock ' to the amount of $2,861,309 was converted into 6 per cents., at sixty-five cents on the dollar, but this was not reimbursable with- out the assent of the holder until after the whole of certain other stocks named in the act was redeemed. The stock issued under this authority amounted to $1,859,871. It would appear that the great majority of the holders of the •' old stock " j^referred it to the new. A loan equal to the amount of the principal .of the public debt reimbursa- ble during the current year was authorized by an act approved May 1, 1810, and $2,- 750,000 was borrowed at 6 per cent, interest from the Bank of the United States, for the purpose of meeting any deficiency arising from increased expenditures on account of the military and naval establishments. This was merely a temporary loan, which was repaid the following year. " The ordinary expenses for the year 1812 Avere estimated Ijy the Committee of Ways and Means of the House of Reijresentatives at $1,200,000 more than the estimated re- ceipts for the same period, and the impend- ing war with Great Britain made it abso- lutely necessary that some measures should be adopted to maintain the public credit, and provide the requisite funds for carrying on the Government. Additional taxes were imposed upon the people, but as these could not be made immediately available there was no other resource but new loans and the issue of Treasury notes. This was the first time since the formation of the new Government that the issue of such notes had been proposed, and they were objected to ks engrafting on our system of finance a new and untried measure, " Under various acts of Congress ap- proved between March 4, 1812, and Feb- ruary 24, 1815, 6 per cent, bonds were is- sued to the amount of $50,792,674. These bonds were negotiated at rates varying from 20 per cent, discount to par, the net cash realized amounting to $44,530,123. A fur- ther sum of $4,025,000 was obtained by temporary loans at par, of which sum $225,000 was for the purpose of repairing the public buildings in Washington, dam- aged by the enemy on the night of August 24, 18i4. These 'war loans' Avere all made redeemable at the pleasure of the Government after a specified date, and the faith of the United States was solemnly pledged to provide sutficient revenues for this purpose. The ' Treasury note sy.stem ' was a new feature, and its success was re- garded as somewhat doubtful. HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL LOANS. 249 " Its subsequent popularity, however, was owing to a variety of causes. The notes were made receivable everywhere for dues and customs, and in payment for pub- lic lands. They were to bear interest from the day of issue, at the rate of 5 2-5 per cent, per annum, and their payment was guaranteed by the United States, principal and interest, at maturity. They thus fur- nished a circulating medium to the coun- try, superior to the paper of the suspend- ed and doubtl'ul State banks. These issues were therefore considered more desirable than the issue of additional stock, which could be realized in cash only by the payment of a ruinous dis- count. ' The whole amount of Treasury notes is=^ued during the war period was $36,680,79 i. The Commissioners of the Sinking Fund were authorized to provide for their redemption by purchase, in the same manner as for other evidences of the public debt, and by authority of law $10,- 575,738 was redeemed by the issue of cer- tificates of funded stock, bearing interest at from 6 to 7 per cent, per annum, redeema ble at any time after 1824. " During the years 1812-13 the sum of $2,984,747 of the old 6 per cent, and de- ferred stocks were refunded into new 6 per cent. stock redeemable in twelve years ; and by an act approved March 31, 1814, Con- gress having authorized a settlement of the ' Yazoo claims ' by an issue of non-interest- bearing stock, payable out of the first re- ceipts from the sale of public lands in the Missisipi territory, $4,282,037 was issued for this purpose. On the 24th of February, 1815, Secretary Dallas reported to Congress that the pul^lic debt had been increased, in consequence of the war with Great Bri- tain, $68,783,122, a large portion of which was due and unpaid, while another con- siderabl^ proportion was fast becoming due. These unpaid or accruing demands were in part for temporary loans, and the balan-ce for Treasury notes either due or maturing daily. To"^provide for their pay ment a new' loan for the full amount needed was authorized by act of March 3 1815, and six per. cent stock redeemable in fifteen years, was issued in the sum of $12,2S8,148. This stock was sold at from 95 per cent, to par, and was nearly all re- deemed in 1820 by purchases made by the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund. " The Government became a stockholder in the second Bank of the United States, to the amount of 70,000 shares, under the act of incorporation, approved April 10, 1816. The capital stock was limited to $35,000,000, divided into 350,000 shires of $100 each. The Government subscription was paid by the issue of 5 per cent, stock to the amount of $7,000,000, redeemable at the pleasure of the Government. This was a profitable investment for the United States, as in ad- dition to $1,500,000 which thcl)aiik paid a< a bonus for its charter, the net receipts over and above disbursements amounted to $4,993,167. The available funds in the Treasury on the 1st of January, 1820, were less than $250,000, and the estimated dcfi- ciencv for the year amounted to nearly .$4,000,000. This state of affairs was owing partly to the disastrous efl'ects of the com- mercial crisis of 1819, heavy payments for the redemption of the public debt, contin- ued through a series of years, and large outstanding claims, amounting to over $30,000,000, resulting from the late war with Great Britain. To meet the emer- gency, a loan was authorized by act of May 15, 1820, and $999,999.13 was borrowed at 5 per cent., redeemable in twelve years, and $2,0000,000 at 6 per cent., reimbursable at pleasure, this latter stock realizing a pre- mium of 2 per cent. By act of March 3, 1821, 5 per cent, stock amounting to $4,735,- 276 was issued at a premium of over 5.1 per cent., and the proceeds used in payment of the principal and interest of the public delDt falling due within the year. " An eflort was made in 1822 to refund a portion of the 6 per cent, war loans of 1812-14 into 5 per cents., but only $56,705 could be obtained. Two years later the Government was more successful, and, un- der the act of Mav 26, 1824, 6 per cent, stock of 1813 to the amount of $4,454,728 was exchanged for new stock bearing 42- per cent, interest, redeemable in 1833-34. During the same year $5,000,000 was bor- rowed at 4i per cent, to provide for the payment of the awards made by the Com- missioners under the treaty with Spain of February 22, 1819, and a like amount, at the same rate of interest, to be applied in paying off that part of the 6 per cent, stock of 1812 redeemable the following year. The act of March 3, 1825, author- ized a loan of $12,000,000, at 4,V per ciir. interest, the money borrowed to be applied in paving off prior loans, but only $l,5;;'.t,- 336 was exchanged for an equal amount of 6 per cent, stock of 1813. " In the year 1836 the United States was, for the first time in the history of the coun- try, i)ractically out of debt. Secretary Woodbury, in his report of Decemlier 8, 1836, estimated the amount of ]iublie del)t still outstanding at about $328,5.-^2, and this remained unpaid solely because payment had not been demanded, ample funds to meet it having been deposited in the United States Bank and loan offices. The debt outstanding consisted mainly of un- claimed interest and dividends, of claims for services and supplies durincr the Revo- lution, and of old Treasury notes, and it is supposed that payment of these had not been asked for solely because the evidences of the debt had been lost or destroyed. The estimates showed the probability of a 250 AMERICAN POLITICS. surplus of at least $14,000,000 in the Trea- sury at the close of the year 1836, and this estimate proved to be far below the truth. In this favorable condition of the public finances, Congress adopted the extraordi- nary resolution of depositing the surplus over $5,000,000 with the several States, and under the act of June 23, 1836, surj^lus revenue amounting to $28,101,644.91 was so deposited. "In 1837, however, the state of the country had changed. The ' flush ' times of 1835 and 1836 had been succeeded by extraordinary depression, which ultimately produced a panic. In May most of the banks suspended specie payments. The sales of public lands, and the duties on the importations of foreign goods, which had helped to swell the balance in the Treasury to over $42,000,000, had fiillen off enor- mously. Even on the goods that were im- ported it was difficult to collect the duties, for the law compelled them to be paid in specie, and specie was hard to obtain. It had become impossible not only to pay the fourth installment of the surplus at the end of 1836 to the several States, but even to meet the current expenses of the Govern- ment from its ordinary revenues. In this emergency the Secretary of the Treasury suggested that contingent authority be given the President to cause the issue of Treasury notes. This measure was gener- ally supported on the ground of absolute necessity, as there was a large deficit al- ready existing, and this was likely to in- crease from the condition of the country at that time. The measure was opposed, however, by some who thought that greater economy in expenditures would relieve the Treasury, while others denounced it as an attempt " to start a Treasury bank." " However, an act was approved October 12, 1837, authorizing an issue of $10,000,- 000 in Treasury notes iu denomination.^ not less than fifty dollars, redeemable in one year from date, with interest at rates fixed by the Secretary, not exceed- ing 6 per cent. These notes, as usual, were receivable in payment of all duties and taxes levied by the United States, and in payment for public lands. Prior to 1846, the issue of notes of this character amounted to $47,002,900, bearing interest at rates varying from one-tenth of one per cent, to 6 per cent. To provide in part for their redemption, authority Avas granted for the negotiation of several loans, and $21,021,094 was borrowed for this purpose, bonds being issued for a like sum, bearing interest at ifrom 5 to 6 per cent., redeema- ble at specified dates. These bonds were sold at from 2^ per cent, discount to 3| per cent, premium, and redeemed at from par to 19V per cent, advance. " War with Mexico was declared May 13, 1846, and in order to provide against a deficiency a further issue of $10,000,000 in Treasury notes Avas authorized by act of July 22, 1846, under the same limitations and restrictions as were contained in the act of October, 1837, except that the authority given was to expire at the end of one year from the passage of the act. The sum of $7,687,800 was issued in Treasury notes, and six per cent, bonds having ten years to run were issued under the same act to the amount of $4,999,149. These were sold at a small advance, and redeemed at various rates from par to eighteen and two-thirds per cent, premium. " The expenses incurred on account of the war with Mexico were much greater than the original estimates, and the failure to provide additional revenues sufficient to meet the increased demands made a new loan necessary, as well as an additional issue of notes, wliich had now become a pojjular method of obtaining iiinds. Under the authority granted by act of January 28, 1847, Treasury notes to the amount of $26,122,100 were issued at par, redeemable one and two years from date, with interest at from 5 2-5 to 6 per cent. More money still being needed, a 6 per cent, loan, hav- ing twenty yeari to run, was placed upon the market, under the authority of the same act, and bonds to the amount of $28,- 230,350 were sold at various rates, ranging from par to 2 per cent, premium. Of this stock the sum of $18,815,100 was redeemed at an advance of from 11 to 21 j per cent., the premium paid (excU sive of commis- sions) amounting to $3,466,107. Under the act of March 31, 1848, 6 per cent, bonds, running twenty years, were i^sued to the amount of $16,000,000, and sold at a premium ranging from 3 to 4.05 per cent. This loan was made for the same purpose as the preceding one, and $7,091,658 was redeen^ed by purchase at an advance ranging from 8 to 22.46 per cent., the premium paid amounting to $1,251,258. " The widespread depression of trade and commerce which occurred in 1857 was severely felt by the Government, as well as by the people, and so great was the de- crease in the revenues from customs that it became absolutely necessary to provide the Treasury with additional means for meeting the* demands upon it. Treasury notes were considered as preferable to a new loan, and by the act of December 23, 1857, a new issue was authorized for such an amount as the exigencies of the public service micht require, but not to exceed at any one time $20,000,000. These notes were receivable in payment for all debts due the United States, including customs, and were issued at various rates of inter- est, ranging from 3 to 6 per cent, to the amount of $52,778,900, redeemable one year from date, the interest to cease at the expiration of sixty days' notice after HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL LOANS, 2ol maturity. In May, 1858, tlie Secretary of the Treasury informed Congress that, owing to the appropriations having heen increased by legisUition nearly $10,000,000 over the estimates, while the customs revenue had fallen off to a like amount, it would be necessary to provide some means to meet the deficit. In these circumstances, a new loan was authorized by act of June 14, 18-")8, and 5 per cent, bonds amounting to $20,000,000, redeemable in fifteen years, were sold at an average premium of over 3 \ per cent. Under the act of December 17, "1873, $13,957,000 in bonds of the loan of 1881, and $260,000 in bonds of a loan of 19 »7, were issued in exchange for a like amount of bonds of this loan. " The act of June 22, 1860, authorized tha President to borrow $21,000,000 on the credit of the United States, the money to be used only in the redemption of Trea- sury notes, and to replace any amount of such notes in the Treasury which should have been paid in for public dues. Only $7,022,000 was borrowed at 5 per cent, in- terest, the certificates selling at from par to 1.45 per cent, premium. The failure to realize the whole loan was caused by the political troubles which culminated in the civil war. In September, bids were in- vited for $10,000,000, and the whole amount offered was speedily taken. It soon be- came evident, however, that war was inevi- table, and a commercial crisis ensued, dur- ing which a portion of the bidders forfeit- ed their deposits, and the balance of the loan was withdrawn from the market. Au- thority was granted by the act of Decem- ber 17, 1860, for a new issue of Treasury notes, redeemable in one year from date, but not to exceed $10,000,000 at any one time, with interest at such rates as might be offered by the lowest responsible bid- ders after advertisement. An unsuccess- ful attempt was made to pledge the receipts from the sale of public lands specifically for their redemption. The whole amount of notes issued under tb's act was $10,010,- 900, of which $4,840,000 bore interest at 12 per cent. Additional offers followed, ranging from 15 to 38 per cent., but the Treasury declined fco accept them. " Up to this period of our national exist- enc3 the obtaining of the money necessary for carrying on the Government and the preservation inviolate of the public credit had been comparatively an easy task. The people of the several States had contributed in proportion to their financial resources ; and a strict adherence to the fundamental maxim laid down by Hamilton had been maintained by a judicious system of taxa- tion to an extent amply sufficient to pro- vide for the redemption of all our national securities as they became due. But the time had come when we were no longer a united people, and the means required for ' defraying the ordinary expenses of the Government were alnuiist immediately cur- tailed and je()j)ar(li/.e(l by tlu; allitude of the States which attempted to secede. The confusion which followed the inauguration of the administration of President Lincoln demonstrated the necessity of j)roviding unusual resources without delay. A sys- tem of internal revenue taxation was in- troduced, and the tariff" adjusted with a view to increased revenues from customs. As the Government had not only to exist and pay its way, but also to ]>rovide for an army and navy constantly increasing in numbers and equipment, new and extraor- dinary methods were resorted to for the purpose of securing the money which nmst be had in order to preserve the integrity of the nation. Among these were the issue of its own circulating medium in the form of United States notes* and circulating notes, t for the redemption of which the faith of the nation was solemnly pledged. New loans were authorized to an amount never before known in our history, and the success of our armies was assured by the determination manifested by the peo- ple themselves to sustain the Government at all hazards. A brief review of the loan transactions during the period covered by the war is all that can be attempted within the limited space afforded this article. The first war loan may be considered as having been negotiated under the authority of an act approved February 8, 1861. The cred- it of the Government at this time was very low, and a loan of $18,415,000, having twenty years to run, with 6 per cent, inter- est, couid only be negotiated at a discount of $2,019,776.10, or at an average rate of $89.03 i^er one hundred dollars. From, this time to June 30, 1865, Government se- curities of various descriptions were issued under authority of law to the amount of $3,888,686,575, including the several issues of bonds, Treasury notes, seven-thirties, legal tenders and fractional currency. The whole amount issued under the same au- thority to June 30, 1880, was $7,137,646,836, divided as follows : Six per cent, bonds $1,130,279,000 Five per cent, bonds 196,118,300 Temporary loan certificates.. 969,992,250 Seven-thirty notes 716,099,247 Treasury notes and certifi- cates of indebtedness 1,074,713,132 Old demand notes, legal tend- ers, coin certificates and fractional currency 3,050,444,907 Total $7,137,646,836 "This increase may be readily accounted for by the continued issue of legal tenders, * Commonly sailed " Greenbacks," or " Legal Tender notes " f Commonly called " National BanR notes." 252 AMERICAN POLITICS. compound interest notes, fractional cur- rency and coin certificates, together with a large amount of bond'^ issued in order _ to raise the money necessary to pay for mili- tary supplies, and other forms of indebted- ness growing out of the war. The rebel- lion was practically at an end in May, 1865, yet the large amount of money re- quired for immediate use in the payment and disbandment of our enormous armies necessitated the still further negotiation of loans under the several acts of Congress then in force, and it was not until after the 31st of August, 1865, that our national debt began' to decrease. At that time the total indebtedness, exclusive of the " old funded and unfunded debt " of the Revo- lution, and of cash in the Treasury, amounted to $2,844,646,626.56. The course of our financial legislation since that date has been constantly toward a reduction of the interest, as well as the principal of the public debt. " By an act approved March 3, 1865, a loan of 1600,000,000 was authorized upon similar terms as had been granted for pre- vious loans, with the exception that no- thing authorized by this act should be made a legal tender, or be issued in smaller denominations than fifty dollars. The rate of interest was limited to 6 per cent, in coin, or 7.3 per cent, in currency, the bonds issued to be redeemable in not less than five, nor more than forty, years. Authority was also given for thA conversion of Trea- sury notes or other interest-bearing obliga- tions into bonds of this loan. An amend- ment to this act was passed April 12, 1866, authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury, at his discretion, to receive any Treasury notes or other obligations issued under any act of Congress, whether bearing interest or not, in exchange for any description of bonds authorized by the original act ; and also to dispose of any such bonds, either in the United States or elsewhere, to such an amount, in such manner, and at such rates as he might deem advisable, for lawful money, Treasury notes, certificates of in- debtedness, certificates of deposit, or other representatives of value, which had been or might be issued under any act of Congress ; the proceeds to be used only for retiring Treasury notes or other national obligations, provided the public debt was not increased thereby. As this was the first important measure presented to Congress since the close of the war tending to place our secu- rities upon a firm basis, the action of Con- gress in relation to it was looked forward to with a great deal of interest. The dis- cussion took a wide range, in which the whole financial administration of the Go- vernment during the war was reviewed at length. After a long and exciting debate the bill finally passed, and was approved by the President. Under the authority of these two acts, 6 per cent, bonds to the amount of $958,483,550 have been issued to date. These bonds were disposed of at an aggregate premium of $21,522,074, and un- der the acts of July 14, 1870, and January 20, 1871, the same bonds to the amount of $725,582,400 have been refunded into other bonds bearing a lower rate of interest. The success of these several loans was remarka- ble, every exertion being used to provide for their general distribution among the people, " In 1867 the first issue of 6 per cent, bonds, known as five-twenties, authorized by the act of Feb. 25, 1862, became re- deemable, and the question of refunding them and other issues at a lower rate of in- terest had been discussed by the Secretary of the Treasury in his annual reports, but the agitation of the question as to the kinds of money in which the various obligations of the CTOvernment should be paid, had i-o excited the apprehension of investors as to prevent the execution of any refunding scheme. " The act to strengthen the public credit was passed March 18, 1869, and its eflect was such as secured to the public the strong- est assurances that the interest and princi- pal of the public debt outstanding at that time would be paid in coin, according to the terms of the bonds issued, without any abatement. "On the 12th of January, 1870, a bill authorizing the refunding and consolidation of the national debt was introduced in the Senate, and extensively debated in both Houses for several months, during which the financial system pursued by the Go- vernment during the war was Ireely re- viewed. The adoption of the proposed measure resulted in an entire revolution of the refunding system, under which the public debt of the United States at_ that time was provided for, by the transmission of a large amount of debt to a succeeding generation. The effect of this^ attempt at refunding the major portion of the public debt was far more successful than any si- milar effort on the part of any Government, so far as known. The act authorizing refunding certifi- cates convertible into 4 per cent, bonds, approved February 26, 1879, was merely intended for the benefit of parties of limit- ed means, and was simply a continuation of the refunding scheme authorized by previous legislation. " The period covered precludes any at- tempt toward reviewing the operation by which the immediate predecessor of the present Secretary reduced the interest on some six hundred millions of 5 and 6 per cent, bonds to 3 J- per cent. It is safe to say, however, that under the administration of the present Secretary there will be no de- viation from the origmal law laid down by Hamilton. REPUBLICAN FACTIONS. 253 Jajncs A. Garfield. James A. Garfield and Chester A. Ar- thur were iJublicl'y inaugurated President and Vice President of the United States March 4, 1881. President Garfield in his inaugural ad- dress promised full and equal protection of the Constitution and the laws for the negro, advocated universal education as a safe- guard of suffrage, and recommended such an adjustment of our monetary system "that the purchasing power of every coined dollar will be exactly equal to its debt- paying power in all the markets of the world." The national debt should be re- funded at a lower rate of interest, without compelling the withdrawal of the National Bank notes, polygamy should be prohibit- ed, and civil service regulated by law. An extra session of the Senate was opened jMarch 4. On the 5th, the follow- ing cabinet nominations were made and confirmed: Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, of Maine ; Secretary of the Treas- ury, William Windom, of Minnesota; Secretary of the Navy, William H. Hunt, of Louisiana ; Secretary of War, Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois ; Attorney General, Wayne MacVeagh, of Pennsylvania ; Post- master General, Thomas L. James, of New York ; Secretary of the Interior, Samuel J. Kirkwood, of Iowa. In this extra session of the Senate Vice President Arthur had to employ the cast- ing vote on all questions where the parties divided, and he invariably cast it on the side of the Republica'ns. The evenness of the parties caused a dead-lock on the ques- tion of organization, for when David Davis, of Illinois, voted with the Democrats, the Republicans had not enough even with the Vice President, and he was not, therefore, called upon to decide a question of that kind. The Republicans desired new and Republican officers; the Democrats de- sired to retain the old and Democratic ones. Republican Factions. President Garfield, March 23d, sent in a large number of nominations, among which was that of William H. Robertson, the leader of the Blaine wing of the Republi- can party in New York, to be Collector of Customs. He had previously sent in five names for prominent places in New York, at the suggestion of Senator Conkling, who had been invited by President Garfield to name his friends. At this interview it was stated that Garfield casually intimated that he would make no immediate change in the New York Collectorship, and both fac- tions seemed satisfied to allow Gen'l Edwin A. Merritt to retain that place for a time at legist. There were loud protests, however, at the first and early selection of the friends of Senator Conkling to five im])ortant places, and these ])rotc8ts were heeded by the President. ^Vith a view to mec t tliem, and, doubtless, to (juiet tiie spirit of faction rapidly developing between the Grant and anti-Grant elements of the party in New York, the name of Judge Robertson was sent in for the Collectorship. He had bat- tled against the unit rule at Chicago, dis- avowed the instructions of his State Con- vention to vote for Grant, and led the Blaine delegates from that State while Blaine was in the field, and wlien with- drawn went to Garfield. Senator Conkling now sought to confirm his friends, and hold back his enemy from confirmation; but these tactics induced Garfield to withdraw the nomination of Conkling's friends, and in this way Judge Robertson's name was alone presented for a time. Against this course Vice-President Arthur and Senators Conkling and Piatt remonstrated in a let- ter to the President, but he remained firm. Senator Conkling, under the plea of " the privilege of the Senate," — a courtesy and custom which leaves to the Senators of a State the right to say who shall be con- firmed or rejected from their respective States if of the same party — now sought to defeat Robertson. In this battle he had arrayed against him the influence of his great rival, Mr. Blaine, and it is presumed the whole power of the administration. He lost, and the morning following the secret vote, May 17th, 1881, his own and the resignation of Senator Piatt were read. These resignations caused great excitement throughout the entire country. They were prepared without consultation with any one — even Vice-President Arthur, the in- timate friend of both, not knowing any- thing of the movement until the letters were opened at the chair where he pre- sided. Logan and Cameron — Conkling's colleagues in the great Chicago battle — were equally unadvised. The resignations were forwarded to Gov. Cornell, of New York, who, by all permissible delays, sought to have them reconsidered and withdrawn, but both Senators were firm. The Senate confirmed Judge Robertson for Collector, and General Merritt as Con- sul-General at London, May 18th, Presi- dent Garfield having wisely renewed the Conkling list of appointees, most of whom declined under the changed condition of afiiiirs. These events more widely separated the factions in New York — one wing calling itself " Stalwart," the other " Half-Breed," a term of contempt flung at the Indepen- dents by Conkling. Elections must follow to fill the vacancies, the New York Legis- lature being in session. These vacancies gave the Democrats for the time control of the United States Senate, but they thought it unwise to pursue an advantage which 254 AMERICAN POLITICS, would compel them to show their hands for or against one or other of the opposing Kepublican factions. The extra session of the Senate adjourned May 20th. The New York Legislature began ballot- ing for successors to Senators Conkling and Piatt on the 31st of May. The majority of the Republicans (Independents or "Half- breeds") supported Chauncey M. Depew as the successor of Piatt for the long term, and William A. Wheeler as the successor of Conkling for the short term, a few su]> porting Cornell. The minority (Stalwarts) renominated Messrs. Conkling and^Platt. The Democrats nominated Francis Kernan for the long term, and John C. Jacoljs for the short term ; and, on his withdrawal, Clarkson N. Potter. The contest lasted until July 22, and resulted in a compro- mise on Warner A. Miller as Piatt's suc- cessor, and Elbridge G. Lapham as Conk- ling's ^iccessor. In Book VII., our Tabu- lated History of Politics, we give a correct table of the ballots. These show at a sin- gle glance the earnestness and length of the contest. The factious feelings engendered thereby were carried into the Fall nominations for the Legislature, and as a result the Demo- crats obtained control, which in part they subsequently lost by the refusal of the Tammany 'Democrats to support _ their nominees for presiding officers. This De- mocratic division caused a long and tire- some deadlock in the Legislature of New York. It was broken in the House by a promise on the part of the Democratic candidate for Speaker to favor the Tam- many men with a just distribution of the committees — a promise which was not satisfactorily carried out, and as a result the Tammany forces of the Senate joined hands with the Republicans. The Repuli- lican State ticket would also have been lost in the Fall of 1881, but for the inter- position of President Arthur, who quickly succeeded in uniting the warring factions. This work was so well done, that all save one name on the ticket (Gen'l Hustcd) succeeded. The same factious spirit was manifested in Pennsylvania in the election of U. S. Senator in the winter of 1881, the two wings taking the names of " Regulars " and " In- dependents." The division occurred be- fore the New York battle, and it is trace- able not alone to the bitter nominating contest at Chicago, but to the administra- tion of President Hayes and the experi- ment of civil service reform. Administra- tions which are not decided and firm upon political issues, invariably divide their parties, and while these divisions are not always to be deplored, and sometimes lead to good results, the fact that undecided administrations divide the parties which they represent, ever remains. The exam- ples are plain : Van Buren's, Tyler's, Fill- more's, Buchanan's, and Haves'. The hit- ter's indecision was more excusable than that of any of his predecessors. The in- exorable firmness of Grant caused the most bitter partisan assaults, and despite all his efforts to sustain the " carjx-t-bag govern- ments " of the South, they became unpopu- lar and were rapidly supplanted. As they disappeared, Democratic rejiresentation from the South increased, and this increase continued during the administration of Hayes — the greatest gains being at times when he showed the greatest desire to con- ciliate the South. Yet his administration did the party good, in this, that while at first dividing, it finally cemented through the conviction that experiments of that kind with a proud Southern people were as a rule unavailing. The re -opening of the avenues of trade and other natural causes, apparently uncultivated, have ac- complished in this direction much more than any political effort. In Pennsylvania a successor to U. S. Senator Wm. A. Wallace was to be chosen. Henry AV. Oliver, Jr., received the nomi- nation of the Republican caucus, the friends of Galusha A. Grow refusing to enter after a count had been made, and declaring in a written paper that they would not participate in any caucus, and would independently manifest their choice in the Legislature. The following is the first vote in joint Convention ■ OLIVER. "WALLACE. Senate 20 Senate 16 House 75 House 77 Total 95 Total 93 GROW. AGJs'EW. Senate 12 Senate 1 House 44 House Total 56 Total 1 BREWSTER. BAIRD. Senate Senate House 1 House 1 Total 1 Total 1 m'veagh. Senate House 1 Total. Whole number of votes cast, 248 ; ne- cessary to a choice, 125. On "the 17th of January the tAvo factions issued opposing addresses. From these we quote the leading ideas, which divided the factions. The "Regulars " said : "Henry W. Oliver, jr., of Allegheny county, was nominated on the third ballot, receiving 79 of the 95 votes present. Un- der the rules of all parties known to the REPUBLICAN FACTIONS. 255 present or past history of our country, a majority of those participating should have been sufficient; but such was thedi-sirefor party harmony and for absolute fairness, that a majority of all the Republican mem- >, her prosperous communities, material wealth and diversified in cities. vast tries and res dom, sagacity representative her indus- but that in the wis- statesmanship of her diall occupy a corres- bers of the Senate and House was required ponding rank and influence. To meet to nominate. The effect of this w^as to I this public expectation and demand we are give those remaining out a negative voice j and have at all times been willing to su- bordinate our personal preferences, all local considerations and factional differ- ences, and unite with our colleagues in the selection of a candidate in whom are com- bined at least some of these important and essential qualifications. It was only when it became apparent that the party caucus was to be used to defeat this popular desire and to coerce a nomination which is con- spicuously lacking in the very essentials which were demanded, that we determined to absent ourselves from it. * * * * " Second, Having declined to enter the caucus, we adhere to our determination to defeat, if possible, its nominee, but only by the election of a citizen of unquestioned fidelity to the principles of the Republi- can party. In declaring our independency from the caucus domination we do not forget our allegiance to the party whose chosen representatives we are. The only result of our policy is the transfer of the contest from the caucus to the joint con- vention of the two houses. There willbe aflbrded an opportunity for the expression of individual preferences and honorable rivalry for an honorable distinction. If the choice shall fall upon one not of ap- proved loyalty and merit, the fault will not be ours." After a long contest both of the leading candidates withdrew, and quickly the Reg- ulars substituted General James A. Beaver, the Independent Congressman, Thoma.s M. Bayne. On these names the dead-lock remained unbroken. Without material change the balloting continued till Febru- ary 17th, when both Republican factions agreed to appoint conference committees of twelve each, wdth a view to selecting by a three-fourths vote a compromise candi- date. The following were the respective committees: For the Independents: Sena- tors Davis, Bradford ; Lee, Venango; Stew- art, Franklin ; Lawrence, Washington ; Representatives Wolfe, Union; Silver- thorne, Erie ; Mapes, Venango ; McKee, Philadelphia; Slack, Allegheny; Stubs, Chester; Niles, Tioga; and Derickson, Crawford. For the Regulars: Senators Greer, Butler; Herr, Dauphin; Smith, Philadelphia; Keefer, Schuylkill; Cooper, Delaware ; Representatives Pollock, Phila- delphia; Moore, Allegheny; Marshall, Huntingdon; Hill, Indiana; Eshleman, Lancaster; Thomson, Armstrong; and Billingsley, Washington. The joint convention held daily sessions and balloted without result until February in the proceedings, the extent of anv priv ilege given them in regular legislative ses- sions by the Constitution. In no other caucus or convention has the minority ever found such high consideration, and we be- lieve there remains no just cause of com- plaint against the result. Even captious faultfinding can find no place upon which to hang a sensible objection. Mr. Oliver was, therefore, fairly nominated by the only body to which is delegated the power of nomination and by methods which were more than just, which, from every stand- point, must be regarded as generous ; and in view of these things, how can we, your Senators and Representatives, in fairness withhold our support from him in open sessions ; rather how can we ever abandon a claim established by the rules regulating the government of all parties, accepted by all as just, and wdiich are in exact harmony w'ith that' fundamental principle of our Government which proclaims the right of the majority to rule? To do otherwise is to confess the injustice and the failure of that principle — something we are not pre- pared to do. It would blot the titles to our own positions. There is not a Senator or member who does not owe his nomina- tion and election to the same great prin- ciple. To profit by its acceptance in our own cases and to deny it to Mr. Oliver would be an exhibition of selfishness too flagrant for our taste. To acknowledge the right to revolt when no unfairness can be truthfully alleged and when more than a majority have in the interest of harmony been required to govern, would be a tra- vesty upon every American notion _ and upon that sense of manliness which yields when fairlv beaten." The "Independent" address said: " Fird. We recognize a public senti- ment which demands that in the selection of a United States Senator w^e have regard to that dignity of the office to be filled, its important duties and functions, and the qualifications of the individual wath refer- ence thereto. This sentiment is, we un- derstand, that there are other and higher qualifications for this distinguished posi- tion than business experience and success, and reckons among these the accomplish- ments of the scholar, the acquirements of the student, the mature wisdom of experi- ence and a reasonable familiarity with public affairs. It desires that Pennsylva- nia shall be distinguished among her sister Commonwealths, not only by her populous 256 AMERICAN POLITICS. 22d, when John I. Mitchell, of Tioga, Oongressinan from the 10th district, was unanimously agreed upon as a compro- mise candidate. He was nominated by a full Eepublican caucus on the morning of February 23d, and elected on the first bal- lot in joint convention on that day, the vote standing: Mitchell, 150 ; Wallace, 92; IMacVeagh, 1 ; Brewster, 1. The spirit of this contest continued until fall. Senator Davies, a friend of Mr. Grow, was a prominent candidate for the Eepub- lican nomination for State Treasurer. He was beaten by General Silas M. Baily, and Davies and his friends cordially made Baily's nomination unanimous. Charles S. Wolfe, himself the winter before a can- didate for United States Senator, was dis- satisfied. He suddenly raised the Inde- pendent flag, in a telegram to the Phila- delphia Press, and as he announced was "the nominee of a convention of one" for State Treasurer. After a canvass of re- markable energy on the part of Mr. Wolfe, General Baily was elected, without suffer- ing materially from the division. Mr. Wolfe obtained nearly 50,000 votes, but as almost half of them were Democratic, the result was, as stated, not seriously aftected. The Independents in Pennsylvania, however, were subdivided into two wings, known as the Continental and the Wolfe men — the former having met since the election last fall, (State Senator John Stewart, chairman) and proclaimed them- selves willing and determined to abide all Eepublican nominations fairly made, and to advocate "reform within the party lines." These gentlemen supported Gen. Baily and largely contributed to his suc- cess, and as a rule they regard with dis- favor equal to that of the Eegulars, what is known as the Wolfe movement. These divisions have not extended to other States, nor have they yet assumed the shape of third parties unless Mr. Wolfe's individual canvass can be thus classed. Up to this writing (March 10, 1882,) neither wing has taken issue with President Arthur or his appointments, though there Avere some temporary indications of this when Attor- ney General MacVeagh, of Pennsylvania, persisted in having his resignation ac- cepted. President Arthur refused to ac- cept, on the ground that he desired Mac- Veagh's services in the prosecution of the Star Eoute cases, and Mr. MacVeagh with- drew for personal and other reasons not yet fully explained. In this game of po- litical fence the position of the President was greatly strengthened. Singularly enough, in the only two States where factious divisions have been recently manifested in the Eepublican ranks, they effected almost if not quite as seriously the Democratic party. There can be but one deduction drawn from this, to wit: — That a number in both of the great parties, were for the time at least, weary of their allegiance. It is possible that nothing short of some great issue will restore the old partisan unity, and partisan unity in a Eepublic, where there are but two great parties, is not to be deplored if relieved of other than mere political dif- ferences. The existence of but two great parties, comparatively free from factions, denotes government health; where divi- sions are numerous and manifest increas- ing growth and stubbornness, there is grave danger to Eepublican institutions. We need not, however, philosophize when Mexico and the South American Eepub- lics are so near. • Tlie Caucus. Both the "Independents" of Pennsyl- vania and the " Half-Brceds " of New York at first proclaimed their opposition to the caucus system of nominating candidates for U. S. Senators, and the newspapers in their interest wrote as warmly for a tinle against " King Caucus" as did the dissat- tisfied Democratic journals in the days of De Witt Clinton. The situation, however, was totally different, and mere declamation could not long withstand the inevitable. In Pennsylvania almost nightly " confer- ences " were held by the Independents, as indeed they were in New York, though in both States a show of hostility was kei)t up to nominating in party caucus men who were to be elected by representative, more plainly legislative votes. It was at first claimed that in the Legislature each man ought to act for himself or his constituents, but very shortly it was found that the cau- cuses of the separate wings were as binding upon the respective wings as they could have been upon the whole. Dead-locks were interminable as long as this condition of affairs obtained, and hostility to the caucus system was before very long quietly discouraged "and finally flatly abandoned, for each struggle was ended by the ratifi- cation of a general caucus, and none of them could have been ended without it. The several attempts to find other means to reach a result, only led the participants farther away from the true principle, under republican forms at least, of the right of the majority to rule. In Pennsylvania, when Mr. "Oliver withdrew, fifty of his friends assembled and informally named General Beaver, and by this action sought to bind the original 95 friends of Oliver. Their conduct was excused by the plea that they represented a majority of their fac- tion. It failed to bind all of the original number, though some of the Independents were won. The Independents, rather the original 44, bound themselves in writing not to change their course of action unless THE CAUCUS. 257 there was secured the previous concui-rence of two-thirds, and this principle was ex- tended to thf .")6 who supported ]Mr. Bayue. Then when the joint committee of 24 was agreed upon, it was bound by a rule re- quiring three-fourths to recommend a can- didate. All of these were plain departures from a great principle, and the deeper the contest became, the greater the departure. True, these were but voluntary forms, but they were indefensible, and are only re- ferred to now to show the danger of mad assaults upon great principles when per- sonal and factious aims are at stake. Op- position to the early Congressional caucus was plainly right, since one department of the Government was by voluntary agencies actually controlling another, while the law gave legal forms which could be more pro- perly initiated through voluntary action. The writer believes, and past contests all confirm the view that the voluntary action can only be safely employed by the power by the' law with the right of selection. Thus the people elect township, county and State officers, and it is their right and duty by the best attainable voluntary action to indicate their choice. This is done through the caucus or convention, the latter not differing from the former save in extent and possibly breadth of re]iresentation. The same rule applies to all offices elective by the people. It cannot properly apply to appointive offices, and while the attempt to apply it to the election of U. S. Senators shows a strong desire on the part, frequently of the more public-spirited citizens, to ex- ercise a greater share in the selection of these officers than the law directly gives them, yet their representatives can very properly be called upon to act as they would act if they had direct power in the pre- mises, and such action leads them into a party caucus, where the will of the majority of their respective parties can be fairly' ascertained, and when ascertained re- spected. The State Legislatures appoint U. S. Senators, and the Eepresentatives and Senators of the States are bound to consider in their selection the good of the entire State. If this comports with the wish of their respective districts, very well ; if it does not, their duty is not less plain. Probably the time will never come when the people will elect United States Senators ; to do that is to radically change the Federal system, and to practically de- stroy one of the most important branches of the Government ; yet he is not a careful observer who does not note a growing dis- position on the part of the people, and largely the people of certain localities, and imaginary political sub-divisions, to control these selections. The same is true of Presidential nominations, where masses of people deny the right of State Conventions to instruct their dele^ates-at-large. In 17 many States the people composing either of the groat parties now select their own reiiresentative delegates to National Conventions, and where their selections are not respected, grave party danger is sure to follow. There is nothing wrong in this, since it points to, and is but paving the way for a more popular selection of Presidents and Vice Presidents — to an eventual selection (if Presidential electors, probably by CoiiL;rc<-i(.ii;il districts. Yet those to be selected at hivjiv must through practical voluntary forms be nominated iu that way, and the partisan State Conven- tion is the best method yet devised for this work, and its instructions should be as binding as those of the people upon their representatives. In this government of ours there is voluntary and legal work delegated to the people directly ; there is legal work delegated to appointing powers, and an intelligent discrimination should ever be exercised between the two. " Ren- der unto Csesar those things which are Caesar's," unless there be a plain desire, backed by a good reason, to promote popur lar reforms as enduring as the practices and principles which they are intended to sujiport. Fredrick W. Whitridge, in an able re- view of the caucus system published * in La- lor's Encyclopcedia of Political Science, says : "A caucus, in the political vocabulary of the United States, is primarily a private meeting of voters holding similar views, held prior to an election for the purpose of furthering such views at the election. With the development of parties, and the rule of majorities, the caucus or some e(]uivalent has become an indispensable adjunct to party government, and it may now be defined as a meeting of the majority of the electors belonging to the same party in any political or legislative body held preliminary to a meeting thereof, for' the purpose of selecting candidates to be voted for, or for the purpose of de- termining the course of the party at the meeting of the whole body. The candidates of each party are univer- sally selected by cauctis, either directly or indirectly through delegates to conven- tions chosen in caucuses. In legislative bodies the course of each party is often predetermined with certainty in caucus, and often disctission between parties has been, in consequence, in some degree superseded. The caucus system is, in short, the basis of a complete electoral system which has grown up within each jiarty, side by side with that which is alone contemplated by the laws. This condition has in recent years attracted much atten- tion, and has been bitterly announced as an evil. It was, however, early foreseen. John Adams, in 1814, wrote in the " Tentk * By Rand .t McNally, Chicago, 111., 1882. 258 AMERICAN POLITICS. Letter on Government:" "They have invented a balance to all balance in their caucuses. We have congressional caucuses, state caucuses, county caucuses, city cau- cuses, district caucuses, town caucuses, parish caucuses, and Sunday caucuses at church doors, and in these aristocratical caucuses elections have been decided.'^ The caucus is a necessary consequence of majority rule. If the majority is to define the policy of a party, there must be some method within each party of ascertaining the mind of the majority, and settling the party ^jrogramme, before it meets the op- posing party at the polls. The Carlton and Reform clubs discharge for the Tories and Liberals many of the functions of a congressional caucus. Meetings of the members of the parties in the reichstag, the corps legislatif and the chamber of ■deputies are not unusual, although they Iiave generally merely been for consulta- tion, and neither in England, France, Germany or Italy, has any such authority been conceded to the wish of the majority of a party as we have rested in the deci- sion of a caucus. What has been called a caucus has been established by the Liberals of Birmingham, England, as to which, see a paper by W. Eraser Rae, in the "International Review" for August, 1880. The origin of the term caucus is obscure. It has been derived from the Algonquin word Kaio-kaw-wiis — to con- sult, to speak — but the more probable derivation makes it a corruption of caulkers. In the early politics of Boston, and particularly during the early difficul- ties between the townsmen and the British troops, the seafaring men and those em- ployed about the ship yards were promi- nent among the town-peojile, and there were numerous gatherings which may have very easily come to be called by way of reproach a meeting of caulkers, after the least influential class who, at- tended them, or from the caulking house or caulk house in which they were held. What was at first a derisive description, came to be an ajjpellation, and the gather- ings of so-called caulkers became a cau- cus. John Pickering, in a vocabulary of words and phrases peculiar to the United States (Boston, 1816), gives this derivation of the word, and says several gentlemen mentioned to him that they had heard this derivation. Gordon, writing in 1774, says : " More than fifty years ago Mr. .'Samuel xVdams' father and twenty others, one or two from the north end of the town where all the ship business is carried on, used to meet, make a caucus and lay their plan for introducing certain persons into places of trust and power. When they had settled it they separated, and each used their particular influence within his own circle. He and hi* friends would furnish themselves with ballots, including the names of the parties fixed upon, which they distributed on the days of election. By acting in concert, together with a care- ful and extensive distribution of ballots, they generally carried their elections to their own mind. In like manner it was that Mr. Samuel Adams first became a representative for Boston." [History oj the American Revolution, vol. i., p. 305.) February, 1763, Adams writes in his diary : " This day I learned that the cau- cus club meets at certain times in the gar- ret of Tom Dawes, the adjutant of the Bos- ton regiment. He has a large house and he has a movable partition in his garret which he takes down and the whole club meets in his room. There they smoke tobacco until they cannot see one end of the room from another. There they drink flip, I suppose, and there they choose a moderator who puts questions to the vote regularly ; and selectmen, assessors, col- lectors, wardens, fire wards and representa- tives are regularly chosen in the town. Uncle Fairfield, Story, Ruddock, Adams, Cooper, and a rudis indigesf agues moles ot others, are members. They send commit- tees to wait on the merchants' club, and to propose in the choice of men and measures. Captain Cunningham says, they have of- ten solicited him to go to the caucuses ; they have assured him. their benefit in his business, etc." [Adams' Works, vol. ii., p. 144.) Under the title caucus should be considered the congressional nominating caucus ; the caucuses of legislative assem- blies ; primary elections, still known out- side the larger cities as caucuses ; the evils which have been attributed to the latter, and the remedies which have been pro- posed. These will accordingly be men- tioned in the order given. " The democratic system is the result of the reorganization of the various anti- Tammany democratic factions, brought about, in 1881, by a practically self-ap- pointed committee of 100. Under this sys- tem primary elections are to be held annu- ally in each of 678 election districts, at which all democratic electors resident in the respective districts may participate, pro- vided they were registered at the last gene- ral election. The persons voting at any primary shall be members of the election district association for the ensuing year, which is to be organized in January of each year. The associations may admit demo- cratic residents in their respective districts, who are not members, to membership, and they have general supervision of the inte- rests of the party within their districts. Primaries are held on not less than four days' public notice, through the newspa- pers, of the time and place, and at the ap- pointed time the meeting is called to order by the chairman of the election district as- THE CAUCUS. 259 aociation, provided twenty persons be pre- sent; if that number sliall not be present, the meeting may be called to order with a less number, at the end of fifteen minutes. The first business of tlie meeting is to se- lect a chairman, and all elections of dele- gates or committeemen shall take place in open meeting. Each person, as he offers to vote, states his name and residence, which may be compared with the registration list at the last election, and each person shall state for whom he votes, or he may hand to the judges an open ballot, having designated thereon the persons for whom he votes, and for what positions. Nominations are all made by conventions of delegates from the districts within which the candidate to be cho-;en is to be voted for. There is an as- sembly district committee in each assembly district, composed of one delegate for each 100 votes or fraction thereof, from each election district within the assembly dis- trict. There is also a county committee composed of delegates from each of the as- sembly district committees. The function of these committees is generally to look af- ter the interests of the parties within their respective spheres. This system is too new for its workings to be as yet fairly criti- cised. It may prove a really popular sys- tem, or it may prove only an inchoate form of the other systems. At present it can only be said that the first primaries under it were participated in by 27,000 electors. " The evils of the caucus and primary election systems lie in the stringent obliga- tion which is attached to the will of a for- mal majority ; in the fact that the process of ascertaining what the will of the major- ity is, has becA surrounded with so many restrictions that the actual majority of votes are disfranchised, and take no part in that process, so that the formal majority is in consequence no longer the majority in fact, although it continues to demand recogni- tion of its decisions as such. " The separation between the organiza- tion and the party, between those who no- minate and those who elect, is the sum of the evils of the too highly organized cau- cus system. It has its roots in the notion that the majority is right, because it is the majority, which is the popular view thus expressed by Hammond : ' I think that when political friends consent to go into caucus for the nomination of officers, every member of such caucus is bound in honor to support and carry into effect its deter- mination. If you suspect that determina- tion will be so preposterous that you can- not in conscience support it, then you ought on no account to become one of its mem- bers. To try your chance in a caucus, and then, because your wishes are not gratified, to attempt to defeat the result of the deli- beration of your friends, strikes me as a palpable violation of honor and good faith. You caucus for no other possible purpose than under the implied argument that the opinion and wishes of the minority shall be yielded to the opinions of the majority, and the sole object of caucusing is to ascertain what is the will of the majority. I repeat that unless you intend to carry into effect the wishes of the majority, however con- trary to your own, you have no business at a caucus.' {Political Hutory of New York, vol. i., p. 192). — In accordance with this theory, the will of the majority becomes obligatory as soon as it is made known, and one cannot assist at a caucus in order to ascertain the will of the majority, without thereby being bound to follow it ; and the theory is so deeply rooted that, under the caucus and primary election system, it has been extended to cases in which the ma- jorities are such only in form. " The remedies as well as the evils of the caucus and nominating system have been made the subject of general discussion in connection with civil service reform. It is claimed that that reform, by giving to pub- lic ofiicers th-e same tenure of their positions which is enjoyed by the employes of a cor- poration or a private business house, or during the continuance of efficiency or good behaviour, would abolish or greatly dimi- nish the evils of the caucus system by de- priving public officers of the illegitimate incentive to maintain it under which they now act. Other more speculative remedies have been suggested. It is proposed, on the one hand, to very greatly diminish the number of elective officers, and, in order to do away with the pre-determination of elec- tions, to restrict the political action of the people in their own persons to districts so small that they can meet together and act as one body, and that in all other affairs than those of these small districts the people should act by delegates. The the- ory here seems to be to get rid of the ne- cessity for election and nominating ma- chinery. (See 'A True Republic,' by Al- bert Strickney, New York, 1879; and a se- ries of articles in Scribner's Monthly for 1881, by the same w^riter). On the other hand, it is proposed to greatly increase the number of elections, by taking the whole primary system under the protection of the law.* This plan proposes : 1. The direct nomination of candidates by the members of the respective political parties in place of nominations by delegates in conventions. 2. To apply the election laws to primary elections. 3. To provide that both politi- cal parties shall participate in the same primary election instead of having a differ- ent caucus for each party. 4. To provide for a final election to be held between two candidates, each representative of a party * This was partially done by the Legislature of Pennsylvania in 1881. 260 AMERICAN POLITICS. wlio have been selected by means of the Srimaiy election. This plan would un- oubtedly do away with the evils of the present caucus system, but it contains no guarantee that a new caucus system would not be erected for the purpose of influ- encing ' the primary election' in the same manner in which the present primary sys- tem now influences the final election. (See however ' The Elective Franchise in the United States; New York, 1880, by D. C. McClellan.) — The effective remedy for the evils of the caucus system will probably be found in the sanction of primary elections by law. * * * Bills for this purpose were introduced by the Hon. Erastus Brooks in the New York Legislature in 1881, which provided substantially for the system pro- posed by Mr. McClellan, but they were left unacted upon, and no legislative attemjit to regulate primaries, except by providing for their being called, and for their pro- cedeure, has been made elsewhere. In Ohio what is known as the Baber law pro- vides that where any voluntary political association orders a primary, it must be by a majority vote of the central or control- ling committee of such party or association ; that the call must be published for at least five days in the newspapers, and state the time and place of the meeting, the autho- rity by which it was called, and the name of the person who is to represent that au- thority at each poll. The law also provides for challenging voters, for punishment of illegal voting, and for the bribery or inter- vention of electors or judges. {Eev. Stat. Ohio, sees. 2916-2921.) A similar law in Missouri is made applicable to counties only of over 100,000 inhabitants, but by this law it is made optional with the volun- tary political association whether it will or not hold its primaries under the law, and if it does, it is provided that the county shall incur no expense in the conduct of .such elections. {Laws of Missouri, 1815, p. 54.) A similar law also exists in Cali- fornia. {Laws of California, 1865-1866, p. 438. ) These laws comprise all the existing legislation on the subject, except what is known as the Landis Bill of 1881, which requires primary officers to take an oath, and which punishes fraud." Assassination of President Garfield. At 9 o'clock on the morning of Satur- day, July 2d, 1881, President Garfield, ac- companied by Secretary Blaine, left the Executive Mansion to take a special train from the Baltimore and Potomac depot for New England, where he intended to visit the college from which he had gradu- ated. Arriving at the depot, he was walk- ing arm-in-arm through the main waiting- room, when Charles J. Guiteau, a persist- ent applicant for an ofllice, who had some time previously entered through the main door, advanced to the centre of the room, and having reached within a few feet of his victim, fired two shots, one of which took fatal effect. The bullet was of forty- four calibre, and striking the President about four inches to the right of the spinal coluiun, struck the tenth and badly shat- tered the eleventh rib. The President sank to the floor, and was conveyed to a room where temporary conveniences were attainable, and a couch was improvised. Dr. Bliss made an unsuccessful effort to find the ball. The shock to the President's system was very severe, and at first ajjpre- hensions were felt that death would ensue speedily. Two hours after the shooting, the physicians decided to remove him to the Executive Mansion. An army ambu- lance was procured, and the removal ef- fected. Soon after, vomiting set in, and the patient -exhibited a dangerous degree of prostration, which threatened to end speed- ily in dissolution. This hopeless condition of affairs continued until past midnight, when more favorable symptoms were ex- hibited. Dr. Bliss was on this Sunday- morning designated to take charge of the case, and he called Surgeon - General Barnes, Assistant Surgeon-General Wood- ward, and Dr. Reyburn as consulting phy- sician. To satisfy the demand of the country, Drs. Agnew, of Philadelphia, and Hamilton, of New York, were also sum- moned by telegraph, and arrived on a special train over the Pennsylvania Eail- road, Sunday afternoon. For several days immediately succeeding the shooting, the patient suffered great inconvenience and pain in the lower limbs. This created an apprehension that the spinal nerves had been injured, and death was momentarily expected. On the night of July 4th a favorable turn was observed, and the morn- ing of the 5tli brought with it a vague but undefined hope that a favorable issue might ensue. Under this comforting con- viction, Drs. Agnew and Hamilton, after consultation with the resident medical at- tendants, returned to their homes; first having published to the country an in- dorsement of the treatment inaugurated. During July 5th and 6th the patient con- tinued to improve, the ]>ulse and res])ira- tion showing a marked approach to the condition of healthfulness, the former being reported on the morning of the 6th at 98, and in the evening it only increased to 104. On the 7th Dr. Bliss became very confident of ultimate triumph over the malady. In previous bulletins meagre hope was given, and the chances for reco- very estimated at one in a hundred. From July 7th to the 16th there was a slight but uninterrupted improvement, and the country began to entertain a confident hope that the patient would recover. "BOSS RULE. 261 Hope and fear alternated from day to day, amid the most painful excitement. On the 8th of August Drt*. Agnew and Hamilton had to perform their second operation to allow a free flow of pus from the wound. This resulted in an important discovery. It was ascertained that the track of the bullet had turned from its downward deflection to a forward course. The operation lasted an hour, and ether was administered, the etfect of which was very unfortunate. Nausea succeeded, and vomiting followed every effort to adminis- ter nourishment for some time. However, he soon rallied, and the operation was pro- nounced successful, and, on the following day, the President, for the first time, wrote his name. On the 10th he signed an im- portant extradition paper, and on the 11th wrote a letter of hopefulness to his aged mother. On the 12th Dr. Hamilton ex- pressed the opinion that the further at- tendance of himself and Dr. Agnew was unnecessary. The stomach continued weak, however, and on the loth nausea re- turned, and the most menacing physical prostration followed the frequent vomiting, and the evening bulletin announced that " the President's condition, on the whole, is less satisfactory." Next a new complication forced itself upon the attention of the physicians. This was described as " inflammation of the right parotid gland." On August 24th it was decided to make an incision below and forward of the right ear, in order to prevent suppuration. Though this opera- tion was ]n-(»nounced satisfactory, the pa- tient gradually sank, until August 25th, when all hope seemed to have left those in attendance. Tavo days of a dreary watch ensued ; on the 27th 'an improvement inspired new hope. This continued throughout the week, but failed to build up the system. Then it was determined to remove the pa- tient to a more favorable atmosphere. On the 6th of September this design was exe- cuted, he having been conveyed in a car arranged for the purpose to Long Branch, where, in a cottage at Elberon, it was hoped vigor would return. At first, indi- cations justified the most sanguine expec- tations. On the 9th, however, fever re- turned, and a cough came to harass the wasted sufferer. It was attended with purulent expectoration, and became so troublesome as to entitle it to be regarded as the leading feature of the case. The surgeons attributed it to the septic condi- tion of the blood. The trouble increased until Saturday, September 10th, when it was thouglit the end was reached. _ Pie rallied, however, and improved rapidly, during the succeeding few days, and on Tuesday, the 13th, was lifted from the bed and placed in a chair at the window. The improvement was not enduring, however, and on Saturday, September 17tli, the rigor returned. During the niglits and days succeeding, until the final moment, hope rose and fell alternately, and though the patient's spirits fluctuated to justify this change of feeling, the improvement fiiiled to bring with it the strength neces- sary to meet tlie strain. President Garfleld died at 10.35 on the night of Sept. 19th, 1881, and our nation mourned, as it had only done once before, when Abraham Lincoln also fell by the hand of an assassin. The assassin Guiteau was tried and convicted, the jury rejecting his plea of insanity. President Artliur. Vice-President Arthur, during the long illness of the President, and at the time of his death, deported himself so well that he won the good opinion of nearly all classes of the people, and happily for weeks and months all factious or partisan spirit was hushed by the nation's great calamity. At midnight on the 19th of September the Cabinet telegraphed him from Long Branch to take the oath of office, and this he very properly did before a local judge. The Government cannot wisely be left without a head for a single day. He was soon afterwards again sworn inatM^ashing- ton, with the usual ceremonies, and took occasion to make a speech which improved the growing better feeling. The new President requested the Cabinet to hold on until Congress met, and it would have remained intact had Secretary Windom not found it necessary to resume hrs place in the Senate. The vacancy was offered to ex-Governor Morgan, of New York, who was actually nominated and confirmed before he made' up his mind to decline it. Judge Folger now fills the place. The several chanii'es since made will be found in the Tabulated History, Book VII. It has thus far been the effort of Presi- dent Arthur to allay whatever of factious bitterness remains in the Republican party. In his own State of New York the terms " Half-Breed " and "Stalwart" are pass- ing into comparative disuse, as are the terms " Regulars " and " Independents " in Pennsylvania. "Boss Rule." The complaint of " Boss Rule" in these States — by which is meant the control of certain leaders — still obtains to some ex- tent. Wayne MacVeagh was the author of this very telling political epithet, and he used it with rare force in his street s]ieeches at Chicago when opposing the nomination of Grant. It was still further cultivated 2t)- AMERICAN POLITICS. bv Rufus E. Shapley, Esq,, of Phihidel- p'hia, the author of " Solid for Mulhoolv," a most admirable political satire, which had an immense sale. Its many hits were freely quoted by the Reformers of Phila- delphia, who organized under the Com- mittee of One Hundred, a body of mer- chants who first banded themselves together to promote reforms in the munici- pal government. This organization, aided by the Democrats, defeated Mayor Wm. S. Stokley for his third term, electing Mr. King, theretofore a very popular Demo- crattc councilman. In return for this sup- port, the Democrats accepted John Hun- ter, Committee's nominee for Tax Receiver, and the combination succeeded. In the fall of 1881 it failed on the city ticket, but in the spring of 1882 secured material suc- cesses in the election of Councilmen, who were nominees of both parties, but aided by the endorsement of the Committee of One Hundred.' A similar combination failed as between Brown (Rep.) and Eisen- brown (Dem.) for Magistrate. On this part of the ticket the entire city voted, and the regular Republicans won by about 500 majority. The following is the declaration of prin- ciples of the Citizens' Republican Associ- ation of Philadelphia, which, under the banner of Mr. Wolfe, extended its organi- zation to several counties : I. We adhere to the platform of the National Convention of the Republican party, adopted at Chicago, June 2d, 1880, and we proclaim our unswerving alle- giance to the great principles upon which that party was founded, to wit : national supremacy, universal liberty, and govern- mental probity. II. The Republican party, during its glorious career, having virtually estab- lished its principles of national supremacy and universal liberty as the law of the land, we shall, while keeping a vigilant watch over the maintenance of those prin- ciples, regard the third one, viz. : govern- mental probity, as the living issue to be struggled for in the future ; and as the pure administration of government is es- sential to the i^ermanence of Republican institutions, we consider this issue as in no way inferior in importance to any other. III. The only practical method of re- storing purity to administration is through the adoption" of a system of civil service, under which public officials shall not be the tools of any man or of any clique, sub- ject to dismissal at their behest, or to as- sessment in their service ; nor appoint- ment to office be "patronage" at the disposal of any man to consolidate his power within the party. IV. It is the abuse of this appointing power which has led to the formation of the " machine," and the subjection of the party to " bosses." Our chosen leader, the late President Garfield, fell a inartyr in his contest with the " bosses." We take up the struggle where he lett it, and we hereby declare that we will own no allegiance to any " boss," nor be subservient to any " machine ;" but that we W'ill do our ut- most to liberate the party from the " boss" domination under which it has fallen. V. Recognizing that political parties are simply instrumentalities for the en- forcement of certain recognized principles, we shall endeavor to promote the principles of the Rei)ublican party by means of that party, disenthralled and released from the domination of its "bosses." But should we fail in this, we shall have no hesitation in seeking to advance the principles of the party through movements and organiza- tions outside of the party lines. The idea of the Committee of One Hun- dred is to war against '' boss rule" in muni- cipal affairs. James McManes has long enjoyed the leadership of the Republican party in Philadelphia, and the relbrm ele- ment has directed its force against his power as a leader, though he joined at Chicago in the MacVeagh war against the form of " boss rule," which was then di- rected against Grant, Conkling, Logan and Cameron. This episode has really little, if anything, to do with Federal politics,, but the facts are briefly recited with a view to explain to the reader the leading force which supported Mr. Wolfe in his inde- pendent race in Pennsylvania. Summed up, it is simply one of those local wars- against leadership which precede and fol- low factions. The factious battles in the Eepublican party, as we have stated, seem to have spent their force. The assassination of President Garfield gave them a most seri- ous check, for men were then compelled to look back and acknowledge that his plain purpose was to check divisions and heal wounds. Only haste and anger assailed, and doubtless as quickly regretted the as- sault. President Arthur, with commend- able reticence and discretion, is believed to be seeking the same end. He has made few changes, and these reluctantly. His nomination of ex-Senator Conkling to a seat in the Supreme Bench, which, though declined, is generally accepted as an assu- rance to New Yorkers that the leader hated by one side and loved by the other, should be removed from partisan politic* peculiar to his own State, but removed with the dignity and honor becoming his high abilities. It has ever been the policy of wise administrations, as with wise gene- rals, to care for the wounded, and Conk- ling was surely and sorely wounded in his battle against the confirmation of Robert- j son and his attempted re-election to the I Senate. He accepted the situation with THE READJUSTERS, 263 quiet composure, and saw his iViend Ar- thur unite the ranks which his resignation had sundered. After this there remained little if any cause for further quarrel, and while in writing history it is dangerous to attempt a prophecy, the writer believes that President Arthur will succeed in keeping his party, if not fully united, at least as compact as the opposing Democra- tic forces. Tlie Readjiisters. This party was founded in 1878 by Gen'l William Mahone, a noted Brigadier in the rebel army, tie is of Scotch-Irish de- scent, a man of very small stature but most remarkable energy, and acquired wealth in the construction and develop- ment of Southern railroads. He sounded the first note of revolt against what he styled the Bourbon rule of Virginia, and being classed as a Democrat, rapidly di- vided that party on the question of the Virginia debt. His enemies charge that he sought the repudiation of tliis debt, but in return he not only denied the charge, but said the Bourbons were actually re- pudiating it by making no provision for its payment, either in appropriations or the levying of taxes needed for the pur- pose. Doubtless his views on this ques- tion have undergone some modification, and that earlier in the struggle the uglier criticisms were partially correct. Certain it is that he and his friends now advocate full jjayment less the proportion equitably assigned to West Virginia, which sepa- rated from the parent State during the war, and in her constitution evaded her resijonsibility by declaring that the State should never contract a debt except one created to resist invasion or in a war for the government. This fact shows how keenly alive the West Virginians were to a claim which could very justly be pressed in the event of Virginia being restored to the Union, and this claim Gen'l Mahone has persistently pressed, and latterly urged a funding of the debt of his State at a 3 per cent, rate, on the ground that the State is unable to pay more and that this is in ac- cord with proper rates of interest on the bonds of State governments — a view not altogether fair or sound, since it leaves the creditors powerless to do otherwise than accept. The regular or Bourbon Demo- crats proclaimed in favor of full payment, and in this respect differed from their party associates as to ante-war debts in most other Southern States. Gen. Mahone rapidly organized his re- volt, and as the Republican party was then in a hopeless minority in Virginia, public- ly invited an alliance by the passage of a platform which advocated free schools for the blacks and a full enforcement of the National laws tnnching their civil rights. The Legislature was won, and on the Itjth of Decend)er, 1880, Gen'l Mahone was elected to the U. S. Semite to succeed Sen- ator Withers, whose term expired March 4, 1881. In the Presidential campaign of 1880, the Readjusters supported Gen'l Hancock' but on a separate electoral ticket, while the Republicans supported Garfield on an electoral_ ticket of their own selection. This division was pursuant to an under- standing, and at the time thought advi- sable by Mahone, who, if his electors won, could go for Hancock or not, as circum- stances might suggest; while if he failed the Republicans might profit by the sepa- ration. There was, however, a third horn to this dilemma, for the regular Democratic electors were chosen, but the i)olitical complexion of the Legislature was not changed. Prior to the Presidential nomi- nations Mahone's Readjuster Convention had signified their willingness to supjiort Gen'l Grant if he should be nominated at Chicago, and this fact was widely quoted by his friends in their advocacy of Grant's nomination, and in descanting upon his ability to carry Southern States. The Readjuster movement at first had no other than local designs, but about the time of its organization there was a great desire on the part of the leading Rei)uldi- cans to break the ''Solid South," and every possible expedient to that end was suggested. It was solid for the Democratic party, and standing thus could with the aid of Xew York, Indiana and New Jersey (them all Democratic States) assure the election of a Democratic President. One of the favorite objects of President Hayes was to break the " Solid South." He first obtained it by conciliatory speech- es, which were so conciliatory in fact that they • angered radical Republicans, and there were thus threatened division in un- expected quarters. He next tried it through Gen'l Key, whom he made Post- master General in the hope that he could resurrect and reorganize the old Whig elements of the South. Key was to attend to Southern postal patronage with this end in view, while Mr. Tener, his able First As- sistant, was to distribute Northern or Re- publican patronage. So lar as dividing the South was concerned, the scheme was a flat failure. The next and most quiet and effectual effort was made by Gen'l Simon Cameron, Ex-Senator from Pennsylvania. He started on a brief Southern tour, ostensibly for health and enjoyment, but really to meet Gen'l Mahone, his leading Readjuster friends, and the leading Republicans. Conferences were held, and the union of the two forces was made to embrace Na- tional objects. This was in the Fall of 1879. 264 AMERICAN POLITICS. Not long thereafter Gen'l Mahone consult- ed with Senator J. Don. Cameron, who was of course familiar with his_ father's movements, and he actively devised and carried out schemes to aid the new combi- nation by which the " Solid South " was to be broken. In the great State campaign of 1881, when the Bourbon and anti-Bour- bon candidates for Governor, were stump- ing the State, Gen'l Mahone found that a large portion of his colored friends were handicapped by their inability to pay the taxes imposed upon them by the laws of Virginia, and this threatened defeat. He sought aid from the National administra- tion. President Garfield favored the com- bination, as did Secretary Windom, but Secretary Bhiine withheld his support for several months, finally, however, acceding to the wishes of the President and most of the Cabinet. Administration influences caused the abandonment of a straight-out Republican movement organized by Con- gressman Jorgensen and others, and a movement which at one time threatened a disastrous division was overcome. The tax question remained, and this was first met by Senator J. Don. Cameron, who while summering at Manhattan Island, was really daily engaged in New York City raising funds for Mahone, with which to pay their taxes. Still, this aid was insuf- ficient, and in the heat of the battle the revenue officers throughout the United States, were asked to contribute. Many of them did so, and on the eve of election all taxes were paid and the result was the election of William E. Cameron (Read- juster) as Governor by about 20,000 ma- jority, with other State officers divided be- tween the old Readjusters and Republi- cans. The combination also carried the Legislature. In that great struggle the Readjusters became known as the anti-Bourbon move- ment, and efforts are now being made to extend it to other Southern States. It has taken root in South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and more recently in Kentucky, where the Union War Democrats in State Convention as late as March 1, 1882, separated from the Bourbon wing of the party. For a better idea of these two elements in the South, the reader is referred to the recent speeches of Hill and Mahone in the me- morable Senate scene directly after the latter took the oath of office, and cast his vote with the Republicans. These speeches will be found in Book III of this volume. Suppressing Mormonism. Polygamy, iustly denounced as "the true relic of barbarism " while slavery ex- isted, has ever since the settlement of the Mormons in Utah, been one of the vexed questions in American politics. Laws passed for its suppression have proved, thus far, unavailing ; troops could not crush it out, or did not at a time when battles were fought and won; United States Courts were powerless where juries could not be found to convict. Latterly a new and promising effort has been made for its sup- pression. This was begun in the Senate in the session of 1882. On the 16th of February a vote was taken by sections on Senator Edmunds' bill, which like the law of 1862 is penal in its provisions, but di- rectly aimed against the crime of poly- gamy. President Arthur signed the Edmunds anti-polygamy bill on the 23d of March, • 1882. Delegate Cannon of Utah, was on the floor of the Senate electioneering against the bill, and he plead with some success, for several Democratic Senators made speeches against it. The Republicans were unanimously for the bill, and the Demo- crats were not solidly against it, though the general tenor of the debate on this side was against it. Senator Vest (Democrat) of Missouri, said that never in the darkest days of the rule of the Tudors and Stuarts had any measure been advocated which came so near a bill of attainder as this one. It was monstrous to contend that the people of the United States were at the mercy of Congress without any appeal. If this bill passed it would establish a precedent that would come home to plague us for all time to come. The pressure against poly- gamy to-day might exist to-morrow against any church, institution or class in this broad land, and when the crested waves of prejudice and passion mounted high they would be told that the Congress of the United States had trampled upon the Con- stitution. In conclusion, he said : " I am prepared for the abuse and calumny that will follow any man who dares to criticise any bill against polygamy, and yet, if my official life had to terminate to-morrow, 1 would not give my vote for the unconsti- tutional principles contained in this bill." Other speeches were made by Messrs. Mor- gan, Brown, Jones, of Florida, Saulsbury, Call, Pendleton, Sherman, and Lamar, and the debate was closed by Mr. Edmunds in an eloquent fifteen-minutes' speech, in which he carefully reviewed and contro- verted the objections urged against the bill of the committee. He showed great anxiety to have the measure disposed of at once and met a re- quest from the Democratic side for a pos^ ponement till other features should be em- bodied in the bills with the remark that this was the policy that had hitherto proven a hindrance to legislation on this subject SUPPRESSING MORMONISM, 265 and that he was tired of it. In the bill as amended the following section provoked more opposition than any other, although the Senators refrained from making any particular mention of it : " That if any male person in a Territory or other place over which the United States have exclu- sive jurisdiction hereafter cohabits with more than one woman he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof he shall be punislxed by a fine of not more than S300 or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both said punishments in the discretion of the court." The bill passed viva voce vote after a re-arrangement of its sections, one of the changes being that not more than three of the commissioners shall be mem- bers of the same party. The fact that the yeas and nays were not called, shows that there is no general desire on either side to make the bill a jjartisan measure. The Edmunds Bill passed the House March 14, 1882, without material amend- ment, the Republican majority, refusing to allow the time asked by the Democrats for discussion. The vote was 193 for to only 45 against, all of the negative votes being Democratic save one, that of Jones, Green- backer from Texas. The only question was whether the bill, as passed by the Senate, would accomplish that object, and whether certain provisions of this bill did not provide a remedy w^hich ■was worse than the disease. Many Demo- crats thought that the precedent of inter- fering with the right of suffrage at the polls, w'hen the voter had not been tried and convicted of any crime, was so dan- gerous that they could not bring them- selves to vote for the measure. Among these democrats were Belmont and Hew- itt, of New York, and a number of others equally prominent. But they all professed their readiness to vote for any measure ■which would affect the abolition of poly- gamy without" impairing the fundamental rights of citizens in other parts of the coun- ! try. THE TEXT OF THE BILL. Be it enacted, &c., That section 5,352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States [ be, and the same is hereby amended so as \ to read as follows, namely : " Every person who has a husband or wife living who, in a Territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, hereafter marries another, whether married or single, and any man who hereafter simultaneously, or on the same day, marries more than' one woman, in a Territory or other place over Tvhich the United States has exclusive ; jurisdiction, is guilty of polygamy, and shall j be punished by a fine of not more than $500 and by imprisonment for a term of not I more than five years ; but this section shall not extend to any ])ctsom hy rt'ason of any former marriage whose husi)aii(l or wife by- such marriage shall have hvvn absent lor five successive years, and is not known to such person to be living, and is believed by such person to be dead, nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have been dissolved by a valid de- cree of a competent court, nor to any per- son by reason of any former marriage "which shall have been pronounced void by a val- id decree of a comjietent court, on the ground of nullity of the marriage con- tract." Sec. 2. That the foregoing provisions shall not affect the prosecution or punish- ment of any offence already committed against the section amended by the first section of this act. Sec. 3. That if any male person, in a Territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, hereafter cohabits with more than one wo- man, he shall be deemed guilty of a mis- demeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than $300, or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both said punish- ments in the discretion of the court. Sec. 4. That counts for any or all of the offences named in sections land 3 of this act may be joined in the same information or indictment. Sec. 5. That in any prosecution for biga- my, polygamy or unlawful cohabitation under any statute of the United States, it shall be sufficient cause of challenge to any person drawn or summoned as a juryman or talesman, first, that he is or has been living in the practice of bigamy, poly- gamy, or unlawful cohabitatio'n with more than one w^oman, or that he is or has been guilty of an offence punishable by either of the foregoing sections or by section 5352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States or the act of July 1, 1862, entitled " An act to punish and prevent the prac- tice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other jjlaces, and disap- proving and annulling certain acts of the Legi.4ative Assembly of the Territory of Utah ;" or, second, that he believes it right for a man to have more than one living and undivorced wife at the same time, or to live in the practice of cohabiting with more than one woman, and any person appear- ing or offered as a juror or talesman and challenged on either of the foregoing grounds may be questioned on his oath as to the existence of any such cause of chal- lenge, and other evidence may be intro- duced bearing upon the question raised by such challeufie, and this (juestion shall be tried by the court. But as to the first ground of challenge before mentioned the person challenged shall be bound to answer if he 266 AMERICAN POLITICS. shall say upon his oath that he declines on the ground that his answer may tend to criminate himself, and if he shall answer to said first ground his answer shall not be given in evidence in any criminal prose- cution against him for any offense named in sections 1 or 3 of this act, but if he declines to answer on any ground he shall be rejected as incompetent. Sec. 6. That the President is hereby au- thorized to grant amnesty to such classes of offenders guilty before the passage of this act of bigamy, polygamy, or unlawful cohabitation before the passage of this act, on such conditions and under such limita- tions as he shall think proper ; but no such amnesty shall have effect unless the condi- tions thereof shall be complied with. Sec. 7. That the issue of bigamous or polygamous marriages known as Mormon marriages, in cases in which such marriages have been solemnized according to the ceremonies of the Mormon sect, in any Territory of the United States, and such issue shall have been born before the 1st day of January, A. D. 1883, are hereby legitimated. Sec. 8. That no polygamist, bigamist, or any person cohabiting with more than one woman, and no woman cohabiting with any of the persons described as aforesaid in this section, in any Territory or other place over which the United States have ex- clusive jurisdiction, shall be entitled to vote at any election held in any such Territory or other place, or be eligible for election or appointment to or be entitled to hold any office or place of public trust, honor or emolument in, under, or for such Territory or place, or under the United States. Sec. 9. That all the registration and election offices of every description in the Territory of Utah are hereby declared va- cant, and each and every duty relating to the registration of voters, the conduct of elections, the receiving or rejection of votes, and the canvassing and returning of the same, and the issuing of certificates or other evidence of election in said Terri- tory, shall, until other provision be made by the Legislative Assembly of said Terri- tory as is hereinafter by this section pro- vided, be performed under the existing laws of the United States and of said Ter- ritory by proper persons, who shall be ap- pointed to execute such ofiices and perform such duties by a board of five persons, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and not more than three of whom shall be mem- bers of one political party, and a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum. The members of said board so appointed by the President shall each receive a salary at the rate of $3,000 per annum, and shall con- tinue in office until the Legislative As- sembly of said Territory shall make pro- vision for filling said ofl[ices as herein au- thorized. The secretary of the Territoiy shall be the secretary of said board, and keep a journal of its proceedings, and at- test the action of said board under this section. The canvass and return of all the votes at elections in said Territory for members of the Legislative Assemljly thereof shall also be returned to said board, which shall canvass all such returns and issue certificates of election to those per- sons who, being eligible for such election, shall appear to have been lawfully elected, which certificate shall be the only evidence of the right of such persons to sit in such Assembly : Provided, That said board of five persons shall not exclude any person otherwise eligible to vote from the polls on account of any opinion such i^erson may entertain on the subject of bigamy or po- lygamy, nor shall they refuse to count any such vote on account of the opinion of the person casting it on the subject of bigamy or polygamy ; but each house of such As- sembly, after its organization, shall have power to decide upon the elections and qualifications of its members. And at or after the first meeting of said Legislative Assembly whose members shall have been elected and returned according to the pro- visions of this act, said Legislative Assem- bly may make such laws, conformable to the organic act of said Territory and not inconsistent with other laws of the United States, as it shall deem proper concerning the filling of the offices in said Territory declared vacant by this act. John R. McBri'de writing in the Febru- ary number (1882) of The International Itcriew, gives an interesting and correct view of the obstacles which the Mormons have erected against the enforcement of United States laws in the Territory. It requires acquaintance with these facts to fully comprehend the difficulties in the way of what seems to most minds a very plain and easy task. Mr. McBride says : Their first care on arriving in Utah was to erect a " free and Independent State," called the "State of Deserct." It included in its nominal limits, not only all of Utah as it now is, but one-half of California, all of Nevada, part of Colorado, and a large portion of four other Territories now or- ganized. Brigham Young was elected Governor, and its departments, legislative and judicial, were fully organized and put into operation. Its legislative acts were styled "ordinances," and when Congress, disregarding the State organization, insti- tuted a Territorial Government for Utah, the legislative body chosen by the Mor- mons adopted the ordinances of the " State of Deseret." Many of these are yet on the statute book of Utah. They show con- clusively the domination of the ecclesiasti- cal idea, and how utterly insignificant in SUPPRESSING MORMONISM. 267 comparison was the power pf the civil authority. Tliey incorporated the INIonuon Church into a Ijody politic and corporate, and by the third section of the act i^ave it supreme authority over its members in everything temporal and spiritual, and as- signed as a reason for so doing that it was because the powers confii-med were in " support of morality and virtue, and were founded on the revelations of the Lord." Under this power to make laws and punish and forgive offenses, to hear and determine between brethren, the civil law was super- seded. The decrees of the courts of this church, certified under seal, have been ex- amined by the writer, and he found them exercising a jurisdiction without limit ex- cept that of appeal to the President of the church. That the assassinations of apos- tates, the massacres of the Morrisites at Morris Fort and of the Arkansas emigrants at Mountain Meadows, were all in pursu- ance of church decrees, more or less formal, no one acquainted with the system doubts. This act of incorporation was passed Febru- ary 8, 1851, and is found in the latest com- pilation of Utah statutes. It is proper also to observe that, for many years after the erection of the Territorial Government by Congress, the " State of Deseret " organiza- tion was maintained by the Mormons, and collision was only prevented because Brig- ham was Governor of both, and found it unnecessary for his purpose to antagonize either. His church Organization made both a shadow, while that was the sub- stance of all authority. One of the earli- est of their legislative acts was to organ- ize a Surveyor General's Department,^ and title to land was declared to be in the per- sons who held a certificate from that office.^ Having instituted their own system of government and taken possession of the land, and assumed to distribute that in a system of their own, the next step was to vest certain leading men with the control of the timbers and waters of the country. By a series of acts granting lands, waters and timber to individuals, the twelve apostles became the practical proprietors of the better and more desirable portions of the country. By an ordinance dated Octo- ber -4, 1851, there was granted to Brigham Young the "sole control of City Creek and Canon for the sum of five hundred dollars." By an ordinance dated January 9, 1850, the " waters of North Mill Creek and the waters of the Canon next north " were granted to Heber C. Kimball. On the same day was granted to George A. Smith the " sole control of the cafions and timber of the east side of the ' West Mountains." On the ISth of January. 1851, the North Cottonwood Caiion was granted exclusively to Williard Richards. On the 15th of Janu- 1 .'Vet of March 2, t150. ^Act of January 10, 1 S66. ary, 1851, the waters of the "main chan- nel" of Mill Creek were donated to Brig- ham Young. On the 9th of December, 1850, there was granted to Ezra T. Benson the exclusive control of the waters of Twin Springs and Rock Springs, in Tooelle Val- ley; and on the 14th of January, 1851, to the samo person was granted the control of all the canons of the " West Mountain " and the timber therein. By the ordinance of September 14, 1850, a " general con- ference of the Church of Latter Day Saints" was authorized to elect thirteen men to become a corporation, to be called the Emigration Company ; and to this com- pany, elected exclusively by the church, was secured and appropriated the two islands in Salt Lake known as Antelope and Stansberrv Islands, to be under the exclusive control of President Brigham Young. These examples are given to show that the right of the United States to the lands of Utah met no recognition by these people. They appropriated them, not only in a way to make the people slaves, but indicated their claim of sovereignty as superior to any. Young, Smith, [5enson and Kimball were apostles. Eichards was Brigham Young's counselor. By an act of December 28, 1855, there was granted to the "University of the State of Deseret" a tract of land amounting to about five hundred acres, inside the city limits of Salt Lake City, without any reservation to the occupants whatever ; and everywhere was the authority of the United States over the country and its soil and people utterly ignored. Not satisfied with making the grants re- ferred to, the Legislative Assembly entered upon a system of municipal incorporations, by which the fertile lauds of the Territory were withdrawn from the operation of the preemptive laws of Congress; and thus while they occupied these without title, non- Mormons were unable to make settlement on them, and they were thus engrossed to Mormon use. From a report made by the Commissioner of the General Land Of- fice to the United States Senate,^ it appears that the municipal corporations covered over 400,000 acres of the public lands, and over (300 square miles of territorv. These lands2 are not subject to either the Home- stead or Preemption laws, and thus the non- Mormon settler was prevented from attempt- ing, exce])t in rare instances, to secure any lands in Utah. The spirit which ju-ompted this course is well illustrated by an instance which was the subject of an investigation in the Land Department, and the proofs are found in the document just referred to. George Q. Cannon, the late Mormon dele- gate in Congress, was called to exercise his 1 Senate doc. ISl, 4r>th Con£;reS9. 2 Sec. 2, 258, Kev. Stat. U.S. 268 AMERICAN POLITICS. duties as an apostle to the Tooelle "Stake" at the city of Grantville. In a discourse on Sunday, the 20th day of July, 1875, Mr. Cannon said : ^ " God has given us (mean- ing the Mormon people) this land, and, if any outsider shall come in to take land which we claim, a piece six feet by two is all they are entitled to, and that will last them to all eternity." By measures and threats like these have the Mormons unlawfully controlled th« ag- ricultural lands of the Territory and ex- cluded therefrom the dissenting settler. The attempt of the United States to es- tablish a Surveyor-General's office in Utah in 1855, and to survey the lands in view of disposing of them according to law, was met by such opposition that Mr. Burr, the Surveyor-General, was compelled to fly for life. The monuments of surveys made by his order were destroyed, and the records were supposed to have met a like fate, but were afterwards restored by Brigham Young to the Government. The report of his experience by Mr. Burr was instru- mental in causing troops to be sent in 1857 to assert the authority of the Government. When this army, consisting of regular troops, was on the way to Utah, Brigham Young, as Governor, issued a proclamation, dated September 15, 1857, declaring mar- tial law and ordering the people of the Territory to hold themselves in readiness to march to repel the invaders, and on the 29th of September following addressed the commander of United States forces an or- der forbidding him to enter the Territory, and directing him to retire from it by the same route he had come. Further evidence of the Mormon claim that they were inde- pendent is perhaps unnecessary. The trea- sonable character of the local organization is manifest. It is this organization that controls, not only the people who belong to it, but the 30,000 non-Mormons who now re- side in Utah. Every member of the territorial Legisla- ture is a Mormon. Every county officer is a Mormon. Every territorial officer is a Mormon, except such as are appointive. The schools provided by law and supported by taxation are Mormon. The teachers are Mormon, and the sectarian catechism af- firming the revelations of Joseph Smith is regularly taught therein. The municipal corporations are under the control of Mor- mons. In the hands of this bigoted class all the material interests of the Territoiy are left, subject only to such checks as a Federal Governor and a Federal judiciary can impose. From beyond the sea they im- port some thousands of ignorant converts annually, and, whilethe non-Mormons are increasing, they are overwhelmed by the muddy tide of fanaticism shipped in upon 1 According to the affidavits of Samuel Howard and •thers, page H. them. The suffrage has been bestowed upon all classes by a statute so general that the ballot box is filled with a mass of votes which repels the free citizen from the ex- ercise of that right. If a Gentile is cho- sen to the Legislature (two or three such instances have occurred), he is not admit- ted to the seat, although the act of Congress (June 23, 1874) requires the Territory to pay all the expenses of the enforcement of the laws of the Territory, and of the care of persons convicted of offenses against the laws of the Territory. Provision is made for jurors' fees in criminal cases only, and none is made for the care of criminals.^ While Congress pays the legislative ex- penses, amounting to $20,000 per session, the Legislature defiantly refuses to comply with the laws which its members are sworn to support. And the same body, though failing to protect the marriage bond by any law whatever requiring any solemnities for entering it, provided a divorce act which practically allowed marriages to be annulled at will.^ Neither seduction, adultery nor incest find penalty or recognition in its legal code. The purity of home is destroyed by the beastly practice of plural marriage, and the brows of innocent children are branded with the stain of bastardy to gratify the lust which cares naught for its victims. Twenty-eight of the thirty-six members of the present Legislature of Utah are re- ported as having from two to seven wives each. While the Government of the Uni- ted States is paying these men their mile- age and pa- diem as law -makers in Utah, those guilty of the same offense outside of Utah are leading the lives of felons in con- vict cells. For eight years a ^Mormon dele- gate has sat in the capitol at Washington having four living wives in his harem in Utah, and at the same time, under the shadow of that capitol, lingers in a felon's prison a man who had been guilty of mar- rying a woman while another wife was still living. For thirty years have the IMormons been trusted to correct these evils and put them- selves in harmony with the balance of civilized mankind. This they have reiiised to do. Planting themselves in the heart of the continent, they have persistently defied the laws of the land, the laws of modern society, and the teachings of a common humanity. They degrade woman to the office of a breeding animal, and, after depriving her of all property rights in her husband's estate,^ all control of her children,* tfiey, Avith ostentation, bestow upon her the ballot in a way that makes it a nullity if contested, and compels her to use it to perpetuate her own degrada- tion if she avails herself of it. 1 See Report of Attorney-General United States, 1880-81. 2 Act of March 6, 1862. 3 Act of February 16, 1872. , 4 Sees. 1 and 2, act of February 3, 1852. THE SOUTH AMERICAN QUESTION. 269 No ]iower has been given to the Mor- mon Hierarchy that has not been abused. The riglit of representation in the legisla- tive councils has been violated in the ap- portionment of members so as to disfran- chise the non-Mormon class.^ The system of revenue and taxation was for twenty- five years a system of confiscation and ex- tortion.'^ The courts were so organized and controlled that they were but the organs of the church oppressions and ministers of its vengeance.^ The legal i^rofession was abolished by a statute that prohibited a lawyer from recovering on any contract for service, and allowed every person to appear as an attorney in any court.* The attorney was compelled to present " all the facts in the case," whether for or against his client, and a refusal to disclose the confidential communications of the latter subjected the attorney to fine and imprison- ment.^ No law book except the statutes of Utah and of the United States, '" when applicable," was ijermitted to be read in any court by an attorney, and the citation of a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, or even a quotation from the Bible, in the trial of any cause, sub- jected a lawyer to fine and imprisonmeut.*^ The practitioners of medicine ^yere equally assailed by legislation. The use of the mo.st important remedies known to modern medical science, including all an- sesthetics, was prohibited except under conditions which made their use impossi- ble, " and if death followed " the adminis- tration of these remedies, the person ad- ministering them was declared guilty of manslaughter or murder.^ The Legislative Assembly is but an organized conspiracy against the national law, and an obstacle in the way of the advancement of its own people. For sixteen years it refused to lay its enactments before Congress, and they were only obtained by a joint resolution demanding them. Once in armed rebel- lion against the authority of the nation, the Mormons have always secretly strug- gled for, as they have openly prophesied, its entire overthrow. Standing thus in the l^athway of the material growth and devel- opment of the Territory, a disgrace to the balance of the country, with no redeeming virtue to plead for further indulgence, this travesty of a local government demands radical and speedy reform. Tlie SontU Aniei-icaii (Question. If it was not shrewdly surmised before it is now known that had' President Garfield 1 See act of January 17. 1S62. -Act of January 7, lS5i, soc. 14, 3 Acts of Jan 21, 18.>"., and of January. 1855, sec. 29. * Act of February 18, lS,-.2. 5 Act of February 18, 1852. * Act of January 14, 1 85-4. 7 Sec. 106, Act March G, 1852. lived he intended to make his administra- tion brilliiuit at home and abroad — a view confirmed Ijy the policy conceived by Secretary P>lainc and sanctioned, it must be presumed, by President Garfield. This policy looked to closer commercial and political relations with all of the Republics on this Hemisphere, as developed in the following quotations from a correspond- ence, the publication of which lacks com- pleteness because of delays in transmitting all of it to Congress. Ex-Secretary Blaine on the 3d of Janu- ary sent the following letter to President Arthur : "The suggestion of a congress of all the American nations to assemble in the city of Washington for the purpose of agreeing on such a basis of arbitration for interna- tional troubles as would remove all possi- bility of war in the Western hemisphere was warmly approved by your predecessor. The assassination of July 2 prevented his i.ssuing the invitations to the American States. After your accession to the Pre- sidency I acquainted you with the project and submitted to you a draft for .such an invitation. You received the suggestion with the most appreciative considexation, and after carefully examining the form of the invitation directed that it be sent. It was accordingly dispatched in November to the independent governments of Ameri- ca North and Soutli, including all, from the Empire of Brazil to the smallest re- public. In a communication addressed by the present Secretary of State on January 9, to Mr. Trescot and recently sent to the Senate I Avas greatly surprised to find a proposition looking to the annulment of these invitations, and I was still more sur- prised when I read the reasons assigned. If I correctly apprehend the meaning of his words it is that we might offend some European powers if we should hold in the United States a congress of the " selected nationalities" of America. " This is certainly a new position for the United States to assume, and one which I earnestly beg yoxi will not permit this government to occupy. The European powers assemble in congress whenever an object seems to them of suflJcient import- ance to justify it. I have never heard of their consulting the government of the United States in regard to the propriety of their so assembling, nor have I ever known of their inviting an American representa- tive to be present. Nor would there, in my judgment, be any good reason for their so doing. Two Presidents of the United States in the year 1881 adjudged it to be ex})edient that the American powers should meet in congress for the sole purpose of agreeing upon some basis for arbitration of differences that may arise between them and for the prevention, as far as possible, 270 AMERICAN POLITICS. of war iu the future. If that movement is DOW to be arrested for fear that it may give offense in Europe, the voluntary hu- Biiliation of this government could not be more complete, unless we should press the European governments for the privilege of holding the congress. I cannot conceive liow the United States could be placed in a less enviable position than Avould be se- cured by sending in November a cordial invitation to all the American governments to meet in Washington for the sole pur- pose of concerting measures of peace and in January recalling the invitation for fear that it might create "jealousy and ill will " on the part of monarchical govern- ments in Europe. It would be difficult to devise a more etfective mode for making enemies of the American Government and it would certainly not add to our prestige in the European world. Nor can I see, Mr. President, how European governments should feel " jealousy and ill will " towards the United States' because of an effort on our own part to assure lasting peace be- tween the nations of America, unless, in- deed, it be to the interest of European power that American nations should at intervals fall into war and bring re- proach on republican government. But from that very circumstance I see an ad- ditional and powerful motive for the American Governments to be at peace among themselves. "The United States is indeed at peace with all the world, as Mr. Frelinghuysen ■well says, but there are and have been serious troubles between other American nations. Peru, Chili and Bolivia have been for more than two years engaged in a desperate conflict. It was the fortunate intervention of the United States last spring that averted war between Chili and the Argentine Republic. Guatemala is at this moment asking the United States to interpose its good offices with Mexico to teep off war. These important facts were all communicated in your late message to Congress. It is the existence or the men- ace of these wars that influenced President Garfield, and as I supposed influenced yourself, to desire a friendly conference of all the nations of America to devise methods of permanent i^eace and conse- quent ]irosperity for all. Shall the United States now turn back, hold aloof and re- fuse to exert its great moral power for the advantage of its weaker neighbors? If you have not formally and finally re- called the invitations to the Peace Con- gress, Mr. President, I beg you to consider well the effect of so doing. The invitation was not mine. It was yours. I performed only the part of the Secretary — ^^to advise and to draft. You spoke in the name of the United States to each of the indepen- dent nations of America. To revoke that invitation for any cause would be embar- rassing ; to revoke it for the avowed fear of "jealousy and ill will " on the part of European powers would appeal as little to American pride as to American hospitality. Those you have invited may decline, and having now cause to doubt their welcome will, perhajDS, do so. This would break up the congress, but it would not touch our dignity. " Beyond the philanthropic and Christian ends to be obtained by an American con- ference devoted to peace and good-will among men, we might well hope for material advantages, as the result of a bet- ter understanding and closer friendship with the nation of America. At present the condition of trade between the United States and its American neighbors is un- satisfactory to us, and even deplorable. According to the official statistics of our own Treasuiy Department, the balance against us in that trade last year was $120,000,000— a sum greater than the yearly product of all the gold and silver mines in the United States. This vast balance was paid by us in foreign exchange, and a very large proportion of it went to England, where shipments of cotton, pro- visions and breadstuff's supplied the money. If anything should change or check the balance in our favor in Euro- pean trade our commercial exchanges with Spanish America would drain us of our reserve of gold at a rate exceeding $100,- 000,000 per annum, and would probably precipitate a suspension of specie payment in this country. Such a result at home might be worse than a little jealousy and ill-Avill abroad. I do not say, Mr. Presi- dent, that the holding of a peace congress will necessarily change the currents of trade, but it will bring us into kindly re- lations with all the American nations ; it will promote the reign of peace and law and order ; it will increase production and consumption and will stimulate the de- mand for articles w^hich American manu- facturers can furnish with profit. It will at all events be a friendly and auspicious beginning in the direction of American influence and American trade in a large field which we have hitherto greatly ne- glected and which has been practically monopolized by our commercial rivals in Europe. As Mr. Frelinghuysen's dispatch, fore- shadowing the abandonment of the peace congress, has been made public, I deem it a matter of propriety and justice to give this letter to the press. Jas. G. Blaike. The above well presents the Blaine view of the proposition to have a Con- gress of the Republics of America at Washington, and under the patronage of i this government, wdth a view to settle all THE SOUTH AMERICAN QUESTION 271 difficulties by arbitration, to promote trade, and it is presumed to form alliances ready to suit a new and advanced application of the Monroe doctrine. The following is the letter proposing a conforenceof N^orth and South American Republics sent to the U. S. Ministers in Central and South America : Sir : The attitude of the United States -with respect to the question of general peace on the American Continent is well known through its persistent efforts for years past to avert the evils of warfare, or, these efforts failing, to bring positive con- flicts to an end through pacific counsels or the advocacy of impartial arbitration. This attitude" has been consistently main- tained, and always with such fairness as to leave no room for imputing to our Govern- ment any motive except the humane and disinterested one of saving the kindred States of the American Continent from the burdens of war. The position of the United States, as the leading power of the new world, might well give to its Govern- ment a claim to authoritative utterance for the purpose of quieting discord among its neighbors, with all of whom the most friendly relations exist. Nevertheless the good offices of this Government are not, and have not at any time, been tendered with a show of dictation or compulsion, but only as exhibiting the solicitous good will of a common friend. THE CENTRAL AXD SOUTH AMERICAN STATES. For some years past a growing^ disposi- tion has been manifested by certain States of Central and South America to refer dis- putes affecting grave questions of inter- Bational relationship and boundaries to arbitration rather than to the sword. It has been on several occasions a source of profound satisfiiction to the Government of the United States to see that this countrjr ig in a large measure looked to by all the American powers as their friend and mediator. The just and impartial counsel of the President in such cases, has never been withheld, and his efforts have been rewarded by the prevention of sanguinary strife or angry contentions be- tween peoples whom we regard as brethren. The existence of this growing tendency convinces the President that the time is ripe for a proposal that shall enlist the good will and active co-operation of all the States of the Western Hemisphere both North and South, in the interest of hu- manity and for the common weal of na- tions. He conceives that none of the Govern- ments of America can be less alive than our own to the dangers and horrors of a state of war, and especially of war between kinsmen. He is sure that none of the chiefs of Government on the Continent can be less sensitive than he is to the sacred duty of making every endeavor to do away with the chances of fratricidal strife, and he looks with hopeful confidence to such active assistance from them as will serve to show the broadness of our common hu- manity, the strength of the ties which bind us all together as a great and har- monious system of American Common- wealths. A GENERAL CONGRESS PROPOSED. Impressed by these views, the President extends to all the independent countries of North and South America an earnest in- vitation to participate in a general Con- gress, to be held in the city of AVashing- ton, on the 22d of November, 1882, for the pur])ose of considering and discussing the methods of preventing war between the nations of America. He desires that the attention of the Congress shall be strictly confined to this one great object; and its sole aim shall be to seek a way of per- manently averting the horrors of a cruel and bloody contest between countries oftenest of one blood and speech, or the even worse calamity of internal commotion and civil strife; that it shall regard the burdensome and far-reaching consequences of such a struggle, the legacies of exhausted finances, of oppressive debt, of onerous taxation, of ruined cities, of paralyzed in- dustries, of devastated fields, of ruthless conscriptions, of the slaughter of men, of the grief of the widow and orphan, of em- bittered resentments that long survive those who provoked them and heavily afflict the innocent generations that come after. THE MISSION OF THE CONGRESS. The President is especially desirous to haye it understood that in putting forth this invitation the United States does not as- sume the position of counseling or attempt ing, through the voice of the Congress, to counsel any determinate solution of exist- ing questions which may now divide any of the covmtries. Such questions cannot proi)erly come before the Congress. Its mission is higher. It is to i^rovide for the interests of all in the future, not to settle the individual differences of the present. For this reason especially the President has indicated a day for the assembling of the Congress so far in th^ future as to leave good ground for the hope that by the time named the present situation on the South Pacific coast will be happily termi- nated, and that those engaged in "the con- test may take peaceable part in the discus- sion and solution of the general question affecting in an equal degree the well-being of all. It seems also desirable to disclaim in ad- 272 AMERICAN POLITICS. vance any purpose on tlie part of the United States to prejudge the issues to be presented to the Congress. It is far from the intent of this Government to appear before the Congress as in any sense the protector of its neighbors or the predestined and necessary arbitrator of their disputes. The United States will enter into the deliber- ations of the Congress on the same footing as other powers represented, and with the loyal determination to approach any pro- posed solution, not merely in its own inter- est, or with a view to asserting its own power, but as a single member among many co-ordinate and co-equal States. So far as the influence of this Government may be potential, it will be exerted in the direction of conciliating whatever con- flicting interests of blood, or government, or historical tradition that may necessarily come together in response to a call embracing such vast and diverse ele- ments. INSTRUCTIONS TO THE MINISTERS. You will jDresent these views to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica, enlarging, if need be, in such terms as will readily occur to you upon the great mission which it is within the power of the proposed Congress to accomplish in the in- terest of humanity, and the firm purpose of the United States of America to main- tain a position of the most absolute and impartial friendship toward all. You will, therefore, in the name of the President of the United States, tender to his Excel- lency, the President of , a formal invitation to send two commissioners to the Congress, provided with such powers and instructions on behalf of their Govern- ment as Avill enable them to consider the questions brought before that body within the limit of submission contemplated by this invitation. The United States, as well as the other powers, will in like manner be represented by two commissioners, so that equality and impartiality will be amply secured in the proceedings of the Congress. In delivering this invitation through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, you will read this despatch to him and leave with him a copy, intimating that an answer is desired by this Government as promptly as the just consideration of so important a propo- sition will permit. I am, sir, your obedient servant, James G, Blaine. Minister liOgan's Reply. The following is an abstract of the re- ply of Minister Logan to the above. " From a full review of the situation, as heretofore detailed to you, I am not clear as to being able to obtain the genuine co- operation of all the States of Central America in the proposed congress. — Each, I have no doubt, will ultimately agree to send the specified number of commission- ers and assume, outwardly, an apj^earance of sincere co-operation, but, as you will perceive from your knowledge of the pos- ture of affairs, all hope of efl'ecting a union of these States except upon a basis the leaders will never permit — that of a free choice of the whole people — will be at an end. The obligation to keep the peace, imposed by the congress, will bind the United States as well as all others, and thus prevent any efforts to bring about the desired union other than those based upon a simple tender of good ofiices — this means until the years shall bring about a radical change — must be as inefficient in the future as in the past. The situation, as it ap- pears to me, is a difiicult one. As a means of restraining the aggressive tendency of Mexico in the direction of Central Ameri- ca, the congress would be attended by the happiest results, should a fiill agreement be reached. But as the Central American States are now in a chaotic condition, politi- cally considered,- with their future status wholly undefined, and as a final settlement can only be reached, as it noAv apjiears, through the operation of military Ibrces, the hope of a Federal union in Central America would be crushed, at least in the immediate present. Wiser heads than my own may devise a method to harmonize these difficulties when the congress is ac- tually in session, but it must be constantly remembered that so far as the Central American commissioners are concerned they will represent the interests and posi- tive mandates of their respective govern- ment chiefs in the strictest and most abso- lute sense. While all will probably send commissioners, through motives of expedi- ency, they may possibly be instructed to secretly defeat the ends of the convention. I make these suggestions that you may have the whole field under view. " I may mention in this connection that I have received information that up to the tenth of the present month only two mem- bers of the proposed convention at Pana- ma had arrived and that it was considered as having failed." Contemporaneous with these movements or suggestions was another on the part of ]Mr. Blaine to secure from England a mod- ification or abrogation of the Clayton- Bulwer treaty, with the object of giving to the United States, rather to the Eepublics of North and South America, full super- vision of the Isthmus and Panama Canal when constructed. This branch of the correspondence was sent to the Senate on the 17th of February. Lord Granville, in his despatch of January 7th to Minister West in reference to the Clayton-Bulwer THE SOUTH AMEIUCAN QUESTION. 273 Treaty controversy, denies any anulofry between the cases of the Panama and Suez Canals. He cordially concurs in Mr. Blaine's statement in regard to the unex- ampled development of the Pacific Coast, but denies that it was unexpected. He says the declaration of President Monroe anterior to the treaty show that he and his Cabinet had a clear prevision of the great future of that region. The de- velopment of the interests of the British possessions also continued, though possibly less rapidly. The Government are of the opinion that the canal, as a water way be- tween the two great oceans and Europe and Eastern Asia, is a work which concerns not only the American Continent, but the whole civilized world. With all deference to the considerations which prompted Mr. Blaine he cannot believe that his propo- sals will be even beneficial in themselves. He can conceive a no more melancholy spectacle than competition between nations in the construction of fortifications to com- maml the canal. He cannot believe that any South Ainerican States would like to admit a foreign power to erect fortifications on its territory, when the claim to do so is accompanied by the declaration that the canal is to be regarded as a part of the American coast line. It is difiicult to be- lieve, he says, that the territory between it and the United States could retain its pres- ent independence. Lord Granville believes that an invitation to all the maritime states to participate in an agreement based on the stipulations of the Convention of 1850, would make the Convention adequate for the purposes for which it was designed. Her Majesty's Government would gladly see the UFnited States take the initiative towards such a convention, and will be prepared to endorse and support such action in any way. provided it does not conflict with the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. Lord Granville, in a subsequent despatch, draws attention to the fact that Mr. Blaine, in using the argument that the treaty has been a source of continual difficulties, omits to state that the questions in dispute which related to points occupied by the British in Central America were removed in 1860 by the voluntary action of Great Britain in certain treaties concluded with Honduras and Nicaragua, the settlement being recognized as perfectly satisfactory by President Buchanan. Lord Granville saj^s, further, that during this controversy America disclaimed any desire to have the exclusive control of the canal. The Earl contends that in cases where the details of an international agreement have given rise to difficulties and discus- sions to such an extent as to cause the contracting parties at one time to contem- plate its abrogation or modification as one of several possible alternatives, and where 18 it has yet been found preferable to arrive at a solution as to those details rather than to sacrifice the general bases of the en- gagement, it must surely be allowed that such a fact, far from being an argument against that engagement, is an argument distinctly in its favor. It is equally plain tliateither of the contracting parties" which had abandoned its own contention for the purpose of preserving the agreement in its entirety Avould have reason to complain if the dillcrences which had been settled by its concessions were afterwards urged as a reason for essentially modifying those other provisions which it had made this sacrifice to maintain. In order to strengthen these arguments, the Earl reviews the corres- pondence, quotes the historical points made by Mr. Blaine and in many instances in- troduces additional data as contradicting the inferences drawn by Mr, Blaine and supporting his own position. The point on which Mr. Blaine laid particular stress in his despatch to Earl Granville, is the objection made by the government of the United States to any concerted action of the European powers for the purpose of guarantying the neu- trality of the Isthmus canal or determin- ing the conditions of its use. CHILI AND PERU. The entire question is complicated by the war between Chili and Peru, the latter owning immense guano deposits in which American citizens have become financially interested. These sought the friendly in- tervention of our government to prevent Chili, the conquering Eepublic, from ap- propriating these dejjosits as part of her war indemnity. The Landreau, an original French claim, is said to represent $125,- 000,000, and the holders were prior to and during the war pressing it upon Calderon, the Peruvian President, for settlement; the Cochet claim, another of the same class, represented $1,000,000,000. Doubt- less these claims are speculative and largely fraudulent, and shrewd agents are inter- ested in their collection and preservation. A still more preposterous and speculative movement was fathered by one Shipherd, who opened a correspondence with Minis- ter Hurlburt, and with other parties for the establishment of the Credit Industrie!, which was to pay the $20,000,000 money indemnity demanded of Peru by Chili, and to be reimbursed by the Peruvian nitrates and guano deposits. THE SCANDAL. All of these things surround the ques- tion with scandals which probably fail to truthfully reach any prominent officer of our government, but which have neverthe- less attracted the attention of Congress to 274 AMERICAN POLITICS. such an extent that the following action has been already taken : On February 24tli Mr. Bayard offered in the Senate a resolution reciting that where- as publication has been widely made by the jjublic press of certain alleged public commercial contracts between certain com- panies and copartnerships of individuals relative to the exports of guano and nitrates from Peru, in which the mediation by the Government of the United States between the Governments of Peru, Bolivia and Chili is declared to be a condition for the effectuation and continuance of the said contracts ; therefore be it resolved, that the Committee on Foreign Eelations be instructed to inquire whether any promise or stipulation by which the intervention by the United States in the controversies ex- isting between Chili and Peru or Chili and Bolivia has been expressly or impliedly given by any person or persons officially connected with the Government of the United States, or whether the influence of the Government of the United States has been in any way exerted, promised or inti- mated in connection Avith, or in relation to the said contracts by any one officially con- nected with the Government of the United States, and whether any one officially con- nected with the Government of the United States is interested, directly or indirectly, with any such alleged contracts in which the mediation as aforesaid of the United States is recited to be a condition, and that the said committee have power to send for persons and paper and make report of their proceedings in the premises to the Senate ;fl,t the earliest possible day. Mr. Edmunds said he had drafted a xesolution covering all the branches of "that most unfortunate affair" to which reference was now made, and in view of the ill policy of any action which would ■commit the Senate to inquiries about de- claring foreign matters in advance of a careful investigation by a committee, he now made the suggestion that he would have made as to his own resolution, if he had offered it, namely, that the subject be referred to the Committee on Foreign Re- lations. He intimated that the proposition prepared by himself would be considered by the committee as a suggestion bearing upon the pending resolution. Mr. BayaAl acquiesced in the reference ■with the remark that anything that tended to bring the matter more fully before the country was satisfactory to him. The resolution accordingly went to the Committee on Foreign Relations. In the House Mr. Kasson, of Iowa, offered a resolution reciting that whereas, it is alleged, in connection with the Chili Peruvian correspondence recently and officially published on the call of the two Houses of Congress, that one or more Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States were either personally interested or improperly connected with a business transaction in which the intervention of this Government was requested or expected and whereas, it is alleged that certain pa- pers in relation to the same subject have been improperly lost or removed from the files of the State Department, that there- fore the Committee on Foreign Affairs be instructed to inquire into said allegations and ascertain the facts relating thereto, and report the same with such recommen- dations as they may deem proper, and they shall have power to send for persons and papers. The resolution was adopted. THE CLAIMS. The inner history of what is known as the Peruvian Company reads more like a tale from the Arabian Nights than a plain statement of facts. The following is gleaned from the prospectus of the compa- ny, of which only a limited number of cop- ies was printed. According to a note on the cover of these " they are for the strictly private use of the gentlemen into whose hands they are immediately placed." The prosjjects of the corporation are based entirely ui)on the claims of Cochet and Landreau, two French chemists, resi- dents of Peru. In the year 1833, the Pe- ruvian government, by published decree, promised to every discoverer of valuable deposits upon the public domain a premium of one-third of the discovery as an incen- tive to the development of great natural resources vaguely known to exist. In the beginning of 1830, Alexandre Cochet, who was a man of superior information, occu- pied himself in the laborious work of manu- facturing nitrate of soda in a small ojicina in Peru, and being possessed with quick intelligence and a careful observer he soon came to understand that the valuable pro- perties contained in the guano — an article only known to native cultivators of the soil — would be eminently useful as a restora- tive to the exhausted lands of the old con- tinent. With this idea he made himself completely master of the mode of applica- tion adopted by the Indians and small farmers in the province where he resided, and after a careful investigation of the chemical effects produced on the land by the proper application of the regenerating agent, he proceeded in the year 1840 to the capital (Lima) in order to interest some of his friends in this new enter2:)rise. Not without great persuasion and much hesita- tion, he induced his countryman, Mr. Achil- les Allier, to take up the hazardous specu- lation and join with him in his discovery. He succeeded, however, and toward the end of the same year the firm of Quiroz & Allier obtained a concession for six years from the government of Peru for the ex- THE SOUTH AMERICAN QUESTION, 275 portation of all the guano existing in the afterwards famous islands of Chinchi for the sum of sixty thousand dollars. In consequence of the refusal of that firm to admit Cochet, the discoverer, to a partici- pation in the profits growing out of this contract a series of lawsuits resulted and a paper war ensued in which Cochet was baffled. In vain he called the attention of the government to the nature and value of this discovery ; he was told that he was a " visionary." In vain he demonstrated that the nation possessed hundreds of mil- lions of dollars in the grand deposits : this only confirmed the opinion of the Council of State that he was a madman. In vain he attempted to prove that one cargo of guano was equal to fourteen cargoes of grain ; the Council of State cooly told him that guano Avas an article known to the Spaniards, and of no value : that Commis- sioner Humbolt had referred to it, and that they could not accept his theory respecting its ;|superior properties, its value and its probable use in foreign agriculture at a pe- riod when no new discovery could be made relative to an article so long and of so evi- dent small value. At length a new light began to dawn on the lethargic understanding of the ofiicials in power, and as rumors continued to ar- rive from Europe confirming the assevera- tions of Cochet, and announcing the sale of guano at from $90 to $120 per ton, a de- gree of haste was suddenly evinced to se- cure once more to the public treasury this new and unexpected source of wealth ; and at one blow the contract with Quiroz & Allier, which had previously been extend- ed, was reduced to one year. Their claims were cancelled by the payment of ten thou- sand tons of guano which Congress de- creed them. There still remained to be settled the just and acknowledged indebt- edness for benefits conferred on the coun- try by Cochet, benefits which could not be denied as wealth and prosperity rolled in on the government and on the people. But few, if any, troubled themselves about the question to whom they were indebted for so much good fortune, nor had time to pay particular attention to Cochet's claims. Finally, however, Congress was led to de- clare Cochet the true discoverer of the value, uses and application of guano for European agriculture, and a grant of 5,000 tons was made in his favor September 30th, 1849, but was never paid him. After passing a period of years in hopeless expectancy — from 1840" to 1851— his impoverished cir- cumstances made it necessary for him to endeavor to procure, through the influence of his own government, that measure of support in favor of his claims which would insure him a competency in his old age. He resolved upon returning to France, after having spent the best part of his life in the service of a country whose cities had risen from desolation to sjjlendor under the sole magic of his touch — a touch that had in it for Peru all the fabled power of the long-sought "philosopher's stone." In 1853 Cochet returned to France, but he was then already exhausted by enthusiastic explora- tions in a deadly climate and never rallied. He lingered in poverty for eleven painful years and died in Paris in an almshouse in 1864, entitled to an estate worth $500,000,- 000 — the richest man in the history of the world — and was buried by the city in the Potters' Field ; his wonderful history well il- lustrating that truth is stranger than fiction. THE LANDREAU CLAIM. About the year 1844 Jean Theophile Landreau, also a French citizen, in part- nership with his brother, John C. Landreau, a naturalized American citizen, upon the faith of the promised premium of 33i per cent, entered upon a series of extended sys- tematic and scientific explorations with a view to ascertaining whether the deposits of guano particularly pointed out by Co- chet constituted the entire guano deposit of Peru, and with money furnished by his part- ner, John, Theophile prosecuted his search- es with remarkable energy and with great success for twelve years, identifying beds not before known to the value of not less than $400,000,000. Well aware, however, of the manner in which his fellow-country- man had been neglected by an unprinci- pled people, he had the discretion to keep his own counsel and to extort from the Pe- ruvian authorities an absolute agreement in advance before he revealed his treasure. This agreement was, indeed, for a royalty of less than one-sixth the amount promised, but the most solemn assurances were given that the lessened amount wx)uld be prompt- ly and cheerfully paid, its total would give the brothers each a large fortune, and pay- ments were to begin at once. The solemn agreement having been concluded and duly certified, the precious deposits having been pointed out and taken possession of by the profligate government, the brothers were at first put off with plausible pretexts of de- lay, and when these grew monotonous the government calmly issued a decree recog- nizing the discoveries, accepting the trea- sure, and annulling the contract, with a sug- gestion that a more suitable agreement might be arranged in the future. It will be seen that these two men, Co- chet and Landreau, have been acknow- ledged by the Peruvian government as claimants. No attempt has ever been made to deny the indebtedness. The very de- cree of repudiation reaffirmed the obliga- tion, and all the courts refused to pronounce against the plaintiffs. Both of these claims came into the possession of INIr. Peter W. Hevenor, of Philadelphia. Cochet left one 276 AMERICAN POLITICS. sou whom Mr. Hevenor found in poverty in Lima and advanced monev to push his fother's claim of $500,000,000 against the government. After ^'50,000 were spent young Cochet's backer was surprised to learn of the Laudreaus and their claim. Not wishing to antagonize them, he ad- vanced them money, and in a short time owned nearly all the fifteen interests in the Landreau claim of $125,000,000. To the Peruvian Company Mr. Hevenor has transferred his titles, and on the basis of these that corporation maintains that eventually it will realize not less than $1,- 200,000,000, computed as follows : The amount of guano already taken out of the Cochet Islands— including the Chin- chas — will be shown by the Peruvian Cus- tom House records, and will aggregate, it is said, not far from $1,200,000,000 worth. The discoverer's one-third of this would be $400,000,000, and interest upon this amount at six per cent. - say for an equalized aver- age of twenty years— -would be $480,000,000 more. The amount remaining in these islands is not positively known, and is pro- bably not more than $200,000,000 worth ; and in the Landreau deposits say $300,000,- 000 more. The Chilian plenipotentiary re- cently announced that his government are about opening very rich deposits on the Lo- bos Islands — which are included in this group. It is probably within safe limits, says the Peruvian Company's prospectus, to say that, including interest to accrue before the claim can be fully liquidated, its owners will realize no less than $1,200,000,000. THE COUNTRIES INVOLVED. In South America there are ten inde- pendent governments ; and the three Gui- anas which are dependencies on European powers. Of the independent governments Brazil is an empire, having an area of 3,609,160 square miles and 11,058,000 in- habitants. The other nine are republics. In giving area and population we use the most complete statistics at our command, but they are not strictly reliable, nor as late as we could have wished. The area and the population of the republics are : Venzuela, 426,712 square miles and 2,200,- 000 inhabitants ; United States of Colom- bia, 475,000 square miles and 2,900,000 in- habitants ; Peru, 580,000 square miles and 2,500,000 inhabitants; Ecuador, 208,000 square miles and 1,300,000 inhabitants; Bolivia, 842,730 square miles and 1,987,352 inhabitants; Chili, 200,000 square miles and 2,084,960 inhabitants ; Argentine Re- public, 1,323,560 square miles and 1,887,- 000 inhabitants; Paraguay, 73,000 square miles and 1,337,439 inhabitants ; Uruguav, 66,716 square miles and 240,000 inhabi- tants, or a total in the nine republics of 3,789,220 square miles and 16,436,751 in- habitants. The aggregate area of the nine republics exceeds that of Brazil 180,060 square miles, and the total population ex- ceeds that of Brazil 5,069,552. Brazil, be- ing an empire, is not comprehended in the Blaine proposal — she rather stands as a strong barrier against it. Mexico and Guatamala are included, "but are on this continent, and their character and re- sources better understood by our people. In the South American countries generally the Spanish language is spoken. The edu- cated classes are of nearly pure Spanish ex- traction. The laboring classes are of mixed Spanish and aboriginal blood, or of pure aboriginal ancestry. The characteristics of the Continent are emphatically Spanish. The area and population we have already given. The territory is nearly equally di- vided between the republics and the em- pire, the former having a greater area of only 180,060 square miles; but the nine republics have an aggregate population of 5,059,522 more than Brazil. The United States has an area of 3,634,797 square miles, including Alaska; but excluding Alaska, it has 3,056,797 square miles. The area of Brazil is greater than that of the United States, excluding Alaska, by 552,- 363 square miles, and the aggregate area of the nine republics is greater by 732,423 square miles. This comparison of the area of the nine republics and of Brazil wdth that of this nation gives a definite idea of their magnitude. Geographically, these republics occupy the northern, w^estern and southern portions of South America, and are contiguous. The aggregate exports and imports of South America, according to the last available data, were $529,300,000; those of Brazil, $168,930,000 ; of the nine republics, $360,360,000. These resolutions will bring out volumi- nous correspondence, but we have given the reader sufficient to reach a fair understand- ing of the subject. Whatever of scandal may be connected with it, like the Star Route cases, it should await official in- vestigation and condemnation. Last of all should history condemn any one in ad- vance of official inquiry. JSTone of the governments invited to the Congress had accepted formally, and in view of obstacles thrown in the way by tlie present adminis- tration, it is not probable they will. Accepting the proposition of Mr. Blaine as stated in his letter to President Arthur, as conveying his true desire and meaning, it is due to the truth to say that it compre- hends more than the Monroe doctrine, the text of which is given in President Mon- roe's own words in this volume. While he contended against foreign intervention with the Republics on this Hemisphere, he ne- ver asserted the right of our government to participate in or seek the control either of the internal, commercial or foreign policy of any of the Republics of America, by ar- THE STAR ROUTE SCANDAL. 277 bitratiou or otherwise. So that Jilr. Bhiiiie is the author of an advance upon tlie Mon- roe doctrine, and what seems at this time a radical advance. What it may be when the United States seeks to "spread itself" by an aggressive foreign policy, and by aggrandizement" of new avenues of trade, possibly new acquisitions of territory, is another question. It is a policy brilliant beyond any examples in our history, and a new departure from the teachings _ of Washington, who advised absolute non-in- tervention in foreign affairs. The new doctrine might thrive and acquire great popularity under an administration friendly to it; but President Arthur has already intimated his hostility, and it is now be- yond enforcement during his administra- tion. The views of Congress also seem to be adverse as far as the debates have gone into the question, though it has some warm friends who may revive it under more favo- rable auspices. The Star Route Scandal. Directly after Mr. James assumed the position of Postmaster-General in the Cabinet of President Garfield, he disco- vered a great amount of extravagance and prolDably fraud in the conduct of the mail service known as the Star Routes, author- ized by act of Congress to further extend the mail facilities and promote the more rapid carriage of the mails. These routes proved to be very popular in the West and South-west, and the growing demand for mail facilities in these sections would even in a legitimate way, if not closely watched, lead to unusual cost and extravagance ; but it is alleged that a ring was formed headed by General Brady, one of the Assistant Postmaster-Gffiierals under General Key, by which rou^ were established with the sole view of defrauding the Government — that false bonds were given and enormous and fraudulent sums paid for little or no service. This scandal was at its height at the time of the assassination of President Garfield, at which time Postmaster-General James, Attorney-General MacVeagh and other officials were rapidly preparing for the prosecution of all charged with the fraud. Upon the succession of President Arthur he openly insisted upon the fullest prosecution, and declined to receive the resignation of Mr. MacVeagh from the Cabinet because of a stated fear that the prosecution would suffer by his withdrawal. Mr. MacVeagh, however, withdrew from the Cabinet, believing that the new Presi- dent should not by any circumstance be prevented from the official association of friends of his own selection ; and at this writing Attorney-General Brewster is push- ing the prosecutions. On the 24th of March, 1882, the Grand Jury sitting at Washington jiresented in- dictments for cons])iracy in connection with the Star Route mail service against the fol- lowing named jjcrsons: Thomas J. Brady, J. W. Dor^ey, Henrv M. Vail, John W. Dorsey, John R. I\Iiner, John M. I'cck, M. C. Rerdell, J. li. Sanderson, Wm. H. Tur- ner. Also against Alvin O. I>uck, Wm. S. Barringer and Albert E. Boone, and against Kate M. Armstrong for perjury. The in- dictment against Brady, Dorsey and others, which is very voluminous, recites the ex- istence, on March 10, 1879, of the Post Of- fice Department, Postmaster-General and three assistants, and a Sixth Auditor's office and Contract office and division. "To the latter was subject," the indict- ment continues, " the arrangement of the mail service of the United States and the letting out of the same on contract." It then describes the duties of the inspecting division. On March 10, 1879, the grand jurors represent, Thomas J. Brady was the lawful Second Assistant Postmaster-Gene- ral engaged in the performance of the du- ties of that office. William H. Turner was a clerk in the Second Assistant Postmaster- General's office, and attended to the busi- ness of the contract division relating to the mail service over several i)ost routes in Ca- lifornia, Colorado, Oregon, Nebraska, and the Territories. On the 16th of ]March, 1879, the indictment represents Thomas J. Brady as having made eight contracts with John W. Dorsey to carry the mails from July 1, 1878, to June 30, 1882, from Ver- million, in Dakota Territory, to Sioux Falls and back, on a fourteen hour time schedule, for $398 each year ; on route from White River to Rawlins, Colorado, once a week of 108 hours' time, for $1,700 a year ; on route from Garland, Colorado, to Parrott City, once a week, on a schedule of 168 hours' time, for $2,745 ; on route from Ou- ray, Colorado, to Los Pinos, once a week, in 12 hours' time, for $348 ; on route from Sil- verton, Colorado, to Parrott City, twice a week, on 36 hours' time, for $1,488; on route from Mineral Park, in Arizona Ter- ritory, to Pioche and back, once a week, in 84 hours' time, $2,982 ; on route from Tres Almos to Clifton and back, once a week, of 84 hours' time, for $1,568. It further sets forth that the Second As- sistant Postmaster-General entered into five contracts with John R. Miner on June 13, 1878, on routes in Dakota Territory and Colorado, and on March 15, 1879, with John M. Peck, over eight post routes. In the space of sixty days after the making ot these contracts theVwere in full force. On March 10, 1879, John W. Dorsey, John E. Miner, and John M. Peck, with Stephen W. Dorsey and Henrv M. Vaile, M. C. Rerdell and J. L. Sanderson, mutually in- terested in these contracts and money, to be paid by the United States to the three 278 AMERICAN POLITICS. parties above named, did unlawfully and maliciously combine and consj^ire to fraud- iilently write, sign, and cause to be written and signed, a large number of fraudulent letters and communications and false and fraudulent petitions and applications to the Postmaster-General for additional service and increase of expenditure on the routes, wiiich were purported to be signed by the people and inhabitants in the neighborhood of the routes, Avhich were filed with the papers in the office of the Second Assistant Postmaster-General. Further that these parties swore falsely in describing the num- ber of men and animals required to perform the mail service over the routes, and States as greater than was necessary. These false oaths were placed on file in the Second Assistant Postmaster-General's office; and by means of Wm. H. Turner falsely making and writing and endorsing these papers, with brief and untrue state- ments as to their contents, and by Turner l^reparing fraudulent Avritten orders for al- lowances to be made to these contractors and signed by Thomas J. Brady fraudu- lently, and for the benefit and gain of all the j)arties named in this bill, the service was increased over these routes ; and that Brady knew it was not lawfully needed and required. That he caused the order for in- creasing to be certified to and filed in the Sixth Auditor's office for fraudulent addi- tional compensation. That ]Mr. Brady gave orders to extend the service so as to include other and different stations than those men- tioned in the contract, that he and others might have the benefits and profits of it : that he refused to impose fines on these contracts for failures and delinquencies, but allowed them additional pay for the ser- vice over these routes. During the conti- nuance of these contracts the parties ac- quired unto themselves several large and excessive sums of money, the property of the United States, fraudulently and un- lawfully ordered to be paid them bv Mr. Brady. Tiiese are certainly formidable indict- ments. Others are pending against persons in Philadelphia and other cities, who are charged with complicity in these Star Route frauds, in giving straw bonds, &c. The Star Route service still continues, the Post Office Department under the law having sent out several thousand notifications this year to contractors, informing theni of the official acceptance of their proposals, and some of these contractors are the same named above as under indictment. This well exemplifies the maxim of the law re- lative to innocence until guilt be shown. The Coming States. Bills are pending before Congress for the admission of Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico and Washington Territories. The Bill for the admission of Dakota divides the old Territory, and provides that the new State shall consist of the territory in- cluded within the following boundaries: Commencing at a point on the west line of the State of Minnesota where the forty- sixth degree of north latitude intersects the same ; thence south along the west boun- dary lines of the States of Minnesota and low'a to the point of intersection with the northern boundary line of the State of Nebraska ; thence westwardly along the northern boundary line of the State of Nebraska to the twenty-seventh meridian of longitude west from Washington ; thence north along the said twenty-seventh degree of bngitucle to the forty-sixth degree of north latitude ; to the place of beginning. The bill provides for a convention of one hundred and tAventy delegates, to be chosen by the legal voters, who shall adopt the IJnited States Constitution and then pro- ceed to form a State Constitution and gov- ernment. Until the next census the State shall be entitled to one representative, who, with the Governor and other officials, shall be elected upon a day named by the Con- stitutional Convention. The report sets apart lands lor school purposes, and gives the State five per centum of the proceeds of all sales of public lands within its limit* subsequent to its admission as a State, ex- cluding all mineral lands from being thus set apart for school purposes. It provides that portion of the the Territory not in- cluded in the proposed new State shall continue as a Territory under the name of the Territory of North Dakota. The proposition to divide comes from Senator McMillan, and if Congress sus- tains the division, the portion admitted would contain 100,000 inhabitants, the en- tire estimated population being 175,000 — a number in excess of tw'enty of the present States when admitted, exclusive of the original thirteen ; while the division, which shows 100,000 inhabitants, is still in excess of sixteen States when admitted. Nevada, with less than 65,000 popula- tion, was admitted before the close Presi- dential election of 1876, and it may be said that her majority of 1,075, in a total poll of 19,691 votes, decided the Presidential result in favor of Hayes, and these votes counteracted the plurality of nearly 300,000 received by Mr. Tilden elsewhere. This fact well illustrates the power of States, as States, and however small, in controlling the affairs of the country. It also accounts for the jealousy with which closely balanced political parties watch the incoming States. Population is but one of the considera- tions entering into the question of admit- ting territories, State sovereignty does not rest upon population, as in the make-up of the U. S. Senate neither population, THE STAR ROUTE SCANDAL. 279 size, nor resources are taken into account. Ehode Island, the smallest of all the States, and New York, the great Empire State, with over 5,000,000 of inhabitants, stand upon an equality in the conservative branch of the Government. It is in the House of Representatives that the popula- tion is considered. Such is the jealousy of the larger States of their representation in the U. S. Senate, that few new ones would be admitted without long and con- tinuous knocking if it were not for partisan interests, and yet where a fair number of people demand State Government there is no just cause for denial. Yet all questions of population, natural division, area and resources should be given their proj^er weight. The area of the combined territories — Utah, Washington, New Mexico, Dakota, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Indian is about 900,000 square miles. We exclude Alaska, which has not been sur- veyed. Indian Territory and Utah are for some years to come excluded from admission — the one being reserved to the occupancy of the Indians, while the other is by her peculiar institution of polygamy, generally thrown out of all calculation. And yet it may be found that polygamy can best be made amenable to the laws by the compul- sory admission of Utah as a State — an idea entertained by not a few who have given consideration to the question. Alaska may also be counted out for manv vears to come. There are but 30,000 inhabitants, few of these permanent, and Congress is now con- sidering a petition for the establishment of a territorial government there. Next to Dakota, New Mexico justly claims admission. The lands comprised within its original area were acquired from Mexico, at the conclusion of the war Avith that country, by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, and by act of September 9, 1850, a Territorial government was or- ganized. By treaty of December 30, 1853, the region south of the Gila river — the Gadsden purchase, so called — was ceded by Mexico, and by act of August 4, 1854, added to the Territory, which at that time included within its limits the present Ter- ritory of Arizona. Its prayer for admis- sion was brought to the serious attention of Congress in 1874. The bill was pre- sented in an able speech by Mr. Elkins, then delegate from the Territory, and had the warm support of many members. A bill to admit was also introduced in the Senate, and passed that body February 25, 1875, by a vote of thirty -two to eleven, {wo of the present members of that body, Messrs. Ingalls and Windom, being among its supporters. The matter of admission came up for final action in the House at the same session, just prior to adjournment, and a motion to suspend the rules, in order to put it upon its final passage, was lost by a vote of one hundred and fifty-four to eighty -seven, and the earnest efforts to se- cure the admission of New Mexico were thus defeated. A bill for its admission is now again before Congress, and it is a mat- ter of interest to note" the representations as to the condition of the Territory then made, and the f:icts as they now exist. It has, according to the census of 1880, a population of 119,565. It had in 1870 a population of 91,874. It was claimed bv the more moderate advocates of the bill that its population then numbered 135,000 (15,435 more than at present), while others placed it as high as 145,000. Of this ])op- ulation, 45,000 were said to be of American and European descent. It was stated by Senator Hoar, one of the opponents of the bill, that, out of an illiterate population of 52,220, by far the larger part were native inhabitants of Mexican or Spanish origin, who could not speak the English language. This statement seems to be m large degree confirmed by the census of 1880, which shows a total native white population of 108,721, of whom, as nearly as can be as- certained, upward of 80 per cent, are not only illiterates of Mexican and Spanish extraction, but as in 1870, speaking a for- eign language. The vote for Mr. Elkins, Territorial Delegate in 1875, was reported as being about 17,000. The total vote in 1878 was 18,806, and in 1880, 20,397, show- ing a comparatively insignificant increase from 1875 to 1880. The Territory of Washington was con- stituted out of Oregon, and organized as a Territory by act of March 2, 1853. Its population by the census of 1880 was 75,- 116, an increase from 23,955 in 1870. Of this total, 59,313 are of native and 15,803 of foreign nativity. Its total white popu- lation in the census year was 67,119; Chi- nese, 3,186; Indian, 4,105; colored, 326, and its total present population is probably not far from 95,000. Its yield of precious metals in 1880, and for the entire period since its development, while showing re- sources full of promise, has been much less than that of any other of the organized Ter- ritories. Its total vote for Territorial Dele- gate in 1880, while exceeding that of the Territories of Arizona, Idaho, and Wyo- ming, was but 15,823. The Territory of Arizona, organized out of a portion of New Mexico, and provided with a territorial government in 1863, con- tains about 5,000,000 acres less than the Territory of New Mexico, or an acreage exceeded by that of only five. States and Territories. Its total population in 1870 was 9,658, and in 1880, 40,440, 351,60_ of whom were whites. Of its total population in the census year, 24,391 w^ere of native and 16,049 of foreign birth, the number of 280 AMERICAN POLITICS. Indians, Chinese, and colored being 6,000. Idaho was originally a part of Oregon, from which it was separated and provided with a territorial government by the act of March 3, 1863. It embraces in its area a little more than 55,000,000 acres, and had in 1880 a total population of 32,610, being an increase from 14,999 in 1870. Of this population, 22,636 are of native and 9,974 of foreign birth ; 29,013 of the total inhabi- tants are white, 3,379 Chinese and 218 In- dians and colored. The Territory of Montana, organized by act of May 26, 1864, contains an acreage larger than that of any other Territory save Dakota. While it seems to be inferior in cereal producing capacity, in its area of valuable grazing lands it equals, if it does not excel, Idaho. The chief prosperity of the Territory, and that which promises for it a future of growing importance, lies in its extraordinary mineral wealth, the pro- ductions of its mines in the year 1880 hav- ing been nearly twice that of any other Territory, witli a corresponding excess in its total production, which had reached, on June 30, 1880, the enormous total of over $53,000,000. Its mining industries represent in the aggregate very large in- vested capital, and the increasing products, with the development of new mines, are attracting constant additions to its poiDula- tion, which in 1880 showed an increase, as compared with 1870, of over 90 per cent. For particulars see census tables in tabu- lated history. Wyoming was constituted out of the Territory of Dakota, and provided with territorial government July 25, 1868. Ly- ing between Colorado and Montana, and adjoining Dakota and Nebraska on the east, it partakes of the natural characteris- tics of these States and Territories, having a fair portion of land suitable for cultiva- tion, a large area suitable for grazing pur- poses, and a wealth in mineral resources whose development, although of recent be- ginning, has already resulted in an en- couraging yield in precious metals. It is the fifth in area. Henry Randall Waite, in an able article in the March number of the International Eeview (1882,) closes with these interest- ing paragraphs : " It will be thus seen that eleven States organized from Territories, when author- ized to form State governments, and the same number when admitted to the Union, had free populations of less than 60,000, and that of the slave States included in this number, seven in all, not one had the required number of free inhabitants, either when authorized to take the first steps to- ward admission or when finally adniittt'd ; and that both of these steps were taken l)y two of the latter States with a total i^opu- lation, free and slave, l)elow the required number. Why so many States have been authorized to form State governments, and have been subsequently admitted to the Union with populations so far below the requirements of the ordinance of 1787, and the accepted rules for subsequent ac- tion may be briefly explained as follows : 1st, by the ground lor the use of a wide discretion afibrded in the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, for the admission of States, when deemed expedient, before their population should equal the required number; and 2d, by the equally wide dis- cretion given by the Constitution in the words, 'New States may be admitted by Congress into this Union,' the only provi- sion of the Constitution bearing specifical- ly upon this subject. Efibrts have been made at various times to secure the strict enforcement of the original rules, with the modification resulting from the increase in the population of the Union, which pro- vided that the number of free inhabitants in a Territory seeking admission should equal the number established as th6 basis of representation in the apportionment of Representatives in Congress, as determined by the preceding census. How little suc- cess the efforts made in this direction have met, may be seen by a comparison of the number of inhabitants forming the basis of representation, as established by the dif- ferent censuses, and the free population of the Territories admitted at corresponding periods. "At this late date, it is hardly to be ex- pected that rules so long disregarded will be made applicable to the admission of the States to be organized from the existing Territories. There is, nevertheless, a growing disposition on the part of Con- gress to look with disfavor upon the forma- tion of States whose poi)ulation, and the development of whose resources, render the expediency of their admission ques- tionable ; and an increasing doubt as to the propriety of so dividing the existing Territories as to multiply to an unneces- sary extent the number of States, with the attendant increase in the number of Repre- sentatives in the National Legislature. " To recaijitulate the facts as to the pre- sent condition of the Territories with re- ference to their admission as States, it may be said that only Dakota, Utah, New Mexico and Washington are in possession of the necessary population according to the rule requiring 60,000 ; that only the three first named conform to the rule de- manding a population equal to the present basis of representation ; that only Dakota, Utah and Washington give evidence of that intelligence on the part of their in- habitants which is essential to the proper exercise, luider favorable conditions, of the extended rights of citizenship, and of that THE CHINESE QUESTION. 281 progress in the development of their re- sources which makes self-government es- sential, safe, or in any way desirable; and that only Dakota can be said, unquestion- ably, to" possess all of the requirements which, by the dictates of a sound policy, should be demanded of a Territory at this time seeking admission to the Union. " Whatever the response to the Terri- torial messengers now waiting at the doors of Congress, a few years, at most, will bring an answer to their prayers. The stars of a dozen proud and prosperous States will soon be added to those already blazoned upon the blue field of the Union, and the term Territory, save as applied to the frozen regions of Alaska, will disappear from the map of the United States." The Clilnese Q,Hestion. Since 1877 the agitation of the prohibi- tion of Chinese immigration in California and other States and Territories on the Pacific slope has been very great. This led to many scenes of violence and in some instances bloodshed, when one Dennis Kearney led the Workingmen's party in San Francisco. On this issue an agitator and preacher named Kalloch was elected Mayor. The issue was carried to the Leg- islature, and in the vote on a constitu- tional amendment it was found that not only the labor but nearly all classes in California were opposed to the Chinese. The constitutional amendment did not meet the sanction of the higher courts. A bill was introduced into Congress restrict- ing Chinese immigrants to fifteen on each vessel. This passed both branches, but was vetoed by President Hayes on the ground that it w^as in violation of the spirit of treaty stipulations. At the sessions of 1881-82 a new and more radical measure was introduced. This prohibits immigra- tion to Chinese or Coolie laborers for twen- ty years. The discussion in the U. S. Senate begau on the 28th of February, 1882, in a speech of unusual strength by Senator John F. Miller, the author of the Bill. From this we freely quote, not alone to show the later views ejitertained by the people of the Pacific slope, but to give from the lips of one who knows the lead- ing facts in the history of the agitation. Abstracts from the Text of Senator Miller's Speecli. On his Bill to Prohibit Chinese Iimnigration. In the Senate, Feb. 28th, 1882, Mr. Miller said : " This measure is not a surprise to the Senate, nor a new revelation to the country. It has been before Congress more than once, if not in the precise form in which it is now presented, in substance the same, and it has passed the oi'deal of analytical debate and received the affirma- tive vote of both Houses. Except for the Executive veto it would have been long ago the law of the land. It is again pre- sented, not only under circumstances as imijerative in their demands ibr its enact- ment, but with every objection of the veto removed and every argument made against its approval swept away. It is an interest- ing fact in the history of this measure, that the action which has cleared its way of tlie impediments which were made the reasons for the veto, was inaugurated and consum- mated with splendid persistance and en- ergy by the same administration whose ex- ecutive interposed the veto against it. Without stopping to inquire into the mo- tive of the Hayes administration in this proceeding, whether its action was in obe- dience to a conviction that the measure was in itself right and expedient, or to a public sentiment, so strong and universal as to demand the utmost vigor in the di- plomacy necessary for the removal of all impediments to its progress, it must be ap- parent that the result of this diplomatic action has been to add a new phase to the question in respect of the adoption of the measure itself. " In order to fully appreciate this foct it may be proper to indulge in historical reminiscence for a moment. For many years complaints had been made against the introduction into the United States of the peculiar people who come from China, and the Congress, after careful considera- tion of the subject, so far appreciated the evil complained of as to pass a bill to in- terdict it. " The Executive Department had, prior to that action, with diplomatic finesse, ap- proached the imperial throne of China, with intent, as was said, to ascertain whether such an interdiction of coolie im- portation, or immigration so called, into the United States would be regarded as a lireach of friendly relations with China, and had been informed by the diplomat, to whom the delicate task had been com- mitted, that such interdiction would not be favorably regarded by the Chinese Govern- ment. Hence, Avhen Congress, with sur- prising audacity, passed the bill of inter- diction the Executive, believing in the truth of the information given him, thought it prudent and expedient to veto the bill, but immediately, in pursuance of authority granted by Congress, he appointed three commissioners to negotiate a treaty by which the consent of China should be given to the interdiction proposed by Congress. These commissioners appeared before the Government of China upon this special mission, and presented the request , of the Government of the United States 282 AMERICAN POLITICS. affirmatively, positively, and authorita- tively made', and after the usual diplomatic ceremonies, representations, misrepresenta- tions, avowals, and concealments, the treaty was made, the concession granted,, and the interdiction agreed' upon. This treaty was presented here and ratified by the Senate, with what unanimity Senators know, and which the rules of the Senate forbid me to describe. " The new phase of this question, which we may as well consider in the outset, sug- gests the spectacle which this nation should present if Congress were to vote this or a similar measure down. A great nation cannot afford inconsistency in action, nor betray a vacillating, staggering, incon- stant policy in its intercourse with other nations. No really great people will pre- sent themselves before the world through their government as a nation irresolute, fickle, feeble, or petulant ; one day eagerly demanding of its neighbor an agreement or concession, which on the next it ner- vously repudiates or casts aside. Can we make a solemn request of China, through the pomp of an extraordinary embassy and the ceremony of diplomatic negotiation, and with prudent dispatch exchange ratifi- cations of the treaty granting our request, and within less than half a year after such exchange is made cast aside the concession and, with cliiklish irresolution, ignore the whole proceeding? Can we afford to make such a confession of American imbecility to any oriental power ? The adoption of this or some such measure becomes neces- sary, it seems to me, to the intelligent and consistent execution of a policy adopted by this Government under the sanction of a treaty with another great nation. " If the Executive department, the Sen- ate, and the House of Keprcsentativcs have all understood and appreciated their own action in respect of this measure ; if in the negotiation and ratification of the new treaty with China, the Executive and the Senate did not act without thought, in blind, inconsiderate recklessness — and we know they did not — if the Congress of the United States in the passage of the fifteen passenger bill had the faintest conception of what it was doing— and we know it had — then the policy of this Government in respect of so-called Chinese, immigration has been authoritatively settled. "This proposition is submitted with the greater confidence because the action I have described was in obedience to, and in harmony with, a public sentiment which seems to have permeated the whole coun- try. For the evidence of the existence of such a sentiment, it is only necessary to produce the declarations upon this subject of the two great historical parties of the country, deliberately made by their na- tional conventions of 1880. One of these (the Democratic convention) declared that there shall be— " ' No more Chinese immigration except for travel, education, and foreign com- merce, and therein carefully guarded.' "The other (the Eepublican) convention declared that — " ' Since the authority to regulate immi- gration and intercourse between the United States and foreign nations rests with Con- gress, or with the United States and its treaty-making power, the Republican party, regarding the unrestricted immi- gration of the Chinese as an evil of great magnitude, invokes the exercise of these powers to restrain and limit the immigra- tion by the enactment of such just, hu- mane, and reasonable provisions as will produce that result.' " These are the declarations of the two great political parties, in whose ranks are enrolled nearly all the voters of the United States; and whoever voted at the last Presidential election voted for the adop- tion of the principles and policy expressed by those declarations, whether he voted with the one or the other of the two great parties. Both candidates for the Presidency were pledged to the adoption and execu- tion of the policy of restriction thus de- clared by their respective parties, and the candidate who was successful at the polls, in his letter of acceptance, not only gave expression to the sentiment of his party and the country, but with a clearness and conciseness which distinguished all his ut- terances upon great public questions, gave the reasons for that public sentiment." He said : " ' The recent movement of the Chinese to our Pacific Coast partakes but little of the qualities of an immigration, either in its purposes or results. It is too much like an importation to be welcomed with- out restriction ; too much like an invasion to be looked upon without solicitude. We cannot consent to allow any form of servile labor to be introduced among us under the guise of immigration.' ****** * * " In this connection it is proper also to consider the probable effect of a failure or refusal of Congress to pass this bill, upon the introduction of Chinese coolies into the United States in the future. An adverse vote upon such a measure, is an invitation to the Chinese to come, It Avould be in- terpreted to mean that the Government of the United States had reversed its policy, and is now in favor of the unrestricted im- ]iortation of Chinese ; that it looks with favor upon the Chinese invasion now in progress. It is a fact well known that the hostility to the influx of Chinese upon the Pacific coast displayed by the people of California has operated as a restriction, and has discouraged the importation of THE CHINESE QUESTION. 283 Chinese to such a degree that it is probable that tliere are not a tenth part the number of Chinese in tlie country there would J have been had tliis determined hostility never been shown. Despite tlie inhosj)!- tality, not to say resistance, of the Cali- fornia people to the Cliinese, sometimes while waiting for the action of the General Government difficult to restrain within the bounds of peaceable assertion, they have poured through the Golden Gate in con- stantly increased numbers during the past year, the total number of arrivals at San Francisco alone during 1881 being 18,561. Nearly two months have elapsed since the 1st of Januaiy, and there have arrived, as the newspapers show, about four thousand more. " The defeat of this measure now is a shout of welcome across the Pacific Ocean to'a myriad host of these strange people to come and occupy the land, and it is a re- buke to the American citizens, who have •so long stood guard upon the western shore of this continent, and who, seeing the dan- ger, have with a fortitude and forbearance most admirable, raised and maintained the only barrier against a stealthy, strategic, but peaceful invasion as destructive in its results and more potent for evil, than an invasion by an army with banners. An adverse vote now, is to commission under the broad seal of the United States, all the speculators in human labor, all the im- porters of human muscle, all the trafiickers in human flesh, to ply their infamous trade without impediment under the protection of the American flag, and empty the teem- ing, seething slave pens of China upon the soil of California ! I forbear further spec- ulation upon the results likely to flow from such a vote, for it presents pictures to the mind which one would not willingly con- template. "These considerations which I have presented ought to be, it seems to me, de- cisive of the action of the Senate upon this measure ; and I should regard the argu- ment as closed did I not knov,% that there still remain those who do not consider the question as settled, and who insist upon further inquiry into the reasons for a policy of restriction, as applied to the Chinese. I am not one of those who would place the consideration of consistency or mere ap- pearances above consideration of right or justice ; but since no change has taken place in our relations with China, nor in our domestic concerns which renders a re- versal of the action of the government proper or necessary, I insist that if the measure of restriction was right and good policy when Congx-ess passed the fifteenth passenger bill, and when the late treaty with China was negotiated and ratified, it is right and expedient now. "This measure had its origin in Cali- fornia. It has been pressed with great vigor by the Representatives of the Pacific coast in Congress, for many years. It has not been urgi'd with wild vehement decla- mation l)y thoughtless men, at the behest of an ignorant unthinking, prejudiced con- stituency. It has been supported by in- controvertible fact and passionless reason- ing and enforced by the logic of events. Behind these Rei)resentatives was an in- telligent, conscientious public sentiment — universal in a constituency as honest, gen- erous, intelligent, courageous, and humane as any in the Republic. " It had l)een said that the advocates of Chinese restriction were to be found only among the vicious, unlettered foreign ele- ment of California society. To show the fact in respect of this contention, the Leg- islature of California in 1878 provided for a vote of the people upon the question of Chinese immigration (so called] to be had at the general election of 1879. The vote was legally taken, without excitement, and the response was general. When the bal- lots were counted, there were found to be 883 votes for Chinese immigration and 154,638 against it. A similar vote was tak- en in Nevada and resulted as follows : 183 votes for Chinese immigration and 17,259 votes against. It has been said that a count of noses is an ineflectual and illusory method of settling great questions, but this vote of these two States settled the conten- tion intended to be settled; and demon- strated that the people of all others in the United States who know most of the Chinese evil, and who are most competent to judge of the necessity for restriction are practically unanimous in the support of this measure. " It is to be supposed that this vote of California was the eftect of an hysterical spasm, which had suddenly seized the minds of 154,000 voters, representing the sentiment of 800,000 people. For nearly thirty years this people had witnessed the effect of coolie importation. For more than a quarter of a century these voters had met face to face, considered, weighed, and discussed the great question upon which they were at last called upon, in the most solemn and deliberate manner, to express an opinion. I do not cite this extraordinary vote as a conclusive argument in favor of Chinese restriction ; but I present it as an important fact suggestive of argument. It may be that the people who have been brought face to face with the Chinese in- vasion are all wrong, and that those who have seen nothing of it, who have but heard something of it, are more competent (being disinterested) to judge of its pos- sible, probable, and actual effects, than those who have had twenty or thirty years of actual continuous experience and con- tact with the Chinese colonv in America; 284 AMERICAN POLITICS. and it may be that the Chinese question is to be settled upon considerations otlier than those practical common sense reasons and principles which form the basis of po- litical science. " It has sometimes happened in dealing with great questions of governmental policy that sentiment, or a sort of emotional inspiration, has seized the minds of those engaged in the solution of great problems, by which they have been lifted up into the ethereal heights of moral abstraction. _ I trust that while we attempt the path of in- quirv in this instance we shall keep our feet firmly upon the earth. This question relates to this planet and the tempond government of some of its inhabitants ; it is of the earth earthly ; it involves prin- ciples of economic, social, and political science, rather than a question of morals ; it is a question of national policy, and should be subjected to philosophical analy- sis. Moreover, the question is of to-day. The conditions of the world of mankind at the present moment are those with which we have to deal. If mankind existed now in one grand co-operative society, in one universal union, under one system of laws, in a vast homogeneous brotherhood, serenely beatified, innocent of all selfish aims and unholy desires, with one visible temporal ruler, whose judgments should be justice and whose sway should be eter- nal, then there Avould be no propriety in this measure. " But the millennium has not yet begun, and man exists now, as he has existed always — in the economy of Providence — in societies called nations, separated by the peculiarities if not the antipathies of race. In truth the history of mankind is for the most part descriptive of racial con- flicts and the struggles between nations for existence. By a perfectly natural process these nations have evolved distinct civ- ilizations, as diverse in their characteristics as the races of men from which they have sprung. These may be properly grouped into two grand divisions, the civilization of the East and the civilization of the West. These tAvo greatand diverse civiliza- tions have finally met on the American shore of the Pacific Ocean. " During the late depression in busi- ness affairs, which existed for three or four years in California, while thousands of white men and women were walking the streets, begging and pleading for an oppor- tunity to give their honest labor for any wages, the great steamers made their regu- lar arrivals from China, and discharged at the wharves of San Francisco their ac- customed cargoes of Chinese who were conveyed through the city to the distribu- ting dens of the Six Companies, and with- in three or four days after arrival every Chinaman was in his place at work, and the white people unemployed still went about the streets. This continued until the white laboring men rose in their des- peration and threatened the existence of the Chinese colony when the influx was temporarily checked ; but now since busi- ness has revived, and the pressure is re- moved, the Chinese come in vastly in- creased numbers, the excess of arrivals over departures averaging about one thousand per month at San Francisco alone. The importers of Chinese had no difficulty in securing openings for their cargoes now, and when transportation from California to the Eastern States is cheapened, as it soon will be, they will extend their opera- tions into the Middle and Eastern States, unless prevented by law, for wdierever there is a white man or woman at work for wages, whether at the shoe bench, in the factory, or on the farm, there is an opening for a Chinaman. No matter how low the wages may be, the Chinaman can afford to work for still lower wages, and if the competition is free, he will take the white man's place. " At this point we are met by the query from a certain class of political econo- mists, 'What of it? Suppose the Chinese work for lower wages than white men, is it not advantageous to the country to em- ploy them?' The first answer to such question is, that by this process white men are supplanted by Chinese. It is a sub- stitution of Chinese and their civilization for white men and Anglo-Saxon civiliza- tion. This involves considerations higher than mere economic theories. If the Chi- nese are as desirable as citizens, if they are in all the essential elements of man- hood the peers or the superiors of the Cau- casian ; if they will protect American in- terests, foster American .institutions, and become the patriotic defenders of rei^ubli- can government ; if their civilization does not antagonize ours nor contaminate it ; if they are free, independent men, fit for liberty and self-government as European immigrants generally are, then we may begin argument upon the question whether it is better or worse, wise or unwise, to permit white men, American citizens, or men of kindred races to be supplanted and the Chinese to be substituted in their places. Until all this and more can be shown the advocates of Chinese importa- tion or immigration have no base upon which to even begin to build argument. "The statistics of the maiiufacture of cigars in San Francisco are still more sug- gestive. This business was formerly car- ried on exclusively by white people, many hundreds finding steady and lucrative em- ployment in that trade. I have here the certified statement from the office of the collector of internal revenue at San Fran- cisco, showing the number of white people THE CHINESE QUESTION, 285 and Chinese, relatively, employed on the 1st of November last in the manufacture of cigars. The statement is as follows : Number of white men employed 493 Number ot white women employed. 170 Total whites 6G8 Number of Chinese employed 5 182 " The facts of this statement were care- fully ascertained by three deputy collec- tors. The San Francisco Assembly of Trades certify that there are 8,2()0 Chinese employed in laundries. It is a well-known fact that white women who formerly did this work have been quite driven out of that employment. The same authority certifies that the number of Chinese now employed in the manufacture of clothing in San Francisco, is 7,510, and the num- ber of whites so employed is 1,000. In many industries the Chinese have entirely supplanted the white laborers, and thou- sands of our white people have quit Cali- fornia and sought immunity from this grinding competition in other and better- favored regions." ******** " If you would ' secure the blessings of liberty' to ourselves and our posterity,' there" must be some place reserved in which, and upon which, posterity can exist. "What will the blessings of liberty be worth to posterity if you give up the country to the Chinese? ' If China is to be the breed- ing-ground for peopling this country, what chance of American posterity? We of this age hold tliis land in trust for our race and kindred. We hold republican govern- ment and free institutions in trust for American posterity. That trust ought not to be betrayed. " If the Chinese should in- vade the Pacific coast with arms in their hands, what a magnificent spectacle of martial resistance would be presented to a startled world! The mere intimation of an attempt to make conquest of our west- ern shore by force would rouse the nation to a frenzy of enthusiasm in its defense. For years a peaceful, sly, strategic con- quest has been in progress, and American statesmanship has been almost silent, until the people have demanded action. " The land which is being overrun by the oriental invader is the fairest portion of our heritage. It is the land of the vine and the fig tree ; the home of the orange, the olive, and the pomegranate. Its winter is a perpetual spring, and its summer is a golden harvest. There the northern pine peacefully sways against the southern palm ; the tender azalea and the hardy rose min- gle their sweet perfume, and the tropic vine encircles the sturdy oak. Its valleys are rich and glorious with luscious fruits and waving grain, and its lofty Mountains like fjiants stand, To sentinel tljo enchautod land. "I would see its fertile j)lains, its se- questered vales, its vine-clad hills, its deep blue canons, its furrowed mountain-sides, dotted all over with American homes — the homes of a free, happy people, reso- nant with the sweet voices of flaxen-haired children, and ringing with the joyous laughter of maiden fair — .Soft as her clime, and sunny as lier skies- like the homes of New England ; yet brighter and better far shall be the homes which are to be builded in that wonder- land by the sunset sea, the homes of a race from which shall spring The ilower of men, To serve as model for the niinlity world, And be the fair beginning of a time." Reply of Senator Geo. F. Hoar. Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, replied to Senator Miller, and presented the sup- posed view of the Eastern States in a mas- terly manner. The speech covered twenty- eight pamphlet pages, and was referred to by the newspaper as an effort equal to some of the best by Charles Sumner. We make liberal extracts from the text, as fol- lows : " Mr. President : A hundred years ago the American people founded a nation upon the moral law. They overthrew by force the authority of their sovereign, and separated themselves from the country which had planted them, alleging as their justification to mankind certain proposi- tions which they held to be self-evident. " They declared — and that declaration is the one foremost action of human his- tory — that all men equally derive from their Creator the right to 'the pursuit of happiness ; that equality in the right to that pursuit is the fundamental rule of the divine justice in its application to man- kind ; that its security is the end for which governments are formed, and its destruc- tion good cause why governments should be overthrown.. For a hundred years this principle has been held in honor. Under its beneficent operation we have grown al- most twenty-fold. Thirteen States have become thirty-eight; three million have become fifty million ; wealth and coinfort and education and art have flourished in still larger proportion. Every twenty years there is added to the valuation of ithis country a wealth enough to buy the whole German Empire, with its buildings and its ships and its invested property. This has been the magnet that has drawn immigration hither. The human stream, hemmed in by banks invisible but impassa- ble, does not turn toward Mexico, which can feed and clothe a world, or South America, which can feed and clothe a hun- 2S6 AMERICAN POLITICS. dred worlds, but seeks only that belt of States where it finds this law in operation. The marvels of comfort and hapi^iness it has wrought for us scarcely surpass what it has done for other countries. The im- migrant sends back the message to those he has left behind. There is scarcely a nation in Europe west of Russia which has not felt the force of our example and whose institutions are not more or less slowly ap- proximating to our own. " Every new State as it takes its place in the great family binds this declaration as a frontlet upon its forehead. Twenty-four of the States, including California herself, declare it in the very opening sentence of their constitutions. The insertion of the phrase ' the pursuit of happiness,' in the enumeration of the natural rights for secur- ing which government is ordained, and the denial of which constitutes just cause for its overthrow, was intended as an explicit afiirmation that the right of every human being who obeys the equal laws to go everywhere on the surface of the earth that his welfare may require is beyondthe rightful control of government. It is a birthright derived immediately from him who ' made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times be- fore appointed and the bounds of their habi- tation.' He made, so our fathers held, of one blood all the nations of men. He gave them the whole face of the earth whereon to dwell. He reserved for himself by his agents heat and cold, and climate, and soil, and water, and land to determine the bounds of their habitation. It has long been the fashion in some quarters, when honor, justice, good faith, human rights are appealed to, and especially when the truths declared in the opening sentences of the Declaration of Independence are in- voked as guides in legislation to stigmatize those who make the appeal as sentimenta- lists, incapable of dealing with practical affixirs. It would be easy to demonstrate the falsehood of this notion. The men who erected the structure of this Government were good, practical builders and knew well the quality of the corner-stone when they laid it. When they put forth for the consideration of their contemporaries and of posterity the declaration which they thought a decent respect for the opinions of mankind required of them, they weighed carefully the fundamental proposition on which their immortal argument rested. Lord Chatham's famous sentence will bear repeating again : When your "lordships look at the papers transmitted to us from America, when you consider their decency, firmness, and wisdom, you cannot but respect their cause and wish to make it your own. For myself I must declare and avow that in all my reading and observation — and it has been my favorite study, I have read Thucydides, and have studied and admired the master states of the world — that for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, under such a com- plication of difficult circumstances, no na- tion or body of men can stand in preference to the general Congress assembled at Philadelphia. The doctrine that the pursuit of happi- ness is an inalienable right with which men are endowed by their Creator, asserted by as religious a people as ever lived at the most religious period of their history, pro- pounded by as wise, practical, and far- sighted statesmen as ever lived as the vin- dication for the most momentous public act of their generation, was intended to commit the American people in the most solemn manner to the assertion that the right to change their homes at their plea- sure is a natural right of all men. The doc- trine that free institutions' are a monopoly of the favored races, the doctrine that op- pressed people may sever their old alle- giance at will, but have no right to find a new one, that the bird may fly but may never light, is of quite recent origin. California herself owing her place in our Union to the first victory of freedom in the great contest with African slavery, is pledged to repudiate this modern heresy, not only by her baptismal vows, but by her share in the enactment of the statute of 1868. Her constitution read thus until she took Dennis Kearney for her law- giver : We, the people of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings, do establish this con- stitution. DECLARATION OF RIGHTS. Section 1. All men are by nature free and independent, and have certain inalien- able rights, among which are those of enjoy- ing and defending life and liberty, acquir- ing, possessing, and defending property, and pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness. * * * * * * * Sec. 17. Foreigners who are or who may hereafter become bona fide residents of this State, shall enjoy the same rights in respect to the possession, enjoyment, and inheritance of property, as native born citizens. In the Eevised Statutes, section 1999, Congress in the most solemn manner de- clare that the right of expatriation is be- yond the lawful control of government : Sec. 1999. Whereas the right of _ expa- triation is a natural and inherent right of all people, indispensable to the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty, and the pur- suit of happiness ; and THE CHINESE QUESTION. 287 Whereas in the recognition of this prin- ciple this Government has freely received emigrants from all .nations, and invested them with the rights of citizenship. This is a re-enactment, in part, of the statute of 1868, of which Mr. Conness, then a California Senator, of Irish birth, was, if not the author, the chief advocate. The California Senator called up the bill day after day. The bill originally provided that the President might order the arrest and detention in custody of " any subject or citizen of such foreign government " as should arrest and detain any naturalized citizen of the United States under the claim that he still re- mained subject to his allegiance to his na- tive sovereign. This gave rise to debate. But there was no controversy about the part of the bill which I have read. The preamble is as follows : Whereas the right of expatriation is a natural and inherent right of all people, indispensable tP the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, for the protection of which the Government of the United States was es- tablished; and Avhereas in the recogni- tion of this principle this Government has freely received emigrants from all nations and vested them with the rights of citizen- ship, &c. Mr. Howard declares that — The absolute right of expatriation is the great leading American principle. Mr. Morton says: That a man's right to withdraw from his native country and make his home in an- other, and thus cut himself ofi from all connection with his native country, is a part of his natural liberty, and without that his liberty is defective. We claim that the right to liberty is a natural, in- herent, God-given right, and his liberty is imperfect unless it carries with it the right of expatriation. The bill containing the preamble above recited passed the Senate by a vote of .39 to 5. The United States of America and the Emperor of China cordially recognize the inherent and inalienable right of man to change his home and allegiance, and also the • mutual advantage of the free migra- tion and emigration of their citizens and subjects respectively from the one country to the other for purposes of curiosity, of trade, or as permanent residents. "The bill which passed Congress two years ago and was vetoed by President Hayes, the treaty of 1881, and the bill now before the Senate, have the same origin and are parts of the same measure. Two years ago it w'as proposed to exclude Chi- nese laborers from our borders, in express disregard of our solemn treaty obligations. This measure was arrested by Preside.-t Hayes. The treaty of 1881 extorted from unwilling China her consent that we might regulate, limit, or suspend the coming of Chinese laborers into this country— a con- sent of which it is proposed by this bill to take advantage. This is entitled " A bill to enforce treaty stipulations with Chi- na." " It seems necessary in discussing the statute briefly to review the history of the treaty. First let me say that the title ot this ioill is deceptive. There is no stijiu- lation of the treaty which the bill enforces. The bill where it is not inconsistent with the compact only avails itself of a privi- lege which that concedes. China only re- laxed the Burlingame treaty so far as to permit us to ' regulate, limit, or suspend the coming or residence ' of Chinese la- borers, ' but not absolutely to prohibit it.' The treaty expressly declares ' such limi- tation or suspension shall be reasonable.' But here is proposed a statute which for twenty years, under the severest penalties, absolutely inhibits the coming of Chinese laborers to this country. The treaty pledges us not absolutely to prohibit it. The bill is intended absolutely to prohibit it. " The second article of the treaty is this : " Chinese subjects, whether proceeding to the United States as traders, students, or merchants, or from curiosity, together with their body and household servants, and Chinese laborers, who are now in the Uni- ted States, shall be allowed to go and come of their own free Avill and accord, and shall be accorded all the rights, privileges, immunities, and exemptions which are ac- corded to the citizens and subjects of the most favored nations. " Yet it is difficult to believe that the com- plex and cumbrous passport system pro- vided in the last twelve sections of the bill was not intended as an evasion of this agreement. Upon what other nation, fa- vored or not, is such a burden imposed? This is the execution of a promise that they may come and go ' of their own free will' " What has happened within thirteen years that the great Republic should strike its flag ? What change has come over us that we should eat the bravest and the tru- est words we ever spoke? From 1858 to 1880 there was added to the population of the country 42,000 Chinese. " I give a table from the census of 1880 showing the Chinese population of each State : Statement shoiving the Chinese population in each State and Territory, according to the United States censuses of 1870 a?id of 1880. Alabama 4 Alaska Arizona 20 1,630 288 AMERICAN POLITICS. Arkansas 98 134 California 49,310 75,025 Colorado 7 610 Connecticut 2 124 Dakota 238 Delaware 1 District of Columbia 3 13 Florida 18 Georgia 1 17 Idaho 4,274 3,378 Illinois 1 210 Indiana 33 Iowa 3 47 Kansas 19 Kentucky 1 10 Louisiana 71 481 Maine 1 9 Maryland 2 5 Massachusetts 97 237 Michigan 2 27 Minnesota 53 Misssissippi 16 52 Missouri 3 94 Montana 1,949 1,764 Nebraska — 18 Nevada 3,152 5,420 New Hampshire 14 New Jersey 15 176 New Mexico 55 New York 29 924 North Carolina Ohio 1 114 Oregon 3,330 9,513 Pennsylvania 14 160 Ehode Island 27 South Carolina 1 9 Tennessee 26 Texas 25 141 Utah 445 501 Vermont Virginia 4 6 Washington 234 3,182 West Virginia 14 Wisconsin 16 Wyoming 143 914 Total 63,254 105,463 " By the census of 1880 the number of Chinese in this country was 105,000 — one five-hundredth part of the whole popula- tion. The Chinese are the most easily governed race in the world. Yet every Chinaman in America has four hundred and ninety-nine Americans to control him. The immigration was also constantly de- creasing for the last half of the decade. The Bureau of Statistics gives the num- bers as follows, ( for the first eight years the figures are those of the entire Asiatic im- migration:) The number of immigrants from Asia, as reported by the United States Bureau of Statistics is as follows, namely : 1871 7,236 1872 7,825 1873 20,326 1874 13,857 1875 16,498 1876 22,943 1877 10,640 1878 9,014 Total 108,339 And from China for the year ended June 30— 1879 9,604 1880 5,802 Total 15,406 Grand Total 123,745 " See also, Mr. President, how this class of immigrants, diminishing in itself, di- minishes still more in its proportion to the rapidly increasing numbers who come from other lands. Against 22,943 Asiatic immigrants in 1876, there are but 5,802 in 1880. In 1878 there were 9,014 from Asia, in a total of 153,207, or one in seventeen of the entire immigration ; and this in- cludes all jJersons who entered the port of San Francisco to go to any South American country. In 1879 there were 9,604 from China in a total of 250,565, or one in twenty-six. In 1880 there were 5,802 from China in a total immigration of 593,359, or one in one hundred and two. The whole Chinese population, then, when the cen- sus of 1880 was taken, was but one in five hundred of our people. The whole Chinese immigration was but one in one hundred and two of the total immigration ; while the total annual immigration quadrupled from 1878 to 1880, the Chinese was in 1880 little more than one-half what it was in 1878, and one-fourth what it was in 1876. " The number of immigrants of all nations was 720,045 in 1881. Of these 20,711 were Chinese. There is no record in the Bureau of Statistics of the number who departed within the year. But a very high anti-Chinese authority places it above 10,000. Perhaps the expection that the hostile legislation under the treaty would not aftect persons who entered before it took effect stimulated somewhat their coming. But the addition to the Cliinese population was less than one seventy- second of the whole immigration. All the Chinese in the country do not exceed the population of its sixteenth city. All the Chinese in California hardly surpass the number which is easily governed in Shanghai by a police of one hundred men. There are as many pure blooded Gypsies wandering about tlie country as there are Chinese in California. What an insult to American intelligence to ask leave of China to keep out her people, because this little handful of almond-eyed Asiatics threaten to destroy our boasted civiliza- THE CllIXKSE QUESTION. 289 tion. We go boasting of our democracy, and our superiority, and our strength. The flag bears the stars of hope to all nations. A hundred thousand Chinese land in California and everything is changed. God has not made of one blood all the nations any longer. The self-evident truth be- comes a self-evident lie. The golden rule does not apply to the natives of the con- tinent where it was first uttered. The United States surrender to China, the Re- public to the despot, America to Asia, Jesus to Joss. " There is another most remarkable ex- ample of this prejudice of race which has happily almost died out here, which has come down from the dark ages and which survives with unabated ferocity in Eastern Europe. I mean the hatred of the Jew. The persecution of the Hebrew has never, so far as I know, taken the form of an affront to labor. In every other particular the reproaches which for ten centuries have been leveled at him are reproduced to do service against the Chinese. The Hebrew, so it was said, was not a Chris- tian. He did not affiliate or assimilate into the nations where he dwelt. He was an unclean thing, a dog, to whom the crime of the crucifixion of his Saviour was never to be forgiven. The Chinese quar- ter of San Francisco had its type in every city of Europe. If the Jew ventured from his hiding-place he was stoned. His wealth made him the prey of the rapacity of the noble, and his poverty and weakness the victim of the rabble. Yet how has this Oriental conquered Christendom by the sublimity of his patience? The great poet of Xew England, who sits by every Ameri- can fireside a beloved and perpetual guest, in that masterpiece of his art, the Jewish Cemetery at Newport, has described the degradation and the triumph of these per- secuted children of God. How came thej' here ? What burst of Christian hate, What persecution, merciless and blind, Drove o'er the sea — that desert desolate — These Ishmaels and Hagai's of mankind ? They lived in narrow streets and lanes obscure. Ghetto and Judenstrass, in mirk and mire ; Taugiit in the school of patience to endure The life of anguish and the death of fire. ******* Anathema maranatha ! was the cry That rang from town to town, from street to street; At every gate the accursed Mordecai Was mocked and jeered, and spurned by Christian feet. Pride and humiliation hand in hand Walked with them through the world where'er they went; Trampled and beaten were they as the sand, And yet unshaken as the continent. Forty years ago — Says Lord Beaconsfield, that great Jew who held England in the hollow of his hand, and who played on her aristocracy as on an organ, who made himself the master of an alien nation, its ruler, its 19 oracle, and through it, and in despite of it, for a time the master of Eur<)])e — Forty years ago — not a longer period than the children of Israel were wandering in the desert — the two most dishonored races in P]urope were the Attic and the He- brew, The world has probably l)y this discovered that it is impossible to destroy the Jews. The attempt to extirjjate them has been made under the most favorable auspices and on the largest scale ; the most considerable means that man could com- mand have been pertinaciously applied to this object for the longest period of re- corded time. Egyptian Pharaohs, Assyrian kings, Roman emperors, Scandinavian crusaders, Gothic princes, and holy inqui- sitors, have alike devoted their energies to the fulfillment of this common purpose. Expatriation, exile, captivity, confiscation, torture on the most ingenious and massa- cre on the most extensive scale, a curious system of degrading customs and debasing laws which would have broken the heart of any other people, have been tried, and in vain. " Lord Beaconsfield admits that the Jews contribute more than their proportion to the aggregate of the vile ; that the lowest class of Jews are obdurate, malignant, odious, and revolting. And yet this race of dogs, as it has been often termed in scorn, furnishes Europe to-day its masters in finance and oratory and statesmanship and art and music. Rachel, Mozart, Men- delssohn, Disraeli, Rothschild, Benjamin, Heine, are but samples of the intellectual l)ower of a race which to-day controls the finance and the press of Europe. " I do not controvert the evidence which is relied upon to show that there are great abuses, great dangers, great offenses, which have grown out of the coming of this peo- ple. Much of the evil I believe might be cured by State and municipal authority. Congress may rightfully be called upon to go to the limit of the just exercise of the powers of government in rendering its aid, " We should have capable and vigilant consular officers in the Asiatic ports from which these immigrants come, without whose certificate they should not be re- ceived on board ship, and who should see to it that no person except those of good character and no person whose labor is not his own property be allowed to come over. Especially should the trade in human labor under all disguises be suppressed. Filthy habits of living must surely be with- in the control of municipal regulation. Every State may by legislation or by muni- cipal ordinance in its towns and cities pre- scribe the dimension of dwellings and limit. the number who may occupy the same tenement. " But it is urged — and this in my judg- ment is the greatest argument for the bill— 290 AMERICAN POLITICS. that the introduction of the labor of tlie Chinese reduces the wages of the American laborer. ' We are ruined by Chinese cheap labor'" is a cry not limited to the class to whose representative the brilliant humor- ist of California first ascribed it. I am not in favor of lowering any where the wages of any American labor, skilled or unskilled. On the contrary, I believe the maintenance and the increase of the purchasing power of the wages of the American working man should be the one principal object of our legislation. The share in the product of agriculture or manufacture which goes to labor should, and I believe will, steadily increase. For that, and for that only, ex- ists our ]n-otective system. The acquisition of wealth, national or individual, is to be desired only for that. The statement of the accomplished Senator from Californi on this point meets my heartiest concur- 3. I have no symps if such there be, who favor high protection have no sympathy with any men, and cheap labor, " But I believe that the Chinese, to whom the terms of the California Senator attri- bute skill enough to displace the American in every field requiring intellectual vigor, will learn very soon to insist on his full share of the product of his work. But whe- ther that be true or not, the wealth he cre- ates will make better and not worse the con- dition of every higher class of labor. There may be trouble or failure in adjusting new relations. But sooner or later every new class of industrious and productive labor- ers elevates the class it displaces. The dread of an injury to our labor from the ■Chinese rests on the same fallacy that op- posed the introduction of labor-saving ma- 'Chinery, and which opposed the coming of the Irishman and the German and the ;Swede. Within my memory in New Eng- land all the lower places in factories, all places of domestic service, were filled by the sons and daughters of American farm- ■ ers. The Irishmen came over to take their places ; but the American farmer's son arid daughter did not suffer; they were only elevated to a higher plane. In the in- creased wealth of the community their share is much greater. The Irishman rose from the bog or the hovel of his native land to the comfort of a New England home., and placed his children in a New England school. The Yankee rises from the loom and the spinning-jenny to be the teacher, the skilled laborer in the machine shop, the inventor, the merchant, or the opulent landholder and farmer of the West. A letter from F. A. Bee, Chinese Con- sul, approving the management of the es- tate, accompanied the report of the re- feree: "Mr. President, I will not detain the Senate by reading the abundant testimony, of which this is but the sample, of the pos- session by the people of this race of the l^ossibility of a development of every qua- lity of intellect, art, character, which fits them for citizenship, for republicanism, for Christianity. " Humanity, capable of infinite depths of degradation, is capable also of infinite heights of excellence. The Chinese, like all other races, has given us its examples of both. To rescue humanity from this degradation is, we are taught to believe, the great object of God's moral government on earth. It is not by injustice, exclusion, caste, but by reverence for the individual soul that we can aid in this consummation. It is not by Chinese policies that China is to be civilized. I believe that the immor- tal truths of the Declaration of Indepen- dence came from the same source with the Golden Kule and the Sermon on the Mount. We can trust Him who promul- gated these laws to keep the country safe that* obeys them. The laws of the universe have their own sanction. They will not fail. The power that causes the compass to point to the north, that dismisses the star on its pathway through the skies, pro- mising that in a thousand years it shall re- turn again true to its hour and keep His word, will vindicate His own moral law. As surely as the path on which our fathers entered a hundred years ago led to safety, to strength, to glory, so surely will the path on which we now propose to enter bring us to shame, to weakness, and to peril." On the 3d of March the debate was re- newed. Senator Farley protested that un- less Chinese irnmigration is prohibited it will be impossible to protect the Chinese : on the Pacific coast. The feeling against them now is such that restraint is difiicult, as the people, forced out of employment by them, and irritated by their constantly in- creasing numbers, are not in a condition to submit to the deprivations they sufler by the presence of a Chinese population im- ported as slaves and absorbing to their own benefit the labor of the country. A remark of Mr. Farley about the Chinese led Mr. Hoar to ask if they were not the inventors of the printing press and of gunpowder. To this question Mr. Jones, of Nevada, made a brief speech, which was considered remarkable, principally because it was one of the very few speeches of any length that he has made since he became a Senator. Instead of agreeing with Mr. Hoar that the Chinese had inv-euted the printing press and gunpowder, he said that information he had received led him to believe that the Chinese were not entitled to the credit of either of these inventions. On the con- trary, they had stolen them from Aryans or Caucasians who wandered into the king- THE CHINESE QUESTION. 291 dom. Mr. Hoar smiled incredulously and made a remark to the effect that he had never heard of those Aiyans or Caucasians before. Continuing his remarks, Mr. Farley ex- ])ressed his belief that should the Mongo- , lian population increase and the Chinese ' come in contact with the Africans, the con- 1 tact would result in demoralization and ! bloodshed which the laws could not pre- vent. Pig-tailed Chinamen would take the place everywhere of the working girl unless Congress extended its protection to Califor- nia and her white people, who had by their votes demanded a prohibition of Chinese immigration. Mr. Maxey, interpreting the Constitution in such a way as to bring out of it an argument against Chinese Immi- gration, saicl he found .nothing in it to jus- tify the conclusion that the framers of it intended to bring into this country all na- tions and races. The only people the fathers had in view as citizens were those of the Caucasian race, and they contempla- ted naturalization only for such, for they had distinctly set forth that the heritage of freedom was to be for their posterity. No- body would pretend to express the opinion that it was'expected that the American peo- ple should become mixed up with all sorts of races and call the result " our posterity." While the American people had, in conse- quence of their Anglo-Saxon origin, been able to withstand the contact with the Af- rican, the Africans would never stand be- fore the Chinese. Mr. Maxey opposed the Chinese because they do not come here to be citizens, because the lower classes of Chinese alone are immigrants, and because by contact they poison the minds of the less intelligent. Mr. "Saulsbury had something to say in favor of the bill, and Mr. Garland, who vo- ted against the last bill because the treaty had not been modified, expressed his belief that the Government could exercise proper- ly all the powers proposed to be bestowed by this bill. Some time was consumed by Mr. Ingalls in advocacy of an amendment offered by him, proposing to limit the sus- pension of immigration to 10 instead of 20 years. Mr. Miller and Mr. Bayard op- posed the amendment, Mr. Bayard taking the ground that Congress ought not to dis- regard the substantially unanimous wish of the people of California, as expressed at the polls, for absolute prohibition. The debate was interrupted by a motion for an executive session, and the bill went over un- til Monday, to be taken up then as the un- finished business. On March 6th a vote was ordered on Senator Ingalls' amendment. It was de- feated on a tie vote — yeas 23, nays 23. The vote in detail is as follows : Yeas — Messrs. Aldrich, Allison, Blair, Brown, Cockrell, Conger, Davis of Illinois, Dawes, Edmunds, Frye, Harris, Hoar, In- galls, Jackson, liapham, McDill, McMil- lan, Mitchell, Morrell, Saunders, Sewell, Sherman and Teller — 23. Nays— ^Messrs. Bayard, Beck, Call, Came- ron of Wisconsin, Coke, Fair, Farle-y, Gar- land, George, Hale, Hampton, liill of Colorado, Jonas, Jones of Nevada, Mc- pherson, Marcy, Miller of California, ]\Iil- ler of New York, Morgan, Kansom, Slater, Vest and Walker— 23. Pairs w'ere announced between Davis, of West Virginia, Saulsbury, Butler, John- son, Kellogg, Jones, of Florida, and Grover, against the amendment, and Messrs. Win- dom. Ferry, Hawley, Piatt, Pugh, Rollins and Van SVyck in the affirmative. Mr. Camden was also paired. Mr. Edmunds, partially in reply to Mr. Hoar argued that the right to decide what constitutes the moral law was one inherent in the Government, and by analogy the right to regulate the character of the peo- ple who shall come into it belonged to a Government. This depended upon national polity and the fact as to most of the ancient republics that they did not possess homo- geneity was the cause of their fall. As to the Swiss Republic, it was untrue that it was not homogeneous. The difference there was not one of race but of different varieties of the same race, all of which are analogous and consistent with each other. It would not be contended that it is an advantage to a republic that its citizens should be made of diverse races, with di- verse views and diverse obligations as to what the common prosperity of all required. Therefore there was no foundation for the charge of a violation of moral and public law in our making a distinction as to the foreigners we admit. He challenged Mr. Hoar to produce an authority on national law which denied the right of one nation, to declare what people of other nations should come among them. John Hancock and Samuel Adams, not unworthy citizens of Massachusetts, joined in asserting in the Declaration of Independence the right of the colonies to establish for themselves, not for other peoples, a Government of their own, not the Government of some- body else. The declaration asserted the family or consolidated right of a people within any Territory to determine the con- ditions upon which they would go on, and this included the matter of receiving the people from other shores into their family. This idea was followed in the Constitution by requiring naturalization. The China- man may be Avith us, but he is not of us. One of the conditions of his naturalization is that he must be friendly to the institu- tions and intrinsic polity of our Govern- ment. Upon the theon,' of the Massachu- setts Senators, that there is a universal oneness of one human being with every 292 AMERICAN POLITICS. other human "being on the globe, this tra- ditional and fundamental principle was entirely ignored. Such a theory as applied to Government was contrary to all human experience, to all discussion, and to every step of the founders of our Government, lie said that Mr. Sumner, the predecessor of Mr. Hoar, was the author of the law on the coolie traffic, Avhich imposes fines and penalties more severe than those in this bill upon any master of an American ves- sel carrying a Chinaman who is a servant. The present bill followed that legislation. Mr. Edmunds added that he would vote against the bill if the twenty-year clause was retained, but would maintain the soundness of principle he had enunciated. Mr. Hoar argued in reply that the right of expatriation carried with it the right to a home for the citizen in the country to which he comes, and that the biU violated not only this but the principles of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments which made citizenship the birthright of every one born on our soil, and prohibited an abridgement of the suffrage because of race, color, etc. Mr. Iiigalls moved an amendment post- poning the time at which the act shall take effect "until sixty days after information of its passage has been communicated to China. After remarks by Messrs. Dawes, Teller and Bayard, at the suggestion of Mr. Brown Mr. Ingalls modified his amendment by providing that the act shall not go into effect until ninety days after its passage, and the amendment was adopted. On motion of Mr. Bayard, amendments were adopted making the second section read as follows : " That any master of any vessel of whatever nationality, who shall knowingly on such vessel bring within the jurisdiction of the United States and per- mit to be landed any Chinese laborer, " &c. Mr. Hoar moved to amend by add- ing the following: "Provided, that this bill shall not apply to any skilled laborer who shall establish that he comes to this country without any contract beyond which his labor is the property of any person be- sides himself. " Mr. Farley suggested that all the Chinese would claim to be skilled laborers. Mr. Hoar replied that it would test whether the bill struck at coolies or at skilled labor. The amendment was rejected — ^Yeas, 17 ; nays, 27. Mr. Call moved to strike out the section which forfeits the vessel for the offense of the master. Lost. Mr. Hoar moved to amend by inserting : " Provided that any laborer who shall re- ceive a certificate from the U. S. Consul at the port where he shall embark that he is an artisan coming to this country at his own expense and of his own will, shall not be affected by this bill." Lost — yeas 19, nays 24., On motion of Mr. Miller, of California, the provision directing the removal of any Chinese unlawfully found in a Customs Collection district by the Collector, was amended to direct that he shall be removed to the place from whence he came. On motion of Mr. Brown an amendment was adopted providing that the mark of a (Chinese immigrant, duly attested by a witness, may be taken as his signature upon the certificate of resignation or regis- tration issued to him. The question then recurred on the amendment ofiered by Mr. Farley that hereafter no State Court or United States Court shall admit Chinese to citizenship. Mr. Hawley, of Conn., on the following day spoke against what he denounced as " a bill of iniquities." On the 9th of March what proved a long and interesting debate was closed, the leading speech being made by Senator Jones (Eep.) of Nevada, in favor of the bir. After showing the disastrous effects of the influx of the Chinese upon the Pa- cific coast and answering some of the argu- ments of the opponents of restriction, Mr. Jones said that he had noticed that most of those favoring Chinese immigration were advocates of a high tariff to protect American labor. But, judging from indi- cations, it is not the American laborer, but the lordly manufacturing capitalist who is to be protected as against the European capitalist, and who is to sell everything he has to sell in an American market, one in which other capitalists cannot compete with him, while he buys that which he has to buy — the labor of men — in the most open market. He demands for the latter free trade in its broadest sense, and would have not only free trade in bringing in la- borers of our own race, but the Chinese, the most skilful and cunning laborers of the world. The laborer, however, is to buy from his capitalist master in a protec- tive market, but that which he himself has to sell, his labor, and which he must sell every day (for he cannot wait, like the capitalist, for better times or travel here and there to dispose of it), he must sell in the openest market of the world. When the artisans of this country shall be made to understand that the market in which they sell the only thing they have to sell is an open one they will demand, as one of the conditions of their existence, that they shall have an open market in which to buy what they want. As the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Dawes) said he wanted the people to know that the bill was a blow struck at labor, Mr. Jones said he reitera- ted the assertion with the qualification that it was not a blow at our own, but at THE CHINESE QUESTION. 293 underpaid pauper labor. That cheap labor ' produces national wealth is a fallacy, as shown by the home coiiditiou of the 350,- UOO,(K)0 of Chinamen.. •' Was the bringing of tlie little broVn j man a sort of counter balance to the trades J unions of this country? If he may be lirought here, why may not the jiroducts o'l his toil come in? Now, when the la- borer is allowed to get that share Ixoni his : labor that civilization has decided he shall have, the little brown man is introduced. He (Mr. Jones) believed in protection, and had no prejudice against the capital- ist, but he would have capital and labor equally protected. Enlarging upon the consideration that the intelligence or crea- ' tive genius of a country in overcoming ob- stacles, not its material resources, consti- | tutes its wealth, and that the low wagres of ! the Chinese, while benefiting individual employers, would ultimately impoverish the country by removing the stimulant to create labor-saving macliinery and like in- ventions, Mr. Jones spoke of what he called the dearth of intellectual activity in the South in every department but one, that of politics. " This was because of the presence of a servile race there. The absence of South- ern names in the Patent Office is an illus- tration. We would not welcome the Africans here. Their presence was not a blessing to us, but an impediment in our way. The relations of the white and colored races of the South were now no nearer adjustment than they were years ago. He would prophesy that the African race would never be permitted to dominate anv State of the South. The experiment to that end had been a dismal failure, and a failure not because we have not tried to make it succeed, but because laws away above human laws have placed the one race superior to and far above the other. The votes of the ignorant class might pre- ponderate, but intellect, not numbers, is the superior force in this world. We clothed the African in the Union blue and the belief that he was one day to be free was the candle-light in his soul, but it is one thing to aspire to be free and another thing to have the intelligence and sterling qualities of character that can maintain free government. Mr. Jones here ex- pressed his belief that, if left alone to main- tain a government, the negro would gradu- ally retrograde and go back to the methods of his ancestors. This, he added, may be heresy, but I believe it to be the truth. If, when the first shipload of African slaves came to this country the belief had spread that they would be' the cause of political agitation, a civil war, and the future had been foreseen, would they have been al- lowed to land ? How much of this country would now be worth preserving if the North lisid been covered by Africans as is South Carolina to-day, in view of their non-assimilative character? The wisest policy would have been to exclude them at the outset. So we say of the Chinese to-day, he exclaim- ed, and for greater reason, because their skill makes them more formidable compe- titors than the negro. Subtle and adept in manipulation, the Chiiuunan can be put into almost any kind of a factory. His race is as obnoxious to us and as impossi- ble for us to assimilate with as was the negro race. His race has outlived every other because it is homogeneous, and lor that reason alone. It has imposed its re- ligion and peculiarities upon its concjuer- ors and still lived. If the immigration is not checked now, when it is within man- ageable limits, it will be too late to check it. What do we find in the condition of the Indian or the African to induce us to admit another race into our midst ? It is because the Pacific coast favor our own I civilization, not that of another race, that they discourage the coming of these peo- ple. They believe in the homogeneity of our race, and that upon this depends the progress of our^nstitutions and everything on which we build our hopes. Mr. Morrill, (Rep.) of Vt., said he ap- preciated the necessity of restricting Chi- nese immigration, but desired that the bill should strictly conform to treaty require- ments and be so perfected that questions arising vmder it might enable it to pass the ordeal of judicial scrutiny. Mr. Shermax, (Rep.) of Ohio, referring to the passport system, said the bill adopt- ed some of the "most offensive features of European despotism. He was averse to hot haste in applying a policy foreign to the habits of our people, and regarded the measure as too sweeping in many of its jn-ovisions and as reversing our immigra- tion policy. After remarks by Messrs. Ingalls, Far- ley, Maxey, Brown 'and Teller, the amend- m'ent of Mr. Farley, which provides that hereafter no court shall admit Chinese to citizenship, was adopted — yeas 25, nays 22. The following is the vote : Yeas — Messrs. Bayard. Beck, Call, Cam- eron of Wisconsin, Cockrell, Coke, Fair, Farley, Garland, George, Gorman, Harris, Jackson, Jonas, Jones of Nevada, Maxey, Morgan, Pugh, Ransom, Slater, Teller, Vance, Vest, Voorhees and Walker — 25. Nays— Messrs. Aldrich, Allison, Blair, Brown, Conner, Davis of Illinois, Dawes, Edmunds, Frve, Hale, Hill of Colorado, Hoar, Ingalls, Lapham, McDill, McMil- lan, Miller of New York, Mitchell. Mor- rill, Plumb, Saunders and Sawyer— 22. Mr. Grover's amendment construing the words " Chinese laborers," wherever used in the act, to mean both skilled and un- 294 AMERICAN POLITICS. skilled laborers and Chinese employed in 1 mining prevailed by the same vote — yeas 25, navs 22. Mr/ Browk, (Dem.) of Ga., moved to strike out the requirement for the produc- tion of passports by the permitted classes whenever demanded by the United States authorities. Carried on a viva voce vote, the Chair (Mr. Davis, of Illinois) creating no little merriment by announcing, " The nays are loud but there are not many of them." MR. INGALLS' AMENDMEI^'T. Upon the bill being reported to the Sen- ate from the Committee of the Whole Mr. IxGALLS again moved to limit the suspen- sion of the coming of Chinese laborers to ten vears. Mr. JoXES, of Nevada, said this limit would hardly have the effect of allaying agitation on "the subject as the discussion would be resumed in two or three years, and ten years, he feared, would not even be a long enough period to enable Congress intelligently to base upon it any future policv. Mr. Miller, of California, also urged that the shorter period woip d not measura- bly relieve the business interest of the Pacific slope, inasmuch as the white immi- grants, who were so much desired, would not come there if they believed the Chi- nese were to be again admitted in ten years. Being interrupted by Mr. Hoar, he asserted that that Senator and other republican leaders, as also the last repub- lican nominee for President, had hereto- fore given the people of the Pacific slope good reason to believe that they would cure to them the relief they sought by the bill. Mr. Hoar, (Eep.) of Mass., briefly re- plied. The amendment was lost — yeas 20, nays 21. The vote is as follows : Yeas — Messrs. Aldrich, Allison, Blair, Brown, Conger, Davis of Illinois, Dawes, Edmunds, Frye, Hale, Hoar, Ingalls, Lap- ham, McDill,'McMillan, Mahone, Morrill, Plumb, Sawyer and Teller — 20. Nays — Messrs. Bayard, Beck, Call, Cam- eron of Wisconsin, Coke, Fair, Farley, Garland, George, Gorman, Jackson, Jonas, Jones of Nevada, Miller of California, Miller of New York, Morgan, Ransom, Slater, Vance, Voorhees and Walker — 21. Messrs. Butler, Camden, McPherson, Johnston, Davis of West Virginia, Pendle- ton and Ransom were paired with Messrs. Hawley, Anthony, Sewell, Piatt, Van Wyck,"Windom and Sherman. Messrs. Hampton, Pugh, Vest, Rollins and Jones of Florida were paired with absentees. PASSAGE OF THE BILL. The question recurred on the final pas- age of the bill, and Mr. Edmunds closed the debate. He would vote against the bill as it now stood, because he believed it to be an infraction of good faith as pledged by the last treaty ; because he believed it injurious to the welfare of the people of the United States, and particularly the people on the Pacific coast, by preventing the development of our great trade with China. The vote was then taken and the bill was passed — yeas 29, nays 15. The following is the vote in detail : — Yeas — Messrs. Bayard, Beck, Call, Cam- eron of Wisconsin, "Cockrell, Coke, Fair, Farley, Garland, George, Gorman, Hale, Harris, Hill of Colorado, Jackson, Jonas, Jones of Nevada, Miller of California, Miller of New York, Morgan, Pugh, Ran- som, Sawyer, Teller, Vance, Vest, Voor- hees and Walker — 29. Nays — IMessrs. Aldrich, Allison, Blair, Brown, Conger, Davis of ir.inois, Dawes, Edmunds, Frye, Hoar, Ingalls, Lapham, McDill, McMillan and Morrill— 15. Pairs were announced of Messrs. Cam- den, Davis of West Virginia, Grover, Hampton, Butler, McPherson, Johnston, Jones of Florida and Pendleton in favor of the bill, with Messrs. Anthony, Win- dom. Van Wyck, Mitchell, Hawley, Sewell, Piatt, Rollins and Sherman against it. Mr. Frye, (Rep.) of Me., in casting his vote, stated that he was paired with Mr. Hill, of Georgia, on all political questions, but that he did not consider this a politi- cal question, and besides, had express per- mission from Senator Hill to vote upon it. Mr. Mitchell, (Rep.) of Pa., in an- nouncing his pair with Mr. Hampton stated that had it not been for that fact he would vote against the bill, regarding it as un-American and inconsistent with the principles which had obtained in the gov- ernment. The title of the bill was amended so as to read, " An act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese," though Mr. Hoar suggested that " execute " ought to be stricken out and " violate " inserted. The Senate then, at twenty minutes to six, adjourned until to-morrow. PROVISIONS OF the BILL. The Chinese Immigration bill as passed provides that from and after the expiration of ninetv davs after the passage of this act and until the expiration of twenty years after its passage the coming of Chinese la- borers to the United gtates shall be sus- pended, and prescribes a penalty of im- prisonment not exceeding one year and a fine of not more than $500 _ against the master of any vessel who brings any Chi- nese laborer to this country during that THE CHINP]SE QUESTION, 295 period. It further provides that the classes 1 of Chinese excepted by the treaty from such proliibition— such as merchants, teach- ers, students, travelers, diplomatic at,^cnts and C-lunose laborers who were in the Uni- ted States o» the 17th of November, 18S0 — shall be required, as a condition for their admission, to procure passports from the government of China personally identify- ing them and showing that they individ- ually belong to one of the permitted classes, which passports must have been indorsed bv the (liidomatic representative of the United States in China or by the United States Consul at the port of departure. It also provide^; elaborate machinery for car- rying out the purposes of the act, and ad- d'itional sections prohibit the admissi^on of Chinese to citizenship by any United States or State court and construes the words " Chinese laborers " to mean both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese em- ploved in mining. the sentiment in favor of the passage of this bill has certainly greatly increased since the control of the issue has passed to abler hands than those of Kearney and Kalloch, whose conduct intensified the opposition of the East to the measure, which in 1879 was denounced as " violat- ing the conscience of the nation." Mr. Blaine's advocacy of the first bill limiting emigrants to fifteen on each vessel, at the time excited much criticism in the Eastern states, and was there a potent weapon against him in the nominating struggle for the Presidencv in 1880 ; but on the other hand it is believed that it gave him strength in the Pacific States. Chinese immigration and the attempt to restrict it presents a question of the gra- vest importance, and was treated as such in the Senate debate. The friends of the bill, under the leadership of Senators Mil- ler and Jones, certainly stood in a better and stronger attitude than ever before. The anti-Chinese bill passed the House just as it came from the Senate, after a somewhat exended debate, on the 23d of March, 1882. Yeas 167, nays 65. (party lines not being drawn) as follows : Yeas— Messrs. Aikin, Aldrich, Armfield, Atkins, Bavne, Belford, Belmont, Berry, Bingham, Blackburn, Blanchard, Bliss, Blount, Brewer, Brumm, Buckner, Burrows, of Missouri; Butterworth, Cabell, Cald- well, Calkins, Campbell, Cannon, Casser- ley, Caswell, Chalmers, Chapman, Clark, Clements, Cobb, Converse, Cook, Cornell, Cox, of New York ; Cox, of North Caro- lina ; Covington, Cravens, Culbertson, Cur- tin, Darrell, Davidson ; Davis, of Illinois ; Davis, of Missouri ; Demotte, Deuster, Dezendorf, Dibble, Dibrell, Dowd, Dugro, Ermentrout, Errett, Farwell, of Illinois; Finlev, Flowers, Ford, Forney, Fulkerson, Garrison, Geddes, George, Gibson, Guen- ther, Guntcr, Hammond, of Georgia ; Har- dy, HarmcT, Harris, of New .Icrsey ; 1 lasel- tiiie. Hatch, Hazelton, Heilnian, Jlerndon, Hewitt, of New York; Hill, Jliscock, H()blitzell,'Hoge, Hollman, Horr, Honk, House, Huhbell, Hubl)S, ifutchins, .Jones, of Texas; .Jones, of Arkansas; Jorgenson, Keiuia, King, Klotz, Knott, Ladd, i^ee- dom, Lewis, Marsh, Martin, ^latson, Mc- Clure, McCook,McKeiizie, ]\[rKiniev, .Mc- Lanc, McMillan, Miller, Mills, of Texas; Money, Morey, Moulton, Murch, Mutchler, O'Neill, Pacheco, Page, Paul, Pavson, Pealse, Phelps, Phister, Pound, Raiidall, Reagan, Rice of Missouri, Richardson, Robertson, Robinson, Rosecrans, Scran- ton, Sliallenlx'rger, Sherwin, Simonton, Singleton, of Mississippi, Smith of Penn- sylvania, Smith of Illinois, Smith of New York, Sparks, Spaulding, Spear, Springer, Stockslager, Strait, Talbott, Thomas, Thompson of Kentucky, Tillman, Town- send of Ohio, Townsend of Illinois, Tucker, Turner of Georgia, Turner of Kentucky, Updegraff, of Ohio, Upson, Valentine, Vance, Van Horn, Warner, Waslilnu-ne, Webber, Welborn, Whitthorne. Williams of Alabama, Willis, Willetts. Wilson, Wise of Pennsylvania, Wise of Virginia, and W. A. Wood of New York— 167. The nays were Messrs. Anderson, Barr, Bragg, Briggs, Brown, Buck, Camp, Cand- ler, Carpenter, Chase, Crapo,Cullen, Dawes, Deering, Dingley, Dunnell, Dwight, Far- well of Iowa, Grant, Hall, Hammond, of New York, Hardenburgh, Harris, of 3Ia.s- sachusetts, Haskell, Hawk, Henderson, Hepburn, Hooker, Humphrey, Jacobs, Jones of New Jersey, Joyce, Kasson, Ketchum, Lord, McCoid, Morse, Norcross, Orth, Parker, Ramsey, Rice of Ohio, Rice of Massachusetts, Rich, Richardson of New York, Ritchie, Robinson of Massachusetts, Russel, Ryan, Shultz, Skinner, Scooner, Stone, Taylor, Thompson of Iowa, Tyler, Updegraff of Iowa, Urner, Wadsw(U-th, Wait, Walker, Ward, Watson, White and Williams of Wisconsin — C)5. In the House the debate was partici- pated in by Messrs. Richardson, of South Carolina; Wise and Brumm, of Pennsylva- nia; Joyce, of Vermont; Dunnell, of ^lin- nesota ; Orth, of Indiana ; Sherwin, of Illi- nois ; Hazelton, of Wisconsin ; Pacheco, of California, and Townsend, of Illinois, and others. An amendment offered by IMr. Butterworth, of Ohio, reducing the period of suspension to fifteen years, was rejected. Messrs. Robinson, of Massachusetts ;^ Cur- tin, of Pennsylvania, and Cannon, of Illi- nois, spoke upon the bill, the two latter sup- porting it. The speech of Ex-Governor Curtin was strong and attracted much at- tention. Mr. Page closed the debate in favor of the measure. An amendment of- fered bv Mr. Kasson, of Iowa, reducing the time of suspension to ten years, was re- 296 AMERICAN POLITICS. jected — yeas 100, nays 131 — and the bill was passed exactly as it came from the Senate by a vote of 167 to 65. The House then adjourned. Our Mercliaiit Marine. An important current issue is the increase of the Navy and the improvement of the Merchant Marine, and to these questions the National Administration has latterly given attention. The New York Herald has given much editorial ability and re- search to the advocacy of an immediate change for the better in these respects, and in its issue of March 10th, 1882, gave the proceedings of an important meeting of the members of the United States Naval Insti- tute held at Annapolis the day before, on which occasion a prize essay on the subject — " Our Merchant Marine ; the Cause of its Decline and the Means to be Taken for its Eevival," was read. The subject was cho- sen nearly a year ago, because it was the belief of the members of the institute that a navy cannot exist without a merchant marine. The naval institute was organized in 1873 for the advancement of profession- al and scientific knowledge in the navy. It has on its roll 600 members, principally naval officers, and its proceedings are pub- lished quarterly. Eear Admiral C. R. P. Eodgers is president ; Captain J. M. Ram- say, vice president ; Lieutenant Command- er C. M. Thomas, secretary; Lieutenant Murdock, corresponding secretary, and Paymaster R. W. Allen, treasurer. There were eleven competitors for the prize, which is of $100, and a gold medal valued at $50. The judges were Messrs. Hamilton Fish, A. A. Low and J. D. Jones. They awarded the prize to Lieutenant J. D. J. Kelley, U. S. N., whose motto was "Nil Clarius ^quore," and designated Master C. T. Cal- kins, U. S. N., whose motto was " Mais il faut cultiver notre jardin " as next in the order of merit, and further mentioned the essays of Lieutenant R. Wainwright, Uni- ted States Navy, whose motto was " Causa latet, vis est notissima," and Lieutenant Commander J. E. Chadwick, United States Navy, whose motto was " Spes Meliora," as worthy of honorable mention, without being entirely agreed as to their compara- tive merits. BTRIKING PASSAGES FROM THE PRIZE ESSAY. From Lieut. Kelley's prize essay many valuable fticts can be gathered, and such of these as contain information of permanent value we quote : ''So far as commerce influences this country has a vital interest in the carrying trade, let theorists befog the cool air as they may. Every dollar paid for freight im- ported or exported in American vessels ac- crues to American labor and capital, and the enterprise is as much a productive in- dustry as the raising of wheat, the spinning of fibre or the smelting of ore. Had the acquired, the 'full' trade of 1860 been maintained without increase $80,000,000 would have been added last year to the na- tional wealth, and the loss Irom diverted shipl)uilding would have swelled the sum to a total of $100,000,000. " Our surplus products must find foreign markets, and to retain them ships controlled by and employed in exclusively American interests are essential instrumentalities. Whatever tends to stimulate competition and to prevent combination benefits the jjroducer, and as the prices abroad estab- lish values here, the barter we obtain for the despised one-tenth of exports — $665,- 000,000 in 1880— determines the profit or loss of the remainder in the home market. During the last fiscal year 11,500,000 gross tons of grain, oil, cotton, tobacco, precious metals, &c., were exported from the United States, and this exportation increases at the rate of 1,500,000 tons annually; 3,800,000 tons of goods are imported, or in all about 15,000,000 tons constitute the existing com- merce of this country. " If only one-half of the business of car- rying our enormous wealth of surplus pro- ducts could be secured for American ships, our tonnage would be instantly doubled, and we would have a greater fleet engaged in a foreign trade, legitimately our own, than Great Britain has to-day. The United States makes to the ocean carrying-trade its most valuable contribution, no other nation giving to commerce so many bulky tons of commodities to be transported those long voyages which in every age have been so eagerly coveted by marine peoples. Of the 17,000'ships which enter and clear at American ports every year, 4,600 seek a cargo empty and but 2,000 sail without ob- taining it. " Ships are profitable abroad and can be made profitable here, and in truth during the last thirty years no other branch of industry has made such progress as the carrying trade. To establish this there are four points of comparison — commerce, rail- ways, shipping tonnage and carrying power of the world, limited to the years between 1850 and 1880 :— Increase Per Cent. 1850. 1S80. Commmerce of all na- tions $4,280,000,000 $14,405,000,000 240 Railways (miles open) 44,400 222,ii00 398 SliiTiping tonnage 6,905^000 18,720,000 171 Carrying tonnage 8,464,000 34,280,060 304 " In 1850, therefore, for every $5,000,000 of international commerce there were fifty- four miles of railway and a maritime car- rying power of 9,900 tons ; and in 1880 the respective ratios had risen to seventy-seven OUR MERCHANT MARINE, 297 miles and 12,000 tons ; this has saved one- fourth freight and brought producer and consumers into such contact that we no longer hear " of the earth's products being wasiied, of wheat rotting in La Manclia, wool being used to mend wads and sheep being burned for fuel in the Argentine Republic." England has mainly profited by this enormous development, the shipping of the United Kingdom earning $300,000,- 000 yearly, and employing 200,000 seamen, whose industry is therefore equivalent to £300 per man, as compared with £1;)0 for each of the factory operatives. The freight earned by all flags for sea-borne merchandise is $500,000,00, or about 8 per cent, of the value transported. Hence the toll which all nations pay to England for the carrying trade is equal to 4 per cent, (nearly)' of th6 exported values of the earth's products and manufactures ; and pessimists who declare that ship owners are losing money or making small profits must be wrong, for the merchant marine is expanding every year. "The maximum tonnage of this country at any time registered in the foreign trade was in 1861, and then amounted to 5,539,- 813 tons ; Great Britain in the same year owning 5,895,369 tons, and all the other nations 5,800,767 tons. Between 1855 and 1860 over 1,300,000 American tons in ex- cess of the country's needs were employed by foreigners in trades with which we had no legitimate connection save as carriers. In 1851 our registered steamships had grown from the 16,000 tons of 1848 to 63,- 920 tons— almost equal to the 65,920 tons of England, and in 1855 this had increased to 115,000 tons and reached a maximum, for in 1862 we had 1,000 tons less. In 1855 we built 388 vessels, in 1856 306 ves- sels and in 1880 26 vessels— all for the foreign trade. The total tonnage which entered our ports in 1856 from abroad amounted to 4,464,038, of which American built ships constituted 3,194,375 tons, and all others but 1,259,762 tons. In 1880 there entered from abroad 15,240,534 tons, of which 3,128,374 tons were American and 12,112,000 were foreign^that is, in a ratio of seventy-five to twenty-five, or actually 65,901 tons less than when we were twenty- four years younger as a nation. The grain fleet sailing last year from the port of New York numbered 2,897 vessels, of which 1,822 were sailing vessels carrying 59,822,- 033 bushels, and 1,075 were steamers laden wuth 42,426,533 bushels, and among all these there were but seventy-four Ameri- can sailing vessels and not one American steamer. " While this poison of decay has been eating into our vitals the possibilities of the country in nearly every other industry have reached a plane of development be- yond the dreams of the most enthusiastic theorizers. We have spread out in every direction and the promise of the future beggars imaginations attuned even to the key of our i)rcsent and j)ast development. We have a timber urea of 5(;(),0n0,000 acres, and across our Canadian border there are 900,000,000 more acres; in coal and iron production we are approaching the Old World. 1842. 1S79. Coal— Tons. Tons. Great Britain... 85,000,000 135,0(10,0(10 United States... 2,000,000 6(J,00O,OOO Iron — Great Britain., United States. 2,250,000 564,000 6,300,000 2,742,0(J0 years the 1 coal 300 During these thirty-seven relative increase has been i to 2,900 per cent., in iron 200 to 400 per cent., and all in our favor. But this is not enough, for England, with a coal area less than either Pennsylvania or Kentucky, has coaling stations in every part of the world and our steamers cannot reach our California ports without the consent of the English producers. Even if electricity takes the place of steam it must be many years before the coal demand will cease, and to-day, of the 36,000,000 tons of coal required by the steamers of the world, three-fourths of it is obtained from Great Britain. "It is unnecessary to wire-draw statis- tics, but it may, as a last word, be interest- ing to show, with all our development, the nationality and increase of tonnage enter- ing our ports since 1856 : — Country. Increase. Decrease. England 6,977,163 — Germany 922,903 — Norway and Sweden... 1,214,008 — Italy 596,907 — France 208,412 — Spain 164,683 — Austria 226,277 — Belgium 204,872 — Russia 104,009 - United States — 65,901 " This," writes Lindsay, " is surely not decadence, but defeat in a far nobler con- flict than the wars for maritime supremacy between Rome and Carthage, consisting as it did in the struggle between the skill and industry of the people of two great na- tions." We have thus quoted the facts gathered from a source which has been endorsed by the higher naval authorities. Some reader will probablv ask, "What relation have these facts to American politics?" We answer that the remedies ]n-oposed consti- tute political questions on which the great parties are verv apt to divide. They have thus divided iii the past, and parties have turned " about face " on similar questions. 298 AMERICAN POLITICS. Just now the Democratic party inclines to "free ships" and hostility to subsidies — while the Republican party as a rule favors subsidies. Lieutenant Kelley summarized his proposed remedies in the two words: " free ships." Mr. Blaine would solve the problem by bounties, for this purpose enacting a gene- ral law that should ignore individuals and enforce a policy. His scheme provides that any man or company of men who will build in an American yard, with American material, by American mechanics, a steam- ship of 3,000 tons and sail her from any port of the United States to any foreign port, he or they shall receive for a monthly line a mail allowance of $25 per mile per annum for the sailing distance between the two ports ; for a semi-monthly line $45 per mile, and for a weekly line $75 per mile. Should the steamer exceed three thousand tons, a small advance on these rates might be allowed ; if less, a corresponding reduc- tion, keeping three thousand as the average and standard. Other reformers propose a bounty to be given by the Government to the shipbuilder, so as to make the price of an American vessel the same as that of a foreign bought, equal, but presumably cheaper, ship. Mr. Blaine represents the growing Re- publican view, but the actual party views can only be ascertained when bills cover- ing the subject come up for considera- tion. Current Politics. We shall close this written history of the political parties of the United States by a brief statement of the present condition of affairs, as generally remarked by our own people, and by quoting the views of an in- teresting cotemporaneous English writer. President Arthur's administration has had many difficulties to contend with. The President himself is the legal successor of a beloved man, cruelly assassinated, whose well-rounded character and high abilities had won the respect even of those who de- famed him in the heat of controversy, while they excited the highest admiration of those who shared his political views and thoughts. Stricken down before he had time to for- mulate a policy, if it was ever his intention to do so, he yet showed a proper apprecia- tion of his high responsibilities, and had from the start won the kindly attention of the country. Gifted with the power of sav- ing just tiie right thing at the right mo- ment, and saying it with all the grace and beauty of oratory, no President was better calculated to make friends as he moved along, than Garfield. The manifestations of factional feeling which immediately preceded his assassination, but which can- not for a moment be intelligently traced to that cause, made the path of his successor far more difficult than if he had been called to the succession by the operation of natu- ral causes. That he has met these difficul- ties with rare discretion, all admit, and at this writing partisan interest and dislike are content to "abide a' wee" before be- ginning an assault. He has sought no changes in the Cabinet, and thus through personal and political considerations seems for the time to have surrendered a Presi- dential" prerogative freely admitted by all who understand the wisdom of permitting an executive officer to seek the advice of friends of his own selection. Mr. Blaine and Mr. MacVeagh, among the ablest of the late President's Cabinet, were among the most emphatic in insisting upon the earliest possible exercise of this preroga- tive — the latter upon its immediate exer- cise. Yet it has been withheld in several particulars, and the Arthur administration has sought to unite, wherever divided (and now divisions are rare), the party which called it into existence, while at the same time it has by careful management sought to check party strife at least for a time, and devoted its attention to the advancement of the material interests of the country. Appointments are fairly distributed among party friends, not divided as between fac- tions ; for such a division systematically made would disrupt any party. It would prove but an incentive to faction for the sake of a division of the spoils. No force of politics is or ought to be better under- stood in America than manufactured disa- greements with the view to profitable com- promises. Fitness, recognized ability, and adequate political service seem to consti- tute the reasons for Executive appointments at this time. The Democratic party, better equipped in the National Legisture than it has been for years — with men like Hill, Bayard, Pen- dleton, Brown, Voorhees, Lamar and Gar- land in the Senate — Stephens, Randall, Hewitt, Cox, Johnson in the House — with Tilden, Thurman, Wallace and Hancock in the background — is led with rare abi- lity, and has the advantage of escaping re- sponsibilities incident to a majority party. It has been observed that this party is pur- suing the traditional strategy of minorities in our Republic. It has partially refiised a further test on the tariff issue, and is seeking a place in advance of the Republi- cans on refunding questions — both popular measures, as shown in all recent elections. It claims the virtue of sympathy with the * Mormons by questioning the propriety of legal assaults upon the liberty of con- science, while not openly recording itself as a defender of the crime of polygamy. As a solid minority it has at least in the Se- nate yielded to the appeal of the States on the Pacific slope, and favored the abridg- CURRENT POLITICS. 299 ment of Chinese immigration. On this question, however, the Western Republi- can Senators as a rule were equally active in support of the Miller Bill, so that what- ever the result, the issue can no longer be a political one in the Pacific States. The respectable support which the measure has latterly received has cast out of the strug- gle the Kearneys and Kallochs, and if there be demagoguery on either side, it comes in better dress than ever before. Doubtless the parties will contest their claims to public support on their respective histories yet a while longer. Party history has served partisan purposes an average oi' twenty years, when with that history recollections of wars are interwoven, and the last war having been the greatest in our history, the presumption is allowable that it will be freely quoted so long as sec- tional or other forms of distrust are ob- servable any where. When these recollec- tions fail, new issues will have to be sought or accepted. In the mere search for issues the minority ought always to be the most active ; but' their wise appropriation, after all, depends upon the wisdom and ability of leadership. It has ever been thus, and ever will be. This is about the only poli- tical prophecy the writer is willing to risk — and in risking this he. but presents a view common to all Americans who claim to be "posted" in the politics of their country. What politicians abroad think of our "situation" is well told, though not always accurately, by a distinguished writer in the January '(1882) number of " The London Quarterly Review." From this we quote some very attractive paragraphs, and at the same time escape the necessity of de- scriptions and predictions generallv be- lieved to be essential in rounding off a po- litical volume, but which are always dan- gerous in treating of current affairs. Speak- ing of the conduct of both parties on the question of Civil Service Reform, the writer says: " What have they done to overthrow the celebrated Jacksonian precept, ' to the victors belongs the spoils ? ' What, in fact, is it possible for them to do under the present system? The political laborer holds that" he is worthy of his hire, and if nothing is given to him, nothing will he give in return. There are tens of thou- sands of olfices at the bestowal of every administration, and the persons who have helped to bring that administration into power expect to receive them. ' In Great Britain," once remarked the American paper w^hich enjoys the largest circulation in the country, 'the ruling classes have it all to themselves, and the poor man rarely or never gets a nibble at the public crib. Here we take our turn. We know that, if our political rivals have the opportunity to-day, we shall have it to-morrow. This is the philosophy of the whole thing com- pressed into a nutshell.' If President Arthur were to begin lo-day to distribute oliices to men who were nif)st worthy to receive them, without reference to politi- cal services, his own party would rebel, and assuredly his i)ath would not be strewn with roses. He was himself a vic- tim of a gross injustice perpetrated under the name of reform. He filled the impor- tant post of Collector of the Port of New York, and filled it to the entire satisfaction of the mercantile community. President Hayes did not consider General Arthur sutticiently devoted to his interests, and he removed him in favor of a^ confirmed wire- fuller and caucus-monger, and the admin- istration papers had the address to repre- sent this as the outcome of an honest efibrt to reform the Civil Service. No one really supposed that the New York Cus- tom "House was less a political engine than it had been before. The rule of General Arthur had been, in point of fact, singu- larly free from jobbery and corruption, and not a breath of suspicion was ever attached to his personal character. If he had been less faithful in the discharge of his dilhcult duties, he would have made fewer enemies. He discovered several gross cases of fraud upon the revenue, and brought the perpe- trators to justice ; but the culprits were not without influence in the press, and they contrived to make the worse appear the better cause. Their view was taken at second-hand by many of the English jour- nals, and even recently the public here were gravely assured that General Arthur represented all that was base in American politics, and moreover that he was an enemy of England, for he had been elected by the Irish vote. The authors of these foolish calumnies did not perceive that, if their statements had been correct. General Garfield, whom they so much honored, must also have been elected by the Irish vote ; for he came to power on the very same ' ticket.' In reality, the Irish vote may be able to accomplish many things in America, but we may^safely predict that it will never elect a President. General Arthur had not been many weeks in power, before he was enabled to give a remarkable proof of the injustice that had been done to him in this particular respect. The salute of the English flag at Yorktown is one of the most graceful incidents recorded in American histoiy, and the order origi- nated solely with the President. A man with higher character or, it may be added, of greater accomplishments and fitness for his office, never sat in the Presidential chair. His first appointments are now ad- mitted to be better than those which were made by his predecessor for the same posts. Senator Frelinghuysen, the new Secretary 300 AMERICAN POLITICS. of State, or Foreign Secretary, is a man of great ability, of most excellent judgment, ami of the iiigliest personal character. He stands far beyond tlie reach of all un- worthy influences. Mr. Folger, the Secre- tary of the Treasury, possesses the confi- dence of the entire country, and the nomination of the new Attorney-General was received with universal satisfaction. All this little accords with the dark and forbidding descriptions of President Arthur which were placed before the public here on his accession to office. It is surely time that English writers became alive to the danger of accepting Avithout question the distorted views which they find ready to their hands in the most bigoted or most malicious of American journals; "Democrats and Eepublicans, then, alike profess to be in favor of a thorough reform in the Civil Service, and at the present Bioment there is no other very prominent question which could be used as a test for the admission of members into either party. The old issue, which no one could possibly mistake, is gone. How much the public really care for the new one, it would be a difficult point to decide. A Civil Ser- vice system, such as that which we have in England, would scarcely be suited to the '■ poor man," who, as the New York paper says, thinks he has a right occasionally to ' get a nibble at the public crib.' If a man has worked hard to bring his party into power, he is aj^t, in the United States, to think that he is entitled to some ' recogni- tion,' and neither he nor his friends would be Avell pleased if they were told that, be- fore anything could be done for him, it would be necessary to examine him in modern languages and mathematics. More- over, a service such as that which exists in England requires to be worked with a sys- tem of pensions; and pensions, it is held in America, are opposed to the Republican idea.* If it were not for this objection, it may be presumed that some provision would have been made for more than one of the ex-Presidents, whose circumstances placed them or their families much in need of it. President Monroe spent his last years in wretched circumstances, and died bankrupt. Mrs. Madison 'knew what it was to want bread.' A negro ser- vant, who had once been a slave in the family, used furtively to give her ' small sums' — they must have been very small — out of his own pocket. Mr. Pierce was, we believe, not far removed from in- * Enormous sums are, however, given to soldiers who were wounded during the war, or who pretend tliat they were— for jobbery on an unheard of scale is practised in connection with these pensions. It is estimated tliat 8120,f)00,000 (24 000,OOOJ.) will have to be paid during the present fiscal year, for arrears of pension, and the num- ber of claimants is constantly increasing, [The writer evidently got these "facts" from sensational sources.] —Am. Pol. digence ; and it has been stated that after Andrew Johnson left the White House, he was reduced to the necessity of follow- ing his old trade. General Grant was much more fortunate; and we have re- cently seen that the American people have subscribed for Mrs. Garfield a sum nearly equal to £70,000. But a pension system for Civil Servants is not likely to be adopted. Permanence in office is another jirinciple which has found no favor with the rank and file of either party in America, although it has sometimes been introduced into party platforms for the sake of producing a good effect. The plan of ' quick rotation ' is far more at- tractive to the popular sense. Divide the spoils, and divide them often. It is true that the public indignation is sometimes aroused, when too eager and rapacious a si)irit is exhibited. Such a feeling was dis- played in 1873, in consequence of an Act passed by Congress increasing the pay of its own members and certain officers of the Government. Each member of Con^jress was to receive 87,500 a year, or £1,500. The sum paid before that date, down to 1865, was $5000 a year, or £1000, and 'mileage' free added — that is to say, members were entitled to be paid twenty cents a mile for traveling expenses to and from Washington. This Bill soon became known as the 'Salary Grab' Act, and popular feeling against it was so great that it was repealed in the following Session, and the former pay was restored. As a general rule, however, the ' spoils ' system has not been heartily condemned by the nation ; if it had been so condemned, it must have fallen long ago. " President Arthur has been admonished by his English counsellors to take heed that he follows closely in the steps of his predecessor. General Garfield was not long enough in office to give any decided indications of the policy which he intend- ed to pursue ; but, so far as he had gone, impartial observers could detect very little difierence between his course of conduct in regard to patronage and that of former Presidents. He simply preferred the friends of Mr. Blaine to the friends of Mr. Conkling ; but Mr. Blaine is a politician of precisely the same class as Mr. Conkling — both are men intimately versed in all the intricacies of ' primaries,' the ' caucus,' and the general working of the ' machine.' They are precisely the kind of men which American politics, as at present practised and understood, are adapted to produce. Mr. Conkling, however, is of more impe- rious a disposition than Mr. Blaine ; the first disappointment or contradiction turns him from a friend into an enemy. Presi- dent Garfield removed the Collector of New York — the most lucrative and most coveted post in the entire Union— and in- CURRENT POLITICS. 301 stead of nominating a friend of Mr. Conk- ling's for the vacancy, he nominated a friend of Mr. Blaine's. Now Mr. Conk- ling had done much to secure New York State for the ilepubliciins, and thus gave them the victory ; and he thought himself entitled to better treatment than he re- ceived. But was it in the spirit of true re- form to remove the Collector, against whom no complaint had been made, merely for the purpose of creating a vacancy, and then of putting a friend of Mr. Blaine's intu it— a friend, moreover, who had been larirely instrumental in securing General Garii eld's own nomination at Chicago? '" Is this all that is meant, when the Reform party talk of the great changes which they desire to see carried out? Again, the new President has been fairly warned by his advisers in this country, that he must abolish every abuse, new or old, connected with the distribution of patronage. If he is to execute this commission, not one term of oflice, nor three terms, will be sufficient for him. Over every appointment there will inevitably arise a dispute ; if a totally untried man is chosen, he will be suspected as a wolf coming in sheep's clothing ; if a well known i>artizan is nominated, he will be denounced as a mere tool of the leaders, and there will be another outcry against ' machine politics.' ' One party or other,' said an American journal not long ago, 'must begin the work of administering the Government on business principles," and the writer admitted that the v\'ork would ' cost salt tears to many a politician.' The honor of making this beginning has not yet been sought for with remarkable eagerness by either party ; but seems to be deemed necessary to promise that some- thing shall be done, and the Democrats, being out of power, are naturally in the position to bid the highest. The reform will come, as we have intimated, when the people demand it ; it cannot come before, for few, indeed, are the politicians in the United States who venture to trust them- selves far in advance of public opinion. And even of that few, there are some who have found out, by hard experience, that there is little honor or profit to be gained by undertaking to act as pioneers. " It is doubtless a step in advance, that both parties now admit the absolute ne- cessity of devising measures to elevate the character of the public service, to check the progress of corruption, and to intro- duce a better class of men into the offices which are held under the Government. The necessity of great reforms in these re- spects has been avowed over and over again by most of the leading journals and influential men in the countrv. The most * The undeniable facts of the case were as wo liave briefly indicated above. See, for example, a letter to the 'New York Nation,' Nov. 3, 1881. radical of the Republicans, and the most conservative of the Democrats, are of one mind on this point. Mr. Wendell Phil- lips, an old abolitionist and Radical, once IHiblicly declared that Republican govern- ment in cities had been a complete fail- ure.* An equally good Radical, the late Mr. Horace Greeley, made the following still more candid statement : — ' There are probably at no time less than twenty thousand men in this city [New York] \yho would readily commit a safe mursmen, as well as State and Legislative officers. The same amendment had been pro- posed in Pennsylvania, a Republican House in 1881 having passed it by almost a solid vote (Democrats freely joining in its support), but a Republican Senate de- feated, after it had been loaded down with amendments. New Yoi'k was co- quetting with the same measure, and as a result the liquor interests — well-organized and with an abundance of money, as a rule struck at the Republican party in both New York and Pennsylvania, and thus largely aided the groundswell. The same interests aided the election of Genl. B. F. Butler of Massachusetts, but from a different reason. He had, in one of his earlier canvasses, freely advocated the right of the poor to sell equally with those who could pay heavy license fees, and had thus won the major sympathy of the interest. Singularly enough, Massachu- setts alone of all the Republican States meeting with defeat in 1882, fails to show in her result reasons which harmonize with those enumerated as making up the elements of discontent. Her people most do favor high tariffs, taxes on liquors and luxuries, civil service reforms, and were supposed to be more free from legal and political abuses than any other. Massa- chusetts had, theretofore, been considered to be the most advanced of all the States — in notions, in habit, and in law — yet Butler's victory was relatively more pro- nounced than that of any Democratic candidate, not excepting that of Cleve- land over Folger in New York, the Democratic majority here approaching two hundred thousand. How are we to explain the Massachusetts' result? Gov. Bishop was a high-toned and able gentle- man, the type of every reform contended for. There is but one explanation. Massachusetts had had too much of re- form ; it had come in larger and faster doses than even her progressive people could stand — and an inconsistent discon- tent took new shape there — that of very plain reaction. This view is confirmed by the subsequent attempt of Gov. Butler to defeat the re-election of Geo. F. Hoar to CURRENT POLITICS, 307 the U. S. Senate, by a combination of Democrats with dissatisfied Republicans. The movement failed, but it came very near to success, and ior days the result was in doubt. Hoar had been a Senator of advanced views, of broad and com- prehensive statesmanship, but that com- munistic sentiment which occasionally crops out in our politics and strikes at all leaders, merely from the pleasure of assert- ing the right to tear down, assailed him with a vigor almost equal to that which struck Windom of Minnesota, a statesman of twenty- four years' honorable, able and sometimes brilliant service. To prejudice the people of his State against him, a photograi)h of his Washington residence had been scattered broadcast. The print in the photograph intended to prejudice being a coach with a liveried lackey It might have been the coach and lackey of a visitor, but the ctiect was the same where discontent had run into a fever. Political discontent gave unmistakable manifestations of its existence in Ohio, Massachusetts, New York (where Ex- Governor Cornell's nomination had been defeated by a forged telegram), Michigan, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Connecticut, California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. The Republican position was ■well maintained in New Hampshire, Ver- mont, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Illinois, and Wisconsin. It was greatly improved in Virginia, where Mahone's Republican Eeadjuster ticket carried the State by nearly ten thousand, and where a United States' Senator and Congressman-at-large were gained, as well as some of the District Congressmen. The Republicans also im- proved the situation in North Carolina and Tennessee, though they failed to carry either. They also gained Congress- men in Mississippi and Louisiana, but the Congressional result throughout the country was a sweeping Democratic vic- tory, the 48th Congress, beginning March 4, 1883, showing a Democratic majority of 71 in a total membership of 325. In Pennsylvania alone of all the Northern States, were the Republican elements of discontent organized, and here they were as well organized as pos- sible under the circumstances. Charles S. Wolfe had the year previous proclaimed what he called his "independence of the Bosses," by declaring himself a candidate for State Treasurer, " nominated in a con- vention of one." He secured 49,984 votes, and this force was used as the nucleus for the better organized Independent Repub- lican movement of 1882. Through this a State Convention was called which ]>laced a full ticket in the field, and which in many districts nominated separate legisla- tive candidates. The complaints of the Independent Republicans of Pennsylvania were very much like those of dissatisfied Rejiub- licans in other Northern Statefi'where no adverse organizations were set up, and these can best be understood by giving the oflicial papers and correspondence con- nected with the revolt, and the attempts to conciliate and suppress it by the regular organization. The writer feels a delicacy in appending this data, inasmuch as he was one of the principals in the negotia- tions, but formulated comjilaints, methods and principles peculiar to the time can be better understood as presented by organ- ized and official bodies, than where mere opinions of cotemporaneous writers and speakers must otherwise be given. A very careful summary has been made ])y Col. A. K. McClure, in the Philadelphia Tb)ies Ahnanuc, and from this we (juote the data connected with the — Th.e Independent Repu1>llcan Revolt In Pennsylvania. The following call was issued by Chair- man McKee, of the committee which con- ducted the Wolfe campaign in 1881 : Headquarters State Committee, Citizens' Republican Association, GiRARD House, Philadelphia, December 16, 1881. To the Independent Republicans of Penn- sylvania : You are earnestly requested to send re- presentatives from each county to a State conference, to be held at Philadelphia, Thursday, January 12th, 1882, at 10 o'clock A. M., to take into consideration the wis- dom of placing in nomination proper per- sons for the offices of Governor, Lieuten- ant Governor, Secretary of Internal Affairs and Supreme Court Judge, and such other matters as may come before the confer- ence, looking to the overthrow of " boss rule," and the elimination of the pernicious " spoils system," and its kindred evils, from the administration of public affairs. It is of the utmost importance that those fifty thousand unshackled voters wlio supported the independent candidacv of Hon. Charles S. Wolfe for the office of State Treasurer as a solemn protest against ring domina- tion, together with the scores of thousands of libertv-loving citizens who are ready to join in the next revolt against " bossism," shall be worthily represented at this con- ference. I. D. McKee, Chairman. Fraxk Willing Leach, Secretarj'. Pursuant to the above call, two hundred and thirteen delegates, representing thirty- three of the sixtv-six counties, met at the Assembly Building, January 12th, 1882, AMERICAN POLITICS. and organized by the election of John J. Pinkerton as chairman, together with a suitable list of vice-presidents and secre- taries. After a general interchange of views, a resolution was adopted directing the holding of a State Convention for the nomination of a State ticket, May 24th. An executive committee, with power to arrange for the election of delegates from each Senatorial district, was also appointed, consisting of Messrs. I. D. McKee, of Philadelphia; Wharton Barker, of Mont- gomery; John J. Pinkerton, of Chester; F. M. Nichols, of Luzerne ; H. S. McNair, of York, and C. W. Miller, of Crawford. Mr. Nichols aftewards declining to act, George E. Mapes, of Venango, was sub- stituted in his place. Before the time arrived for the meeting of the convention of May 24th, several futile efforts were made to heal the breach between the two wings of the Republican party. At a con- ference of leading Independents held in Philadelphia, April 23d, at which Senator Mitchell was present, a committee w^as appointed for the purpose of conferring with a similar committee from the regular organization, upon the subject of the party differences. The members of the Peace Conference, on the part of the Indepen- dents, were Charles S. Wolfe, I. D. McKee, Francis B. Reeves, J. W, Lee, and Whar- ton Barker. The committee on the part of the Stalwarts were M. S. Quay, John F. Hartranft, C. L. Magee, Howard J. Reeder, and Thomas Cochran. A preliminary meeting was held at the Continental Hotel, on the evening of April 29th, which adjourned to meet at the same place on the evening of May 1st; at which meeting the following peace propositions were agreed upon : Resolved, That we recommend the adop- tion of the following principles and methods by the Republican State Conven- tion of May 10th. First. That we unequivocally condemn the use of patronage to promote personal political ends, and require that all offices bestowed within the party shall be upon the sole basis of fitness. Second. That competent and faithful officers should not be removed except for cause. Third. That the non- elective minor offices should be filled in accordance with rules established by law. Fourth. That the ascertained popular will shall be faithfully carried out in State and National Conventions, and by those holding office by the favor of the party. Fifth. That we condemn compulsory assessments for political purposes, and pro- scription for failure to respond either to such assessments or to requests for volun- tary coctributions, and that any policy of political proscription is unjust, and calcu- lated to disturb party harmony. Sixth. That public office constitutes a high trust to be administered solely for the people, whose interests must be paramount to those of persons or parties, and that it should be invariably conducted with the same efficiency, economy, and integrity as are expected in the execution of private trusts. Seventh. That the State ticket should be such as by the impartiality of its con- stitution and the high character and ac- knowledged fitness of the nominees will justly commend itself to the support of the united Republican party. Resolved, That we also recommend the adoption of the following permanent rules for the holding of State Conventions, and the conduct of the party : First. That delegates to State Conven- tions shall be chosen in the manner in which candidates for the General Assem- bly are nominated, except in Senatorial districts composed of more than one coun- ty, in which conferees for the selection of Senatorial delegates shall be chosen in the manner aforesaid, and the representation of each county shall be based upon its Re- publican vote cast at the Presidential elec- tion next preceding the convention. Second. Hereafter the State Convention of the Republican party shall be held on the second Wednesday of July, except in the year of the Presidential election, when it shall be held not more than thirty days previous to the day fixed for the National Convention, and at least sixty days' notice shall be given of the date of the State Con- vention. Third. That every person who voted the Republican electoral ticket at the last Presidential election next preceding any State Convention shall be permitted to participate in the election of delegates to State and National Conventions, and we recommend to the county organizations that in their rules they allow the largest freedom in the general participation in the primaries consistent with the preservation of the party organization. M. S. Quay, J. F. Hartranft, Thomas Cochran, Howard J. Reeder, C. L. Magee, On the part of the Republican State Com- mittee, appointed by Chairman Cooper. Charles S. Wolfe, I. D. McKee, Francis B. Reeves, Wharton Barker, J. W. Lee, On the part of Senator Mitchell's Inde- pendent Republican Committee. CURRKNT POLITICS, 309 The following resolution \v:i.s adopted by the joint conference: Eesolved, That we disclaim any authority to speak or act for other persons tiian our- selves, and simply make these suggestions us in our opinion are essential to the pro- motion of harmony and unity. In order, however, that there might be no laying down of arms on the part of the Independents, in the false belief that the peace propositions had ended the contest, without regard to whether they were ac- cepted in good faith, and put in i)ractice l)y the regular convention, the following call was issued by the Independent Execu- tive Committee : Executive Committee, CiTizENs' Republican Association op Pennsylvania, Girard House. Philadelphia, May 3d, 1882. To the Independent Republicans of Pennsyl- vania: At a conference of Independent Repub- licans held in Philadelphia, on January 12th, 1882, the following resolution was adopted, to wit: Resolved, That a convention be held on the 24th day of May, 1882, for the purpose of placing in nomination a full Indepen- dent Republican ticket for the offices to be filled at the general election next Novem- ber. In pursuance and by the authority of the above resolution the undersigned, the State Executive Committee appointed at the said conference, request the Independent Re- publicans of each county of the Common- wealth of Pennsylvania to send delegates to the Independent Convention of May 24th, the basis of representation to be the same as that fixed for Senators and Repre- sentatives of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. Should the convention of May 10th fail to nominate as its candidates men who in their character, antecedents and affiliations are embodiments of the principles of true Republicanism free from the iniquities of bossism, and of an honest administration of public affiiirs free from the evils of the spoils system, such nominations, or any such nomination, should be emphatically repudiated by the Independent Convention of May 24th, and by the Independent Re- publicans of Pennsylvania in November next. The simple adoption by the Harrisburg Convention of May lOtli of resolutions of plausible platitudes, while confessing the existence of the evils which we have stren- uously opposed, and admitting the justice of our position in opposing them, will not satisfy the Independent Republicans of this Commonwealth. We are not battling for the construction of plallorms, but (or the overthrow of l)ossism, and tlie evils of the spoils system, which animated a de- spicable assassin to deprive our loved J 'res- ident Garllcld of his lift", and our country of its frieuti and j)cacenuiker. The nomination of slated candidates by machine methods, thereby tending to the perpetuation of boss dominion in our Com- monwealth, should never be ratified by the Independent Reimblicans in convention assembled or at the polls. Upon this very vital point there should be no mistake in the mind of any citizen of this State. Tlie path of duty in this emergency leads for- ward, and not backward, and forward we should go until bossism and machineism and stalwartism — aye, and Cameronism — • are made to give way to pure Rei)ublican- ism. The people will not sul)mit to tem- porizing or compromising. We appeal to the Independent Republi- cans of Pennsylvania to take immediate steps toward perfecting their organization in each county, and completing the selec- tion of delegates to the Independent State Convention. Use every exertion to secure the choice as delegates of representative, courageous men, who will not falter when the time arrives to act — who will not de- sert into the ranks of the enemy when the final time of testing comes. Especially see to it that there shall not be chosen as dele- gates any Pharisaical Independents, who preach reform, yet blindly follow boss leadership at the crack of the master's whip. Act quickly and act discreetly. A State Campaign Committee of' fifty, comprising one member from each Sena- torial district, has been formed, and any one desiring to co-operate with us in this movement against the enemies of the in- tegrity of our State, who shall communi- cate with us, will be immediately referred to the committeeman representing the dis- trict in which he lives. We urgently invite a correspondence from the friends of politi- cal independence from all sections of the State. Again we say to the Independent Repub- licans of Pennsylvania in the interest of justice and the Commonwealth's honor, leave no stone unturned to vindicate the rights of the people. f. D. McKee, Chairman. Wharton Barker. John J. Pinkerton. Geo. E. Mapes. H. S. McNair. Charles W. Miller. Frank Willing Leach, Secretary. In pursuance of the above call, the In- dependent Convention met. May 24th. in Philadelphia, and decidinL^ tliat tlie action of the regular Republican Convention, held 310 AMERICAN POLITICS. at Harrisburg on May 10th, did not give the guarantee of reform demanded by the Independents, proceeded to nominate a ticket and adopt a platform setting forth their views. Although the break between the two wings of the party was thus made final to all appearances, yet all efforts for a recon- ciliation were not entirely abandoned. Thos. M. Marshall having declined the nomination for Congressman at Large on the Republican ticket, the convention was reconvened June 21st, for the purpose of filling the vacancy, and while in session, instructed the State Central Committee to use all honorable means to secure harmony between the two sections of the party. Accordingly, the Republican State Com- mittee was called to meet in Philadelphia, July, 13th. At this meeting the following propositions were submitted to the Inde- pendents : Pursuant to the resolution passed by the Harrisburg Convention of June 21st, and atithorizingthe Reptiblican State Com- mittee to use all honorable means to pro- mote harmony in the party, the said com- mittee, acting in conjunction with the Re- publican candidates on the State ticket, respectfully submit to the State Committee and candidates of the Independents the following propositions : ' First. The tickets headed by James A. Beaver and John Stewart, respectively, be submitted to a vote of the Republican electors of the State, at primaries, as here- inafter provided for. Second. The selection of candidates to be voted for by the Republican party in November to be submitted as aforesaid, every Republican elector, constitutionally and legally qualified, to be eligible to nomination. Third. A State Convention to be held, to be constituted as recommended by the Continental Hotel Conference, whereof Wharton Barker was chairman and Francis B. Reeves secretary, to select candidates to be voted for by the Republican party in November, its choice to be limited to the candidates now in nomination, or unlimit- ed, as the Independent State Committee may prefer. The primaries or convention referred to in the foregoing propositions to be held on or before the fourth Wednesday of August next, under regulations or ap- portionment to be made by Daniel Agnew, Hampton L. Carson, and Francis B. Reeves, not in conflict, however, with the acts of Assembly regulating primary elec- tions, and the candidates receiving the highest popular vote, or the votes of a majority of the members of the convention, to receive the united support of the party. Resolved, That in the opinion of the Re- publican State Committee the above pro- positions fully carry out, in letter and spirit, the resolution passed by the Harris- burg Convention, June 21st, and that we hereby pledge the State Committee to carry out in good faith any one of the foregoing propositions which may be ac- cepted. Resolved, That the chairman of the Re- publican State Committee be directed to forward an official copy of the proceedings of this meeting, together with the forego- ing propositions, to the Independent State Committee and candidates. Whereupon, General Reeder, of North- amj^ton, moved to amend by adding a further proposition, as follows. Fourth. A State Convention, to be con- stituted as provided for by the new rules adopted by the late Republican State Con- vention, to select candidates to be voted for by the Republican party in November, provided, if such convention be agreed to, said convention shall be held not later than the fourth Wednesday in August. Which amendment was agreed to, and the preamble and ^resolutions as amended were agreed to. This communication was addressed to the chairman of the Independent State Committee, I. D. McKee, who called the Independent Committee to meet July 27th, to consider the propositions. In the meantime the Independent candidates held a conference on the night of July 13th, and four of them addressed the fol- lowing propositions to the candidates of the Stalwart wing of the party : Philadelphia, July 13th, 1882. To General James A. Bearer, Son. William T. Davies, Hon. John M. Greer, William Henry Rawle, Esq., and Marriott Brosius, Esq. Gentlemen : By a communication re- ceived from the Hon. Thomas V. Cooper, addressed to us as candidates of the Inde- pendent Reptiblicans, we are advised of the proceedings of the State Committee, which assembled in this city yesterday. Without awaiting the action of the In- dependent State Committee, to which we have referred the communication, and at- tempting no discussion of the existing differences, or the several methods pro- posed by which to secure party unity, we beg to say that we do not believe that any of the propositions, if accepted, would pro- duce harmony in the party, but on_ the contrary, would lead to wider divisions. We therefore suggest that the desired re- sult can be secured by the hearty co-op- eration of the respective candidates. We have no authority to speak for the great body of voters now giving their support to the Independent Republican ticket, nor CURRENT POLITICS. 311 can we include them by any action we may take. We are perfectly free, however, to act in our individual capacity, and de- sire to assure you that we are not only willing, but anxious to co-operate with you in the endeavor to restore peace and harmony to our party. That this can be accomplished beyond all doubt we feel en- tirely assured, if you, gentlemen, are pre- pared to yield, with us, all personal con- siderations, and agree to the following propositions : First. The vrithdrawal of both tickets. Second. The several candidates of these tickets to pledge themselves not to accept any subsequent nomination by the pro- posed convention. Under these conditions we will unite with you in urging u^ion our respective constituencies the adoption of the third proposition submitted by your committee, and conclude the whole controversy by our final withdrawal as candidates. Such withdrawal of both tickets would remove from the canvass all personal as well as political antagonisms, and leave the party united and unembarrassed. We trust, gentlemen, that your judgment will approve the method we have suggest- ed, and that, appreciating the importance of concluding the matter with as little de- lay as possible, you will give us your re- ply within a week from this date. Very respectf"ully, your obedient servants, John Stewart, Levi Bird Duff. George W. Merrick. George Juxkin. William McMichael, Independent can- didate for Congressman at Large, dissented from the proposition of his colleagues, and addressed the following communication to Chairman Cooper : Philadelphia. July 13th, 1882, Hon. Thomas V. Cooper, Chairman, etc. Dear Sir: Your letter of July 12th is received, addressed to the chairman of the State Committee of the Independent Re- publicans and their candidates, containing certain propositions of your committee. I decline those propositions, because they involve an abandonment of the cause of the Independent Republicans. If a new convention, representing all Republicans, had nominated an entirely | new ticket, worthy of popular support, and j not containing the name of any candidate on either of the present tickets, and sin- cerely supporting the principles of the ; Independent Republicans, the necessity I for a separate Independent Republican movement would not exist. Your propo- sition, however, practically proposes to re-nominate General Beaver, and reaffirm the abuse which we oppose. The convention of Independent Repub- licans which met in Pliiladelphia on May 24th, announced i)rinciples in which I believe. It nominated me for Congress- man at Large, and I accepted that nomi- nation. It declared boldly against boss- ism, the spoils system, and all the evils which impair Repuljlican usefulness, and in favor ol' popular rule, equal rights of all, national unity, maintenance of public credit, protection to labor, and all the great principles of true Republicanism. No other ticket now in the field presents those issues. The peo])le of Pennsylvania can say at the polls, in November, whether they apjirove of those principles, and will support the cause which represents them. I will not withdraw or retire unless t-veiits hereafter shall give assurance that ne- cessary reform in the civil service shall be adopted ; assessments made upon office- holders returned, and not hereafter exact- ed ; boss, machine, and spoils methods forever abandoned; and all our public offices, from United States Senator to the mo^ unimportant officials, shall be filled only by honest and cajjable men, who will represent the people, and not attempt to dictate to or control them. I shall go on with the fight, asking the support of all my fellow-citizens who believe in the principles of the Independent Re- publican Convention of May 24th. Yours truly, William McMichael. To these propositions General Beaver and his colleagues replied in the following communication : Philadelphia, July 15th, 1882. Eon. Thomas V. Cooper, Chairman Repub- lican State Committee, Philadelphia, Pa. Sir : We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt through you of a communica- tion addressed to us by the Hon. John Stewart, Colonel Levi Bird Duff, Major G. W. Merrick, and George Junkin, Esq., in response to certain propositions submitted by the Republican State Committee, re- presenting the Republican party of Penn- sylvania, looking to an amicable and hon- orable adjustment of whatever differences there may be among the various elements of the party. Without accepting any of the propositions submitted by your com- mittee, this communication asks us, as a condition precedent to any recommenda- tion on the part of the writers thereof, to declare that in the event of the calling of a new convention, we will severally forbid the Republicans of Pennsylvania to call upon us for our services as candidates for the various positions to be filled by the people at the coming election. To say 312 AMERICAN POLITICS, that in the effort to determine whether or not our nomination was the free and un- biased choice of the Republican party we must not be candidates, is simply to try the question at issue. We have no de- sire to discuss the question in any of its numerous bearings. We have placed our- selves unreservedly in the hands of the Republicans of Pennsylvania. We have pledged ourselves to act concurrently with your committee, and are bound by its ac- tion. We therefore respectfully suggest that we have no power or authority to act in- dependently of the committee, or make any declaration at variance with the proposi- tions submitted in accordance with its ac- tion. There ought to be and can be no such thing as personal antagonism in this contest. We socially and emphatically disclaim even the remotest approach to a feeling of this kind toward any person. We fraternize with and are ready to sup- port any citizen who loves the cause of pure Republicanism, and with this decla- ration we submit the whole subject to your deliberate judgment and wise considera- tion. James A. Beaver. William Henry Rawle, Marriott Brosius. W. T. Davies. John M. Greer. At the meeting of the Independent State Committee, July 27th, the propositions of the Regular Committee were unanimously rejected, and a committee appointed to draft a reply, which was done in the fol- lowing terms: Thomas V. Cooper, Esq., Chairman Repub- lican State Committee. Dear Sir : I am instructed to advise you that the Independent Republican State Committee have considered the four sug- gestions contained in the minutes of the proceedings of your committee,forwarded to me by you on the 12th instant. I am directed to say that this committee find that none of the four are methods fitted to obtain a harmonious and honora- ble unity of the Republican voters of Pennsylvania. All of them are inadequate to that end, for the reason that they afford no guarantee that, being accepted, the ]irinciples upon wlaich the Independent JRepublicans have taken their stand would be treated with respect or put into action. All of them contain the probability that an attempt to unite the Republicans of the State by their means would either result in reviving and strengthening the political dictatorship which we condem.n or would permanently distract the Republican body, and insure tlie future and continued triumph of our common opponent, the Democratic party. Of the four suggestions, the first, second and fourth are so inadequate as to need no separate discussion : the third, which alone may demand attention, has the fatal defect of not including the withdrawal of that " slated '' ticket which was made up many months ago, and long in advance of the Harrisburg Convention, to represent and to maintain the very evils of control and abuses of method to which we stand op- posed. This proposition, like the others, supposing it to have been sincerely put forward, clearly shows that you miscon- ceive the, cause of the Independent Repub- lican movement, as well as its aims and purposes. You assume that we desire to measure the respective numbers of those who support the Harrisburg ticket and those who find their principles expressed by the Philadelphia Convention. This is a complete and fatal misapprehension. We are organized to promote certain reforms, and not to abandon them in pursuit of votes. Our object is the overthrow of the " boss system " and of the " spoils system," In behalf of this we are willing and anxious to join hands with you whenever it is assured that the union will be honestly and earnestly for that purpose. But we cannot make alliances or agree to com- promises that in their face threaten the very object of the movement in which we have engaged. Whether your ticket has the support of many or few, of a majority or a minority of the Republican voters, does not affect in the smallest degree the duty of every citizen to record himself against the abuses which it represents. Had the gentlemen who compose it been willing to withdraw the'mselves from the field, as they were invited to join in doing, for the common good, by the Independent Republican candidates, this act would have encouraged the hope that a new con- vention, freely chosen by the people, and unembarrassed by claims of existing can- didates, might have brought forth the needed guarantee of party emancipation and public reform. This service, however, they have de- clined to render their party ; they not only claim and receive your repeated assurances of support, but they permit themselves to be put forward to secure the use of the In- dependent Republican votes at the same time that they represent the "bossism," the " spoils " methods, and the " machine " management which we are determinedno longer to tolerate. The manner in which their candidacy was decreed, the means employed to give it convention formality, the obligations which they incur by it, the political methods with which it identifies them, and the political and personal plans for which their official influence would be required, all 'oin to make it the most im- CURRENT POLITICS. 313 perative public duty not to give tliem sup- port at this election under any circum- stances. In closing this note, this committee must express its regret, tlu;t, having con- sidered it desirable to make overtures to the Independent Republicans, you should have so far misapprehended the facts of the situation. It is our desire to unite the Republican party on the sure ground of principle, in the confidence that we are thus serving it with the highest fidelity, and preserving for the future service of the Commonwealth that vitality of Repub- licanism which has made the party useful in the past, and which alone confers upon it now the right of continued existence. The only method which promises this re- sult in the approaching election is that proposed by the Independent Republican candidates in their letter of July 13th, 1882, which was positively rejected by your committee. On behalf of the Independent Repub- lican State Committee of Pennsylvania, I. D. McKee, Chairman. With this communication ended all efforts at conciliation. The election followed, and the Demo- cratic ticket, headed by Robert E. Pattison of Philadelphia, received an average plurality of 40,000, and the Independent Republican ticket received an average vote of about 43,000 — showing that while Independence organized did not do as well in a gubernatorial as it had in a previous oflF-year, it yet had force enough to defeat the" Republican State ticket headed by Gen. James A. Beaver. All of the three several State tickets were composed of able men, and the force of both of the Republican tickets on the hustings excited great interest and excitement ; yet the Republican vote, owing to the division, was not out by nearly one hundred thou- sand, and fifty thousand more Republicans than Democrats remained at hoijie, many of them purposely. In New York, where dissatisfaction had no rallying point, about two hundred thousand Republicans re raained at home, some because of anger at the defeat of Gov. Cornell in the State nominating convention — some in protest against the National Administrations, which was accused of the desire for direct endorsement where it presented the name of Hon Clias. J. Folger, its Secretary of the Treasury, as the home gubernatorial candidate, — others because of some of the many reasons set forth in the bill of complaints which enumerates the causes of the dissatisfaction within the party. At this writing the work of Republican repair is going on. Both the Senate and House at "Washington arc giving active work to the passage of a tarifi" bill, the re- peal of the revenue taxes, and the passage of a two-cent letter postage bill — measures anxiously hastened by the Republicans in order to anticipate friendly and defeat un- friendly attempts on the part of the Democratic House, which comes in with the first session of the 4Sth Congress. In Pennsylvania, as we close this review of the struggle of 1882, the Regular and Independent Republican State Committees — at least the heads thereof — are devising a plan to jointly call a Republican State Convention to nominate the State ticket to be voted for in November, 1883. Th& groundswell was so great that it had no sooner passed, than Republicans of all shades of opinion, felt the need of har- monious action, and the leaders every- where set themselves to the work of repair. The Republicans in the South differed from those of the North in the fact that their complaints were all directed against a natural political enemy — the Bourbons — and wherever there was opportunity they favored and entered into movements with Independent and Readjuster Democrats, with the sole object of revolutionizing political affairs in the South. Their suc- cess in these combinations was only great in Virginia, but it proved to be promising in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisi- ana, and may take more definite and generalshape in the greatcampaign of 1884. The Democratic party was evidently surprised at its great victory in 1882, and has not yet formally resolved what it will do with it. The Congress beginning with December, 1883, will doubtless give some indication of the drift of Democratic events. The most notable law passed in the closing session of the 47th Congress, was the Civil Service Reform Bill, introduced by Senator Geo. H. Pendleton of Ohio, but prepared under the direction of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Re- publicans, feeling that there was some public demand for the passage of _ a measure of the kind, eagerly rushed to its - support, at a time when it was apparent that the spoils of office might slip from their hands. From opposite motives the Democrats, who had previously encour- aged, now ran away from it, but it passed both Houses with almost a solid Repub- lican vote, a few Democrats in each House voting with them. President Arthur signed the bill, but at this writing the Commission which it creates has not been appointed, and of course none of the rules and constructions under the act have been formulated. Its basic principles are fixed tenure in minor places, competitive ex- aminations, and non-partisan selections. PART III. POLITICAL PLATFORMS. COMPARISONS AND DESCRIPTION OF ALL LEADING ISSUES. WITH TABLES FOR READY REFERENCE. POLITICAL PLATFORMS. THE FIRST POLITICAL PLATFORM ENUNCIATED IN THE UNITED STATES TO COMMAND GENERAL ATTENTION WAS DRAWN BY MR. MADISON IN 1798, WHOSE OBJECT WAS TO PbONOUI^CE THE ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS UNCONSTITU- TIONAL, AND TO DEFINE THE RIGHTS OF THE STATES. Virginia Resolutions of 1798. Prono^mc^ng the Alien and Sedition Laws to be miconstitUr- ticmal, and Defining the rights of the States.— Drawn by Mr. Madison. In the Virginia House af Delegates, Friday, Dec. 21, 1798. Resolved, That the General Assembly of Virginia doth unequivocally express a firm resolution to maintain and defend tlie Constitution of the United States, and the constitution of this state, against every aggression e'taer foreign or domestic ; and that they wLi support the government of the Unitetl States in all measures war- ranted by the former. That this Assembly most solemnly de- clares a warm attachment to the Union of the states, to maintain which it pledges its powers ; and, that for this end, it is their duty to watch over and oppose every in- fraction of those principles which consti- tute the only basis of that Union, because a faithful observance of them can alone secure its existence and the public happi- ness. That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it views the powers of the federal government, as re- sulting from the compact to which the states are parties, as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument con- stituting that compact, as no farther valid than they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact ; and that in case of a. deliberate, palpable, and dan- ferous exercise of other powers, not granted y the said compact, the states, who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to interpose, for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their respective limits the authori- ties, rights, and liberties appertaining to them. That the General Assembly doth also express its deep regret, that a spirit has, in sundry instances, been manifested by the federal government, to enlarge its powers by forced constructions of the con- stitutional charter which defines them; and, that indications have appeared of a design to expound certain general phrases (which, having been copied from the very limited grant of powers in the former Ar- ticles of Confederation, were the less liable to be misconstrued) so as to destroy the meaning and effect of the particular enumeration which necessarily explains, and limits the general phrases, and so as to consolidate tlie states by degrees into one sovereignty, the obvious tendency and inevitable result of which would be, to transform the present republican system of the United States into an absolute, or at best, a mixed monarchy. That the General Assembly doth par- ticularly protest against the palpable and alarming infractions of the Constitution, in the two late cases of the "Alien and Sedition Acts,'' passed at the last session of Congress ; the first of which exercises a power nowhere delegated to the federal government, and which, by uniting legis- lative and judicial powers to those of executive, subverts the general principles of free government, as well as the particu- lar organization and positive provisions of the Federal Constitution; and the other 3 4 AMERICAN POL-ITICS. of which acts exercises, in like manner, a power not delegated by the Constitution, but on the contrary, expressly and posi- tively forbidden by one of the amendments thereto ; a power which, more than any other, ought to produce universal alarm, because it is levelled against the right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon, which has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right. That this state having by its Conven- tion, which ratified the Federal Constitu- tion, expressly declared, that among other esiential rights, " the liberty of conscience and the press cannot be cancelled, abridged, restrained, or modified by any authority of the United States," and from its extreme anxiety to guard these rights from every possible attack of sophistry and ambition, having with other states recommended an amendment for that purpose, which amend- ment was, in due time, annexed to the Constitution, it would mark a reproachful inconsistency, and criminal degeneracy, if an indifference were now shown to the most palpable violation of one of the rights, thus declared and secured ; and to the establishment of a precedent which may be fatal to the other. That the good people of this common- wealth, having ever felt, and continuing to feel the most sincere affection for their brethren of the other states; the truest anxiety for establishing and perpetuating the Union of all : and the most scrupulous fidelity to that Constitution, which is the pledge of mutual friendshij), and the in- strument of niutiuil liai)iiiness; the General Assembly doth solemnly appeal to the like dispositions in the other States, in confi dence that they will concur with this com- monwealth, in declaring, as it does hereby declare, that the acts aforesaid are uncon- stitutional ; and, that the necessary and proper measures Avill be taken by each for co-operating Avith this state, in maintain- ing unimpaired the authorities, rights, and liberties, reserved to the states, respectively, or to the people. That the governor be desired to transmit a copy of the foregoing resolutions to the executive authority of each of the other states, with a request that the same may be communicated to the legislature thereof; and that a copy be furnished to each of the Senators and Eepresentatives representing this state in the Congress of the United States. Attest, John Stewart. 1798. December 24th. Agreed to by the Senate. H. Brooke. A true copy from the original deposited in the office of the General Assembly. John Stewart, Keeper of Rolls. Extracts from the Address to the People, which accompanied the foregoing resolu- tions : — Fellow - Citizens : Unwilling to shrink from our representative responsibility, conscious of the purity of our motives, but acknowledging your right to supervise our conduct, we invite your serious attention to the emergency which dictated the sub- joined resolutions. Whilst we disdain to alarm you by ill-founded jealousies, we recommend an investigation, guided by the coolness of wisdom, and a decision bot- tomed, on firmness but tempered with moderation. It would be perfidious in those intrusted with the guardianship of the state sover- eignty, and acting under the solemn obliga- tion of the following oath : " I do swear, that I will support the Constitution of the United States," not to warn you of encroach- ments, which, though clothed with the pretext of necessity, or disguised by argu- ments of expediency, may yet establish precedents, which may ultimately devote a generous and unsuspicious people to all the consequences of usurped power. Encroachments, springing from a govern- ment whose organization cannot be main- tained without the co-operation of the states, furnish the strongest incitements upon the state legislatures to watchftilness, and impose upon them the strongest obliga- tion to preserve unimpaired .the line of partition. The acquiescence of the states under in- fractions of the federal compact, would either beget a speedy consolidation, by precipitating the state governments into impoteney and contempt ; or prepare the way for a revolution, by a repetition of these infractions, until the people are aroused to appear in the majesty of their strength. It is to avoid these calamities, that we exhibit to the people the momen- tous question, whether the Constitution of the United States shall yield to a construc- tion which defies every restraint and over- whelms the best hopes of republicanism. Exhortations to disregard domestic usur- pations until foreign danger shall have passed, is an artifice which may be for ever used ; because the possessors of power, who are the advocates for its extension, can ever create national embarrassments, to be successively employed to soothe the people into sleep, whilst that power is swelling silently, secretly, and fatally. Of the same character are insinuations of a foreign in- fluence, which seize upon a laudable en- thusiasm against danger from a broad, and distoi't it by an unnatural application, so as to blind your eyes against danger at home. The sedition act presents a scene which was never expected by the early friends of .the Constitution. It was then admitted rOLITlCAL PLATFORMS. that the state sovereignties were only di- minished by powers specifically enumer- ated, or necessary to carry the specified powers into effect. Now federal authority is deduced from implication, and from the existence of state law it is inferred that Congress possesses a sim^ar power of legis- lation ; whence Congress will be endowed with a power of legislation in all cases whatsoever, and the states will be stript of every right reserved by the concurrent claims of a paramount legislature. The sedition act is the otfspringof these tremendous pretensions, which inflict a death wound on the sovereignty of these states. For the honor of American understand- ing, we will not believe that the people have been allured into the adoption of the Constitution by an affectation of defining powers, whilst" the preamble would admit a construction which would erect the will of Congress into a })o\ver paramount in all cases, and therefore limited in none. On the contrary, it is evident that the objects for which the Constitution was formed were deemed attainable only by a particu- lar enumeration and specification of each power granted to the federal government ; reserving all others to the people, or to the states. And yet it is in vain we search for any specified" power, embracing the right of legislation against the freedom of the press. Had the states been despoiled of their sovereignty by the generality of the preamble, "and had the federal government been endowed with whatever they should judge to be instrumental towards union, justice, tranquillity, common defence, gen- eral welfare, and the preservation of liberty nothing could have been more frivolous than an enumeration of powers. All the preceding arguments rising from a deficiency of constitutional power in Con- gress, apply to the alien act, and this act is liable to other objections peculiar to itself. If a suspicion that aliens are dangerous constitute the justification of that power exercised over them by Congress, then a similar suspicion will justify the exercise of a similar power over natives. Because there is nothing in the Constitution dis- tinguishing between the power of a state to fermit the residence of natives and aliens, t is therefore a right originally possessed, and never surrendered by the respective states, and which is rendered dear and valuable to Virginia, because it is assailed through the bosom of the Constitution, and because her peculiar situation renders the easy admission of artisans and labor- ers an interest of vast importance. But this bill contains other features, still more alarming and dangerous. It dispen- ses with the trial by jury : it violates the judicial system; it confounds legislative, executive, and judicial powers; it punishes witliout trial ; and it bestows upon tlie President despotic power over a numerous class of men. Are sucii measures consistent with our constitutional principles? And will an accumulation of ])owcr so extensive in the hands of the executive, over aliens, secure to natives the blessings of republi- can liberty ? If measures can mould governments, and if an uncontrolled power of construc- tion is surrendered to those who administer them, their progress may be easily foreseen and their end easily foretold. A lover of monarchy, who ojxmis tlic treasures of cor- ruption, by (listril)utiiig emolument among devoted partisans, may at the same time be approaching his object, and deluding the ])eople with professions of republicanism. He may confound monarchy and republic- anism, ' by the art of definition. He may varnish over the dexterity which ambition never fails to display, with the pliancy of language, the seduction of exjiediency, or the prejudices of the times. And he may come at length to avow that so extensive a territory as that of the United States can only be governed by the energies of mon- archy ; that it cannot be defended, except by standing armies ; and that it cannot be united, except by consolidation. Measures have already been adopted which may lead to these consequences. They consist : In fiscal systems and arrangements, which keep a host of commercial and wealthy individuals, embodied and obedient to the mandates of the treasury. In armies and navies, which will, on the one hand, enlist the tendency of man to pay homage to his fellow-creature who can feed or honor him ; and on the other, em- ploy the principle of fear, by punishing imaginary insurrections, under the pretext of preventive justice. In swarms of officers, civil and military, who can inculcate political tenets tending to consolidation and monarchy, both by indulgences and severities ; and can act as spies over the free exercise of human reason. In restraining the freedom of the press, and investing the executive with legisla- tive, executive, and judicial powers, over a numerous body of men. And, that we may shorten the catalogue, in establishing by successive precedents such a mode of construing the Constitution as will rapidly remove every restraint upon federal power. Let history be consulted ; let the man of experience reflect ; nay, let the artificers of monarchy be asked what fiirther mate- rials they can need for building up their favorite system ? These "are solemn, but painful truths ; and yet we recommend it to you not to for- get the possibility of danger from without. AMERICAN POLITICS. although danger threatens us from within. Usurpation is'indeed dreadful, but against foreign invajsion, if that should happen, let us rise with hearts and hands united, and repel the attack with the zeal of freemen, who will strengthen their title to examine and correct domestic measures by having defended their country against foreign ag- gression. Pledged as we are, fellow-citizens, to these sacred engagements, we yet humbly and fervently implore the Almighty Dis- poser of events to avert from our land war and usurpation, the scourges of mankind ; to permit our fields to be cultivated in peace ; to instill into nations the love of friendly intercourse ; to suffer our youth to be educated in virtue ; and to preserve our morality from the pollution invariably in- cident to habits of war ; to prevent the laborer and husbandman from being har- assed by taxes and imposts; to remove from ambition the means of disturbing the commonwealth; to annihilate all pretexts for power afforded by war; to maintain the Constitution ; and to bless our nation with tranquillity, under whose benign in- fluence we may reach the summit of hap- piness and glory, to which we are destined by Nature and Nature's God. Attest, John Stewart, C. H. D. 1799, Jan. 23. Agreed to by the Senate. H. Brooke, C. S. A true copy from the original, deposited in the oflB.ce of the General Assembly. John Stewabt, Keeper of Rolls. Answers of the several State Liegislatures. State of Delaware. — In the House of Representatives, Feb. 1, 1799. Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the state of Delaware, in General Assembly met, that they consider the reso- lutions from the state of Virginia as a very unjustifiable interference with the general government and constituted authorities of the United States, and of dangerous tend- ency, and therefore not fit subject for the further consideration of the General As- sembly. Isaac Davis, Speaker of the Senate, Stephen Lewis, Speaker of the H R's. Test— of John Fisher, C. S. John Caldwell, C. H. R. State of Rhode Island and Prov- idence Plantations. — In General As- semblv, February, A. D. 1799. Certain resolutions of the Legislature of Virginia, passed on 21st of December last, being communicated to this Assembly, 1. Resolved, That in the opinion of this legislature, the second section of third ar- ticle of the Constitution of the United States in these words, to wit : The judi- cial power shall extend to all cases arising under the laws of the United States, vests in the federal courts, exclusively, and in the Supreme Court of the United States ultimately, the authority of deciding on the constitutionality of any act or law of the Congress of the United States. 2. Resolved, That for any state legisla- ture to assume that authority, would be, 1st. Blending together legislative and judicial powers. 2d. Hazarding an interruption of the peace of the states by civil discord, in case of a diversity of opinions among the state legislatures ; each state having, in that case, no resort for vindicating its own opinions, but to the strength of its own arm. 3d. Submitting most important ques- tions of law to less competent tribunals ; and 4th. An infraction of the Constitution of the United States, expressed in plain terms. 3. Resolved, That although for the above reasons, this legislature, in their public capacity, do not feel themselves authorized to consider and decide on the constitu- tionality of the sedition and alien laws (so called) ; yet they are called upon by the exigency of this occasion, to declare, that in their private opinions, these laws are within the powers delegated to Congress, and promotive of the welfare of the Uni- ted States. 4. Resolved, That the governor commu- nicate these resolutions to the supreme ex- ecutive of the state of Virginia, and at the same time express to him that this legisla- ture cannot contemplate, without extreme concern and regret, the many evil and fatal consequences which may_ flow from the very unwarrantable resolutions afore- said, of the legislature of Virginia, passed on the twenty -first day of December last. A true copy. Samuel Eddy, Sec. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. —In Senate, Feb. 9, 1799. The legisla- ture of Massachusetts having taken into serious consideration the resolutions of the State of Virginia, passed the 21st day of December last, and communicated by his excellency the governor, relative to certain supposed infractions of the Con- stitution of the United States, by the gov- ernment thereof, and being convinced that the Federal Constitution is calculated to promote the happiness, prosperity, and safety of the people of these United States, and to maintain that union of the several states, so essential to the welfare of the whole ; and being bound by solemn oath 1> L 1 1' 1 C A L r J. A T F U R MS. to support iind delcnd that Constitution, foel it unnecessary to make any professions of their attachment to it, or of their firm determination to sui)port it againat every ai^uression, foreign or domestic. "iUit they deem it their duty solemnly to declare, that while they hold sacred the principle, that consent of the people is the only pure source of just and legitimate power, they cannot admit the right of the state legislatures to denounce the adminis- tration of that government to which the people themselves, l)y a soIimuu compact, have exclusively committeil their national concerns : That, although a liberal and enliLihtened vigilance among the people is always to be cherished, ye't an unreasona- ble jealousy of the men of their choice, and a recurrence to measures of extremity, upon groundless or trivial pretexts, have a strong tendency to destroy all rational lib- erty at home, and to deprive the United States of the most essential advantages in their relations abroad : That this legisla- ture are persuaded that the decision of all cases in law and equity, arising ,under the Constitution of the United States, and the construction of all laws made in pursu- ance thereof, are exclusively vested bythe people in the judicial courts of the United States. That the people in that solemn compact, which is declared to be the supreme law of the land, have not constituted the state legislatures the judges of the acts or mea- sures of the federal government, but have confided to them the power of proposing such amendments of the Constitution, as shall appear to them necessary to the in- terests, or conformable to the wishes of the people whom they represent. That by this construction of the_ Con- stitution, an amicable and dispassionate remedy is pointed out for any evil which experience may prove to exist, and the peace and prosperity of the United States may be preserved without interruption. But, should the respectable state of Vir- ginia persist in the assumption of the right to declare the acts of the national government unconstitutional, and should she oppose successfully her force and will to those of the nation, the Constitution would be reduced to a mere cipher, to the form and pageantry of authority, without the energy of power. Every act of the federal government which thwarted the views or checked the ambitious projects of a particular state, or of its leading and in- fluential members, would be the object of opposition and of remonstrance ; while the people, convulsed and confused by the conflict between two hostile jurisdictions, enjoying the protection of neither, would be wearied into a submission to some bold leader, who would establish himself on the ruins of both. 21 The legislature of ^Massachusetts, al- though they do not themselves claim the right, nor admit the authority of any of the state governments, to decide ui)on the constitutionality of the acts of the federal government, still, lest their silence should be construed into disapprobation, or at best into a doubt of the constitutionality of the acts referred to by the State of Vir- ginia ; and, as the General Assembly of Virginia has called for an expression of their sentiments, do explicitly declare, that they consider the acts of Congress, com- monly called "the alien and sedition acts," not only constitutional, but expedient and necessary: That the former act respects a description of persons whose rights were not particularly contemplated in the Con- stitution of the United States, who are en- titled only to a temporary protection, while they yield a temporary allegiance ; a protection which ought to be withdrawn whenever they become " dangerous to the public safety," or are found guilty of " treasonable machination " against the government : That Congress having been especially intrusted by the people with the general defence of the nation, had not only the right, but were bound' to protect it against internal as well as external foes. That the United States, at the time of pass- ing the act concerning aliens, were threat- ened with actual invasion, had been driv- en by the unjust and ambitious conduct of the French government into warlike pre- parations, expensive and burthensome, and had then, within the bosom of the coun- try, thousands of aliens, who, we doubt not, were ready to co-operate in any ex- ternal attack. It cannot be seriously believed, that the United States should have waited till the poignard had in fact been plunged. The removal of aliens is the usual preliminary of hostility, and is justified by the invari- able usages of nations. Actual hostility had unhappily long been experienced, and a formal declaration of it the government had reason daily to expect. The law, therefore, was just and salutary, and no ofticer could, with so much jtrojiriety, be intrusted with the execution of it, as the one in whom the Constitution has reposed the executive power of the United States. The sedition act, so called, is, in the opinion of this legislature, equally defen- sible. The General Assembly of Virginia, in their resolve under consideration, ob- serve, that when that state by its conven- tion ratified the Federal Constitution, it expressly declared, "That, among other essential rights, the liberty of conscience and of the press cannot be cancelled, abridged, restrained, or modified by any authority of the United States," and from its extreme anxiety to guard these rights from every possible attack of sophistry or 8 AMERICAN POLITICS. ambition, with other states, recommend an amendment for that puri^ose : wliich amendment was, in due time, annexed to the Constitution ; but they did not surely expect that the proceedings of their state convention were to explain the amend- ment adojited by the Union. The words of that amendment, on this subject, are, " Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." The act complained of is no abridgment of the freedom of either. The genuine liberty of speech and the press, is the lib- erty to utter and publish the truth ; but the constitutional right of the citizen to utter and i^ublish the truth, is not to be confounded with the licentiousness in speaking and writing, that is only em- ployed in propagating falsehood and slan- der. This freedom of the press has been explicitly secured by most, if not all, the state constitutions ; and of this provision there has been generally but one construc- tion among enlightened men ; that it is a security for the rational use and not the abuse of the joress ; of which the courts of law, the juries, and people Will judge; this right is not infringed, but confirmed and established by the late act of Congress. By the Constitution, the legislative, ex- ecutive, and judicial departments of gov- ernment are ordained and established ; and general enumerated powers vested in them respectively, including those which are -prohibited to the several states. Cer- tain powers are granted in general terms by the people to their general government, for the purposes of their safety and protec- tion. The government is not only em- powered, but it is made their duty to re- pel invasions and suppress insurrections ; to guaranty to the several states a repub- lican form of government ; to protect each state against invasion, and, when applied to, against domestic violence ; to hear and decide all cases in law and equity, arising under the Constitution, and under any treaty or law made in pursuance thereof ; and all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, and relating to the law of na- tions. Whenever, therefore, it becomes necessary to effect any of the objects de- signated, it is perfectly consonant to all just rules of construction, to infer, that the usual means and powers necessary to the .attainment of that object, are also granted : But the Constitution has left no occasion to resort to implication for these powers ; it has made an express grant of them, in the 8th section of the first article, which ordains, "That Congress shall have power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by the Constitution in the govern- ment of the United States or in any de- partment or officer thereof." This Constitution has established a Su- preme Court of the United States, but has made no provisions for its protection, even against sucli im])r<)per conduct in its pres- ence, as might disturb its proceedings, un- less expressed in the section bef(ire recited. But as no statute has been jjussed on this sul)ject, this protection is, and has been for nine years past, uniformly found in the application of the principles and usages of the common law. The same j^rotection may unquestionably be afforded by a stat- ute passed in virtue of the before-men- tioned section, as necessary and ])r()])i'r, for carrying into execution the powcis \csted in that department. A construttion of the different parts of the Constitution, per- fectly just and fair, will, on analogous principles, extend protection and security against the offences in question, to the other departments of government, in dis- charge of their respective trusts. The President of the United States is bound by his oath " to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution," and it is ex- pressly made his duty, "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed;" but this would be impracticable by any created being, if there could be no legal restraint of those scandalous misrepresentations of his measures and motives, which directly tend to rob him of the public confidence. And equally impotent would be every other public officer, if thus left to the mercy of the seditious. It is holden to be a truth most clear, that the important trusts before enumerated cannot be discharged by the government to which they are committed, without the power to restrain seditious practices and unlawful combinations against itself, and to protect the officers thereof from abusive misrepresentations. Had the Constitution withheld this power, it would have made the government responsible for the effects without any control over the causes which naturally produce them, and would have essentially failed of answering the great ends for which the people of the United States declare, in the first clause of that in- strument, that they establish the same, viz : " To form a more perfect union, es- tablish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general warfare, and secure the bless- ings of liberty to ourselves and posterity." Seditious practices and unlawftd combi- nations against the federal government, or any officer thereof, in the performance of his duty, as well as licentiousness of speech and of the press, were punishable on the principles of common law in the courts of the United States, before the act in ques- tion was passed. This act then is an ame- lioration of that law in favor of the party accused, as it mitigates the punishment which that authorizes, and admits of any ruLITlCAL PLATFOJIMS. 9 investipition of publir nu'ii ami lueasiirrs which is regulated by truth, it is not in- tended to protect men in offiee, only as they are agents of the people. Its ohjeet is to afford legal security to public offices and trusts created for the safety and hap- piness of the people, and therefore the se- curity derived from it is for the benelit of the people, and is their right. The construction of the Constitution and of the existing law of the land, as well as the act com[)lained of, the legislature of Massachusetts most deliberately and iirndy believe results from a just and full view of the several parts of the Constitution : and they consider that act to be wise and ne- cessary, as an audacious and unprincipled spirit of falsehood and abuse had been too long unremittingly exerted for the pur- pose of perverting public opinion, and threatened to undermine and destroy the whole fabric of government. The legislature further declare, that in the foregoing sentiments they have ex- I^ressed the general opinion of their consti- tuents, who have not only acquiesced without complaint in those particular measures of the federal government, but have given their explicit approbation by re-electing those men who voted for the adoption of them. Nor is it apprehended, that the citizens of this state will be ac- cused of supineness or of an indifference to their constitutional rights ; for while, on the one hand, they regard with due vi- gilance the conduct of the government, on the other, their freedom, safety and happi- ness require, that they should defend that government and its constitutional mea- sures against the open or insidious attacks of any foe, whether foreign or domestic. And, lastly, that the legislature of Mas- sacJiusetts feel a strong conviction, that the several United States are connected by a common interest which ought to ren- der their union indissoluble, and that this state will always co-operate with its con- federate states in rendering that union pro- ductive of mutual security, freedom, and happiness. Sent down for concurrence. Samuel Philips, President. In the House of Eepresentatives, Feb. 13, 1799. Eead and concurred. Edward H. Eobbixs, Speaker. A true cojiy. Attest, John Avery, Secretary. State of New York. — In Senate, March 5, 1799. — Whereas, the people of the United States have established for themselves a free and independent national government : And whereas it is essential to the existence of every government, that it have authority to defend and preserve its constitutional powers inviolate, inas- much as every infringeMient thereof tends to its subversion: And whereas the jutli- cial power extends expressly to all cases of law and equity arising under the Consti- tution and the laws of the United States whereby the interference of the legislatures of the particular states in those cases is manifestly excluded : And whereas our peace, prosperity, and happiness, eminent- ly depend on the preservation of the Union, in order to which, a reas()nai)le confidence in the constituted authorities and chosen representatives of the i)eople is indispen- sable : And whereas every measure calcu- lated to weaken that confidence has a ten- dency to destroy the usefulness of our pub- lic functionaries, and to excite jealousies equally hostile to rational liljerty, and the principles of a good republican govern- ment: And whereas the Senate, not per- ceiving that the rights of the particular states have been violated, nor any uncon- stitutional powers assumed by the general government, cannot forbear to express the anxiety and regret with which they observe the inflammatory and pernicious senti- ments and doctrines which are contained in the resolutions of the legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky — sentiments and doctrines, no less repugnant to the Consti- tution of the United States, and the prin- ciples of their union, than destructive to the Federal government and unjust to those whom the people have elected to ad- minister it: wherefore, Resolved, That while the Senate feel themselves con- strained to bear unequivocal testimony against such sentiments and doctrines, they deem it a duty no less indispensable, explicitly to declare their incompetency, as a branch of the legislature of this state, to su- pervise the acts of the general government. Resolved, That his Excellency, the Governor, be, and he is hereby requested to transmit a copy of the foregoing resolu- tion to the executives of the states of Vir- ginia and Kentucky, to the end that the same may be communicated to the legisla- tures thereof. A true copy. Abm. B. Baucker, Clerk. State of Connecticut. — At a General Assembly of the state of Connecticut, holden at Hartford, in the said state, on the second Thursday of May, Anno Domi- ni 1799, his excellency the governor hav- ing communicated to this assend)ly .sundry resolutions of the legislature of Virginia, adopted in December, 1798, which relate to the measures of the general government ; and the said resolutions having been con- sidered, it is Resolved, That this Assembly views with deep regret, and explicitly disavows, the principles contained in the aforesaid reso- 10 AMERICAN POLITICS. lutions; and particularly the oi^position to the "Alien and Sedition Acts" — acts which the Constitution authorized ; which the exigency of the country rendered ne- cessary ; which the constituted authorities have enacted, and which merit the entire approbation of this Assembly. They, therefore, decidedly refuse to concur with the legislature^ of Virginia, in promoting any of the objects attempted in the afore- said resolutions. And it is further resolved, That his ex- cellency the governor be requested to trans- mit a copy of the foregoing resolution to the governor of Virginia, that it may be communicated to the legislature of that state. Passed in the House of Eepresentatives unanimously. Attest, JoH]sr C. Smith, Clerk. Concurred, unanimously, in the upper House. Teste, Sam. Wyllys, Sec'y. State of New Hampshire. — In the House of Eepresentatives, June 14, 1799. — The committee to take into considera- tion the resolutions of the General Assem- bly of Virginia, dated December 21, 1798 ; also certain resolutions of the legislature of Kentucky, of the 10th of November, 1798 ; report as follows : — The legislature of New Hampshire, hav- ing taken into consideration certain reso- lutions of the General Assembly of Vir- ginia, dated December 21, 1798 ; also cer- tain resolutions of the legislature of Ken- tucky, of the 10th of November, 1798;— Resolved, That the legislature of New Hampshire unequivocally express a firm resolution to maintain and defend the Con- stitution of the United States, and the con- stitution of this state, against every aggres- sion, either foreign or domestic, and that they will support the government of the United States in all measures warranted by the former. That the state legislatures are not the proper tribunals to determine the consti- tutionality of the laws of the general gov- ernment ; that the duty of such decision is properly and exclusively confided to the judicial department. That if the legislature of New Hamp- shire, for mere speculative purposes, were to express an opinion on the acts of the general government, commonly called "the Alien and Sedition Bills," that opinion would unreservedly be, that those acts are constitutional and, in the i^resent critical situation of our country, highly ex- pedient. That the constitutionality and expedi- ency of the acts aforesaid have been very ably advocated and clearly demonstrated by many citizens of the United States, more especially by the minority of the General Assembly of Virginia. The legislature of New Hampshire, therefore, deem it unne- cessary, by any train of arguments, to at- tempt further illustration of the proposi- tions, the truth of which, it is confidently believed, at this day, is very generally seen and acknowledged. Which report, being read and considered, was unanimously received and accepted, one hundred and thirty-seven members being present. Sent up for concurrence. John Prentice, Speaker. In Senate, same day, read and concurred in unanimously. Amos Shepard, President. Approved June 15, 1799. J. T. GiLMAN, Governor. A true copy. Attest, Joseph Pearson, Sec'y- State of Vermont. — In the House of Eepresentatives, October 30, A. D. 1799. — The House proceeded to take under their consideration the resolutions of the Gene- ral Assembly of Virginia, relative to cer- tain measures of the general government, transmitted to the legislature of this state for their consideration ; whereupon, Resolved, that the General Assembly of the state of Vermont do highly disapprove of the resolutions of the General Assembly of the state of Virginia, as being unconsti- tutional in their nature and dangerous in their tendency. It belongs not to state legislatures to decide on the constitution- ality of the laws made by the general gov- ernment; this power being exclusively vested in judiciary courts of the Union. That his excellency the governor be re- quested to transmit a copy of this resolu- tion to the executive of Virginia, to be communicated to the General Assembly of that state; and that the same be sent to the Governor and Council for their con- currence. Samuel C. Crafts, Clerk. In Council, October 30, 1799.— Eead and concurred in unanimously. EicHARD "Whitney, Sec'y. Resolutions of 1798 and 1799. (The original di-auglit prepared by Thomas Jefferson.) The following resolutions passed the House of Eepresentatives of Kentucky, Nov. 10, 1798. On the passage of the first resolution, one dissentient; 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, two dissentients; 9th, three dissentients. 1. Resolved, Thatthe several states com- posing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government ; ro:.lTiCAL PLATFORMS. 11 but tliiit by coini)ae't luidpr thi> style and title ol" a Constitution ibr the United States, and of aiuendnients thereto, they consti- tuted a general government for special pur- poses, delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each state to it- self, the residuary mass of right to tlieir own self-government : and, that whenso- ever the general government assumes un- delegated power's, its acts are unauthorita- tive, void, and of no force ; that to this compact each state acceded as a state, and is an integral party ; that this govern- ment, created by this compact, was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers ; but, that as in all other cases of compact among parties having no com- mon judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress. 2. Fesolved, That the Constitution of the United States having delegated to Con- gress a power to punish treason, counter- feiting the securities and current coin of the TJnited States, piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the laws of nations, and no other crimes whatever ; and it being true, as a general principle, and one of the amend- ments to the Constitution having also de- clared, " that the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people," therefore also the sanie act of Congress, passed on the 14th day of July, 1798, and entitled "An act in addition to the act entitled An act for the punishment of cer- tain crimes against the United States ;" as also the act passed by them on the 27th day of June, 1798, entitled "An act to punish frauds committed on the Bank of the United States," (and all other their acts which assume to create, define, or punish crimes other than those enumerated in the Constitution), are altogether void and of no force, and that the power to create, define, and punish such other crimes is reserved, and of right appertains solely and exclusively to the respective states, each within its own territory. 3. Resolved, That it is true, as a general principle, and is also expressly declared by one of the amendments to the Constitution, that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor pro- hibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people ;" and that no power over the freedom of re- ligion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the press being delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, all lawful powers respect- iiio- the same did of right remain, and were reserved to the states or to the peojtle ; that thus was manifested their determination to retain to themselves the right of judging how far the licentiousness of speech and of the press maybe al)ridged Vi'ithont les- sening tlieir useful freedom, and how far those abuses wiiieli eannot i)e separated from their use should be tolerated rather than the use be destroyed ; and thus also they guarded against all abridgment by the United States, of the freedom of religious l)rincii)les and exercises, and retained to themselvesthe rightof protecting the same, as this, stated by a law passed on tJie gen- eral demand of its citizens, had already protected them from all human restraint or interference: and that, in addition to this general i)rinciple and express declaration, another and more special provision has been made by one of the amendments to the Constitution, which expressly declares, that " Congress shall make no laws I'espect- ing an establishment of religion, or pro- hibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the {)ress," thereby guarding in the same sen- tence, and under the same words, the free- dom of religion, of speech, and of the press, insomuch that whatever violates either, throws down the sanctuary which covers the others ; and that libels, false- hood, and defamation, equally with heresy and false religion, are withheld from the cognisance of federal tribunals^ That there- fore the act of the Congress of the United States, passed on the i4th of July, 1798, entitled " An act in addition to the act en- titled An act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States," w^hich does abridge the freedom of the press, is not law, but is altogether void and of no force. 4. Resolved, That alien friends are under the jurisdiction and protection of the laws of the state wherein they are : that no power over them has been delegated to the United States, nor prohibited to the indi- vidual states distinct from their power over citizens ; and it being true, as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declAred, that " the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the states, are reserved to the states re- spectively, or to the jDcople," the act of the Congress of the United States, passed the 22d day of June, 1798, entitled " An act concerning aliens," which assumes power over alien friends not delegated by the Con- stitution, is not law, but is altogether void and of no force, 5. Resolved, That in addition to the gen- eral principle as well as the express de- claration, that powers not delegated are re- served, another and more special provision inferred in the Constitution, from abund- ant caution has declared, " that the migra- AMERICAN POLITICS. tion or importation of such persons as any (»f the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year 1808." That this commonwealth does admit the migra- tion of alien friends described as the sub- ject of the said act concerning aliens ; that a provision against prohibiting their migra- tion, is a provision against all acts equiva- lent thereto, or it would be nugatory ; that to remove them when migrated is equiva- lent to a prohiljition of their migration, and is, therefore, rontrary to the said pro- vision of the Ccinstitution, and void. 6. Resolved, That the imprisonment of a jDerson under the protection of the laws of this commonwealth on his failure to obey the simple order of the President to depart out of the United States, as is under- taken by the said act, entitled, " An act concerning aliens," is contrary to the Con- stitution, one amendment in which has provided, that " no person shall be deprived of liberty without due process of law," and, that another having provided, " that in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a public trial by an impartial jury, to be informed as to the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have assist- ance of counsel for his defence," the same act undertaking to authorize the President to remove a person out of the United States who is under the protection of the law, on his own suspicion, without jury, without public trial, without confrontation of the witnesses against him. without having wit- nesses in his favor, without defence, with- out counsel, is contrary to these provisions also of the Constitution, is therefore not law, but utterly void and of no force. That transferring the power of judging any person who is under the protection of the laws, from the courts to the President of the United States, as is undertaken by the same act concerning aliens, is against the article of the Constitution which pro- vides; that " the judicial power of the United States shall be vested in the courts, the judges of which shall hold their office during good behavior," and that the said act is void for that reason also ; and it is further to be noted that this transfer of judiciary power is to that magistrate of the general government who already possesses all the executive, and a qualified negative in all the legislative powers. 7. Resolved, That the construction ap- plied by the general government (as is evident by sundry of their proceedings) to those parts of the Constitution of the United States which delegate to Congress power to lay and collect taxes, duties, im- posts, excises ; to pay the debts, and pro- vide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States, and to make all laws which shall be necessary and J) roper for carrying into execution the powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or any department thereof, goes to the destruction of all the limits prescribed to their power by the Constitution : That words meant by that instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of the limited powers, ought not to be so construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part so to be taken as to destroy the whole residue of the in- strument : That the proceedings of the general government under color of those articles, will be a fit and necessary subject for revisal and correction at a time of greater tranquillity, while those specified in the preceding resolutions call tor imme- diate redress. 8. Resolved, That the preceding resolu- tions be transmitted to the Senators and Representatives in Congress from this com- monwealth, who are enjoined to present the same to their respective Houses, and to use their best endeavors to procure at the next session of Congress a repeal of the aforesaid unconstitutional and obnox- ious acts. 9. Resolved lastly, That the governor of this commonwealth be, and is hereby au- thorized and requested to communicate the preceding resolutions to the legislatures of the several states, to assure them that this commonwealth considers union for special national purposes, and particularly for those specified in their late federal com- l)act, to be friendly to the peace, happiness, and prosperity of all the states— that, faith- ful to that comjiact, according to the plain intent and meaning in which it was under- stood and acceded to by the several jtarties, it is sincerely anxious for its preservation ; that it does also believe, that to take from the states all the powers of self-govern- ment, and transfer them to a general and consolidated government, wdthout regard to the special delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the "pea'ce, happiness, or prosperity of these states ; and that, therefore, this com- monwealth is determined, as it doubts not its co-states are, to submit to undelegated and consequently unlimited powers in no man, or body of men on earth : that if the acts before specified should stand, these conclusions would flow from them ; that the general government may place any act thev think proper on the list of crimes and punish it themselves, whether enumerated or not enumerated by the Constitution as cognisable by them ;" that they may trans- fer its cognis£fnce to the President or any other person, who may himself be the ac- cuser, counsel, judge, and jury, whose sus- picions may be the evidence, his order the sentence, his officer the executioner, and POLITICAL P L A T F R M S . 13 his breast the sole record of the transac- tion ; that a very numerous and vahiable description of the inhabitants of these states, being by this precedent reducetl as outlaws to the absolute dominion of one man and the barriers of the Constitution thus swept from us all, no rampart now re- mains against the passions and the i)ower of a majority of Congress, to protect I'roni a like exportation or other grievous i)un- ishment the minority of the same Ixxly, the legislatures, judges, governors, and counsellors of the states, nor their other peaceable inhabitants who may venture to reclaim the constitutional rights and liber- ties of the states and people, or who, for other causes, good or bad, may be obnox- ious to the view or marked by the suspi- cions of the President, or to be thought dan- gerous to his or their elections or other interests, public or personal ; that the friendless alien has been selected as the safest subject of a first experiment ; but the citizen will soon follow, or rather has already followed ; for, already has a sedi- tion act marked him as a prey : that these and successive acts of the same character, unless arrested on the threshold, may tend to drive these states into revolution and l)lood, and will furnish new calumnies against republican governments, and new pretexts for those who wish it to be be- lieved, that man cannot be governed but by a rod of iron ; that it would be a dan- gerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights ; that confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism ; free government is found in jealousy and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not con- fidence which prescribes limited constitu- tions to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power ; that our Con- stitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no farther, our confidence may go ; and let the honest advocate of confidence read the alien and sedition acts, and say if the Constitution has not been wise in fixing limits to the government it created, and whether we should be wise in destroy i ng those limits ? Let him say what the go'vcniment is, if it be not a tyranny, which the men of our choice have conferred on the President, and the President of our choice has assented to and accepted over the friendly strangers, to whom the mild spirit of our country and its laws had pledged hospitality and protection ; that the men of our choice have more respected the bare suspicions of the President _ than the solid rights of innocence, the claims of justification, the sacred force of truth, and the forms and substance of law and justice. In questions of power, then, let no more be said of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. That this Commonwealth does therefore call on its co-states for an expression of their .sentiments on the acts concerning aliens, and for the punishment of certain crimes iicreinbefore specified, plainly declaring wlu'ther these acts are or are not authorized l)y the federal conij)act. And it doul)ts not that tiieir st-rise will be so aniiouiK'cd ;is to \n-n\e their attacliment to liniilt'd government, wlicthcr general or particular, and that tlir rights iind liberties of their co-states will be c.\|)oscd to no dangers by remaining embarked on a com- mon bottom with their own : but they will concur with this commonwealth in consid- ering the said acts as so pali)ably again.st the Constitution as to amount to an undis- guised declaration, that the compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the general government, but that it will proceed in the exercise over these states of all powers whatsoever. That they will view this as seizing the rights of the states and consolidating them in the hands of the general government, wiui a power assumed to bind the states (not merely in cases made federal) but in all cases whatsoever, by laws made, not with their consent, but by others against their consent ; that this would be to surrender the form of govern- ment we have chosen, and live under one deriving its powers from its own will, and not from our authority ; and that the co- states recurring to their natural rights in cases not made federal, will concur in de- claring these void and of no force, and will each unite with this Commonwealth in re- questing their repeal at the next session of Congress. Edmund Bullock, S. H. E. John Campbell, S. P. T. Passed the House of Representatives, Nov. 10, 1798. Attest, Thos. Todd, C. H. R. In Senate, Nov. 13, 1798.— Unanimously- concurred in. Attest, B. Thurston, C. S. Approved, Nov. 19, 1798. Jas. Garrard, Gov. of Ky. By the Governor, Harry Toulmin, Sec. of State. House of Representatives, Thursday, ) Nov. 14, 1799. j The House, according to the standing order of the day, resolved itself into a committee of the "whole House, on the state of the commonwealth, Mr. Desha in the chair ; and after some time spent therein, the speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Desha reported that the committee had taken under consideration sundry resolu- tions passed by several state legislatures, on the subject of the alien and sedition laws, and had come to a resolution there- upon, which he delivered in at the clerk's 14 AMERICAN POLITICS. table, where it was read and unanimously agreed to by the House, as follows : — The representatives of the good peoi^le of this commonwealth, in General Assem- bly convened, having maturely considt'rcd the answers of sundry states in the Union, to their resolutions passed the last session, respecting certain unconstitutional laws of Congress, commonly called the alien and . sedition laws, would be faithless, indeed, to themselves and to those they represent, were they silently to acquiesce in the prin- ciples and doctrines attempted to be main- tained in all those answers, that of Vir- ginia only excepted. To again enter the field of argument, and attempt more fully or forcibly to expose the unconstitutional- ity of those obnoxious laws, would, it is apprehended, be as unnecessary as unavail- ing. We cannot, however, but lament that, in the discussion of those interesting subjects by sundry of the legislatures of our sister states, unfounded suggestions and uncandid insinuations, derogatory to the true character and principles of this commonwealth, have been substituted in place of fair reasoning and sound argu- ment. Our opinions of these alarming measures of the general government, to- gether with our reasons for those opinions, were detailed with decency and with l!em- per, and submitted to the discussion and judgment of our fellow-citizens throughout the Union. Whether the like decency and temper have been observed in the an- swers of most of those states who have denied or attempted to obviate the great truths contained in those resolutions, we have now only to submit to a candid world. Faithful to the true principles of the Fed- eral . Union, unconscious of any designs to disturb the harmony of that Union, and anxious only to escape the fangs of despot- ism, the good people of this common- wealth are regardless of censure or calum- niation. Lest, however, the silence of this commonwealth should be construed into an acquiescence in the doctrines and principles advanced and attempted to be maintained by the said answers, or lest those of our fellow-citizens throughout the Union who so Avidely differ from us on those important subjects, should be deluded by the expectation, that we shall be de- terred from what we conceive our duty, or shrink from the principles contained in those resolutions — therefore, Resolved, That this commonwealth con- siders the Federal Union, upon the terms and for the purposes specified in the late compact, as conducive to the liberty and happiness of the several states : That it , does now unequivocally declare its attach- ■ ment to the Union, and to that compact, agreeably to its obvious and real intention, and will be among the last to seek its dis- solution : That if those who administer the general government be permitted to transgress the limits fixed by that compact, by a total disregard to the special delega- tions of power therein contained, an anni- hilation of the state governments, and the creation vipon their ruins of a general con- solidated government, will be the inevita- ble consequence: That the principle and construction contended for by sundry of the state legislatures, that the general gov- ernment is the exclusive judge of the ex- tent of the powers delegated to it, stop nothing short of despotism^ince the dis- cretion of those who administer the gov- ernment, and not the Constitution, would be the measure of their powers : That the several states who formed that instrument being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of the in- fraction ; and that a nullification by those sovereignties of all unautliorized acts done under color of that instrument is the right- ful remedy: That this commonwealth does, under the most deliberate reconsid- eration, declare that the said alien and sedition laws are, in their opinion, palpa- ble violations of the said Constitution ; and, however cheerfully it may be disposed to surrender its opinion to a majority of its sister states, in matters of ordinary or doubtful policy, yet, in momentous regula- tions like the present, which so vitally wound the best rights of the citizen, it would consider a silent acquiescence as highly criminal : That although this com- monwealth, as a party to the federal com- pact, will bow to the laws of the Union, yet it does, at the same time, declare that it will not now, or ever hereafter, cease to oppose in a constitutional manner every attempt, at what quarter soever offered, to violate that compact. And, finally, in or- der that no pretext or arguments may be drawn from a supposed acquiescence on the part of this commonwealth in the con- stitutionality of those laws, and be thereby used as precedents for similar future viola- tions of the federal compact — this com- monwealth does now enter against them its solemn protest. Extract, &c. Attest, T. Todd, C. H. E. In Senate, Nov. 22, 1799— Read and con- curred in. Attest, B. Thurstok, C. S. Wasliiiigto3»'8 Farewell Address to tlie Peo- ple oftlie United States, Sept. 17, 1796. Accepted as a Platform for the People of Hie Nation, regard- less of party. Friends and Fellow-citizens :— The period for a new election of a citi- zen to administer the executive govern- ment of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in desig- nating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me pro- POLITICAL PLATFORMS. 10 per, esi)ecially as it may (.'oiidiu'e to a luorc distinct expression of the public voice, tluit I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be as- sured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations a[)i)ertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his coun- try ; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence, in my situation, might imply, I am influenced by no dimi- nution of zeal for your future interests ; no deficiency of grateful respect of your past kindness; but am supjiorted by a full con- viction that the step is compatible with both. The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your suf- frages have twice called me, have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for ,what appeared to be your desire. I con- stantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in niy power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, pre- vious to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you ; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer ren- ders the pursuit of inclination incompati- ble with the sentiment of duty or j^ropriety ; and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire. The impressions with which I first un- dertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say, that I have with good intentions contributed towards the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience, in my own eyes — perhaps still more in the eyes of others — has strengthened the motives to ditfidence of myself ; and every day the in- creasing weight of years admonishes me. more and more, that the abode of retire- ment is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any Circum- stances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prmlcnce invite me to (piit the politi- cal scene, i)atriotism docs not l()ri)id it. In looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not jxTinit me to suspend the dee]) acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude whii-li I owe to my beloved country for the many honors il has conferred upon me; still inore for tlio steadfast confidence with which it iia+ supi)orted me; and for the opi)ortunitie:5 I have thence enjoyed of numifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness un- equal to my zeal. If Ijcnefits have re- sulted to our country from these services, let it always be remendtered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direc- tion, were liable to mislead ; amidst ap- pearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging ; in situations in which, not unfrequently, want of suc- cess has countenanced the spirit of criti- cism, — the constancy of your sujjport was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans, by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated by this new idea, I shall carry it wi?u me to my grave, as a strong incitement to un- ceasing vows, that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its benefi- cence; that union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitu- tion, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained ; that its ad- ministration, in every department, may be stamped with wisdom and virtue ; that in fine, the happiness of the people of these states, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete, by so careful a preser- vation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recom- mending it to the applause, the affection, and the adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it. Here, perhaps, I ought to stop; but a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehen- sion of danger natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the jiresent, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments, which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable ob- servation, and which appear to me all-im- portant to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be aff()rded to you with the more freeilom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warning of a parting friend, who can ])ossil)ly have no personal motive to bias his counsel ; nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it,' your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion. Interwoven as is the love of liberty with 16 AMERICAN POLITICS. every ligament of your hearts, no recom- mendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment. The imity of government which consti- tutes you one people, is also now dear to you. ' It is justly so ; for it is a main pillar "in the edifice ofyour real independence — the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, fn)in different causes and from differ- ent quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth : as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively, (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, — it is of infinite mo- ment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness ; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accus- toming yourself to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity, watching for its preserva- tion with jealous anxiety; discountenan- cing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can, in any event, be abandoned ; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link to- gether the various parts. For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that coun- try has a right to concentrate your affec- tions. The name of Amairan, which be- longs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patri- otism, more than appellations derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of diflference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have, in a common cause, fouuht and triumphed together ; the indci)endence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels and joint efforts, of common dan- gers, sufferings, and successes. But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are generally outweighed by those which ap- ply more immecliately to your interest; here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole. The North, in an unrestrained inter- course with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds, in the productions of the latter, great ad- ditional resources of maritime and com- mercial enterprise, and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow, and its commerce expanded. Turn- ing partly into its own channels the sea- men of the North, it finds its jiarticular navigation invigorated ; and while it con- tributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protec- tion of a maritime strength to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of in- terior communication, by land ' and by water, will more and more find, a valuable vent for the commodities which eacfi brings from abroad or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies re- quisite to its growth or comfort, and what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must, of necessity, owe the secure enjoy- ment of indispensable outlets for its own productions, to the weight, influence, and the maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interests as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connexion with any foreign power, must be intrinsically pre- carious. While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular in- terest in union, all the parts combined can- not fail to find, in the united mass of means and efforts, greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent inter- ruption of their peace by foreign nations; and what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exejnjrtion from those broils and wars l)etween themselves, which so frequently afllict neighboring countries, not tied together by the same government ; which their own rivalship alone would be sufficient to produce, but which ojiposite foreign alliances, attachments and intrigues, would stimulate and ' embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military estalilishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to re- publican liberty ; in this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of one ought to endear to you the pre- servation of the other. These cf)nsi(leratioiis speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic de- sire. Is there a doubt, whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere ? Let experience solve it. To listen to inere speculation, in such a case, were criminal. POLITICAL PLATFORMS. 17 "We are authorized to hope, that a proper organization of the whole, with the aux- iliary agency of governments I'or the re- spective subdivisions, will allord a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to Union, jiifectiiii:: all |)arts of our country, while cx- periciuc shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be rea- son to distrust the patriotism of those who, in any quarter, may endeavor to weaken its bands. In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as a matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished for chan'uterizing parties by geographical discriminations — Northern and Southern — Atlantic and Western : whence designing men may en- deavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire in- fluence within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of oth- er districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart- burnings which s|)riiig from these misrep- resentations ; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by paternal affection. The inhabi- tants of our Western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head ; they have seen in the negotiation by the executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at tluit event through- out the United States, decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them, of a policy in the general government, and in the Atlantic States, unfriendly to their interest in regard to the Mississippi — that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them everything they could desire in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wis- dom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by which they were procured? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren, and connect them with aliens? To the efficacy and permanency of your Union a government of the whole is indis- pensable. No alliance, however strict be- tween the parties, can be an adequate sub- stitute ; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances, in all time, have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have imj^rpved upon your first essay, by the adojDtion of a Constitution of govern- ment, better calculated than your former for an intimate union, and for the effica- cious management of your common con- cerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice, iininduciiicd and iiiiawcd — adojjfed upon full invc-tigalion and ma- ture deliberation, conii>lcteIy free in its principles, in the distribution'of its i)o\vers — ^^iiniling security with energy, and con- taining witliin itself a i)rovision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your con- fidence and your suj)port. Pes])('ct for its authority, compliance with its laws, ac- quiescence in its measures, arc duties en- joined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their Con.stitutions of government; but the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole i)eople, is sacred- ly obligatory ui)()n all. The very idea of the power and right of the people to estab- lish government, presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government. All obstruction to the execution of laws, all combinations and associations under wdiatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituttMl authorities, are destructive to this lundamental princii)le, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force, to put in the ])lace of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, accordinir to the alternate triumphs of ditilTcnt partii's, to make the jaiblic administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous pro- jects of fashion, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans, digested by common counsels and modified by mu- tual interests. However condiinations or associations of the above (l('scri])tion may now and then answer ])oindar ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to l)ecome potent engines, by which cunning, am- bitious, and unprincii^led men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying, afterwards, the very engines which had lifted them to un- just dominion. Towards the preservatif)n of your gov- ernment, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority', but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation ui)on its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of as- sault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to un- dermine what cannot be directly over- thrown. In all the changes to which you mav be invited, remember that time and 18 AMERICAN POLITICS. habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions ; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country ; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion ex- poses to perpetual change, from the end- less variety of hypothesis and opinion ; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests, in u country so extensive as ours, a govern- ment of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispen- sable. Libertj' itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distri- buted, and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprise of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits de- scribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property. ' I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state with particu- lar reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you, in the most solemn manner, against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all govern- ments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissensions, which, in diflerent ages and countries, has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads, at length, to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and -re- pose in the absolute power of an indi- vidual ; and sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own ele- vation on the ruins of public libert}^ Without looking forward to an ex- tremity of this kind (which, nevertheless, ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to dis- courage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the public councils, ami enfeeble the public adminis- tration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another; foments, occasionally, riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself, through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one coun- try are subjected to the policy and will of another. There is an opinion that parties, in free countries, are useful checks upon the ad- ministration of the government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within certain limits, is probably true ; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with* favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant dan- ger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume. It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking, in a free countiy, should in- spire caution in those intrusted with its administration, to confine themselves with- in their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding, in the exercise of the powers of one department, to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to con- solidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and prone- ness to abuse it, which jjredominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different deposito- ries, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal, against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experi- ments, ancient and modern ; some of them in our own country, and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as neces- sary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be, in any particular, wrong, let it be cor- rected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurjDation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instru- ment of good, it is the customary weapon by Avhich free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly over- balance, in permanent evil, any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield. P L rri C A L PL A T F ( ) li M S . 19 Of all the dispositions and habits wliidi letid to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensal)le supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of ]»atriotism, who should labor to subvert tliese ^reat pillars of human happiness, these hrmest props of the tUities of men and citizens. The mere i)olitician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect anil cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with ])rivate and pub- lic felicity. Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experi- ence both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of re- ligious principles. It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric ? Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In projiortion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that pub- lic opinion should be enlightened. As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as spar- ingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remem- bering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it ; avoiding, likewise, the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which un- avoidable wars may have occasioned ; not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practi- cally bear in mind, that toward the payments of debts there must be revenues ; that to have revenue there must be taxes ; that no taxes can be devised, which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant ; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties) ought to be a decisive moment for a can- did construction of the conduct of the goveruniciit in making it, and Inr a spirit of awiuiescence in the measure for ol)lniii- ing revenue, which the i>ublic exigencies may at any time dictate. Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all ; religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be tliatgoo'd jH)liey does not ey Federalists, given abov^ 1830.— Anti-masonic resolution, Philadelphia, September. Eesolved, That it is recommended to the people of the United States, opposed to secret societies, to meet in convention on Monday, the 26th day of September, 1831, at the city of Baltimore, by delegates equal in number to their representatives in both Houses of Congress, to make nominations ■of suitable candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President, to be sup- ported at the next election, and for the transaction of such other business as the cause of Anti-Masonry may require. 1833.— National Oemocratic Platform, adopted at a ratitication Meeting at Washington City, May 11. Eesolved, That an adequate protection to American industry is indispensable to the prosperity of the country ; and that an abandonment of the policy at this period would be attended with consequences ruin- ■ous to the best interests of the nation. Eesolved, That a uniform^ system of in- ternal improvements, sustained and sup- ported by the general government, is calcu- lated to secure, in the highest degree, the liarmony, the strength a^id permanency of the republic. Eesolved, That the indiscriminate remo- val of public officers for a mere dilFerence of political opinion, is a gross abuse of power ; and that the doctrine lately boldly preached in the United States Senate, that "to the victors belong the spoils of the vanquished," is detrimental to the interests, corrupting to the morals, and dangerous to the liberties of the country. )ciety we give up any natural right ; that the rightful jjower of all legislation is to declare and enforce only our natural rights and duties, and to take none of them from us ; that no man has the natural right to commit aggressions on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the law ought to restrain him ; that every man is under the natural duty of contributing to the necessities of society, and this all the law should enforce on him ; that when the laws have declared and enforced all this, they have fulfilled their llinctions. We declare unqualified hostility to bank notes and paper money as a circulating medium, because gold and silver is the only safe and constitutional currency ; hostility to any and all monopolies by legislation, because they are violations of equal rights of the peopk' ; hostility to the dangerous and unconstitutional creation of vested rights or prerogatives by legislation, be- cause they are usurpations of the people's sovereign rights ; no legislative or other authority in the body politic can rightful- ly, by charter or otherwise, exempt any man or body of men, in any case whatever, from trial by juiy and the jurisdiction or operation of the laws which govern the community. We hold that each and every law or act of incorporation, passed by preceding le- gislatures, can be rightfully altered and re- pealed by their successors ; and that they should be altered or repealed, when neces- sary for the public good, or when required by a majority of the people. 1836.- "liocofoco" Platform, Neic Yorlc, January. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created free and equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among 1836 Wliig Resolutions, Albany, N. I'., February 3. Eesolved, That in support of our cause, we invite all citizens opposed to Martin Van Buren and the Baltimore nominees. Eesolved, That Martin Van Buren, by intriguing with the executive to obtain his influence to elect him to the presidency, has set an example dangerous to our free- dom and corrupting to our free institutions. . Eesolved, That the support we render to William H. Harrison is by no means given to him solely on account of his brilliant and successful services as leader of our armies during the last war, but that in him we view also the man of high intellect, the stern patriot, uncontaminatedby the machinery of hackneyed politicians — a man of the school of Washington. ^ Eesolved, That in Francis Granger we which are life libertv, and the pursuit of recognize one of our most distinguished happiness ; that the true foundation of re- 1 fellow-citizens, whose talents we admire, POLITICAL TLA 1' b' U 11 M S . 25 ■whose patriotism we trust, aud wliose prin- ciples we sanction. 1839.— Abolition Resolution, Hiirsaio, X. Y., November 115. Resolved, That, in our judgment, every consideration of duty and expediency which ought to control the action of Chris- tian freenien, requires of the Abolitionists of the United States to organize a distinct and independent political party, embracing all the necessary means for nominating candidates for office aud sustaining them by public suffrage. Abolition Platforms. The first national platform of the Aboli- tion party upon which it went into the contest in 1840, favored the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia and Territories ; the inter-state slave-trade, and a. general opposition to slavery to the full extent of constitutional power. In 1848, that portion of the party which did not support the Butfalo nominees took the ground of attirming the constitutional authority and duty of the General Govern- ment to abolish slavery in the States. Under the head of '' Buffalo," the plat- form of the Free Soil party, which nomi- nated Mr. Van Biiren, will be found. 1840.— Democratic Platform, Baltimore, May 5. Resolved, That the Federal government is one of limited powers, derived solely from the constitution, and the grants of power shown therein ought to be strictly construed by all the departments and agents of the government, and that it is inexpe- dient and dangerous to exercise doubtful constitutional powers. 2. Resolved, That the constitution does not confer upon the general government the power to commence and carry on a general system of internal improvements. 3. Resolved, That the constitution does not confer authority upon the Federal government, directly or indirectly, to as- sume the debts of the several states, con- tracted for local internal improvements or other state purposes ; nor would such as- sumption be just or expedient. 4. Resolved, That justice and sound po- licy forbid the Federal government to foster one branch of industry to the detri- ment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of another portion of our common country — that every citizen and every section of the country has a riglit to (Icniand and iti>i>t U|inn an equality of riglits and priviiigrs, and to complete and ample ])rotection of persons and property from domestic violence or foreign aggression. 5. Resolved, That it is the duty of every branch of the government to enforce and j)raetice the most rigid economy in con- ducting our public affairs, and that no more revenue ought to be raised than is required to defray the necessary expenses of the government. 6. Resolved, That Congress has no power to charter a United States bank ; that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to the best interests of the coun- try, dangerous to our republican institu- tions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place the business of the country within the control of a concen- trated money power, and above the laws and the wnll of the people. 7. Resolved, That Congress has no power under the constitution, to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several states ; and tliat such states are the sole and proper judges of everything per- taining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the constitution ; that all efforts, by Abolitionists or others, made to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in rela- tion thereto, are calculated to lead to tlie most alarming and dangerous consequen- ces, and that all such efforts have an inevi- table tendency to diminish the haji])iness of the people, and endanger the stal)iiity and permanence of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend to our political institutions. 8. Resolved, That the separation of the moneys of the government from banking institutions is indispensable for the safety of the funds of the government and the rights of the people. 9. Resolved, Tliat the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, and sanctioned in the constitution, which makes ours the land of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed of every nation, have ever been cardinal prin- ciples in the democratic faith ; and every attempt to abridge the present privilege of becoming citizens, and the owners of soil among us, ought to be resisted with the same spirit which swept the alien and sedition laws from our statute book. Whereas, Several of the states which have nominated Martin Van Buren as a candidate for the presidency, have put in nomination different individuals as candi- dates for Vice-President, thus indicating a diversity of opinion as to the person best entitled" to the nomination; and wiicreas, some of the said states are not re]>resented in this convention ; therefore, Resolved, That the convention deem it 2G AMERICAN POLITICS. expedient at the present time not to choose between the individuals in nomination, but to leave the decision to their repub- lican fellow-citizens in the several states, trusting that before the election shall take place, their opinions will become so con- centrated as to secure the choice of a Vice- President by the electoral college. 1843.— Liberty Platform. Buffalo, Anyml 30. 1. Resolved, That human brotherhood is a cardinal principle of true democracy, as well as of pure Christianity, which spurns all inconsistent limitations ; and neither the political party which repudiates it, nor the political system which is not based upon it, can be truly democratic or per- manent. 2. Resolved, That the Libert}^ P^rtj-, placing itself upon this broad principle, will demand the absolute and unqualified divorce of the general government from slavery, and also the restoration of equal- ity of rights among men, in every state where the party exists, or may exist. 3. Resolved, That the Liberty party has not been organized for any temporary pur- pose by interested politicians, but has arisen from among the people in conse- quence of a conviction, hourly gaining ground, that no other party in the country represents the true principles of American liberty, or the true spirit of the constitu- tion of the United States. 4. Resolved, That the Liberty party has not been organized merely for the over- throw of slavery ; its first decided effort must, indeed, be directed against slave- holding as the grossest and most revolting manifestation of despotism, but it will also carry nut the principle of equal rights into all its practical consequences and applica- tions, and support every just measure con- ducive to individual and social freedom. 5. Resolved, That the Liberty party is not a sectional party but a national party ; was not originated in a desire to accom- plish a single object, but in a comprehen- sive regard to the great interests of the whole country ; is not a new party, n/)r a third party, but is the party of 1776, re- viving the principles of that memorable era, and striving to carry them into prac- tical application. 6. Resolved, That it was understood in the times of the declaration and the constitu- tion, that the existence of slavery in some of the states was in derogation of the prin- ciples of American liberty, and a deep stain upon the character of the countr}', and the implied faith of the states and the nation was pledged that slavery should never be extended bevond its then exist- ing liniits, but should be gradually, and yet, at no distant day, wholly abolished by state authority. 7. Resolved, That the faith of the states and the nation thus pledged, was most nobly redeemed by the voluntary aboli- tion of slavery in several of the states, and by the adoption of the ordinance of 1787, for the government of the territory north- west of the river Ohio, then the only ter- ritory in the United States, and conse- quently the only territory subject in this resiject to the control of Congress, by which ordinance slavery was forever ex- cluded from the vast regions which now compose the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and the territory of Wisconsin, and an incapacity to bear up any other than freemen was impressed on the soil itself. 8. Resolved, That the faith of the states and the nation thus pledged, has been shamefully violated by the omission, on the part of many of the states, to take any measures whatever for the abolition of slavery within their respective limits ; by the continuance of slaveiy in the District of Columbia, and in the territories of Louisiana and Florida ; by the legislation of Congress ; by the protection afforded by national legislation and negotiation to slaveholding in American vessels, on the high seas, employed in the coastwise Slave Traffic ; and by the extension of slavery far beyond its original limits, by acts of Congress admitting new slave states into the Union. 9. Resolved, That the fundamental truths of the Declaration of Independence, that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- ness, was made the fundamental law of our national government, by that amend- ment of the constitution which declares that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. 10. Resolved, That we recognize as sound the doctrine maintained by slaveholding jurists, that slavery is against natural rights, and strictly local, and that its ex- istence and continuance rests on no other support than state legislation, and not on any authority of Congress. 11. Resolved, That the general govern- ment has, under the constitution, no pow- er to establish or continue slavery any- where, and therefore that all treaties and acts of Congress establishing, continuing or favoring slavery in the District of Co- lumbia, in the territory of Florida, or on the high seas, are unconstitutional, and all attempts to hold men as property within the limits of exclusive national jurisdic- tion ought to be prohibited by law. 12. Resolved, That the provisions of the i ' U L ITl C A L P L A T F R M S . 27 constitution of the United States wiiii-h confers extraordinary political jxjwcrs on the owners of slaves, and thereby consti- tuting the two hundred and iifty thousand slaveholders in the slave states a privi- leged aristocracy ; and the provisions for the reclamation of fugitive slaves from service, are anti-republican in their char- acter, dangerous to the liln'rtics of the peo- ple, and ought to be alirogated. 13. liesolred, That the practical opera- tion of the second of these provisions, is seen in the enactment of the act of Con- gress respecting persons escaping from their masters, which act, if the construc- tion given to it by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Prigg vs. Pennsylvania be correct, nullities the ha- beas corpus acts of all the states^ takes away the whole legal security of per- sonal freedom, and ought, therefore, to be immediately repealed. 14. Resolved, That the peculiar patron- age and support hitherto extended to slavery and slaveholdiiig, by the general government, ought to be immediately with- drawn, and the example and influence of national authority ought to be arrayed on the side of liberty and free labor. 15. Resolved, That the practice of the general government, which prevails -iu the slave states, of employing slaves upon the jDublic works, instead of free laborers, and paying aristocratic masters, with a view to secure or reward political services, is utterly indefensible and ought to be abandoned. 1(3. Resolved, That freedom of speech and of the press, and the right of petition, and the right of trial by jury, are sacred and inviolable ; and that all rules, regula- tions and laws, in derogation of either, are oppressive, unconstitutional, and not to be- endured by a free people. 17. Resolved, That we regard voting, in an eminent degree, as a moral and reli- gious duty, which, when exercised, should be by voting for those who will do all in their power for immediate emancipation. 18. Resolved, That this convention re- commend to the friends of liberty in all those free states where any inequality of rights and privileges exists on account of color, to employ their utmost energies to remove all such remnants and effects of the slave system. WJiereas, The constitution of these Uni- ted States is a series of agreements, cove- nants or contracts between the people of the United States, each with all, and all with each ; and, JVJiereas, It is a principle of universal morality, that the moral laws of the Crea- tor are paramount to all human laws ; or, in the language of an Apostle, that " we ought to obey God rather than men ; " and, Whereas, The principle <>l" coiumuii law — that any contract, covenant, or agree- ment, to do an act derogatory to natural right, is vitiated and annulled by its in- herent immorality — has been recognized by one of the justices of tlie Supreme Oourt of the United States, who in a re- cent case expressly holds that "any con- tract that rests U2)on such a basis is void," and. Whereas, The third clause of the second section of the fourth article of the constitu- tion of the United States, when construed as providing for the surrender of a fugitive slave, does "rest upon such a basis," in that it is a contract to rob a man of a natural right — namely, his natural right to his own liberty — and is therefore ab- solutely void. Therefore, 19. Resolved, That we hereby give it to be distinctly understood by this nation and the world, that, as abolitionists, con- sidering that the strength of our cause lies in its righteousness, and our hope for it in our conformity to the laws of Cod, and our respect for the rights of man, we owe it to the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe, as a proof of our allegiance to Him, in all our civil relations and offices, whether as pri- vate citizens, or public functionaries sworn to support the constitution of the United States, to regard and to treat the third clause of the fourth article of that instru- ment, whenever applied to the case of a fugitive slave, as utterly null and void, and co!ise([uently as forming nojiartof the constitution of the United States, when- ever we are called upon or sworn to sup- port it. 20. Resolved, That the power given to Congress by the constitution, to provide for calling out the militia to suppress in- surrection, does not make it the duty of the government to maintain slavery by military force, much less does it make it the duty of the citizens to form a part of such military force ; when freemen unsheathe the sword it should be to strike for liberty, not for despotism. 21. Resolved, That to preserve the peace of the citizens, and secure the blessings of freedom, the legislature of each of the free states ought to keep in force suitable statutes rendering it penal for any of its inhabi- tants to transport, or aid in transporting from such state, any person sought to be thus transported, merely because subject to the slave laws of any other state ; this remnant of independence heing accorded to the free states by the decision of the Supreme Court, in the case of Prigg vs. the state of Pennsvlvania. 1844:.-AVliis Platform. B.dtimo,e, Ma;, 1. 1. Resolved, That these principles may 28 AMERICAN POLITICS. be summed as comprising a well-regulated uational currency : a tariff' for revenue to defray the necessary expenses of the gov- ernment, and discriminating with special reference to the protection of the domes- tic labor of the country ; the distribution of the proceeds from the sales of the pub- lic lands ; a single term for the presidency ; a reform of executive usurpations ; and generally such an administration of the affairs of the country as shall impart to every branch of the public service the greatest practical efficiency, controlled by a well-regulated and wise economy. 1844. -Democratic Platform. Baltimwe, May 27. Eesolutions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, of the platform of 1840, were reaffirmed, to which were added the following : 10. Resolved, That the proceeds of the public lands ought to be sacredly aj)- plied to the national objects specified in the constitution, and that we ,are opposed to the laws lately adopted, and to any law for the distribution of such proceeds among the states, as alike inexpedient in policy and repugnant to the constitution. 11. Resolved, That we are decidedly op- posed to taking from the President the qualified veto power by which he is ena- bled, under restrictions and responsibili- ties amply sufficient to guard the public interest, to suspend the passage of a bill whose merits can not secure the approval of two-thirds of the Senate and House of Eepresentatives, until the judgment of the people can be obtained thereon, and which has thrice saved the American people from the corrupt and tvrannical domination of the bank of the United States. 12. Resolved, That our title to the whole of the territory of Oregon is clear and un- questionable ; that no portion of the same ought to be ceded to England or any other power, and that the reoccupation of Ore- gon and the reannexation of Texas at the earliest practicable period, are great American measures, which this conven- tion recommends to the cordial support of the democracy of the Union. 1848.— Democratic Platform. Baltimore, May 22. 1. Resolved, That the American democ- racy place their trust in the intelligence, the patriotism, and the discriminating jus- tice of the American people. 2. Resolved, That we regard this as a distinctive feature of our political creed, which we are proud to maintain before the world, as the great moral element in a form of government springing from and upheld by the j^opular will ; and contrast it with the creed and practice of federal- ism, under whatever name or form, which seeks to palsy the will of the constituent, and which conceives no imposture too monstrous for the popular credulity. 3. Resolved, Therefore, that entertain- ing these views, the Democratic party of this Union, through the delegates assem- bled in general convention of the states, coming together in a spirit of concord, of devotion to the doctrines and faith of a free representative government, and appealing to their fellow-citizens for the rectitude of their intentions, renew and reassert before the American people, the declaration of principles avowed by them on a former oc- casion, when, in general convention, they presented their candidates for the popular suffrage. Resolutions 1, 2, 3 and 4, of the plat- form of 1840, were reaffirmed. 8. Resolved, That it is the duty of every l)ranch of the government to enforce and l)ractice the most rigid economy in con- ducting our public affairs, and that no more revenue ought to be raised than is re- quired to defray the necessary expenses of the government, and for the gradual but certain extinction of the debt created by the prosecution of a just and necessary war. Resolution 5, of the platform of 1840, was enlarged by the following : And that the results of democratic legis- lation, in this and all other financial mea- sures, upon which issues have been made between the two political parties of the country, have demonstrated to careful and practical men of all parties, their sound- ness, safety and utility in all business pur- suits. Resolutions 7, 8 and 9, of the platform of 1840, were here inserted. 13. Resolved, That the proceeds of the public lands ought to be sacredly applied to the national objects specified in the con- stitution ; and that we are opposed to any law for the distribution of such proceeds among the states as alike inexpedient in policy and repugnant to the constitution. 14. Resolved, That we are decidedly op- posed to taking from the President the qualified veto power, by which lie is en- abled, undi'r restrictions and resjionsibili- ties amply suffici(Mit to guard the public in- terests, to supend the passage of a bill whose merits can not secure the approval of two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, until the judgment of the people can be obtained thereon, and which has saved the American people from the corrupt and tyraniiit'al domination of the Bank of the United States, and from a cor- rupting system of general internal im- provements. P O L 1 r 1 C A L J' I, A '1' F () R M S . 29 15. Resolved, That the war with Mcx CO, provoked on her part by years of insult and injury, was coninienced by her army crossing the Rio Grande, attacking the American troops, and invading our sister state of Texas, and upon all the principles of patriotism and the hiws of nations, it is a just and necessary war on our part, in Avhich every American citizen should have sliown himself on the side of his country, and neither morally nor physically, by word or by deed, have given "aid and comfort to the enemy. " 16. Resolved, That we would be rejoiced at the assurance of i)eace with Mexico, founded on the just principles of indem- nity for the past and security for the fu- ture; but that while the' ratification of the lil)eral treaty offered to Mexico remains in doubt, it is the duty of the country to sus- tain the administration and to sustain the country in every measure necessary to pro- vide for the vigorous prosecution of the war, should that treaty be rejected. 17. Resolved, That the officers and sol- diers who have carried the arms of their country into Mexico, have crowned it with imperishable glory. Their unconquerable courage, their daring enterprise, their un- faltering perseverance and fortitude when assailed on all sides by innumerable foes and that more formidable enemy — the diseases of the climate — exalt their devoted •patriotism into the highest heroism, and give them a right to the profound grati- tude of their country, and the admiration of the world. 18. Resolved, That the Democratic Na- tional Convention of thirty states composing the American Republic, tender their fra- ternal congi-atulations to the National Con- vention of the Republic of France, now as- sembled as the free suffrage representative of the sovereignty of tliirty-five millions of Republicans, to establish government on those eternal principles of equal rights, for which their La Fayette and our Washing- ton fought side by side in the struggle for our national independence ; and we would especially convey to them, and to the Avhole people of France, our earnest wishes for the consolidation of their liberties, through the wisdom that shall guide their councils, on the basis of a democratic con- stitution, not derived from the grants or concessions of kings or dynasties, but orig- inating from the only true source of political power recognized in the states of this Union — the inherent and inalienable right of the people, in their sovereign capacity, to make and to amend their forms of gov- ernment in such manner as the welfare of the community may require. 19. Resolved, That in view of the recent development of this grand political truth, of the sovereignty of the people and their capacity and power for self-government, which is prostrating thrones and erecting republics on the ruins of despotism in tho old world, we feel that a higli and sacred duty is devolved, with increased responsi- bility, upon the Democratic i)arty of this country, asthei)arty of thej)eople, tosustairi and advance among us constitutional lib- erty, eciuality. and fraternity, by continu- ing to resist all mon()|)olics and exclusive legislation lor the benefit of the few at tho expense of the many, ami by a vigilant and constant adherence to those principles and compromises of the constitution, which are broad enough and strong enough to embrace and ujjhold the Union as it wa.s, the Union a.s it is, and the Union as it shall be in the full expansion of the energies and cajjacity of this great and progressive people. 20. Resolved, That a copy of these reso- lutions be forwarded, through the American nunister at Paris, to the National Conven- tion of the Republic of France. 21. Resolved, That the fruits of the great political triumph of 1844, which elect- ed James K. Polk and George i\I. Dallas, President and Vice-President of the United States, have fulfilled the hopes of the de- mocracy of the Union in defeating the de- clared purposes of their op])onents in creating a National Bank ; in preventing the corrupt and unconstitutional distribu- tion of the land proceeds from the com- mon treasury of the Union for local pur- poses ; in protecting the currency and labor of the country from ruinous fluctuations, and guarding the money of the country for the use of the people by the establishment of the constitutional treasury ; in the noble impulse given to the cause of free trade by the repeal of the tariff of '42, and the crea- tion of the more equal, honest, and pro- ductive tariff of 1846 ; and that, in our opinion, it would be a fatal error to weaken the bands of a political organization by which these great reforms have been achieved, and risk them in the hands of their known adversaries, with whatever delusive appeals they may solicit our sur- render of that vigilance which is the only safeguard of liberty. 22. Resolved, That the confidence of the democracy of the Union in the principles, capacity, firmness, and integrity of Jamei? K. Polk, manifested by his nomination and election in 1844, has been signally justified by the strictness of his adherence to sound democratic doctrines, by the purity of pur- pose, the energy and ability, which have characterized his administration in all our affairs at home and abroad ; that we tender to him our cordial congratulations ui)on the brilliant success which has hitherto crowned his patriotic efforts, and a.ssure him in advance, that at the expiration of his presidential term he will carry with him 30 AMERICAN POLITICS. to his retirement, the esteem, respect and admiration of a grateful country. 23. Resolved, That this convention here- by present to the people of the United States Lewis Cass, of 3Iichi;j;aii, as the candidate of the Democratic ].arty for the office of President, and William O. Butler, of Ken- tucky, for Vice-President of the United States. 184.8._-Wliig Principles Adopted at a Rati- fication Meeting, Philadelphia, June 9. 1. Resolved, That the Whigs of the United States, here assembled by their representatives, heartily ratify the nomi- nations of General Zachary Taylor as Pres- ident, and Millard Fillmore as Vice-Pres- ident, of the United States, and pledge themselves to their support. 2. Resolved, That in the choice of Gen- eral Taylor as the Whig candidate for President, we are glad to discover sympatliy with a great popular sentiment throughout the nation — a sentiment which having its origin in admiration of great military suc- cess, has been strengthened by the develop- ment, in every action and every word, of sound conservative opinions, and of true fidelity to the great example of former days, and to the principles of the constitu- tion as administered by its founders. 3. Resolved, That General Taylor, in say- ing that, had he voted in 1844, he would have voted the Whig ticket, gives us the assurance — and no better is needed from a consistent and truth-speaking man — that his heart was with us at the crisis of our political destiny, when Henry Clay was our candidate, and when not only Whig principles were well defined and clearly asserted, but Whig measures depended on success. The heart that was with us then is with us now, and, we have a soldier's word of honor, and a life of public and private virtue, as the security. 4. Resolved, That we look on General Taylor's administration of the government as one conducive of peace, prosperity and union ; of peace, because no one better knows, or has greater reason to deplore, what he has seen sadly on the field of vic- tory, the horrors of war, and especially of a foreign and aggressive war ; of prosperity, now more than ever needed to relieve the nation from a burden of debt, and restore industry — agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial — to its accustomed and peace- ful functions and influences; of union, be- cause we have a candidate whose very position as a southwestern man, reared on the banks of the great stream whose trib- utaries, natural and artificial, embrace the whole Union, renders the protection of the interests of the whole country his first trust, and whose various duties in pust life have been rendered, not on the soil, or under the flag of any state or section, but over the wide frontier, and under the broad banner of the nation. 5. Resolved, That standing, as the Whig jiarty does, on the broad and firm platform of the constitution, braced up by all its in- violable and sacred guarantees and com- promises, and cherished in the affections, because protective of the interests of the people, we are proud to have as the ex- Ijonent of our opinions, one who is pledged to construe it by the wise and generous rules which Washington applied to it, and who has said — and no Whig desires any other assurance — that he will make Wash- ington's administration his model. 6. Resolved, That as Whigs and Ameri- cans, we are proud to acknowledge our gratitude for the great military services which, beginning at Palo Alto, and end- ing at Buena Vista, first awakened the American people to a just estimate of him who is now our Whig candidate. In the discharge of a painful duty — for his march into the enemy's country was a reluctant one ; in the command of regulars at one time, and volunteers at another, and of both combined ; in the decisive though punctual discipline of his camp, where all respected and loved him ; in the negotia- tion of terms for a dejected and desiderate enemy ; in the exigency of actual conflict when the balance Avas perilously doubtful— we have found him the same — brave, dis- tinguished, and considerate, no heartless si:)ectator of bloodshed, no trifler with hu- man life or human happiness ; and we do not know which to admire most, his hero- ism in withstanding the assaults of the enemy in the most hopeless fields of Buena Vista — mourning in generous sorrow over the graves of Ringgold, of Clay, of Hardin — or in giving, inthe heat of battle, terms of merciful cajjitulation to a vanquished foe at Monterey, and not being ashamed to avow that he did it to spare women and children, helpless infancy and more help- less age, against whom no American sol- dier ever wars. Such a military man, whose triumphs are neither remote nor doubtful, whose virtues these trials have tested, we are proud to make our candidate. 7. Resolved, That in support of this nomination, we ask our Whig friends throughout the nation to unite, to co-op- erate zealously, resolutely, with earnest- ness, in behalf of our candidate, whom calumny can not reach, and with respect- ful demeanor to our adversaries, whose can- didates have yet to prove their claims on the gratitude of the nation. 184:8 Buffalo Platform. Utiea, June 22. Wliereas, We have assembled in conven- tion as a union of freemen, for the sake of P L 1 T I C A L P L A T F II M S . 31 freedom, forgetting all past political dif- fereuce, in a cominoa resolve to maintain the rights of free labor against the aggres- sion of the slave power, and to secure free soil to a free people ; and, Whereas, The political conventions re- cently assembled at Baltimore and Phila- delphia — tlie one stitling tlic voice of a great constituency, entitled to be heard in its deliberations, and the other al)andi)uing its distinctive principles for mere avail- ability — have dissolved the national i)arty organization heretofore existing, by nomi- nating for the chief magistracy of the United States, under the slaveholding dic- tation, candidates, neither of whom can be supported by the opponents of slavery ex- tension, without a sacrifice of consistency, duty, and self-respect ; and, Wiereas, These nominations so made, furnish the occasion, and demonstrate the necessity of the union of the people under the banner of free democracy, in a solemn and formal declaration of their independ- ence of the slave power, and of their fixed determination to rescue the Federal gov- ernment from its control, 1. Resolved, therefore, That we, the peo- ple here assembled, remembering the ex- ample of our fathers in the days of the first Declaration of Independence, putting our trust in God for the triumph of our cause, and invoking His guidance in our endeavors to advance it, do now plant our- selves upon the national platform of free- dom, in opposition to the sectional plat- form of slavery. 2. Eesolced, That slavery in the several states of this Union which recognize its existence, depends upon the state laws alone, which can not be repealed or modi- fied by the Federal government, and for which laws that government is not respon- sible. We therefore jjropose no interfer- ence by Congress with slavery within the limits of any state. 3. Resolved, That the proviso of Jeffer- son, to prohibit the existence of slavery, after 1800, in all the territories of the United States, southern and northern ; the votes of six states and sixteen delegates in Congress of 1784, for the proviso, to three states and seven delegates against it ; the actual exclusion of slavery from the North- western Territory, by the Ordinance of 1787, unanimously adojjted by the states in Congress; and the entire history of that period, clearly show that it was the settled policy of the nation not to extend, na- tionalize or encourage, but to limit, lo- calize and discourage, slavery ; and to this policy, which should never have been de- parted from, the government ought to return. 4. Resolved, That our fathers ordained the constitution of the United States, in order, among other great national objects. to establish justice, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty; but expressly denied to the Federal gov- ernment, which tliey created, all constitu- tional power to deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due legal process. 5. Resolved, That in tiie judgment of this convention, Congress has no more power to make a slave tlian to make a king; no more power to institute or estab- lish slavery than to institute or establish a monarchy; no such power can be found among those specifically conferred by the constitution, or derived by just implication from them. 6. Resolved, That it is the duty of the Federal government to relieve itself from all responsibility for the existence or con- tinuance of slavery wherever the govern- ment possesses constitutional power to legislate on that subject, and it is thus re- sponsible for its existence. 7. Resolved, That the true, and, in the judgment of this convention, the only safe means of preventing the extension of slavery into territory now free, is to pro- hibit its extension in all such territory by an act of Congress. 8. Resolved, That we accept the issue which the slave power has forced upon us ; and to their demand for more slave states, and more slave territory, our calm but final answer is, no more slave states and no more slave territory. Let the soil of our extensive domains be kei)t free for the hardy pioneers of our own land, and the oppressed and banished of other lands, seeking homes of comfort and fields of enterprise in the new world. 9. Resolved, That the bill lately re- ported by the committee of eight in the Senate of the United States, was no com- promise, but an absolute surrender of the rights of the non-slaveholders of 'all the states ; and while we rejoice to know that a measure which, while opening the door for the introduction of slavery into the territories now free, would also have opened the door to litigation and strife among the future inhabitants thereof, to the ruin of their peace and prosi)erity, was defeated in the House of Rei)resent:itives, its passage, in hot haste, by a majority, emljracing several senators wlio voted in open violation of the known will of their constituents, should warn the people to see to it that their representatives be not suffered to betray them. There must be no more compromises with slavery ; if made, they must be repealed. 10. Resolved, That we demand freedom and established institutions for our breth- ren in Oregon, now exposed to hardships, peril, and massacre, by the reckless hos- tility of the slave power to the establishr ment of free government and free territov 32 AMERICAN POLITICS. ries ; and not only for them, but for our brethren in California and New Mexico. 11. Resolved, It is due not only to this occasion, but to the whole people of the United States, that we should also declare ourselves on certain other questions of na- tional policy ; therefore, 12. Resolved, That we demand cheap postage for the people ; a retrenchment of the expenses and patronage of the Federal government ; the abolition of all unneces- sary offices and salaries; and the election by *the people of all civil officers in the service of the government, so far as the same may be practicable. 13. Resolved, that river and harbor im- provements, when demanded by the safety and convenience of commerce with for- eign nations, or among the several states, are objects of national concern, and that it is the duty of Congress, in the exercise of its constitutional power, to provide there- for. 14. Resolved, That the free grant to actual settlers, in consideration of the ex- penses they incur in making settlements in the wilderness, • which are usually fully equal to their actual cost, and of the pub- lic benefits resulting therefrom, of reason- able portions of the public lands, under suitable limitations, is a wise and just measure of public policy, which will pro- mote in various ways the interests of all the states of this Union ; and Ave, there- fore, recommend it to the favorable con- sideration of the American People. 15. Resolved, That the obligations _ of honor and patriotism require the earliest practical payment of the national debt, and we are, therelbre, in favor of such a tarifi' of duties as will raise revenue adequate to defray the expenses of the Federal govern- ment, and to pay annual installments of our debt and the interest thereon. 16. Resolved, That we inscribe on our banner, " Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men," and under it we will fight on, and fight ever, uniii a triumphant victory shall reward our exertions. 1853.— Democratic Platform. Baltimore, June 1. Resolutions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, of the platform of 1848, were reaffirmed, to which were added the following : 8. Resolved, That it is the duty of every branch of the government to enforce and practice the most rigid economy in con- ducting our public affairs, and that no more revenue ought to be raised than is required to defray the necessary expenses of the government, and for the gradual but certain extinction of the public debt. 9. Resolved, That Congress has no power to charter a National Bank ; that we be- lieve such an institution one of deadly hostility to the best interests of the coun- try, dangerous to our republican institu- tions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place the business of the country within the control of a concen- trated 'money power, and that above the laws and will of the people ; and that the results of Democratic legislation, in this and all other financial measures, upon wdiich issues have been made between the two political parties of the country, have demonstrated to candid and practical men of all parties, their soundness, safety, and utility, in all business pursuits. 10. Resolved, That the separation of the moneys of the government from banking institutions is indispensable for the safety of the funds of the government and the rights of the people. 11. Resolved, That the liberal jjrinciples embodied by Jefterson in the Declaration of Indejjendence, and sanctioned in the constitution, which makes ours the land of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed of every nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the Democratic faith ; and every attempt to abridge the privilege of becoming citizens and the owners of the soil among us, ought to be resisted with the same spirit that swept the alien and sedition laws from our statute books. 12. Resolved, That Congress has no power under the constitution to interfere with, or control, the domestic institutions of the several states, and that such states are the sole and projier judges of every- thing ai)])ertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the constitution; that all citbrts of the Abolitionists or others, made to induce Congress to interfere with ques- tions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous conse- quences ; and that all such efibrts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happi- ness of the people, and endan.ucr the sta- bility and permanency of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our political institutions. 13. Resolved, That the foregoing propo- sition covers, and is intended to embrace, the whole subject of slavery agitation in Congress; and therefore the Democratic party of the Union, standing on this na- tional platform, will abide by, and adhere to, a faithful execution of the acts known as the Compromise measures settled by last Congress, "the act for reclaiming fugi- tives from service labor " included ; wdiich act, being designed to carry out an ex- press provision of the constitution, can not, with fidelity thereto, be repealed, nor so changed as to destroy or impair its efficiency. 14. Resolved, That the Democratic partv POLITICAL PLATFORMS. 33 will resist all attempts at renew! iiu; in Con- gress, or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made. [Here resolutions i.'} and 14, of the plat- form of L'^4S, were inserted.) 17. Bi'.'iolred, That the Denioeraric party will faithfully abide by and u])hold the principles laid down in the Kentueky and Virginia resolutions of 1792 and 17'J8, and in the report of Mr. Madison to the Vir- ginia Legislature in 1799; that it adopts those prineiples as constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to carry them out in their ob- vious meaning and import. 18. Resolved, That the war with Mexico, upon all the principles of patriotism and the law of nations, was a just and necessary war on our part, in which no American citizen should have shown himself opposed to his country, and neither morally nor physically, by word or deed, given aid and comfort to the enemy. 19. Resolved, That we rejoice at the re- storation of friendly relations with our sister Republic of Mexico, and earnestly desire for her all the blessings and pros- perity which we enjoy under republican institutions, and we congratulate the American people on the results of that war which have so manifestly justified the policy and conduct of the Denioeratie jjarty, and insured to the United States indemnity for the past and security for the future. 20. Resolved, That, in view of the condi- tion of popular institutions in the old world, a high and sacred duty is devolved with increased resixmsibility upon the De- mocracy of this country, as the party of the people, to uphold and maintain the rights of every state, and thereby the union of states, and to sustain and advance among them constitutional liberty, by con- tinuing to resist all monopolies and exclu- sive legislation for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, and by a vigilant and constant adherence to those principles and compromises of the consti- tution which are broad enough and strong enough to embrace and uphold the Union as it is, and the Union as it should be, in the full expansion of the energies and ca- pacity of this great and progressive people. 1853 Whig Platform. Baltimore, June 1(3. The Whigs of the United States, in con- vention assembled adhering to the great conservative principles by wdiich they are controlled and governed, and now as ever relying upon the intelligence of the Ameri- can people, with an abiding confidence in their capacity for self-government and tlifir (Icvolion to the constitution and the Union, do proehiiin the following as the political sentiments and determination for the establishment and niaintiMianee of which their national organization as a party was effeett'd : First. The government of the Lnited States is of a limited character, and is con- fined to the exercise of powers expressly granted by the constitution, and such a.s may be necessary and proper for carrying the granted powers into full exeeu{ion, and that powers not granted or necessarily implied are reserved to the states respec- tivt'ly and to the people. Second. The state governments should be held secure to their reserved rights, and the General Government sustained in its constitutional powers, and that the Union should be revered and watched over as the palladium of our liberties. Third. That while struggling freedom everywhere enlists the warmest sympathy of the Whig party, we still adhere to the doctrines of the Father of his Country, as announced in his Farewell Address, of keeping ourselves free from all entangling alliances with foreign countries, and of never quitting our own to stand upon for- eign ground ; that our mission as a repul)- lic is not to propagate our opinions, or im- [tose on other countries our forms of gov- ernment, by artifice or force, but to teach by example, and show by our success, moderation and justice, the blessings of self-government, and the advantages of free institutions. J^ourth. That, as the people make and control the government, they should obey its constitution, laws and treaties as they would retain their self-resjicct and the re- spect which they claim and will enforce from foreign powers. Fifth. Governments should be conduc- ted on the principles of the strictest econo- my ; and revenue sufficient for the expen- ses thereof, in time of peace, ought to be derived mainly from a duty on imports, and not from direct taxes; and on laying such duties sound policy requires a just discrimination, and, when practicable, by specific duties, whereby suitable encour- agement may be afforded to American in- dustry, equally to all classes and to all portions of the country. Sixth. The constitution vests in Con- gress the power to open and repair har- bors, and remove obstructions from navi- gable rivers, whenever such improvements are necessary lor the common defense, and for the protection and facility of commerce with foreign nations or among the states, said improvements being in every instance national and general in their character. Seventli. The Federal and state govern- ments are parts of one system, alike neces- sary for the common prosj^erity, peace and 34 AMERICAN POLITICS. security, and ought to be regarded alike with a cordial, habitual aud immovable at- tachment. Eespect for the authority of each, aud acquiescence in the just consti- tutional measures of each, are duties re- quired by the plainest considerations of national, state and individual welfare. Eighth. That the series of acts of the 32d Congress, the act known as the Fugi- tive Slave Law included, are received and acquiesced in by the Whig party of the United States as a settlement in principle and substance of the dangerous and excit- ing questions which they embrace ; and, 80 far as they are concerned, we will main- tain them, and insist upon their strict en- forcement, until time and experience shall demonstrate the necessity of further legis- lation to guard against the evasion of the laws on the one hand and the abuse of their powers on the other — not impairing their present efficiency ; and we deprecate all further agitation of the question thus settled, as dangerous to our peace, and will discountenance all efforts to continue or renew such agitation whenever, where- ever or however the attempt may be made ; and we will maintain the system as essen- tial to the nationality of the Whig party, and the integrity of the Union. 1853.— Free-soil Platform. Pittsburg, Avgust 11. Having assembled in national conven- tion as the free democracy of the United States, united by a common resolve to maintain right against wrong, and freedom against slavery; confiding ha the intelli- gence, patriotism, and discriminating jus- tice of the American people ; putting our trust in God for the triumph of our cause, and invoking His guidance in our endea- vors to advance it, we now submit to the candid judgment of all men, the following declaration of principles and measures : 1. That governments, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, are instituted among men to secure to all those inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, with which they are endowed by their Creator, and of which none can be deprived by valid legislation, except for crime. 2. That the true mission of American democracy is to maintain the liberties of the people, the sovereignty of the states, and the perpetuity of the Union, by the impartial application of public affairs, without sectional discriminations, of the fundamental principles of human rights, strict justice, and an economical adminis- tration. 3. That the Federal government is one of limited powers, derived solely from the constitution, and the grants of power there- "n ought to be strictly construed by all the departments and agents of the government, and it is inexpedient and dangerous to ex- ercise doubtful eoiistitutionul powers. 4. That the C(jnstilution of the United States, ordained to form a more perfect Union, to establish justice, and secure the blessings of liberty, expressly denies to the general government all power to deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; and, there- fore, the government, having no more power to make a slave than to make a king, and no more power to establish slavery than to establish a monarchy, should at once proceed to relieve itself from all responsibility for the existence of slavery, wherever it possesses constitutional power to legislate for its extinction. 5. That, to the persevering and importu- nate demands of the slave power for more lave states, new slave territories, and the nationalization of slavery, our distinct and final answer is — no more slave states, no slave territory, no nationalized slavery, aud no national legislation for the extra- dition of slaves. 6. That slavery is a sin against God, and a crime against man, which no human en- actment nor usage can make right ; and that Christianity, humanity, and patriot- ism alike demand its abolition. 7. That the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is repugnant to the constitution, to the prin- ciples of the common law, to the spirit of Christianity, and to the sentiments of the civilized world; we, therefore, deny its binding force on the American people, and demand its immediate and total re- peal. 8. That the doctrine that any human law is a finality, and not subject to modi- fication or repeal, is not in accordance wnth the creed of the founders of our gov- ernment, and is dangerous to the liberties of the people. 9. That the acts of Congress, known as the Compromise measm-es of 1850, by mak- ing the admission of a sovereign state con- tingent upon the adoption of other mea- sures demanded by the special interests of slavery ; by their omission to guarantee freedom in the free territories ; by their at- tempt to impose unconstitutional limita- tions on the powers of Congress and the people to admit new states ; by their pro- visions for the assumption of five millions of the state debt of Texas, and for the pay- ment of five millions more, and the cession of large territory to the same state under menace, as an inducement to the relin- quishment of a groundless claim ; and by their invasion of the sovereignty of the states and the liberties of the people, through the enactment of an unjust, op- pressive, and unconstitutional fugitive POLITICAL i' L A T L' U K .M S . slave law, are proved to be iueonsistent with all the principles and maxims of de- mocracy, and wholly inadecpiate to tiie settlement of the questions of which they are claimed to be an adjustment. 10. That no ])ermaneut settlement of the slavery question can be looked for ex- cept in the practical recognition of the truth that slavery is sectional and freedom national ; by the total separation of the general government from slavery, and the exercise of its legitimate and constitutional influence on the side of freedom ; and by leaving to the states the whole subject of slavery and the extradition of fugitives from service. 11. That all men have a natural right to a portion of the soil ; and that as the use of the soil is indispensable to life, the right of all men to the soil is as sacred as their right to life itself. 12. That the public lands of the United States belong to the people and should not be sold to individuals nor granted to corpora- tions, but should be held as a sacred trust for the benefit of the people, and should be granted in limited quantities, free of cost, to landless settlers. 13. That due regard for the Federal constitution, a sound administrative poli- cy, demand that the fiinds of the general government be kept separate from bank- ing institutions ; that inland and ocean postage should be reduced to the lowest possible point; that no more revenue should be raised than is required to defray the strictly necessary expenses of the pub- lic service and to pay oft' the public debt ; and that the power and patronage of the government should be diminished by the abolition of all unnecessary offices, salaries and privileges, and by the election of the people of all civil ofiicers in the service of the United States, so far as may be consist- ent with the prompt and efficient transac- tion of the public business. 14. That river and harbor improvements, when necessary to the safety and con- venience of commerce with foreign nations, or among the several states, are objects of national concern; and it is the duty of Congress, in the exercise of its constitu- tional powers, to provide for the same. 15. That emigrants and exiles from the old world should find a cordial welcome to homes of comfort and fields of enterprise in the new; and every attempt to abridge their privilege of becoming citizens and owners of soil among us ought to be resist- ed with inflexi'ble determination. 16. That every nation has a clear right to alter or change its own government, and to administer its own concerns in such manner as may best secure the rights and promote the happiness of the people ; and foreign interference with that right is a dangerous violation of the law of nations. against which all indciJcndeiit govcrn- nients should protest, and endeavor by all j)ro|>er means to ])revent; and espcciafly is it the duty of the American government, representing the chief rci)ulilic of the world, to protest against, and by all pro- per means to prevent, the intervention of kings and emperors against nations seek- ing to establish lor themselves republican or constitutional governments. 17. That the .independence of Hayti ought to be recognized i)y our government, and our commercial relations with it j»laced on the footing of the most iavored nations. 18. That as by the constitution, " the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citi- zens in the several states," the practice of imprisoning colored seamen of other states, while the vessels to which they belong lie in port, and reflising the exercise of the right to bring such cases before the Su- preme Court of the United States, to test the legality of such proceedings, is a fla- grant violation of the constitution, and an invasion of the rights of the citizens of other states, utterly inconsistent with the professions made by the slaveholdei-s, that they wish the provisions of the constitu- tion foithfully observed by every state in the Union. 19. That we recommend the introduc- tion into all treaties hereafter to be nego- tiated between the United States and for- eign nations, of some provision for the amicable settlement of difficulties by a re- sort to decisive arbitrations. 20. That the free democratic party is not organized to aid either the Whig or Democratic wing of the great slave compro- mise party of the nation, but to defeat them both ; and that repudiating and re- nouncing both as hopelessly corrupt and utterly unworthy' of confidence, the pur- pose of the Free Democracy is to take pos- session of the Federal goverimient and ad- minister it for the better protection of the rights and interests of the whole people. 21. That we inscribe on our banner Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men, and under it will fight on and fight ever, until a triumphant victory shall reward our exertions. 22. That upon this platform, the con- vention presents to the American people, as a candidate for the office of President of the United States, John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, and as a candidate for the office of Vice-President of the L'nited States, George W. Julian, of Indiana, and earnestly commend them to the supjjort of all freemen and all parties. 1856 — The Americau Platform. Adopted at PhiUidilpltui February 21. 1. An humble acknowledgment to the 36 AMERICAN POLITICS. Supreme Being for His protecting care vouchsafed to our fathers in their success- ful revolutionary struggle, and hitherto manifested to us, their descendants, in the preservation of the liberties, the indepen- dence, and the union of these states. 2. The perpetuation of the Federal Union and constitution, as the palladium of our civil and religious liberties, and the only sure bulwarks of American independ- ence. 3. Americans must rule America ; and to this end native-horn citizens should be se- lected for all state, federal, and municipal offices of government employment, in pre- ference to all others. Nevertheless, 4. Persons born of American parents residing temporarily abroad, should be entitled to all the rights of native-born citizens. 5. No person should be selected for polit- ical station (whether of native or foreign birth), who recognizes any allegiance or obligation of any description to any foreign prince, potentate, or power, or who refuses to recognize the federal and state constitu- tions (each within its sphere) as paramount to all other laws, as rules of political ac- tion. 6. The unequaled recognition and main- tenance of the reserved rights of the several states, and the cultivation of harmony and fraternal good-will between the citizens of the several states, and, to this end, non- interference by Congress with questions appertaining solely to the individual states, and non-intervention by each state with the affairs of any other state. 7. The recognition of the right of native- born and naturalized citizens of the Uni- ted States, permanently residing in any territory thereof, to frame their constitu tion and laws, and to regulate their domes tic and social afiairs in their own mode, subject only to the provisions of the fed- eral constitution, with the privilege of ad- mission into the Union whenever they have the requisite population for one Eepresentative in Congress: Provided, al- ways, that none but those who are citizens of the United States under the constitu- tion and laws thereof, and who have a fixed residence in any such territory, ought to participate in the "formation of the con- stitution or in the enactment of laws for said territory or state. 8. An enforcement of the principles that no state or territory ought to admit others than citizens to the right of suffrage or of holding political offices of the United States. 9. A change in the laws of naturaliza- tion, making a continued residence of twentv-one years, of all not heretofore provided for, an indispensable requisite for citizenship hereafter, and excluding all paupers and persons convicted of crime from landing upon our shores ; but no in- terference with the vested rights of for- eigners. 10. Opposition to any union between church and state ; no interference with religious faith or worship ; and no test- oaths for office. 11. Free and thorough investigation into any and all alleged abuses of public functionaries, and a strict economy in pub- lic expenditures. 12. The maintenance and enforcement of all laws constitutionally enacted, until said laws shall be repealed, or shall be de- clared null and void by competent judicial authority. 13. Opposition to the reckless and un- wise policy of the present administration in the general management of our national affiiirs, and more especially as shown in removing "Americans" (by designation) and conservatives in principle, from office, and placing foreigners and ultraists in their places ; as shown in a truckling sub- serviency to the stronger, and an insolent and cowardly bravado towards the weaker powers ; as shown in reopening sectional agitation, by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise ; as shown in granting to un- naturalized foreigners the right of suffrage in Kansas and Nebraska ; as shown in its vacillating course on tlie Kansas and Ne- braska question ; as shown in the corrup- tions which pervade some of the depart- ments of the government ; as shown in dis- gracing meritorious naval officers through prejudice or caprice ; and as shown in the blundering mismanagement of our foreign *'elations. 14. Therefore, to remedy existing evils and prevent the disastrous consequences otherwise resulting therefrom, we would build up the " American Party" upon the principles hereinbefore stated. 15. That each state council shall have authority to amend their several constitu- tions, so as to abolish the several degrees, and substitute a pledge of honor, instead of other obligations, for fellowship and admission into the party. 16. A free and open discussion of all political principles embraced in our plat- form. 1856.— Democratic Platform, Adopted at Citiciunatl, Jtoie G. Resolved, That the American democracy place their trust in the intelligence, the patriotism, and discriminating justice of the American people. Resolved, That we regard this as a dis- tinctive feature of our political creed, which we are proud to maintain before the world as a great moral element in a form of government springing from and upheld by the popular will ; and we con- POLITICAL PLATFORMS, 37 trast it witli the creed and practice of federali.sm, under whatever name or form, which seeks to palsy the will of the con- stituent, and which conceives no imposture too monstrous for the popular credulity. Resolved, therefore, Ihat entertaininij these views, the "Democratic party of this Union, through their delegates, assembled in general convention, coming togetlier in a spirit of concord, of devotion to the doc- trines and faith of a free representative government, and appealing to their fellow citizens for the rectitude of their intentions, renew and reassert, before the American people, the declaration of principles avowed by them, when, on former occa- sions, in general convention, they have presented their candidates for the popular suffrage. 1. That the Federal government is one of limited power, derived solely from the constitution, and the grants of power made therein ought to be strictly construed by nil the departments and agents of the gov- ernment, and that it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubtful constitu- tional powers. 2. That the constitution does not confer upon the general government the power to ■commence and carry on a general system •of internal improvements. 3. That the constitution does not confer authority upon the Federal government, directly or indirectly, to assume the debts of the several states, contracted for local and internal improvements or other state purposes ; nor would such assumption be just or expedient. 4. That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion of our common country ; that every citizen and every section of the country has a right to demand and insist upon aii ■equality of rights and privileges, and a complete and ample protection of persons and property from domestic violence and foreign aggression. 5. That it is the duty of every branch of the government to enforce and practice the most rigid economy in conducting our public affairs, and that no more revenue •ought to be raised than is required to de- fray the necessary expenses of the govern- ment and gradual but certain extinction of the public debt. 6. That the proceeds of the public lands ought to be sacredly applied to the national objects specified in the constitution, and that we are oj^posed to any law for the dis- tribution of such proceeds among the states, as alike inexpedient in policy and repug- nant to the constitution. 7. That Congress has no power to char- ter a national bank ; that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to the best interests .,r tins .•oiintry, dunger- ons to uur re|)ul)lican instiliitioiis and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place the business of the country within the control of a concentrated inr)ney power and above the laws and will ol' tiie'people; and the results of the democratic legisla- tion in this and all other financial measures upon which issues have Wen made between the two political i)arties of the country, have demonstrated to candid and practical men of all parties their soundness, safety, and utility in all business pursuits. 8. That the separation of the moneys of the government from banking institutions is indispensable to the safety of the funds of the government and the" rights of the people. 9. That we are decidedly opposed to taking irom the President the qualified veto power, by which he is enabled, under restrictions and responsibilities amply suffi- cient to guard the public interests, to sus- pend the passage of a bill whose merits can not secure the approval of two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representa- tives, until the judgment of the {)eople can be obtained thereon, and which has saved the American people from the corrupt and tyrannical dominion of the Bank of the United States and from a corrupting sys- tem of general internal improvements. 10. That the liberal principles endwdied by Jefferson in the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and sanctioned in the Constitu- tion, which makes ours the land of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed of every nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the democratic faith ; and every at- tempt to abridge the privilege of becom- ing citizens and owners of soil among us, ought to be resisted with the same spirit which swept the alien and sedition laws from our statute books. And whereas, Since the foregoing decla- ration was uniformly adopted by our prede- cessors in national conventions, an adverse political and religious test has been secretly organized by a party claiming to be exclusively Americans, and it is proper that the American democracy should clearly define its relations thereto; and declare its determined opposition to all ecret political societies, by whatever name they may be called — itesolced, That the foundation of this union of states having been laid in, and its prosperity, expansion, and pre-eminent example in free government built 'upon, ntire freedom of matters of religious con- cernment, and no respect of persons in re- gard to rank or place of birth, no party can justly be deemed national, constitu- tional, or in accordance with American principles, which bases its exclusive organ- ization upon religious opinions and acci- dental birth-place. And hence a political 38 AMERICAN POLITICS. crusade in the nineteenth century, and in the United States of America, against Catholics and foreign-born, is neitlier justi- fied by the past history or future prospects of tlie country, nor in unison with the spirit of toleration and enlightened free- dom which peculiarly distinguishes the American system of popular government. Resolved, That we reiterate with renewed energy of purpose the well-considered declarations of former conventions upon the sectional issue of domestic slavery, and concerning the reserved rights of the states — 1. That Congress has no power under the constitution to interfere with or con- trol the domestic institutions of the several states, and that all such states are the sole and proper judges of everything apper- taining to their own affairs not prohibited by the constitution ; that all eiforts of the Abolitionists or others, made to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in rela- tion thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous conse- quences, and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the hap- piness of the people and endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our political institutions. 2. That the foregoing proposition covers and was intended to embrace the whole subject of slavery agitation in Congress, and therefore the Democratic party of the Union, standing on this national platform, will abide by and adhere to a faithful exe- cution of the acts known as the comjjro- mise measures, settled by the Congress of 1850 — "the act for reclaiming fugitives from service or labor " included ; which act, being designed to carry out an express J)rovision of the constitution, can not, with idelity thereto, be repealed, or so changed as to destroy or impair its efficiency. 3. That the Democratic party will resist all attempts at renewing in Congress, or out of it, the agitation of the slavery ques- tion, under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made. 4. That the Democratic party will faith- fully abide by and uphold the principles laid down iii the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1792 and 1798, and in the report of Mr. Madison to the Virginia legislature in 1799; that it adopts tlaese principles as constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to carry them out in their obvious meaning and import. And that we may more distinctly meet the issue on which a sectional party, sub- sisting exclusively on slavery agitation, now relies to test the fidelity of the people, north and south, to the constitution and the Union — 1. Resolved, That claiming fellowship with and desiring the co-operation of all who regard the preservation of the Union under the constitution as the paramount issue, and repudiating all sectional parties and platforms concerning domestic slavery which seek to embroil the states and in- cite to treason and armed resistance to law in the territories, and whose avowed pur- 130se, if consummated, must end in civil war and disunion, tlie American democracy recognize and adopt the principles con- tained in the organic laws establishing the territories of Nebraska and Kansas, as em- bodying the only sound and safe solution of the slavery question, upon which the great national idea of the people of this whole country can repose in its determined conservation of the Union, and non-inter- ference of Congress with slavery in the territories or in the District of Columbia. 2. That this was the basis of the com- promise of 1850, confirmed by both the Democratic and Whig parties in national conventions, ratified by the people in the election of 1852, and rightly a])plied to the organization of the territ(n-ies in 1854. 3. That by the uniform a])])licati()n of the Democratic principle to the organiza- tion of territories and the admission of new states, with or without domestic sla- very, as they may elect, the equal rights of all the states will be preserved intact, the original compacts of the constitution main- tained inviolate, and the perpetuity and expansion of the Union insured to its ut- most capacity of embracing, in peace and harmony, every future American state that may be constituted or annexed with a re- publican form of government. Resolved, That we recognize the right of the people of all the territories, includ- ing Kansas and Nebraska, acting through the legally and fairly expressed will of the majority of the actual n'sidents, and wlien- ever the number of their inhabitants justi- fies it, to form a constitution, with or with- out domestic slavery, and be admitted into the Union upon terms of perfect equality with the other states. Resolved, finally. That in view of the condition of the }>oi)ular institutions in the old world (and the dangerous tendencies of sectional agitation, combined with the attempt to enforce civil and religious disa- bilities against the rights of acquiring and enjoying citizenship in our own land), a high and sacred duty is devolved, with in- creased responsibility, ujion the Demo- cratic party of this country, as the party of the Union, to uphold and maintain the rights of every state, and thereby the union of the states, and to sustain and ad- vance among us constitutional liberty, by continuing to resist all monopolies and ex- clusive legislation for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, and by a vigi- POLITICAL PLATFORMS. 39 lant ami constant adherenceto those prin- ciples and compromises of the constitution which are broad enough and strong enough to embrace and uphoki the Union as it was, the Union as it is, and the Union as it shall be, in the full expression of the energies and capacity of this great and progressive people. 1. Ixcsolved, That there are questioiis connected with the foreign policy of this country which are inferior to no domestic questions whatever. The time has come for the people of the United States to de- clare themselves in favor of free seas and progressive free trade throughout the world, and, by solemn manifestations, to place their moral influence at the side of their successful example. 2. Eesolved, That our geographical and political position with reference to the other states of this continent, no less than the interest of our commerce and the develop- ment of our growing power, requires that we should hold sacred the principles in- volved in the Monroe doctrine. Their bearing and import admit of no miscon- struction, and should be applied with un- bending .rigidity. 3. Resolved,' That the great highway which nature, as well as the assent of states most immediately interested in its main- tenance, has marked out for free comnui- nication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, constitutes one of the most impor-^ tant achievements realized by the spirit of modern times, in the unconquerable energy of our people ; and that result would be secured by a timely and efficient exertion of the control which we have the right to claim over it; and no power on earth should be suffered to impede or clog its progress by any interference with relations that may suit our policy to establish be- tween our government and the govern- ments of the states within whose dominions it lies ; ^ye can under no circumstances sur- render our preponderance in the adjust- ment of all questions arising out of it. 4. Resolved, That in view of so com- manding an interest, the people of the United States cannot but sympathize with the efforts wliich are being made by the people of Central America to regenerate that portion of the continent which covers the passage across the inter-oceanic isthmus. 5. Resolved, That the Democratic party will expect of the next administration that every proper effort be made to insure our ascendency m the Gulf of Mexico, and to maintain permanent protection to thegreat outlets througli which are emptied into its waters the products raised out of the soil and the commodities created by the indus- try of the people of our western valleys and of the Union at large. 6. Resolved, That the administration of Franklin Pierce has been true to Demo- 23 cratic ])riiicipl('s, and, tlHTcfiire, true to the great intiTcsts of tiu' cdUiitry; in the face of violent oi)|)ositif>n, he has maintained the laws at home and vindicated the rights of American citizens ai)road, and, there- i'ore, we ])roclaim our uixpialified admira- tion of his measures and policy. 1850.— Rcpnl>ltcnii Platform, Adnptcd at riiihidclphiii, ./«».■ 17. This convention of delegates, assembled in pursuance of a call addressed to the people of the United States, without regard to past political differences or divisions, who are opposed to the repeal of the Mis- souri Compromise, to the policy of the present administration, to the extension of slavery into free territory ; in favor of ad- mitting Kansas as a free state, of restoring the action of the Federal government to the principles of Washington and Jeffer- son ; and who purpose to unite in present- ing candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President, do resolve as follows : Resiilrrd, That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence, and embodied in the federal constitution, is essential to the pre- servation of our Republican institutions, and that the federal constitution, the rights of the states, and the union of the states, shall be preserved. Resolved, That with our republican fathers we hold it to be a self-evident truth that all men are endowed with the inalien- able rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that the primary object and ulterior design of our Federal govern- ment were, to secure these rights to all persons within its exclusive jurisdiction ; that as our republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all our ^national territory, ordained that no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, it becomes our duty to maintain this provision of the con- stitution against all attempts to violate it for the purpose of establishing slavery in any territory of the United States, by posi- tive legislation, prohibiting its existence or extension therein. That we deny the aur thority of Congress, of a territorial legis- lature", of anv individual or association of individuals, to give legal existence to sla- verv in any territory of the United States, while the present constitution shall be maintained. Resolved, That the constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over the territories of the United States for their government, and that in the exercise of this power it is both the right and the im- perative duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbar- ism — ^polygamy and slavery. 40 AMERICAN POLITICS. Resolved, That while the constitution of the United States was ordained and estab- lished, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common de- fense, proinote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty, and contains ample provisions for the protection of the life, liberty, and property of every citizen, the dearest constitutional rights of the people of Kansas have been fraudulently and\'iolently taken from them ; their terri- tory has 1)een invnded by an armed force ; spurious and pretended legislative, judicial, and executive officers have been set over them, by whose usurped authority, sus- tained by the military power of the govern- ment, tyrannical and unconstitutional laws have been enacted and enforced ; the rights of the people to keep and bear arms have been infringed ; test oaths of an extraordi- nary and entangling nature have been im- posed, as a condition of exercising the right of suffrage and holding office ; the right of an accused person to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury has been denied ; the right of the people to be se- cure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, has been violated ; they have been deprived of life, liberty, and property with out due process of law ; that the freedom of speech and of the press has been abridg- ed ; the right to choose their representa- tives has been made of no effect ; murders robberies, and arsons have been instigated or encouraged, and the offenders have been allowed to go unpunished ; that all these things have been done with the knowledge, sanction, and in-ocurement of the present national administration ; and that for this high crime against the constitution, the Union, and humanity, we arraign the ad- ministration, the President, his advisers, agents, supporters, apologists, and acces- sories, either before or alter the facts, be- fcfre the country and before the world ; and that it is our fixed purpose to bring the actual perpetrators of these atrocious out- rages, and their accomplices, to a sure and condign punishment hereafter. Resolved, That Kansas should be im- i^diately admitted as a state of the Union with her present free constitution, as at once the most effectual way of securing to her citizens the enjoyment of the rights and privileges to which they are entitled, and of ending the civil strife now raging in her territory. Resolved, That the highwayman's plea that "might makes right," embodied in the Ostend circular, was in every respect unworthy of American diplomacy, and would bring shame and dishonor upon any government or people that gave it their sanction. Resolved, That a railroad to the Pacific ocean, by the most central and practicable route, is'imperatively demanded by the in- terests of the whole country, and that the Federal government ought to render im- mediate and efficient aid in its construc- tion, and, as an auxiliary thereto, the im- mediate construction of an emigrant route on the line of the railroad. Resolved, That appropriations of Con- gress for the improvement of rivers and harbors of a national character, required for the accommodation and security of our existing commerce, are authorized by the constitution, and justified by the obligation of government to protect the lives and projierty of its citizens. Resolved, That we invite the affiliation and co-operation of the men of all parties, however differing from us in other respects, in support of the principles herein de- clared ; and believing that the spirit of our institutions, as well as the constitution of our country, guarantees lil^erty of con- science and equality of rights among citi- zens, we oi)i»ose all jTOscriptive legislation affecting their security. 1856.— WTiig Platform. Baltimore, September 13. Resolved, That the Whigs of the United States, now here assembled, hereby de- clare their reverence for the constitution of the United States, their unalterable at- tachment to the National Union, and a fixed determination to do all in their power to preserve them for themselves Und their posterity. They have no new princi- ples to announce ; no new platform to es- tablish ; but are content to broadly rest — Avhere their fathers rested — upon t;he con- stitution of the United States, Avishing no safer guide, no higher law. Resolved, That we regard with the deepest interest and anxiety the present disordered condition of our national af- fairs — a portion of the country ravaged by civil war, large sections of our population embittered by mutual recriminations; and we distinctly trace these calamities to the culpable neglect of duty by the present national administration. Resolved, That the government of the United States was formed by the conjunc- tion in political unity of wide-spread geo- graphical sections, materially differing, not only in climate ;ind products, but in social and domestic institutions; and that any cause that shall permanently array the different sections of the Union in political hostility and organize parties founded only on geographical distinctions, must inevit- ably prove fatal to a continuance of the National Union. Resolved, That the Whigs of the United States declare, as a fundamental article of P L ITl C A L 1' L A T !•' U U M S . 41 political faith, an absolute necessity for avoiding geographical parties, 'riie dan- ger, so clearly discerned by llu> Father of his Country, ha.s now become fearfully ai)piire!it in the agitntion now convulsing the nation, and must be arrested at once if we would ]>reservc our constitution aud our ITnioii iVom dismendjerment, and the name of Anu-rica irom being blotted out from tiie family of civilized nations. I',-s:)!rfi/, That all who revere the con- stitutirn and the Union, must look with alarm at the parties in the field in the present presidential Campaign — one claim- ing only to represent sixteen northern states, and the other appealing mainly to the passions and prejudices of the southern states ; that the success of either faction must add fuel to the flame which now threatens to wrap our dearest interests in a common ruin. B'^solved, That the only remedy for an evil so appalling is to support a candidate pledged to neither of the geographical sec- tions nor arrayed in political antagonism, but holding both in a just and equal regard. We congratulate the "friends of the Union that such a candidate exists in Millard Fillmore. licsoh-ed, That, without adopting or re- ferring to the peculiar doctrines of the l^arty which has already selected Mr. Fill- more as a candidate, we look to him as a well tried and faithful friend of the consti- tution and the Union, eminent alike for his wisdom and firmness— for his justice and moderation in our foreign relations — calm and pacific temperament, so well be- coming the head of a great nation — for his devotion to the constitution in its true spirit — his inflexibility in executing the laws but, beyond all these attributes, in possessing the one transcendent merit of being a representative of neither of the two "sectional parties now struggling for political supremacy. Resolved, That, in the present exigency of political affairs, we are not called upon to discuss the subordinate questions of ad- ministration in the exercising of the con- stitutional powers of the government. It is enough to know that civil war is raging. and that the Union is in peril ; and we proclaim the conviction that the restora- tion of Mr. Fillmore to the presidency will furnish the best if not the only means of restoring peace. I860.— Constitutional Union Platform. Baltimore, May 9. Whereas, Experience has demonstrated that platforms adopted by the partisan conventions of the country have had the effect to mislead and deceive the people, and at the same time to widen the political divisions of the country, l)y the creation and encouragement of geograi)iiiral and sectional parties; therefore, Resolved, That it is botii tlie i)art of patriotism and of duty to rerof/nizr no jx)- litical principles other than 'J'liic (Consti- tution OF TJIE CofNTKY, TIIIC I'nioN OF THK States, and the Fnfoike.ment of THE Laws; and that as rcpri'sentj.tives of the Constitutional riiioii men of the coun- try, in national coMvention asscnd)leil. v/9 hereby pledge ourselves to maintain, pro- tect, and defend, separately and unitedly, these great principles of public liberty and national safety against all enemies at hoifie and abroad, believing that t/ierel)y peace may once more be restored to the cfmntry, the rights of the people and of the states re-establisheincss ; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," is essential to the preservation of our republican institu- tions; and that the federal constitution,^ the rights of the states, and the union of the states, must and shall be preserved. o. That to the union of the states this nation owes its unprecedented increase in population, its surprising development of 42 AMERICAN POLITICS. material resources, its rapid augmentation of wealth, its happiness at home and its honor abroad ; and we hold in abhorrence all schemes for disunion, come from what- ever source they may ; and we congratulate the country that no Eepublican member of Congress has utteied or countenanced the threats of disunion so often made by De- mocratic members, without rebuke and with applause from their political associ- ates; and we denounce those threats of dis- union, in case of a i)opular overthrow of their ascendency, as denying the vital principles of a free government, and as an avowal of contemplated treason, which it is the imperative duty of an indignant people sternly to rebuke and forever silence. 4. That the mainteiiauce inviolate of the rights of the states, and especially the right of each state to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of powers on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric de- pends; and we denounce the lawless in- vasion, by armed force, of the soil of any state or territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes. 5. That the present Democratic admini- stration has far exceeded our worst ap- prehensions, in its measureless subserviency to the exactions of a sectional interest, as especially evinced in its desperate exertions to force the infamous Lecompton constitu- tion upon the protesting people of Kansas ; in construing the personal relations be- tween master and servant to involve an unqualified property in persons ; in its at- tempted enforcement, everywhere, on land and sea, through the intervention of Con- gress and of the federal courts, of the ex- treme i^retensions of a purely local interest ; and in its general and unvarying abuse of the power entrusted to it by a confiding people. 6. That the people justly view with alarm the reckless extravagance which pervades every department of the Federal govern- ment; that a return to rigid economy and accountability is indispensable to arrest the systematic plunder of the public treasury by favored partisans; while the recent startling developments of frauds and cor- ruptions at the federal metropolis, show that an entire change of administration is imperatively demanded. 7. That the new dogma, that the consti- tution, of its own force, carries slavery into any or all of the territories of the United States, is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit provisions of that instrument itself, Avith contemporane- ous exposition, and with legislative and judicial precedent — is revolutionary in its tendency, and subversive of the peace and harmony of the country. 8. That the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom ; that as our republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all our national territory, ordained that " no per- son shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, Avithout due process of law," it becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the constitution against all attempts to violate it ; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legis- lature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States. 9. That we brand the recent reopening of the African slave trade, under the cover of our national flag, aided by perversions of judicial power, as a crime against human- ity and a burning shame to our country and age ; and we call upon Congress to take prompt and efficient measures for the total and final suppression of that execrable traffic. 10. That in the recent vetoes, by their federal governors, of the acts of the legis- latures of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibit- ing slavery in those territories, we find a practical illustration of the boasted De- mocratic principle of non-intervention and popular sovereignty, embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and a demonstration of the deception and fraud involved therein. 11. That Kansas should, of right, be immediately admitted as a state under the constitution recently formed and adopted by her people, and accepted by the House of Representatives. 12. That, while providing revenue for the support of the general government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imports as to encourage the development of the indus- trial interest of the whole country ; and we commend that policy of national ex- changes which secures to the working men liberal wages, to agriculture remunerative prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate reward for their skill, labor, and enterprise, and to the nation commercicil prosperity and independence. 13. That we protest against any sale or alienation to others of the public lands held by actual settlers, and against any view of the homestead policy which re- gards the settlers as paupers or suppliants for public bounty; and we demand the passage by Congress of the complete and satisfactory homestead measure which has already passed the House. 14. That the republican party is opposed to any change in our naturalization laws, or any state legislation by which the rights of citizenship hitherto accorded to immi- grants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired ; and in favor of giving a full and efficient protection to the rights of all POLITICAL PLATFORMS. 43 classes of citizens, whether native or na- turalized, hoth at home and abroad. 15. That appropriations by Congress for river and harbor improvements of a na- tional character, re(iuirer impaired by congressional or territorial leirislation. 2. That it is the duty f)f the Federal government, in all its departments, to pro- tect, when necessary, the rights of per- sons and property in the territories, and wherever else its constitutioiuil authority extends. 3. That when the settlers in a territory having an adequate population form a state constitution in pursuance of law, the right of sovereignty commences, and, be- ing consummated by admission into the Union, they stand on an equal footing with the people of other states, and th« state thus organized ought to be admit- ted into the Federal Union, whether its constitution prohibits or recognizes the in- stitution of slavery. 4. That the Democratic party are in favor of the acquisition of the island of Cuba, on such terms as shall be honiorable to ourselves and just to Spain, at the earli- est practicable moment. 6. That the enactments of state legisla- tures to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law arc hostile in character, subversive of the constitution, and revolutionarv in their efiect. 6. That the Democracy of the United States recognize it as the imperative duty of this government to protect the natural- 44 AMERICAN POLITICS. ized citizen in all his rights, whether at home or in foreign lands, to the same ex- tent as its native-born citizens. Whereas, One of the greatest necessi- ties of the age, in a political, commercial, postal, and military point of view, is a speedy communication between the Pa- cific and Atlantic coasts ; therefore, be it Besolved, That the Democratic party do hereby pledge themselves to use every means in their power to secure the passage of some bill, to the extent of the constitu- tional authority of Congress, for the con- struction of a Pacific railroad from the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean, at the earliest practicable moment. 1864.— Radical Platform. Cleveland, May 31. 1. That the Federal Union shall be pre- served. 2. That the constitution and laws of the United States must be observed and obeyed. 3. That the Kebellion must be sup- pressed by force of arms, and without com- promise. 4. That the rights of free speech, free press and the habeas corpus be held invio- late, save in districts where martial law has been proclaimed. 5. That the Kebellion has destroyed slavery ; and the federal constitution should be so amended as to prohibit its re-establishment, and to secure to all men absolute equality before the law. 6. That integrity and economy are de- manded, at all times in the administration of the government, and that in time of war the want of them is criminal. 7. That the right of asylum, except for crime and subject to law, is a recognized principle of American liberty ; and that any violation of it can not be overlooked, and must not go unrebuked. 8. That the national policy known as the " Monroe Doctrine " has become a re- cognized principle ; and that the estab- lishment of an anti-republican govern- ment on this continent by any foreign power can not be tolerated. 9. That the gratitude and support of the nation are due to the faithful soldiers and the earnest leaders of the Union army and navy, for their heroic achievements and deathless valor in defense of our im- periled country and of civil liberty. 10. That the one-term policy for the presidency, adopted by the people, is strengthened by the force of the existing crisis, and should be maintained by con- stitutional amendment. 11. That the constitution should be so amended that the President and Vice- President shall be elected by a direct vote of the people. 12. That the question of the reconstruc- tion of the rebellious states belongs to the people, through their rei)resentatives in Congress, and not to the Executive. 13. That the confiscation of the lands of the rebels, and their distribution among the soldiers and actual settlers, is a mea- sure of justice. 1864.— Repiiljllcaii Platform. Baltimore, June 7. Resolved, That it is the highest duty of every American citizen to maintain, against all their enemies, the integrity of the union and the paramount authority of the constitution and laws of the United States; and that, laying aside all differ- ences of political opinions, we pledge our- selves, as Union men, animated by a com- mon sentiment and aiming at a common object, to do everything in our power to aid the government in quelling, by force of arms, the Rebellion now raging against its authority, and in bringing to the pun- ishment due to their crimes the rebels and traitors arrayed against it. Resolved, That we approve the determi- nation of the government of the United States not to compromise with rebels, nor to offer them any terms of peace, except such as may be based upon an " uncondi- tional surrender" of their hostility and a return to their allegiance to the constitu- tion and laws of the United States ; and that we call upon the government to main- tain this position, and to prosecute the war with the utmost possible vigor to the complete suppression of the Eebellion, in full reliance upon the self-sacrificing pa- triotism, the heroic valor, and the undying devotion of the American people to the country and its free institutions. Resolved, That as slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strength, of this Rebellion, and as it must be always and everywhere hostile to the principles of re- publican government, justice and the na- tional safety demand its utter and com- plete extirpation from the soil of the Re- public ; and that we uphold and maintain the acts and proclamations by which the government, in its own defense, has aimed a death-blow at the gigantic evil. We are in fjivor, furthermore, of such an amend- ment to the constitution, to be made by the people in conformity with its provis- ions, as shall terminate and forever pro- hibit the existence of slavery within the limits or the jurisdiction of the United States. Resolved, That the thanks of the Amer- ican people are due to the soldiers and sailors of the array and navy, who have periled their lives in defense of their P L 1 T 1 C A L P L A T F U M S . 45 country and in vindicution of tlic lioiior ol' its llajx ; that the n;itioii owes to tlicni sonic peruianent recognition of tlielr ]):i- triotism and their valor, and anii)le and permanent provision for those of their survivors wlio have received disabling and lionorable wounds in the service of the country ; and that the memories of those who have fallen in its defense shall be held in grateful and everlasting remem- brance. . Resolved, That we approve and applaud the practical wisdom, the unsellish patri- otism, and the unswerving fidelity to the constitution and the principles of Ameri- can liberty with which Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under circumstances of unparalleled difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the presidential otiice ; that we approve and indorse, as demanded by the emergency and essential to the preservation of the nation, and as within the provisions of the constitution, the measures and acts which he has adopt- ed to defend the nation against its open and secret foes ; that we approve, especial- ly, the Proclamation of Emancipation, and the employment, as Union soldiers, of men heretofore held in slavery ; and that we have full contidence in his deter- mination to carry these, and all other con- stitutional measures essential to the salva- tion of the country, into full and complete effect Besolved, That we deem it essential to the general welfiire that harmony should prevail in the national councils, and we regard as worthy of public confidence and official trust those only who cordially in- dorse the principles proclaimed in these resolutions, and which should characterize the administration of the government. R"solved, That the government owes to all men employed in its armies, without Regard to distinction of color, the full pro- tection of the laws of war ; and that any violation of these law,-:', or of the usages of civilized nations in the time of war, by the rebels now in arms, should be made the subject of promjit and full redress. Besolved, That foreign immigration, which in the past has added so much to the wealth, development of resources, and increase of power to this nation— the asy- lum of the 023pressed of all nations — should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy. Besolved, That we are in favor of the speedy construction of the railroad to the Pacific coast Besolved, That the national faith, pledged for the redemption of the public debt, must be kept inviolate ; and that, for this pur- pose, we recommend economy and rigid responsibility in the public expenditures and a vigorous and just system of taxa- t: ):i ; and that it is tlie duty of every loyal stale t.. sustain tlic cvdit ninl proniot,- the use of the national currency. Resdlrnl, 'I'liat we approve [\v position taken liy the governmi'iit, that tiic peopio of the United .States can never regard with indill'erence the attempt of any lOurtipeuu power to overthrow by force, or to sup- plant by fraud, the institutions of any re- publican government on the western Con- tinent, and that they will view with ex- treme jealousy, as nuMiacing to the peace and independence of this, o.ir country, the ell'orts of any such j)ower to obtain new footholds for monarchical governments, sustained by a foreign military I'orce, ia near proximity to the United States. 1804. - Dtmucratic Platform. Vhicaf^Oj August 'JD. Besolved, That in the future, as in the past, we will adhere witli unswerving fidel- ity to the Union under the constitution, as the only solid foundation of our strength, security, and ha|)piness as a peo- ple, and as a frame-work of government equally conducive to the welfare and pros- perity of all the states, both northern and southern. Besolved, That this convention does ex- plicitly declare, as the sense of the Ameri- can people, that after four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, during which, under the pretense of a military necessity of a war power higher than the constitution, the constitution it- self has been disregarded in every part, and public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material jirosperity of the country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty, and the jjublic welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of all the states, or other peaceable means, to the end that, at the earliest practicable moment, peace may be restored on the basis of the federal union of all the states. Besolved, That the direct interference of the military authority of the United States in the recent elections held in Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Delaware, was a shameful violation of the constitution ; and the repetition of such acts in the ap- ])roaching election will be held as revolu- tionary, and resisted with all the means and {lower under our contrel. Besolved, That the aim and oCject of the Democratic party is to preserve the Fede- ral Union and the rights of the state:* un- impaired ; and they hereby declare that they consider the administrative usurpa- tion of extraordinary and dangerous pow- ers not granted by the constitution, the subversion of the civil by the military law in states not in insurrection, the arbitrary 46 AMERICAN POLITICS. military arrest, imprisonment, trial, and sentence of American citizens in states where civil law exists in full force, the supjjression of freedom of speech and of the press, the denial of the right of asy- lum, the open and avowed disregard of state rights, the employment of unusual test-oaths, and -the interference with and denial of the right of the people to bear arms in their defense, as calculated to 2)revent a restoration of the Union and the pcrjietuation of a government deriving its just powers Iromthe consent of the gov- erned. Resolved, That the shameful disregard of the administration to its duty in respect to our fellow-citizens who now are, and long have l)een, prisoners of war, in a suffering condition, deserves the severest reproba- tion, on the score alike of public policy and common humanity. Resolved, That the sympathy of the De- mocratic party is heartily and earnestly extended to the soldiery of our army and the sailors of our navy, who are and have been in the field and on the sea under the flag of their country ; and, in the event of our attaining power, they will receive all the care and protection, regard and kind- ness, that the brave soldiers of the Eepub- lic have so nobly earned. 1868. Republican Platform. Chicago, May 20. 1. We congratulate the country on the assured success of the reconstruction poli- cy of Congress, as evinced by the adoption, in the majority of the states lately in rebel- lion, of constitutions securing equal civil and political rights to all ; and it is the duty of the government to sustain those institutions and to prevent the people of such states from being remitted to a state of anarchy. 2. The guarantee by Congress of equal suffrage to all loyal men at the south was demanded by every consideration of pub- lic safety, of gratitude, and of justice, and must lie maintained ; while the question of suffrage in all the loyal states properly be- longs to the people of those states. 3. We denounce all forms of repudiation as a national crime ; and the national honor requires the paymerit of the public indebtedness in the uttermost good faith to all credito* at home and abroad, not only according to the letter but the spirit of the laws under which it was con- tracted. 4. It is due to the labor of the nation that taxation should be equalized and re- duced as rapidly as the national faith will permit. 5. The national debt, contracted as it has been for the preservation of the Union lor all time to tome, sliouhl be extended over a fair period for redemption ; and it is the duty of Congress to reduce the rate of interest thereon whenever it can be honest- j ly done. I 6. That the best policy to diminish our burden of debts is to so improve our credit that capitalists will seek to loan us money at lower rates of interest than we now pay, and must continue to pay, so long as re- pudiation, partial or total, open or covert, is threatened or suspected. 7. The government of the United States should be administered with the strictest economy ; and the corruptions which have been so shamefully nursed and fostered by Andrew Johnson call loudly for radical re- form. 8. We profoundly deplore the tragic death of Abraham Lincoln, and regret the accession to the presidency of Andrew Johnson, who has acted treacherously to the people who elected him and the cause he was pledged to support ; who has usurped high legislative and judicial functions ; who has refused to execute the laws ; who has used his high office to induce other officers to ignore and violate the laws ; who has employed his executive powers to render insecure the property, the peace, liberty, and life of the citizen ; who has abused the pardoning power ; who has denounced the national legislature as un- constitutional ; who has persistently and corruptly resisted, by every means in his power, every proper attempt at the recon- struction of the states lately in rebellion ; who has perverted the public patronage into an engine of wholesale corruption ; and who has been justly impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and pro- perly pronounced guilty thereof by the vote of thirty -five Senators. 9. The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers, that because a man is once a subject he is always so, must be resisted at every hazard by the United States, as a relic of feudal times, not au- thorized by the laAvs of nations, and at war with our national honor and independence. Naturalized citizens are entitled to pro- tection in all their rights of citizenship as though they were native-born ; and no citizen of the United States, native or na- turalized, must be liable to arrest and im- prisonment by any foreign power for acts done or words spoken in this country ; and, if so arrested and imprisoned, it is the duty of the government to interfere in his behalf. 10. Of all who were faithful in the trials of the late war, there were none entitled to more special honor than the brave soldiers and seamen who endured the hardships of campaign and cruise, and imperiled their lives in the service of the country. The POLITICAL PLATFORMS. 47 bounties and pensions jirovided by tbe hiws for these l)r;ive defenders of the na- tion are obligations never to be forgotten ; the widows and orphans of the galhint dead are the wards of the people — a sacred legacy bequeathed to the nation's protect- ing care. 11. Foreign immigration, which in the past has added so mueh to the wealth, de- velopment, and resources, and increase of power to this Rt'puliiic, the asylum of the oppressed of all nations, sliouid l)e fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy. 12. This convention declares itself in sympathy with all oppressed people who are struggling for their rights. 13. That we highly commend the spirit of magnanimity and forbearance with Avhich men who have served in the Rebel- lion, but who now frankly and honestly co-oj>erate with us in restoring the peace of the country and reconstructing the southern state governments upon the basis of impartial justice and equal rights, are re- ceived back into the communion of the loyal people ; and we favor the removal of the disqualifications and restrictions im- posed upon the late rebels, in the same measure as the spirit of disloyalty shall die out, and as may be consistent with the safety of the loyal people. 14. That we recognize the great princi- ples laid down in the immortal Declara- tion of Independence, as the true founda- tion of democratic government; and we hail with gladness every effort toward making these })rinciples a living reality on every inch of American soil. 1868.— Democratic Platform. New York, July 4. The Democratic party, in national con- vention assembled, reposing its trust in the intelligence, patriotism, and discrimi- nating justice of the people, standing upon tJie constitution as the foundation and limitation of the powers of the government and the guarantee of the liberties of the citizen, and recognizing the questions of slavery and secession as having been set- tled, for all time to come, by the war or voluntary action of the southern states in constitutional conventions assembled, and never to be revived or reagitated, do, with the return of peace, demand — - 1. Immediate restoration of all the states to their rights in the Union under the con- stitution, and of civil .government to the American people. 2. Amnesty for all past political offenses, and the regulation of the elective franchise in the states by their citizens. 3. Payment ot all the public debt of the United " States as rapidly as practicable — I all money drawn from tlic pcMjij,. hy taxa- I tion, except so much as is reipii^ite "for tiio necessities of the goveriunent, economically administered, l)eing lioncstly applied to such paynu'ut ; ami where the ol)liga(ions of the goveriunent do not exjirt'ssly state upon their face, or tiie law under 'wincli they were issued does not provide that they shall be paid in coin, they oiigiit, in right and injustice, to l)e paid "in the law- ful money of the United Stales. 4. Equal taxation of every species of property according to its real value, in- cluding government bonds and other pnli- lic securities. 5. One currency for the government and the people, the laborer and the f)fficc- holder, the ])ensi()iu^r and the soldier, the producer and the ixmdholder. 6. Economy in the administration of the government ; the reduction of the standing army and navy; the abolition of the Freed- men's Bureau and all political instrumen- talities designed to secure negro suprema- cy ; simplification of the system and dis- continuance of inquisitorial modes of as- sessing and collecting internal revenue; that the burden of taxation may be equal- ized and lessened, and the credit of the government and the currency made good ; the rei)eal of all enactments for enrolling the state militia into national forces in time of peace ; and a tariff for revenue upon foreign imports, and such equal taxa- tion under the internal revenue laws ,as will afford incidental protection to domes- tic manufactures, and as will, without im- jiairing the revenue, impose the least bur- den upon, and best promote and encourage, the great industrial interests of the ccjun- try. 7. Reform of abuses in the administra- tion ; the expulsion of corrupt men from office; the abrogation of useless offices; the restoration of rightful authority to, and the indc})endence of, the executive and judicial departments of the government; the subordination of the military to the civil power, to the end that the usurpa- tions of Congress and the despotism of the sword may cease. 8. Equal rights and protection for na- turalized and native-born citizens, at home and abroad ; the assertion of American na- tionality which shall command the re- spect of foreign powers, and furnish an example and encouragement to people struggling for national integrity, constitu- tional liberty and individual rights ; and the maintenance of the rights of natural- ized citizens against the absolute doctrine of immutable allegiance and the claims of foreign powers to punish them for alleged crimes committed beyond their jurisdic- tion. In demanding these measures and re- forms, we arraign the Eadi'.-al party for its 48 AMERICAN POLITICS. disregard of right and the unparalleled oppression and tyranny which have marked its career. After the most solemn and unanimous pledge of both Houses of Congress to prosecute the war exclusively for the maintenance of the government and the ])reservution of the Union under the constitution, it has repeatedly violated the most sacred pledge under which alone was rallied that noble volunteer army which carried our flag to victory. Instead of restoring the Union, it has, so far as in its power, dissolved it, and subjected ten states, in time of profound peace, to mili- tary despotism and negro supremacy. It has nullified there the right of trial by jury; it has abolished the habeas corpus, tha"^t most sacred writ of liberty ; it has overthrown the freedom of speech and press; it has substituted arbitrary seizures and arrests, and military trials and secret star-chamber inquisitions, for the consti- tutional tribunals ; it has disregarded, in time of peace, the right of the people to be free from searches and seizures ; it has entered the post and telegraph offices, and even the private rooms of individuals, and seized their private papers and letters, without any specific charge or notice of affidavit, as required by the organic law. It has converted the American capitol into a bastile ; it has established a system of spies and official espionage to which no constitutional monarchy of Eurojie would now dare to resort. It has abolished the right of appeal, on important constitutional questions, to the supreme judicial tribu- nals, and threatens to curtail^ or destroy its original jurisdiction, Avhich is irrevoca- bly vested by the constitution ; while the learned Chief Justice has been subjected to the most atrocious calumnies, merely because he would not prostitute his high office to the support of the false and parti- san charges preferred against the Presi- dent. Its corruption and extravagance have exceeded anything known in history; and, by its frauds and monopolies, it has nearly doubled the burden of the debt created by the war. It has s-tripped the President of his constitutional power of appointment, even of his own cabinet. Under its repeated assaults, the pillars of the government are rocking on their base ; and should it succeed in November next, and inaugurate its President, we will meet, as a subjected and conquered people, amid the ruins of liberty and the scattered fragments of the constitution. And we do declare and resolve that ever since the people of the United States threw off all subjection to the British crown, the privilege and trust of suffrage have belonged to the several states, and have been granted, regulated, and con- trolled exclusively by the political power of each state respectively ; and that any attempt by Congress, on any pretext Avhat- ever, to deprive any state of this right, or interfere with its exercise, is a flagrant usurpation of power which can find no warrant in the constitution, and, if sanc- tioned by the people, will subvert our form of govcrnnieut, and can only end in a single, centralized, and consolidated, gov- ernment, in which the separate existence of the states will be entirely absorbed, and an unqualified despotism be established in place of a federal union of co-equal states. And that we regard the construction acts (so called) of Congress as usurpations, and unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void. That our soldiers and sailors, who car- ried the flag of our country to victory against the most gallant and determined foe, must ever be gratefully remembered, and all the guarantees given in their favor must be faithfully carried into execution. That the public lands should be dis- tributed as widely as possible among the people, and should be disposed of either under the pre-emption of homestead lands or sold in reasonable quantities, and to none but actual occupants, at the minijnum price established by the government. When grants of public lands may be al- lowed, necessary for the encouragement of important public improvements, the pro- ceeds of the sale of such lands, and not the lands themselves, should be so applied. That the President of the United States, Andrew Johnson, in exercising the power of his high office in resisting the aggres- sions of Congress upon the constitutional rights of the states and the people, is en- titled to the gratitude of the whole Ameri- can people; and, on behalf of the Demo- cratic party, we tender him our thanks for his patriotic efforts in that regard. Upon this platform, the Democratic party appeal to every patriot, including all the conservative element and all who de- sire to support the constitution and restore the Union, forgetting all past differences of opinion, to unite with us in the present great struggle for the liberties of the peo- ple; and that to all such, to whatever party they may have heretofore belonged, we extend thie right hand of fellowship, and hail all such, co-operating with us, as friends and brethren. Resolved, That this convention sympa- thizes cordially with the workingmen of the United States in their efforts to protect the rights and interests of the laboring classes of the country. Resolved, That the thanks of the con- vention are tendered to Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, for the Justice, dignity, and impartiality with which he presided over the court of impeachment on the trial of President Andrew Johnson. POLITICAL PLATFOllMS, 49 IS'J'i.— Iial)or Reforin Platform. Culiimhus, Fi-bruary 21. We hold that all political power is in- herent in the people, and iree government founded on their authority and established for their l)cnrlit ; that all citizens are ecjual in political rights, entitled to the largest religious and political liberty compatible Avith the good order of society, as also the use and enjoyment of the fruits of their labor and talents ; and no man or set of men is entitled to exclusive separable en- dowments and })rivileges or immunities from the government, but in consideration of public services; and any laws destruc- tive of these fundamental principles are without moral binding force, and should be repealed. And believing that all the evils resulting from unjust legislation now affecting the industrial classes can be re- moved by the adoption of the principles contained in the following declaration : therefore, Besolved, That it is the duty of the gov- ernment to establish a just standard of distribution of capital and labor, by provid- ing a purely national circulating medium, based on the faith and resources of the na- tion, issued directly to the people without the intervention of any system of banking corporations, which money shall be legal tender in the payment of all debts, public and private, and interchangeable, at the option of the holder, for government bonds bearing a rate of interest not to ex- ceed 3.65 per cent., subject to future legis- lation by Congress. 2. That the national debt should be paid in good faith, according to the original contract, at the earliest <)])tion of the gov- ernment, without mortgaging the property of the people or the future exigencies of labor to enrich a few capitalists at home and a})road. 3. That justice demands that the burdens of government should be so adjusted as to bear equally on all classes, and that the exemption from taxation of government bonds bearing extravagant rates of inter- est, is a violation of all just principles of revenue laws. 4. That the public lands of the United States belong to the people, and shotild not be sold to individuals nor granted to corporations, but should be held as a sa- cred trust for the benefit of the people, and phould be granted to landless settlers only, in amounts not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres of land. 5. That Congress should modify the tariff so as to admit free such articles of common use as we can neither produce nor grow, and lay duties for revenue mainly upon articles of luxury and upon such ar- ticles of manufacture as will, we having the raw materials, assist in further develop- pg the resources of the country. f). That llie presence in our country of Chinese laborers, imported l)y cajjitalists in large numbers for servile use is an evil entailing want and its attendant train (»f misery and crime on all classes of the American people, and should be prohib- ited by legislation. 7. That we ask for the enactment of a law by which all mechanics and day-la- borers employed by or on behalf of the government, whether directly or indirectly, through persons, firms, or corporations, contracting with the state, shall conform to the reduced standard of eight hours a day, recently adopted by Congress for na- tional employes ; and also for an amend- ment to the acts of incorporation for cities and towns, by which all laborers and me- chanics employed at their expense shall conform to the same number of hours. 8. That the enlightened spirit of the age demands the abolition of the system of contract labor in our prisons and other re- formatory institutions. 9. That the protection of life, liberty, and property are the three cardinal prin- ciples of government, and the first two are more sacred than the latter; therefore, money needed for prosecuting wars should, a-s it is required, be assessed and collected from the wealthy of the country, and not entailed as a burden on posterity. 10. That it is the duty of the govern- ment to exercise its power over roilroads and telegraph corporations, that they shall not in any case be privileged to exact such rates of freight, transportation, or charges, by whatever name, as may bear unduly or unequally upon the producer or consumer. 11. That there should be such a reform in the civil service of the national govern- ment as will remove it beyond all partisan influence, and place it in the charge and under the direction of intelligent and com- petent business men. 12. That as both history and experience teach us that power ever seeks to perpetu- ate itself by every and all means, and that its prolonged possession in the hands of one person is always dangerous to the in- terests of a free people, and believing that the spirit of our organic laws and the sta- bility and safety of our free institutions are best obeyed on the one hand, and secured on the other, by a regular constitutional change in the chief of the country at each election ; therefore, we are in favor of limiting the occupancy of the presidential chair to one term. 13. That we are in favor of granting general amnesty and restoring the Union at once on the basis of equality of rights and privileges to all, the impartial adminis- tration of justice being the only true bond of union to bind the states together and re- store the government of the people. 14. That we demand the subjection of 60 AMERICAN POLITICS. the military to the civil authorities, and the confinement of its operations to nation- al purposes alone. 15. That we deem it expedient for Con- gress to supervise the patent laws so as to give labor more fully the benefit of its own ideas and inventions. 16. That fitness, and not political or per- sonal considerations, should be the only recommendation to public office, either ap- pointive or elective ; and any and all laws looking to the establishment of this prin- ciple are heartily approved. 1873.— Proliibition Platform. Columbtts, Ohio, Fehruary 22. The preamble recites that protection and allegiance are reciprocal duties ; and every citizen who yields obediently to the full commands of government should be pro- tected in all enjoyment of personal security, personal liberty, and private property. That the traffic in intoxicating drinks greatly impairs the personal security and personal liberty of a great mass of citizens, and renders private property insecure. That all political parties are hopelessly un- willing to adopt an adequate policy on this question : Therefore, as a national conven- tion, we adopt the following declaration of principles : That while we acknowledge the pure patriotism and profound statesmanship of those patriots who laid the foundation of this government, securing at once the rights of the states severally and their in- separable union by the federal constitution, we would not merely garnish the sepulchres of our republican fathers, but we do hereby renew our pledges of solemn fealty to the imperishable principles of civil and reli- gious liberty embodied in the Declaration of Independence and our federal constitu- tion. That the traffic in intoxicating beverages is a dishonor to Christian civilization, a political wrong of unequalled enormity, subversive of ordinary objects of govern- ment, not capable of being regulated or re- strained by any system of license whatever, and imperatively demands, for its suppres- sion, effective legal prohibition, both by state and national legislation. That there can be no greater peril to a nation than existing party competition for the liquor vote. That any party not op- posed to the traffic, experience shows will engage in this competition — will court the favor of criminal classes— will barter away the public morals, the purity of the ballot, and every object of good government, for party success. That, as prohibitionists, we will individ- ually use all efforts to persuade men from the use of intoxicating liquors ; and we in- vite all persons to assist in this movement. That competence, honesty, and sobriety are indispensable qualifications for holding office. That removals from public office for mere political differences of opinion are wrong. That fixed and moderate salaries of pub- lic officers should take the places of fees and perquisites ; and that all means should be taken to prevent corruption and encourage economy. That the President and Vice-President should be elected directly by the people. That we are in favor of a sound national currency, adequate to the demands of bus- iness, and convertible into gold and silver at the will of the holder, and the adoption of every measure compatible Avith justice and public safety to appreciate our present currency to the gold standard. That the rates of ocean and inland post- age, and railroad telegraph lines and water transportation, should be made as low as possible by law. That we are opposed to all discrimination in favor of capital against labor, as well as all monopoly and class legislation. That the removal of the burdens imposed in the traffic in intoxicating drinks will emancipate labor, and will practically pro- mote labor reform. That suffrage should be granted to all persons, without regard to sex. That the fostering and extension of com- mon schools is a primary duty of the gov- ernment. That a liberal policy should be pursued to promote foreign immigration. 1873.— Liberal Republican Platform. Cincinuali, May 1. We, the Liberal Kepublicans of the United States, in national convention as- sembled at Cincinnati, proclaim the follow- ing principles as essential to just govern- ment. 1. We recognize the equality of all men before the law, and hold that it is the duty of government, in its dealings with the people, to mete out equal and exact justice to all, of whatever nativity, race, color, or persuasion, religious or political. 2. We pledge ourselves to maintain the union of these states, emancipation, and enfranchisement, and to oppose any re- opening of the questions settled by the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amend- ments of the constitution. 3. We demand the immediate and abso- lute removal of all disabilities imposed on account of the Rebellion, which was finally subdued seven years ago, believing that POLITICAL PLATFORMS. 51 universal amnesty will result in comiilete pacification in all sections of the country. 4. Local self-government, with impartial suffrage, Avill guard the rights of all citi- zens more securely than any centralized power. The public welfare requires the supremacy of the civil over the military authority, and the freedom of person under the protection of the habeati corjnts. We demand fur the individual the largest lib- erty consistent with public order, for the state self-government, and for the nation a return to the methods of jjeace and the constitutional limitations of power. 6. The civil service of the government has become a mere instrument of partisan tyranny and personal ambition, and an ob- ject of selfish greed. It is a scandal and rei^roaeh upon free institutions, and breeds a demoralization dangerous to the per- petuity of republican government. We, therefore, regard a thorough reform of the civil service as one of the most pressing necessities of the hour ; that honesty, ca- pacity, and fidelity constitute the only valid claims to public employment ; that the of- fices of the government cease to be a mat- ter of arbitrary favoritism and patronage, and that jiublic station shall become again a post of honor. To this end, it is impera- tively required that no President shall be a candidate for re-election. 6. We demand a system of federal taxa- tion which shall not unnecessarily interfere with the industry of the people, and which shull prnvide the means necessary to pay the expenses of the government, economi- cally administered, the pensions, the inter- est on the public debt, and a moderate re- duction annually of the principal thereof; and recognizing that there are in our midst honest but irreconcilable differences of opinion Avith regard to the respective sys- tems of protection and free trade, we remit the discussion of the subject to the people in their congressional districts and the de- cision of Congress thereon, wholly free from Executive interference or dictation, 7. Tlie public credit must be sacredly maintained, and we denounce repudiation in every form and guise. 8. A speedy return to specie payment is demanded alilce by the highest considera- tions of commercial morality and honest government. 9. We remember with gratitude the hero- ism and sacrifices of the soldiers and sailors of the Republic ; and no act of ours shall ever detract from their justly earned fame or the full rewards of their patriotism. 10. We are opposed to all further grants of lands to railroads or other corporations. The public domain should be held sacred to actual settlers. 11. We hold that it is the duty of the government, in its intercourse with foreign nations, to cultivate the friendships of peace, by treating with all on fair and equal terms, regarding it alike dislionoraltle either to demand what is not right or sub- mit to what is wrong. 12. For tlie promotion and success of these vital principles and tiie sujijxjrt of the candidates nominated by this conven- tion, we invite and cordially wclcninc the co-operation of all i)atriotii'" citizens, with- out regard to previous political aililialioud. 1873.— Democratic Platform, Biiltimorc, JuJij !), We, the Democratic electors of the United States, in convention assembled, do present the following principles, already adopted at Cincinnati, as essential to just government : [Here followed the "Liberal Eepublicaa Platform ;" which see above.] 1873.— Reimbllcan Platform, Philadelphia, June 5. ^ The Republican party of the United States, assembled in national convention in the city of Philadelphia, on the 5th and (3th days of June, 1872, again declares its taith, appeals to its history, and announces its position upon the questions before the country ; 1. During eleven years of supremacy it has accepted, with grand courage, the sol- emn duties of the time. It suppressed a gigantic rebellion, emancipated four mil- lions of slaves, decreed the equal citizenship of all, and established universal suffrage. Exhibiting unparalleled magnanimitv, it criminally punished no man for political offenses, and warmly welcomed all who proved their loyalty by obeving the laws and dealing justly 'with their neighbors. It has steadily decreased, with firm hand, the resultant disorders of a great war, and initiated a wise and humane policy toward the Indians. The Pacific railroad and similar vast enterprises have been gener- ously aided and successfully conducted, the public lands freely given to actual settlers, immigration protected and encouraged, and a full acknowledgment of the natural- ized citizen's rights secured from European powers. A uniform national currency has been provided, repudiation frowned down, the national credit sustained under the most extraordinary burdens, and new bonds negotiated at lower rates. The rev- enues have been carefiilly collected and honestly applied. Despite annual large reductions of the rates of taxation, the public debt has been reduced during Gen- eral Grant's presidency at the rafe of a hundred millions a year, great financial 62 AMERICAN POLITICS. crises have been avoided, and peace and plenty prevail throughout the land. Me- nacing loreigu ditiicuities have been peace- fully and honorably compromised, and the honor and power of the nation kept in high respect throughout the world. This glorious record of the past is the party's best pledge for the future. We believe the people will not intrust the government to any party or combination of men composed chiefly of those who have resisted every step of this beneficent progress. 2. The recent amendments to the national constitution should be cordially sustained because they are right, not merely tolerated because they are law, and should be carried out according to their spirit by appropriate legislation, the enforcement of which can safely be intrusted only to the party that secured those amendments. 3. Comjjlete liberty and exact equality in the enjoyment of all civil, political, and public rights should be established and effectually maintained throughout the Union by efficient and appropriate state and federal legislation. Neither the law nor its administration should admit any discrimination in respect to citizens by reason of race, creed, . color, or previous condition of servitude. 4. The national government should seek to maintain honorable peace with all na- tions, protecting its citizens everywhere, and sympathizing with all peoples who strive for greater liberty. 5. Any system of civil service under which the subordinate positions of the government are considered rewards for mere party zeal is fatally demoralizing ; and we, therefore, favor a reform of the system, by laws which shall abolish the evils of patronage, and make honesty, efficiency, and fidelity the essential quali- fications for public positions, without prac- tically creating a life tenure of office. 6. We are opposed to further grants of the })ublic lands to corporations and mo- nopolies, and demand that the national domain be set apart for free homes for the people. 7. The annual revenue, after paying cur- rent expenditures, pensions, and the inter- est on the public debt, should furnish a moderate balance for the reduction of the principal ; and that revenue, except so much as may be derived from a tax upon tobacco and liquors, should be raised by duties upon importations, the details of which should be so adjusted as to aid in securing remunerative" wages to labor, and promote the industries, prosperity, and growth of the whole country. 8. We hold in undying honor the sol- diers and sailors wdiose "valor saved the Union. Their pensions ;ire a sacred debt of the nation, and the widows and orphans of those who died for their country are en- titled to the care of a generous and grate- ful people. We favor such additional legis- lation as will extend the bounty of the government to all our soldiers and sailors who were honorably discharged, and who J in the line of duty became disabled, Avith- [ out regard to the "length of service or the I cause of such discharge. ! 9. The doctrine of Great Britain and I other European powers concerning alle- ; giance — "once a subject always a subject" — having at last, through the eff'orts of the Republican party, been abandoned, and the American idea of the individual's right to transfer allegiance having been accepted by European nations, it is the duty of our government to guard with jealous care the rights of adopted citizens against the as- sumption of unauthorized claims by their former governments, and we urge contin- ued careful encouragement and protection of voluntary immigration. 10. The franking privilege ought to be abolished, and a Avay prepared for a speedy reduction in the rates of postage. 11. Among the questions which press for attention is that which concerns the rela- tions of capital and labor ; and the Re- publican party recognizes the duty of so shaping legislation as to secure full pro- tection and the amplest field for capital, and for labor, the creator of capital, the largest opportunities and a just share of the mutual profits of these two great ser- vants of civilization. 12. We hold that Congress and the President have only fulfilled an imperative duty in their measures for the supiDression of violence and treasonable organizations in certain lately rebellious regions, and for the protection of the ballot-box ; and, therefore, they are entitled to the thanks of the nation. 13. We denounce repudiation of the juiblic debt, in any form or disguise, as a national crime. We witness wdth pride the reduction of the principal of the debt, and of the rates of interest upon the bal- ance, and confidently expect that our ex- cellent national currency will be perfected by a speedy resumption of specie payment. 14. The Republican party is mindful of its obligations to the loyal women of America for their noble devotion to the cause of freedom. Their admission to wider fields of usefulness is viewed with satisfaction ; and the honest demand of any class of citizens for additional rights should be treated with respectful considera- tion. 15. We heartily approve the action of Congress in extending amnesty to those lately in rebellion, and rejoice in the growth of peace and fraternal feeling throughout the land. 16. The Republican party proposes to respect the rights reserved by the people to POLITICAL TLATKORMS. 53 themselves as carefully as the powers dele- gated by them to the states and to tlie federal tiovernmont. It disapproves of the resort to unconstitutional laws for the pur- j)0se of rcmovinj^ evils, by interference witli rights not surrendered by the people to either the state or national government. 17. It is the duty of the general govern- ment to adoi)t such measures as may tend to encourage and restore American com- merce and slii;)-building. IS. ^Ve believe that tiie modest patriot- ism, the earnest purpose, the sound judg- ment, the practical wisdom, the incorrupti- ble integrity, and the illustrious services of Ulys-;es S. Grant have comniended him to the heart of the American people ; and with him at our head, we start to-day upon a new march to victory. 111. Henry Wilson, nominated for the Vice-Presidency, known to the whole land from the early days of the great struggle for liberty as an indefatigable laborer in all campaigns, an incorruptible legislator and representative man of American insti- tutions, is worthy to associate with our great leader and share the honors which we pledge our best efforts to bestow upon them IST-^ — Democratic (Straiglit-out) Platform, LofUsville, lOj., Seplemher 3. Whereas, A frequent recurrence to first principles and eternal vigilance against abuses are the wisest provisions for liberty, which is the source of progress, and fidelity to our constitutional system is the only protection for either : therefore. Resolved, That the original basis of our wdiole political structure is consent in every part thereof. The people of each state voluntarily created their state, and the states voluntarily formed the Union ; and each state provided by its written constitu- tion f )r everything a state could do for the protection of life, liberty, and property within it ; and each state, jointly with the others, provided a federal union for foreign and inter-state relations. Resolved, That all governmental powers, whether state or federal, are trust powers coming from the people of each state, and that they are limited to the written letter of the constitution and the laws passed in pursu'inee of it; wdiich powers must be exercised in the utmost good faith, the constitution itself stating in what manner thev may be altered and amended. Resolved, That the interests of labor and capital should not be permitted to conflict, but should be harmonized by judicious legislation. While such a conflict con- tinues, lal)( r, which is the parent of wealth, is entitled to paramount consideration. Resolved, That we proclaim to the world that principle is to be j)rcf('rred to jxtwcr ; that tlie DiMuocratic party is held together by the cohesion of tinic-honorcd princi- ples, which they will never surrender in exchange for all the ollices which Presi- dents can confer. The pangs of the mi- norities are doubtless excruciating; l)ut we welcome an eternal minority, under the banner inscribed with our ' |)rinciples, rather than an almighty and everlasting majority, ])urchas('d by tlieir abandonment. Resolved, That, liaving been l»et rayed at Baltimore into a false creed and a false leadership by the convention, we repudiate both, and appeal to the people to approve our platform, and to rally to the polls and support the true platform and the candi- dates wdio embody it. 1875.— The American National Platform, Ailo2ili'd ill SIuss Mcctiiirj, PUtsbiirg, June 'J. We hold : 1. That ours is a Christian and not a heathen nation, and that the God of the Christian Scriptures is the author of civil government. 2. That God requires and man needs a Sal)bath. 3. That the prohibition of the importa- tion, numufacture, and sale of intoxicating drinks as a beverage, is the true policy on the temperance question. 4. The charters of all secret lodges granted by our federal and state legisla- tures should be withdrawn, and their oaths prohibited by law. 5. That the civil equality secured to all American citizens by articles 13th, 14th, and 15th of our amended constitution should be preserved inviolate. 6. That arbitration of differences with nations is the most direct and sure method of securing and perpetuating a permanent peace. 7. That to cultivate the intellect without imjiroving the morals of men is to make mere adepts and experts: therefore, the Bible should be associated w-ith books of science and literature in all our educa- tional institutions. 8. That land and other monopolies should be discountenanced. 9. That the government should furnish the people with an ample and sound cur- rency and a return to specie payment, aa soon as practicable. 10. That maintenance of the public credit, protection to all loyal citizens, and justice to Indians are essential to the honor and safety of our nation. 11. And, finally, we demand for the American people the abolition of electoral colleges, and a direct vote for President and Vice-President of the United States. 64 AMERICAN POLITICS. [Their candidates were James B. Walker, Wheatou, Illinois, for President ; and Don- ald Kirkpatrick, Syracuse, New York, for Vice-President.j 1876.— Proliibltlon Reform Platform, Clerelaitd, Ohio, May 17. The Prohibition Reform party of the United States, organized in the name of the people, to revive, enforce, and perpet- uate in the government the doctrines of the Declaration of Indejiendence, submit, in this centennial year of the republic, for the suffrages of all good citizens, the following platform of national reforms and measures : First. The legal prohibition in the Dis- trict of Columbia, the territories, and in every other place subject to the laws of Congress, of the importation, exportation, manufacture, and traffic of all alcoholic beverages, as high crimes against society ; an amendment of the national constitu- tion, to render these prohibitory measures universal and permanent ; and the adop- tion of treaty stipulations with foreign powers, to prevent the importation and exportation of all alcoholic beverages. Second. The abolition of class legisla- tion, and of special privileges in the gov- ernment, and the adoption of equal suffrage and eligibility to office, without distinction of race, religious creed, property, or sex. Third. The appropriation of the public lands, in limited quantities, to actual set- tlers only ; the reduction of the rates of inland and ocean postage ; of telegraphic communication ; of railroad and water transportation and travel, to the lowest practical point, by force of laws, wisely and justly framed, with reference, not only to the interest of capital employed, but to the higher claims of the general good. Foxirth. The suppression, by laws, of lotteries and gambling in gold, stocks, pro- duce, and every form of money and pro- perty, and the penal inhibition of the use of the public mails for advertising schemes of gambling and lotteries. Fifth. The abolition of those foul enor- mities, polygamy and the social evil ; and the protection of purity, peace, ancl^ hap- legislation. piness of homes, by ample and efficient Sixth. The national observance of the Christian Sabbath, established by laws prohibiting ordinary labor and business in all departments of public service and private employment (works of necessity, charity, and religion excepted) on that day. Seventh. The establishment, by manda- tory provisions in national and state con- stitutions, and by all necessary legislation, of a system of free public schools for the universal and forced education of all the youth of the land. Eiffhth. The free use of the Bible, not as a ground of religious creeds, but as a text-book of the purest morality, the best liberty, and the noblest literature in our public schools, that our children may grow up in its light, and that its spirit and prin- ciples may pervade our nation. Ninth. The separation of the govern- ment in all its departments and institu- tions, including the public schools and all funds for their maintenance, from the con- trol of every religious sect or other asso- ciation, and the protection alike of all sects by equal laws, with entire freedom of religious faith and worship. tenth. The introduction into all treaties hereafter negotiated with foreign govern- ments of a provision for the amicable set- tlement of international difficulties by arbitration. Eleventh. The abolition of all barbar- ous modes and instruments of punishment ; the recognition of the laws of God and the claims of humanity in the discipline of jails and prisons, and of that higher and wiser civilization worthy of our age and nation, which regards the reform of criminals as a means for the prevention of crime. . Tivelfth. The abolition of executive and legislative patronage, and the election of President, Vice-President, United States Senators, and of all civil officers, so far sis practicable, by the direct vote of the peo- ple. Thirteenth. The practice of a friendly and liberal policy to immigrants from all nations, the guaranty to them of ample protection, and of equal rights and privi- leges. Fourteenth. The separation of the money of government from all banking institu- tions. The national government, only, should exercise the high prerogative of issuing paper money, and that should be subject to prompt redemption on demand, in gold and silver, the only equal stand- ards of value recognized by the civilized world. Fifteenth. The reduction of the salaries of public officers in a just ratio with the decline of Avages and market prices ; the abolition of sinecures, unnecessary offices, and official fees and perquisites ; the prac- tice of strict economy in government ex- penses ; and a free and thorough investi- gation into any and all alleged abuses of public trusts. 1876.— Independent (Greenback) Platform, Indianapolis, hid., Miiy 17. The Independent party is called into existence by the necessities of the people, whose industries are prostrated, whose labor is deprived of its just reward by a P O L I T 1 C A L P L A T F OHMS. 55 ruinous polk-y which the Kepublicaii and Demorrutic parties refuse to change; and, in view of the failure of these parties to furnish relief to the depressed industries of the country, thereby disapi)ointino- the just hopes and expectations of the suffer- ing people, we delare our i^rinciplcs, and invite all independent and patriotic iniMi to join our ranks in this movcnient for fi- nancial reform and industrial emancipation. First. We demand the immediate and unconditional repeal of the specie resump- tion act of January 14, 1875, and the res- cue of our industries from ruin and disas- ter resulting from its enforcement; and w'e call upon all ]iatriotic men to organize in every congressional district of the country, wnth a view of electing representatives to Congress who will carry out the wishes of the people in this regard and stop the present suicidal and destructive policy of contraction. Second. We believe that a United States note, issued directly by the government, and convertible, on demand, into United States obligations, bearing a rate of inter- est not exceeding one cent a day on each one hundred dollars, and exchangeable for United States notes at par, will aftbrd the best circulating medium ever devised. Such United States notes should be full legal tenders for all purposes, except for the payment of such obligations as are, l>y existing contracts, especially made paya- ble in coin ; and we hold that it is the duty of the government to provide such a circulating medium, and insist, in the language of Thomas Jefferson, that " bank paper must be suppressed, and the circu- lation restored to the nation, to whom it belongs." Thtrd. It is the paramount duty of the government, in all its legislation, to keep in view the full development of all legiti- mate business, agricultural, mining, manu- facturing, and commercial. Fourth. We most earnestly protest against any further issue of gold bonds for sale in foreign markets, by which we Avould be made, for a long period, " hewers of wood and draw'ers of water " to for- eigners, especially as the American people would gladly and promptly take at par all bonds the government may need to sell, provided they are made payable at the op- tion of the holder, and bearing interest at 8.65 per cent, per annum or even a lower rate. Fifth. We further protest against the sale of government bonds for the purpose of purchasing silver to be used as a sub- stitute for our more convenient and less fluctuating fractional currency, which, al- though well calculated to enrich owners of silver mines, yet in operation it will still further oppress, in taxation, an already overburdened people. 24 1870.— RopiiMlcaii Platform, Cimiiimili, Ohio, June 14. When, in ihc economy of Providence, this land was to l)c purged of human slavery, and when the strength of the gov- ernment (»f the people, by the i)cople, and for the people, was to be demonstrated, the Republican i)arty came into power. Its deeds have passed into history, and we look back to them with pride. Incited by their memories to high aims for the good of our country and mankind, and looking to the future with unfaltering courage^ hope, and j)urp()se, we, the representatives of the party, in national convention as- sembled, make the following declaratioa of pi'inciples : 1. The United States of America is a nation, not a league. By the combined workings of the national and state govern- ments, "under their respective constitu- tions, the rights of every citizen are se- cured, at home and abroald, and the com- mon welfare promoted. 2. The Republican party has preserved these governments to the hundredth anni- versary of the nation's birth, and they are now embodiments of the great truths spo- ken at its cradle — " That all men are cre- ated equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that for the at- tainment of these ends governments have been instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the gov- erned." Until these truths are cheerftilly obeyed, or, if need be, vigorously enforced^ the work of the Republican partj^ is un- finished. 3. The permanent pacification of the southern section of the Union, and the complete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of all their rights, is a duty to which"^ the Republican party stands sa- credly pledged. The power to provide for the enforcement of the principles embodied in the recent constitutional amendments is vested, by those amendments, in the Con- gress of the United States ; and we declare it to be the solemn obligation of the legis- lative and executive departments of the government to put into immediate and vigorous exercise all their constitutional powers for removing any just causes of discontent on the part of any class, and for securing to every American citizen complete liberty and exact equality in the exercise of all civil, political, and public rights. To this end we imperatively de- mand a Congress and a Chief Executive whose courage and fidelity to these duties shall not falter until these results are placed beyond dispute or recall. 4. In the first act of Congress signed hy President Grant, the national government assumed to remove any doubt of its pur- 56 AMERICAN POLITICS. pose to discharge all just obligations to the public creditors, and " solemnly pledged its faith to make provision at the earliest practicable period for the redemption of the United States notes in coin." Com- mercial prosperity, public morals, and na- tional credit demand that this promise be fulfilled by a continuous and steady pro- gress to specie payment. 5. Under the constitution, the President and heads of departments are to make nominations for office, the Senate is to ad- vise and consent to appointments, and the House of Representatives is to accuse and prosecute faithless officers. The best in- terest of the public service demand that these distinctions be respected ; that Sena- tors and Representatives who may be judges and accusers should not dictate ap- pointments to office. The invariable rule in ap[>()intments should have reference to the honesty, fidelity, and capacity of the appointees, giving to the party in power those places where harmony and vigor of administration require its policy to be rep- - . rep- resented, but permitting all others to be filled bv persons selected with sole refer- ence to the efficiency of the public service, and the right of all citizens to share in the honor of rendering faithful service to the country. 6. We rejoice in the quickened con- science of the people concerning political affiiirs, and will hold all public officers to a rigid responsibility, and engage that the prosecution and punishment of all who be- tray official trusts shall be swift, thorough, and unsparing. 7. The public school system of the several states is the bulwark of the American Re- public ; and, with a view to its security and permanence, we recommend an amend- ment to the constitution of the United States, forbidding the application of any public funds or property for the benefit of any schools or institutions under sectarian control. 8. The revenue necessary for current expenditures, and the obligations of the public debt, must be largely derived from duties upon importations, which, so far as possible, should be adjusted to promote the interests of American labor and ad- vance the prosperity of the whole country. 9. We reaffirm our opposition to further grants of the public lands to corporations and monopolies, and demand that the na- tional domain be devoted to free homes for the people. 10. It is the imperative duty of the gov- ernment so to modify existing treaties with European governments, that the same pro- tection shall be afforded to the adopted American citizen that is given to the na- tive-born ; and that all necessary laws should be passed to protect emigrants in the absence of power in the states for that purpose. 11. It is the immediate duty of Con- gress to fully investigate the effect of the immigration and importation of Mongo- lians upon the moral and material in- terests of the country. 12. The Republican party recognizes, with approval, the substantial advances recently made towards the cstablisliment of equal rights for women by the many important amendments effected by Repub- lican legislatures in the laws vsdiich con- cern the personal and property relations of wives, mothers, and widows, and by the appointment and election of women to the superintendence of education, charities, and other public trusts. The honest de- mands of this class of citizens for addi- tional rights, privileges, and immunities, should be treated with respectful consider- ation. 13. The constitution confers upon Con- gress sovereign power over the territories of the United States for their government; and in the exercise of this power it is the right and duty of Congress to prohibit and extirpate, in the territories, that relic of barbarism — polygamy; and we demand such legislation as shall secure this end and the supremacy of American institu- tions in all the territories. 14. The pledges which the nation has given to her soldiers and sailors must be fulfilled, and a grateful people will always hold those who imperiled their lives for the country's preservation in the kindest remembrance. 16. We sincerely deprecate all sectional feeling and tendencies. We, therefore, note with deep solicitude that the Demo- cratic party counts, as its chief hope of success, upon the electoral vote of a united south, secured through the efforts of those who were recently arrayed against the na- tion ; and we invoke the earnest attention of the country to the grave truth that a success thus achieved would reopen sec- tional strife, and imperil national honor and human rights. 16. We charge the Democratic party with being the same in character and spirit as when it sympathized with treason ; with making its control of the House of Repre- sentatives the triumph and opportunity of the nation's recent foes ; with reasserting and applauding, in the national capital, the sentiments of unrepentant rebellion; with sending Union soldiers to the rear, and promoting Confederate soldiers to the front; with deiilHrately proposing to repu- diate the pliglited thith of the government; with being equally false and imbecile upon the overshadowing financial questions; with thwarting the ends of justice by its partisan mismanagement and obstruction of investigation; with proving itself r U L 1 T 1 C A J. PLATFORMS. 57 through the pericxl of its ascendoticy in the lower house of Congress, utterly in- competent to administer ilie government ; and we warn the country against trusting a party thus alike unworthy, recreant, and incapable. 17. The national administration merits commendation for its honorable work in the management of domestic and foreign atfairs, and President Grant deserves the continued hearty gratitude of the Ameri- can people for his patriotism and his emi- nent services in war and in peace. 18. We present, as our candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States, two distinguished statesmen, of eminent ability and character, and con- spicuously fitted for those high offices, and we confidently appeal to the American people to intrust the administration of their public affairs to Rutherford B. Hay and William A. Wheeler. 1876.— Democratic Platform. St. Louis, 3Io., June 'Si. We, the delegates of the Democratic party of the United States, in national con- vention assembled, do hereby declare the administration of the Federal government to be in urgent need of immediate reform ; do hereby enjoin upon the nominees of this convention, and of the Democratic party in each state, a zealous effort and co- operation to this end ; and do hereby ap- peal to our fellow-citizens of every former political connection to undertake, with us, this first and most pressing patriotic duty. For the Democracy of the whole coun- try', we do here reaffirm our faith in the per- manence of the Federal Union, our devo- tion to the constitution of the United States, with its amendments universally accepted as a final settlement of the controversies that engendered civil war, and do here re- cord our steadfast confidence in the per- petuity of republican self-government. In absolute acquiescence in the will of the majority — the vital principle of repub- lics ; in the supremacy of the civil over the military authority ; in the total separation of church and state, for the sake alike of civil and religious freedom ; in the equal- ity of all citizens before just laws of their own enactment; in the liberty of indi- vidual conduct, unvexed by sumptuary laws ; in the faithful education of the ris- ing generation, that they may preserve, enjoy, and transmit these best conditions of human happiness and hope — we behold the noblest products of a hundred years of changefnl history ; but while upholding the bond of our Union and great charter of these our rights, it behooves a free peo- ple to practice also that eternal vigilance (.vhich is the price of liberty. Reform is necessary to rebuild and es- tablisl) in the hearts'of the whole peo])le tlie Union, eleven years ago happily res- cued from the danger of a secession of states, but now to be saved from a corrupt centralism which, after inflicting upon ten states tlie rapacity of carpet-bag tyranny, has honey-combed the offices of the Federal government itself, with incapacity, waste, and fraud ; infected states and municipali- ties with the contagion of misrule; and locked fast the prosperity of an industriou.* people in the paralysis of " hard times." Reform is necessary to establisli a sound currency, restore the public credit, and maintain the national honor. ^Ve denounce the failure, for all these eleven years of peace, to make good the promise of the legal tender notes, which are a changing standard of value in the hands of the people, and the non-payment of which is a disregard of the plighted faith of the nation. V/e denounce the improvidence which, iu eleven years of peace, has taken from the people, in federal taxes, thirteen times the wdiole amount of the legal-tender notes, and squandered four times their sum iu useless expense without accumulating any reserve for their redemption. We denounce the financial imbecility and immorality of that party which, dur- ing eleven years of peace, has made no ad- vance toward resumption, no preparation for resumption, but, instead, has obstructed resumption, by wasting our resources and exhausting all our surplus income ; and, while annually professing to intend a speedy return to specie payments, has an- nually enacted fresh hinderances thereto. As such hinderance we denounce the re- sumption clause of 1875, and we here de- mand its repeal. We demand a judicious system of prepa- ration, by public economies, by official re- trenchments, and by w'ise finance, which shall enable the nation soon to assure the whole world of its perfect ability and of its perfect readiness to meet any of its ])ro- mises at the call of the creditor entitled to payment. We believe such a system, well devised, and, above all, intrusted to com- petent hands for execution, creating, at no time, an artificial scarcity of currency, and at no time alarming the public mind into a withdrawal of that vaster machinery' of credit by which ninety-five per cent, of all business transactions are performed. A system open, public, and inspiring general confidence, would, from the day of its adoption, bring healing on its wings to all our harassed industries — set in motion the wheels of commerce, manufactiu'es, and the mechanic arts — restore employment to la- bor — and, renew, in all its natural sources, the prosperity of the people. Reform is necessarv in the sum and 58 AMERICAN POLITICS. modes of federal taxation, to the end that capital may be .set free from distrust and labor lightly burdened. We denounce the present tariff, levied upon nearly four thousand articles, as a masterpiece of injustice, inequality, and false pretence. It yields a dwindling, not a yearly rising, revenue. It has impover- ished many industries to subsidize a few. It prohibits imports that might purchase the products of American labor. It has degraded American commerce from the first to an inferior rank on the high seas. It has cut down the sales of American manufactures at home and abroad, and depleted the returns of American agri- culture—an industry followed by half our people. It costs the people five times more than it produces to the treasury, ob- structs the processes of production, and wastes the fruits of labor. It promotes fraud, fosters smuggling, enriches dis- honest oflicials, and bankrupts honest merchants. We demand that all custom- house taxation shall be only for revenue. Reform is necessary in the scale of public expense — federal, state, and municipal. Our federal taxation has swollen from sixty millions gold, in 1860, to four hundred and fifty millions currency, in 1870 ; our ag- gregate taxation from one hundred and fifty- four millions gold, in 1860, to seven hun- dred and thirty millions currency, in 1870 — or, in one decade, from less than five dollars per head to more than eighteen dollars per head. Since the peace, the people have paid to their tax-gatherers more than thrice the sum of the national debt, and more than twice that sum for the Federal government alone. We demand a rigorous frugality in every department and from every officer of the government. Reform is necessary to put a stop to the profligate waste of public lands, and their diversion from actual settlers, by the party in power, which has squandered 200,000,000 of acres upon railroads alone, and, out of more than thrice that aggregate, has dis- posed of less than a sixth directly to tillers of the soil. Eeform is necessary to correct the omis- sion of a Kepublican Congress, and the errors of our treaties and our diplomacy which have stripped our fellow-citizens of foreign birth and kindred race, recrossing the Atlantic, of the shield of American citizenship, and have exposed our brethren of the Pacific coast to the incursions of a race not sprung from the same great parent stock, and in fact now, by law, denied citizenship through naturalization, as being neither accustomed to the traditions of a progressive civilization nor exercised in liberty under equal laws. We denounce the policy which thus discards the liberty- loving German and tolerates a revival of the coolie trade in Mongolian women, im- ported for immoral purposes, and Mongolian men, held to perform servile labor contracts and demand such modification of the treaty with the Chinese Empire, or such legisla- tion within constitutional limitations, as shall prevent ftirther importation or immi- gration of the Mongolian race. Reform is necessary, and can never be effected but by making it the controlling issue of the elections, and lifting it above the two false issues with which the ofiice- holding class and the party in power seek to smother it: 1. The false issue with which they would enkindle sectarian strife in respect to the public schools, of which the establishment and sujjport belongs exclusively to the several states, and which the Democratic party has cherished from their foundation, and is resolved to maintain, wnthout preju- dice or preference for any class, sect, or creed, and without largesses from the trea- sury to any. 2. The false issue by which they seek to light anew the dying embers of sectional hate between kindred peoples once estranged, but now reunited in one indivisible re- public and a common destiny. Reform is necessary in the civil service. Experience proves that efficient, economical conduct of the governmental business is not possible if its civil service be subject to change at every election, be a prize fought for at the ballot-box, be a brief re- ward of party zeal, instead of posts of honor assigned for proved competency, and held for fidelity in the public employ ; that the di^ensing of patronage should neither be a tax upon the time of all our public men, nor the instrument of their ambition. Here, again, promises, fiilsified in the per- formance, attest that the party in power can work out no practical or salutary re- form. Reform is necessary, even more, in the higher grades of the public service. Presi- dent, Vice-President, Judges, Senators, Representatives, Cabinet officers— these, and all others in authority — are the people's servants. Their offices are not a private perquisite ; they are a public trust. When the annals of this Republic show the dis- grace and censure of a Vice-President ; a late Speaker of the House of Representa- tives marketing his rulings as a presiding officer ; three Senators profiting secretly by their votes as law-makers ; five chairmen of the leading committees of the late House of Representatives exposed in jobbery ; a late Secretary of the Treasury forcing ba- lances in the public accounts ; a late At- torney-General misappropriating public funds' ; a Secretary of the Navy enriched, or enriching friends, by percentages levied off the profits of contractors with his de- partment ; an Ambassador to England con- cerned in a dishonorable speculation ; the I'OLITJCAL PLATFORMS, 59 President's private sonvtarv l);ir('ly esru])- ing conviction upon trial i'or guilty compli- city in frauds upon tlie revenue ; a Secre- tary of War inipeaclied for liigh crimes and misdemeanors — the demonstration is comi)k'te, that the first step in reform must be the people's choice of honest men from another party, lest the diseasr of one poli- tical organization infect the body i)olitic, and lest by making no change of men or parties we get no change of measures and no real reform. All these abuses, wrongs, and crimes — the product of sixteen years' ascendency of the Republican party — create a necessity for reform, confessed by tlie Republicans themselves; but their reformers are voted down in convention and disi)laced from the cabinet. The party's mass of honest voters is powerless to resist the 80,000 office-hold- ers, its leaders and guides. Reform can only be had by a peaceful civic revolution. We demand a change of system, a change of administration, a change of parties, that we may have a change of measures and of men. Resolved, That this convention, repre- senting the Democratic party of the United States, do cordially indorse the action of the present House of Representatives, in re- ducing and curtailing the expenses of the Federal government, in cutting down sa- laries and extravagant appropriations, and in abolishing useless offices and places not required by the i:)ublic necessities ; and we shall trust to the firmness of the Democra- tic members of the House that no commit- tee of conference and no misinterpretation of the rules will be allowed to defeat these wdiolesome measures of economy demanded by the country. Resolved, That the soldiers and sailors of the Republic, and the widows and or- phans of those who have fallen in battle, have a just claim upon the care, protection, and gratitude of their fellow-citizens. 1878.— National Platform. Toledo, Ohio, February 22. Wliereas, Throughout our entire country the value of real estate is depreciated, in- dustry paralyzed, trade depressed, business incomes and wages reduced, unparalleled distress inflicted upon the poorer and mid- dle ranks of our people, the land filled with fraud, embezzlement, bankruptcy, crime, suffering, pauperism, and starvation ; and Whereas, This state of things has been brought about by legislation in the interest of, and dictated by, money-lenders, bankers and bondholders ; and Whereas, While we recognize the fact that the men in Congress connected with tilt' old i)olitical parties have stood up man- fully lor the rights of the jjcoplc, and met the threats of the nujney power, and the ridicule of an ignorant and subsidized ])ress, yet neither the Republiean nor the Democratic i)arties, in their i>olicles, pro- I)Ose remedies for the existing evils; and Whereas, The Independent Greenback party, and other associations more or less effective, have been unable, hitherto, to make a formidable opposition t(j old party organizations ; and Whereas, The limiting of the legal-tender quality of the greenbacks, the changing of currency bonds into coin bonds, tlie de- monetization of the silver dollar, the ex- empting of bonds from taxation, the con- traction of the circulating medium, the proposed Ibrced resumption of specie pay- ments, and the prodigal waste of the public lands, were crimes against the people ; and, asfar as possible, the results of these cri- minal acts must be counteracted by judi- cious legislation : Thn-efore, We assemble in national con- vention and make a declaration of our principles, and invite all patriotic citizens to unite in an effort to secure financial re- form and industrial emancipation. The organization shall be known as the " Na- tional Party," and under this name we will perfect, without delay, national, state, and local associations, to secure the election to office of such men only as will pledge themselves to do all in their power to es- tablish these princii^les : First. It is the exclusive function of the general government to coin and create money and regulate its value. All bank issues designed to circulate as money should be suppressed. The circulating medium, whether of metal or j^aper, shatl be issued by the government, and made a full legal- tender for all debts, duties, and taxes in the United States, at its stamped value. Second. There shall be no privileged class of creditors. Official salaries, pensions, bonds, and all other debts and obligations, public and private, shall be discharged in the legal-tender money of the United States strictly according to the stipulations of the laws under which they were con- tracted. Third. The coinage of silver shall be placed on the same footing as that of gold. Fourth. Congress shall jirovide said money adequate to the full employment of labor, the equitable distribution of its pro- ducts, and the requirement of business, fixing a minimum amount per capita of the population as near as may be, and other- wise regulating its value by wise and equi- table provisions of law, so that the rate of interest will secure to labor its just reward. Fifth. It is inconsistent with the genius of popular government that any species of private property should be exempt from 60 AMERICAN POLITICS. bearing its proper share of the public burdens. Government bonds and money should be taxed precisely as other projserty, and a graduated income tax should be levied for the support of the government and the payment of its debts. Sixth. Public lands are the common property of the whole people, and should not be sold to speculators nor granted to railroads or other corporations, but should be donated to actual settlers, in limited quantities. Seventh. The government should, by gen- eral enactments, encourage the develop- ment of our agricultural, mineral, mecha- nical, manufacturing, and commercial re- sources, to the end that labor may be fully and profitably employed ; but no monopo- lies should be legalized. Eighth. All useless ofKces should be abol- ished, the most rigid economy favored in eveiy branch of the public service, and severe punishment inflicted upon public officers who betray the trusts rejjosed in them. Alnth. As educated labor has devised means for multiplying productions by in- ventions and discoveries, and as their use requires the exercise of mind as well as body, such legislation should be had that the number of hours of daily toil will be reduced, giving to the working classes more leisure for mental improvement and their several enjoyments, and saving them from premature decay and death. Tenth. The adoption of an American monetary system, as proposed herein, will harmonize all differences in regard to tariff and federal taxation, reduce and equlize the cost of transportation by land and water, distribute equitably the joint earn- ings of cajjital and labor, secure to the producers of wealth the results of their labor and skill, and muster out of service the vast army of idlers, who, under the existing system, grow rich upon the earn- ings of others, that every man and woman may, by their own efforts, secure a compe- tency, so that overgrown fortunes and ex- treme poverty will be seldom found within the limits of our republic. Eleventh. Both national and state govern- ments should establish bureaus of labor and industrial statistics, clothed with the power of gathering and publishing the same. Twelfth, That the contract system of em- ploying labor in our prisons and reforma- tory institutions works great injustice to our mechanics and artisans, and should be prohibited. Tidrteenth. The importation of servile labor into the United States from China is a problem of the most serious importance, and we recommend legislation looking to its suppression. Fourteenth. We believe in the supremacy of law over and above all perishable ma- terial, and in the necessity of a party of united pe(ij)le that will rise above old party lines and prejudices. We will not affiliate in any degree with any of the old parties, but, in all cases and localities, will organize anew, as united National men — nominate for office and official positions only such persons as are clearly believers in and identified with this our sacred cause ; and, irrespective of creed, color, place of birth, or past condition of political or other serv- itude, vote only for men who entirely abandon old pai'ty lines and organizations. 1879 — National l.i1ieral Platform. Cincinnati, Ohio, September 14. 1. Total separation of Church and State, to be guaranteed by amendment of the United States constitution ; including the equitable taxation of church property, se- cularization of the public schools, abroga- tion of Sabbatarian laws, abolition of chap- laincies, prohibition of public ap])ropria- tions for religious purposes, and all mea- sures necessary to the same general end. 2. National protection for national citi- zens in their equal civil, political, and re- ligious rights, to be guaranteed by amend- ment of the United States constitution and afforded through the United States courts. 3. Universal education, the basis of uni- versal suffrage in this secular Republic, to be guaranteed by amendment of the United States constitution, requiring every state to maintain a thoroughly secularized public school system, and to permit no child within its limits to grow up without a good elementary education. 1880.— Independent Republican Principles. I. Independent Republicans adhere ta the republican principles of national supre- macy, sound finances, and civil service re- form, expressed in the Republican plat- form of 187(3, in the letter of acceptance of President Hayes, and in his message of 1879 ; and they seek the realization of those i^rinciples in practical laws and their efficient administration. This requires, 1. The continuance on the statute-book of laws protecting the rights of voters at national elections. But national supre- macy affords no pretext for interference with the local rights ol' communities; and the develojiinent of tlie south from its pre- sent defective civilization can be secured only under constitutional methods, such as those of President Hayes. 2. The passage of laws whi'h shall de- prive greenbacks of their I'lial-tender quality, as a first stc}) toward tluir ulti- POLITICAL PLATFORMS. 61 mate withdrawal and cancellation, and shall maintain all coins made legal tender at sueli weight and fineness as will enal)le them to hi.' used witliout discount in the commereial transactions ol' the world. 3. The repeal of the acts which luuit the terms of office of certain government oili- cials to four years ; the repeal of the tenure-of-office acts, which limit the jiower of the executive to remove for cause ; the establishment of a j>ermanent civil service commission, or equivalent nieasur(>s to as- certain, by open comiietition, and cerlily to the President or other appointing ])ower the fitness of applicants for nomination or appointment to all non-political offices. n. Independent Rejmblicans believe that local issues should 'be independent of party. The words Republican and Demo- crat should have no weight in determining whether a school or city shall be adminis- tered on business i^rinciples by capable men. With a view to this, legislation is asked which shall prescribe for the voting for local and for state officers upon sei)a- rate ballots. III. Independent Republicans assert that a political party is a co-operation of voters to secure the jiractical enactment into legislation of political convictions set forth as its platform. Every voter accept- ing that platform is a member of that party ; any representative of that party op- posing the principles or evading the pro- mises of its platform forfeits the support of its voters. No voter should be held by the action or nomination of any caucus or convention of his party against his private judgment. It is his duty to vote against bad measures and unfit men, as the only means of obtaining good ones ; and if his party no longer represents its professed principles in its practical workings, it is his duty to vote against it. IV. IndeiJendent Republicans seek good nominations through participation in the primaries and through the defeat of bad nominees ; they will labor for the defeat of any local Republican candidate, and, in co-operation with those holding like views elsewhere, for the defeat of any general Republican candidate whom they do not deem fit. 1880. Reimblican Platform. CIncago, HHnois, June 2. The Republican party, in national con- vention assembled, at the end of twenty years since the Federal government was first committed to its charge, submits to the people of the United States its brief report of its administration : It suppressed a rebellion which had armed nearly a million of men to subvert the national authority. It reconstructed the union of the states with freedom, in- stead of slavery, as its corner-stone. It transformed four million of human beings from the likeness ol' things to the rank of citizens. It relieved Congri'ss from the in- famous work of hunting fugitive slaves, and charged it to see that slavery doi-s not exist. It iias raised the vahie of our papiT cur- rency from thirty-eight per cent, to the par of gold. It has restored, upon a solid basis, j.ayment in coin for all the national oliligalions, and has given us a cuirency al)sohitely good and e(]ual in every part (if our extencled country. It has lifted the credit of the nation from the point where six per cent, bonds sold at eighty-six to that where four percent. bonds are" eagerly sought at a premium. Under its administration railways have increased from 31,000 miles in 1860, to more than 82,000 miles in 1879. Our foreign trade has increased from .*700,000,000 to $1,150,000,000 in the same time ; and our exports, which were $20,- 000,000 less than our imports in 18(30, were $264,000,000 more than our imports in 1879. Without resorting to loans, it has, since the war closed, defrayed the ordinary ex- penses of government, besides the accruing interest on the public debt, and disbursed, annually, over $30,000,000 for soldiers' pensions. It has paid $888,000,000 of the public debt, and, by refunding the balance at lower rates, has reduced the annual interest charge from nearly $151,000,000 to less than $89,000,000. All the industries of the countrv have revived, labor is in demand, wages have increased, and throughout the entire coun- try there is evidence of a coming prosperity greater than we have ever enjoyed. Upon this record, the Republican party asks for the continued confidence and sup- port of the people ; and this convention submits for their approval the following statement of the principles and purposes which will continue to guide and inspire its efforts : 1. We affirm that the work of the last twenty years has been such as to com- mend itself to the favor of the nation, and that the fruits of the costly victories which we have achieved, through inunense diffi- culties, should be preserved ; that the peace regained should be cherished; that the dissevered Union, now happily restored, should be perpetuated, and that the liber- ties secured to this generation should be transmitted, undiminished, to future gene^ rations; that the order established and the credit acquire'd shovdd never be impaired; that the pensions j)ronii>e(l should be paid; that the de1)t so much reduced should be extinguished by the full payment of every dollar tliercof; that the reviving industries should be further promoted ; and that the 62 AMERICAN POLITICS. commerce, already so great, should be steadily encouraged. 2. The constitution of the United States is a supreme law, and not a mere contract ; out of confederate states it made a sove- reign nation. Some powers are denied to the nation, while others are denied to states ; but the boundary between the pow- ers delegated and those reserved is to be determined by the national and not by the state tribunals. 3. The work of popular education is one left to the care of the several states, but it is the duty of the national government to aid that work to the extent of its constitu- tional ability. The intelligence of the na- tion is but tlie aggregate of the intelligence in the several states ; and the destiny of the nation must be guided, not by the genius of any one state, but by the aver- age genius of all. "4. The constitution wisely forbids Con- gress to make any law respecting an es- tablishment of religion ; but it is idle to hope that the nation can be protected against the influences of sectarianism while each state is exposed to its domination. \Ve, therefore, recommend that the constitution be so amended as to lay the same prohibi- tion upon the legislature of each state, to forbid the appropriation of public funds to the support of sectarian schools. 5. We reafiirm the belief, avowed in 1876, that the duties levied for the pur- pose of revenue should so discriminate as to favor American labor ; that no further grant of the public domain should be made to any railway or other corporation ; that slavery having perished in the states, its twin liarbarity — polygamy — must die in the territories ; that everywhere the pro- tection accorded to citizens of American birth must be secured to citizens by Ameri- can adoption. That we esteem it the duty of Congress to develop and improve our water-courses and harbors, but insist that further subsidies to private persons or cor- porations must cease. That the obliga- tions of the republic to the men who pre- served its integrity in the day of battle are undiminished by the lapse of fifteen years since their final victory — ^to do them perpetual honor is, and shall forever be, the grateful privilege and sacred duty of the American people. 6. Since the authority to regulate immi- gration and intercourse between the United States and foreign nations rests with the Congress of the United States and its treaty-making powers, the Republican party, regarding the unrestricted immigra- tion" of the Chinese as an evil of great magnitude, invoke the exercise _ of that power to restrain and limit that immigra- tion by the enactment of such just, humane, and reasonable provisions as will produce that result. That the purity and patriotism which characterized the 'early career of Ruther- ford B. Hayes in peace and war, and which guided the thoughts of our immediate pre- decessors to select him for a presidential candidate, have continued to inspire him in his career as chief executive, and that history will accord to his administration the honors which are due to au efficient, just, and courteous discharge of the public business, and will honor his interposition between the people and proposed partisan laws. 8. We charge upon the Democratic party the habitual sacrifice of jiatriotism and justice to a supreme and insatial)le lust for office and patronage. That to obtain pos- session of the national and state govern- ments, and the control of place and position, they have obstructed all efforts to promote the purity and to conserve the freedom of suffrage ; have devised fraudulent certifi- cations and returns ; have labored to un- seat lawfully-elected members of Congress, to secure, at all hazards, the vote of a ma- jority of the states in the House of Repre- sentatives ; have endeavored to occupy, by force and fraud the places of trust given to others by the people of Maine, and rescued by the courageous action of Maine's pa- triotic sons ; have, by methods vicious in principle and tyrannical in practice, at- tached partisan legislation to appropria- tion bills, upon whose passage the very movements of government depend ; have crushed the rights of the individual ; have advocated the principle and sought the favor of rebellion against the nation, and have endeavored to obliterate the sacred memories of the war, and to overcome its inestimably valuable results of nationality, personal freedom, and individual equality. Equal, steady, and complete enforcement of the laws, and protection of all our citizens in the enjoyment of all privileges and im- munities guaranteed by the constitution, are the first duties of the nation. The dan- ger of a solid south can only be averted by the faithful performance of every promise which the nation made to the citizen. The execution of the laws, and the punishment of all those who violate them, are the only safe methods by which an enduring peace can be secured, and genuine prosperity es- tablished throughout the south. What- ever promises the nation makes, the na- tion must i)erform ; and the nation can not with safety relegate this duty to the states. The solid south must be divided by the peaceful agencies of the ballot, and all opinions must there find free expression ; and to this end honest voters must be pro- tected against terrorism, violence, or fraud. And we affirm it to be the duty and the purpose of the Republican party to use all legitimate means to restore all the states of this Union to the most perfect harmony POLITICAL PLATFORMS. 63 which may be practicable ; and we subiuil to the practical, sensible people of the United States to say whether it would not be dan- gerous to the dearest interests of our coun- try, at this time to surrender the adminis- tration of the national government to a l)arty which seeks to overthrow the exist- ing policy, under wliieh we are so j)rosi)er- ous, and tlius bring distrust and coiiiiision where tliere is nc»w order, conlick'nee, and hope. 9. The Republican party, adhering to a principle affirmed by its last national con- vention, of respect for the constitutional rule covering appointments to office, adopts the declaration of President Hayes, that the reform of the civil service should be thorough, radical, and complete. To this end it demands the co-operation of the legislative with the executive department of the government, and that Congress shall so legislate that fitness, ascertained by proper practical tests, shall admit to the public service ; and that the power of re- moval for cause, with due responsibility for the good conduct of subordinates, shall accompany the power of appointment. 1880.— National (Greenback) Platform, Chicago, Illiiwis,, June 9. The civil government should guarantee the divine right of every laborer to the re- sults of his toil, thus enabling the pro- ducers of wealth to provide themselves with the means for physical comfort, and facilities for mental, social, and moral cul- ture; and we condemn, as unworthy of our civilization, the barbarism which imjjoses upon wealth-producers a state of drudgery as the price of a bare animal existence. Notwithstanding the enormous increase of productive power l)y the universal intro- duction of labor-saving machinery and the discovery of new agents for the increase of wealth, the task of the laborer is scarcely lightened, the hours of toil are but little shortened, and few producers are lifted from i)overty into comfort and pecuniary independence. The associated monopolies, the international syndicates, and other in- come classes demand dear money, cheap labor, and a strong government, and, hence, a weak people. Corporate control of the volume of money has been the means of dividing society into hostile classes, of an unjust distribution of the products of labor, and of building up monopolies of associated capital, endowed with power to confiscate private property. It has kept money scarce ; and the scarcity of money enforces debt-trade, and public and cor- porate loans ; debt engenders usury, and usury ends in the bankruptcy of the bor- rower. Other results are — deranged mar- kets, uncertaintv in manufacturing enter- prises iind agriculture, precarious and intcrnnltent employment for llu' lal^orcr, industrial war, increasing pauperism and crime, and the consequent intimidation and disfranchisement of the producer, and a rapid declension into corporate feudalism. Therefore, we declare — First. That the right to make and issue money is a sovereign power, to be main- tained by the people for their common benefit. The delegation of this right to corporations is a surrender of the central attribute of sovereignty, void of constitu- tional sanction, and conferring upon a sub- ordiiuite and irresponsible power an abso- lute dominion over inilnstry and commerce. All monev, whetlu'r nielallic or paper, should be 'issued, and its volume c(.n(rolled, by the government, and not by or through banking corporations ; and, when so issued, should be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private. Second. That the bonds of the United States should not be refunded, but paid as rapidly as jjracticable, according to con- tract. To enable the government to meet these obligations, legal-tender currency should be substituted for the notes of the national banks, the national banking sys- tem abolished, and the unlimited coinage of silver, as well as gold, established by law. Third. That labor should be so pro- tected by national and state authority as to equalize its burdens and insure a just dis- tribution of its results. The eight hour law of Congress should be enforced, the sanitary condition of industrial establish- ments placed under the rigid control, the competition of contract convict labor abol- ished, a bureau of labor statistics estab- lished, factories, mines, and workshops in- spected, the employment of children under fourteen years of age forbidden, and Avages l)aid in. cash. Fourth. Slavery being simply cheap labor, and cheap labor being simply sla- very, the importation and presence of Chinese serfs necessarily tends to brutalize and degrade American labor ; therefore, immediate steps should be taken to ab- rogate the Puirlinganie treaty. Fifth. Railroad land grants forfeited by reason of non-fulfillment of contract should be immediately reclaimed by the govern- ment, and, henceforth, the public domain reserved exclusively as homes for actual settlers. Sixth. It is the duty of Congress to reg- ulate inter-state ommerce. All lines of communication and transportation should be brought under such legislative control as shall secure moderate, fair, and uniform rates for passenger and freight traffic. Seventh. We denounce as destructive to property and dangerous to liberty the ac- tion of the old parties in fostering and sua* 64 AMERICAN POLITICS. tainin^ gigantic land, railroad, and money corporations, and monopolies invested with and exercising powers belonging to the government, and yet not responsible to it for the manner of their exercise. Eighth. That the constitution, in giving Congress the power to borrow money, to declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a navy, never in- tended that the men who loaned their money for an interest-consideration should be preferred to the soldiers and sailors who periled their lives and shed their blood on land and sea in defense of their country ; and we condemn the cruel class legislation of the Republican party, which, while pro- fessing great gratitude to the soldier, has most unjustly discriminated against him and in favor of the bondholder. Ninth. All property should bear its just proportion of taxation, and we demand a graduated income tax. Tenth. We denounce as dangerous the efforts everywhere manifest to restrict the right of suffrage. Eleventh. We are opposed to an increase of the standing army in time of peace, and the insidious scheme to establish an enor- mous military power under the guise of militia laws. Twelfth. We demand absolute democra- tic rules for the government of Congress, placing all representatives of the people upon an equal footing, and taking away from committees a veto power greater than that of the President. Tldrteenth. We demand a government of the people, by the people, and for the peo- ple, instead of a government of the bond- holder, by the bondholder, and for the bondholder ; and we denounce every at- tempt to stir up sectional strife as an effort to conceal monstrous crimes against the people. Fourteenth. In the furtherance of these ends we ask the co-operation of all fair- minded people. We have no quarrel with individuals, wage no war on classes, but only against vicious institutions. We are not content to endure further discipline from our present actual rulers, who, having dominion over money, over transportation, over land and labor, over the press and the machinery of government, wield unwar- rantable power over our institutions and 3ver life and property. 1880.— Proliibitloii Reform Platform, Cleveland, Ohio, June 1". The prohibition Reform party of the United States, organized, in the name of the people, to revive, enforce, and perpetu- ate in the government the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence, submit, for th© suffrage of all good citizens, the follow- j ing platform of national' reforms and mea- j sures : I In the examination and discussion of the temperance question, it has been proven, ' and is an accepted truth, that alcoholic drinks, whether fermented, brewed, or dis- tilled, are poisonous to the healthy human I body, the drinking of which is not only needless but hurtful, necessarily tending tO' form intemperate habits, increasing greatly the number, severity, and fatal termina- tion of diseases, weakening and deranging ' the intellect, polliiting the affections, hard- ening the heart and corrupting the morals, depriving many of reason and still more of its healthful exercise, and annually bring- ing down large numbers to untimely graves,, producing, in the children of many who- drink, a predisposition to intemperance, insanity, and various bodily and mental diseases, causing diminution of strength, feebleness of vision, fickleness of purpose,, and premature old age, and inducing, in all future generations, deterioration of moral and physical character. Alcoholic drinks are thus the implacable foe of mau as an individual. First. The legalized importation, manu- facture, and sale of intoxicating drinks- ministers to their use, and teaches the erro- neous and destructive sentiment that such use is right, thus tending to produce and perpetuate the above mentioned evils. Second. To the home it is an enemy- proving itself to be a disturber and de- stroyer of its peace, prosperity, and hajjpi- ness ; taking fi-om it the earnings of the husband ; depriving the dependent wife and children of essential food, clothing, and education ; bringing into it profanity, abuse, and violence ; setting at naught the vows of the marriage altar ; breaking up the family and sundering the children from the parents, and thus destroying one of the most beneficent institutions of our Cre- ator, and removing the sure foundation of good government, national prosperity, and welfare. Third. To the community it is equally, an enemy — producing vice, demoralization, and wickedness ; its places of sale being resorts of gaming, lewdness, and debauch- ery, and the hiding-place of those who prey upon society; counteracting the efficacy of religious effort, and of all means of intellectual elevation, moral purity, social happiness, and the eternal good of mankind, without rendering any counter- acting or compensating benefits; being in its influence and effect evil and only evil, and that continually. Fourth. To the state it is equally an enemy— legislative inquiries, judicial inves- tigations, and official reports of all penal, reformatory, and dependent institutions showing that the manufacture and sale of such beverages is the promoting cause of i' U L IT 1 C A L PL A T F OHMS. 65 intemperance, crime, and pauperism, and of demands upon public and private charity, imposing the larger part of taxation, para- lyzing thrift, industry, manufactures, and commercial life, which, but for it, would be unnecessary ; disturbing the i)eace of streets and liighways ; filling prisons and poor-houses; corrupting politics, legisla- tion, and the execution of the laws ; short- ening lives ; diminishing health, industry, and productive power in numufacturcs and art; and is manifestly unjust as well as injurious to the community upon which it is imposed, and is contrary to all just views of civil liberty, as well as a violation of the fundamental maxim of our common law, to use your own property or liberty so as not to injure others. Fifth. It is neither right nor politic for the state to alibrd legal protection to any traffic or any system which tends to waste the resources, "to corrupt the social habits, and to destroy the health and lives of the people ; that the importation, manufacture, and sale of intoxicating beverages is proven to be inimical to the true interests of the individual home, community, and state, and destructive to the order and wel- fare of society, and ought, therefore, to be classed among crimes to be prohibited. Sixth. In this time 5f profound peace at home and abroad, the entire separation of the general government from the drink- traffic, and its prohibition in the District of Columbia, territories, and in all places and ways over which, under the constitu- tion, Congress has control and power, is a political issue of the fii'st importance to the peace and prosperity of the nation. There can be no stable peace and protection to personal liberty, life, or property, until secured by national or state constitutional provisions, enforced by adequate la^vs. Seventh. All legitimate industries require deliverance from the taxation and loss which the liquor traffic imposes upon them ; and financial or other legislation could not accomplish so much to increase production and cause a demand for labor, and, as a result, for the comforts of living, as the suppression of thi^ traffic would bring to thousands of homes as one of its blessings. Eighth. The administration of the gov- ernment and the execution of the laws are through political parties ; and we arraign the Republican party, which has been in continuous power in the nation for twenty years, as being false to duty, as false to loudly-proclaimed principles of equal jus- tice to all and special favors to none, and of i)rotecti(m to the weak and dependent, insensible to the mischief which the trade in liquor has constantly inflicted upon in- dustry, trade, commerce, and the social happiness of the people ; that 5,6o2 dis- tilleries, 3,830 breweries, and 175,2i36 places for the sale of these poisonous liquors, in- volving an annual waste to the nation of one million five hundred thousand dollars, and the sacrifice of one huiidred thousand lives, have, under its legislation, grown up and been fostered as a legitimate source of revenue ; that during its history, six terri- tories have been organized and" five state^i been admitted into the Union, with consti- tutions pnixidcd and ajjproved by Con- gress, but tlie prohil)ition of this debasinjr and destructive traffic has not been pro- vided, nor even the iieo])le given, at the time of admissi(m, power to forbid it in any one of them. Its history lurtber shows, that not in a single instance has an original prohibitory law been passed by any state that was controlled by it, while in four states, so governed, the laws found on its advent to power have been repealed. At its national convention in 1872, it de- clared, as part of its party faith, that " it disapproves of the resort to unconstitu- tional laws for the purpose of removing evils, by interference with rights not sur- rendered by the people to either the state or national government," which, the au- thor of this [ilank says, was adopted by the platform committee with the full and implicit understanding that its pur])ose was the discountenancing of all so-called temperance, prohibitory, and Sunday laws. Ninth. We arraign, also, the Democra- tic i^arty as unfaithful and unworthy of reliance on this question; for, although not clothed with power, l)ut occupying the relation of an opposition jjarty during twenty years past, strong in numbers and organization, it has allied itself with liquor-traffickers, and become, in all the states of the Union, their special political defenders, and in its national convention in 1876, as an article of its political faith, declared against prohibition and just laws in restraint of the trade in drink, by saj— ing it was opposed to what it was pleased to call "all sumptuary laws." The Na- tional party has been dumb on this ques- tion. Tenth. Drink-traffickers, having the his- tory and experience of all ages, climes, and conditions of men, declaring their business destructive of all good — finding no support in the Bible, morals, or reason — appeal to misapplied law for their justification, and intrench themselves behind the evil ele- ments of political party for defense, party tactics and party inertia become battling forces, protecting this evil. EJercnth. In view of the foregoing facts and history, we cordially invite all voters, without regard to former party affiliations, to unite widi us in the use of the ballot for the aliolitionof the drinking system, under the authority of our national and state governments. We also demand, as a right, that women, having the privileges of citi- zens in other respects, be clothed with the 66 AMERICAN POLITICS. ballot for their protection, and as a rightful means f(jr the proper settlement of the liquor question. Twelfth. To remove the apprehension of some who allege that a loss of puljlic rev- enue would follow the suppression of the direct trade, we confidently point to the experience of governments abroad and at home, which shows that thrift and revenue from the consumption of legitimate nuuiu- factures and commerce have so largely fol- lowed the abolition of drink as to fully supply all loss of liquor taxes. Thirteenth. We recognize the good provi- dence of Almighty God, who has preserved and prospered us as a nation ; and, asking for His Spirit to guide us to ultimate suc- cess, we all look for it, relying upon His omnipotent arm. 1880.— Democratic Platform, Cincinnati, Ohio, June 22. The Democrats of the United States, in convention assembled, declare : Fitsf. We pledge ourselves anew to the constitutional doctrines and traditions of the Democratic party, as illustrated by the teachings and examples of a long line of Democratic statesmen and patriots, and embodied in the platform of the last na- tional convention of the party. Second. Opposition to centralization, and to that dangerous spirit of encroach- ment which tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism ; no sumptuary laws ; separation of the church apd state for the good of each ; common schools fostered and protected. Third. Home rule ; honest money, con sisting of gold and silver, and pajier, con vertible into coin on demand ; the strict maintenance of the public faith, state and national ; and a tariff for revenue only ; the subordination of the military to the civil power ; and a general and thorough reform of the civil service. Fourth. The right to a free ballot is a right preservative of all rights ; and must and shall be maintained in every part of the ITnited States. Fifth. The existing administration is the representative of conspiracy only ; and its claim of right to surround the ballot-boxes with troops and deputy marshals, to in- timidate and obstruct the elections, and the unprecedented use of the veto to main- tain its corrupt and despotic power, insults the people and imperils their institutions. We execrate the course of this administra- tion in making places in the civil service a reward for j^olitical crime ; and demand a reform, by statute, which shall make it for- ever impossible for a defeated candidate to bribe his way to the seat of a usurper by billeting villains upon the people. Sixth. The great fraud of 1876-7, by which, upon a false count of the electoral votes of two states, the candidate defeated at the polls was declared to be President, and, for the first time in American history, the will of the people was set aside under a threat of military violence, struck a deadly blow at our system of representa- tive government. The Democratic party, to preserve the country from the horrors of a civil war, submitted for the time, in the firm and patriotic belief that the people would' punish the crime in 1880. This is- sue precedes and dw^arfs every other. It imposes a more sacred duty upon the people of the Union than ever addressed the con- sciences of a nation of freemen. Seventh. The resolution of Samuel J. Tilden, not again to be a candidate for the exalted place to which he was elected by a majority of his countrymen, and from which he was excluded by the leaders of the Eepublican party, is received by the Democrats of the United States with deep sensibility ; and they declare their confi- dence in his wisdom, patriotism, and in- tegrity unshaken by the assaults of the common enemy ; an'S they further assure him that he is followed into the retirement he has chosen for himself by the sympathy and respect of his fellow-citizens, who re- gard him as one who, by elevating the standard of the public morality, and adorn- ing and purifying the public service, merits the lasting gratitude of his country and his party. Eighth. Free ships, and a living chance for American commerce upon the seas ; and on the land, no discrimination in favor of transportation lines, corporations, or monopolies. Ninth. Amendments of the Burlingame treaty ; no more Chinese immigration, ex- cept for travel, education, and foreign com- merce, and, therein, carefully guarded. Tenth. Public money and jiublic credit for public purposes solely, and public land for actual settlers. Eleventh. The Democratic party is the friend of labor and the laboring man, and pledges itself to protect him alike against the cormorants and the commune. Twelfth. We congratulate the country upon the honesty and thrift of a Demo- cratic Congress, which has reduced the public expenditure $10,000,000 a year ; upon the continuation of prosperity at home and the national honor abroad ; and, above all, upon the promise of such a change in the administration of the govern- ment as shall insure a genuine and lasting reform in every department of the public service. POLITICAL PLATFOJiMS. 6T Virginia Rrpublicuii. [Ado2>ted Augvst 11.] Whereas; It is j)roi)er that when the peojjle assemble in convention they shouhl avow distinctly the principles of govern- ment on Avliich they stand ; now, therefore, be it. Resolved, That we, the Republicans of Virginia, hereby make a declaration of our allegiance and adhesion to the principles of the Peiiublican })arty of the country, and our determination to stand squarely by the organization of the Republican [nirty of Virginia, always defending it against the assaults of all persons or parties what- soever. Second. That amongst the principles of the Republican party none is of more vital imjjortance to the welfare and interest of the country in all its jiarts than that which pertains to the sanctity of Government contracts. It therefore becomes the special duty and province of the Republican party of Virginia to guard and protect the credit of our time-honored State, which has been besmirched with repudiation, or received with distrust, by the gross mismanagement of various factions of the Democratic party, which have controlled the legisla- tion of the State. Third. That the Republican party of Virginia hereby pledges itself to redeem the State from the discredit that now hangs over her in regard to her just obligations for moneys loaned her for constructing her internal improvements and charitable in- stitutions, which, permeating every quarter of the State, bring benefits of far greater value than their cost to our whole people, and we in the most solemn form pledge the Republican party of the State to the full payment of the whole debt of the State, less the one-third set aside as justly falling on West Virginia ; that the industries of the country should be fostered through pro- tective laws, so as to develop our own re- sources, employ our own labor, create a home market, enhance values, and promote the happiness and prosperity of the people. Fourth. That the public school system of Virginia is the creature of the Repub- lican party, and we demand that every dollar the Constitution dedicates to it shall be sacredly ai)plied thereto as a means of educating the children of the State, with- out regard to condition or race. Fifth. That the elective franchise as an equal right should be based on manhood qualification, and that we favor the repeal of the requirements of the prepayment of the capitation tax as a prerequisite to the franchise as opposed to the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of the Condition whereby the State was read- mitted as a member of our Constitutional Union, asAvell as against the spirit of the Conslitiilioii : Imt demand the imposition of the capilatioH tax as a source of revenue for the support of the j)ublic schools with- out its disfranchising elfects. Sixth. That we favor the repeal of the disqualification for the elective franchise by a conviction of i)etty larceny, and of the infamous laws whicii ])lace'it in the j)ower of a single justice of the peace (oft- times being iiuu-e corrupt than the crinfinal before him) to disfranchise his fellow-man. Seventh. Finally, that we urge the repeal of the barbarous law permitting the im- position of stripes as degrading and inhu- man, contrary to the genius of a true and enlightened people, and a relic of bar- barism. [The Convention considered it inexpe- dient to nominate candidates for State officers.] Virginia Rcatljitstcr. [Adopted Jnne 2.] First. We recognize our obligation to support the institution for the deaf, dumb and blind, the lunatic asylum, the jmblic free schools and the Government out of the revenues of the State ; and we de])re- c«te and denounce that policy of ring rule and subordinated sovereignty which for years borrowed money out of banks at high rates of interest for the discharge of these ])aramount trusts, while our revenues were li'ft the prey of commercial exchanges, available to the State only at the option of speculators and syndicates. Second. We reassert our purpose to settle and adjust our State obligations on the principles of the " Bill to re-establish pub- lic credit," known as the " Riddleberger bill," passed by the last General Assembly and vetoed by the Governor. We main- tain that this measure recognizes the just debt of Virginia, in this, that it assumes two-thirds of all the money Virginia bor- rowed, and sets aside the other third to AVest Virginia to be dealt with by her in her own way and at her own pleasure ; that it places those of her creditors who have received but 6 per cent, instalments of in- terest in nine years upon an exact equality with those who by corrupt agencies wera enabled to absorb and monojiolize our means of payment ; that it agrees to pay such rate of interest on our securities as can with certainty be met out of the rev- enues of the State, and that it contains all the essential features of finality. Third. We reassert our adherence to the Constitutional re<]uirements for the " equal and unitrirm" taxation of jiroj^erty, ex- empting none excei)t that specified by the Constitution and used exclusively for "re- ligious, charitable and educational pur- poses." 68 AMERICAN POLITICS. Fourth. We reassert that the paramount obligation of the various works of internal improvement is to the people of the State, by whose authority they were created, by whose money they were constructed and by whose grace they live ; and it is enjoin- ed upon our representative and executive officers to enforce the discharge of that duty ; to insure to our people such rates, facilities and connections as will protect e»-ery industry and interest against dis- crimination, tend to the development of our agricultural and mineral resources, en- courage the investment of active capital in manufactures and the profitable employ- ment of labor in industrial enterprises, grasp for our city and our whole State those advantages to which by their geographical position they are entitled, and fulfil all the great public ends for which they were de- signed. Fifth. The Readjusters hold the right to a free ballot to be the right preservative of all rights, and that it should be maintained in every State in the Union. We believe the capitation tax restriction upon the suf- frage in Virginia to be in conflict with the XlVth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. We believe that it is a violation of that condition of reconstruc- tion wherein the pledge was given not so to amend our State Constitution as to de- prive any citizen or class of citizens of a right to vote, except as punishment for such crimes as are felony at common law. We believe such a prerequisite to voting to be contrary to the geniu.s of our institu- tions, the very foundation of which is re- presentation as antecedent to taxation. We know that it has been a failure as a measure for the collection of revenue, the pretended reason for its invention in 187G, and we know the base, demoralizing and dangerous uses to which it has been pros- tituted. We know it contributes to the increase of monopoly power, and to cor- rupting the voter. For these and other reasons we adhere to the purpose hitherto expressed to provide more effectual legisla- tion for the collection of this tax, dedicated by the Constitution to the public free schools, and to abolish it as a qualification for and restriction upon suffrage. Sixth. The Readjusters congratulate the whole people of Virginia on the progress of the last few years in developing mineral resources and promoting manufacturing enterprises in the State, and they declare their purpose to aid these great and grow- ing industries by all proper and essential legislation, State and Federal. To this end they will continue their efforts in behalf of more cordial and fraternal relations be- tween the sections and States, and espe- cially for that concord and harmony which will make the country to know how earn- estly and sincerely Virginia invites all men into her borders as visitors or to become citizens without fear of social or political ostracism ; that every man, from whatever section of country, shall enjoy the fullest freedom of thought, speech, politics and religion, and that the State which first formulated these principles as fiindamental in free government is yet the citadel for their exercise and protection. Virginia Democratic. [Adopted August 4.] The Conservative Democratic party of Virginia — Democratic in its Federal rela- tions and Conservative in its State policy — assembled in convention, in view of the present condition of the Union and of this Commonwealth, for the clear and distinct assertion of its political principles, doth declare that we adopt the following articles of political faith : First. Equality of right and exact jus- tice to all men, special privileges to none ; freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of the person under the pro- tection of the habeas corpus ; of trial by juries impartially selected, and of a pure, upright and non-partisan judiciary ; elec- tions by the people, free from force or fraud of citizens or of the military and civil of- ficers of Government ; and the selection for public offices of those who are honest and best fitted to fill them ; the support of the State governments in all their rights as the most comjjetent administrations of our domestic concerns andthe surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies ; and the preservation of the General Govern- ment in its whole constitutional vigor as the best sheet-anchor of our peace at home and our safety abroad. Second. That the maintenance of the public credit of Virginia is an essential means to the promotion of her prosperity. We condemn repudiation in every shape and form as a blot upon her honor, a blow at her permanent welfare, and an obstacle to her progress in wealth, influence and power ; and that we will make every eff'ort to secure a settlement of the public debt, with the consent of her creditors, which is consistent with her honor and dictated by justice and sound public policy; that it is eminently desirable and proper that the several classes of the debt now existing should be unified, so that equality, which is equity, may control in the annual pay- ment of interest and the ultimate redemp- tion of principal ; that, with a view of se- curing such equality, we pledge our party to use all lawful authority to secure a settle- ment of the State debt so that there shall be but one class of the public debt ; that we will use all lawful and constitutional means in our power to secure a settlement POLITICAL P L A T 1'' U R M S . 69 of the State debt u])on the basis of a 3 per cent, bond, and that the Conservative- Democratic party pledges itself, as a part of its policy, not to increase the present rate of taxation. Third. That we will uphold, in its full constitutional integrity and efficiency, our piililic-srhool system for the education of ])otli white and colored children — a system inaugurated by the Constitution of the State and established by the action of the Conservative party years before it was re- i quired by the Constitution ; and will take the most effectual means for the laithful execution of the same by applying to its support all the revenues set apart for that object by the Constitution or otherwise. Fourth. \]\)0\\ this deelaratiou of prin- ciples we cordially invite the co-operation of all Co:iservative Democrats, whatever may have been or now are their views upon the public debt, in the election of the nominees of this Convention and in the maintenance of the supremacy of the Democratic party in this State. Resolved, further, That any intimation, coming from any quarter, that the Con- servative-Democratic party of Virginia has been, is now, or proposes to be, opposed to an honest ballot and a fair count, is a calumny upon the State of Virginia as un- founded in fact as it is dishonorable to its authors. That special efforts be made to foster and encourage the agricultural, mechanical, mining, manufacturing and other indus- trial interests of the State. That, in common with all good citizens "bf the Union, we reflect with deep abhor- rence upon the crime of the man who aimed a blow at the life of the eminent citizen who was called by the constitutional voice of fifty millions of people to be the President of the United States ; and we tender to him and to his friends the sym- jiathy and respect of this Convention and of those we I'epresent, in this great calam- ity, and our hearty desire for his complete restoration to health and return to the dis- charge of his important duties, for the wel- fare and honor of our common countrv. COMPARISON OF PLATFORM PLANKS ON GREAT POLITICAL aUESTIONS. General Pai-ty Doctrines. demochatic. 1856— That the liberal principles embodied by Jeffer- son in the JDeclara- tion of Independ- ence, and sanctioned in the Constitution, which makes ours REPUBLICAN. 1856— That the maintenance of the ]irinciples promul- gated in the Decla- ration of Independ- ence and embodied in the Federal Con- stitution, is essential DKMOCHATIC. Uie land of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed o f every nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the Democratic faith; and every attempt to abridge the present privilege of becom- ing citizens and the owners of soil among us ought to be re- sisted with the same spirit which swept the alien and sedi- tion laws from our statute books. [Plank 8. ed. I860— Keaffirm- 1864— 1868^ 1872— We recog- nize the equalit}' of all men before the law, and hold that IU;iMI!MC.\X. to the preservation of our iiepublican institutions, and that the Federal Constitution, the rights of the States, and the union of the States shall he pre- served; that with our Republican fathers, we hold it to be a self-evident truth that all irten are en- dowed with the in- alienal)le rights to Mfe, liberty, and the piu'suit o f happi- ness, and that the primary object and ulterior design of our Federal Govern- ment were to secure these rights to all persons within its exclusive jurisdic- tion. [Plank 1. 1860— That the maintenance pf the principles promul- gated in the Decla- ration of Independ- ence and embodied in the Federal Con- stitution. " That all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap- piness ; that to se- c u r e these rights governments are in- stituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the gov- erned," is essential to the preservation of our Republican institutions; and that the Federal Constitution, the rights of the States, and the Union of the States must and shall be preserved. [Plank 2. 1S6-1— 1868— 1872 — Complete libert>' and exact equality in the en- joyment of all civil, 70 AMERICAN POLITICS. DEMOCRATIC, it is the duty of Gov- ernment in its deal- ings with the peo- ple to mete out equal and exact jus- tice to all, of what- ever nativity, race, color, or persuasion, religious or politi- cal. [Plank 1. 1876— 1880 — Opposi- tion to centraliza- tionism, and to that dangerous spirit of encroachment which tends to con- solidate the powers of all the depart- ments in one, and thus to create, what- ever be the form of Government, a real despotism. [Plank 2. REPUBLICAN. political and public rights should be es- tablished and effec- tually maintained throughout the Un- ion by efficient and appropriate State and Federal Legis- lation. Neither the law nor its adminis- tration should ad- mit any discrimina- tion in respect of citizens by reasons of race, creed, color or previous condi- tion of servitude. [Plank 3. 1876— The United States of America is a Nation not a league. By the com- bined workings of the National and State Governments, under their respec- t i V e constitutions, the rights of every citizen are secured at home or abroad, and the common welfare promoted. 1880—1746 consti- tution of the United States is a supreme law and not a mere contract. Out of confederate States it made a sovereign nation. Some pow- ers are denied to the nation, while others are denied to the States, but the boundary between the powers dele- gated and those re- served is to be de- termined by the Na- tional, and not by the State tribunal. [Cheers.] Plank 2. The Rebellion. DEMOCRATIC. 1864— That this convention does ex- REPUBLICAN. 1864— That it is the highest duty of plicitly declare, as every American cit the sense of the izen to maintain American people, against all their that after four years enemies the integ- of failure to restore rity of the Union the Union by the ex- and the paramount DEMOCRATIC. periment of war , during which, un- der the pretense of a military necessity or war-power higher than the Constitu- tion, the Constitu- tion itself has been disregarded in every part, and public lib- erty and private right alike trodden down, and the ma- terial prosperity of the country essen- tially impaired, jus- tice, humanity, lib- erty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to the ultimate convention of the States, or other peaceable means, to the end that, at the earliest practi- cable moment peace may be restored on the basis of the Fed- eral Union of the States. [1st resolution. REPUBLICAN. authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States ; and that lay- ing aside all differ- e n c e s of political opinions, we pledge ourselves as Union men, animated by a common senti- ment, and aiming at a common object, to d everything i n our power to aid the Government, in quelling by force of arms the rebellion now raging against its authority, and in bringing to the pun- ishment due to their crimes the rebels and traitors arrayed against it. That we approve the determination of the Government of the United States not to compromise with rebels, or to offer them any terms of peace, except such as may be based upon an un- conditional sur- render of their hos- tility and a return to their just allegi- ance to the Constitu- tion and laws of the United States; and that we call upon the Government to maintain this posi- tion and to prose- cute the war with the utmost possible vigor to the com- plete suppression of the rebellion, in full reliance upon the self-sacrificing p a- triotism, the heroic valor, and the un- dying devotion o f the American peo- ple to the country and its free institu- tions. [1st and 2d resolu- tions.] Home DEMOCRATIC. 1856— That we 1 recognize the right RiUe. REPUBLICAN. 1856— * * * The dearest consti- POLITICAL PLATFORMS. 71 DEMOCRATIC, of the people in all the Territories, in- cluding Kansas and Nebraska, acting through the legally and fairly expressed will of a majority of actual residents, and wherevep the number of their in- habitants justifies it, to form a constitu- tion * * * and be admitted into the Union upon terms of perfect equality with the other States. REPUBLICAN. tutional rights of the people of Kan- sas have been fraud- ulently and violent- ly taken from them ; their territory has been invaded by an armed force; spur- ious and pretended legislative, judicial, and executive of- ficers have been set over them, by whose usurped authority, sustained by the military power of the Government, tyrannical and un- constitutional laws have been enacted and enforced ; the right of the people to" keep and bear arms has been in- fringed ; test-oaths of an extraordinary and entangling na- ture have been im- posed as a condition of exercising the right of suffrage and holding office ; the right of an ac- cused person to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury has been de- nied; the right of the people to be se- cure in their per- sons, houses, papers, and effects against u n r e a s on able searches and seiz- ures, has been vio- lated ; they have been deprived of life, liberty, and prop- erty without due process of law ; that the freedom of speech and of the press has been abridged; the right to choose their rep- resentatives has been made of no effect ; murders, rob- beries, and arsons have been instigated and encouraged, and the offenders have been allowed to go unpunished ; that all these things have been done DEMOCRATia 1860— That when the settlers in a Ter- ritory, having an ad- equate population, form a State Consti- tution, the right of sovereignty com- mences, and, being consummated by ad- mission into the Un- ion, they stand on an equal footing with the people of other States ; and the State thus organized ought to be admitted into the Federal Union, whether its consti- tution prohibits or recognizees the insti- t u t i o n o f slavery. [Plank 3, Breckin- ridge, Dem. 186-1— 1868 — After the most solemn and unanimous pledge of both Houses of Con- gress to prosecute the war exclusively for th,o maintenance of tlie Government and the preservation of the Union under the Constitution, it [the Republican party] has rep'^atedly vio- REPUBLICAN. with the knowledge, sanction, and pro- curement of the present Adminis- tration, and that for this high crime against the Consti- tution, the Union, and humanity, we arraign the Admin- istration, the Presi- dent, his advisers, agents, supporters, apologists, and ac- cessories, either he- fore or after the fact, before the country a n (1 b e f o r e the world; and that it is our fixed purpose to bring the actual perpetrators of these atrocious outrages and their accom- plices to a sure and condign p u n i s h- ment. (Plank 3. 1860 — That the maintenance invio- late of the rights of the States, and espe- cially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusive- ly, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endumnce of our political fabric de- pends; and we de- nounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Terri- tory, no matter un- der what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes. [Plank 4. 1864— 1868 — We con- gratulate the coun- try on the assured success of the recon- struction policy of Congress, as evinced by the adoption, in the majority of the States lately in re- bellion, of constitu- tions securing equal civil and political rights to all ; and it 25 72 AMERICAN POLITICS. DEMOCRATIC. latecl that most sa- cred pledge under which alone was ral- lied that noble vol- unteer army which carried our flag to victory. Instead of restoring the Union, it has, so far as in its power, dissolved it, and subjected ten States, in time of profound peace, to military despotism and negro suprema- cy. It has nullified there the right of trial by jur\' ; it has abolished the habeas corpus, that most sa- cred writ of liberty ; it has overthrown the freedom of speech and the press; it has substituted arbitrary seizures and arrests, and military trials and secret star-cham- ber inquisitions for the constitutional tribunals ; it has disregarded in time of peace the right of the people to be free from searches and seizures; it has en- tered the post and telegraph offices, and even the private rooms of individuals, and seized their pri- vate papers and let- ters without any spe- cific charge or notice of affidavit, as re- quired by the or- ganic law; it has converted the Amer- can Capitol into a bastile ; it has estab- lished a system of spies and official es- pionage to which no constitutional mon- archy of Europe would now dare to resort; it has abol- ished the right of appeal on important constitutional ques- tions to the supreme judicial tribunals, and threatens to cur- tail or destroy _ its original j urisdiction, which is irrevocably REPUBLICAN. is the duty of the Government to sus- tain those institu- tions and prevent the people of such States from being remitted to a state of anarchy. DEMOCRATIC. vested by the Con- stitution, while the learned Chief Jus- tice has been sub- jected to the most atrocious calumnies, merely because he would not prostitute his high office to the support of the false and partisan charges preferred against the President. * * * Under its repeated assaults the pillars of the Government are rocking on their base, and should it succeed in Novem- ber next and inaugu- rate its President, we will meet as a sub- jected and conquered people, amid the ruins of liberty and the scattered frag- ments of the Consti- tution. 1872— Local self- government, with impartial s u ff r a g e, will guard the riglits of all citizens more securely than any centralized, power. The public welfare requires the supre- macy of the civil over the military au- thority, and freedom of persons under the protection of the ha- beas corpus. We de- mand for the indi- vidual the largest liberty consistent with public order ; for the State self- government, and for the nation a return to the methods of peace and the con- stitutional limita- tions of power. [Plank 4. 1880—* * " Home Rule." [Plank 3. REPUBLICAN. 1872 — We hold that Congress and the President have only fulfilled an im- perative duty in their measures for the suppression o f violent and treason- able organizations in certain lately rebel- lious regions, and for the protection of the ballot-box; and, therefore, they are entitled to the thanks of the nation. [Plank 12. 1880— Internal Improvements. DEMOCRATIC. REPUBLICAN. 1856— That the 1856— That ap- Constitution does propriations by con- not confer upon the gress for the im- general Government provement of rivers the power to com- and harbors of a na- POLITICAL PLATFORMS. 73 DEMOCRATIC. mence and carry on a general system of internal improve- ments. [Plank 2. 1860— Reaffirmed. 1864— 1868— 1872— 1876— 1880— Plank 2 of 1856 reaffirmed. REPUBLICAX. tional character, re- quired for the ac- comnioilation and security of our exist- ing commerce, are authorized by the Constitution and justified by the obli- gation o f Govern- ment to protect the lives and property of its citizens. fPlaiik 7. I860— That ap- propriations by Con- gress for river and harbor improve- ments of a national character, required for the accommoda- tion and security of an existing c o m - merce, are author- ized by the Constitu- tion and justified by the obligation of Government to pro- tect the lives and property of its citi- zens. [Plank 15. 1864— 1868— 1872— 1876— 1880— * * * That we deem it the duty of Congress to de- velop and improve our seacoast a n d harbors, but insist that further subsi- dies to private per- sons or corporations must cease. rrhe National I>el>t and Interest, the PnWlc Credit, Repudiation, etc. DEMOCRATIC. REPUBLICAN. 1864— 1864— That the National faith, Sledged for the re- emption of the public debt, mast be kept inviolate, and that for this purpose we recommend eco- nomy and rigid re- sponsibility in the public expenditures, and a vigorous and just system of taxa- tion ; and that it is the duty of every DEMOCRATIC. 1868— Payment of the public debt of the United States as rapidly as practica- ble ; all moneys drawn from the peo- ple l)y taxation, ex- rei>t so much as is re(piisite for the ne- cessities of the Gov- ernment, economi- cally administered, being honestly ap- plied to such pay- naent, and where the obligatfons of the Government do not expressly state ujion their face, or the law under which they were issued does not provide that they shall be paid in coin, they ought, in right and in justice, to be paid in the lau-fid moneij of the United States. [Plank 3. Equal taxation of every species of pro- perty according to its real value, in- cluding Government bonds and other public securities. [Plank 4. 1872 — We de- mand a system of Federal taxation which shall not un- necessarily interfere with the industries of the people, and REPfBLICAX. loyal State to sustain the cr('(lit and pro- mote the u>;e of the National currciicv. [Think "10. 1S68 — We de- nounce all forms of ' repudiation as a Na- tional c/ime ; and the National honor requires the pay- ment of the public indebtedness in the uttermost good faith to all creditors at home and abroad, not only according to the letter, but the spirit of the laws under which it was contracted. [Plank 3. It is due to the la1)or of the nation that taxation should be ecjualized and re- duced a.s rapidly as the national faith will permit. [Plank 4. The national debt, contracted as it hcOS been for the preser- vation of the L^nion for all time to come, should be extended over a fair period for redemption ; and it is the duty of Con- gress to reduce the rate of interest thereon whenever it can be honestly done. [Plank 5. That the best po- licy to diminish our burden of debt is to so improve our cred- it that capitalists will seek to loan us money at lower rates of interest than we now pay and must continue to pay so long as repudiation, partial or total, open or covert, is threat- ened or suspected. [Plank 6. 1872— * * * A uniform national currency has been provided, repudia- tion frowned down, the national credit sustained under the 74 AMERICAN POLITICS. DEMOCRATIC. which shall provide the means necessa- ry to pay the expen- ses of the Govern- ment, eVonoiuically administered, the pensions, the inter- est on the public debt, and a mode- rate reduction an- nually of the princi- pal thereof. * * * The public credit must be sacredly maintained, and we denounce repudia- tion in every form and guise. [Plank 7. 1876 — Reform is necessary to estab- lish a sound curren- cy, restore the pub- lic credit, and main- tain th^ national honor. 1880— *** Hon- est ui o n e y — t h e strict maintenance of the public faith — consisting of gold and silver, and pa- per convertible into coin on demand ; the strict mainte- nance of the public faith, State and na- tional. [Plank 3. EEPUBLICAN. most extraordinary burdens, and new bonds negotiated at lower rates. * * [Plank 1. We denounce re- pudiation of the public debt, in any form of disguise, as a national crime. We witness with pride the reduction of the principal of the debt, and of the rates of interest upon the balance. [Plank 13. 1876— In the first act of Congress signed by President Grant, the National Government as- sumed to remove any doubts of its purpose to discharge all just obligations to the public credi- tors, and "solemnly pledged its faith to make provision at the earliest practica- ble period for the redemption of the United States notes in coin." Commer- cial prosperity, pub- lic morals, and na- tional credit demand that this promise be fulfilled by a con- tinuance and steady progress to specie pavment. [Plank 4. 1880— It [the Re- publican party] has raised the value of our paper currency from 38 per cent, to the par of gold [ap- plause] ; it has re- stored, upon a solid basis, payment in coin of all national obligations, and has given us a currency absolutely good and equal in every part of our extended country [applause] ; it has lifted the credit of the nation from the point of where 6 per cent, bonds sold at 86, to that where 4 per DEMOCRATIC. REPUBLICAN. cent, bonds are eagerly sought at a premium. [Preamble. Resumption. DEMOCRATIC. 1872 — A speedy return to specie pay- ment is demanded alike by the highest c n s i d e rations of commercial morali- ty and honest gov- ernment. [Plank 8. 1876 — We de- nounce the financial imbecility and im- morality of that party, which, during eleven y e a r s of peace, has made no advance toward re- sumption, no prepa- ration for resump- tion, but instead has obstructed resump- tion, by wasting our resources and ex- hausting all our sur- plus income ; and, while annually pro- fessing to intend a speedy return to specie payments, has annually enac- ted fresh hindrances thereto. As such hindrance we de- nounce the resump- tion clause of the act of 1875, and we here demand its repeal. 1880—* * * Hon- est money, * * * consisting of gold, and silver, and pa- per convertible into coin on demand. REPUBLICAN, 1872—* * * Our excellent national currency will be perfected by a spee- dy resumption of specie payment. [Plank 13, 1876— In the first act of Congress signed by President Grant, the National. Government as- sumed to remove any doubts of its purpose to discharge all just obligations to the public credi- tors, and solemnly pledged its faith to make provision at the "earliest practicable period for the redemption of the United States notes in coin." Com- mercial prosperity, public morals and national credit de- mand that this pro- mise be fulfilled by a continuous aiid steady progress to specie payment. 1880— * * * It [the Republican party] has restored, upon a solid basis, payment in coin of all National obli- g a t i n s , and has given us a currency absolutely good and equal in every part of our extended country. Capital and lAbor. DEMOCRATIC, 1868 — Resolved, That this conven- tion sympathize cor- d i a 1 1 y with the working men of the United States in REPUBLICAN". 1868— POLITICAL PLATFORMS. 75 DEMOCRATIC, their efforts to pro- tect the rights and interests of the hi- boring classes of the country. 1872— 1880— The Demo- cratic party is the friend of hibor and the Laboring man, and pledges itself to protect him alike against the cormo- rant and the com- mune. [Plank 13. REPUBLICAN. 1872 — Among the questions which press for attention is that which concerns the relations of capi- tal and labor, and the Republican par- ty recognizes the du- ty of so shaping le- gislation as to secure full protection and the amplest field for capital,and for labor, the creator of capital the largest opportu- nities and a just share of the mutual profits of these two great servants of ci- vilization. [Plank 11. 1880— DEMOCRATIC. 1856 — The time has come for the people of the United States to declare themselves in favor of * * * progressive free trade through- out the world, by solemn manifesta- tions, to place their moral influence at the side of their suc- cessful example. [Resolve I. That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal Govern- ment to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of any other, or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of another portion of our com- mon country. [Plank 4. REPUBLICAN. 1856— DEMOfRATIC. 1860— Reafirmed. 1864r— 1868— * * * A tariff for revenue upon foreign im- ports, and such equal taxation under the Internal Revenue laws as will afford incidental protec- tion to domestic manufactures, and as will, without im- pairing the revenue, impose the least burden upon and best promote and encourage the great industrial interests of the countiy. [Plank 6. 1872— * * * * Re- cognizing that there are in our midst honest but irrecon- cilable differences of opinion with regard to the respective systems of protection and free trade, we remit the discussion of the subject to the people in their Con- gressional districts, and to the decision of the Congress thereon, wholly free fixim executive in- RErrni.icAN. I860— That, while jiroviding revenue for the support of the general (Jovern- ment by duties upon imports, sound poli- cy requires such an adjustment of these imposts a.s t(j encour- age the development of the industrial in- terests of the whole country ; and we commend tliai poli- cy of national ex- changes which se- cures to the work- ingmen liberal wa- ges, to agriculture re- munerative prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate reward for their skill, labor, and enterprise, and to the nation commer- cial prosperity and independence. [Plank 12. 1864— 1868— 1872 * * * * Revenue except so much as may be derived from a tax upon tobacco and liquors, should be raised by duties upon importations, the details of which should be so adjusted as to aid in securing remunerative wages to labor, and pro- mote the industries, prosperity, and groA\i:h of the whole countr)'. [Plank 7. 76 DEMOCRATIC. terfereuce or dicta- tion. [Plank 6. 1876—** *** We demand that all custom-house taxa- tion shall be only for revenue. [Plank 11. AMERICAN POLITICS. 1880— * * * * A tarift' for revenue on- ly. [Plank 3. EEPUBLICAIf. 1876— The reve- nue necessary for current expendi- tures and the obliga- tions of the public debt must be largely derived from duties upon importations, which so far as pos- sible, should be ad- justed to promote the interests of American labor and advance the prosper- ity of the whole country. [Plank 8. 1880— Reaffirmed. £ducatlou. DEMOCRATIC. 1876— The false issue with which they [the Republi- cans] would enkindle sectarian strife in re- spect to the public schools, of which the establishment and support belong exclusively to the several States, and which the Democra- tic party has cherish- ed from their foun- dation, and is resolv- ed to maintain with- out prejudice or preference for any class, sect, or creed, and without larges- ses from the Trea- sury to any. 1880— ***Com- mon Schools foster- ed and protected. [Plank 2. REPUBLICAN. 1876— The public school system of the several States is the bulwark of the American Republic, and with a view to its security and per- manence we recom- mend an Amend- ment to the Consti- tution of the United States, forbidding the application of any public funds or property for the ben- efit of any schools or institutions under sectarian control. [Plank 4. 1880— The work of popular education is one left to the care of the several States, but it is the duty of the National Government to aid that work to the ex- tent of its constitu- tional ability. The intelligence of the nation is but the aggregate of the in- telligence in the several States, and the destiny of the Nation must be DEMOCRATIC, REPUBLICAK. guided, not by the genius of any one State, but by the average genius of all. [Plank 3. Duty to IJnlou Soldiers and Sailors. DEMOCRATIC. 1864 — That the sympathy of the De- mocratic party is heartily and earnest- ly extended to the soldiery of our army and sailors of our na\'y, who are and have been in the field and on the sea under the flag of our coun- try, and, in the event of its attaining pow- er, they will receive all the care, protec- tion, and regard that the brave soldiers and sailors of the Republic so nobly earned. [Plank 6. 1868— ******* That our soldiers and sailors, who car- ried the flag of our countiy to victory, against a most gal- lant and determined foe, must ever be gratefully remem- bered, and all the guarantees given in their favpr must be faithfully carried into execution. REPUBLICAN. 1864^That the thanks of the Ameri- can people are due to the soldiers and sailors of the army and navy, who have periled their lives in defense of the coun- try and in vindica- tion of the honor of its flag ; that the na- tion owes to them some permanent re- cognition of their pa- triotism and their valor, and ample and permanent provi- sion for those of their survivors who have received disabling and honorable wounds in the serv- ice of the country ; and that the memor- ies of those who have fallen in its defence shall be held in grateful and ever- lasting remem- brance. [Plank 4. 1868— Of all who were faithful in the trials of the late war, there were none en- titled to more espe- cial honor than the brave soldiers and seamen who endured the hardships of campaign and cruise and imperiled their lives in the service of their country ; the bounties and pensions provided by the laws for these brave defenders of the nation are obli- gations never to be forgotten ; the wi- dows and orphans of the gallant dead are the wards of the peo- ple — a sacred legacy bequeathed to the nation's care. [Plank 10. POLITICAL PLATFORMS. 77 DEMOCRATIC. 1872— * We re- member with grati- tude the heroism and sacrifices of the soldiers and sailors of the llepublic, and no act of ours shall ever detract from their justly earned fame for the full re- ward of their patriot- isir [Plank 9. 1880- REPUBLICAN. 1872— We hold in undying honor the soldiers and sailors whose valor saved the Union. Their pensions are a sacred debt of the nation, and the widows and orphans of those who died for their country are entitled to the care of a gen- erous and grateful people. We favor such additional le- gislation as will ex- tend the bounty of the Government to all our soldiers and sailors who were honorably discharg- ed, and who in the line of duty became disabled, without re- gard to the length of service or the cause of such discharge. [Plank 8. 1876— The pledges which the nation has given to her soldiers and sailors must be fulfilled, and a grateful people will always hold those who imperiled their lives for the country's preserva- tion, in the kindest remembrance. [Plank 14. 1880— That the obligations of the Republic to the men who preserved its in- tegrity in the day of battle are undimin- ished by the lapse of fifteen years since their final victory. To do them lionor is and shall forever be the grateful pri- vilege and sacred duty of the Ameri- can people. Naturalization and Allegiance. 1876—*** The soldiers and sailors of the Eepublic, and the widows and or- phans of those who have fallen in battle, have a just claim upon the care, pro- tection, an^ grati- tude of their fellow- citizens. [Last resolution. DEMOCRATIC. 1860— That the De- mocracy of the Uni- te! Stages recognize i*" :is the imperative REPUBLICAN. 1860 — The Re- publican party is opposed to any change in our na- DEMOCRATIC. duty of this Govern- HH'Ht to protect the naturalized citizen in all his rights, whether at home or in foreign lands, to the same extent as its native-born ci- tizens. [Plank 6. 1864— 1868 — Equal rights and protec- tion for naturalized and native-born citi- zens at home and abroad, the assertion of American nation- ality which shall command the re- spect of foreign powers, and furnish an example and en- couragement to peo- ple struggling for national integrity, constitutional liber- ty, and individual rights and the main- tenance of the rights of naturalized citi- zens against the ab- solute doctrine of immutable allegi- ance, and the claims of foreign powers to punish them for al- leged crime com- mitted beyond their jurisdiction. [Plank 8. 1872— RKPURMCAX. turalizatiiin laws, or any Stale legislation by wliicii the rights of citizenshii) hith- erto accorded to im- migrants from for- eign lands shall be abridged or impair- ed ; and in favor of giving a full and ef- ficient protection to the right of all clas- ses of citizens, whether native or naturalized, both home and abroad. [Plank 14. 1864— 1868— The doc- trine of ( ireat P.ri- tain and other Eunj- l)ean Powers, that because a man is once a subject he is always so, must be resisted at every hazard by the Uni- ted States, as a re- lic of feudal times, not authorized by the laws of nations, and at war with our national honor and independence. Na- turalized citizens are entitled to protec- tion in all their rights of citizenship as though they were native-born ; and no citizen of the United States, native or na- turalized, must be liable to arrest and imprisonment by any foreign power for acts done or words spoken in this country ; and, if so arrested and im- prisoned, it is the duty of the Govern- ment to interfere in bis behalf. [Plank 9. 1872 — The doc- trine of Great Bri- tain and other Eu- ropean Powers con- cerning allegiance — " once a subject always a subject " — having at last, through the efforts of the Republican party, been aban- 78 AMERICAN POLITICS. DEMOCEATIC. 1876— 1880— REPUBLICAN, doned, and the Ame- rican idea of the in- dividual's right to transfer allegiance having been accep- ted by European nations, it is the duty of our Govern- ment to guard with jealous care the rights of adopted citizens against the assumption of unau- thorised claims by their former Gov- ernments, and we urge continued care- ful encouragement and protection of voluntary immigra- tion. [Plank 9. 1876— It is the im- perative duty of the Government so to modify existing trea- ties with European governments, that the same protection shall be afforded to the adopted Ameri- can citizen that is given to the native- born, and that all necessary laws should be passed to protect emigrants in the absence of pow- er in the State for that purpose. [Plank 10. 1880— * * * * Everywhere the pro- tection accorded to a citizen of American birth must be se- cured to citizens by American adoption. [Plank 5. The Chinese. DEMOCKATIC. 1876— Reform is necessary to correct the omissions of a Republican C o n - gress, and the errors of our treaties and our diplomacy, which have stripped our fellow-citizens of foreign birth and kindred race re- crossing the Atlan- tic, of the sliield of American citizen- REPUBLICAN. 1876— It is the immediate duty of Congress to fully in- vestigate the effect of the immigration and importation of Mongolians upon the moral and ma- terial interests of the countrv. ■ [Plank 11. DEMOCRATIC. ship, and have ex- posed our brethren of the Pacific coast to the incursions of a race not sprung from the same great parent stock, and in fact now by law de- nied citizenship through naturaliza- tion as being neither accustomed to the traditions of a pro- gressive civili- zation nor ex- ercised in liberty under equal laws. We denounce the policy which thus discards the liberty- loving German and tolerates a revival of the coolie trade in Mongolian women imported for im- moral purposes, and Mongolian men held to perform servile labor contracts, and demand such modi- fication of the trea- ty with the Chinese Empire, or such le- gislation Avithin con- stitutional limita- tions, as shall pre- vent further impor- tation or immigra- tion of the Mongo- lian race. 1880 — Amend- ment of the Burlin- game Treaty. No more Chinese immi- gration, except for travel, education, and foreign com- merce, and therein carefully guarded. [Plank 11. REPUBLICAN. 1880— Since the authority to regu- 1 a t e immigration and intercourse be- tween the United States and foreign nations rests with the Congress of the United States and the treaty-making power, the Republi- can party, regarding the unrestricted im- migration of Chinese as a matter of grave concernment under the exercise of both these powers, would limit and restrict that immigration by the enactment of such just, humane, and reasonable laws and treaties as will produce that result. [Plank 6. POLITICAL PLATFORMS. 79 civil Service. DEMOCRATIC. 1872 — The civil service of the gov- ernmeut has become a mere instrument of partisan tyranny and personal' ambi- tion and an object of selfish greed. It is a scandal and re- proach upon free in- stitutions and breeds a d e m o r a 1 iza- tion dangerous to the perpetuity of Republican Govern- ment. We therefore regard a thorough reform of the civil service as one of the most pressing neces- sities of the hour; that honesty, ca- pacity and fideli- ty constitute the only valid claim to public employment; and the offices of the Government cease to be a matter of ar- bitrary favoritism and patronage, and public station be- come again a post of honor. To this end it is imperative- ly required that no President shall be a candidate for re- election. 1876— Reform is necessary in the civil service. Ex- perience that proves efficient, economical conduct of Govern- mental business is not possible if the civil service be sub- ject to change at every election, be a prize fought for at the ballot-box, be a brief reward of party zeal, instead of posts of honor assigned for proved competency, and held for fidelity in the public «m- RKPUBLICAN. 1872 — Any system of the civil service, under which the subordinate p o s i - tions of the Govern- ment are considered rewards for mere Sarty zeal is fatally emoraliziiig, and we tlicrot'oro favor a reform of the sj^stem by laws which shall abolish the evils of patronage and make honesty, efficiency and fidelity the es- sential qualifications for public positions, without practically creating a life ten- ure of office. [Plank 5. 1876— Under the Constitu t i o n the President and heads of Departments are to make nomina- tions for office ; the Senate is to advise and consent to ap- pointments, and the House of Represen- tatives to accuse and prosecute faithless officers. The best interest of the pub- lic service demands that these distinc- tions be respected ; that Senators and Representatives DEMOCRATIC. ploy ; that the dis- pensing of patron- age should neither be a tax ujxm the time of all our pub- lic men, nor the in- strument of their ambition. 1880— * * Tho- rough reform in the civil service. REPUHI.K'AN. who may he judges and accusers sjiould not (lietatc appoint- ments to office. The invariable rule in a p p o i n t m e n t s should luive refer- ence to the honesty, fidelity and capacity of the appointees, giving to the party in power those places where harmo- ny and vigor of ad- ministration require its policy to be re- presented, but per- mitting all others to be filled by persons selected with sole reference to the efli- ciency of the public service, and the right of all citizens to share in the honor of rendering faith- ful service to the country. [Plank 5. 1880 — The Re- publican party, ad- hering to the prin- ciples affirmecl by its last National Convention of re- spect for the Consti- tutional rules gov- erning appoint- ments to office, adopts the declara- tion of President Hayes, that the re- form of the civil ser- vice should be tho- rough, radical and complete. To this end it demands the co-operation of the legislative with the executive depart- ments of the Gov- ernment, and that Congress sliall so legislate that fitness, ascertained by pro- per practical tests, shall admit to the public service. 80 TABULATED HISTORY— ELECTORAL VOTE. •mox C5 'TfH UT CD CO o; cc ^§ rlggg^ CO lO CO TjH CO rH -M T}H CO -^ (M t- (M ■* CO Tt< CO OJ X ,-1 CO CO CO CO '^ 00 CO CO CO •TOl uoSajQ 1 BpT!A8N 1 OPT3JOI00 1 STJSUTS^ 1 - B5lST;jq9jj •naiM - •stM. ^iiOI STJxaj 1 BPFOM 1 ■^A 'AV 1 - - — - i.inossti\[ 1 siouini 1 - •BUtiipUI 1 CO eo OHIO 1 CO CO CO g t- t- CO 00 iCjlDjua;^ 1 -* o ■* Tt* n* >* 00 00 t- t- -cq * -* :2; I— 1 CO <— ( CO lO lO lO lO .xuxS.nAl2--o3:?5-a--2f5 l^^ i ^ 04 5^ • (M • C^ ^ 'c^ ^ pu,T^..wi- ;--^«='^ " -^^-^'^'^-^'= ---- -^-^ ---- - 00 8.it!MBiaan i^""' " i" : : CO : CO : CO : co : co : co : -* : -* : co o •^nnajlS^^i!^ ■* t- 1-c^ (N CO ^-*- giS = S:gi^:S:^i ^. iCasjaf -N 1 ^ ^ "* ^ t^ "- t^ ■ ;i^cc:co:co:co: :ao 00 CO : 00 VOA -N 1 ; : i S i ^ - ^ (M : ci : C5 : co « co « §^ S : §^ •uaool^'^^ ^^ OJ ■^ lO oi : o5 : © . : o5 03 05 oa ; as t) pni3isi -^ t : : THrJ< • «o CO ro CO t- t^ '^ *^ 00 r-l t- CO 00 •auTBi^ 1 i s > c c -1 1 . > : c - Q \- 5 -s c "J . or i. 1h 6 ■ £ c c: "a- . > c > 1 4 ^1 i a a. > b C c PC c ~ p: £ 3 C -J > j £ ■ > i i i 5 s ? c < 1 tii io5 cooo itn (Mm im ^7? KS P^>.PH P1Ph>-P-I .-?-( r-HPHf>|a« AMERICAN POLITICS. SI •l«)ox c^ 00 ^.1^^^^ CO t^TK s* t:; CO 00 '^ T»1 1? o CO s •TO : : : ~: no39JO •• ~: ^pBA3^ . ; : i OpUJOlOQ ^ StJSUTJV ± B^SKiqa^ __ _ _ : •uuiiM •«A AV ~ — •siAV ~ TJAIOI sBxax Tjpi.l01J n'BStHDii\[ eo : w St!SUTJ)l.IV CO eo CO cr. unossii\[ S ^ •* ^ CO CO •* •<* siouiill CO CO (M i-H : CO '-' CO CO ta «o Tji ■* o ■BUlJipUX OS o U3 »o o : o oiqo 00 00 ■~o : o o c m m o : .o O • o uo : t- J ■Bumsmo^ CO CO CO (>» : >o : (M r-l : "^ »o : lo : «o g : :g ■* i'' •ssjM CO CO CO : CO : :^ : CO CO • ^ : ^ o : uo :'«<:':) ura'cqBtv CO CO lO : o : CO : o o : I- : t~ :•*:•* : t- : t~ ■BiSaoao 00 GO : : c» : : o t- 05 (M : ^ : III • t^ : r- ': Pi • ^ 1 ' •0 -s ^ ^ 'Pi : I^ ^ : ^1 P = g : :g g i :g :n :s •0-N lO O O : o ■-H (^^ o o o o ; »o : o : ic : lo : o ■BiaiSji^ o o : CM M . . . (M . oq . iM • -M . i g i i g 8 : § i g : g iCasaaf -^ 00 00 oo:::co:t-iio: :x :oo 00 : 00 : ; oo ; oo oo : oo j{jOA -M s s -g'^^ s^2^:2: S2g2 i ^ : ^ : ^ : 5 1 : oj : (M ) : 00 : 00 •uuoo Oi c» 00 : : S ^ : 00 00 :qo 00 00 : QC pnu'isi "a -* "* : '^ : CO : (M : -* •* • ■<* •SST5IV[ o g i-O : o : oj "^ •o • -* '^ •g :-* Tft : -5j :- ;uoraja^ 00 00 r- ; t- : lO '^ :g S t~ : t- t~ : t- ■drauH-N. s s 00 : ^^ g =^ :oo 00 *^ : *" : *~ • 1^ : : t- : I" 8ureiV i ^ ^ 05 00 05 : J^ : T-(oo .-100 : o : S • o . o : o : o e p c c £ ^ 1 £ 1 £ < 1 rz J J £ < 1 ''c J £ .IS 1 J c ■ £ *- c c E- - s 1 : ' (- : £ D ^ c 1 1 > '-I c -c c 1 : .J P C e i c t D C I 5 c '1 > r- i ^ 1 > i^ ^i ii ^i hi ^i ti Sp;ts:£ S£>;S Si;^^ 82 TABULATED HISTORY— ELECTORAL VOTE. oi : iM (M CO : CO (N : c ►-5 ?H ill ,-1 PL| k(^ >:p; 2 AMERICAN POLITICS. ^4 TABULATED HISTORY— APPORTIONMENT. 5S8 1 ^ ^ ^ UO t-^ CO ^ CN t-^OST-H rt X)i71 t' P4 MOTf* -34 " tS t58| OOUt)Or-(Tj1r-i(r40005rHt-rtCOTt(COC^'-l'Ot-'*CO.-H!Nt-C005r-<,--(CO!Nt-Oi--lC^10Tliai T1 § . 1 C»OQDf-l'*rHC^OOCO.-ir-i-lOTj(<»C^^lCt--*=0'-HC^r-COCJ3.-HT-(COCMt~-OOC^O-*05 ^ 858 1 ^ ^ ™« 1 00i0t0rHT}OOlMO-^05 « 538 1 >. J= QOiCcDi— ITfr-(0'*0!Mr-liOt-'*COr-(^^'Or-•^co,--l(N^:-coc^;-;,-H^(^^«^oo(^^o-*co f5 *■ m| OOOtOt-l-*rH(^100030COrHC£TfiO'-Hr-llOt-'*eOr-l(Nt--C005;-HrHr--C^CC>OOSSO-*QO 1 o = 918 1 T--lco-Oi-^COr-l(Mt~J^OTO.-lt-OqcOOO(MOTHCO _ Ic S ^ «-r^ 1 OOiOcDrHr)^,-H(^IOOMOcoO«OTf^;Dr-.OOl^•■2JCOrH(^^^-c^020,^r-c^cDOOC^^O'*cO 8X8 1 s. 5X8 1 ODiO«5r-i'*rH'>J00500000cOrt*CO S ^ ^ 608 1 OOlOlOi-l-*T-l(MOCi(MOcOOCD-*OT-HOlOt~'*COi-H(Mt-C^050rHr-(NOOO(MC33-<}01:-(»COr-HS^t-(M010.-Hr~(M«000!N05-^QO ^ ^^^^ r-, ^^ ,-, CO (M (M rHrH p S n s Z08 1 co^C)'0^-lTt^r-l<^^oiOi(^^ocC'0':D■^?D'— loot^coooi— icT-io»ot--coco.-HC^i>-rHC50.--io(r^cDOOiNa5'*co 508 1 COlOOrH-^T— lOq05a5'^^0<£>00■'t^C01— lOlOl^COCOrHC^t^rHCiOr- IC0COi-l-*,-lrH05C3iOJOOOO^X>— lOOt-COCOi-lOqt-r-IOOOli-HCOC^CDCSSOIMCS-^OO c 3 008 1 l:-OlOr-i-*T-Ht-l01C!5!MOOOCO-*CO^O'Ot~COCOrHlMr-,-IODOi.-HOO)COC50COiOi-i-*,-i,-iOiOD!M05D050'*cO^OOI:-COCO.-itqt~^0005i-i-x;(M«00505Cot-coco1--((^^^:-ococnT--^co(^^«5a503(^lo^'*co cS 965 13 a 565 t->0'Or-i-> • • e3 .2-2 .a .2 '3 1 J < 1 J c 3 II ,11 T c ■5 3-1 1 > 1 a j c 1 £ c 'i c c "Z I I i ;2 4 I c g 1 E- ll ^.5 •ll H TABULATED HISTORY— AMERICA N TARIFFS. 85 2 2 2 J^ 2 SJ_^ O O O CI lO Ol -*^ -»^ -" O >.0 O lO lO o o o o ^ 2 ?l S O - ; o o w (i, cL, d. li O >0 lO o o o C-l -N (M « f CO lO t- O IM "3 "5 iS> U3 O O lO 0> (M g• : • Cr o CO <^ ^ (N '*' £ o rH 'T O CO _i o t- £;:; „'-' co ■><»< CD • ^, ^- OD r* I- CO 1-1 ^. CO ^ ^ ^ O __« CO o „-<>," o « S3 5 00 CO ^ ;? :---s 2 s ^-B ^ 2 2 ^ I II .g ^ 1 1 •;=: I i5 i p. H ^ 2 I £ 8Q AMERICAN POLITICS. STATUTES OF lilMITATIOKS. State Laws with reference to limitations of actions, show- ing the limit of time on which action mn^ be brought. States and Tekeitories. Alabatia Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Dakota Delaware Dist. of Columbia.... Florida Georgia Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina Ohio Ontario (U. Canada) Oregon Pennsylvania... Quebec (L. Canada) Rhode Island- South Carolina.. Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Tertry West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming * CO p The Recent American Tariffs, under Re- vised Statutes, Sec. 34:91, et seq. COMMODITIES. Ale, porter, and beer— in bottles.... 35 c. per ga . " " " in casks 25 c. per gall. / 50 c. per lb. ) Aniline dyes or colors Animals, living — cattle, hogs, horses, sheep, etc Barley Books and other printed matter.... Braids of straw Brushes Buttons Cheese China, porcelain and parian ware, plain, white, and not decorated in any manner 45 per cent. Do. gilded, ornamented or deco- rated in any manner Do. other earthen, stone, or crock- ery ware, white, glazed, edged, printed, or dipped, or cream colored _ Coal, bitumen, and shale 75 c. per ton. Corsets and corset-cloth, valued at $6 per dozen, or less S2 per doz. Do. valued over $c-, per dozen 35 per cent. Cotton, manufactures of— plain bleached, value 20 cents or less per square yard &A C- P®r ^^- 5"^- 1 and 35 p. 20 per cent. 15 c. per hush. 25 per cent. 30 per cent. 40 per cent. 30 per cent. 4 c. per lb. 50 per cent. 40 per cent. COMMODITIES. Do. printed or colored, value cents or less per square yard.. Do. Hosiery Do. Lacps, cords, braids, gimps, galloons and cotton laces, colored and uisertings Do. Thread-yarn, warps, or warp- yarn not, wound on spools, valued at over 60 and not exceeding 80 J cents per pound I Cotton, valued at over 80 cents per J pound I Do.Velvet, velveteens, velvet bind- ings, ribbons, and vestings Currants, Zante, or other Diamonds (cut), cameos, mosaics, gems, pearls, rubies, and other precious stones, not set Dolls Embroideries, of cotton or wool.... Fans Feathers, ostrich, cock, and other ornamental Feathers and flowers, artificial and ornamental, not otherwise pro- vided for Figs Fire-crackers, in boxes of 40 packs, not exceeding 80 to the pack Flax linens, valued at 30 cents or less per square yard Do. valued at above 30 cents per square yard Do. Burlaps, and like manufac- tures of flax, jute, or hemp, of which either shall be the com- ponent of chief value (except bagging for cotton Do. Duck, canvas, paddings, cotton bottoms, diapers, crash, hucka- backs, handkerchiefs (not hem- med), lawns, or other manufac- tures of flax, jute, or hemp, valued at 30 cents or less per square yard Do. valuf-d at above 30 cents per sqnare yard Do. Thread, twine and pack-thread Do. all other manufactures of flax not otherwise provided for Fruits and nuts:— Almonds, not shelled " shelled Filberts and walnuts Prunes Raisins Furs, and manufactures of Glass-ware :— Porcelain, Bohemian, cut, en- graved, painted, colored, printed, stained, silvered, or gilded, not including plate-glass silvered, or looking-glass plates Plate-glass, cast, polished, not silvered, above 24 by 30, and not above 24 by 60 Above 24 by 60 Window-glass, cylinder, crown, or common, unpolished, above 10 by 15 and not above 16 by 24 Above 16 by 24 and not above 24 by 30 Above 24 by 30 Manufactures of, not otherwise specified Hats, bonnets, and hoods, straw.... Hemp, jute, and other fibre:— Bags, cotton-bags, and bagging (except bagging for cotton) Jute and sunn-hemp Jute butts ••• ■" Manila, India, and other like sub- stitutes for hemp India Rubber, manufactures of :— Braces, webbing, etc Iron and steel, manufactures of :— In slabs, blooms, loops, etc Pig-'fon •••• Scrap-iron, old,wrougtit ■• Manufantur-s of iron, not other- wise provided for BATE OF DUTT. [51^0. per sq. 1 [ yd. & 20 p. c. J 35 per cent. per cent. 30 c. per lb. > and 20 p. c. | ' 40 c. per lb. and 20 p. c. 35 per cent. 1 c. per lb. 10 per cent 35 per cent. 35 per cent. 35 per cent. 25 per cent. 50 per cent. 2)4 c. per lb. 81 per box. 35 per cent. 40 per cent. per cent. 35 per cent 40 per cent. 40 per cent 40 per cent. 6 c. per lb. 10 c. per lb. 3 c. per lb. 1 c. per lb. 2^ c. per lb. 20 per cent. 40 per cent 1 25 c. per sq. ft; 50 c per sq. ft c. per lb. 214 c. per lb. 3 c. per lb. 40 per cen'. 40 per cent. 40 per cent. 815 per ton. ic per too. 825 per ton. 35 per cent. 35 per cent S7 per ton. $8 per ton. 35 per cent TABULATED IIISTU U Y— A M ElU C AN TARIFFS. COMMODITIES. RATE OF DUTY. Iron and steel, manufactures of :— Steel, and manufactures of pen- knives, jack-knives and pocket- knives • 50 per cent. All other cutlerv,includinE; sword blades ■ 35 per cent. In inuots, bars, coils, sheets, and steel-wire, not less than '4 ineli diameter, valued at 7 cents per pound or less ^}4 c per lb. Valued at above 7 cents and not over 11 cents per pound 3 c. per lb. Muskets, rifles, and other fire- arms 35 per cent. Railway bar, or rails, wholly of steel IV^ c- per lb. Manufaclures of steel, not other- wise provided for 45 per cent. Jewelry of sjold, silver, or other met.al, or imitations of. 25 per cent. Lead, and manufactures of :— Pi'4s and bars, and molten 2 c. per lb. Leather, and manufactures of:— Calf-skinp, tanned, or tanned and dressed 25 per cent. Gloves, of kid or leather, of all descriptions 50 per cent. Upper leather of all kinds, and skins, dressed and finished, of al 1 kinds, not otuerwise provided for 20 per cent. Manufactures of, and articles of leather, or of which leather shall be a component part, not other- wise provided for 35 per cent. Lemons and oranges 20 per cent. Marble, and manufactures of: Veined and all other. In block, (50 c. per cu.) roughed or squared, not other- -^ ft. & 20 p. c. >- wise specified I per cu. ft. J Mats of cocoa-nut. china, and all , other floor-matting, of flags, jute, or e;rass 30 per cent. Metat, manufactures of. not other- wise provided for «5 per cent. Musical instruments 30 per cent. Oils, olive, salad, in bottles or flasks $1 per gall. Opium |1 per b. Opium prepared for smoking 56 per id. Paintings and statuary, not by American artists 10 per cent. Papier-mache, manufactures, arti- cles, and wares of. 35 per cent. Pickles, sauces, and capers 3.i per cent Rice, cleaned 2^^ c. per lb. Salt, in bags, sacks, barrels, or other packages 12 c. per 100 bs, Salt, in Wlk .^. .-:■• 8 c. per 100 lbs Sardines and anchovies, packed m oil or otherwise 4 c. per box. Seed8,flaxs.orlins.(56lbs.tobush.) 20 c. per bush. Silk:— Braids, laces, fringes, galloons, buttons, and ornaments, dress and piece goods 60 per cent. Veh'^ts GO per cent. Ribbons 60 per cent. Ribbons (edge of cotton) 5U per cent. Silk manufactures not otherwise provided for, made of silk, or of which silk is the component or chief value 60 per cent. Manufactures of, which have as a component thereof25 per cent., or over, In value of cotton, flax, wool, or worsted 50 Per cent. Soda caustic IM c per b Soda ash ^ e- Per lb- ^^Cassia, and Cassia Vera 10 c. per lb. ^-utmegs 20 c. per b. Pepper, black and white gram ... 5 c. pei lb. Spirits and wines :— ,, Brandy, proof «2 per gall. Cordials, liqueurs, arrack, ab- sinthe, kirschwasser, ratafia S2 per gall. Spirits, other, manufactured or distilled from grain ^2 p«r gall. Spirits, other (except brandy), • manufactured or distilled fr^m other materials r f Sf r 1^ U ■> Cologne-water and other per- C $3 per gall. | fumerv, of which alcohol forms 4 and 50 per c. , the principal ingredient I. per gall. J 20 COMMODITIES. Sugar and molasses:— Molasses Molasses concentrated, tank-bot- toms, sirup of sugar-cano, and imelado Sugar: , , All not above No. 7 Dutch .standard Above No. 7 and not above No. 10 Above No. 7 and not above No. lo Above No. V.i and not alcove No. RATH OF BUTT. 5 <•. piuH 'ir, ) per cent. > per lb. j ■ 1'.] c. pUlM » 25 c. per lb. r I'^i <'. plus \ ~-i c. plus a.'i \ p. c. per lb.) 2 c per lb. f2%c. plu.s26> I P- <^- P^-r lb- i Tartar, cream of 10 c. j.er lb. Tartar, argols, other than crude 6 c. [..-r lb. Tin, plates or sheets 1 1-10 c. per lb. Tobacco, and manufactures of:— Leaf, unmanufactured and not stemmed . .^.\e- Per lb. Cigars, cigarettes, and cheroot Toys, wooden and other 5() pfir cent. Watches, of gold or silver 25 per cent. Wines, Champagne, and all other sparkling, in bottles, containing not more than 1 pint each and more than 14 pint Wines, (Champagne, and all other sparkling, in bottles, containing not more than 1 quart and more than 1 pint dozens " Still wines, in casks galls. " in bottles, containing each not more than 1 quart and not more than 1 pint doz. bots (?2.5(i per 11..-) 1.. < and 26 p. o. > { per lb. ^ > $.3 per dozen. 8G per doz. 40 c. per Ball. Wood : Hoards, planks, deals, and other lumber M. ft. " Manufactures of, not otherwise provided for Wools, hair of the alpaca, goat, etc. : Raw and manufactured. Class No. 1, clothing wool, val 32 cents or less per lb lb " Value 32 cents or less pound " Value over 32 cents per pound lbs. " Class No. 2, value over 32 cents per pound [bs. " Class No. 3, carpet and other similar wools, valued at 12 cents or less per lb lbs. " Value over 12 cents per pound ■;"'^M " Carpets and carpetings of all kinds, Aubusson and Axminster, and carpets woven whole for rooms sq. yds. " Brussels carpet wrought by Jac- quard machine sq. yd. " Brussels tapestry, printed on the warp or otherwise sq. yds. " Patent velvet and tapestry vel- vet, printed on the warp or otherwise sq. yds. " Dress goods, women jtnd chil- dren's, and real or imitation Italian cloths, valued at not ex- ceeding 20 cents per sq. yd sq.yds. " Valued at above 20 cents per square yd £q. yds. « Dress goods, women and chil- dren'.", and real or imitation Italian cl.iths, weighing 4 ounces and over per square yard lbs. " Hosiery, valued at above 80 cents per pound 'bs. " Jlanufactures not otherwi.se specified, valued at above 80 cents per pound 'bs- Wool cloths lbs- lbs. 81.60 per doz. 82 per M. ft. 35 per cent •ed, lue f 10 c. per lb. > lbs. 1 & 11 p. c. J ^, ( 10 c. p. lb. &i per J 11 p. c, less V lbs-( 10 per c. S 12 c. per lb.) & 10 p. c. I 12 c. per lb. \ &10p. c. J 3 c. per lb. 6 c. per lb. 50 per cent. I 44 c. per sq. yd. & 35 p. c. J '28 c. per sq. yd. 4 35 p. c. 40 c. per sq. I yd.&35p.c.r I G c. per sq. [ yd. A ;J5 p. c. '8 c. per sq. I • -;40p.c.; ,yd.&- " Cloths " Clothing— articles of wear lbs. " Clothing— ready-made lbs. ,50 c. per lb. I I A 35 p. c. r f 50 c. per lb. \ I & 35 p. c. i f50c. per lb.) 1 A 35 p. c. r f50c. per lb. 1 [ & ,35 p. c. I r.^o c. per lb."j A 35 p. c, V tlosslO p. c.J 1,50 c. per lb.\ & 40 p. c. r foO c. per lb.\ [ 4 40 p. c. / AMERICAN POLITICS. COMMODITIES. BATE OF DUTY. Wool, manufactures wholly or in ( ^^ ^ j^ ] part of. not otherwise provided < ^ jj^^ ^ ' ) « ^, , ' 1 11, f 50 e. per lb. ) " Shawls, woolen lbs. j ^ g-*^ ^ j " Worsted, etc., not otherwise pro- f 5U e. per lb. ) vided for lbs. 1 & 40 p. c. j COMMODITIES. RATE OF DUTY. "Webbings, beltings, bindings, f- buttons,etc lbs. ( «oop.c., j " Yarns, valued at above 80 cents /50 c. per lb.) per pound lbs. ( & 50 p. c. / Zinc, in sheets 2i^ c. per lb. Articles. THE CUSTOaiS TARIFF OF GREAT BRITAIK. No protective duties are now levied on goods imported. Customs duties being charged solely for the sake of revenue. Formerly the articles subject to duty numbered nearly a thousand; now they are only twen- ty-two, the chief being tobacco, spirits, tea, and wine. The following is a complete list: Dutv. Articles. Duty. £ s. s. Malt, per quarter 14 9 Naphtha, purified, gallon 10 5 Pickles, in vinegar, gallon 1 Plate, gold, ounce 17 Plate, silver, ounce 16 Spirits, brandy, Geneva, rum, etc., gallon. 10 5 Spirits, rum, from British Colonies, gallon 10 2 Spirits, cologne water, gallon.. .. 16 6 £ s. Ale or beer, spec, gravity not exceeding lUf)5° per bhl 8 Ale or beer, spec, gravity not exceeding 1090°, per bbl 11 Ale or beer, spec, gravity exceeding 1090°, perbbl 16 Beer, Mum, per bbl 1 1 Beer, spruce, spec, gravity not exceeding 1190°, perbbl 1 1 Beer, spruce, exceeding 1190°, per barrel.. 1 4 ■Cards, playing, per doz. packs 3 Chickory (raw or kiln-dried), cwt- o 13 Chicory (roasted or ground), lb o o Cliloral hydrate, pound 1 Chloroform, pound 3 Cocoa, pound Cocoa, cwt., husks and shells 2 Cocoa paste and chocolate, pound Coffee, raw, cwt 14 Coffee, kiln-dried, roasted or ground, per p und Collodion, gallon 1 Essence of spruce, 10 per cent, ad valorem Ethyl, iodide of, gallon 13 Ether, gallon 1 Fruit, dried, cwt 7 Tea, pound Tobacco, unmanufactured, lb 9 Tobacco, containing less than ten per ct. 3 of moisture, lb 3 2 Cavendish or Negro head 4 3 Other manufactured tobacco 4 Snuff, containiug more than 13 per cent. 1 of moisture, lb 3 Snuff, less than 13 per cent, of moisture, lb. 4 2 Tobacco, cigars, pound 5 Varnish, containing alcohol, gallon 12 Vinegar, gallon 2 Wine, containing less than 26° proof spi- 4 rit, gallon 1 Wine, containing more than 26° and less than 42 spirit, gallon 2 6 Wine, for each additional degree of strength bevond 42°, gallon 3 1% PRESIDENTS AND VICE-PRESIDENTS. 10 11 12 13 14 14a 15 16 16a 17 18 19 20 80a PRESIDENTS. VICE-PRESIDEETS. Qualified. Name. Qualified. George Washington April 30,1789 » " March 4, 1793 John Adams March 4,1797 Thomas Jefferson March 4,1801 " March 4,1805 James Madison March 4,1809 " March 4,1813 James Monroe. March 4,1817 March 5,1821 John Q. Adams March 4,1825 Andrew Jackson March 4,1829 " " March 4,1833 Martin Van Buren March 4,1837 Wm. H. Harrison March 4,1841 John Tyler April 6,1841 James K. Polk March 4, 1845 Zachary Taylor March 5, 1849 Millard Fillmore July In, 1850 Franklin Pierce March 4, lSo3 James Buchanan March 4,1857 Abraham Lincoln March 4,1861 " '• March 4, 1865 Andrew Johnson April 15,1865 Ulysses S. Grant March 4,1869 •*^" " March 4,1873 Rutherford B. Hayes March .5,1877 James A. Garfield March 4, 1881 Chester A. Arthur Oct. 20,1881 John Adams June 3, " Dec. 2, Thomas Jefferson March 4, Aaron Burr March 4, George Clinton March 4, March 4, Elbridge Gerry March 4, John Gaillard Nov. 25, Daniel D. Tompkins March 4, " " March 5, John C. Calhoun March 4, " " March 4, Martin Van Buren March 4, Richard M.Johnson March 4, John Tyler March 4, fSamue'l L. Southard April 6, tWillie P. Mangum May 31, George M. Dallas March 4, Millard Fillmore March 6, tWilliam R. King :^J^'y ,_ ^^• William R. King March 4, tDavid B. Atchisou April 18, tJesse D Bright J!®°V 5' John C. Breckinridge March 4, Hannibal Hamlin March 4, Andrew Johnson March 4, tLafayette S. Foster i^P"',, ^^ tBenjamin F. Wade March 2, Schuvler Colfax March 4, Henry Wilson March 4, tThomas W. Ferry Nov. 22, William A. Wheeler ^arch 5, Chester A. Arthur Blarch 4 tThomas P. Bayard Oct. 12, fDavid Davis Oct. 13, 1793 1797 1801 1805 1809 1813 1814 1817 1821 1825 1829 1833 1837 1841 1841 1842 1845 1849 1850 1853 1853 18.54 1857 1861 1865 1865 1867 isr.9 1873 1S75 1877 1881 1881 1881 *The figures in this column mark the terms held by the Presidents. t Acting Vice-President and President j^ro tern, of the Senate TABULATED II ISTO R Y— PO PU L All VOTE, «y SUMMARY OF POPULAR AND ELEOTORAI^ VOTES IN PRESIOENTIAL. ELECTIONS, 17HU-1HH0. c3 >- II 2 ft Party. Candidates. * ! Popular Vote. -* 1 \ 2 1789 10 15 16 16 73 135 138 138 (ieorge WaNhington "4 •J .lohn.Jav \\ R H.-ivrw,.., 4 j.ilui llui U iVcoi-i;,' Climui, Sainiipl IliiniiiiL'inii 2 .lohii Milton. 2 1 1 \ .lames Armstrong Edward Telfair Vacancies 4 . 1-92 Federalist John Adains 77 Republican Republican Anrrin Rnrr 1 .3 1796 Federalist ■.. Federalist 59 Oliver Ellsworth 11 7 5 3 73 73 65 64 1 John Jay 1800 Republican Republican Federalist Federalist Federalist >* o 2; 3 Party. For President. 'is" 12 Popular Vote. 1 ' -g For Vice-President. ' 1 > -J 1804 21 17 18 19 24 24 176 176 218 221 235 261 Republican Thomas Jetferson Chas. C. Pinckney James Madison 162 George Clinton 14 Rufus King 162 14 1808 122|George Clinton 113 3 Chas. C Pinclvney 5 47| Rufus Kinsr I.Tohn Lanffdon 47 9 ' Llames Monroe 3 Vacancv ■1 1 1812 Republican Federalist James Madison 11 l.'^l snijared rnpersoll . . . \ ^^\ 1 1816 James Monroe Rufus King 16 3 183 Federalist ■3i Jritin V. Vtnwarri 22 5 John Marshall 4 :Robt. G. Harper 3 Vacancies 4 1820 Republican James Monroe 21 ''31 D D Tompkins 918 1' Rich. Stockton 8 4 Robt. G. Harper 1 Richard Rush 1 VapVitinifl- 3 18?4 Republicin . Andrew Jackson J"hu Q. Adams Wm. H Crawford Henry Clay 'vacancy.'." 10 8 3 155.872, 99 ,Tohn C. Calhoun 182 Repuhlic^in Republican.. . . 105.321 .44,282 •11 Nathaniel Macon 24 Republican 46,587: ST Andrew Jackson Henry Clay -. 2 1 90 AMERICAN POLITICS. SUMMARY OP POPULAR AND ELECTORAIi VOTES.— [ContinueH. Party. Democratic Nat. Republican. Democratic Nat. Republican. Anti-Mason Democratic . Whig Whig Democratic , Liberty Democratic . Whig ..,. Liberty Whig Democratic. Free Soil Democratic Whig Free Democracy. Democratic. Republican.. American.... Republican Democratic Democratic "Const. Union" Republican.- Democratic. Republican.. Democratic. Republican Dem. and Lib. Rep.. Democratic Temperance Republican.... Democratic... "Greenback'' "Prohibition' Republican.... Democratic. ., " Greenback " For President. Andrew Jackson. John Q. Adams... Andrew Jackon. Henry Clay William Wirt John Floyd Vacancies Martin Van Buren. Wm. H. Harrison... Hugh L.White Daniel Webster W. P. Mangum Wm. H. Harrison... Martin Van Bureu. James G. Birney.... James K. Polk.... Henry Clay James G. Birney. Zachary Taylor, Lewis Cass Martin Van Franklin Pierce., Winfield Scott.... John P. Hale James Buchanan., John C. Fremont. Millard Fillmore.. Abraham Lincoln..., J. C. Breckinridge., S. A. Douglas , John Bell Abraham Lincoln. Geo. B. McClellan.. Vacancies* Ulysses S. Grant... Horatio Seymour. Vacanciesf Ulysses S. Grant- Horace Greeley... Chas. O'Conor James Black T. A. Hendricks.. B. Gratz Brown... Chas. J. Jenkins.. David Davis Not counted t. R. B. Haves S. J. Tilden Peter Cooper Green C, Smith. James A. Garfield., W. S. Hancock, James B. Weaver.. Scattering Popular Vote. 687,502 530,189 33,108 761,549 736,656 1,275,017 1,128,702 7,059 1,337,243 1,299,068 62,300 1.360,101 1,220,544 291,263 1,601,474 1,386,578 156,149 1,838,169 1,3") 1,264 874,534 1,866,352 845,763 1,375,1.57 589,581 2,216,067 1,808,726 3,015,071 2,709,013 3,597,070 2.834,079 4,033,950 4,284.885 81,740 9,522 4,442,950 4,442,035 For Vice-President. John C. Calhonn. Richard Rush William Smith.... M. Van Buren John Sergeant Amos Ellmaker... Henry Lee , William Wilkins. R. M. Johnson Francis Granger. John Tyler William Smith.... John Tyler R. M. Johnson. L. W. Tazewell.. James K. Polk. Geo. M. Dallas T. Frelinghuysen.. Millard Fillmore. Wm. O. Butler Chas. F. Adams... Wm. R. King Wm. A. Graham., Geo. W. Julian J. C. Breckinridge.. Wm. L. Dayton A. J. Donelson Hannibal Hamlir Joseph Lane H. V. Johnson.... Edward Everett., Andrew Johnson... Geo. H. Pendleton.. Schuvler Colfax. F.P.Blair, Jr Henry Wilson B. Gratz Brown.... John Q. Adams.... A. H. Colquite John M. Palmer... Geo. W. Julian T. E. Bramlette.... W. S. Groesbeek.. Willis B. Machen. N. P. Banks Wm. A. Wheeler. T. A. Hendricks.. S. F. Cary R. T. Stewart 214 Chester A. Arthur.... 1.55 Wm. H. English B. J. Chambers * Not voting— Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia. Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. t Not voting— Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia. t Seventeen votes rejected, viz. : 3 from Georgia for Horace Greeley (dead), and 8 from Louisiana, and 8 from Arkansas for U. S. Grant. TABULATED HISTO RY— CABINET OFFICERS. 91 CABINET OPPICERS OP THE AD.IIIIVISTKATIONS. Geobge Washington, President. I. and II. ; 1789-1797. Secretary of Sfnfr, Thomas Jerterson, Virginia, September 2f;th, 17x;t ; Edmund Kandolpli, Virginia, January 2d, 1794; Timothv Pirkeriug, Pennsylvania, December loth, 17!ir-. Si-mtari/ of rrcnsinjj, Alex- ander Hamilton, New Vork, September 11th, 1789; Oliver Wulcott, Connecticut, February 2d, 1795. Secretary bf War, Henry Knox, Massachusetts, September 12th, 1789; Timothy Pickering, Penn- sylvania, January 2d, 1795; James MoHi'iny, M.iry- land, January 27th, 1796. AUornei/ Ornmil, Kdiiiiiii.l Randolph, Virginia, S-^ptember 2r)th, I7s:); Willinin Bradford, Pennsylvania, January 27th, 179 1 ; Charles Lee, Virginia, December 10th, 1795. Postmii.-^tcr- General* Samuel Osgood, Massachusetts, Septem- ber 26th, 1789; Timotny Pickering, Pennsylvania, August 12th, 1791 ; Joseph Habersham, Georgia, February 25th, 1795. John Adams, President. III.; 1797-1801. Secretary of State, Timothv Pickering, continned; John Marshall, Virginia. May 13th, 18U0. Secretary of Treasury, Oliver Wolcotc. continued; Samuel Dexter, Massachusetts, January 1st, 1801. Secrrtirry of War, James McHenry, continued; Samuel Dex- ter, Massachusetts, May 13th, 1800; Roger Griswold, Connecticut, February 3d, 1801. Secretary of Navy,f George Cabot, Massachusetts, May 3d, 1798 ; Benja- min Stoddert, Maryland, May 21st, 1798. Attornei/- Oeneral, Charles Lee, continued; Theopliilus Par- sons, Massachusetts, February 20th, 1801. Post- master- General, Joseph Habersham, continued. Thomas Jefferson, President. IV. and v.; 1801-1809. Secretary of State, James Madison, Virginia, March 5th, 1801, Secretary of Treasury, Samuel D-xter, continued; Albert'Gallatin, Pennsylvania, May 14th, 1801. Secretary of War, Henry Dearborn, Massachu- setts. March 5'th, 1801. Secretary of Navy, Benjamin Stoddart, continued: Robert Smith, Maryland, July 15th, 1801 ; Jacob Crowninsh jeld, Massachusetts, May, 3d, 1805. Attorney-General. Levi Lincoln, Massa- chusetts, March 5th, 1801; Robert Smith, Maryland, March 3d, 1805; John Breckinridge, Kentucky, August 7th, 1805; Csesar A. Rodney, Pennsylvania, January 20th, 1807. Postmaster-General, Joseph Habersham, continued ; Gideon Granger, Connecti- cut, November 28th, 1801. James Madison, President. Secretary of State, Robert Smith, Maryland, March 6th, 1809;" James Monroe, Virginia, April 2d. 1811. Secretary of Treasury, Albert Gallatin, continued; George W. Campbell, Tennessee, February 9th, 1814; A. J. Dallas, Pennsylvania, October (ith, 1814; William H. Crawford, Georgia, October 22d, 1816. Secretary of War, William Eustis, Matsachusetts, March 7th,'l809 ; John Armstrong, New York, Janu- ary 13th, 1813; James Monroe, Virginia, September 27th, 1814; William H. Crawford, Georgia, August 1st, 1815. Secretary of .No.vy, Paul Hamilton, South Carolina, March 7th, 1809; William Jones, Pennsyl- vania, January 12th, 1813; B. W. Cro « ninshield, Massachusetts', December 19tb, 1814. Attnrnc\h'^rraber 24th. 17S9. James Mdncoe, President. VIII. and IK.; 1817-1825. Secretary of Slate, John Quincy Adnmn, Mas-achu- setts, March 5th, 1817. Sn-retary of '/Wtsun:, Wil- liam U. Crawford, eontiiiueil. Srrretary of War, (ieorge Graham, Virginia, .\pril 7ih, I8I7'; ,Iohn C. Calhoun, South Carolina, October hi Ii, 1h17. Serrelnru of Navy, H. W. Crowninsliiuld, continued; Smith Thompson, New York, November 9 h, IhIK; John Rogers, Massachusetts, Septcanber l.^-t, I82:!; Samuel L. Southard, New Jersey, Septem-ier Hith, 1823. .1 itiirni \i-(r,:neral, Richard Rush, continued ; William Wirt, \'iri;inia, November 13th, 1817. Postmaster- (i: rural, H. ,1. Meigs, continued; John McLean, Ohio, .June 20th, 1823. John (Quincy Adams, President. X.; 1825-1829. Secretary of State, Henry Clay, Kentucky, March 7th, 1825. Secretary of Treasury, Richard Rush, Pennsylvania, March 7th, 1825. Secretary of War, .lames Barbour, Virginia, March 7th, 1825; Peter B. Porter, New York, May 26th 1828. Secretary of Navy, S. L. Southard, continiied. Attorney-Oeneral, William Wirt, continued. Postmaster-General, John McLean, continued. Andrew Jackson, President. XI. and XIL; 1829-1837. Secretary of State, Martin Van Buren, New York, Marcli 6th, 1829; Edward Livingston, Louisiana, May 24th, 1831; Louis :\IcLan*', Delaware, .May 29th, 1833; John Forsyth, Georgia, June 27th, 1834. Serre- tary of T-easurii, Samnel D. Ingham, Pennsylvania, M;^rch Oth, i829; Louis McLane, Delaware, .\ugust 8th, 1831; William J. Duane, Pennsylvania, May 29th, 1833; Roger B. Taney, Maryland, September 23d, 1833; Levi Woodbury, New Hampshire, June 27th, 1834. Secretary of War, John H. Eaton, Ten- nessee, March 9th, ls2'j; Lewis Cass, Michigan, August 1st, 1831; Benjamin F Butler, New York, March 3d, 1837. Seeretaru of Navy, John Branch, North Carolina, March 9th, 1829; Levi Woodbury, New Hampshire, May 23d, 1831; Mahlon Diekerson, New Jersey, June 30th, 1834. Attorneii-General, John M. Berrien, Georgia, March 9th, 1829; Roger B. Taney, Maryland, July 20th, 1831 ; Benjamin F. Butler, New York, November I5th, 1833. Postmaster- General, William T. Barry, Kentucky, March 9th, 1829; Amos Kendall, Kentucky, May 1st, 1835. Martin Van Buren, President. XIIL; 1837-1841. Secretary of State, John Forsyth, continued. Secre- tary of Treasury, Levi Woodbury continued. Secre- tary of IFar, Joel R. Poinsett. Soiuh Carolina, March 7th, 1837. Secretary of N'vy, Mahlon Diekerson, continued; James K. Paulding, New York, June 25th, 1838. Attorney-General, Benjamin F Butler; Felix Grundy, Tennessee, July 5th, 1X38 ; Henry D. Gilpin, Pennsylvania. January llth, 1840. Post- master-General, .\mos Kendall, continued; John M. Niles, Connectieut, May 19th, 1840. Wm. H. Hakri.son and John Tvlek, Presidents. XIV.; 1841-1845. Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, Massachusetts, March 5th, 1841; Hugh 8. Legare, South Carolina, May 9th, 1843 ; A. P Upshur, Virginia, July 246h. 1843; John C. Calhoun, South Carolina, March 6Mi. 1844. Secretary of Treasury, Thomas Ewing, Ohio, March .5th, 1841; Waller Forward, Pennsylvania, September 13th, 1841 ; John ('. Spencer, New York, March 3d. 1843; G oree M. Bibb, Kentucky, June 15th, 1844. Secretary of War. John Bell, Tennessee, March 5th, 1841 ; John McLean, Ohio, September 13th, 1841 ; J ihn C. Spencer, New York, October 12th, 1841; J im. < M. P.rter, Pennsylvania, March 8th, 1843; Willjnin Wilkins, P. ~ |it. 173G jVirginia 10 C)c" 1737 iMaryland. " "' Died. 14 November, 1832. Chase, Samuel Somerset Co., Md., IV Apr. 1741. ...IMaryland 19 June, ixll Clark, Abraham [Elizabethtown, N. J., 15 Feb. 172GlNew Jersey — September, 1794. Clymer, George IPhiladelphia. Pa., in 1739 jPennsylvania 23 Jan. l.sl:!. Ellerv, William Newport, R. I., 22 Dee. 1727 iR. I. & Prov. PI 15 Feb. 182(i. Floyd, William Suffolk Co , N.Y., 17 Dec. 1734 New York i 4 Aug 1821. Franklin, Benjamin Boston, Mass., 17 Jan. 170G Pennsylvania., 17 April, 1790. Gerry, Elbridge Marblehead. Mass., 1 July 1744.. . I Massachusetts 23 November, 1814. Gwiiinet, Button England, in 1732 kieorgia 27 May, 17T7. Hall, Lvman Connecticut, in 1731 (ieorgia — Feb. 1790. Hancock, John Braintree, Mass., in 1737 .Massachusetts 8 Oct. 1793. Harrison, Benjamin Berkley, Va., Virginia ;— April, 1791. Hart, John Hopewell, N. J., in 1715 New Jersey 1880. Heyward, Thomas, Jr St. Lulce's, S, C, in 1746 South Carolina — March, 180a Hewes, Joseph Kingston, N. J., in 17.30 iNorth Carolina 10 Oct. 1779. Hooper, William Boston, Mass., 17 June, 1742 iNorth Carolina — Oct. 1790. Hopkins, Stephen Scituate, Mass., 7 M.ar., 17iiT R.I. & Prov. PI 1 13 July, 178.5. Huntington, Samuel Windham, Conn., 3 Julv 1732 Connecticut 5 Jan. ITiiti Hopkinson, Francis Philadelphia, Pa., in 1737 New Jersey 9 May, 1790. Jefferson, Thomas Shadwell, Va., 13 Apr. 1734 Virginia 4 July. isiG. Lee, Richard Henry iStratford, Va.. 20 Jan. 1732 [Virginia 19 June, 1794. Lee, Francis Lightfoot Stratford, Va., 14 Oct. 1734 t Virginia — April, 1797. Lewis, Francis P Landaff, Wales, in Mar. 1713 !New York 30 Dec. 1S0.3. Livingston, Philip Albany, N. Y., 15 Jan. 171G , New York 12 June, 1778. Lynch, Thomas, Jr St. George's, .S. C, 5 Aug. 1749 South Carolina ILost at sea, 1779. McKean, Thomas Chester Co.. Pa., 19 Mar 1734 iDela^are |24 June, 1817. Middleton, Arthur Middieton Place, S.C, in 1743 [South Carolina i 1 Jan. 1787. Morris Lewis Morrissianna, N. Y'., in 1726 New York 22 Jan. 1798. Morris, Robert Lancashire, Bug., Jan. 1733-4 i Pennsylvania 8 May, 1806 Morton, John Ridley, Pa., lu 1724 Pennsylvania [— April, 1777. Nel.son, Thomas, Jr _... York, Va., 26 Dec. 1738 \ irginia 4 Jan. 1789. Paca, Wm I Wye-Hill, Md., 31 Oct. 1740 Maryland , 1799. Paine. Robert Treat Boston, Mass., in 1731 [Massachusetts 11 May, 1804. Penn, John Caroline Co., Va., 17 May 1741 | North Carolina 26 Oct. 1809. Read, George Iceeil Co., Md., in 1734 Delaware I , 1798. Rodney, Csssar iDover, Del., in 1730 Delaware '■ , 1783. Ross George I New Castle, Del. in 1730 'Pennsylvania —July, x779. Rush, Benjamin, M.D Bvberry. Pa., 24 Dec. 1745 Pennsylvania 19 April. 1813. Rutledge, Edward Charleston, S.C, in Nov. 1749 South Carolina 23 Jan. 18oo. Sherman, Roger Newton, Mas.s., 19 Apr. 1721 Connecticut 23 July, 1793. Smith, James , Ireland, Pennsylvania 11 July, 1806. Stockton, Richard Princeton, N. J., 1 Oct. 1730 New Jersey 28 Feb. 1781. Stone, Thomas Charles Co., Md., in 1742 Maryland 5 Oct. 1787. Taylor, George •, Ireland, in 1716 Pennsylvania 23 Feb. 1781. Thornton, Matthew ' , Ireland, in 1714 New Hampshire :21 June, 1803. Walton George Frederick Co., Va., in 1740 Georgia 2 Feb. 1804 Whipple, Wm Kittery, Maine, in 1730 New Hampshire I28 Nov. 1785. Williams, Wm Lebanon, Conn., 8 Apr. 1731 Conneetiout I 2 Aug. 1811. Wilson, James -Scotland, ab->ut L742 Pennsylvania 28: Aug. 1798. Witherspoon, John Yester. Scotland, 5 Feb. 1722 New Jersey 15 Nov. 1794. Wolcott, Oliver Windsor, Conn., 26 Nov. 1726 Connecticut 1 Dec. 1797. Wythe, George Elizabeth City Co., Va., in 1726... [Virginia 8 June, ISOh. ANTE-WAR. DEBTS OF THE SEVERJ\.Ii STATES. Table showing the Debts of the several States before the war (I860 61). Maine Ni u Hampshiu Vf^rmont Ma'-'-achU'-etts Rhode Island Connecticut Now 'i ork Ni w Jei'-e^ P< nn«\h mil Dc law are Mai \ 1 lud . Ohn Indima Miohitcan Illinois Wisconsin Minnesota S699,500 31,669 none. 7,132,627 none, none. 3 1,182,976 104,000 37,964,602 none. 1 r250,i73" Iowa Missouri Kansas Kentucky California Oregon Virginia ■• North Carolina.. South Carolina.. Georgia Florida ^ -Alabama Mississippi Loui-iana Texas Arkansas 1 Tennessee 200,00C 24,734.000 150,00(> 4,729,2:34 55,372 33,248,141 9,129,505 3,691,574 2,670,750 383.000 5,048,000 none. 10,023,903 ""3,092,622" 16,643,666 94 AMERICAN POLITICS. CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT AXD VICE PRESIDEIVT, Since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, March 1st, 1789. The following is a list of the Presidents and Viee-Presidents of the United States, as well as those who wer* candidates for each office, since the organization of the Government : {vide pp. 21-25, 62.) Harrison died one month after his inauguration and John Tyler* became President for the rest of the term. 1845— James K. Polk* and George M. Dallas ; beat- ing Henry Clay* and Theodore Frelinghuysen. 1819— Zaehary Taylor* and Millard Fillmore; beat- ing Lewis Cass and Martin Van Buren for President, and William O. Butler* and C. F. Adams, for Vice President. 1853— Franklin Pierce and William R. King*; beating Winfield Scott and William A. Graham.* 1857— James Buchanan and John C. Breckin- ridge*; beating John C. Fremont and Millard Fill- more for President, and William L. Dayton and A. J. Donaldson* for Vice President. 1801- Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin ; beating John Bell, Stephen A. Douglas, and J. C. Breckinridge* for President. 1865 — Abraham Lincoln and j ndrew Johnson,* Union candidates; beating G. B. McClellan and G. H. Pendleton. 1869— Ulysses S. Grant and Schuyler Colfax; beat- ing Horatio Seymour and Frank P. Blair, jr. 1873— Ulysses S. Grant and Henry Wilson ; beating Horace Greeley and B. Gratz Brown, for President and Vice President. 1877— Rutherford B. Hayes and Wm. A. Wheeler; beating Samuel Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks. 1881— James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur; beating General W. S. Hancock and W. H. English. ,\rthur succeeded Garfield, after his death from as- sassination, Sept. 19, 1881, and David Davis is now Acting Vice President. 1789— George Washington* and John Adams, two terms, no opposition. 1797— John Adams, opposed by Thomas JeflFerson,* who, having the next highest electoral vote, became Vice Pre.^ident. 1801— Thomas Jefferson* and Aaron Burr ; beating John .\dams and Charles C. Pinckney.* 1805— Thomas Jefferson* and George Clinton ; beating Charles C. PincKney* and Rufus King. lS()9_jarnes Madison* and George Clinton; beat- ing Charles C. Pincknev.* 1813— James Madison* and Eldridge Gerry ; beat- ing DeWitt Clinton. 1817— James Monroe* and Daniel D. Tompkins ; beatini; Rufus King. 1821— James Monroe* and Daniel D.Tompkins; beating John Quincy Adams. 1825— John Quincy Adams and John C. Calhoun ;* beating Andrew Jackson,* Henry Clay,* and Wil- liam H. Crawford ;* there being four candidates for President, and .\lbert Gallatin lor Vice President. 1829— Andrew Jackson* and John C. Calhoun*; beating John Quincy Adams and Richard Rush. 1833— Andrew Jackson* and Martin Van Buren ; beating Henry Clay,* John Floyd,* and William Wirt for President; and William Wilkins, John Sergeant, and Henry Lee* for Vice President. 1837— Martin Van Buren and Richard M. John- son*; beating William H. Harrison, Hugh L.White, and Daniel Webster for President, and John Tyler* for Vice President. lS41_William H. Harrison and John Tyler*; beat- ing Martin Van Buren and Littleton W. Tazewell.' * Candidates from Southern States. MUMBER OF KliECTORAL. VOTES TO WHICH EACH STATE HAS BEEN ENTI- TLED^ AT EACH ELECTION, 1189-1876. Alabama Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hlinols Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Jlaine Maryland ]\Iassachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Nebraska Nevada..... New Han^shire New Jersey New York North Carolina Ohio Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina Tennpssee Texas Vermont Virginia West Virginia Wisconsin Total Kumber of States.... 176 218 17 18 15 15 21 290 296 30 31 11 11 21 21 151 15 11 11 5, 5 12 1 314317 36 37 11 5 10 1 10 366 '369 37 38 <■. .-^•' ^^V .•^^/. •^^^^ A^ • ^"^^^ ' * * * I AUGUSTINE ^^32084