SPEECH
OF
HON, EDWARDS PIERREPONT,
DELIVERED AT THE CONVENTION AND MASS MEETING OF THE
DEMOCRACY OPPOSED TO THE CHICAGO PLATFORM,
HELD AT THE
Cooper Institute, New York, November 1, 1864.
FELLOW-CITIZENS: A little while ago those of the Democratic party-who meet here tonight, earnestly desired a change in the Administration; to that change we looked as the
only safe way to bring peace to our country.  We trusted that the Chicago Convention would
exhibit wisdom, honor and patriotism; we hoped that they would drop all minor dissensions
and strive to bring about an honorable adjustment of our difficulties.
Many of us believed that the Convention would propose that the insurgent States lay
down their arms and return to the Union; and this being done, that a convention of all the
States be called for the purpose of trying to harmonize the real or imagined grievances.
Upon that simple platform  we had hoped to place two eminent civilians, whose wisdom,
-whose moderation, and whose statesmanship the country could trust.  With such a platform,
and with such candidates, we had intended to go before the people and urge them to make
this change as the surest means of restoring the Union. But when we find that the enemies
of our Government, traitors to Democratic principles, ruled that assembly, and virtually surrendered the honor, the valor and the manhood of the North, we denounce the crime and
refuse to stand silent by and witness the completion of our country's humiliation.
The Democratic party were defeated in the Presidential contest four years ago, because
the southern politicians wished it defeated; they deliberately planned and persistently
executed that defeat. Mr. Lincoln was elected because the southern politicians wished him
elected, and did all in their power to make our defeat and his election sure. Their object was
to destroy the Democratic party, and thus destroy the Union, as they themselves openly said,
through their journals, they " hated free schools, free speech, free institutions, free labor, and
free men." No man of our time had a more complete knowledge upon this subject than that
true Democrat, brave patriot, and great man, Stephen A. Douglas. Death summoned him
from this scene of strife, and in his last farewell he said:
" The election of Mr. Lincoln is a mere pretext. The present secession movement is the result of an enormous conspiracy formed more than a year since-formed by leaders in the Southern Confederacy more than
twelve months ago. They use the slavery question as a means to aid the accomplishment of their ends. They
desired the election of a northern candidate by a sectional vote, in order to show that the two sections cannot
live together. When the history of the two years from the Lecompton question down to the Presidential election shall be written, it will be shown that the scheme was deliberately made to break up this Union.
" They desired a northern Republican to be elected by a purely northern vote, and then assign this fact as
a reason why the sections cannot live together. If the disunion candidate in the late Presidential contest had
carried the united South, their scheme was, the northern candidate successful, to seize the Capital last spring,
and by a united South and divided North, hold it. Their scheme was defeated, in the defeat of the disunion
candidates in several of the southern States.
" But this is no time for a detail of causes. The conspiracy is now known; armies have been raised, war is
levied to accomplish it. There are only two sides to the question. Every man must be for the United States or
against it. There can be no neutrals in this war; only patriots or traitors!"
This last speech of Douglas was delivered just before he died. It was delivered ill
Chicago. Three years after a great convention assembled at that place; in it were many
whom Douglas had cherished as his best friends, as true to Democratic faith, as patriots
vapon whom his country could rely in her most trying hour. Many in that convention were
Douglas' friends —steadfast in Democratic faith, and real patriots at heart.
A committee on resolutions entered that assembly and said:
*This Convention does explicitly declare, as the sense of the American 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
or war power higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, and public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty, and the public wdlfare 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 the
States."
We are told, when that resolution was read, that a strange sensation ran through the
assembly, that the members looked into each other's faces, and that in the stillness you could_
Publlsbed by the war Democrate State Committee of the Sta,  of New York.




hear the heart beat. It is no wonder! they were standing by Douglas' grave! and they saw.
his handwriting on the wall, and they heard his warning voice say, "There can be no neutrals
in this war-only patriots or traitors."
I shall show that the sentiments embodied in this resolution were not the sentiments of
any friend of Douglas, of any true Democrat, or of any lover of the Union. The resolution
was forced upon the Convention against its real sentiments, and by noisy, bold, and fraudulent threats of a Northwestern secession. It is to be regretted that the friends of Douglas,
the friends of his principles, the friends of the Union, did not firmly say, " There can be no
neutrals iin this war-only patriots or traitors."  But all real friends of the Union will soon
shake off the galling fetters with which Vallandigham, Pendleton, and other southern
sympathizers have bound them, and return to the true principles of the Democratic party,
from which these friends of the Union's enemies have for the moment beguiled them.
The hour is near when all will see that "there are only two sides to this question; every'
man must be for the United States or against it."
Vallandigham and a few active, noisy, adroit and audacious enemies of the Union, and friends
of Toombs, Jeff. Davis and Judah Benjamin, have assumed to give voice to the Democratic
party; they have skillfully tried to make honest Democrats believe that no supporter of an administration placed in power by Republicans could be a Democrat. By this false and specious
logic, many honest men have been deceived. When the Democrats of the South, by their own
treachery to the Democrats of the North, placed Mr. Lincoln in power, what was a patriotic
Democrat to do, but to sustain the only government which Southern traitors had left us?
Were Northern' Democrats to sacrifice their country, to surrender their manhood, to become
the doughfaced cowards and poltroons which Southern braggarts always said we were?
When, in April, 1861, Fort Sumpter fell, and the Rebel Secretary. of War, amid the roar of
cannon and the shouts of the enemies of our Government, announced to the world that theConfederate flag floated over the walls of Sumpter, and that the same flag would float over'
the Dome of the Capitol at Washington before the first of May, what were Northern Democrats to do? What did their good instincts prompt them to do, and what did they do?
They rose in their might, and swore to defend and to preserve our country entire; they
hastened to the field, nor stopped to ask who for the time was at the head of their beloved.
government. This great uprising struck the South aghast-so long had we been accustomed.
to yield to their arrogant pretensions; so long had they ruled us as they pleased; that they.
verily thought, when they chose to deprive us of power and to put Mr. Lincoln in place, in
order, as they expressed it, " to fire the Southern mind and hurry the cotton States into
revolution," that Northern Democrats would tamely submit to the destruction of their party,
and the ruin of their country. They soon found out their mistake;' they also found that
Northern Democrats would fight, and that they were dangerous foes to meet in the field.
They found that Northern Democrats retained their valor; that they still loved their country,
their government and the Union; that the dear old flag which waved so proudly over every
sea, and whose bright stars gladdened the heart of freedom' on every shore; which no tyrant,
king or emperor dared insult; they would not allow to. be pulled from the high Dome of the
Capitol, nor let the rebel rag there float in the morning air, to flap shame and menace in the
face of LOYAL MEN. When Davis, Mason, Slidell, Toombs and Judah Benjamin saw this,
they took counsel together, and they did "explicitly declare" that war, thus conducted,
would be. " a failure," and-they concluded that upon Northern Democrats they had better
"exhaust all the resources of statesmanship," and so they commenced. Emissaries were sent
abroad to write in foreign journals; secret agents were sent to every part' of the North;
efforts were made in every possible way to delude, deceive, and to corrupt the mind of the
Democracy; skillfully to excite their prejudices, their passions and their fears.
Arbitrary arrests, the fanaticism of abolitionists, the currency, the draft-labor too low,
and labor too high-the short-comings of the administration, the love of peace, and the evils
of war, were' each seized upon in turn, in order to divide the party, and to prejudice the public mind against the Government-and for what end.? Was it to restore the Union?  No!
every one now knows that it was to stop the war, and to destroy the Union.
The Englishman who fought for the Sultan in the Crimean war was not thereby made a
Turk or a Mahomet. We do not turn Republicans to sustain this war.. We fight for our
Government-for patriotism-not for party. We go into this war Democrats, we shall come
out of it Democrats.. -We shall preserve our Democratic Government, our Democratic principles, and our Union entire. Can any dullard be made to believe that our brave officers and
soldiers who have periled their lives in the war are changed from Democrats to Republicans?
It is the strength of.their Democratic faith and the devotion of their Democratic patriotism
which makes them fight so nobly.
The South had well nigh exhausted " all their resources of statesmanship" upon the Democratic party when they forced the second resolution upon the Chicago Convention and placed
"their own familiar friend,"'Pendleton, on the ticket.
But the South had other resources, as they confidently believed; they supposed that cotton ruled the world; that England could not live a year without this staple of the South



"that without cotton England would soon be in revolution-be forced to recognize the Con-:federacy and raise the blockade. England did want the cotton; England did desire to recognize the South; England did eagerly wish to rend' us asunder; to cripple our commerce, to
have free trade with the South, and to destroy our manufactures; and she encouraged the
Southern revolt in every possible way. She allowed the Alabama to be built in her waters,,and to be manned with English seamen, and under false pretences to leave her shores to prey
upon our.commerce.- She saw with joy the havoc which that swift steamer was making
upon our merchantmen;-that our shipping was rapidly driven from  the seas, and
that England was taking -the trade of the world! Emboldened by the success of the Ala~lbama., she allowed the formidable steam rams to be built for the destruction of our Navy, and'to break up the blockade. Our Government protested against the hostile act; Englandshuf-:efled, prevaricated, excused herself-said she had no law to stop them; and they were nearly
ready to come out upon us, when Mr. Seward said if English law could not stop the ramsEnglish law could not stop war with the United States. The trading English are a considerate people; they keep the ledger carefully, and they know how to cypher; slow, to be sure,
but pretty accurate in calculating profit and loss. Lord Russell sent out to Lord Lyons to
know whether these Yankees would fight? His lordship replied that they were a strange,
obstinate, fanatical sort of people, and that he thought they would fight; that he had been'through the North with Mr. Seward, and the people seemed to have a great deal of property
-an& a great deal of pluck; and besides that there were a good many of them, and they did
not seem to be afraid of anything-Lin short that they were a dangerous nation to quarrel
with. England began to reason, that if the Alabama, without a single port in the wide world
within which, to take a prize-without a single harbor for a resting place-could destroy the
commerce of the United States, what would a hundred American cruisers do when let loose
upon English ships? England soon contrived to stop the rams. England is harmless now;
she has given bonds secured by all her shipping upon the ocean; she will keep the peace;
she is old, heavy and rich; she keeps shop; does a profitable business; makes things to sell;
-and peddles them in her vessels all over the world. Fighting is not her profession; she says
war is unchristian, is wicked. The South have " exhausted all their resources of states-:manship " upon England, and have given it up.
But' the South relied also upon France. France is a warlike nation, with vast armies in
perfect discipline, and ready for the field. France don't cant about the "wickedness of war;"
France is not so -thoroughly of the shop as England. France cares less about money, and
-has more love of glory. France is prepared and ready for a fight-she needs only the
occasion and the motive. We have been in real danger from France. The motive has
been widely different in the two countries. England wants to see us broken up, our commerce and manufactures destroyed; France has no such wish. The present Emperor, like
his greatuncle, sees that' our greatness is useful as a restraint upon England. But he had'certain designs upon Mexico and the Isthmus, bearing upon the trade with the Pacific and
China, which made our temporary disunion seem desirable; and the evidence is clear'that
-the South believed that, for the surrender of Louisiana and Texas, the Emperor would lend
-the Confederacy his aid. It is now too late to purchase his intervention even at that price.
The restoration of the Union will not interfere with any known designs of that far-seeing
statesman. On the contrary, he wishes it restored, and he will soon throw his influence in
-that direction. France gives the laws of taste, luxury, and fashion to the civilized world.
Nations who are at war-poor or demi-barbarian-are of little value to France; but every
nation which cultivates the arts of peace, grows rich, luxurious, and refined, pours its
-treasures into France. If stable governments can be established -in Mexico and upon the
Isthmus, those countries will rapidly grow rich, refined, luxurious, and make a new market:for the wines, the silks, and the countless fabrics of France. Our own country had become'the best of her customers; the war has now nearly destroyed all trade.with France. I
learned from our Consul in Paris that the trade had literally ceased. The Emperor understands all this-he watches every phase of our politics and every movement of our armies
with intensest care. He wishes peace in America for the good of France; and you may be;.sure that he will try to hasten peace by every means in his power. During the month of
July it was confidently whispered by the Secessionists in Paris, that the next steamer would
bring news of Lee's entry into Washington, and that the Confederacy would forthwith be!:recognized by France. No Union man could then understand upon what this confideat
hope was based; we now know-the Northwestern conspirators were to aid Lee, and the
Rtebels in Paris were advised of it. The plot failed. Many of the conspirators, have fled,
others are secreted, some have been arrested, and are now on trial in Indiana. The Rebels
have " exhausted all their resources of statesmanship" in this direction, and have " explicitly'failed." The Emperor, as you know, has lived in this country-he understands our Government-he waits the result of this autumn election to determine his action. I had it direct
/from those who have the best means of information, and before the result of the Chicago Convention was known, that, if Mr. Lincoln should be re-elected, it would assure the Emperor
that the North were determined to put down the Rebellion " at all hazards;" and that they




had the ability to do, it. But if the opposition candidate were elected, then it would assurehim that the North were too much divided to succeed against the Confederacy-that he was
determined, if possible, to bring about an early peace, and that the re-election of Mr. Lincoln
would be conclusive evidence that there could be no peace but in Union, and that the election of the opposing candidate would make it equally conclusive that there could be no peace
but in disunion. It may be safely said that soon after the election of Mr. Lincoln, the hand
of Napoleon will be seen in favor of the speediest Peace andUnion of all the States; urging
the North to offer, and the South to accept, re-union with every right guaranteed under the
old Constitution.
But it may be safely said that the South will not accept even this. Not a Secessionist
in Paris, not a Confederate minister of the South, not an orator, not a newspaper, not a public man anywhere suggests or ever has suggested that the election of McClellan and Pendleton would even tend to produce a return of the South to the Union —they each and all reject
the proposition with scorn. Even Stephens, the mildest of their number, announces that it is
"recognized sovereignty" and not Union which they are determined to have, and that the
only ray of hope which the nomination at Chicago gives, is a faint possible hope of an earlier
independence; never a suggestion that re-union can, by any possibility, come of the election
of McClellan.
Did you ever ask a friend of Vallandigham and Pendleton and of the second resolution of
the Chicago Platform, what effect the victory of our arms was likely to have upon the election of McClellan? If so, they have confessed to you that victory in the field was their defeat
at the polls. What! great victories won by our heroic armies in the field, over traitors to our
Government, tend to defeat a Major-General of that army, still drawing his pay from that
Government!!! Does this need a commentary? How does it strike the people? What do
they say to this? They send their brothers and their sons to battle and to death; they at
the cost of life win bright victories in defense of our cherished Government, and every such
victory, it is acknowledged by all, tends to defeat the Major-General McClellan! Can those
who wish him elected, rejoice at such victories'? I trust he has no friend so base as to pretend
to such false rejoicing. The private character of a candidate for public honors is not a proper
subject for discussion. But when a man comes before the people and asks them to vote him
into the Presidency, it is just that we should, with honest fairness, consider his claims to that
exalted office. I believe that the private character of Gen. McClellan is without reproach; I
cheerfully accord to him all the purity and every kindly virtue which his admirers dlaim;
I think him a Christian gentleman who would not willingly see the Union destroyed;-I shall
only speak of his public career as it appears in the record of our time.
McClellan is thirty-seven years old: what has the young man done for his country to
entitle him to this high place? The convention which nominated him " does explicitly declare " that the war is "a failure "; so then, it is not for success in war, that he claims our
votes.  Two years ago, he was removed from his, command for alleged incompetency.
During those two years, our country has passed through the direst trials and bloodiest'wars of modern times; thousands of his brave comrades in arms have died on the battlefield; three hundred thousand of our youth have perished in this struggle for the Nation's
life! What has McClellan done at his'country's call during these two long years- of her
greatest peril? What has he done? He is said to be very popular, and to have much
influence over that class of men who make soldiers in the field-the army has been in
greatest need of men-was his heart full of zeal for the cause, and did he go from city to
city, using all his powers to rouse the people for the war, to put dovn the wicked rebellion
and to save his bleeding and beloved land? Had he done so, he would have received the
holiest benedictions of the people; he would have been made lieutenant-general of all the
armies, and the heaving of the, Nation's heart would have lifted him to the Presidential
chair, easy as the swell of the ocean lifts a little barque upon the''shore! What has he done
during these two eventfiull years? Nothing-but write out excuses for doing nothing before. You can't deceive the people long-they have an instinct, a just perception of truth,
wiser than logic. Old Blair told McClellan that he would surely fail if he run for "the
Presidency. After election, McClellan will find that old Blair was right. But he can then
very justly make the same excuse for the failure which he so often made for his failures in
the war, namely-the want of men.
What then are the pretensions of this young man to this great office? Before the war
he had done nothing; in the war, it is explicitly declared "that all has been failure." Since
he left the army, it is plain that he has done nothing whatever.
But we are told that Jeff. Davis, Mason, Slidell, Toombs and Judah Benjamin are men of
such lofty pride that they will not treat with Mr. LINCOLN, whose manners they don't like;
but that McClellan is an educated, courteous, amiable, Christian gentleman, whoim they
formerly knew well, and that they would be more willing to treat with hinm for peace. Wie
have many cultured, amiable, Christian gentlemen in the North, and we justly prize their
virtues. But, during this grim  time of war, I think it safer to let Grant, Sherman and
Sheridan; Farragut, Dupont, Porter and Winslow treat with these arch-rebels.




5
The Hon. Robert C. Winthrop made a speech the other day at New London, in which
he gave reasons why McClellan ought to be elected, which I had never seen advanced before. He says:
" Let me not forget, however, to remind you, my friends, that he h'as in his veins, in common with so many
of you, and in common, as I am glad to remember, with myself, too, a little good old Connecticut blood, coming down from an ancestor who settled here a century ago. I am sure you will not think any the worse of him
for that."
I believe it is true, as Mr. Winthrop says, that McClellan is of a Connecticut facmily, who
have lived there for more than a hundred years! When Jeff Davis, Toomibs, and Judah
Benjamin read Mr. Winthrop's speech, I question whether they will be so ready to "negotiate with General McClellan" as their friends now suppose.  They may suspect and hesitate
lest they get hold of a wooden nutmeg from Connecticut. The origin of the wooden nutmeg story illustrates the surpassing ignorance of the South rather than the sharpness of the
North. Nothing could be more preposterous, since the successful counterfeit must have cost
twice as much as the genuine article; nevertheless, that story has had much vogue.  Its
origin is this:
Many years ago a smnall trader in the very town where Miir. Winthrop made his speecil,
together with apples, chestnuts, walnuts, hickory nuts, &c., sent a few nutmegs to Beaufort,
in South Carolina.  A planter; named Bogert, seeing the nutmegs, bought them  at a good
price; pleasedlwith his purchase, and being especially vain of having choice delicacies at
Ihis table, he produced for his guests those rare and somew-hat costly nuts.  But the nuts
would'nt crack, and when broken open were found to contain no meat, and the honest Connecticut Yankee was cursed by the Carolina chivalry as a cheat for selling nutmegs without
meat, and which they therefore supposed was made of wood.  When'our troops entered
Beaufort they still found the same prejudice existing against nutmegs and Yankees.
I have a word to say to the Irish voters, who, from a land of oppression,'have sought this
home of freedom.  You have been my true political friends, and I have been as truly yours.'The many of your countrymnen, with whom I have had much to do, will each bear witness
that they have ever received aid, sympathy, and uniform  kindness; that no Irishman has
had cause to complain, and that no Irishwoman has ever gone sorrowing from  my door.  I
have neither reviled your religion nor traduced your race.  I gsk your brief attention: Your
oppressors of the Old World are striving with all their might to secure the election of the
Chicago nominees.  What does it mean?  When British gold and British journals combine
with English nobles and haters of the Irish race, do you think this comes of new-born love
toward Irishmen!  Be not deceived.  English statesmen are wise in their generation, as
Ireland has found to her sorrow.  Those far-seeing enemies of your Green Isle know well the
bearing of this great contest here.  May it be possible-when, planted in this free soil,
you have grown a very Sampson in your might, that England can lure you to the lap of Delilah, cut off the strength of your locks, put out your eyes, bind you with fetters of brass,
and make you ceagaile to grind in her prison house?
Elect MdcCleilan and she will have done all this; not that iee would wish it, but lhe
could not help it.  His election will surely dissolve the Union, and the knell of the Union is
the death of freedom.  Be not deceived! Had I the tongue of an angel, and were my lips'touchedwithlthe altar fire, I could not too strongly utter my deep convictions on this mo.omentuous question.
Le't me read what one of your able countrymen, Senator Conness, says upon this subject:'It is not necessary for me to state now that I feel the deepest interest in the approaching contest. With'some opportunities for forming a correct judgment, I declare it to be my conviction and belief that the issue of
a united ora divided country, with all the blessings of the one, and all the horrors of the other, are involved.
I believe that the election of Mr. Lincoln will secure the former, and that the election of Geo. B. McClellan'will result in the latter; Union, Freedom, Liberty and National glory on the one hand; Disunion, continued war,
Slavery and wretchedness, make the dreadful-abyss of the other."
I also read from a recent letter of that intelligent and able statesman, John Bright, one of
the few of eminence in England, who is our real friend:
"All those of my countrymen who have wished well to the rebellion, who have hoped for the break-up of
your Union, who have preferred to see a southern slave empire rather than a restored and free republic, so far
as I can observe, are now in favor of the election of General MlcClellan. All those who have deplored the calamities which the leaders of secession have brought upon your country, who believe that slavery weakens
your power and tarnishes your goodname throughout the world, and who regard the restoration of your Union
as a thing to be desired and prayed for by all good men, so far as I call judge, are heartily longing for the reelection of Mr. Lincoln. Every friend of your Union, probably, in Europe, every speaker and writer who
has sought to do justice to your cause since the war began, is now hoping, with an intense anxiety that Mr.
Lincoln may be placed at the head of your Executive for another term."
Surely it can hurt no pride of mine to see the " Connecticut blood of an hundred years"
placed at the head of the nation; but I oppose it, because, I know  that it will bring the
ruin of my country.  All the aristocracy of England earnestly desire the election of McClellan.  Do you also desire it?  If so, it is the first time that English nobles and free Irishmen
have wished the same thing.
Yallandigham has just written a letter to the New Yor'k lNYews, and says that lie, (Mr.




Vallandigham,)," wrote the second, the material resolution of the Chicago platform, and carried
it through the Sub-Committee and the General Committee, in spite of the most desperate and.
persistent opposition on part of Cassidy and his friends, Mr. C. himself, in an adjoining room,
laboring to defeat it. But the various substitutes never at any time received more than three
votes," akd. "he moved that the nomination of McClellan be made unanimous."
Jeff. Davis has lately made two speeches in favor of McClellan. At Augusta he said:
",We must beat Sherman, we must march into Tennessee-there we will draw from twenty thousand to
thirty thousand to our standard, and so strengthened, we must push the enemy back to the banks of the Ohio,
and thus give the peace party of the North cn accretion no p9uny editorial can give."
At Columbus he said:
"Does any one believe that Yankees are to be conciliated by terms of concession? Does any man imagine.
that we can conquer the Yankees by retreating before them, or do you not all know that t/he only way to
make spaniels civil is to whip them? And you can whip them."
"I believe it isin the power of the men of the Confederacy to plant our banners on the banks of the Ohio,.
where we may say to the Yankees,'Be quiet, or we shall teach you another lesson.' Within the next thirty
days much is to be done, for upon our success much depends. Within the next thirty days, therefore, let all
who are absentees, or who ought to be in the army, go promptly to their ranks.  Let fresh victories crown
our arms, and the peace  party, if there be such at the North, can elect its candidate."
And Boyce, of South Carolina, wrote:
"Your only hope of peace is in the ascendancy of the conservative party North.  Fortify that party if
yovu can, by victories."
Does any one think that Davis and his friends are fools; and that they don't know how
to adapt means to ends? They openly propose to aid the election of McClellan by the
slaughter, in battle, of your brothers and your sons! Read their speeches to your neighbqr; ask him if he can aid these contemptuous foes of our country by his vote.  If so, then
be sure that he can do now, and that he will do hereafter, whatever Jeff. Davis bids him.
Fellow Citizens! there is no shuffling'this question; "there can be no neutrals in this.
war; only patriots or traitors!"
In addition to the claims that the nominee of the Chicago Convention is of old Connecticut,
blood, and a Christian gentleman, one other have we heard, namely: that he did not take
Richmond because his plans were interfered with; s.and when you ask what is meant by that,
you are told that McDowell's- army should have followed McClellan down the Peninsula,.
and that none of it was permitted to go.  I believe that no such stupendous falsehood was;
ever before palmed off upon an intelligent people.
As this is all now a matter of record, there is no chance of mistake.
On the 27th of July, 1861, McClellan assumed command in Washington, and on the 4&t.
of September he appointed Col. Marcy Chief of Staff. Lieut.-Gen. Scott made great complaint of the conduct of McClellan, and on the 4th of October sent the following letter to the:
Department:
HEAD-QUARTERS OF THE ARMY, WASHINGTON, October 4th, 1861.
HoN. S. CAMERao, Secretary of War,Sir: You are, I believe, aware that I hailed the arrival here of Major General McClellan as an event:
of happy consequence to the country and the army. Indeed, if I did not call for him, I heartily approved of'
the suggestion, and gave him the most cordial reception and support.
He, however, had hardly entered upon his new duties, when, encouraged to communicate directly with the
President and certain members of the Cabinet, he, in a few days, forgot that he had any intermediate Commander, and has now long prided himself in treating me with uniform neglect-running into disobedienceof orders.
Of the smaller matters-neglects-though in themselves grave military offences, I need not speak in the face
of the following:
1. To suppress an irregularity more conspicuous in Major General McClellan than in any other officer, I
publish the following:
(GENERAL ORDERS NO. 17.)
HEAD-QUARTERS OF THE ARMY, WASHINGTON, September 16th, 1861.
There are irregularities in the correspondence of the army which need prompt correction.  It is highly
important that junior officers on duty be not permitted to correspond with the General-in-Chief or other Com —
mander, on current official business, except through intermediate Commanders; and the same rule applies to.
correspondence with the President direct, or with him through the Secretary of War, unless it be by the special
invitation or request of the President.
By command of Lieutenant General Scott.
E. D. TOWNSEND, AssistantAdjutant General.
With this order fresh In his memory, Major General McClellan addressed two important communications to
the Secretary of War, on, respectively, the 19th and 20th of the same month, over my head, and how many
since to the Secretary, and even to the President, direct, I have not enquired, but many I have no doubt-besides daily oral communications with the same high functionaries-all without my knowledge.
2. To correct another class of gross neglects, I, the same day, caused to be addressed to Major General
McClellan, the following order:
HEAD-QUARTERS OF THE ARMY, WASHINGTON, September 16th, 1861.
To Major General MCCLELLAN, U. S. Army, Commandig Department of the Potomac:
The Commanding General of the Army of the Potomac will cause the positions, State and number of troops
under him, to be reported at once to general head-quarters, by divisions, brigades, and independent regiments
or detachments, which general report will be followed by reports of new troops as they arrive, with the dispositions made of them, together with all material changes which -may take place in the same army.
By command of Lieutenant General Scott.
E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant General.
Eighteen days have now elapsed, and not the slightest respect has. been shown to either of these orders by




Major General McClellan. Perhaps he will say, in respeetto the latter, "it has been difficult for him to procure exact returns of divisions, brigades, &c." No doubt. But why not have given me proximate returnssich as he so eagerly furnished the President and certain Secretaries?
Has, then, a senior no corrective power over a junior officer, in case of such persistent neglect and disobedience? The remedy by arrest and trial before a Court Martial would probably soon'cure the evil. But it
has been feared that a conflict of authority, near the head of the army, would be highly encouraging to the
enemies, and depressing to the friends, of the Union. Hence my long forbearance; and continuing (though
but nominally) on duty. I shall try to hold out till the arrival of Major General Halleck, when, as his presence
will give me increased confidence in the safety of the Union-and being, as I am, unable to ride in the saddle,
or to walk, by reason of dropsy in my feet and legs, and paralysis in the small of the back, I shall definitively
retire from the army.
I have the honor to remain, with high respect, your most obedient servant,
WINFIELD SCOTT.
On the 1st of November the sad, insulted patriot retired before a young courtier, who
was not worthy to undo the shoe-lachet of the brave old hero, General SCOTT.  From July,
1861, to January, 1862 (a period of six months), McClellan- had been in command of the
army.  The autumn and winter had been unparalleled for the beauty of the weather and the
dryness of the roads. The army under his immediate command numbered 224,135 soldiers,
perfectly equipped, and as brave men as ever went to battle. The Potomac, the gate-way to
the Capital, was blockaded by the enemy.  Rebel outposts were within sight of Washington.
The Rebel army lay near. No forward movement of our vast forces had been made. Not
even a plan of action was developed; only a persistent plan of inaction.  I read McClellan's
own words from his own revised report:
But about the middle of January, 1862, upon recovering from a severe illness, I found that excessive anxiety for an immediate movement of the army of the Potomac had taken possession of the minds of the Administration.
A change had just been made in the War Department, and I was soon urged by the new secretary, Mr.
Stanton, to take immediate steps to securethe re-opening of the Potomac and Ohio Railroad, and to free the
banks of the lower Potomac from the rebel batteries which annoyed passing vessels.
Very soon after his entrance upon office, I laid before him, verbally, my design as to the part of the plan
of campaign to be executed by the army of the XPotomac, which was to attack Richmond by the lower Chesapeake.
Be instructed nme to develop9 it to the President, which I did. The result was, that the President disapproved it, and by an order of January 31, 1862, substituted one of his own.
WASHINGTON, EXECUTIVE MANSION, Jan. 31, 1862.
PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL WAR ORDERS, NO. 1.
Ordered: That all the disposable force of the Army of the Potomac, after providing safely for the defense
of Washington, be formed into an expedition for the immediate object of seizing and occupying a point upon
the railroad southwestward of what is known as Manassas Junction, all details to be in the.discretion of the
Commander-in-Chief, and the expedition to move before or on the 22d day of February next.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
I asked his Excellency whether this order was to be regarded as final, or whether I could be permitted to,
submit, in writing, my objections to his plan, and my reasons for preferring my own. Permission was accorded.
McClellan, in objecting to the plan of the President, and in giving reasons for prefering
his own, says:
The second base of operations available for the Army of the Potomac; is that of the lower Chesapeake
Bay, which affords the shortest possible land route to Richmond, and strikes directly at the heart of the
enemy's power in the east.
The roads in that region are passable at all seasons of the year.
*          *           *           *           *           *  $. *
Should it be determined to operate from the lower Chesapeake, the point of landing which promises the
most brilliant results, is Urbana, on the lower Rappahannock. This point is easily reached by vessels of heavy
draught, it is neither occupied nor observed by the enemy, it is but one march from West Point, the key of
that region, and thence, but two marches to Richmond. A rapid movement from Urbana, would probably cut
off Magruder in the Peninsula, and enable us to occupy Richmond before it could be strongly reinforced.
Should we fail in that, we could, with the co-operation of the navy, cross the James and show ourselves in rear
of Richmond, thus forcing the enemy to come out and attack us, for his position would be untenable, with us on
the southern bank of the river.
Should circumstances render it not advisable to land at Urbana, we can use Mob Jack Bay-or, the worst
coming to the worst, we can take Fort Monroe as a base, and operate with complete security, although with
less celerity and brilliancy of results, up the Peninsula.
The total force to be thrown upon the new line would be, according to circumstances, from 110 to 140,000.
The President yielded to the General, who had his own way (p. 107), and his plan was
adopted.
At page 154, General McClellan says:
On the 1st of April I embarked, with the head-quarters on the steamer Commodore, and reached Fort
Monroe on the afternoon of the 2d.
*    X     *                       *           *           *           *.*           5
As to the force and position ofthe enemy, the information then in our possession was vague and untrusteworthy. Much of it was-obtained from the staff-officers of General Wool, and was simply to the effect that
Yorktown was surrounded by a continuous line of earth-works, with strong water batteries on the York River,
and garrisoned by not less than 15,000 troops, under the command of General J. B. Magruder. Maps which
had beeneprepared by the Topographical Engineers under General Wool's command were furnished me, in
which, the Warwick River was represented as flowing parallel to, but not crossing the road from Newport News
to Williamsburg, making the so-called Mulberry Island a real-island; and we had no information as to the
true course of the Warwick across the Peninsula, nor of the formidable line of works which it covered.
So, then, according to McClellan's own report, he had been in command of this splendid
Army of the Potomac for six months when he found, as he says, " that excessive anxiety for




an immediate movement had taken possession of-the minds of the Administration; and the
new Secretary urged him to take immediate steps to free the Potomac from rebel batteries,
and instructed him to develop his plan to the President."
Was it not about time to do some of'these things? His reason for insisting on going
down the Peninsula two hundred wniles to find an enepny, which had lain within twenty miles
of him  all winter,-was that "the roads in that region are passable at all seasons of the year."
And yet, if his dispatches are correct, he could not move a step there in early June, because
the roads were impassable."  This new development of his plan was sent to the President
on the 3d of February; and yet, in April following, he writes that, even then, his information as to the enemy was vague and untrustworthy, and that he did not know whether -Mulberry Island was a real island or not, and that he did not even know which way the Warwick
River ran!  This will be found at page 154 of his report; and at page'106 of the  same
report, he states that the total force to be thrown upon the whole line was to be from  110,000
to 140,000 men!'The army of the Potomac, according to the returns in the War Department certified by McClellan himself, numbered as follows:
ABSTRACT of returns received from the Army of the Potomac, from the time General McClellan took command to August ost, 1862.-On file in the Adjutant General's office:
Date of Return.         Aggregate Present for Duty.  Aggregate Present and Absent.
September 30, 1861......... 1....... 118537................ 144,005
October 10,    "................123,724........... 157,723
October 20,.."...........143,581............... 163,340
*November 12,...............154,364..1.........  175,31
*November 21,"............ 156,853............... 180,902
November 30 (monthly).............162,731............. 198.238
December 10, 1861.................168,996................195,403
*'December 20, "................ 174,3884...............209,445.Forces around the city of Washington
December 1,  "................ 183,507............... 219,781    and line of the Potomac, before the
*January 1, 1862................ 194,159.............. 224,035    opening'of the campaign, April 1st,
*January 10,   "............ 190,695................225,935   1862.
January 31,   "...............182,313................222,227
February 28,   "................185,418...............222,018
*March 2,      "................ 192,424............... 221,578
March 31,      "...............179,362................214,983J
June 10, 1862................101,697,......... 139,868
June 20,   "............... 115,102.......:......156,838
June 30,   "..............  9,258............. 148,755  Forces of the Army of the Potomac
July 10,                               99,82...............826   15,08    on the Peninsula.
July 20,    "................101,691................158.314
July 0,    "...........     96,044..........       156,001 J
I certify that the above is a correct statement. taken from the official returns made by Major General
McClellan (those marked thus * are signed only by his Assistant Adjutant General, the others by Major
General McClellan himself) on file in this office, for the rcepootivA dates.
(Signed)         SAMUEL BRECK, Assistant Adjjutcat General.
ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D.C., October 25th, 1864.
THE PLAN.
"' FAIRFAX' COUT-HOUSE, March 13, 1862.
"The council of commanders of army corps have unanimously agreed upon a plan of operations. Gen.
McDowell will at once proceed with it to Washington and lay it before you.
G. B. McCLELLAN, 1Major Genescal Commanding.
HON. E. M. STANTON, Secsretary of War.
"RHEADQUARTERS AaRMY OF THE POTOMIAC, Fairfax Court-House, March 18, 1862.
"A council of the generals commanding army corps at the headquarters of the army of the Potomac were
of the opinion"First. That the enemy having retreated from Manassas to Gordonsville, behind the Rappahannock and
Rapidan, it is the opinion of the generals commanding army corps that the operations to be carried on will be
best undertaken from Old Point Comfort, between the York and James rivers, upon Richmond; provided, First,
that the enemy's vessel, the Merrimac, can be neutralized.  Second, the means of transportation sufficient for
an immediate transfer of the force to its new base can be ready at Washington and Alexandria to move down
the Potomac. Third, that a naval auxiliary' force can be had to silence, or aid in silencing the enemy's bat- teries in York river. Fourth,  that the.force to be left to cover Was7bington s5hall be seclc as to give an entires
feelzing of sec/rity for its safety from menace." (Unanimous.)
This was the Peninsula plan submitted by McDowell, and McClellan telegraphs on the
same day:
FLINT HILL, March 13, 1362-6.15P. M.
Your dispatch was received at 6.10 P. M., at this place, about three miles from Fairfax Court-IIouse, where'
I am moving a division. The members of the council, together with myself, were unanimous in forming the
plan which was presented to you by General McDowell.  Steps have already been taken, so that if the plan
meets your approval, the movement can commence early to-morrow morning. I will communicate mor~ fully
as soon as I return to my camp.
Your speedy action will facilitate the movement.               G. B. McVLELLAN, M[ajor General.
Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War.
WAR, DEPARTMENT, March 18,1862.
The President having considered the plan of operations agreed upon by yourself and the commanders of
army corps, makes no objection to the same, but gives the following directions as to its execution:
1st. Leave such force at Manassas Junction as shall make it entirely certain that the, enemy shall not repossess himself of that position and line of communication.
2d. Leave Washington secure.
3d. Move the remainder of the force down the Potomac, choosing a new base at Fortress Monroe, or anywhere between here and there; or, at all events, move such remainder of the army at once in pursuit of the
enemy by some route.
Sev.en o'clock, forty minutes.                            EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.
Major General GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN,




Thus the plan was agreed upon.  The troops were speedily moved, and before the 5th of
April, 121,500 men were embarked, (see the sworn statemept of Hon. John Tucker, Assistant Secretary of War, and who had charge of the transports, Vol. 1., p. 295, of report on
conduct of the war,) and, according to Gen. McClellan's report in writing, filed with the Adjutant General,he had left for the defences of Washington, some 75,000 tro6ps. (Vol. 1, p. 341.)
On the very next day, Gen. Wadsworth reported in writing, to the Secretary of War,
that he had but 19,022 men for duty, and that he was ordered by Gen. McClellan to send
away four regiments of this number. (Vol. 1, p. 316.) The matter was forthwith referred to
Gen. Hitchcock and Gen. Thomas, who made a full report, which closes in these words;
In view of the opinion expressed by the council' of commanders of army corps of the force necessary for the
defense of the capital, though not numerically stated, and of the force represented by General McClellan as.
left for that purpose, we are of opinion that the requirements of the President that the city shal be left " en-'tirely secure," not only in the opiniop of the general-in-chief, but those of the "commanders of the army
corps" also, has not been complied with.  All of which is respectfully submitted.
L. THOMAS, Adjuqtant Ge/neral.
E. A. HITCHCOCK, Major G eeral Volwnteer&, United States As  y.
(Vol. 1, p, 318.)  The President then ordered that McDowell's corps, "remain in front of
Washington until further orders, to operate in the direction of Manassas."   (Vol. 1, p. 319.);   And this is the interference about which so much has been vaguely said.  It may surprise Some of you to learn that by far the greater part of this same army of McDowell's were
soon after sent to McClellan.
McDowell's corps was composed of three divisions:
Franklin's..................................12,889 men.
McCall's.............................11,151 "
King's................................ 10,953"
Franklin's and McCall's divisions were both sent to McClellan, and only the small division
of King was left with McDowell; but because he did not go himself, the false impression
still remains that none of his army was sent.
On the 10th of April, McClellan telog rphed to the Secretary of War these words:
"I will run the risk and hold myself responsible for the result, if you will give me Franklin's division."(Vol. 1, p. 822.)
Franklin was sent to him forthwith, to wit, April 11.
On the next day McClellan telegraphedHEADQUARTERS ARMY OFi THE POTOMAC,
Near Yorktown, April 12-12 M.
Your dispatch received. I thank you most sincerely for the reinforcements sent to me. Franklin will
attack on the other side. The moment I hear from him I will state point of rendezvous. I am confident as to
results now.                                               G. B. McCLELLAN, lfajor.General.
Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War.
And on the day followingHEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. April 18-9 A. M.
Dispatch received. Arrangement proposed' by Franklin would assist me much. Our work progressing
well. We shall soon be at them, and I am sure of the result. They are working hard on the Gloucester side,.
and the navy cannot reach them.                            G. B. McCLELLAN, Major-General.
Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of Wai. (Vol. 1, p. 328.)
Not long, after McClellan wanted McCall's division also, and that was promptly sent
to him, and so determined was the Government to leave nothing undone which the General
wanted, that the following was sent:
WTR DEPARTMTENT, WASHINGTON CITv, D. C., June 7, 1862.
Four regiments were embarked yesterday from Washington, and one from here. One more goes to-day
from Baltimore and one from here, making seven in all. McCall is ready to move as soon as transportation
arrives at Fredericksburg.
Plase state wheth7er you feel s8fficcently strong for yoqur final movement when thbis reaches you.
Major-General 1MCCLELLAN.                          EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.
On the same day McClellan replied in these words: " I shall be in perfect readiness to move
forward to take Richmond the moment that icf Call reaches here, and the ground will admit the
passage of artillery." (Vol. 1, p. 334.)
On the 11th he telegraphed"McCall's troops have commenced arriving at White House. I have sent instructions. Weather goocS
to-day."
On the next day he telegraphed:
"Weather now good. Roads and grounds rapidly drying."  (Vol. 1, p. 835.)
And on the same day he writes"In your telegrams respecting reinforcements you inform me that Gen. McDowell, with the.resiclhe'of his
command, will proceed overland to join me before Richmond."' (Vol. 1, p. 8335.)
On the 18th he telegraphed that hnot less than 10,000 men had left Richmond to reinforce
Jackson who was North.  On the same day the President repliedWAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., June 18, 1862.
Yours of to-day, making it probable that Jackson has been reinforced by about ten thousand from Richmond, is corroboratod by a dispatch from Gen. King at Fredericksburg, saying a Frenchman, just arrived




from Richmond by way of Gordonsville, met ten to fifteen thousand passing through the latter place to join
Jackson.
If this is true, it is as good as a reinforcement to you of an equal force. I could better dispose of things
if I could know about what day you can attack Richmond, and would be glad to be informed if you think you
can inform me with safety                                                A. LINCOLN.
Major-General McOLEaLL AN.
To this McClellan answered: "If ten or fifteen thousand men have left Richmond to reinforceo'Jackson, it illustrates their strength and confidence!!"  (Vol. 1, p. 337.)
And yet McClellan's peninsular army, during the month of June, numbered 159,500 men.
(Vol. 1, p. 295.)'All this together seems to "illustrate" something besides the strength and confidence of the enemy. I think it is the first time in the history of war that weakening an
army by sending 15,000 men on other service made the remainder of that army all the more
terrific to the opposing General?  But I don't understand war; I only claim  to know something about evidence of facts.
Btt for the timely order of the President retaining McDowell, Washington would undoubtedly have fallen, and the Confederacy would have been recognized.
I concede to Gen. McClellan all the private virtues.  I dare say he has read all the books
on war.  I doubt not he understands the science well; he certainly writes excellently
about it. He has capacity for organizing an army, and possesses many qualities which are
pleasing; but of high abilities on the great field of action he has none; the very thing which
weakened his enemy struck him  with alarm, and he telegraphed to the President that the
removal of 15,000 troops of the enemy from Richmond towards Washington " only illustrates
their strength and their confidence."
Mr. Winthrop may prove him of Connecticut blood, thrice a hundred years old, but these
facts prove him not of the blood of a Csesar, Hannibal, or Napoleon.  He was not made to
rule over this great nation in the iron time of war.
The South will surely fail in this Rebellion. I base this' confidence not upon our strength
or their weakness. I concede that in a righteous cause they would prevail. Men are slow
to see how weak is earthly might and human power, when in conflict with the omnipotent
Spirit of Justice! The South had no grievance from this Government; they were never
wronged or oppressed in the least-they are not of different language, race, or religion; no
natural boundaries divide us.'They made this wicked war from a mere thirst for powerthey were dethroned of their absolute dominion by the natural growth of the free North.
They rebelled as Satan rebelled, because "they would rather reign in Hell than serve in
Heaven!" They are now in the full enjoyment of that kind of sovereignty.
The Rebellion rests on seo principle-it envelopes Ilo grand idea even; it has no support
but the mere wicked love of absolute power. It will surely fail.
It is said, however, that every people is to be the judge of its own wrongs. Nothing can
be more true. But all other peoples will also judge; and the combined judgment of the enlightened world, acting upon the human will, is resistless as the fiat of the Almighty.
The force of thfs idea is already apparent. In the beginning of this Rebellion, all Europe'was against us; her entire'sympathy was with the South-with the wronged and weaker
party, as they supposed. Recognition was almost certain; was sure, if the South could hold,out a reasonable time. Where is the hope of recognition now? Let me read from Jeff.
Davis' speech at Augusta, delivered a few days ago:
" Who now looks for intervention? Who does not know that our friends abroad depend upon our strength
at home! That the balance is in our favor with victory, and turns against us with. defeat, and that when our
victory is unquestioned, we will be recognized, and not till then."
The waves of human thought go on electric air over the world. Europe is just begining to look into this question; by-and-by she wfll understand it; and finally she will say:
the South are all wrong; and will withhold her sympathy. Then, the arm of Rebellion will
drop, paralyzed in its socket. The rebels may still feebly say, we have a right to judge of
our own wrongs. Civilized Europe will answer, yes; but when you bring your complaints
to us, we have a right to judge also.
I do not expect peace very soon, though their armies be broken up. I will do the South
the justice to say that her statesmen and her warriors are true to their Confederacy. Not
one of them has uttered a word which looked in the slightest degree towards a return to the
Union. They, at all times and everywhere, declare that on no terms will they ever consent'to a union with the North. They are earnest about it. They are as'brave and high spirited
as we are. They are in terrible straights; they cry out for troops; they say: "Send Lee
troops from anywhere."  But "anywhere" is a vague place, and the troops do not come from
thence at their call. Davis, by the great weight of cares and the mortifications of defeat,
has lost all prudence and composure. He tells us, in his very despair, that his troops are
absent in large numbers without leave, and he implores the women to send them  to- the
army. He threatens like a man without power; and yet neither he nor any one inathe South
talks of submission or of a return to the Union under any President, whether that President
be Lincoln or McClellan.




Davis' army is nearly exhausted. When the war began there were less than four hundred
thousand fighting then in the Confederacy, according to the census. That number must be:
very small now, yet they have no thought of returning to the Union. Before this war ends
they will free and arm the slaves. Of that I have no doubt. Then the end draweth nigh;
then the bitter questions about which we have puzzled so much will be solved; then will
begin the faint, slow dawn upon this long night of gloom. Slow, very slow, the dawn will
open, feeble in its first gleam; only the eye of faith can discern it, but it will surely, finally
expand into the heavenly day of Union and of peace. I have reason to believe that soon
after the election propositions will be made to the Southern States to lay down their arms
and return to the Union, with assurances that they shall have every right which the Constitution and the laws can give them. But as I read their destiny they will not return; they will
spurn the offer; they will arm the slaves and fight on, " dragging their slow length along."
From the seaports taken, and the military posts fortified, will radiate lines of trade and increasing communication. Mexico will be an outlet for many rebels; Europe and the Isles of
the West Indies will receive some, and by slow degrees peace will be restored —a peace worth
all it will now cost-a peace which no son of ours will ever see broken.
There is nothing personal in this coming election; it is not a contest between Lincoln and
MIcClellan. It is a conflict between two great contending principles-between free and despotic government; and clearly presents the question whether the prosperity, the happiness,
and the greatness of our country shall be prese6rved or forever destroyed!
No mortal issue was ever so vast and grand as ours to-day. No people ever had such a
trust to try their faith and their fidelity. Mere selfish politicians will never believe that a
higher power rules the destinies of men; that the people can be trusted; that they cannot
long be deceived; that in trying times, when the mind is awake, and exalted by great events,
the earnest people, seeking only for the truth, will have their light from Heaven; and that,
"THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE WILL BE THE VOICE OF GOD."
Printed at the Daily Era Office, No. 9 Spruce Street, New York.








OP TEE
HON, EDWARDS PIERREPONT
IN FAVOR OF THE
ELECTION OF GENo GRANT,
DELIVERED AT THE GREAT MEETIN{G OF THE
ClRANT IDEAMOCRACY,
I-IELD  AT  COOPER'S INSTITUTE,
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 1868.
Y3M. C. BRYANT & CO., PRINTERS, 41 NASSAU ST., COR. LIBERTY.
1868,








SPEECH OF HON. EDWARDS PlERREPONT.
Mr. PRESIDENT:
Four years ago, you and I, and mlany patriotic men, assembled in this Hall to aid our Country in her day of peril.
We asked no honors and no office;-ancl we received none.
Four eventful years have passed since then,-and now a new
danger threatens.
Supported by all who were with us then, by our unfaltering
friend Gen. Dix, who speaks to us so well from over the seas,
and strengthened by many new and noble men, we meet again
upon this platform.
You have been steadfast even unto the end, and it is a bright
presage for the future that you preside here to night.
Then, we invoked the God of Battles, and we helped to win
the bloody fight: Now, we invoke the Prince of Peace, and, we
hope, a far more glorious victory.
FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS:
Old party politics are dead; the war made new issues. When
Lee surrendered his army to General Grant, we thought
that the Rebellion was ended: But Treason has a new birth;not yet hath it put its armor on;-not yet does it dare to proclaim its fellest purpose-the seizure of the Government, and the
restoration of Slavery! Now, it seeks by diplomatic arts to win
what it lost by war; —to make treason honorable, and fidelity
odious,; —and, as Wade Hampton expresses it, " To restore the
LOST CAUSE!"'
By some strange fatuity, our Northern people will never take
warning until it is too late.




They never would believe, until Fort Sumnapter fell, that the
South meant war. They will not now believe that the crushled
Rebellion is reviving!
Have not the enemy murdered enough of your children, to
quicken your senses to approaching danger?
The Convention which met at Tammany IHall on the 4th of
July, ballotted twenty-two times, running into the 10th day of
the month, before IHiotatio Seymour was nominated as its 6andidate for President.
In the same Convention, a Rebel General stepped forward
and nominated Frank P. Blair for Vice-President. No ballot was
needed;-one wild yell of wild enthusiasm filled the Hall; —
Blair had the full heart and soul of the Convention. tie fairly
represented its spirit.
Why did the Convention hesitate so long to nominate Seymour,
and why, with such eager unanimity did they hasten to nominate Blair?
Read the list of leading names in that Assembly, and read
the speeches of Seymour and the letter of Blair, published just
prior to the Convention, and you shall see the reason for this
striking difference.
In this list I find one hundred and five men who were Confederate Generals, Colonels, Majors, Captains, Governors, Senators, or.Members of the Rebel Congress.
Among them are Wade Hampton, Buckner, Ransom, Vance,
Bocock, Hill, Preston, Clingmnan, Rhett, and the petted General Forrest, remembered for his cruel and inhuman massacre
of Union Soldiers, after their surrender, at Fort Pillow.
In that Convention were many good and true men of the
North, but they held no sway, and their voice was not regarded.
IMr. Seymour, in his recent speeches, had denounced every
form of repudiation. In his Cooper Institute Speech of June
25th, he says:




"If we make our paper money good by a harsh system of con"traction, we shall cripple the energies of the country, and make
"bankruptcy and ruin. If, on the other hand, we debase the cur"rency by unwise issues, we equally perplex business, and destroy
"sober industry, and make all prices mere matters of gambling
"tricks and chances. This will end as it did in the Southern Con" federacy. At the outset, the citizens of Richmond went to market
"with their money in their vest pockets, and brought back their
"dinners in their baskets; in the end, they took their money in
"their baskets, and brought home their dinners in their vest
"pockets."
In his Albany speech of MIarclh 11th, he says:
"The bonds so unwisely and so wastefully issued have gone into
"the hands of innocent holders, who, to a vast extent, are compulsor1' owners."
"It is a mistake to suppose that they are mostly held by capital"ists. Large sums belonging to children and widows, under the
" order of Courts or the action of Trustees, have been invested in
"Government bonds. The vast amounts held by Life and Fire In-'surance Companies and Savings Banks are, in fact, held in trust
"for and are the reliance of the great body of active business and
"laboring men or women, or of widows and orphans. The Savings
"Banks of this State, which are the depositories of the poor, or of
" persons of limited means, hold about $60,000,000 of Government
"bonds. The whole amount held in the State of New York, in the
"forms of trust, will not fall below 8200,000,000. If we look into
"other States we shall see that only a small share of these bonds
" are held by men known as capitalists, but they belong, in fact if
"not in form, to the business, the active and the laboring men of
s' ociety. The destruction of these securities would make a wide"spread ruin and distress, which would reach into every workshop
"and every home, however humble. *   *         *        *    * 
"It is a mistake to suppose that the interests of the bondholder andl
" the tax-payer are antagonistic. The fact is overlooked, that in
"order to make any saving by giving the bondholder a debased or
"worthless paper, we must bring upon ourselves disaster alcd dis" honor which will cost a hundred fold what we can save. It means
" that we are to give to the laborer for his toil a base currency; it
" means that the honor of our country shall be stained; it means




"that our business shall be kept in uncertainty and confusion; it
"means that the laboring man shall suffer by the increased cost of
"the comforts of life; it means that the tax-payer shall be burdened
"by a Government proved to be corrupt and imbecile by this very
"depreciation of its money, We cannot afford to speculate upon
"the Nation's honor at so fearful a cost."
Such might be the words of a sagacious statesman with sound
financial views; such might be the words of a patriot jealous of
his country's honor.
Wade Hampton, and the other Rebel generals who dominated
over that Convention; had read these speeches.
They knew Seymour to be the son of a New England sire,
and they doubted his readiness to sell his birth-right.
Wonder not that they delayed his nomination so long-but
wonder and be sad, that a gentleman of the North, whose ideas
upon the great question of the day were so just, should be humbled to the earth and bend down before these Rebel generals,
all fresh from the slaughter of his countrymen, and take back
the noble words he had uttered before they would consent to his
nomination!
Seymlour assures us that he did not wish to be nominated, but
that he was " caught up in a whirlwind " and couldn't help it.
A whirlwind is an unsafe thing for Seymour to ride upon. The
Prophet " Elijah was taken up by a whirlwind into heaver," —
and Seymour fancied that he was going to be taken up by the
same vehicle, into the Pr'esidency; but he will find it whirling
down the other way with terrific speed —about November.
Three days before the Convention met Blair published his
declaration of principles, using these words:
" There is no possibility of changing the political character of the
" Senate, even if the Democrats should elect their President, and
"a majority of the popular branch of Congress. We cannot, there"fore, undo the Radical plan of Reconstruction by Congressional'action; the Senate will continue a bar to its repeal. Must wve
" Submit to it? How can it be ovelrthrown?
"There is but one way to restore the Government and the Con" stitution, and that is for the President elect to declare these acts




"null and void, compel the army to undo its usurpations at the
"South, disperse the Carpet Bag State Governments, allow the
"white people to re-organize their own Governments, and elect
"Senators and Representatives.
"We must restore the Constitution before we can restore the
" finances, and to do this we must have a President who will exe" cute the will of the people, by tramnling into dust the usurpations
"of Congress, known as the Reconstruction Acts. I wish to stand
"before the Convention upon this issue." —Therelet him standthere he will stand.
This was purely revolutionary; this promised lawless violence
and war. The letter suited the Convention exactly. Blair
knew it would. No ballot was needed for Blair. Blair was the
son of a Southern slaveholder. Blair could be trusted. A Rebel
General rose and nominated Blair; and with loud acclaim,'mid
wildest enthusiasm, he was selected.
Seymour bowed down his intellectualhead before the Rebel
power, accepted a platform  which repudiated every just sentiment of his recent speech, and, as friends report-went away
sorrolvful 
Hear him in reply to the tender of his nomination:
" I have been caught by the great tide that is swelling our party
"on to victory, and I am -unable to resist the pressure."
This is the tide which swept over Pennsylvania and Ohio the
other day; Seymour foresaw it dimly, but he mistook its character; he thought it was one of those old Democratic tides, which
ante-date the war; his blinded eyes couldn't see that it swelled
out from millions of loyal hearts, heaving with honest love and
solicitude for the safety of their country!
Old Democratic leaders for the last ten years, have had no just
sense of public opinion. The same kind of Democratic leaders
lived eighteen hundred and forty years ago;-Christ said, they
were "fools, and blind, that could discern the signs of the times."
SEYrMOUR, continues:
"You have also communicated to me the resolution adopted by




"that Convention. As its Charman I am familiar with its language
"and as a member of that Convention I am a party to its terms
"I accord with  its views; I stand upon  its position in this'contest, and I shall strive hereafter, whether in public or private
"life, to carry them into effect."
These resolutions demand repudiation of the Nation's faith,
and declare the solemn acts of Congress uncoinstitutional and
void.
This is the first time in our history that a political convention
has undertaken to declare what laws of Congress are unconstitutional and void: and the first time that a candidate for the VicePresidency has proposed to' TRAMiPLE INTO DUST " the Statutes
of Congress, which he admits that he could not get repealed.
This platform had the Rebel General Wade Hampton as its
chiefbuilder; with defiant boldness he gives us its whole hisstory.
The Charleston Journal, informs us, that"General Wade Hampton was welcomed by the people of that
"city, on Friday night, upon his return from the Tammany Con" vention. He was received by a long procession, and having been
"conducted to a four-horse carriage, was escorted, like a conquer-'" ino hero, amid the shouts of the multitude, to his temporary stop"' ping place in the city."
I-e said:
" More than four years —years which have seen a Nation's death,
"which have brought to us sorrow, humiliation and ruin,-have
"passed since I last stood in your noble and battle-scarred old city.
"Then proudly erect, flushed with victory and devotion in her
"patriotism, she held in her heroic hands the key of our State,
"defying with indomitable courage, the assaults of her enemies.
"While a portion of her sons here guarded so bravely the portals
"of the State, others were following the glorious Southern Cross,
"wherever it was waving in triumph, or were sleeping their last
" sleep on the fields, which their valor had contributed to win. AIl
"were doing their duty as Carolinians, and the great historic names
" of the Revolution were gilded with a new lustre as the descend"ants of Moultrie, of Rutledge, of Lowndes, of HIayne, of Pinckney
"and Huger, fought as did their fathers for this dear old Carolina




"' of ours."  * * * "So long as patriotism, constancy and valor are
" esteemed, the wondrous story of her defence will stir the hearts of
"brave men, and noble women will teach their children to lisp the
" name of Beauregard."
Beauregard you will remember, was an officer in the regular
army, was educated at West Point, at the expense of the Government which he had sworn to defend and whose flag he
betrayed.
The speech continues"I hope and believe that the blessed day of our deliverance is
"drawing near.  The signs in the political skies are full of hope,
"and we bring back to you from the united Democracy of the
"North, tidings of great glee."
" After a free and full consultation with delegates in the Conven"tion, representing all the Northern States, I am thoroughly con"vinced that the great heart of Democracy is fully aroused; that it
"beats in profound sympathy with the suffering South; that it is
"fully alive to the dangers which threaten to destroy the Constitu"tion and the Government, and that it is unalterably fixed in its
"purpose to rescue that Constitution from destruction, to restore
"that Government to its legitimate functions, and to bring back
"the Southern States to their place in the Union, with all their
"rights, dignity and equality unimpaired.   These are the objects
" for which the'Democractic party are fighting; and, planting them"' selves on the Appian way of the Constitution, grasping once more
"' in friendship the hands of their brethren of the South, setting up
"C again the broken altars of the country, they have sworn never to
"cease fighting until their objects are accomplished.
Thus talks this Rebel General about the Constitution, which
he had betrayed, and the Government lie fought so long to
destroy.
Listen further:
" I yield to none in devotion to that' Lost Cause' for wh7ic7h wve
"foutght. Never shall I acdm? it that tl he caucse itself failec, and th1at
" the2rignciples oh7ic7h gave it lfe wvere t7herejore wroeng. NTever stall
"I brand the nzen who ypheld it, so nobly as' rebels' or'traitors.'":*     *       e      *       *       e      *




10
"As it was my good fortune to be on the Committee which firamed this
" instrument, it may be interesting to you, perhaps, to leai'n the detail
" by which it was perfected, and the views of those who made it. As'you are aware, the Committee on Resolutions consisted of one member
" from each State."
" Gentlemen were here from the North, South, East and West, and by
"all we were met with extreme cordiality.  They said they were willing
"to give us everything we desired; but we of the South must remember
"that they had a great fight to make, and it would not be policy to
" place upon that platform that which would endanger prejudice at the' North."
Wade Hampton must have been a little vexed, at these foolish prejudices of the North against rebellion, against re-enslavement and repudiation of the honest debt.  But Northern prejudice did not stand long in the way.
" They, however, pledged themselves to do all in their power to relieve
"the Southern States, and restore to us the Constitution as it had existed.
" As we were met in such a kindly spirit, I could not but reciprocate
" it. I knew that I was representing the feelings of my people when I
" did so."
(After this apology, we hope that the Rebels will not be too
hard on Wade Hampton for treating Northern Democrats with
common decency.)
" I told them that I could withdraw all the resolutions I have offelred,
" and no doubt other Southern delegates would do the same, and would ac" cept the resolutions offered by Hon. Mr. Bayard, the Senator fiom Dela"wale, which declared that the right of suffrage belonged to the States.  I
"said I take the resolutions if they would allow me to add but three words,
"which you will find embodied in the platform.  I added this: And we
" declare that the Reconstruction Acts are revolutionary, unconstitutional
"and void.  When I proposed that every single member of the Com" mittee-and the warmest men in it were the men of the North, came
" forwald and said they would carry it out to the end."
Hear him further:
"Victory will bring even more than this to us, for it will give us, along
" with constitutional liberty, the right to manage and control our own




"' State Government in accordance with the time honored provisions of the
" Constitutions of the United States.  When may we hope to see the res"toration of honor and decency in the conduct of affairs; we may hope to
" see our rulers as of old, intelligent, patriotic NATIVE BORN-and white.
"In that blessed day of deliverance, we shall have no carpet-bag or mili" tary Governors."
Yes, in that blessed day of the election of Seymour and Blair,
"NATIVE BORN' rulers alone are to have peace.  Our adopted
fellow-citizens are all to be excluded.  "NALrIVE BORN " is the
watchword!
IIo! Rally to the standard of Seymour and of Blair, ye foreign-born who have adopted our country as your home; in
their day of glorious victory none but the native-born shall hold
a single office.
The Charleston News, in concluding its report, says:
" On leaving the stage an attempt was made to secure General
" Hampton and raise him on the shoulders of the crowd,"
(Giovernor Sharkey, of Mississippi, says 
"' The Democratic party has put a platform  that ought to be ac" ceptable to all North and South. Its foundation is laid in the
" Constitution. It demands immediate restoration of all the States
"' to their equal rights in the Union-it declares the Union to be
"indissoluble-and it declares the whole Congressional system of re"construction void, anzd, as a consequence, everiything which has been
" done under it void also. On this platform we of the South can
" stand; it will restore us to our rights-to our position of 1865" and blot out all that has been done under the arbitrary and uqn" warrantable demands of Congress."
Ile says of Seymour and Blair:
" They cannot falter now, they are committed. They cannot un.
dertake to administer a Government part valid, part void."
And the Mobile Tribune adds:
e' The great Democratic party will rise in its might, and the dag



"ger of Brutus may aid in accomplishing our redemption frorm
"Radical rule, ruin and usurpation."
"If we are successful in the approaching contest we shall gain
" all that  we lost in the' Lost Cause.'"
" By the election of Seymour and Blair," says Governor Vance,
of North Carolina, " all that the Confederacy fought for will be
"won.
And it is asserted by the iMobile Register 
" That the counter-revolution will not be complete without more
" blood-letting."
And the Richmond KEnquirer adds:
" The white men of the Southern States have seen the day when
"they could use the bullet, and, if God in his anger permit the
" necessity to arrive, they will use it again."
The Georgia Democratic Convention declared:
" There might once have been a necessity for the Rebels of Georgia
"to submit to the military authorities, but there is none now. The
" Democratic chivalry of the North are marching to our rescue."
Says Governor Wise:
" Secession is not dead, it is more alive to-day than ever. I sup"port Blair because he promises Revolution."
J. M. Ramsey, of Georgia, declares:
" That the true men of the South are ready to rally once more
"under the Rebel flag and try the issue of the cartridge box."
Toombs bid defiance in these words:
" The Reconstruction Acts are null and void, and shall not stand.
"The grinning skeletons that have been set up in our midst as leg"islators shall be ousted by Frank Blair, whom our party has ex" pressly appointed for that purpose."'
Caapt. Semmes, who robbed and burned your unarmed merchan ships, in a ratification speech at Mobile, said;




"I drew my sword against the old flag,    *         "I have
"come here to-night, from  the country, to ratify and rejoice with
"you in the nomination of Seymour and Blair."
Col. Herndon, following him, said:
"If there were any omissions in the platform, the brave and
"magnanimous speeches of Seymour and Blair supplied them all."
Then reading the letter of Blair, which promised " to trample
into dlst,'  by military power, the laws of Congress, he exclaimed:
" Who but a brave, true, generous heart could utter such a sen"tinlent as this?'
The Rebel JudgeC Jones said: "l He asked for no better platform
than the letter of Gen. Blair."
1r. Ctias. Gibson, in his speech, said'
"' 3Mr. Blair, in this letter, tells us that if he be elected President
" of the United States, or become President —he tells you that if' he become President of the United States, fhe wvill use the nzeces"' sary  easures to remnove the State Governments of the South."
The Rebel Jacdge Chutrchill used the following language:
"Thank God! the people have been ahead of their leaders, and
h"' have nzever believed that their sacred cause wuas woholly lost. 7Their
"faith, is nzow rewoarded. A great parlty is now ours, and we should
" allpress on to victory."'
When a Law of Congress is-distasteful, the Rebels declare
that it is unconstitutional, and Blair proposes to "' trample it
into dust " by military power. "' The President-Elect" he tell us,
must do this, he cannot even wait for the inauguration. But if
the Constitution itself stands in the way, what do you think is
to be done then'! Why, declare it urnconsQtitzt niaocd to be sure I
The Fourteenth Amendment was long since adopted, and has
in due form been declared a part of the Constitution; and yet
ex-Senator Pugh, of Ohio, says;




"I would not give them a three cent. postage stamp for their
Fourteenth Amendment. It is not part of the Constitution,
and it never will be. It is a base fraud, sand I say, as Frank
Blair said, these Carpet bag Go,:ernments mucst be overthrown."
This Fourteenth Amendment provides against the repudiation
of our national debt, against any recognition of the Rebel claims,
and against any payment for the loss of their slaves. You see
why this part of the Constitution is so odious, and why Blair,
with military feet, means " to trample it into dust."
I have given you the views of leading Seymour and Blair
men in their own words. Why should we not expect these
views? Yallandingham  moved the nomination of Seymour.
The Rebel General Preston nominated Blair, and four confederate Generals, with Vallandingham added, made the Ratification Speeches in New York. These speeches, these journals,
and these letters, which I have read, tell us that the election of
Seymour and Blair will restore the "' Lost cause," will justify
the Rebellion, and re-instate the South in every right which she
had before the revolt. They are right; no honest man can
doubt it.
Does any sane man, for one moment, imagine that, if Blair is
elected, the South will ever consent to pay a dollar of the debt
incurred in putting down their Rebellion?
This cry about the burden of the public debt, is a false cry,
raised by the enemies of the Government. The debt grows less,
the means of payment grow greater every month: when peace
is fairly restored, and the industry of the whole country revives,
the debt will not be felt: and before Grant's administration is
over, people will wonder that they were ever frighted by this
phantom.
Even during the most costly years of the war, when the South.
ern States were in actual revolt, and, of course, contributed nothing to the revenue; the taxes of the North were easily borne,
and the material prosperity of our people was never greater.
When hostilities ceased, the expenses of the Government were
forthwith vastly diminished, and the productive industry of the
country was greatly increased. Millions of the war debt have
already been paid, and the income tax has been reduced one-half.




With the opening of the Pacific Railroad-with the inconceivable increase of wealth which will follow the completion of
that work; with the new dawning trade of the East; withl the
countless emigrants from China whose willing hands will reveal
the hidden riches of our soil; with the numberless laborers from
Europe now weekly landing upon our shores; with the increasing population and stimulated enterprise of the ever-robust and
progrssive North, and with all this unite the whole vast resources
of the regained and regenerated South; and w'hile the hollow
cant, about national bankruptcy and ruin, is droning in our
ears, New York will become the monetary centre of the world,
gold will be our currency, and the public debt will have ceased
to be a burden.
The two great contending principles, which now divide the
country, are fairly represented by two Generals:
The one by General Grant, the other by General Blair. No
one can doubt upon which side General Grant stands; and
General Blair has taken especial pains that no one shall doubt
upon which side he stands. The people are going to vote. They
will vote for General Grant or for General Blair. Alany Democrats now think they will not vote at all; but when the time
arrives they will surely vote-all will vote; it will be far the
largest vote ever cast; it will be a decisive, an overwelming
vote.
Which of these two Generals shall be your Chief Ruler for the
next four years'? AWhich can you most safely trust with this
great office, in these unsettled times of much confusion and great
distrust?
You want peace, order, security; a rivival of our varied industry and a restoration of our whole Union upon terms which
are fair and just. To whom will you turn as the safer man?
It will occur to our people, that if Seymour were elected President, he may die, and give place to Blair. Within a few short
years three Presidents, just entering upon their term of office,
have died; and the Vice Presidents have reigned in their stead.
What these Vice Presidents would do, no one could tell, —bnt
each did, just exactly what the party which elected him did not




wish. Seylnour might perish under the weight of office; and if
he did not please the Rebels, some Southern patriot, like Wilkes
Booth, might dispose of him. If Seymour were out of the way
no one can doubt what Blair would do, he has told us that.
I have known General Grant since the time when he came
from the West to take command of the Army of the Potomac. He
has impressed me as one of the most remarkable of men. He has
always been a Democrat. To the great principles of the Democratic party (which began to perish with the war,) I have always been attached. I believe in coined gold and not in stamped
paper; I believe in liberty protected by law; I believe that the
foreign-born, who have adopted our country, and sworn allegience to our Government, should have the same rights, and the
same protection, (tnder the Constitution,) as the native-born; I
believe that the Government should act with even justice upon
the rich and the poor; that it should allow the utmost freedom of
trade consistent with its absolute neessities for moderate revenue; that it should not tramnmel enterprise by legislative nmonopolies; that as a Government, it should aim at no paltry imitation
of Royal or Imperial splendor; but be a simple, economical,
stern and just Protecting Power, leaving the individual to whatever of luxury and extravagant display his folly may suggest;
that'it should relieve its citizens from harrassing taxes, by levying the tax upon few articles, in such manner as to compel
every man to pay his just share in accordance with his means;
that it should have no costly army in time of peace, and that
the people should, by "'eternal vigilance" guard against the
absorption of the rights of the States by the Central Power.
Conversations with Gen. Grant had led me to believe that such
was the substance of his own views, and I was very desirous that
he should be the Democratic candidate. One day at his house
in Washington, while he was Secretary of War, I told him that
I thought he would make a good Deinocratic candidate if he was
right on the question of negro suffrage. He replied that lhe had
no wish for the Presidency, that he had now a much highler office
than he had ever expected, —that General Sherman would make
a good President, and that lie would gladly give the half that he
was worth to make Sherman, or any other fit man, President; tllat




his feelings and sentiments were entirely opposed to negro suffrage; but that he did not wish to be restrained by any pledges
from the right to change his opinions in future if new exigences
convinced him that he was wrong; for, said he, you will remember that early in the war, when I was in command at the west I
publicly stated that if the negroes had an insurrection I would
hold my army in check until it was put down. But long before the war was over I should have been glad of a negro insurrection, and would have moved my army all the faster.  What I
want is the Union —the whole country returned to peace and
submission to the laws. I do not like universal negro suffrage
now, but the freedmen ought to be protected, and if the only
way to protect them in their helpless condition is, to give them
the suffrage, then I shall be in favor of letting them vote. I
want the Union restored, and lo have the South come back, obey
the laws, and submit as good citizens, and if the future proves
that they will not do it without negro suffrage, then I would
give them negro suffrage.
Washincton never thought more wisely or talked more
justly.
That General Grant fairly represents the patriot sentiment of
the North, no man can doubt. From the beginning of the war
to its close, lie was at his post of duty; always ready, uncormplaining, patient, vigilant and just; trusting in God, in a righteous cause, and in his own brave men, he never knew a failure.
Poor-without a rich friend-with no reputation, and no political influence,-he rose to the head of the army, conducted the
greatest war in the annals of time to successful end, and within five short years, from his humble start, his was the foremost
name in the civilized world.
His detractors say, that he has no experience in affairs of State;
nor had he experience in war until he commenced it. It is also
said that his success in war was owing to good fortune.
So let his success in peace be.
Good fortune is a powerful goddess, and he whom she favors
is certain of success.
Washington was first a great General, and then he was a
great statesman.




18
Grant has proved himself a great General, and the same high
gifts of firmness, determined purpose, unswerving fidelity, calmness of judgment, justice, moderation and wonderful aptness in
the employment of the ability of others, added to a clear common sense approaching to genius, assure us that he will make
a President whom we can safety trust.
Seymour has had no experience in the administration of
Federal affairs, and has always been noted, as "infirm of purpose,
"letting I dare not, wait upon I would."  In July 1863, he
made a public speech, very discouraging to every friend of the
Government and tending to impair the success of the war. On
the same day,-Grant made no speech, —but marched his brave
soldiers into Vicksburg, and 30,000 enemies of your country surrendered.
This is the last great issue of our time; the most momentous
ever presented for your verdict. You cannot mistake the issue.
The dying( words of the brave Douglas in our last conflict were,
"' There can be no neutrals in this war-Only patriots or
traitors."
The same issue passed upon by the American People in
1864, is again presented, with added features, more odious and
revolting.  Then the proposition was, that the " war was a
" failure," and ought to cease.  Now it is boldly claimed that
the Rebellion was righllt and that Davis and Lee and Beauregard, and all the other Rebels, educated at public expense, and
who turned traitors to the Government, which they had sworn
to defend, — whose hands are yet dripping with the blood of
Northern men, who went down to death to save the nation's life,
-are men of high honor; of whom Blair in his speech of acceptance, with irrepressible enthusiasm, exclaims:
"What civilized people on earth would refuse to associate with
"themselves under all the rights, honors and dignities of their
" country such men as Lee and Johnston?
"What civilized country on earth would fail to do honor to those
"who, fighting for an erroneous cause, yet distinguished themselves
"by a gallantry never surpassed, in that contest for which they are
"sought to be disfranchised and exiled from their homes; in that
"contest they proved themselves worthy to be our peers."




HIe should have added-AND WE WISHI THEMI TO BE OUR
MASTERS?
Montgomery Blair, in Alexandria, made his public confession
and recantation in these words:
"M any who like myself have opposed secession and rebellion, and
"fancied ourselves wiser than the Rebels, if not more partriotic,
"will have to confess our mistake. In the present aspect of affairs,
"I have to confess that it is yet to be decided whether those who
" fought for the Union have not blundered."
In affairs of State, you know that a blunder is a crime. You
see why the name of Blair was hailed with such shouts in a
Convention where Rebels ruled. Will any but a Retel vote for
him?
-Mucll surprise is felt that the colored freedmen are voting
with their late masters.  Why be surprised? When these same
masters can come to New York, and rule a Convention of:Northern white men, why should they not control their recent negro
slaves?
Now, we hear that perjured oaths and broken vows of fidelity
to the Government are no dishonor, that the war against the
revolt was a blunder, that the Emancipation Proclamation of the
President, and the deliberate Acts of Congress, are void, and that
by force of arms, they are to be swept away at the beck of the
South, in order to restore them to their ancient rights.
The Supreme Court of the United States have decided, that
by war the Rebels lost all their rights under the Constitution,
and that all they can have, is of favor. But of what avail are
the Laws of Congress and the decisions of the Supreme Court?
Blair promises "to tram,2ple thlem  into dcltst;   and next will
severely follow a claim that the Rebels shall be paid for the loss
of' their slaves.
Let us here pause, and. ask why they should not be paid?
They lost much by the war, and by the Proclamation of Freedom. If the war was unconstitutional and wrong, then surely




the Emancipation Proclamation was void, and the laws by
which money was raised to prosecute that war, are void also.
I have presented this issue as the leading Seymour and Blair
men have framed it. It is a fair issue-clear, open and boldthere is no dodging this issue.
And now, I ask upon this issue, who will vote against Grant?
Will Mir. John Q. Adams, after his recent letter and speech
of just rebuke to the South, vote against Grant?
Every Rebel hater of our free Government will vote against
Grant.
Every cruel jailor who exposed, starved and robbed our
prisoned soldiers, will vote against Grant.
Every aider in those crimes against humanity and against
civilization, perpetrated at the Libby and at Andersonville, will
vote against Grant.
Every contemnner of our flag. despires of our Government and
violator of its benign laws, will vote against Grant.
Every Rebel raider from Canada, who robbed and murdered
the defenceless people of St. Albans.  Every inhuman wretch
who plotted to poison your waters, burn your cities, and introduced pestilence  into  all the lN'orth, will vote against
Grall
Every traitor, every conspirator who aided in the murder of
President Lincoln, and the assassination of Secretary Seward,
will vote against Grant.
And some good men, blinded by party prejudice or held in
bondage by party fears, may vote against Grant.
u3nt tell me, will any father, the blood of whose only son was
shed in his country's cause, vote against Grant?
Will the surviving soldier, who endured the perils, and now
shares the glories of successful war, vote against Grant?
Will the trustees of the widow and the orphan and the humble laborer, whose little all is in some savings Institution, dependent wholly upon income derived friom Government Bonds,
vote against Grant?




Will any Father in the Roman Catholic Church, looking to
the welfuare of the children of that Church, whose earnings are
deposited for safety, and drawing  interest from United States
securities, vote against Grant?
Will our adopted fellow citizens, upon whose advice millions
of foreign capital have been invested here, vote against Grant 
Will any intelligent man of business, merchant, banker,
manufacturer, salaried clerk, or day-laborer, who wishes stability,
security and prosperity for himself and his children, vote against
Grant?
Will any man who does not wish the Nation humbled, treason
honored, and patriotism insulted, vote against Grant?
Consider it well fellow-citizens,- vote deliberately,- vote
conscientiously,-vote down the patriot, — vote up the Rebel
if you will!!-vote Grant a failure, and Lee, the Hero of
the WVar: —But, —before  you thus vote, —tear down these
mocking imonuments erected to your patriot dead; demolish
every memorial stone at Gettysburgh, and in every place where
a ffratefil nation has reared a soldier's tomb!
Level three hundred thousand little hillocks, under which
sleep three hundred thousand young men of the country, they
died to save; the grass is very green, so watered by mothers'
tears, and the roses bloom well, which mourning sisters and bereaved wives have planted on those graves!-Trample them in
the earth-they are all a mockery-the sleepers died in an ignoble cause, and well deserved their doom-and the *otting
prisoners of the Libby, and the starving, tortured soldiers at
Andersonville, had but their just deserts!
Vote against Grant; and when you see the Rebels, all red with
the blood of your mothers' sons, holding high revelry in the
Capitol —and confusion, dismay and anarchy in the land —go tell
your children: — rE VOTED FOR THAT!
I would have the South treated justly; —yea, very generously;
I would take no step for vengceance; —but I would not restore
them to power, with their present mad views, and audacious
purpose, to subvert the laws, and destroy the liberties of my
country.




The vote will soon be cast; when the ballot has decided an
issue in America, the decision conquers even the will:-all submit as to the fiat of God.
As this is the last, so will it be the bitterest contest. In it
the son shall be divided against the father, and the father against
the son, and a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
It is a war of the mind, a war of ideas-of the will, and of
all the evil passions.
THE RESULT IS CERTAIN.
The storm will rage with great blackness, but as the sun rolls
down on the 3d of November next, and stamps with the ink of
night, the eternal record of that day, you shall see One, calnm,
serene and well worthy of your trust, rising abokve the s-tormn
and Tou. shall hear his voice, gaying:'LE;T US IAYVE PEACE 1"




SPEECH
OF THE
HON, EDWARDS PIERtREPONT,
Delivered at the Great Ratificationr Meeting
OF THE
REPUBLICANS,
HELD AT COOPER INSTITUTE,
NEW YORK:
EVENING POST STEAM PRESSES, 41 NASSAU STREET, COR. LIBERTY.
1870.








OF THE
HON. EIVDWARDS PIERREPPONT.
You, my fellow citizens-the busiest, the intensest people
upon the face of the earth-whose pressing avocations of today crowd out the memories of yesterday-need often to be
reminded of what "you yourselves do know."
In 1824, the great Henry Clay of Kentucky was Speaker of
the House of Representatives. He was the ablest orator in
the Democratic party. In that year the people failed to elect
a President-Adams, Clay, Crawford and Jackson were all
candidates. Neither one had a majority of the electoral
vote, and it fell upon the House of Representatives to choose
the President. In a caucus of the dominant party, Win. H.
Crawford of Georgia was nominated, but Mr. Clay, with his
powerful influence, went over to Mr. Adams who was thereby
elected, and Mr. Clay became the Secretary of State.
From that time onward through a period of twenty-eight
years, the great Whig party flourished. Clay and Webster
were its giant leaders.
In 1852, the mission of that party was ended; its work
was done, its fight was over and its army was disbanded. Out
of the fragments of the Whig party-out of the Free-soil party,
out of the Liberty party, out of Democrats who opposed the
arrogant pretensions of the slave power, out of deeply religious men of all parties, who resisted the spread of inhuman
slavery-arose the Republican party, which took shape and
name in 1854, and whose first great success in 1860, was the
election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency.




But ten years of rule, and half those years of civil conmmotion or terrible war! Years full of sorrows, which pressed
the life from many hearts, and sent to untimely graves so
many of your kindred. Years in which through faith and toil
and prayer and suffering, the nation was saved, and the foulest
crimes that ever cursed a christian people, were "burned and
purged away."
Has the party which did this Herculean work performed its
full mission? is it ready to disband its forces,-to turn over the
glorious fruits of all its labors, to be enjoyed, wasted, or destroyed by those whose hands are yet stained with the blood of
your own sons i!
The Saviour tells us, that, when the unclean spirit is gone
out of a man, he wanders about seeking rest, and finding none
he returns unto the house from whence he came out; and if he
finds it all empty, swept and garnished, he takes with him other
spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell
there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
This foul spirit of slavery and rebellion, you have driven
from your house; and you have washed out his loathsome fout1
stains, with much blood. He has wandered through many
places, seeking rest; but finding none, he will surely return to
the house from which you drove him; and if he finds it all
swept and garnished and we stand uncovered in the hall, ready
to receive him, he will enter in with others more wicked than
himself, and dwell there, and our last state will be worse than
the first.
The spirit which has found no rest, and now proposes to return and take possession of your well-garnished house, has begun in earnest; its minions are numerous, bold and active. It
can find no rest:-it never will rest. It begins with high determination, zeal and energy, and desperation, but in success;
it will leave no art untried, no labor neglected; it will succeed
if it finds none but faithless servants, or jealous inmates, or
greedy plunderers, or disappointed seekers, or craven cowards
at the gates.
Pardon me while I turn you to the history of the past, that
you may read the future. " That which hath been, will be
again."  For more than forty years the Congress which was




elected two years before the presidental contest, has determined
that contest. And now, a new House is to be elected. Within
a few days we shall know whether the Congress which continues
through the term of General Grant, is Republican or not. If
it is Republican, then you may be reasonably sure that the
next President will be a Republican; if it is anti-Republican,
then you may reasonably fear that the next President will be
the humble tool of the Rebel Power, swift to do its bidding,
ready as they have promised, to set at naught the amendments
to the constitution which favor liberty, and ready to recompense
the slave-holder for his liberated slaves.
Do you think that the members of the late convention
which was governed by rebel chieftains, have radically changed
since then? Not at all. The same men generally, and the
same spirit precisely, which ruled the last, will rule the next
Democratic Convention.
Let us look at this question in the light of common sense,
and of recent events.
Last week the State Agricultural Society of Georgia held a
great fair at Atlanta. When Hon. Benjamin Yancey, President
of the society came, he found the old star-spangled banner
waving over the congregated people, and he ordered the hated
flag to be pulled down; and nothing but fear of future consequences, it is said, kept their dusty feet from trampling the
abhorred ensign in the mire. Last week in this very hall,
eulogiums of unmingled praise were pronounced over the Rebel
dead; and our younger children are puzzled to know whether
Lee or Lincoln was the worthier patriot.  Last week, at
Alexandria, close by the capitol of the nation, a public reception was given to one called the " Great Ex-President Davis."
These are but a few of the many indications of what has
already begun.
Just now, there is dissatisfaction felt by a few Republicans,
I dare say. It is always so. Two years before the re-election
of Mr. Lincoln, Seymour carried New York; but in 1864,
when the people had to face the real question, they forgot
their differences, and redeemed the State.
It is not given us to know the future; a kind Providence
has veiled it from our eyes, and no wise man would lift the cur



tain, if he could, which God's hand has drawn over the stage
of our destiny. But, through reason, and the history of the
past, we may fairly predict what is likely to happen.
We can plainly foresee that the Congress now about to be
elected will be Republican; not, in the ratio of two to one, but
by a fair working number, which makes a far stronger administration than a two-thirds majority.
When the legislative branch of the government is so numerous that it can pass laws over the veto of the Executive, the
selfishness and vanity of abounding power is sure to cause
disturbance in the harmony, and thus weaken the vigor, of
administration. We can foresee that the Republican party,
chastened and consolidated, will grow wiser in some respects;
will more carefully consider the internal revenue, the tariff, and
the navigation laws, and adapt them to the intelligent wants
and the real interests of the whole country. But we can also
see that success does not spring up from the ground, and that
without the use of means, our desired ends will not be accomplished.
You are soon to elect not only a Governor, LieutenantGovernor, and other State officers, but you are also to elect an
entire Congressional delegation. This, therefore, is a very
important canvas; it bears directly upon national issues; it
may determine the next Presidential election. Your candidates are all good men. Gen. Woodford as Governor, and
MIr. Kaufman as Lieutenant-Governor, would secure the best
administration to the State. One had an excellent record in
the war: both have an unsullied reputation in civil life. No
honest man can doubt that, if elected, they would faithfully
carry out the principles and the wishes of the Republican
party. No honest or dishonest man can doubt that the opposing candidates, if elected, would, to the fullest extent, carry
out the principles and the wishes of their party. To which of
the two parties can you most safely entrust the government of
the State?-to that which has proved true to the Union; or to
that which is to-day in close alliance with the enemies of the
Union?
We judge a tree by its fruits. None but poison fruits ever
grew upon the old slave-tree; and fruit from any branch en



grafted on that stock, will smell of death and taste of blood
for many years to come!
The Republican party, during its short career, has done
collossal work; but its labor is not ended. It is now in
its prime of power; its greater work is yet to be done. It
has torn down the decayed old fever-breeding tenement, and
cleared away the rubbish. It has laid the new corner stones
upon the rock of humanity, justice and equal liberty; and
now the building of the structure requires more skillful hands,
more wise forecasting minds, than it required to tear down the
ruined edifice, which, incongruous and falsely reared, was
tumbling to its fall. The soldier nobly did his work; he will
have the undying gratitude of patriots of his own time, and
"the thanks of millions yet to be!" But the work of the Republican statesman has but just begun, and the Republican
mission will not end, until the statesman's work is finished.
Expect some blundering in the beginning, which a generous
people will forgive, to a party which is honest in its main
purpose, and which has such a record of great deeds, and
heroic success in the saving of the nation. Be quite sure,
that the Republican mission is not ended. It is the Democratic party, which untrue to its earliesr history, and to the
honest convictions of its best men, has lost the confidence of
the people, and must perish as a national power. The only
chance which it has of electing the one it nominates, is to
nominate a Republican. But I don't think they will nominate
a Republican.  I think they will only nominate from  the
Republican State of Ohio, its present Democratic Senator- an
able man-not destined to be elected.
Let me give you so-me of the elements of my confidence.
And, first of all, the people as a whole, desire what is best
and right; and their instinct is wonderfully true in the discernment of what is best and right; and when they come soberly
to consider the effect of restoring to power the old slaveholder, the rebel, the opposer of the war and the hater of the
Union, and those who would a thousand fold, have preferred
the rebel General Lee to the patriot General Grant, they will
not hesitate to vote again for the great general who won heroic
victories over the enemies of the Union, and saved the nation
in its day of peril!




Next, the entire emancipated vote will be given for those who
proved the negro's friend. During the entire war, not an
instance can be named, where fear, or hope, or gain, or danger,
could ever make the bondsman swerve from his fidelity, or
betray a soldier of the North; and it is all folly to suppose,
that the freed slave will vote for his old oppressor.
Next, the country will gratefully remember what the Republican party has done; that through weariness and every discouragement; through difficulties vast; through long and
desolating war; through dangers and dissensions at home, it
overcame all; it saved the country entire, made liberty real
and universal, preserved our glorious heritage of freedom; prepared the way for our rapid development in wealth and greatness-gave a safe and uniform currency to the whole nation,
and equal rights and equal laws to all; destroyed the inhuman
monster, so long our reproach, our blight, our terror and our
curse; and ushered in the day, when it was no longer statutory
crime to teach a poor benighted soul to read the word of God!
and made it no longer possible, under the Union flag, and
under the very dome of the capital, for brutal ruffian to tear
the child from its mother's arms and sell it to eternal slavery!
Next, the country will remember at the fitting time what the
opposing party has done; it will remember its opposition to
the war, its sympathy with our enemies, its readiness to receive
with open arms the chiefest leaders of the rebellion; allies of
those whose cruelties to our prisoned soldiers shocked humanity; allies of those who planned and executed those cold
atrdcities unknown to christian war; they will remember
ANDERSONVILLE and the LIBBY!
The country will remember that when the rebel General Lee
died, every anti-Republican Journal, from the Pacific coast to
the furthermost corner of Maine, deplored his loss, as that of
a pure patriot, and a christian hero, whose memory should be
cherished, and whose name should be handed down to our
children as one most honored in our history; and they. will
remember that Secretary Boutwell was assailed through those
journals, because he did not wish to have raised in mourning
for Lee, the flag of the Union, which that general had dishonored and betrayed; every hater of that flag was a sincere




admirer of Lee,-his memory is sacred in their love; and his
virtues have been exalted through the party press, as far above
those of the martyred Lincoln, or the great Union General
Geo. H. Thomas, who was from the same State as Lee, and
who was Lee's superior in every virtue, and every heroic
quality that can ennoble man! Turn me to a Democratic
Journal, even in the loyal states, which spoke of the dying
Thomas, with one ten-thousandth part of the love and admiration with which the same journal spoke of Lee. The two
generals were both from Virginia; both were educated at West
Point at the national expense; both had registered a solemn
oath to defend the Union, its flag and its laws; one, before the
war, was of high rank in the armies of the Union, petted and
trusted by General Scott; great in place, and influence; able,
if determined, to have averted this fratricidal war. He violated
his solemn oath, deserted his old friend Scott, betrayed the
Union which had fostered, educated and made him; trampled
in the dust the old flag which had waved so gloriously over
him in Mexico, and bathed his recreant sword in the blood of
his countrymen.
Thomas, also from the South, a much younger man, and
under far greater temptations, was true to his country, to his
flag and to his oath. Thomas dies, having lived true to
honor, to patriotism, to every christian virtue! No half-mast
flag was raised for him over Democratic journals! No parading of his great virtues and lofty patriotism appeared in Democratic prints. There is deep meaning in this, and it will not
be forgotten.
"Tell me where thou dwellest and whom thou lovest, and
I will tell thee who thou art."  All this will be remembered
when the soldiers' graves are decorated, and on election day,
for one generation at least.
This ovation to the shade of Lee was a " got up " affair: It
was a cold political contrivance; there was no grief in it; a
circular letter was sent round to many respectable and to some
eminent men, to get them to join in the demonstration; their
patriotic refusals, which will appear some day, upset the plan,
and changed the whole programme. All men respect heartfelt
sorrow; but the mother who mourned for her children, and
2




'the old father, who wept for his son whom the treason and the
sword of Lee had slain, did not come to Cooper Institute to
parade their grief. A public demonstration of this kind is
made to honor the acts of the hero's life, and the principles
for which he contended. In this case, it was to honor the acts
and the principles of Jefferson Davis and of Robert E. Lee.
Every man well informed in public affairs knows that
the entire Rebel element of the South will heartily join
in electing atly Northern Democrat who may be nominated;
confident, as they are, that he who may thus be elected, will
be under the absolute sway of the same confederates who
dominated over Tammany Hall in their late convention. I do
not say that if a Northern Democrat were elected President,
he would wish to disturb the peace of the Union by violating
the amended Constitution, and the re-construction laws; I dare
say he would earnestly desire the prosperity of his country;
but he would be utterly powerless for good, in the hands of
those who elected him.  The great party which puts the
President in power is stronger than the man; so must it
always be, in a government like ours. Careless observers mistake the public mind; they meet with criticising men who are
not personally satisfied; who want something different; who
always do want something different; who are never content, unless all goes as they direct, nor even then. I heard all, and much
more of this talk, in 1862, about Mr. Lincoln; and yet he was
triumphantly re-elected in 1864. I hear much less of it in
1870, and I predict that General Grant's election in 1872 will
be equally triumphant. I know that the confidence of the
people is strong and increasing; they believe in his honesty,
his foresight, his firm purpose, his real sympathy with the
people; in his silent, latent forces, equal to any emergency;
and in his luck and unfailing good fortune; they will vote for
him again, as will all the more intelligent men who wish well
for their country. It is of the utmost interest to the Republican
party that this question of the succession be settled; only a
year from next May, and you make a new nomination.
Nothing so much distracts and weakens the party in power, as
to be casting about for the next Presidential candidate. I regard the question as already settled; your enemies are trying




to make you think that it is not settled. But it is settled. If
General Grant is not the man, who is he?  Name me any
six, out of whom one can possibly be selected, as against
General Grant. You cannot name them; and a President of
the United States does not spring up in a day; he must have
made a record. The people know that Grant was a great
general in our war; that he led our brave soldiers to difficult
and to glorious victory; that by his great qualities he preserved
the unity of this proud nation; they know that his latent powers appeared when most needed, and that they will again appear in all their determined vigor, when necessity demands;
they know that he was inexperienced in politics when he came
into power; they know that he means to do right, and that he
grows wiser by time; they believe in him; they trust him;
they are determined that he shall have a fair chance; and if
everything does not go exactly as they could wish, they wisely
prefer " to bear the little ills they have, than fly to others that
they know not of;" and if God spares the life of General Grant,
he will be the next President of the United States!
Let us look straight into the face of this business, my countrymen: the most tempting place of power now upon the earth, is
that held by the President of the United States, brief in its
tenure, to be sure, but dazzling exceedingly, in the distance.
In too eager chase after this receding rainbow, many of our
best Statesmen have stumbled to their ruin.
No Southern IRebel can soon hope to be President:-No
Northern Democrat can ever hope to be President, save
through the aid of Southern votes. The confederate vote will
be given to the Northern Democrat only upon one condition;
the condition is, that the South stand behind the recovered
throne, and wield the sceptre as they will. If that day comes,
your new amendments, your new guarantees of Freedom, your
re-construction acts, and your vast financial system, will be
trampled into dust, and the debt incurred in subjugating the very
men thus restored to power will be scoffed and repudiated. Be
not again deceived, ye who did not believe that civil war could
come! The brave men, the great judges, who gave liberty and
glory to England by condemning a traitor-king and a corrupt nobility, (pn the return of the Stuarts,) died upon the scaffold, or




fled to this country, where they dragged out a wretched life in
dens and caves of the earth. No one believed that such could
be their fate, when the great Cromwell died: Don't you think
it will be sa/fer at least to keep confederate generals out of the
goverment during the present generation?
The southern demands upon the northern Democracy have
always been absolute; when these demands were reluctantly
conceded, the south threatened secession;-when not wholly
granted, they made war.
The price of southern aid, is abject submission. Uninformed
men think that the South must have changed, —that they must
have learned something by their defeat in 1868.
Not a bit of it. They had nothing to learn. They prefer
the rule of General Grant, to any Democratic rule which is
not entirely subservient. They say now, as they said to Northern Democrats at the Charleston convention; f.tpr, or we leave
you to your fate. They despise the northern dough-face; they
respect, while they hate, the northern Radical, whofights for
his principles.
I have said thus much, because I wish now, at this stage of
our history, to call the attention of the great party which destroyed slavery and baptised " Liberty and Union " with their
blood, to the evils of distracting counsels, to the sin of wandering after strange gods, and of thereby permitting the cast-out
spirits to return into possession of your re-constructed government, and thus to make its last state worse than before the war!
And one other word let me say: In politics as in war, there
must be a leader, whose decision is final; without it, there can
be no success. The President is that leader; he is patient in
listening to suggestions-ready to take advice-but when he
decides upon a course, all true men will cheerfully acquiesce;
this is the only way to success. With many commanders, and
no general, victory was never won. Here lies the greatest
danger against which I warn the Republican Party.
In the vast diversity of interests, the President has a most
perplexing task.-Ten thousand men press him with almost as
many different views. He must decide;-he cannot satisfy
all. He will do he tbest he can.  Sustain him; and he will
prove as wise in peace, as he was great in war.




The candidates whom your conventions have nominated, are
all good men; vote for them, if you would retain your power;
elect them by honest votes; neglect no honest means for success;
show that you still mean fidelity to that great party which unn
the Bands of four million slaves, and saved the nation
from dissolution and eternal disgrace.
















OF THE
HON, EDWARDS PIER1REPONT,
DELIVERED BEFORE
The Republican Mass Meeting, at Cooper Institute,
September 25, 18T2.
NEW YORK:
EVENING POST STEAM PRESSES, 41 NASSAU STREET, CORNER LIBERTY.
1872.








FELLOW CITIZENS:-I have not come to defend Gen. Grant.
I point you to the record he has made, which is eternal; in the
blaze of whose increasing splendor foul slanders will shrivel as
a scroll, and base revilers perish as stubble.
Nor have I come to defame Horace Greeley. The good
which he has done will live after him; the evil-let it be interred with his old clothes and his vain and foolish aspirations
for the presidency.
I have come to talk with you on public affairs, that we may
reason together, and see what is, on the whole, best in this
epoch of our history.
A great nation, about to commit its destinies for years to the
guidance of one man, will pause and consider well before it
casts its vote,
When the deed is done, regrets, however deep and sincere,
will not avail. Let us look fairly at this question of the candidates, and stee which, under all the circumstances, ought to receive your suffrage.
A few months ago Horace Greeley published to the world
his views of the Democratic Party in these words:
" It is rebel at the core'to-day-hardly able to reconcile the
defeats of Lee, Johnston, Bragg, Hood and Price, and the consequent downfall of its beloved Confederacy, with its traditional
faith in Divine Providence. It would hail the election of a
Democratic President in 1872 as a virtual reversal of the Appomattox surrender. It would come into power with the hate,
the chagrin, the wrath, the mortification of ten bitter years to
impel and guide its steps. It would devote itself to taking off or
reducing tax after tax, until the Treasury was deprived of the
means of paying interest on the national debt, and would hail
the tidings of national bankruptcy with unalloyed gladness and
unconcealed exultation. Whatever chastisement may be deserved for our national sins, we must hope that this disgrace
and humiliation will be spared us."
Mr. Greeley has uttered many brave words in the cause of
truth, but none more true than these.




A northern doughface, slopping over with the lukewarm milk
of human kindness, may believe that the late rebels are sorry.,
repentant and honestly accept the situation with intent to
abide by it. But no man with an intellect above good-natured
idiocy, at all informed of thb past conduct and present sentiment of the late Confederates, can doubt that they mean to
gain by intrigue what they lost by war; that to a man they
are sorry that they failed in their wicked plot to subvert the
Government, and that they would to-day dig a deeper chasm
and fill it full with blood, if they did not fear that brave patriots
from the North, seizing their old guns, would row over it.
Fellow-citizens, let me read a page of our past history. As
early as 1818 the South proposed to allow the Territory of
Missouri to become a Slate. The North opposed this proposition unless slavery were excluded. Maine was not then admitted to the Union, and the advocates of slavery were determined that 3Maine should not be admitted without slavery unless Missouri was at the same time admitted with it. In 1820
a compromise was effected, and the bill which allowed Missouri to come in with slavery provided that human bondage
should forever thereafter be excluded from all territory north
of the parallel 36~ 30', which was the southern boundary of Mis,
souri. This solemn compact, which the trusting North believed to be " forever," as it e-pressly promnised, was trampled
down in 1854, at the behest of the South, and then, for the first
time, the North awoke to the fact that slaveholders kept no
faith, but, corrupting one Northern man after another, by
seductive promises of the Presidency, they grew emboldened
and threw off disguises, violated every pledge, and trampled
down justice and humanity, with shameless perfidy, repealed
the sacred compact, and set up the hellish fiend of slavery to
be a worshiped god throughout this land of freedom!
But that was not enough. The worshipers of this demon
saw that martyr-fires were burning in the North, and that from
their ashes dangerous converts to freedom were springing fast,
and the devotees of the "peculiar institution" plotted the
overthrow of our government to preserve this great abomination. Demoratic Conventions, the Peace Congress, Unionsaving speeches of timid old politicians, the prostration of




Northern divines, citing texts from Holy Writ, and trying with
Heaven's livery to conceal their devil-worship, were all of no
avail. The Union must be rent, the old flag insulted, and war,
with its unnumbered woes, must come. You know the rest.
Weeks, months and years passed on in war. Save to the eye
of faith and to the heart trusting in a righteous God, success
seemed doubtful. Mr. Greeley wanted to let the rebels go;
and now, in turn, the rebels want to make Mr. Greeley President of the United States.
In those dark days, when our generals, one after another,
failed, there was oze who did not fail. He took the sword of
Lee, and the accursed rebellion writhed over and seemed to
die. There is some life yet in its rotting remains, and it will
show lively signs if Mr. Greeley is elected. And hence you see
why the late Governor of Virginia, in his speech the other day,
exclaimed, "Give me Jew or Gentile, dog or devil, I care not
which, so we beat Grant."
Yes, anything to beat Gen. Grant; traduce him, vilify him,
put him out of the way. They know full well that while Gen.
Grant is at the head, the amendments to the Constitution and
the Reconstruction laws will be respected. With keenest instinct, they preceive that Grant, with his dogged obstinacy, his
iron will and his immovable courage, is the deadliest foe to any
violation of the nation's rights as settled by the war.
Are these riglhts in any danger by the election of the secession candidate?
Let us see. The foremost of the Greeley men, the late
Democratic candidate for Vice-President, the present Senator
from Missouri, the fearless, outspoken Frank Blair, who scorns
to conceal his real sentiments, declares that he stands by his
Roadhead letter, which says:
"We must have a President who will execute the will of the
people by trampling into dart the usurpations of Congress known
as the Reconstruction acts."
And the Caucasian, a journal of Blair's own State, gives its
platform thus:
" State sovereignty, wihite supreinctcy, and REPUDIATION! This
is liberty!




"Our platform: The Constitution of 1860, and the rights of the
States!
" DOWN WITH THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT!
" Direct taxation and the rightful representation of all the
States, or ANOTHER REBELLION!"
On the 26th of May last, Jefferson Davis, addressing the
people of Georgia, at Augusta, said:
" It is not a tribute to me individually, but because you feel
that I am one of yourselves that you come to do me honor. You
kn~ow me only as the representative qf your cause.  That cause is
dear to me-more precious even than lije [applause], and I glory
in its remembrance. My simplest words may work you harm.
If I say,' Good night, my friends, go to your homes,' and a
Congressional investigating committee happened to be within
hearing, its members would swear that I directed you to go off
and join the Ku-Klux.  [Laughter and applause.]  Filled with
thait ecalous w/hich springs f.romn the knowledge o' their inferiority,
and of the justice of dolur pretensions, and conscious of broken
covenants and a violated constitution, they mistrust every movement, and tremble with lear when they think that right may
again prevail."
Two days later he addressed the people of Atlanta as
follows:
"I am not of those who accept the situation.  I accept
nothing."
" These cant phrases that we hear so much about of' accepting the situation,' and about our rights having been submitted
to the' arbitrament of the sword,' are but the excuses of cowards. And, then, my friends, about the much talked of subject
of'accepting the situation.'  You are not called upon to
acknowledge that you have done wrong unless you feel it. I
don't believe I did any wrong, and, therefore, I don't acknowledge it.  Wait patiently until the tide turns-as sooner or
later turn it will-and the day is not far distant when the sun
will shine upon you a free, independent and sovereign State."
With utterances like this the Southern journals literally
abound.
But we have fresher expressions upon this subject. I read
from  the World's reports of Mr. G(eeley's speech made at
Pittsburg, last Thursday. He says:
"I was one of those who said,' No, there is no such alterna



tive; I deny that the Southern people, the great majority of
them, are against the Union. I demand that there shall be a
fair, open, free discussion before all that Southern people, of
an honest, unterrified, unconstrained vote, and if they approve,
if the people of the South say they want disunion, I will consent to it. [Cheers.] I know they will not.' I knew that the
Southern people, that the great majority, must have voted
as they actually did that winter, not for secession but for clinging to the Union. [Cheers.] And now, to-day, if the nation
was to be imperilled, and there were just two modes of saving
it-to trust to the chances of civil war, or to the chances of a
free vote of the Southern people - I would very greatly prefer
to take the latter chance rather than the former."
A few days before this speech was made there was a convention of the soldiers and sailors of the war at Pittsburg. In
the Evening Post and New York Times of the 16th inst. you
will find the following:
" BALTIMORE, Sept. 15.-The rebellious spirit which animated the people of this city during the late war, and which
was exhibited in positive acts of violence whenever they could
be indulged in with impunity, was shown -this evening to be as
strong as ever. The Washington veterans, in passing through
the city on the way to Pittsburg to the Soldiers' and Sailors'
Convention, were attacked, at 7 o'clock, by ruffians concealed
behind railway cars, at the Calvert street depot.
" The scenes of 1861 were repeated in their main features,
and one soldier was seriously injured, having been struck by a
brick, which smashed his face in a shocking manner."
The Massachusetts Sixth met with the same reception in
1861.
Mr. Greeley says "let us shake hands over the bloody
bodies. "  "It is all wrong for the NQrth to keep up these
feelings."
In the same speech Mr. Greeley gives his views about the
soldiers and sailors who convened at Pittsburg, thus:
" The party that meets here and shouts for Grant and Wilson: No other. party requires that any human being should
stand proscribed on our soil for a rebellion that ceased seven
and a half years ago. No party, no man of any party but this,
the very pa;rty that held a great military parade this week in
order to further separate and divide the hearts of the American people from each other.  [Cheers.] They hold essential




to their triumph that hatred should continue; that distress,
suspicion, and alienation should continue. Do what you will,
do what you may, they are determined not to be satisfied."
How unreasonable these northern soldiers are, not " to be
satisfled " with being murdered on their way to save the capital
from traitors, and with having their " faces smashed in" on
their way to meet their brave comrades who had survived the
war.
IMr. Greeley says these men are all of the " Grant and Wilson
Party;" so they are; and if he will take an elevation where he
can look over into the 5th of November next, he will see an
interminable throng —some with armless sleeves, some with
artificial legs, some pale from the sufferings of the war, leaning
on their old fathers for support, some with the port of health
and military mien, some with the sailor's swing-all moving
on, with no arms in their hands, but little paper billets in their
stead.  That, AMT. Greeley, is what you called at Pittsburg
" the military parade, the Grant and Wilson Party." Including their kindred and their grateful countrymen, a formidable
array! You are right, they are for Grant and Wilson; shame
sits forever upon the soldier who votes for Horace Greeley!
Why did the Democratic Party nominate Mr. Greeley? On
what bargain was it done? Just before this unnatural alliance
was made public, the WTorld, the ablest journal in the Democratic ranks, said: Mr. Greeley's sole hope of an election depends upon his receiving the unanimous support of the
Democratic Party.   *   *   *   If he is nominated by
the Democratic Convention and elected by Democratic votes,
he cannot ignore the Democratc Party in organizing his
administration. *  % *    If Democratis are to vote for
Mllr. Greeley, it must be under such circumstances that he
will be compelled to acknowledge his obligations to the party,
and will make him dependent on it for the success of his administration." The circumstances were all arranged to mutual
satisfaction, and Horace Greeley received the unanimous nomination of that party which he had lately pronounced so utterly disloyal and rebel at the core.
We know where we stand. We have two great parties in
the field: The old Bourbon Democratic Party, with its an



cient bigotries, it secession sympathies, its rebel supporters;
" with the hate, the chagrin, the wrath, the mortification of
ten bitter years to impel and guide its steps." On the other
hand, we have the Republican Party; with no hate or chagrin
or wrath, but with a record of more than ten years of patriotic
devotion and glorious deeds of imperishable renown.
Past experience proves that the Southern politicians never
mistook their man; they never accepted a Northern President
unless sure of his Soutlhern,principles, and they have not
changed; they do no even pretend to have changed; they
boldly say that the advocate of secession and the bailer of Jeff.
Davis is reliable, and that he will surely see that they are paid
for their liberated slaves-the four hundred million which he
once proposed. Everywhere throughout the South, you shall
hear that they expect to be paid for their human chattels, if
iMr. Greeley is elected. Let us see what Gov. Aiken, the great
slave-holder of South Carolina, said upon this subject. I read
from the speech of Senator Morton, delivered ill this hall a few
months since: "I met a very distinguished Southern gentlemen
at West Point, last summer-a man that you all know by reputation; and I will give you his name, because it was not said
in confidence to me, but was said in the presence of others;
one of the noblest and purest men of the South, and a loyal
man throughout the war, and of the largest slave-holders
throughout the South-Gov. Aiken, of South Carolina. He
believed slavery to have been unlawfully abolished, and he
said:'I have made out an inventory of my slaves and. laid it
aside, because I believe that a sense of returning justice will
yet compel this nation to pay for the slaves.' And so far as I
know, this has been done by almost the entire body of the
former slave-owners of the Southern States. When the Demo- 
cratic party comes into power, they will come forward with
that claim, and they will say to the Democracy, and say truly:'You are committed in favor of paying us for our slaves.'"
But some one says that the Fourteenth Amendment to the
Constitution forbids such payment. So it does; but the Fourteenth Amendment will go where the Missouri Compromise
went, and be " trampled ia the dust " with the other reconstruction measures, if Mr. Greeley is elected.




You will then see troubled times in our financial affairs, and
general distrust. Four hundred million is a large corruption
fund, and the Fourteenth Amendment would be as a spider's
web. Remember the Missouri Compromise.
Gen. Grant or Horace Greeley in the Presidency! A
momentous trust! A nation's prosperity hangs upon this
issue. We have tried Gen. Grant; Mr. Greeley we have not
tried. Grant holds aloft the Republican banner-its inscriptions you have all read.
Greeley holds up the Democratic standard; to it is tied the
rebel flag-yes, and Horace Greeley bears it! and if elected,
its folds will cover over his face, and blind his eyes, and his
masters, hating and despising him, will tie him with fetters of
brass, and take him down to Washington, and make him grind
in their prison-house. He cannot help it. Even the strongest
man is not so strong as the party which elects him.
Senator Sumner says in his letter: "Horace Greeley stood
forth a Reformer and Abolitionist; President Grant enlisted as
a Pro-slavery Democrat, and at the election of Buchanan, fortified by his vote all the pretensions of slavery."
Well, what if we con:cede all that? Is Gen. Grant now the
less an earnest Republican?  If Judas, an original disciple,
had reproached St. Paul with having been once a persecutor of
the Church, that would not have helped Judas or hurt St.
Paul.
There happens to be another man on your ticket whom Mr.
Sumner would call a pro-slavery Democrat, voting for Buchanan. He not only voted for Buchanan, but was in Buchanan's Cabinet. He is the same man who, while there as
Secretary of the Treasury, gave the memorable order: " If any
man attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on
the spot."
Don't you think the old flag will be safe in the hands of Gen.
Dix? And when he is Governor, do you think the thieves will
dare break into the public treasury and steal?
Gen. Dix has held some place of trust from the time he was
eighteen years old. HIe has discharged the duties of all these
offices with ability, fidelity, untarnished and unsuspected
virtue.




Your city, your county and your State have long been plundered. Even your Reform Legislature could not alone protect us, and the people call Gen. Dix to the rescue. And here
the tried old faithful veteran comes. The people know that they
can trust /hiz, and the great swelling wave will lift this honest
man to the highest office in the State-the last, just, crowning
reward of an honest life.
But there was another "Pro-slavery Democrat" in Mr. B-uchanan's Cabinet, who, when he found that slave-holders were
enemies of the Union, turned like a lion in his lair, and with
energy unparalleled, with indignation unmatched, and with a
directness and devotion which could not be surpassed, took the
side of liberty, and by night and by day, gave his great mind,
and his very life, in its noblest prime, to save his country; and
when the' lightning wires told that Edwin AI. Stanton had been
called to his great reward, did Charles Sumner reproachfully
say: "lHe was a Pro-slavery Democrat, and in the election of
Buchanan fortified, by his vote, all the pretensions of
slavery."'
Mr. Sumner also delivered an elaborate oration in the Senate
of the United States, with intent to degrade the President in the
eyes of the civilized world; carefully revised and printed before it was pronounced; part of the material used was a dead
man's words, claimed to have been whispered in the confidencechamber of the dying Secretary. I forbear considering at length
the propriety of ever repeating such conversations for any purpose, and especially for the purpose of defaming the Chief lM~agistrate of your country, with whom you have disagreed. But. I
cannot waive considering the probable truth of the statement
which Mr. Sumner makes.
Hie says that 3lr. Stanton, just before he died, told him this:
"' I know General Grant better than any other person in the
country can know him. It was my duty to study him, and I
did so night and day-when I saw him and when I did not see
him-and now I tell you what I know: he cannot govern this
country.' The intensity of his manner and the positiveness of
his judgment surprised me; for though I was aware that the
late Secretary of War did not place the President very high in
general capacity, I was not prepared for a judgment so strongly
couched. At last, after some delay, occupied in meditating his
2




remarkable words, I observed,'What you say is very broad.'' It is as true as it is broad,' he replied promptly. I added,'You are tardy; you tell this late; why did you not say it before his nomination?' He answered that he was not consulted
about the nomination, and had no opportunity of expressing his
opinion upon it, besides being much occupied at the time by
his duties as Secretary of War and his contest with the President. I followed by saying,'But you took part in the Presidential election, and made a succession of speeches for him
in Ohio and Pennsylvania.''I spoke,' said he,'but I never
introduced the name of Gen. Grant. I spoke for the Republican Party and the ]Republican cause.' This was the last time
I saw Mr. Stanton. A few days later I followed him to the
grave where he now rests."
I have before me the speeches to which Mr. Sumner alludes,
and I find the name of Gen. Grant mentioned twenty-one times
ih a single speech, and in each of them that name is spoken
with the greatest respect. In his speech at Philadelphia occurs the following;
" In Grant we behold the leader of our armies in the path of
victory. In. Grant we behold the great General, who, under
Divine Providence, led our armies, supported, as they were, by
some of these who are before you to-night.' 
" The mistakes mentioned are, Seymour says,' the mistakes
of the Republican Party.'"  What, then, has Gen. Grant got to
do with them?  [Cheers for Grant.]  While Congress may
have made mistakes, if you please, without number —day by
dclay made mistakes-Grant was before the enemy's face fighting him; he was taking no surrender, except that it was'Unconditional!' No terms left his lips but'Unconditional surrender' of the enemy of his country."
I might detain you long with extracts of similar tone; but
these suffice to show how inaccurate was Mr. Sumner where
absolute verity was so easy to be obtained. The other part of
the statement depends upon MIr. Sumner's memory of words
from lips which speak no more; that kind of evidence, in
courts of justice, is received with exceeding caution, and, if
inconsistent with established facts, it is not believed at all.
It is known to some of you that for many years I was very
intimate with the great Secretary, and was one of the friends
who bore him to his grave. I saw him often during his last
illness, and have a large number of letters from him, several of




13
which relate to Gen. Grant, and one to Gen. Dix; their testimony will be more convincing than uncertain words repeated
long after their alleged utterance, and by one whose mind and
imagination had grown morbid and diseased by brooding over
grievances of a personal kind.
His letter about Gen. Dix, alike honorable to Mr. Stanton
and just to Gen. Dix, I will read first:
WASHINGTON, April 16, 1862.
Hon. EDWARDS PIERREPONT:
Miy Dear Sir-This morning my son called my attention to
a paragraph in the New York L3dger of Saturday, April 5, on
page 4, ascribing to me the authorship of Gen. Dix's telegram
to New Orleans, and saying that it has high authority that I
wrote it. Will you be so good as to call on Mr. Bonner and
inform him, from me, that I did not write that order, that its
author was Gen. Dix, and request him to correct the Lsciyev's
mistake, in order that credit may be given to whom it justly
belongs.
The correction might be made in some such way as the following: "We are requested to state, on the authority of Mr.
Stanton, that the famous telegram sent by Gen. Dix to a naval
officer in New Orleans in these words-'The first mrlanz that attempts to chaul down - the America~n flag, shoot him on the spot'was written by Gen. Dix —that the credit of that order belongs
to Gen. Dix, and not to Mr. Stanton."
You may perhaps suppose the correction of this mistake is
a small matter, and not worthy of attention in times like
these.
But that order was a historic fact of much significance in a
very dark hour. I admired it at the time it was made; would
be proud of it if it belonged to me; and desire to see its merit
acknowledged and awarded to him who alone is entitled to it
-Gen. Dix. How it could ever be ascribed to me I cannot
conceive, and would be glad if you would ask Mr. Bonner
upon whose authority the statement was made, in order that
the erroneous impression may be corrected to its fullest extent.
Yours truly,
EDWIN M. STANTON.
Soon after the November election, he wrote as follows:




WASHINGTON, NOV. 13, 1868.
Hon. EDWARDS PIERREPONT:
My Dear Sir-Your letter reached me here on my return
home from Baltimore, where I had been making a visit for rest
and change of air. For your kind appreciation of my political
exertions, made under much debility and suffering, please accept my thanks.  *  *  *  During my absence, Gen. Grant
returned home; but, confined to my house, I have not seen
him. Divine Providence seems to have furnished us with a fit
President as well as a great General.
On the lst of December, 1868, he wrote again, expressing
the like confidence.
It will be remembered that the date of this conversation, as
fixed by Mr. Sumner, was after the President had called in
person upon Mr. Stanton, and tendered him the office of Judge
of the Supreme Court, which MIr. Stanton accepted, and about
which he had often spoken in warm eulogy of Gen. Grant.
May we not safely conclude that Mr. Sumner's wearied brain
needs rest?.We will consider the fitness of Gen. Grant and Horace
Greeley for the great office. I know them both pret{y well; I
shall try to present them to you fairly. Remember that it is
the chief ruler of a great people, after a great civil war, whom
you are about to select. The abilities which we seek are those
of a great governor; not those of an artist, a poet or man of
letters; men of science, writers, orators and literary men, from
Cicero to Lamartine, have always failed as rulers of the State.
No man of sense believes that Juvenal, Raphael, Shakespeare,
Milton, Newton or La Place could ever have governed the nations whose history they adorned; whereas, Julius Cesar,
Charlemagne, Frederick the Great, Napoleon, William  of
Orange, and more than all, the great Cromwell, were able rulers,
each of whom was first a great soldier, and then a statesman
of imperishable fame. Come down in history to our own country. Ourfirst great ruler was the immortal Washington, the
great Captain of his age.
The next marked ruler was Gen. Jackson, whose military
fame preceded his civil reputation.  The greatest rulers in
every age have been the greatest soldiers of their time. Painters,




sculptors, scholars, writers and journalists of other men's deeds,
have always failed at the helm of State. They have not that
combination of faculties and of will which the position requires. Upon this subject the instincts of mankind have generally guided them aright. Horace Greeley is a man of eminent
abilities, but as unsuited to the Presidential office as was the
poet Horace for an Emperor of Rome. It is one of the weaknesses of our people, to imagine for the moment, that -the man
who has achieved great success in anything, is fitted for the
Presidency; and hence we have had successful steamboat men,
express men, railroad men, telegraph men, explorers, pathfinders, writers and journalists talked of as candidates for the
chief executive office.
Rosa Bonheur can paint a horse better than any living artist,
but she can't shoe one.
I would not detract from M3r. Greeley's justly-earned reputation-he has immense industry and a powerful pen which he
has always used on the side of humanity. He is a true hater
of oppression and of privileged class-very placable and of
kindly nature. In money matters, honest; in politics, more
far-sighted than is generally supposed, and shrewd even to
cunning; with large love of approbation, the spring of his
great ambition. Able as a journalist, vigorous as a writer, and
always in sympathy with liberal principals; he never keeps an
even course, and often startles his friends by crotchets the
more dangerous because sincere. He is liable to influences of
whose evil he is not conscious. His best friends would never
select him to lead an army, to preside over' a turbulent assembly, to control a bank or run a railroad. He has never
shown any of the qualities of a great leader, and we have no
right to suppose that he can now make an able ruler over a
great nation. A noted letter, which Mr. Greeley has been
careful to republish, written to Gov. Seward when he quarreled with the Governor and Thurlow Weed, will throw light
upon the temper, the ambition and real character of this Liberal candidate for the Presidency. We read from it as follows:
"You were Governor, dispensing patronage worth $3,000 to
$20,00U peliyear to your friends and compatriots, and I returned to my. garret and my crust. I believe it did not then occur




to me that some one of these abzundant places mnight have been offered to me without injustice; I now think it should have occurred
to you.
"In the Harrison campaign of 1840, I was again designated
to edit a campaign paper. I published it as well, and ought to
have made something by it, in spite of its extremely low price;
my extreme poverty was the main reason why I did not.   v
" Now came the great scramble of the swell-mob of coon-minstrels and cider-suckers at Washington —I ot being coztuted in.
Several regiments of them went on from this City, but no one
of the whole crowd-though I say it, who should not-had
done so much toward Gen. Harrison's nomination and election
as yours respectfully. I asked nothing, expected nothing; but
you, Gov. Seward, ought to have asked that I be Postmaster of
New York."        i        X  
"But this last Spring, after the Nebraska question had created
a new state of things at the North, one or two personal friends,
of no political consideration, suggested my name as a candidate
for Governor, and I did not discourage them.          *
" I suspect it is true that I could not have been elected Governor as a Whig. But had he and you been favorable, there
would have been a party in the State, ere this, which could and
would have elected me to any post, without injuring myself or
endangering your re-election.
"I should have hated to serve as Lieutenant-Governor, but I
should have gloried in running for the post. I want to have
my enemies all upon me at once-I am tired of fighting them
piecemeal. And, although I should have been beaten in the
canvass, I know that my running would have helped the ticket
and HELPED MY PAPER."    *      *
Are' these the breathings of a lofty patriotism, or do you distinguish the vengeful odor of a bitterly disappointed personal
ambition?
When Richard, the usurping king, asked his trusted page
whom he could call to aid in his most wicked and ambitious
scheme against the safety of the State, the page replied: "I
know a discontented gentleman, whose humble means match
not his haughty mind."
Gen. Grant, for the public, never talks or writes or speaks;
he is inarticulate-silent. He does not impress men generally.
He seems inert, and in mixed society draws into his shell. To
this nation of ceaseless talkers he seems a kind of Sphynx.
But he has done some things. He is younger than Horace
Greeley by more than eleven years; he has done things for




17
this people which Horace Greeley could not do —which no other
man could do.
The danger is over now, and almost forg'ot; but there was a
time, a gloomy time, when this nation's life was in peril; when
ten thousand Horace Greelyes could not save it, and Gen. Grant
did. We tried many other Generals, all well placed in the
social scale, supported by all the upper influences in the land;
all failed. An obscure man from Galena, poor, of no reputation or family influence, led the Union armies from victory to
victory, and neveirfailed; and when the sword of Lee was surrenderd to his younger victor, the nation offered up heartfelt
thanksgivings to God, and Grant was almost worshiped as the
savior of our liberties! Are you going to crucify ]tim now?
Why, what evil hath he done? My brave and honest countrymen, you do not mean to be unjust. Gen. Grant don't seek
this office. He never did seek it. He don't want to be driven
from it in disgrace by the enemies of the country which his
brave comrades died to save. Let us look over the record of
the past four years, and see What evil he hath done. You
called this soldier, forty-six years old, to take the helm of State
in the perplexing troubled days which followed a great civil
war. Four millions of ignorant slaves had been freed, a powerful confederation of States in war had been subdued by arms.:Wholly unused to public affairs and to political tricks, this inexperienced man was placed in the Presidential chair. Did you
deem him so far from human that he could make no blunders?
and is that his crime that you thought him so perfect that
you pardon no mistake? I read his modest words in accepting
the re-nomination:
" If elected in November, and protected by a kind Providence
in health and strength to perform the duties of the high trust
conferred, I promise the same zeal and devotion to the good of
the whole people for the future of my official life as shown in
the past. Past experience may guide me in avoiding mistakes
inevitable with novices in all professions and in all occupations."
Modest, as he is always modest. I have known him since
long before the surrender of Lee, and never did I hear him tell
of any of his victories; never heard him even allude to them;




never heard him utter a word that would indicate that he had
achieved anything. Who ever heard of a boast or vain word
from his quiet lips? All who know him will bear witness to
the same unpretentious, simple ways of this remarkable man.
Can you tell me why this great effort to drive him from the
office which he has so worthily filled? I think I can tell.
General Grant had proved himself so great a man that the
nation expected too much —more than was reasonable; they
expected perfection, and would tolerate nothing less in their idol:
and, true to our English blood, we began to think that he had
been overpraised-a crime which the Anglo-Saxon race never
allows to go unpunished. In a republic, where office is open to
all, each office had a thousand aspirants. Each office filled
nmade many enemies and sometimes an ingrate. The vanity
and pretension of official aspirants is amazing. Grant had no
skill to flatter, and no wish to excite false hopes. When all the
offices were filled the disappointed became sour, and talked
about patriotism, and hinted at the incapacity and possible
corruption of the Executive.  Many concealed their grief,
hoping that something might turn up, until the Presidential
term was drawing to its close, and the time came for new combinations through which new hopes were excited in the thousands of expectants for place; and in looking about they saw
better chances in a new. deal, and hence the noisy ousts, vastly
outnumbering the quiet ins, got up a din to drown every voice
which tried to speak in refutation of the foul slanders with
which the President was assailed. MIany were restless and
wanted a change for the sake of change, thinking little of what
a change might involve. Some honest people were made to
believe that the President was growing rich, while every wellinformed person knew that his income did not meet his necessary expenses. Jealousy of his position; jealousy which plays
so vile a part in public affairs, came in, and vague distrust, fomented by envy and disappointment, and rebel hate of him
who crushed their treason, all joined in general plan to oust
the President from his seat, and out of the grand jumble came
a result, unexpected, unwished, and which amazed every leader
of the movement, and for a time paralyzed their action. They
had sown the wind, they did nob expect the whirlwind would




'9
force Horace Greely upon them; and when the clouds cleared
away and they saw that ghost appear, they stared aghast, like the
murderous Thane at the ghost of Banquo!
The great God has his own mysterious way to bring about
results; through fieryv trials He sends all men destined for exalted deeds. Grant is as sure to be the next President as is
the continued motion of the planetary spheres, and the terrible
ordeal through which he is to pass presages great events in the
next five years. When the people have seen him walk through
the fires and come out with his mantle unsinged they will reproach themselves for the cruelties which they have allowed
him to suffer; but he will be purified and strengthened for the
great work which lies before hiim.
Alex. H. Stephens, by far the most philosophic and appreciative intellect in the Southern States, has recorded, in an
elaborate history of the war, his opinion of General Grant. Mr.
Stephens says:
" I was instantly struck with the great simplicity and perfect naturalness of his manners, and the entire absence of
everything like affectation, show, or even the usual military air
or mien of men in his position. He was plainly attired, sitting
in a log-cabin, busily writing on a small table by a kerosenelamp. It was night when we arrived. There was nothing in
his appearance or surroundings which indicated his official
rank. There were neither guards nor aids about him. Upon
Colonel Babcock's rapping at his door, the response'Come in'
was given by himself in a tone of voice and with a cadence
which I can never forget.               0
" His conversation was easy and fluent,without the least effort
or restraint. In this nothing was so closely noticed by me as
the point and terseness with which he expressed whatever he
said. He did not seem either to court or avoid conversation,
but, whenever he did speak, what he said was to the point,
and covered the whole matter in a few words. I saw before
being with him long that he was exceedingly quick in perception and direct in purpose, with a vast deal more of brains than
tongue, as ready as that was at his command.
" We were here with General Grant two days.   X i:
He furnished us with comfortable quarters on board one of his
dispatch-boats. The more I became acquainted with him the
more I became thoroughly impressed with the very extraordinary combination of rare elements of character which he exhibited.' During the time he met us frequently and conversed
3




freely upon various subjects, not much upon our mission. I
saw, however, very clearly, that he was very anxious for the
proposed conference to take place, and, from all that was said,
I inferred-whether correctly or not I do not know-that he
was fully apprised of its proposed object.
" Upon the whole, the result of this first acquaintance with
General Grant, beginning with our going to and ending with
our return from Hampton Roads, was the conviction on my
mind that, taken all in all, he was one of the most remarkable
men I had ever met with, and that his career in life, if his
days should beprolonged,was hardly entered upon; that his character was not yet fully developed; that he himself was not
aware of his own power, and that, if he lived, he would in the
future exert a controlling influence in shaping the destinies of
this country, either for good or evil. Which it would be, time
and circumstances alone could disclose. That was the opinion
of him then formed, and it is the same which has been uniformly expressed by me ever since."
The career of Grant has been a marvel from the beginningnot to be explained upon the ordinary principles of judging
men. With reverent voice, I say that I believe he is raised up
by Providence for greater deeds than he has yet performed.
I find nothing in history which he resembles except the great
Cromwell, and I find no such self-poised head as his since
Cromwell died. I am an earnest advocate for the re-election
of Gen. Grant because I believe in him-because I think it, under the circumstances, the only safety for the country. I am
not an office-holder, and, as we are talking rather confidentially
to-night, I will t1ll you that I do not intend to be. I have
taken tile full measure of that matter. I intend to remain your
fellow-citizen with unsealed lips, free to criticize any man who
holds the people's trust and to denounce any man who betrays it.
I have given some study to the system  of our government,
and tried to learn the source of its power and its real dangers.
It differs radically from all others. No feudal seed was ever
planted in our soil, and the feeble attempts to engraft feudal
scions on our stock failed, as they will always fail. No reverence for great families or historic names has any hold here.
In theory and in fact the power lies down in the hearts of the
people, and their will gets expressed through public opinion,
from which there is no appeal. Office, being open to all, until




within a few years, was generally sought for the advancement
of social position, to gratify personal pride and love of eminent
consideration for public service, or to perform a useful duty to
the State. As wealth increased and corrupting luxury came in,
bad, cunning men discovered that they could use official trusts
to steal the earnings of the people under the cover of deceiving
laws; and the cheated citizens were made to believe that the
fraudulent taxes all came out of the rich; though they were,puzzled to see how it was that the rich grew richer and the poor
poorer, while no taxes were levied upon the poor. They are
just now beginning to learn that all taxes really come out of the
labor and industry of the people, and that the idea that capital
pays the taxes is a covert- fraud-the great cost of rent which
the laboring poor and the industrious mechanic or clerk has to
pay is chiefly caused by the fraudulent tax which the tenement
pays.
No honest men but the rich can ever grow rich in a government where your officials are robbers and levy taxes for plunder.
If we cannot preserve our government from official corruption
our liberties are near their endl. Come up and face this question, fellow-citizens; do you believe that the election of Horace
Greeley will work reform? Do you not know that his election
will throw a pall over every cheerful hope of rescuing our city
and State from robbers?  Do you not know that the thieves
will run under his skirts for shelter, and tell him that they are
sorry, and "eager to clasp hands across the bloody chasm,"
and only want to be let alone, until they can work back through
plausible device into their former places.
Reformers, you know very well that the election of HIorace
Greeley does not mean reform. You cannot face an honest
audience and tell them tha3 you think so. If you do they will
not believe you. A desire for reform swept this State like a
whirlwind last Autumn, and it will do it again. I know that
we shall have reform or despotism. I do not believe that the
election of Horace Greeley tends to reform, but to confusion
and anarchy; and you all know what follows anarchy. I shall
do what I can to elect Gen. Grant, and then I shall do wvhat I
can to aid in placing able and honest men around him, and if
he proves recreant to his trust and corrupted by continued




power, uses his great office for unholy purposes, I will be free
and as earnest and as public in denunciation as I am now in my
advocacy. I have chosen my path in life, and I intend to walk
in it, fearless of thieves and scoundrels, and bad men in high
places. Life has no value without liberty, and where you dare
not speak the truth, there is no liberty.
Mr. Greeley very fairly said that Gen. Grant had made a
better President than he had expected, and that he would do
better the second time than the first. I'shall not be found
abusing Mr. Greeley; I venerate the much good he has done;
in a few short weeks no living man will excite so much of our
condolence. The dishonest men who have been deluding him,
cheating him, will desert him, revile him, and with lusty oaths
declare that they never knew him; swear that it was all a joke,
that they never expected to elect him, and that. the whole fantastic trick was a juggling fraud. The discussion of this question, and the universal intelligence circulated through the
priceless services of the Press, have awakened the people.
They begin to see how unjustly the President has been slandered, how difficult has been his task, and how well, upon the
whole, he has performed it. Men of business, men of substance,
men of families whom you love, come face to face- with this
question, and you will shudder at the peril which you have
escaped. I know that you will not support this nomination,
conceived in fraud, against the peace and prosperity of your
country. You will vote for Gen. Grant, and thank God that the
good sense of the people tells them  how wiser it is to " let well
enough alone," "to bear the little ills we have than fly to
others that we know not of." Security, confidence, development and unexampled prosperity will surely follow the election
of Grant.
1N'o one who has had opportunity can fail to notice how carefully the bankers, merchants and business men of other
countries watch our political action. They care nothing for
our candidates, but only regard the matter as affecting our
credit and the safety of our bonds.  Men of business in
Europe cannot believe it possible that a sober nation like ours
is going to upset its policy, radically change its Administration-disturb all, just as it is beginning to be settled, and




thus discredit and drive back our securities, stop all'negotiations, and put an end to the vast enterprises now starting to
develop and enrich our country. The answer to these apprehensions is: Tlze people are not going to do it. Every man I
meet, Democrat or Republican, makes some halting'excuse
when he says that he is for Greeley-talks about " the lesser of
two evils," "the surroundings of Grant" and other apologetic
trifles, showing that his heart is not in it, and that his conscience revolts at this violence to common sense. When the
time comes to count the vote, the party will be amazed at the
feeble show, and awake to the fact that a straight-out Democrat would have polled a much larger vote. And the sagacious
World will point to its issues of last spring and justly say:' told you so."
A word about Gen. Grant's oppression of the South, and I
have done. Last February I went through most of the Southern States and tried to learn their real condition: They were not
very prosperous-they were nearly all for Greeley, even then; I
mean the rebel whites, not the loyal blacks. Since the war
the South has suffered a good deal fromn bad government-no
doubt of that-but much of it was incident to the situation,
and more was due to their own sullen pride and obstinate will.
Had they frankly accepted the inevitable, and returned to their
allegiance, and honestly tried to aid the Government in reconstruction, they would have suffered little from misrule; the
victorious North would have been over-generous to the fallen
foe, and would have readily removed every disability. I
sincerely believe that, before another year has passed, the
South itself will rejoice in the re-election of Gen. Grant. And
now, when we are at peace with all the world, when our prosperity is great and our industries are fast reviving, we are
asked to make a change, to try something new, " to clasp our
eager hands across the bloody chasm" (the South has shown
no haste to shake hands). Govern justly, generously; protect
the freedman in his rights; but do not, in blind fatuity, surrender the very ark of your liberties to, those, who in peace,
were so faithless, who in war could perpetrate or permit the
inhuman cruelties of Andersonville and the Libby.
























SPEECH
OF THE
HON. EDWARDS PIERREPONT,
I)ELIVERED BEFORE
The Republican Mass Meeting, at Wilgus Hall,
ITHICA, N. Y.,
Oetober 11th, 18"T2.
NEW YORK:
tVENING POST STEAM PRESSES, 41 NASSAU STREET, CORNER LIBERTY.
1872.








OF THF,
HON. EDWARDS PIERREPONT,
DELIVERED BEFORE
The Republican Mass Meeting, at Wilgus Hall,
ITHICA, N. Y.,
October 11th, 1812.
--   -        --
NEW  YORK:
EVENING POST STEAM PRESSES, 41 NASSAU STREET, CORNER LIBERTY.
1872.








Fellow- Citizens:
LEARNED naturalists tell us that the animals which came out of
the ark were the same in kind as those which now exist, and
that each, after his kind, from  the lion to the kid, had
the same appetites, the same instincts, the same ac.imal
nature as now.  Hman naclte was the same before the
flood as it is to-day.  That Cain murdered his brother,
you all know; but did you ever think what he killed him
for?-Jealousy —that was all-jealousy, because his younger
brother's offering was more acceptable to the Lord.  Inspired by the same jealousy, Joseph's brethren determined
to murder him, but at the suggestion of one less cruel, they
mingled a little avarice with their envy, and sold their brother
as a slave. Murderers of the life, for jealousy, are a little out
of date; but in their stead, we have assassins of the reputation.
Formerly those who differed in opinion were put to the
rack; now they are put to the public newspapers and to public
speakers; the torture is more refined, and wrings the deep
anguish from the soul, runs througah the household nerves,
from wife to prattling child, and fiends have new delight.
In our Saviour's time they brought to him a woman who
had done a wrong, and wanted to stone her to death. The
Saviour said, " Well, stone her to death, as you claim to have
the law, only do it in this way: gather tile stones, form the
ring, put her in the midst, and let him that is without sin
among you, cast the first stone." These virtuous hypocrites, so
eager to vindicate the law, looked one on the other, and every
arm was palsied, and not a stone was thrown, and they went




out one after another, and the poor woman was left unhurt,
alone.
But now men's consciences have grown so blunted, or they
themselves have grown so free from fault, that they cloud the
noonday-sun with stones, which they throw so thickly at their
fellow-men; and of all, the President of the United States is
the one most assailed. His ordeal, severe as that of ancient
martyr, he has stood. He has walked with unshodden feet
over the burning plowshares, and through the crackling flames,
and the innumerable voters of Nebraska and of 3Maine, of
Vermont, Ohio and Pennsylvania looked on, and when they
saw him issue from the fires without a blister upon his feet or
a singe upon his garment, in loud and overwhelming numbers
they gave him their vote; and all the people say: AMEN!
The election of Grant is secure; but we must redeem our
great State, out of which four years ago, Gen. Grant was defrauded by false counting.
The news which we have just received is sure to make the
Greeley men abandon the national contest and cause them to
concentrate all their energies upon this State. If they can
secure New York, then they have a good nucleus for future plot
against the union of the States and the success of free government.
The late war was not an accident. It grew out of the two
great contending principles which have ever, from time to time,
convulsed the world. The contest between good and evil, between freedom and slavery, between liberty of conscience and
tyranny of the soul, between God and the Devil; and this
warfare will continue, until HE, whose right it is to reign, shall
have put all enemies under his feet.
This new plot against the Union and the liberties of the
country was hatched of secession brains. It began before Mr.
Greeley made his memorable tour through Texas and the South,
in the Spring of' 1871. After his return he made and published
a speech in the city of New York, on the 12th of June: in it several passages occur which we did not then understand, the
meaning of which the Baltimore Convention made clear. As a
specimen of those passages, then obscure, but since so plain,
we cite the following:




"But, gentlemen, the past is past. Let the dead bury their
dead. I axem pefectly wiling to pass receipts with the REPUBLICAN PARTY, acnd say that our accounts are now settled and closed."
This was uttered by Mr. Greeley to a large assembly in the city
of New York, while fresh from his meeting with Jeff. Davis and
other leading rebels of the South. We did not then imagine that
they were going to make him  the Democratic  candidate
in 1872. But he did; and hence his notice, that he was ready
to close accounts and pass receipts with the Republican party.
The account is closed-no receipts are needed-what profits
he will reap from the new partnership, next November will
disclose. Secession Georgia has gone for him  by an overwhelming vote; the Grant men were driven from the polls.
I dare say that Texas and Tennessee and other rebel States
will follow this example. We can "forgive them, only because they know not what they do." This Southern plot to get
control of the government by the seduction of an ambitious,
able Northern man, and a lifelong enemy, is not new. Reference
to the past will throw light upon the present. It was well
known in the early winter of 1850, that Mr. Webster had partly prepared a speech in harmony with the sentiments of his
life on the subject of slavery. On the 14thl of February he
wrote to his friend, Peter Harvey, as follows:
"WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 1850.
"My dear Sir, —I do not partake, in any degree, in those apprehensions which you say some of our friends entertain of the
dissolution of the Union, or the breaking up of the government   *    *    *
" I have, thus far, upon a good deal of reflection, thought it
advisable to hold my peace. If a moment shall come that any
temperate, rational and practical speech which I can make would
be useful, I shall do the best I can. One purpose I wish to
execute-and that is, to call on MIr. Berrien, and other Southern gentlemen, to state distinctly what are these acts of the
North, which, it is scid, constitute a series f ayggressions by the
North on the South.
" This matter ought to be looked into a little more carefully
than it has been. Let the -North keep cool."
And to give a little foretaste of what that " speech" was to be,




he wrote the very next day to Rev. Mr. Furness, of Philadelphia, as follows:
"WASHINGTON, February, 15, 1850.
"My dear sir,-I was a good deal moved, I confess, by reading your letter of the 9th January. Having regard for your talents and character, I could not feel indifferent to what you said,
when you intimated that there was, or might be, in me, a power
to do good, not yet exercised or devoloped. It may be so; but
I fear, my dear sir, that you overrate, not my desire, but my
power, to be useful in my day and generation. Fromn my earliest youth I have regarded slavery as a great moral and political evil.
" I think it unjust, repugnant to the natural equity of mankind,
founded only on superior power; a standing and permanent
conquest by the stronger over the weaker. All pretence of defending it on the ground of different races, I have ever condemned. I have ever said that if the black man is weaker, that
is a reason against-not for, his subjugation and oppression. In
a religious point of view, I have ever regarded it, and ever spoken of it, not as subject to any express denunciations, either in
the Old Testament or the New, but as opposed to the whole
sp2irt of the Gospel, and to the teachlings of /Jestus Christ.
"The religion of Jesus Christ is a religion of kindness, justice
and brotherly love. But slavery is not kindly affectioned; it
does not let the oppressed goftee. It is, as I have said,'but a
continued act ofoppression."
How incredible, that " the speech" which was expected to call
Mr. Berrien and the other Southern gentlemen to account for
their arrogant charges against the North, and in favor of " letting the oppressed go free," should, in thr'ee short weeks, have
been turned into an argument in support of the most infamous
law to oppress the slave, and in scorn and mockery of the
" higher law," as taught by the religion of Christ!
A crashing thunder-clap from a cloudless sky could not have
more startled the astonished North! A Southern senator had
suggested, that there was an able statesman in the North who, if
his mind expanded to embrace the views and interests of the
whole country, would be made the next President of the United
States. All knew to whom the allusion pointed. Webster was
then sixty-eight years old. His dream of years had been the
presidency. He fancied. that oft repeated dream was now to
be reality; and he suppressed his honest spech, which was in




harmony with the teachings of his youth, the record of his life,
the convictions of his conscience, and the holiest sentiments of
every enlightened friend in the civilized world; and perverting
his great intellect to the unholy use of trying to make his trusting countrymen believe that right was wrong, and wrong was
right; to make them " conquer their prejudices," violate their
concieu:ces, abandon the worship of God, and prostrate themselves before the Devil, who had, from a high mountain, promised him, what he valued more than all the kingdoms of the world,
-the Presidency,-if he would fall down and worship him,Webster fell before the tempter, and rose to make his memorable
speech of March the 7th, 1850. A speech which shocked the moral
sense of the Christian world-made mourning in ten thousand
honest hearts that loved him, and had trusted him so long, and
threw into painful perplexing doubt ten times ten thousand
more.  But the deed was done.  A conscientious wave of
murmur rolled deeply down towards Washington, and the
" Godlike Daniel" heard it; but his tempters flattered him, and
soon after made him Secretary of State, and told him that the
presidency was near. The accursed law was passed, and to
show their contempt and unutterable scorn of what they called
"the dough-faced, mean and mercenaryNorth," they inserted a
provision in the bill, that if the evidence induced the commissioner to surrrender the hunted slave to the claimant master,
then the commissioner should be paid by the United States
$10 for the service, but only half that sum if the evidence
showed the man was free.
Webster had helped the slave-hunters to all they asked, but the
slave-hunters had not yet given the promised presidency in return;
but, being men of boasted honor and chivalry extreme, they will
surely keep their word-of course they will; they would
challenge you, stab you, or beat you after the style of Brooks,
if you suggest that they will not keep their promise to Webster.
But the Convention is hard by, and in June, 1852, it met.
They balotted many times; and how many Southern votes did
Mr. Webster get? —Not a vote! Two known and trusted slaveholders had their votes.
A Virginian was nominated for President, and a NorthCarolinian for Vice-President.  But Webster had not one
Southern vote-not one.




HIe did not wait for the election, but went home to die.
At Marshfield, beside the sounding sea, he looked through
those solemn eyes out upon the vast ocean:-all was gloom;
he looked within; and memories of his young days upon New
Hampshire's hills came back; his early trust, his honest youth,
his religious teachings, his manly faith in God and truth, the
faces he had loved, the numbers in his adopted State who had
trusted him  almost as a savior, and given their consciences to
his keeping; and now they loved him sadly, but trusted him no
more-the panorama of his whole life unrolled, and he saw it
all-his great heart turned within him, and of no disease, he
died. There prone he lay,-the grandest, saddest wreck, that
ever stranded on ambition's shore.
But "his works do follow him."'' Northern gentlemen were made
slave-hunters for the South; and Commissioners, sitting as
Judges on human liberty, generally earned the ten dollars, and
found evidence that the victim was a slave. Some fathers
killed themselves, and some mothers killed their children, to escape the horrors of slavery.
The higher law was scoffed, and Northern pulpits furnished
their full quota of subservient tools, and wittily laughed about
the "higher law." Two years passed on, and then in obedience
to the slave-owners'mandate, that sacred compact with the
North, known as the Missouri compromise, which excluded
slavery "for'ever" from all territory north of 36Q 30' was repealed, and a boastful senator said in his place, that he would
"call the roll of his slaves on Bunker Hill." When this base deed
of perfidy was done, then rose the mighty North, and the
great Republican party sprang to life. In its first campaign it
was defeated by Buchanan, but showed su-h strength that the
South saw that the awakened conscience of the North could
not be hushed by threats or bribes, and that slavery was
doomed.
Then the plot to subvert our government earnestly began;
then followed the election of Lincoln in 1860, which the slaveholders desired as the pretext for the overthrow of free government in the states. Buchanan was timid and infirm of purpose;
Breckenridge was a bold, ambitious slave-holder from Kentucky.
The first plan, in the winter before the inauguration of Mr.




Lincoln, was to force Mr. Buchanan to resign, and leave the
government in the hands of Breckenridge, whom the plotters
could trust. Delaware, Mfaryland, Virginia and Kentucky were
to join; march thirty thousand troops into Washington, declare the Union dissolved, and form a new union with these
four States surrounding the District of Columbia, and Breckenridge legitimately at the head; the Southern States were all
to join this new confederacy; the north-west were to be invited
in; the middle States, it was supposed, would follow  from
commercial interests, and thus " a bloodless revolution," as the
traitors called it, was to be accomplished, and New England,
with her twelve senators and her troublesome conscience, was
to be left out.
This plan, written by one of the conspirators, is now in the
city of New York, with comments reflecting severely upon Gov.
Hicks, of MNaryland, because he refused to join in the treason.
I mentioned the substance of this to Gen. Scott, at West Point,
during the war, "True, sir," said he-" true, sir, every word
of it; I was consulted about it-they did not ask me to join in
it, but to remain quiescent; I prevented it-; Gov. Hicks was
shivering in the wind, sir, shivering in the wind, and I stiffened
him up —I prevented it."
This plot failing, secession followed, and the terrible war
came. These men whom slavery had made tyrants could brook
no interference with their absolute power. They frankly said,
that they would rather " reign in hell than serve in heaven," and
during four full years they enjoyed the luxury of that kind of
sovereignty, until Jeff. Davis fled in the disguise of a woman's
petticoats before the soldiers' of Grant. From that hour they
have plotted to regain their power and restore their " lost
cause;" not by war-they had tried that-but by diplomacy;
not out of the Union, but in it. They have never for one moment repented-never admitted that they were wrong, but
have always insisted that they were right. Jeff. Davis, in his
triumphal progress through the South, in May last, denounces
all as " cow':,-,/s " who " accept' the situation" and who admit
that the?Erbitrament of the sword has decided their condition.
They nowhere accept the situation, but only,yield to might,
which they all say is not right, but only a temporary condition




of necessity. They remembered the great Daniel Webster, and
they knew that Horace Greeley was from the same granite
State, but of less granite stuff, of a more restless and equally
unsatisfied ambition, and they singled him out as their man.
Mr. Greeley was not the choice of the Liberal Republicans,
but was forced upon them by the intrigues of the secessionists
of the South, allied with the copperheads of the North.
The same breed of men which tempted Daniel Webster from
his allegiance to the North and to freedom, have now seduced
Mr. Greeley to abandon his convictions of a lifetime for the
hope of the Presidency. This is a secession plot, an unnatural
alliance, a coalition, in which every hater of the Union joins.
It will surely fail. The forces will be routed and scattered in
disgrace, and thousands who are now in the combination will
be ashamed of it and conceal it as a crime. It is based upon
no principle. It is neither natural or honest, and it mustecome
to grief.
Do the Democratic party think that Mr. Greeley is fit to be
President? Does Mr. Greeley think that the Democratic Party
are fit to,flacke a president?  Hear what each says of the
other!
So recently as the 6th of last June, the WoV'rld cited a large
number of cstracts from the Tribwune, to prove that no Democrat with the slightest self-respect,'could support fMr. Greeley.
Out of a large number of these extracts from the Tribunne, I
read a few:
" If there were not a newspaper nor a common school in the
country, the democratic party would be far stronger than it is.
Neither elementary' instruction nor knowledge of transpiring
events, is necessary to teach the essential articles of the democratic creed:'Love rum  and have niggers.' The less one
learns and knows, the more certain he is to'vote the lmar'er
ticket, from A to Izzard.'"
"If democracy has concocted or borrowed an' interference
theory,' which justifies such meddling, it is a worse theory than
even we had supposed. All do know that there are several
hundred thousand mulattoes in this country; and we presume
no one has any serious doubt that the fathers of at. least ninetenths of them, are white democrats.'
"The World recently gave a graphic account of the dens and
denizens which give character to the Five Points, and other




'slums' of our city-a class, perhaps, lower in the scale of being
than can be found in any heathen city on earth."
"We thereupon asked our contemporary to state frankly
whether the pugilists, black-legs, thieves, burglars, keepers of
dens of prostitution, &c., &c., who make up so large a share of
our city's inhabitants, were not almost unanimously democrats."
"For the last thirty years, every American slave-holder on
the African coast, has accounted himself in politics a democrat.
So, every one who chooses to live by pugilism, or gambling, or
harlotry, with nearly every keeper of a tippling-house, is politically a democrat."
Speaking of the Democratic party, he said:
"It is rebel at the core to-day-hardly able to reconcile the
defeats of Lee, Johnston, Bragg, Hood and Price, and the consequent downfall of its beloved Confederacy, with its traditional
faith in Divine Providence. It would hail the election of a
Democratic President in 1872 as a virtual reversal of the Appomattox surrender. It would come into power with the hate,
the chagrin, the wrath, the mortification of ten bitter years to
impel and guide its steps. It would devote itself to taking off
or reducing tax after tax, until the Treasury was deprived of
the means of paying interest on the national debt, and would
hail the tidings of national bankruptcy with unalloyed gladness
and unconcealed exultation. Whatever chastisement may be
deserved for our national sins, we must hope that this disgrace
and humiliation will be spared us."
And the World, commenting upon these extracts, said:
" If he does still think that all the vilest classes, all the
scum  and dregs of the community, are drawn to the Democratic Party by a sympathetic chord, he disgraces himself in
asking for democratic suffrages; and if these incessant
charges of thirty years are wanton calumnies, it would be an
indescribable baseness on the part of Democrats to,adopt him
as their candidate. If the party is infected with such a loathsome moral leprosy as he has so perpetually asserted, how
utterly vile and sordid must.t be his hankcerinygfo.r office to' come also
anmong the-m.!' He wound up one of his /oul tirades against the
Democracy by saying:' May it be written oun my grave that I
was inever its /bollower, and lived and died in nothing its debtor.'
And let the people say, Amen!"
And on the 25th of last May, this same World newspaper
said:




"We have demonstrated, over and over again, that MIr.
Greeley is an unfair disputant; that lie is pe rverse, itnyorant,
wrong-hea(lecd, sophistical and argumentatively dishoinest, that his
views are at all points opposite to those q/' the Democratic Party;
that his juldyment is as unsotnd  as hi.s mp i), set; are wayw(rd cl."
It estimates Mr. Greeley now, as itself andl all Democrats
estimated him  up to the moment of his unexpected nomination; and because it keeps right on in nmaintaining its longsettled opinion of a man whom  it has always regarded as a
fanatic ancd a charlatan, it is —'erratic.'  Which is much the
same thing as saying that a line of undeviating straightness
runs zig-zag.
" Mr. Greeley is a very antithesis of a Democrat.   He has
streluously fought the Democratic Party all his life.  There is
no one question, either of priznciple or policy, on, which he agr'ees
with Ius except the t ransienlt question 9/' camresty.  By nzominaltingiy
hinm we should Istultify oletselves as reiee, ITraders; stnlt/yl oulrselves as op-ponetds of thle paternal thleory oj' government; sltuti]/I
ourselves as the chamnpioons 0' Stote Rights; stultifJ odurselves Oas
antagonists of' the Kul-Klx latw, the odiouts bayonect election law,
martial law in the Souitherin States, and the whole series  o/ suabjugatinzy  nmea.,ures which  ir. Greeley has chamnp-ioecld, alld the
Democratic Party has ut')nimoztsly ojpposed,.witldhin the last two or
three years.  We have not altered our opinion of tliese detestable laws, and Mr. Greeley has not changed his.  For either to
change now, or rather to profess a change, in order to help on
the proposed coalition, would have such an air of insincerity
that the self-respect of both parties should forbid them  to
publish so hollow a renunciation."
On the 5th of last June, the TWorld further said:
"The truth is, that Mr. Greeley has next to no Republican
strength, and that his most active Democratic support conies
from the trading  element o' the pa}rty and the followers which that
elemenrt contsrols.  It was, therefore, a cunning piece of strategy
to hold the ratification meeting in this city, the seat of the
shivered Tammany Ring.  If the sheep were fairly separated
from the goats it would be found that Mr. Greeley's supporters
in this city consist almost entirely of that class of Democrats
whom he has been accustomed to denounce in the Tribunze as
the dregs and offscouring of creation."
Mr. O'Conor, in a letter to Judge Lyon, of Richmond, dated
September 30th, 18i2, speaking of the Southern men and of
Mr. Greeley, says:




"The desolation of which they complain is attributable to
him. The long and disastrous war that filled his " bloody
chasm" with fratricidal slaughter, and involved the whole country in debt and demoralization is due to the " unequaled energy,"
combined with the folly, of this one exceedingly able, exceedingly amiable and exceedingly mischievous man. I regard
the possibility of his election with inexpressible aversion. If
the ideas of heathen times prevailed, I would cheerfully surrender my person as a sacrifice on the altar of that deity whose
controlling events might thus be propitiated and induced to
save my country from the impending evil."
These extracts abundantly show how hollow, how false, dishonest and unnatural is this coalition of the Greeley men with
the Democratic Party.
The people have never distrusted Gen. Grant, and he has
never distrusted them; in our darkest hour he did not doubt
for one moment that the people would vote right; we are apt to
trust those who trust us, and to like those who like us. When
the first news of the North Carolina election came and looked
so gloomy for our cause, the President said to an old life-long
friend, " General, don't be disturbed, you and I have camped
out upon the plains, and heard the wolves howl at night; you
would think from the noise that there were a thousand, but we
know that there were not more than three."  The false howling
from North Carolina did not disturb the President at all.
The news which we have just received from Pennsylvania
and Ohio assures the success of Gen. Grant.  His election means peace, continued, and vastly increased prosperity. All business-men feel that, and many a democrat will
deposit a silent vote for Gen. Grant, rather than risk the commercial disturbance and financial distrust which would follow,
the election of Mr. Greeley.
I concede that to a capitalist of collossal means, general
prosperity is not always the most profitable.  Disturbance
and financial distress vastly increases the opportunity of such
men to double their wealth.  They take advantage of the
depressed market, and make heavy purchases of stocks, of
bonds, of goods bf various kinds, and when the market turns,
they sell at eiormous profit. The beginning of the war caused
great commercial distress, and soon the great fortunes were




14
largely increased, while many of the smaller ones perished
utterly.  The relative distance between the r ichi, and those of
mo(derate means has wide_-:e-d im-enlcsely witfihlin a few years.
A  great millionaire can truly say that he does not fear
any financial.difficulty froml the election of Hiorace Greeley;
I dare say, be would profit by it. In depressec times the rich
grow  richer, and the poor, poorer; I speak not for the very
few of enormous wealth, but for the men. of business generally.
Our people are awake to this new coalition of rebels, copperheads, disappointed republicans and amnbitiouls politicians, and
they will scatter it like chaff by tlhe overwhelming re-election of
General Grant.
We hear much about tlhe North keeping up hostile feelings,
and refusingto "clasp hands aross the bloody chasm."  WVho
dug the chasm and filled it up with blood?  Who prevents the
green-sward from growing over it?  Who inmposed the carpetbaggers upon the South? —themselves have done it all, and tlhey
alone are responsible.  It. is time to stop this senseless cant
about the way the South have been treated. Badly governed
they are, I grant, but it is their own mnad fault. Let thenm  accept the situation, return allegian.ce to the Uniion, and honestly
aid the government in restoring peace, good. will, harmony, and
just governmwent to all, and there is not an imagined  right
which  the generous North would not too cheerfully give.
But while they aIllow scourgings and torture, and mlurder of innocent men, for opinon sake, or applaud to the echo the sentiments of their rebel chief, who tells then that all " arXe cotCarc/ds who accept the situation," they cannot expect peace, influx of capital and new population, or any great prosperity.
The troubles in the south are the fruits of their own doings,
and they are not chargeable to the north. When justice  and
good sense take the place of sullen pride and revengeful passions, they can have liberal treatment and prosperity without a
parallel.  Their bad rulers are chosen by their own voters, and
the North are no more to blame for their d(ishonest governors
than are the South for the official thieves who have'stolen our
substance. Away with these false charges against the North,
and the administration of Gen. Grant, in relation to the South.
They are not made in the interests of the Union and the good




government of the United States-they are the offspring of
rebel hate, and the disappointed malice of ambitious men.
Mr. Greeley's coalition cannot capture this State.  It is su, re
for Gen. Grant for the following reasons:
First -- t wwas really carried for Grant four years ago, when
the democratic party was in the heigilt of its power, united,
and in the most perfect discipline.
Second- — 3r. Greeley cannot poll the vote which Gov. Seymour polled, by more than twenty thousand.
T/iird.-Gen. Grant will get a colored vote of full seventeen
thousand, which he did not get in 1868.
Fowhrth.-The Tntmmany ring is broken up, all their power
is gone, and there will be no false counting this year.
_if/'t.-'The Ring cannot rob the public treasury and debauch
petty leaders by stolen money.
Sixth.-The honest Democrats have no heart in voting for
Greeley-they think his nomination by the party a blunder
ancl a fraud, and most of them will not vote for hiim.
Sevehittlh. — The Republicans carried the Sta te: last fall by a
large majority, and rumost of the reformers will now -vote for
Grant.  It is safe to predict thlat he will carry the State by
more than twenty thousand.
I shall rejoice when the vote is ccast, and the election settled,
for mlore reasons than one.  It will leave the way clear for
the consideration of the great questions which are sure to
arise within the next live years.   The question of AMexico,
the qu-stionl of tlar'iIff, th!Ee question of ttaxes, the question
of finance, the question or acquisition of new  territory, and
the labor question.  These questions will force themselves
upon us, and they will get considered. I went two days
ago to the office of the Board of Health, in the city of




New York, and asked for a report of the deaths in the
city. I hold the report in my hand.  Two thousand eight
hundred and twenty-six children under five years old died
in a single month this summer. Their little dying plaint
will come up some day, and ask us why we let so many die?
The doctors say unwholesome food and polluted air was the
chief cause. Is there no relief from unwholesome food and
polluted air in this rich/, sea-washed city of ours?  I have no
time to -night for these discussions; they will intrude themselves upon the stage before long, and you will hear about
them.
I ask no better evidence of the hopeless condition of our opponents than the wild and desperate measures to which they
resort. This is the first time that I have seen religion made
prominent in politics; the first time that I have -known eminent men invoke religious prejudices in favor of one and against
the other candidate; and may it be the last. Let Jew or
Greek, Protestant or Catholic, worship God as his conscience
dictates, but do not bring his religious faith into political strife.
Vote for the man who is right on the great questions affecting
the union of the States and the safety of our country. Vote
for him who is capable and honest, who was right on the war,
and who has continued right on the questions involved in that
war, and never ask whether he be Protestant, Episcopal or Roman Catholic.
On the next day after Mr. Kernan was nominated for Governor, the Tribune told us in a very significant article that he was
" a sincere and earnest Roman Catholic." What was that paraded
for? Every one knows. Did any Republican paper say that Gen.
Dix was "a sincere and earnest" member of the Protestant Episcopal church? No; nothing of the kind would have been tolera -
ted. But we have another man —Governor Seynmour-a more
adroit and skillful politician, seizing in desperation upon the religious question, and trying by cunning phrase to set voters
against Gen. Dix because he is a Protestant, and in favor of
)Mr. Kernan because he is " a sincere and earnest Roman
Catholic!" Hear him. I read from his Oneida speech, published in the Albany Arg7us, Sept. 23d, as follows:
"In looking over the history of my State I found that we




have never had a Catholic Governor, though Catholics constitute about one-third of the population and a very large share
of the voters. One thing I cannot bear to have said, they have
been voting for Protestants for nearly a hundred years, and I
cannot bear to have it said that Protestants are more bigoted
than Catholics, and I cannot vote once for a Catholic in return.
Every public man in the State has asked Catholics for their
votes. I ask them if they cannot reciprocate the favor."
Vote against General Dix-speak against him if you will, Governor Seymour, but do not invoke religious prejudice to your aid;
do not bring the crosier, and the vestments, and St. Peter's key
and the triple crown from the mouldering Vatican and the old
hills of Rome, and insist that free Americans shall bow down to
these baubles. Don't raise such issues here; you may light a
fire which you cannot extinguish, and you will bring the spirits
of your New England sires from their forgotten graves to chide
their recreant son, and tell him, that to the manly soul, there is
one thing more dear than houses, or lands, or political success,
or wife, or child, or life itself, and that is —" t/he liberty qf enlightened conscience."
I ask you to vote for General Dix, not because he is a Protestant and a good, religious man, but because he is an honest
man, because he was right on the war, because he has continued
right, he has always been right, and he always will be right.
He took the side of the Union from the start, he has been devoted to the end. There is not a tarnish upon his long life of
devoted service to his country, and we know that in his hands
the government of our State will be administered with wisdom,
ability, justice and unswerving integrity.
Daniel Webster and Horace Greeley were born amidst the
hills of New Hampshire. In the morning of life they breathed
the same inspiring air-the air of liberty and of religion. In
manly life, they each moved to the great city of their adopted
State. Each sought the Presidency throrgh the same unworthy
means, and each will share the like fate as sure as there
is a God in Heaven. The great Creator rules by lawsunerring and inexorable laws,-and he who resists great
moral laws will be as surely crushed as though a planet rolled
over him,
Horace Greeley will not be the next President of the United
States.
























1~ E 1\C -A- R IK S
IIoN.  EDWARDS:  PIERR  EEPONT,
AT A IMEETING OF THE BAR IN NEW YORK, JANUARY 17, 1873, UPON
THIE RETIEEMENT OF JUDGE  NELSON FROlMI THE BENCH.
Judge PIERREPONT,';i moving the adoption of the address
presented by Mr. STOUGHTON, said:
VMr. Chairman:  When eminenL rW en have died, it has been
the customi among Civilized Inatio;:s to talke some public notice
of the event. But the num-ber of those who have vollnlarily
retired from a great office are so few, that it can hardly be
said that any custom touching such retirement has been established; the rarity of this occasion makes it the more noted,
and for every reason it was most fit that you, MIr. Chairman,
should have been selected to preside at this unusual meeting
of the bar.
When a man, in his early prime, resigns a high office to enter
some broader field of ambition, or to seek new gratification in
the pursuit of wealth, he neither deserves nor receives any
especial marks of approbation from his fellow-men.
But when one has spent a long life in the public service, and
has so borne himself in his great office as to command the respect of every honest citizen, and at the call of duty lets go
his hold on power, while all his faculties renain, he is a man
so rare as to attract more than a passing notice; and we have
met to say something of this GRAND OLD MAN, who was 80
years old the 8th of November last, and who, by continuing
three months longer, would have had an uninterrupted career of
judicial life full 50 years. We search in vain for a career like
this! How nobler is it than to have clung feebly to his place
until death pulled him reluctant from his seat.




]How like the man; how in harmony with his high sense of
duty was his retirement from an office in which he, sooner
than others, felt that the burden of his years might possibly
diminish his usefulness. No pride, no love of power, no vanity
stood for a moment in his way; a lofty sense of duty governed
him in the end as at the beginning, and as all through his
life.
It was well known, if Judge Nelson retained his office until
April next, that the half century of his judicial life would then
be complete, and many supposed that the natural desire to fill
up the fifty years would prolong his stay upon the bench; but
those well acquainted with Judge Nelson, knew that the high
tone of his character would not allow him to retain the office,
one day after he became satisfied that he could not fully discharge its duties.
Lord Mansfield, the Chief-Justice of the King's Bench, resigned at the age of eighty-three. He had been upon the
bench thirty-two years. Between Judge Nelson and the Lord
Chief-Justice there were some striking points of resemblance.
So noted was Lord Mansfield for preferring substantial justice
to musty precedent, and so firmly did he believe in the flexibility of the Common Law, and that its rigid rules should bend
to new exigencies in the advancement of commerce, of science,
of civilization and humanity, that it was a common thing for
the old lawyers to sneer at what they called "Lord Mansfield's
Equity Judgments;" and Junius, in a letter addressed to the
Lord Chief-Justice, November 14th, 1770, says:
"Even in matters of private property we see the same bias
and inclination to depart from the decisions of your predecessors, which you certainly ought to receive as evidence of the
Common Law. Instead of those certain positive rules by
which the judgment of a court of law should invariably be determined, you have fondly introduced your own unsettled
notions of equity and substantial justice. Decisions given
upon such principles do not alarm the public so much as they
ought."
The _public were not alarmed; the public saw that Lord
Mansfield was right, and that "equity and substantial justice "
was what good men desired, and not inequity and injustice, in




deference to worn-out precedents unsuited to the advancing
times.
In earlier years we heard the same criticisms, from old lawyers, about the rulings of Judge Nelson, and almost in the same
language: but the names of those who censured Lord Mansfield and Judge Nelson for their adherence to "equity and substantial justice" are already forgotten, while both of these
great jurists will be held in reverence so long as the common
law continues to be administered.
In the construction of Statutes of the United States, subtle
and unsubstantial technicalities interposed to defeat justice
had small chance of success where Judge Nelson was presiding.
At the trial of the great frauds of Kohnstamm I was employed by the Government to conduct the prosecution; several
of the eminent lawyers here present were engaged for the defence, and one, now no more —the lamented and much beloved James T. Brady, whose great legal abilities would have
made him distinguished without the aid of his more brilliant
and unparalleled rhetorical powers. Mr. Brady, with his usual
eloquence and skill, summed up the case for the accused; but
the jury found the defendant guilty, and upon remarking to
Mr. Brady that the jury were prompt, and that I had feared a
disagreement-" I had hooped it," said Brady, "until the
charge, but what could I do against that old lion there?"turning towards the Judge as he sat kingly upon the bench,
and looking like a veritable old lion, as he was.
Nature did much to make Judge Nelson what he has
been. Nature gave him a commanding presence; a strong
constitution, an even balance of the passions and the intellectual
faculties; a genial soul and great vital forces; a natural love
of right and substantial justice; a resolute will and an honest
heart; a mind, body and a moral tone healthy, manly and robust.
Culture did greatly aid him; but his natural endowments were
vast. He did not deserve much credit for being a great, just
man; he could not help it very well. It was natural and easy;
and his life flowed on as the strong current of a river. It
would be interesting and instructive to have his brother Judges
of the Supreme Court give their estimate of Judge Nelson's




characteristics and judicial abilities. I have frequently heard
several of them speak of their eminent associate, and quite recently the Chief-Justice has expressed unmeasured admiration
of the easy facility, wisdom, ability and remarkable character
of him whose retirement from the bench the Chief-Justice considers an irreparable loss to himself personally, and to the
public service generally.
The influence of Judge Nelson upon the New York Bar has
been very great. The tone and manners of the Bar will always
depend upon the tone and manners of the Bench.  Good
temper, courteous manners, and dignity of deportment are very
importment, if not essential, in the administration of justice.
The Bar and the Bench will ever go hand in hand and quite
abreast in every respect, and the community are quick to discover the fact, and great merchants and men of business will
not entrust their important interests to a Bench and a Bar
composed of inferior men; and so sure as you degrade the
Bench,'you degrade the Bar; and with equal certainty you
thus drive the important business from the lawyers and the
courts, and other means of adjusting differences of magnitude
will be found.
Judge Nelson took no active part in politics; but no man
was a more close or more interested observer of public affairs.
In the distracted times of 1860, when the Democratic Party
looked around for a candidate who could unite the North and
the South, and command the confidence of the entire country,
Judge Nelson seemed to be the only man; the sole difficulty in
the way was the fact that he was a member of the Supreme
Court; and the sentiment of the people seemed then, as now,
to be, that when a man enters that Temple of Justice, and puts
on the robes of office, he shall never make the sacred seat a
stepping-stone from which to ascend to any political place.
When the governments of Great Britain and of the United
States undertook a negotiation which resulted in the Treaty of
Washington, our sagacious Secretary of State, with that good
judgment for which he is distinguished (by the approval of the
President). selected Judge Nelson as one of the High Commissioners; and the crowning act of a great career in the public
service was the prominent part be took in concluding that




treaty, by which enduring peace between these two great
nations, speaking the same language, governed by similar laws,
and worshipping the same God through the same religious
forms, was secured.
The Lord Chief-Justice Mansfield lived five years after
resignation of his office. May our equally great and equally
respected Judge, live many times those years, if he so wishes
and God wills; " and when old time shall lead him to his end,
goodness and he fill up one monument."
















HISTORICAL DISCOURSE:
BY
THEODORE:D. WOOLSEY,
AND
K1      ~ O R AT I -O-, N'ON
THE INFLUENCE OF LAWYERS UPON FREE, GOVERNMENTS, AND
THE INFLUENCE OF MORAL FORCES UPON THE
PROSPERITY OF GOVERNMENTS.
BY 
Hon. EDWARDS PIERREPONT, LLD.,
THE ALUM PRONOUNGED BEFORE
THE ALUMNIN  OF THE LAW  DEPRAT1ENT
OF
YALE COLLEGE,
AT THIl
FrI IETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE'FOUNDATION OF THE DEPARTMENT,
IN THE CENTRE CHURC.H AT NEW HAVEN,
June 24tbh, 1874.
"..,':PUBLISHED BY THE -LAW DEPARTMENT OF YALE COLLEGE
4'874..








HISTORICAL DISCOURSE
BY
THEODORE D WOOL SEY,
AND
ON
THE INFLUENCE OF LAWYERS UPON FREE GOVERNMENTS, AND
THE INFLUENCE OF MORAL FORCES UPON THE
PROSPERITY OF GOVERNMENTS,
BY
Holl. EDWARDS PIERREPONT, LL.D.,
PRONOUNCED BEFORE
THE ALUNINI  OF THE LXW  DEPARTT3]ENT
OF
YALE COLLEGE
AT THE
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE DEPARTMENT,
IN THE CENTRE CHURCH AT NEW HAVEN,
June 24th, 1874.
PUBLISHED BY THE LAW DEPARTMENT OF YALE COLLEGE,
1 874.








PREFATORY NOTE.
The celebration of the Semi-centennial Annivelsary of the Yale Law
School, on Wednesday, June 24th, 1874, was attended by a large number
of its alumni from all parts of the country. The public exercises of tile
occasion took place at the Centre Clinch in New Haven, on WVednesday
afternoon, IIon. MorunIsoN R. WAITE, LL. D., Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, presiding, when the following discourse and oration were pronouniced. After the acdjournment of this
imeeting, the Alumni of the School proceeded to its new apartments,
occupying one floor of the new Court House building, for an informal
and social reunion. Short addresses were made by Chief Justice WTAITE,
Hon. JOHN BoyxD, of the Class of 1826; Hon. THoMlAS H. BOND and
HEXrnY WHITE, Esq., of the Class of 1827; Rev. O. E. DAGGETT, D.D.,
of the Class of 1830; Hon. CORNELIUS VAN SANTVOORD, of the Class of
1835; Hon. EDWVARDS PIERREPONT, of the Class of 1839; Hon. WILLIAM1r
G. BATES, of Westfield, Mass.; Hon. ALPHONSO  TAFT, of Cincinnati;
Prof. CYrRus NonrTHROP, of the Class of 1859, and Prof. Wr/\I. C. ROBI'NSON. Later in t1he evening the doors were thrown open for a more
general reception, which was attended by the President and Fellows of
the College, the Faculties of the other Departments, the Governor and
Lieutenant-Governor of Connecticut, with the principal State officers,
and other invited guests, gentlemen and ladies, numbering in all aboult
five hundred.
An Alumni Association was organized by the graduates of the Law
Department in 1872, wbich meets annually on Wednesday of Comlmencemlent-week, at the Law School Lecture-room..  That day will hereafter
be devoted to the Anniversary Exercises of the Department, which will
hold its commencement in the afternoon, when mllembers of the gLraduating class will read theses or deliver orations on legal topics, and a
prize of $100, established by Hon. JAMrES M. TOWNSEND, of East Haven,
Conn., will be awarded to the best writer and speaker on the occasion.




The staff of instructors in the Department during the past year has
been as follows: REV. NOAH PORTER, D.D., Presidlenzt, FRANCIS  VAYLAND, MI.A., Professor of Iercacdztile Law actnd Evidlence, and Lecturer on
English (,Constitulioznal Hiistory; WILLIAM C. RoBINsoN, MI..A., Professor of
Element&zarg a nd Criminzal Law ancld t1he Lcasw of Real Popertol)e; SIMEON E.
BALDWIN, M.A., Professor of Cozstitltional Lcat andl the Laco of Contzracts
cazd JVills, and Lecturer on Romanz Lawv CIad Comiarcative Jnrisprucldence;
JOHNsoN T. PLATT, M.A., Professor of Pleading a~nd Equity Jti,slrspndenice; CHARLES J. MCCuRDY, LL.D., Lecturer on Lfe Inszueraznce; Rev.
TH:EODORE D. WOOLSErY, D.D., LL. D., Lecturer on the LacV of Mld(.-ionis;
Rev. LEONARD BACON, D.D., LL.D., Lecturer on Ecclesiastical Lawuc; Rev.
JAbIEs M. HOPPIN, D.D., LL.B., Lecturer on Fo1rezsic Composition;
MARiK BAILEY, M.A., Instructor in Elocuntioni; FRANCIS BACON, M.D.,
Lecturer on [fedical JuIrispruldeizce, and F1REDERIcK  H. BETTS, M.A.,
Lecturer on Pateznt Lav; DAVID ID. BALDWrIN, MI.A., Librarian.




HIISTORICAL ADDRESS
BY
THEODORE D WOOLSEY.
-   0o
When Roman law was reaching its mature form, distinguished
lawyers, like Q. and P. Mucius Scdevola, were wont to receive
students into their houses, in order to give them some kind of
informal instruction in jurisprudence. This was done not for
pay-for an aristocratic Roman gentleman would have scorned
getting a reward from pupils-but in order to benefit young
friends, who had no law books nor law schools to aid them int
learning the science. Cicero, thus, although never a professed
jurist, was put by his father with Q. Mucius Scdevola, that he
might draw instruction from his lips. But when Roman law
became a complicated system under the emperors, schools arose
for its study. Thus in the time of Justinian there were three
great law schools, one at Rome in thlle West, and two in the
East, at Constantinople and at Berytus or Beirout, together
with some others of less note. The Eastern schools were represented in the preparation of the Digest by as many as four
professors.
The mo-dern university system began'with the revived study
of law at Bologna in the twelfth century, and this, as much as
any other cause, overthrew feudalism  by substituting new alnd
better law for that of the feudal period. At another great
centre of university life, the University of Paris, civil law was




not studied until late in the seventeenth century, owing to the
management of the popes, who were afraid that Paris, as a law
school, would eclipse Bologna. In our mother country, London, rather than the universities, was the centre of law study,
where the inns of court provided societies, into which young
men desiring to become lawyers and pleaders could be adcmitted, and could for a time obtain instruction.
Sir William Blackstone, as imany of my hearers will remenmher, cites fronm  old Fortescue this question, Why the laws of
England were not taught in the universities, as the civil and
canon laws were?  Whatever may have been the reason,
whether it was that the Latin of the lecture-rooms there was
not suited for the proper treatment of the law of England, or
that law students would go where cases on appeal were tried
and a body of lawyers dwelt, in order to learn forms and principles at the place of chief resort,-I say, whatever may have
been tlhe reason, the fact seems to be admitted that there was
no formal instruction given at either university in common law,
until Mr. Viner founded at Oxford the professorship of that
science, of which, in 1758, Blackstone was appointed the first
inculnbent.
In our country, for a long time after it became independent,
the three learned professions were all alike in trusting for their
new supplies to private instruction. Now and then a minister
of eminence, like Dr. Bellamy of Bethlemn, in this State, gathored about him quite a number of young men who had devoted
themselves to the ministerial profession. The pupils heard
lectures, read sermons or subjects of sermons or theological
essays, and their influence on one another must have been very
stimulating.  Probably the same thing was true of eminent
physicians. It certainly was of eminent lawyers.
It is worthy of notice that the first law school in the country
of any considerable note was founded in the town of Litchfield, next to Bethlem, where Dr. Bellamy lived. Bellamy's




school was begun at least twenty-five years before the revolutionary war. The law school at Litchfield owed its origin to
Tapping Reeve, a native of Long Island, a graduate at Nassau
Hall, a son-in-law of President Burr, and so a brother-in-law
of Aalron Burr, Vice-President of [lle United States, and was
begun in 1784, just after the revolution was over. Somle tine
before the end of the century Judge Reeve invited James
Gould, a lawyer in Litchtield, a graduate of Yale College, of
1791, to take part in the instruction.  They continued partners in the school until 1820, when, Judge Reeve having
retired, Judge Gould became the head of the school and ere
long associated with himself for a time Jabez W. Huntington,
afterwardcs Senator of the United States and Judge of the Supremie Court of Connecticut.  Down to 1833, when Judge
Gould, about five years before his death, discontinued his lectures, there had been educated at Litchfield, according to Mr.
Hollister (Hist. of Conn., Vol. 2, p. 597), 1,024 lawyers froml all
parts of the United States, of whom 183 were from the Southern
States.  In this number are included fifteen United States
Senators, five cabinet officers in the general government, ten
governors of States, fifty members of Congress, forty judges
of the highest State Courts, and two judges of the Supreme
Court of the United States.
Iun the latter part of the eighteenth century and in the early
years of the present, a school was set up in the city of New
Haven by Charles Chauncey, a lawyer of extensive practice.
Of this school I know but little. Judge Samuel Hubbard, of
the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, and Judge Wayne, of
the Supremle Court of the United States, studied under Judge
Chauncey.
Mr. Seth P. Staples, a graduate of Yale College, of 1797,
who soon attained to a large practice and a high reputation,
and who, early in his professional life, seems to have collected
a large library of unusual value for those times in this part of




the country, gathered around him  a number of young men,
whose law studies he superintended.  Thlis school, from which
the existing law school of Yale College is a direct descendant,
must have begun in the first decade of this century. One of
the seholars in it was Samuel J. Hitchcock (Yale, 1809), a
tutor in Yale College from 1811 to 1815, who fitted himself for
the bar during his official connection with his alma mater,
and afterwards settled in New Haven in the legal profession.
In a few years MIr. Staples invited Mr. Hitchcock to assist him
in the instruction of his pupils, and in 1824 removed to New
York, leaving the school in the hands of Judge Daggett and
Mr. Hitchcock.  Mr. Staples' great repute as a lawyer did not
desert him on his removal to a larger sphere of professional
labors.  He stood in the front rank of his profession, especially in commercial and patent law; he gave, at one time, lectures on the first of these branches with great success; he
lived to a good old age and died at the age of eighty-six, honored and deserving of honor for his private and professional
life, in 1861.
Of IMr. Staples, one of his pupils in 182.-1824, the last
years of his instruction in New Haven, thus speaks: " Those
who only saw him in the conflicts of the bar and heard his
bitter sarcasms, could form no true estimate of his character.
They saw nothing of his kindlier nature and social qualities,
as exhibited in the office and the recitation room. As a teacher
lie exerted a magnetisnm over his students unsurpassed by any
man I ever knew-a magnetism that drew his pupils into thorough study of first principles.  No greater contrast could well
exist than that presented by comparison of the formal law lectures of the Litchfield school and the off-hand comments and
illustrations of MIr. Staples' class-room: Judge Gould read
his able and finished lectures with a cold dignity to his students, each seated at his separate desk, intent on copying
from his lips the principles laid down and the authorities re



ferred to, umbodying a system of law for future reference and
use. In the New Haven school, at the time it was lmaLde a department of the college, the class recitations superlseded inl
great measure the formal lecture.  The student in his study
drew the principles from the text book.  In the recitation the.y
were sifted, tested and illustrateld.  It was here that Mir.
Staples was perhaps unrivaled  as a teacher.  His practice at
the bar enabled him to illustrate principles and decisions fromr
his own experience and observation, in such a maanl.rner (as to
fix them in the mind in a manner very different from  the
mere entry of theml in a note book.  Mr. Staples read few lectures, and they were not of a hitgh order. It was as an offhand commentator that lihe impressed himnsel! as wvell as hli( 1low
on the minds of his students."
In 1824 the school thus bequeathed by Mr. Staples to two of
his brethren of the bar, had, through the publication of the
students names on tile annual catalogue, a sort of v-ague connection with Yale College, of whicll most of them  could be
called resident grcaduates.  In 1826 the connection becanme
closer, since, in that year Judge DDalggett was appointed Professor of Law  on the foundation provided by a nunmber of
Chancellor Kent's friends for his Alma Mater, a.nd called by his
honored name.  It was not, however, until 1843 that the
degree of Bachelor in Law on exanmination began to be conferred, which pla-ced the law faculty and department on a level
with the others. Thus, one may say, that fifty years ago the
school was acknowledged by the college as in some measure
belonging to it; forty-eight years ago it began to be a part of
the university; and thirty-one year"s ago it reached its majority
by acquiring the privilege of having its students, after a certain
term  of study and a successful examination, promoted to
academical honors.  In this way va fourth faculty of instruction was added to the college.
Considered in relation to its instructors, the school has bad
2




three stages, and is now in the third. The first includes the
years from 1824 to 1847, Nwhen( Judge Daggett was at its head
assisted by Mr. Hitchcock, until the death of the latter, in
1845, and by Mr. Isaac H. Townsend from  1842 until his
death, in 1847. Nearly two years before Mr. Townsend's death,
Judge Winm. L. Storrs was appointed one of the instructors of
the school, but resigned his position in 1847, finding that the
duty of instruction called him away too much from the prepqaration of opinions on cases of appeal in the Supreme Court.
Our honored townsman, Henry White, Esq., gave his assistance to the instructors during nearly two years, from February,
1846, to October, 1847. Thus at the end of the college year in
1847, as Judge Daggett also, owing to his advanced age, had
retired from instruction, it became necessary for the college
authorities to put a liew corps of officers into the school, and
so a secolnd stage commnenced. The choice fell on Hon. Clark
Bissell, who had been a judge of the Supreme Court of Errors,
from 1829 to 1839, and was, at the time of his appointment,
governor of the State; and on Henry Dutton, a lawyer,
residing in Bridgeport, who had been a tutor in the college,
and was now in the full practice of his profession.  Governor
Bissell continued his connection with the school until the
autumn of 1855, when, at a ripe old age, he retired from active
employments to his home in Norwalk, where he closed an
honored and useful life two years afterwards. Mr. Dutton was
elected governor of the State in 1854, and in 1861 was chosen one
of the judges of the Supreme Court of Errors, which office he
filled until his superannuation, at the age of seventy, in 1866.
He continued to be the head of the school until 1869, when he
died. In the year 1855, Hon. Thomas B. Osborne, who had
been a member of Congress, was appointed to be an associate
in the school with Governor Dutton, and continued to give instruction until 1865, when he resigned, four years before his
death.  From that time until Professor Dutton's death, he had




the sole charge of the school, and being often called away by
his private or piofessional business, was not able to give the
due degree of attention to his professorihl charge. The school,
therefore, in the last years of his life and of his office, greatly
declined, until there appeared a meagre list of sixteen or seventeen students on the catalogues of 1867 and 1868, of whom
a considerable part could scarcely be called students. This
second stage continued for twenty-two years-about the same
number of years with the first.
At this point of greatest depression, when  it seemed
doubtful whether the study of law as a department of instruction in Yale College ought not to be abandoned altogether, the
services of three gentlemen of the legal profession, in New
Haven, MIessrs. Baldwin, Platt and Robillnsol, were engaged to
carry on the instruction in law for another year. It was at
first rather an experiment than a permanent plan, both on
their part and on that of the college authorities.  They began
with seventeen students. In 1871, Hon. Francis Wayland, who
had been Lieutenant-Governor of the State, was associated
with them. The school recovered, by degrees, its old numbers,
and at least its old reputation.  The present year has brought
with it more students than have ever appeared on the catalogue
before.
This increase is due to several causes besides the zeal and
ability of the four professors, " whose works praise them in
the gates."
One of these causes is that the new professors have been
able to enlarge and broaden the system  of law training, by
calling in the aid of auxiliary lebturers to a gL'eater degree than
before. Thus the late Professor Hadley delivered here his
clear and beautiful lectures introductoryv to Roman Law, which
have been given to the public since his deathll.  Dr. Leonard
Bacon has lectured on Ecclesiastical Law; Dr. Francis Bacon
on Medical Jurisprudence; Judge Chales J. McCurdy on Insur




ance; other gentlemen on International Law, on the Law of
Patents, and onI the Style and the Elocution of the Forum. It
is believed that nowhlere in the United States these subsidiary
branches of knowledge, of which, perhaps, the special pleader
or lle drawer of legal formulas can afford to be ignorant, but
whllich, whlen known, broaden and elevate legal study, bringing
it out of the dull routine and dryness of common practice, as
well as suppljying food for thought —I say that nowhere in
the United States are these handmnaids to a finished legal
education broutght more effectively into the serbvice of legal
studies and made more useful than in the Y;ale Law School, in
the latest stage of its development. And by thle carrying out
of this plan, it is made apparent how nmuch more comprehensive and finished a legal education ought to be, when it is pursued as a depart.ment of a university, than when it stands
alone.
The S'cx(ccl cause of prosperity and ground of hope for the
future lies in the apartments which have been secured for the
school by the action of the New Haven County Bar and the
County Commissioners. A court house had been projected, to
be placed by the side of the town house, built,a few years
since, when it was suggestecl that room could be afforded for
the law lectures and the library within the walls. The third
story was planned with this in view, it being understood that
the hooks of the library should be open for consultation for the
judges of the Supreme and other courts held within the building, as weil for the lawyers, who were to have the privilege of
tlilng theim into the neighboring court-rooms when they had
cases before the tribunals. The plan has been so carried out
that, at the expense of the county, a large and commodious
lecture-rooum, an elegantly finished library, with an adjoining
chllalber, ready to receive books whlenever the overflow shall
make it necessary, a private apartment for the Dean of the
Faculty, and other rooms, suitable for the purposes of " quiz



clubs" and moot-courts, have been provided.  Perhaps in no
place, where a law faculty has not a building of its own, could
better arrangements have been made. The bench, the bar,
the school are brought not only into proximity but into harmony; the books are made available both for the student, the
lawyer and the judge; and the liberality of the county which
has furnished all this, free of charge or rent, receives back
what, I understand, is universally agreed to be a full equivalent
for what it has expended, the use of the intellectual instruments
of law, no adequate collection of which had previously existed
nearer than Hartford or New York.
This is the best possible arrangement that could be made for
the supply of present warits; but I must avow  the opinion,
that, if the school should be greatly enlarged and be put upon
a permanent basis of strength, increased accommodation, somewhere in a central spot, not far from the courts, would be found
essential. If, for instance, the number of students should
grow to two hundred, or even a hundred and fifty, instead of
fifty-four, more lecture-rooms would be wanted, unless the
best hours of the day should be monopolized by one or two
out of a number of professors. And if the library, instead of
confining itself mainly to reports of English and American
courts, to the text-writers of our system of law, and to collections of statutes, should aim  successfully at exhaustive comprehension, so as to include civil law with its best expounders
in every language, ecclesiastical law, the digests, codes, reports
and systems of all the leading European nations, with whatever is valuable on the theory of legislation, on the doctrine of
rights alndcl the State, on the history of governments and institutions, apartments many times the size of the present ones
would be found necessary.*  Meanwhile, it behooves lus to
X It will be gratifying to the friends of the school to learn that something has
already been done in this direction. Within the past twio years about a hundred
volumnes of English, French and Gernman works upon the Roman Law, as many
upon different branches of political science, and over twelve hundred relating to
American and English constitutional history, have been added to the Library.




accept, in all thankfulness, the chambers so liberally provided
for us, and to congratulate ourselves that the books can be of
general service to the profession.
The thirdl cause from which we may hope for success is the
enlargement of the library itself.  So far as I am informed,
before about 1845 there was no library pertaining to the
school. Those who needed to consult authorities had to go to
Judge Hitchcock's private collection, which, indeed, for that
day, was quite large.  In the year mentioned, and soon after
the death of Judge Hitchcock, a subscription was taken up for
the purchase of his library, and a considerable sum was raised
for this purpose, but not enough to procure it wTithout the intervention of the College to make up the deficiency. It was
agreed upon at the same time that a certain small part of the
annual receipts of the school should be devoted to the preservation and increase of the library.  But in process of time,
when the receipts dwindled, and the purchasing power of
money became reduced, it was found not easy to keep the
library in good condition, still less by additions to make it represent the progress of legal science.  In 1869, therefore, when
the present instructors took the school into their hands, it was
found that many sets had become mutilated, that quite a number of books had disappeared, and that others were hardly fit
to be used. A beginning was now made of supplying the deficiencies, but the principal movement for this purpose took place
in 1873, when, chiefly by the efforts of Prof. Wayland, nearly
twenty thousand dollars were collected, for the most part in New
Haven and New York, to be used in the immediate purchase of
additions to the library. The books procured by these new funds
bring, as far as possible, the law-learning, including the laws,
the text-writers, and the reports of judicial decisions, of both
England and of the United States, within the reach of the
students, down to the present time.  The labor of purchasing
these volumes, and of seeing them properly arranged in the




library, fell chiefly to the share of Prof. Platt, to whom  the
school and all who use the books owe great thanks.  While the
collection was thus expanding, Governor English, by his munificent gift of ten thousand dollars to serve as a permanent fund
for the increase and preservation of the library, provided for the
wants of the future.  Thus, what may be called the soul of the
school is full of life and growth, and it will be a pleasure to all
who take an interest in Yale College to associate the name of
this benefactor of more than one department of the institution,
with a constantly increasing supply of that food, without which
neither law nor any other branch of knowledge can have a
proper support and vigor.  Fifty years hence this fund, if well
husbanded and well expended, will largely exceed by its annual harvests all other sources of supply, and the library will
hardly fail to keep pace with the times.*'
I have spoken thus far of the outward and material side of
the law department. In what remains of this address, I will
call my hearers' attention to the men who have chiefly directed
its affairs.  And here, as I cannot well speak of the living or
of those who have but just passed away, what I say must be
chiefly confined to those who may be regarded as fathers and
founders of the institution.
First of all comes before us the imposing form  of Judge
Daggett, that gentleman of the old school, with his aquiline
nose, and other striking features, his white-topped boots,
small clothes and silk stockings, his courtesy toward all, and
that expectation of respect from  others which belonged to
the gentlemen of the former time. He was born in Attleborough, Massachusetts, in 1764, and came to Yale College for
* It should also be mentioned that, by the liberality of I-on. Marshall Jewell,
Hon. James M. Townsend, and E. J. Edwards, Esq., foundations for prizes have
been established, by which three hundred dollars are annually awarded to the successful competitors among the students, for excellence in scholarship, forensic composition, and oratory.




his education, probably because his relative from the same
place had some time before filled the office of president of the
College. He received his legal training in New Haven, after
his graduation in 1783, in the office of Charles Chauncey, of
whom, as having trained a number of young nmen in law
we have already spoken, and was admitted to the bar in 1786.
Mr. Daggett seems to have early won the confidence and
admiration of the people in i'ew Haven and in the State.
Starting in active life at the time of the formation of the Constitution, he espoused with warmth the federal side in politics,
as against the States' rights or democratic theory; and the
State being decidedly under the control of the federalists for
a generation, it was not strange that a brilliant young man
should be early called into political life. He was sent by the
people of New Haven to represent them in the General Assembly, at the age of twenty-seven, in 1791, and for five successive years afterwards, for the last three of which he was
speaker of the House of Representatives.
From 1797 until 1804, he was a member of the Supreme
Court of Errors. Then he was again sent to the Assembly,
and again to the Council, and in 1813 was chosen a senator of
the United States. The years after his term as a senator
until 1824, when he joined M1r. Hitchcock in the school, were
spent in the work of his profession exclusively, without his
being called into political life. In 1826 he became an associate
judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and was chief
judge in 18338-1834, when he became superannuated, at the
age of seventy.
At the time when I can first remember him, he was regarded
as a great pleader, and especially his speeches in the case
when Joshua Stow sued Sherman Converse for a libel produced a powerful impression upon the coimmunity. Here the
feelings of the advocate were warmly enlisted on the side of
his client, in whose newspaper a man of some note in the




State had been charged with malpractice  as a collector of
taxes, with infidelity, and with other things injurious to his
character. The suit grew out of political dislike of one who
was obnoxious as a democrat and as an overturner of the old
charter of Charles II, under which Connecticut had been
governed from 1664 until 1818. I. r. Daggett was here in his
glory, and perhaps no plea ever excited a deeper interest in
New Haven, expecially among the students, than this. As
a learned and scientific lawyer, however, MIr. Daggett did not
rank so high as others, who were his juniors, and who confined
themselves more'closely to the duties of professional life. He
had in his busy years little leisure to study the doctrines of law,
except in connection with his cases. Political duties absorbed
much of his time, and his judicial functions, after he was invested with them, prevented him from elalborating his lectures.
He was, moreover, sixty years old when he took charge of the
school. But I will let one of his pupils speak of him, who
within the last few weeks has kindly communicated to me
his recollections.
This gentleman, who belonged to the school near the end of
Judge Daggett's connection with it, expresses himself thus:
" He lectured every morning immediately after Judge Hitchcock's recitation, and the lectures on constitutional law (which
were also delivered before the seniors in college) were made
very interesting, because his experience in the Senate and intimacy with many of the founders of the Republic, supplied him
with many anecdotes which he told with tmuch gusto.  He had
been a decided federalist, and delighted in giving an occasional
slap to M'r. Jefferson, whose character and career were at that
time the subject of much discussion in the debating societies
of the college and the law school."' His good humlor, readiness at repartee aind crusty mode of
summining up his sentiments in a few words, made hi-m always




more interesting in conversation than in the lecture-room. His
lectures on the common law, which were read from well-worn
manuscripts, were not as interesting. He had been so long out
of practice that he had not kept up with the later decisions,
and the substance of them was contained in Swift's Digest."
Others of his pupils concur in the estimate here expressed.
Of Judge Hitchcock, the colleague of Judge Daggett until his
death, we have spoken as a graduate of Yale of the year 1809,
and a tutor there for four years from 1811 to 1815. The accuracy of scholarship which distinguished him at college he carried into the profession of law, and soon acquired the confidence of his professional brethren and of the public. Before
1822, I believe, he began to teach law to the pupils whom Mr.
Seth P. Staples gathered around him, and as we have already
seen, when that gentleman removed to New York, the school
was entrusted in part to him.
The leading work of his life from this time until his death,
in 1845, was that of a teacher. He was a dry, exact man, clear
in his perceptions, with little geniality or enthusiasm, yet with
a great love of truth, and a thoroughly conscientious spirit.
He shrunk from no labor, was patient in acquiring and in imparting the principles of his science, and evidently had the
good of his pupils at heart. He was, withal, one of the most
decidedly religious men to be found in any department of life.
He was not fitted to make a deep impression on a jury, nor did
he either desire or obtain political honors; but this, I think,
may be said of him, that if his professional brethren wanted
advice, there were few, if any persons in the city, or in tle
State, to whom they would sooner go than to him.
One would not suppose from the preciseness and formality
of Mr. Hitchcock's general manner that he could interest
students, but it would seem as if, in matter of fact, few men
have ever taught law in this country with more success than he.
One of his pupils expresses his recollections of him in these




words: "I was a great admirer of Judge Hitchcock. He was
a model teacher. He was so clear, you could not fail to understand him fully; so copious in instruction and illustration, that
he seemed to exhaust the subject, and you felt that he was
master of the principles of law, and of their application and
analogies; and yet so coinpact in style that he never used a
word too much. As I had just come from Harvard, I often
compared him with Judge Story, and was at a loss to decide
which was the most admirable instructor. We recited to him
in Cruise's Digest. It was called a book hard to understand,
but under his teaching it was all clear and plain; (and we wNondered how it had got such a name. Recitations to him were
for a full half-hour lectures from him on the subjects we were
studying."  Another gentleman, who studied law in this school
in the years 1838 and 1839, writes of him thus: " The mainstay of the school was Judge Hitchcock. Many of the students
had studied one year at Camlbridge, where the school was muclh
larger, and where Judge Story was the great ornanment; but
they all gave the palm to Hitchcock over Greenleaf, able and
learned as the latter was admitted to be. The introductory
lecture of Judge Hitchlcock always made a great impression.
He dwelt upon the distinction between r eead inyg and study; upon
the fact that they had not come there to win prizes in the shape
of degrees; that a man might read law forever, and not be a
lawyer; he must study, and he rmight study much, but it would be
to little purpose unless he accustomed himself to feel that he h1cad
the responsibility of some future client [in his hands] whose property or rights would depend upon the accuracy with which the
books [le had studied] were comprehended.  His running comments, as the recitation progressed, were remarkable, not so much
for the matter as for the manner of putting them. There was a
tinge of cynicism about him which gave mllch effect and pungency to his utterances. He had an intense horror of shams~
The series of questions with which he tested the students'




20
knowledlge were what  might be described as searching; they
gave an. interest to the pages of Cruise and Chitty, which the
students, on previously reading them, had never suspected to
exist."
" The recitations in the first volume of Blackstone's Commentaries had a particular interest for those who did not intend to follow the law as a profession, and many of the theological students were in the habit of coming into the lectureroomI at this time."
" You are aware there are some chapters relating to subjects
which are obsolete or have no possible application to this
country.  On that account t;hey are not macde the subject of
recitation in most law schools; but Judge Hitclhcock mRade us
[study] them all, as hle said that we should find frequent references to them in our future reading, and would better understand some of the influences which had built up the colmmon
law. The chapter on the king's royal title, he thought, should
be carefully studied by every one who wished to get a clear
idea of English history. It was amazing, indeed, to see what
stores of illustrations from  history, fiction, poetry and the
classics were treasured up in the brain of this man, who appeared to the world as nothing but a dry lawyer."
We add to these communications fromn his students the
passing remark, that a man who has an under-current of en*thusiasm for some special science or study, united with conscientious
accuracy and clearness, will make the most successful of instructors.  As soon as he wins his pupils' confidence and respect for his intellect and acquirements, the enthusiasm will
be catching, and the more so, because it is of a simple, undemonstrative kind.
There was another teacher of the law school, an associate of
the gentlemen already mentioned, to whose short but hcnorable career, a few brief words must be devoted. MIr. Townsend
entered the school as an instructor when Judge Daggett was




seventy-eight years old, allnd three years before the death of
Judge Hitchcock, with the reputation of a well read and learned
lawyer. His brief career of five years as a professor of law
fulfilled the expectations of those vwho appointed him. He was
a most amiable, si-mple-hearted man, full of interest in the pursuits to which he had devoted his life.
In 18-16 the law department was constituted, by a formal act
of the Corporation, one of the co-ordinate branches of Yale
College, and Judge Storrs, Mr. Henry White and Mr. Townsend were appointed professors.  Mr. White gave instructions,
as we have said, for the greater plart of two years, but found it
incompatible with his professional enigagements to continue
his labors longer. Jludge Storrs' stay in his professorship was
equally short, for a reason that has been mentioned already.
iMr. Townsend sickened in 1846, and died in January, 1847.
With this break in the succession of instructors, I shall bring
nay notices of its instructors, already too long, perhaps, to a
close, for those who succeeded,-cespecially Governor Dutton
and Mlr. Osborne,-have too recently passed away, to render
sketches of their lives or labors in the law  department eithller
necessary or proper.
We may now profitably turn to another subject having
more important bearings on the future, andc enquire whether
a large and flourishing  school of law can be hoped for in
this city, and whetiher a connection with a seat of learning,
where the whole circle of sciences is taught, is the best
place for such an institution.  In the past, especially in
the most recent past, the discouragements have been very
great.  A gentleman was at the head of the department who,
with all disposition to give his best services to it, was comnpelled to attend to the duties of his profession, if he would
gain a support.  Then he was called to the bench and left the
school half-manned.  The lilbrary was, so to speak, in rags.
To raise the department seemed to need, not only zeal and




22
ability, but the patience, the self-denying outlays, without immediate returns, to which no man connected with a public institution ought to be called.  But even in its present revived
condition, can tlle school be expected to increase to any very
great extent.  Or nimLst it correspond in size with the demands
of the State where it is situatedl?  Here we must take into
account the disposition of great numbers of young men to go
for their initiation into practical life to solme celitral spot, like
New York, which, while it is not well fitted for the preparatory
traiiing,  offers great advantages to those who wish to get thlem
selves ready for the professions of law and im-edicine. There
is no  doubt that the present law  school of Columbiat
College is mainly  indebted  for  its very  great  success
to one learned and mnost laborious instructor, Professor Thllodore W. Dwvight, who, it ought to be mentioned for the credit of
the school here, was for a year one of its members; but if this
distinguished teacher were here, and some mian of much less
ability and note there, the numbers in the two schools would not,
for that single reason, be reversed. There would not be over four
hundred scholars in law here instead of but a few over fifty.
Still there is no question that,with present advantages, tlhe ability
and fidelity of the professors ought, ere long, to cause a large
accession to the numbers. Another consideration deserves to
be brought forward in this place.  I refer to the attractions
that a university town offers to many young men, to the opportunities for auxiliary studies, the comparative quiet and other
charms which a large city given to commerce does not possess.
Though we cannot expect that the law school of Yale College,
in the best circumstances, would rival, in mere numbers, one
equally well situated in the centre of business, we mlay expect
to see its prosperity very greatly enlarged with its means of
instruction and its growing reputation.
At this point, when I am about to close my address, I cannot
help offering to my hearers a view of a law school which, although only ideal and possible at present, deserves to be




looked at with attention. It is, moreover, one which harmonizes
well with the whole circle of study pursued at Yale College, and
could be realized in such a place as this, where some of the
chairs already founded could be made to contribute to the
carrying out of the ideal plan more easily than almost anywhere else in this country. I am the more willing to present
the idea to my hearers, because I conceive it to be eminently
needed as a reality in the United States. Let the school,
then, be regarded no longer as simply the place for training
men to plead causes, to give advice to clients, to defend criminals; but let it be regarded as the place of instruction in
all sound learning relating to the foundations of justice, the
history of law, the doctrine of government, to all those branches
of knowledge which the most finished statesman and legislator
ought to know. First of all I would have the training essential
to the lawyer by profession as complete and thorough as possible. Let that be still the main thing, and let the examinations
together with appropriate theses be a proof that every graduate has fairly earned his degree. But with this let there be
ample opportunity for those who wish the aid of teachers in
studying the constitution and political history of our country
to pursue their studies in a special course by the side of or
after the preparation for the bar. Let the law of nations, the
doctrine of finance and taxation, the general doctrine of rights
and the State, the relation of politics and morals, be within the
reach of such as wish to prepare themselves for public life, and
of those young men of wealth, of whom there is an increasing
number, who wish to cultivate themselves and take their appropriate place of influence in society. Let there be the amplest
opportunity for the study of English institutions, even far back
into the middle ages, for that of Roman history and Roman law,
for that of comparative legislation, and even for less immediately
practical subjects, such as feudal and canon law. Let the plan of
the library be expanded, so that it shall furnish the best books
on all branches and topics connected with law, legislation and




24
government. Can it be doubted that such an institution, of
wihich I have sketched a faint outline, would be of vast service 
that its influence would reach into the halls of Congress, into the
departments of government, that it mlight become a fountain of
light through the whole land. Such an institution on so large a
scale could not be self-supporting, and certainly men from every
class of society ought to share its advantages, so that the best
talents of the poor as well as the ricl might be cultivated for
the benefit of the country; no small amount of funds, tlierefore,
would be needed; but I present the idea in the hope that some
man who can estimate the value of great and useful plans, and
has the means to effect them, may be disposed by what I have
said, or others hereafter may say better, to turn the idea into a
reality.
And, now may I ask for the patience of my hearers, while I
suggest one more thought touching the importance of law
studies in connection with Yale College.  The sciences of
nature have grown immensely in theoretical and practical importance during the last century, and for a long time to come,
it is probable, this growth will be unobstructed.  Our system
here is such that all new discoveries, all new sciences, with their
practical applications, must form a part of it, and an increasingly important part. Now, these sciences have to do with
natural law only, and their applications affect the development
of the material side of civilization.  There is danger, therefore,
that the balance between body and spirit, the natural and the
moral world, will be disturbed,  which would be a state of things
fraught with danger to the best interests of man. For this
reason I desire to see all the sciences flourish side by side; the
moral in their full power by the side of the natural in theirs.
Only so can the best interests of society and of the individual
man be promoted and a harmony be maintained in human culture. That a school of law, teaching a science whose foundcation is right and justice, would contribute to this end, cannot be
doubted.




BY
EDWARDS PIERREPONT.
It is a singular fact in history, that the Normans, the most
daring, brilliant and adventurous race that has ever yet appeared, by force of arms, established themselves in absolute
and enduring power both in Englancd and Southern Italy at the
same period: and it is even more remarkable that what seemed
a mere accident in the Italian Conquest should have produced
such an immense inflence fluee upon England, in her Government,
Laws, Commerce and Ecclesitastical policy, lasting and active
even unto this day.
Along the lofty rocks which guard the shores on the Gulph
of Salerno, you yet shall see remnants of the embattled walls
and ruined towers which tell alike of the grandeur and decay
of the once prould city of Amalfi.  Here it is claimed that the
mariners' compass was invented, and it is conceded that here
it was perfected:-Here was founded the order of St. John of
Jerusalem, made famous by the Knights of Ialta;-and here
tlhe Pandects of Jutstinian were found.
Six hundred years after the Pandects were published, and
centuries after the Temples and palaces of Rome were in ruins
and her laws almost forgotten,-Roger, a Norman king, descendant of tihe famed Count Tancred de ILauteville, took the
City of Amalfi.In the Pillage of the Town a copy of the renowned Digest of
the IRoma.n Laws was discovered; —-a discovery whose effect
upon the civilized world wa.s greater in its consequences than
that caused by -the discovery of the Magnetic Needle.
4




26
Upon the discovery of the Pandects the study of the Roman
civil law revived all over the Continent of Europe, and forthwith the Normans introduced it into England, and nearly
every vestige of the common Law was for centuries almost destroyed.
Chancellor Kent remarks that: " The Pandects are the
" greatest repository of sound legal principles applied to the
"private  rights and business of mankind that has ever
"appeared in any age or nation."
Sir Mathew  Hale said that: "The true grounds and rea-' sons of law were so well delivered in the Pandects, that a' man could never well understand law as a science without
"first resorting to the Roman law for information ":-And
Lord Holt declares that: "' The laws of all nations were raised
out of the ruins of the civil law and that the principles of the
English law were borrowed from that system."  When we consider, that this Code embraced the wisdom of the Sages of the
Law and the experience in jurisprudence of all nations for
more than twelve hundred years, we need not be surprised to
know that the general principles of the Roman Code rule the
World to-day.
But it should never be forgotten by the American Lawyer
that the Digests were compiled under a Roman EnIrea'or, long
after her legal sages were dead, after the last embers of civil
and political liberty were cold, and when even the greatest
Lawyers of Rome were abject at the Emperor's feet. Hence
the "Lex Reyia " expressly inculcates the foul doctrine of absolute power in the Sovereign, and that every right and all the
authority of the people were transferred to him.
Perhaps it was well,-perhaps it was necessary, that a great
Empire which by law had destroyed every trace of freedom
NOTE.-I prefer to adhere to the traditions so long accepted in relation to the revival of the
Romnan Law, notwithstanding the conclusions of the German Historical School.




27
should pass under the iron heel of the fierce Barbarian, who
silenced even the wise teachings of the Roman Law while he
destroyed the false doctrine of despotic sovereignty, but cherished in his rude way the dying spirit of political liberty;-Ma
spirit born in the half savage North, —cradled through the
feudal ages,-scarce heard by the wild Soldiers who rocked it,
became as the voice of an Earthquake, shook the Roman Hierarchy to its foundations, liberated the consciences of enslaved
men, sent heads of tyrant kings to the bloody7 block, filled this
vast continent with toiling freemen, and gave us the power to
stand fearless on this platform and discuss the rights of the
Government and the Governed, as I propose to do to-dlay.
In the City of Amalfi, of which we have spoken, a Council
of the Roman Catholic Church decreed that no one who wats
engaged in the practice of the Law could enter the kingdom  of
Heaven.In ti, city of New Haven, Noah Webster taught the children of America, by picture before they could read, and by fable
at their first lisping, that the farmer was honest and that the
lawyer was a rogue:-But in spite of decretals of the Pope
through his Council,and of the teachings of the PuritLan
through his spelling-book,-Lawyers have continued to be an
honored and a trusted class, the friends of liberty and the foes
of oppression.
Not now stopping to dlebate which kingdom in the other
World the Lawyer may enter, we can safely assert that in t/his,
he will enter legislative assemblies, the Halls of Congress, the
Senate (tnd the Cabinets of the United States, —aid hence it.
behooves us to klnow ]what kind of training, mortal and intellectual, this great and ancient seat of learning is abouit to give
to the young lawyers of its charge.
Trhe founders of this lRepublic were wise in their generation,
but of the great future not much was revealed.-In their day,




no Steamer had 3ver ploughed the Ocean; no Locomotive had
ever drawn a thousand mlce over the Earth at the rate of sixtoy
miles an hour. Buffalo was then practically further from New
York than  San Francisco is to-day; then, communication
between America and England was had after a long and weary'
voyage; while now, a letter written in London at the rising
sun, is read in New York, fire houn'rs before his inspiring bearms
can gild the morn upon the topmost boughs of your ForestCity.
On the West, Asia with her strange civilization and her dateless history looks over into our face;-on the East, we can
talk with Christendom as -we will.-Mexico, fast dissolving, will
soon, very soon, melt into our embrace, and then the Comnmerce of the World is at our feet! With every climate, with
every soil, with every mineral and every tree which the nleeds
of man can wish; with colleges, newspapers, free schools, free
suffrage, free speech;-with slavery abolished, energy, enterprise, activity unparalleled, and intellect sharpened beyond
any experience of the past, can we fail to become the greatest
nation upon which the sun ever shone?
Yes; - and fail we shall, unless a change comes over the
spirit of this people, and sturdy honesty drives out imbecility
and corruption!  loral forces as well as physical advantages
must be considered in calculating the future of a nation. No
Government can prosperously endure, which in the main, is
not administered by the higher intellect and the higher moral
sentiments of the people. It requires ability as well as lhonesty to govern a great nation wisely; and yet, our people make
frequent protest against this simple truth; —they never employ
a stupid. Lawyer, to try an important cause, nor an ignorant
Mariner to sail a valuable Ship, but they often elect Legislators
to make laws, who know scarce anything, and about Laws and
their operation,-nothing.
As the Country advances, new and complex relations make




Government tile more difficult, and a higher order of Statesmanship is required.
Outr fathers declaredc that,all men were born free and equal,
and to-day we have in several States Leogislators who were
born negro slaves, some of whom have no education whatever.
Our theory is, that the most ignorant imust govern if they
are the most numerous; and Arkansas, Louisiana and the
other reconstructed States are giving our theory a rude test.
But we are told that the trouble in those States comes of the
fault of the Soutlh:-But when your kitchen is on fire it does
not help the matter to exclaim  that it is the Servant,'s fault;wllat.you want is, to save your house.
When the War was ended a Statesmn-an could see thatt tho'
Slavery was dead its corpse was unburied and chained fast
to the foot of the Republic, and would breed disease if not
wisely disposed of: —Butitit was not thought desirable that
Statesmen should meddle in this matter, and politicians hastened to re-construct the South, upon theories crude, ill-conconsidered and impossible of success.
The seeds of this follv are producing fruits after their kind,
and bitter fruits they are,-more dangerous to liberty than any
that ever ripened on our soil.
The States along the MIississippi voted large sums to repair
the Levee and restrain the natural overflow of the. Great River.
The river would have respected a solid dike, but he disregarded
the votes, and wvashing away his neglected banks, he overwhelmecd in one disastrous flood the fields of rice, of corn, of
cotton and of sugr, — destroying alike the dwelling of the rich
and the cabin of the poor, and bringing ruin to the innocent
for the crimes of dlishonest rulers who had stolen the taxes and
neglected their work.
What the flood left the pestilence will destroy, and the despairing people have cried to the Federal Government to protect
themu from starving.-How long do you think that Liberty can




survive in States where such ignorance and iniquity prevail, tho'
every living thing should vote every Sunday in the year? —Only
virtue and intelligence can preserve a Republic.
Whether the Government of the States shall become absorbed by the central power will depend entirely upon the
virtue and intelligence of the States. A people advanced in
civilization and loving property as we do, will have a Government -lwhich can protect them in the enjoyment of their property; and if the people of the States show sufficient virtue
and ability to maintain good government, then the States will
retain their power; but if through ignorance or corruption
their Governments fail to protect the Citizen in his rights,
State Governments will perish and surrender to the Central
Power.-It is all idle to talk of Cces~ar7ism in this Country, and
the cry awakens no alarm:-CESARISAI is onl0 possible when
the people see7k it as their last desperate defense aga.inst corrupt
and despoiling rulers! A usurper of the Supreme Authority
against the omnipotent'power of public opinion would perish
in a night.
We are a practical race, loving real material things-we live
in the present and the future; we care nothing for the past;
we have but little sentiment and no reverence for that which
is merely " grey with age."
I can recall the name of but, a single man in all antiquity
whose advent here would awaken any great enthusiasm.
If Cicero, the most accomplished Orator and lilte)ratewell of
Rome should come over, with his studied speeches, arranged
with exordium, argument, and peroration, made up of sentences
polished, formal, and wordy in the extreme, and should undertake to address the American People, they might gather once
to see him and enquire whether this was the same man who in
the Roman time coined so many new words to exprless a few
old ideas; who was peevishly ambitious, timid andl vacillating;
whose insatiate vanity made him talk incessantly about himself,




and induced him never to spare the feelings of his best friend
if by thie sacrifice he could gain the reputation of a wit at his
friend's expense; who was generally circumspect, well behaved,
and in morals among the better Romans of his time, but too
cowardly to be a faithful friend, and who in his old age divorced
without just cause Terentia, the Wife of his Youth and the
mother of his children, in order to marry his rich young Ward
that he might get her money to pay the debts which his vanity
and ambition had created:-The first curiosity being satisfied
our people would tell him, that " he might have been a very respectable old fogy in a by-gone age, but that we had no use for
that sort of Orator in our rapid Country and that he had
better go back."
But if JuLIUS CAEsAn, who lived at the same time, should
arrive in the next steamer we should hail him as a native, or at
least as a naturalized American, about 40 years old, who had
landed in the very nick of time when the Republic wanted
just that kind of man;-we should send him immediately to
Congress, and I dare say, talk of him for President before long
notwithstanding the Constitution.
What was there about this Roman which should enable him
to step down Nineteen hundred years and find himself at home
in our mlidst?-He had some flact.grczt vices: but meanness
and vacillation, treachery and cowardice had no dwelling in
his soul.In the field,-with perceptions intuitive and quick as the
electric flash, followed by celerity in movement never before
conceived;-unselfish in danger, sharing the humblest meal
with the humblest soldier, and shunning no hardship and no
peril which he asked other men to brave;-fearless in battle
as a man of fate, and generous in the hour of victory as no
Conqueror had ever been before hinm.
In the forum,-eloquent and condensed, going right to the
marrow of the thing, using words only to enforce ideas. Al



v32
ways, forgiving, and liberal to excess; and when lhe camle to the
helm of State showing a grasp of mind, a grandeur of ideas
and a greatness of soul which wVon thle hearts of tht people
and awakened a jealously in mliean rivals which only his blood
could appease; And wlhen they had murdered; this foremost
man of all the world," under the false pretense of liberty for
Rome, what did the Roman   people gain? Freedom  for
Iome? Not at all;-The bloody deed but sealed her doom
and hastened her destruction!
He comes through the centuries -to our thimes like one lborn1
in our Generation because, while gifted with other transcendanit
faculties he was so richly endowed with the faculty of imalination;-a faculty which inspires the others.-This is the vestal
fire which never grows cold, the flaine of immortal youth; —
it illumines the mind li     every age to detect t~he truth;-to see
things in their complex relations just as they are, and to behold
in their train the events which are coming  in tihe unerring
sequence of causes which are passed.
It is this which makes Homer and Shakespeare poets of all
time- -which revealed to Plato and ]Lord Bacon their amazing
wisdom:-which made Hannibal, Cromiiwell and Napoleon  the
wonder of their age, —which gave to the logic of Chatllham, of
Burke and of W7ebster its vital force, aind lifted theln intellectually above their conipeers.
President Porter, in his work oin the " Huma-n Intellect,"
says: "In the commnunication of scientific t.ruth  there can be
iio question that a large nmeasure of imagination is of essential
service.:' *    Indeed, we may sa-fely say that in the history
of speculation and science not a man can be found who was
distinguished for philosophic genius vwho did not possess an
active and a glowing iniagination, and whose imagination   did
not rendler essen tial service in the operations of thougllht."' —Ancd
further, —" that its workings are more fitly compared to inspiration than those of any other endowment of the soul."




Tyndall, in his "Fragments of Science,"-treating upon the
scientific use of the imagination, says
" We are gifted with the power of imagination, and by this
power we can lighten the darkness which surrounds the world
of the senses. * * Bounded and conditioned by co-operative
Reason, imagination becomes the mightiest instrument of the
physical discoverer. Newnton's passage from a fallen apple to a
fallen moon was at the outset, a leap of the imagina.tion.'
In fact, without this power, our knowledge of nature would be
a mere tabulation of co-existences and sequences.  We should
still believe in the succession of day and night, of summer and
winter; but the soul of Force would be dislodged from  our
Universe; causal relations would disappear, and with them,
that science which is now binding the parts of nature to an
organic whole."
And Agassiz, in his geological treatise, says:
" Imagination, chastened by correct observation, is our best
guide in the study of Nature. We are too apt to associate the
exercise of this faculty with works of' fiction, while it; is in fact
the keenest detective of truth."
I think we may assert that without a liberal endownlmert of
this faculty no one in science, letters, art, statesmanship or
war has ever gained an imperishable name.
I have said that we are not a sentimental race.-Look at the
Washington Monument, on the Banks of the Potomac!-The
association to rear it was started 41 years ago, with Chief
Justice Marshall at its head d and an Ex-President as his
second:-According to the plan it was to rise high above the
Pyramids.-It rose about 170 feet, and 20 years ago it stopped,
and looks very determinedl never to rise any more! Intelligent
Foreigners, now here, express amazement that wve show  no
sentiment about the Centennial of our Nation's birth, and in
contrast point to the celebration last month, of the raising of
the Siege of Orleans, which has been continued through cent5




uries with increasing enthusiasm.-Perhaps sentiment of this
kind does not flourish in a Country whose history is so new,
and certain it is that we have nothing like the raising of the
Siege of Orleans where we can mingle fable and religious awe
with the historic event, and enkindle anew at each returning
May the sentiment of reverence for the simple shepherd-maid
by whose almost miraculous power the siege of the City was
raised.-But it is not surprising that the name of Jeanne
D'Arc should be held is such reverence in France. No one
can read her brief but beautiful life, her marvellous deeds, her
wonderful trial, her cruel death, and fail to feel that no holier
soul has ever lived on earth or ascended to the Savior through
the flames!
Read over again the History of the Roman Republic to the
death of Julius Cmesar, and the History of England from the
reign of Elizabeth, and you will be startled by the parallels in
our own time, and possibly you may fear lest we suffer some
of the like punishments.
One and the same unvarying lesson is there taught,-that
when the Government is conducted by able and upright men,
the nation advances in civilization, riches and power; but
when the nation is ruled by the dishonest, and spends lavishly
through its debts,-luxury, corruption, injustice, fraud and
their inevitable consequences are sure to follow, and like war,
demoralize and destroy the innocent with the guilty.
Elaborate investigations have been made to find out the
causes of longevity in men, but statistics have revealed only
the single uniform fact, of early rising and early retiring.
When Statesmen shall have investigated the causes of longevity in States, I imagine they will find that moral causes
alone and very simple ones, will give the solution.
China, whose history through the elaborate works of the
Commission established by the French Government in 1851,
we are just beginning to read, stands forth as the most illus



trious example. As the increasing fleet of steamers on our
Pacific Coast are bringing us every day in closer relations
with that vast Empire, and as her laborers are pouring over to
our Shores, it becomes the American Statesman to give heed
to the great fact, and consider what effect this is to have upon
the future of our country.
Her civilization, her polity, her religion differ widely from
ours, and when at the Cannon's mouth we shall have forced
commercial relations,  steam-machinery, electricity, Hoe's
printing press, and paper money upon the Chinese, we had
better not forget that in exchange they will force upon us, an
interminable throng of Emigrants, who will bring their peculiar
morals, habits and religion, and their peculiar vices; and that
soon they will acquire the right to vote. Remember that
China can send fifty million of voters to our shores and have
more left than she knows what to do with.  This voting question is a difficult one which the American people will reconsider
some day, and perhaps we may then hear the honest inquiry,
who will make the best rulers, as well as who can get the most
votes?
We just begin to hear a little murmur on the breeze coming
up from the South,-but few note effects from silent causes
which are stealing along like the unobserved rising of the
tide.
When Governor Seward lately visited China he was surprised to find that the greatest work of human hands begun
240 years before Christ, was so well constructed that "'but very
slight repairs would restore it to its original state."  A solid
fortification some fourteen hundred miles long, built over mountains, rivers and ravines; —A work which the Pyramids will
not outlast, and which was all done in less time than it takes
to build a Court house in New York, and —possibly at less expense. The great river, Yang-tse-Kiang runs three thousand
miles through Central China and empties into the Pacific




directly opposite San Diego in California;-it greatly surpasses in depth, breadth and volume of water our great Mississippi River, while the Imperial Canal, (twice as long as the
Erie Canal) with its branches, makes a system of clrtficialt navigation of Four thousand miles.
It is her relation to this Country which warns the American
Statesman that he cannot neglect the present condition and
past history of China. Her history is unique as her people.
She was a populous kingdom three thousand years before the
Christian Era. She saw the beginning and the end of the
Assyrian, the Persian and of every Ancient Empire. She was
powerful when the Pyramids were built, when Joseph was a
slave, before Sesostris was King or Osiris was worshipped;She was a mighty Empire when the first stone of the Temple
of Solomon was laid and still greater when the Mosque of
Omar was built upon its ruins. She was rich immensely,
when Rome was conquering the World, yet no Roman Legion
ever trod upon her soil; and to-day she is richer and more
populous than at any period of her existence, and at her last
census, as we learn through the French Government, she numbered over 530 MlVillion of Souls. (530,595,887.)
There must be some great moral' reason for this unparalleled
longevity. The mandate, " Honor thy father and thy mother
that thy days may be long," has been religiously obeyed in
China, while her social and political organizations, however
defective, have been goverred by her wisest and best.
With the solution of the many grave questions in the near
future, the educated Lawyer will have much to do, and the
enquiry arises whether a great University is the best place in
which to educate a Lawyer? A great University is the best
place in which to educate anybody who is to take part in
affairs; and this should be kindly told to the noble men who
are giving their substance to endow small Colleges all over
the country.




The influence of congregated numbers is not sufficiently
considered, either in the intellectual, moral or physical development of men. The boy who comes in daily contact with
crowds of other boys will be widely different in robust vigor
from the one who is educated alone by a tutor at home.
That subtle influence, that magnetic force equally necessary
for the development of a healthy body and a healthy mind, is
lost in seclusion, and can only come of the congregation of
numbers. Not only contact of mind with minid, but contact
with many nminds, is absolutely essential to a perfect growth.
The American artist finds his genius flag in his solitary
home, and he goes to Florence or to Rome, where, in the spirit
of the place, among an artistic crowd, he has new inspirations
and capabilities which alone he could never attain.
Place even an educated man upon a fertile plain, with no
companions but laborers, whose daily bread depends upon
their daily toil, and though he may have the ASTOR LIBRARY in
his house, at the end of a few years he will have rusted out.
Association tends to culture and advancement; dispersion and
isolation tend to barbarism; —and this is true the world over.
Equality is the central idea with our people, and I dare say
that in this large audience there are many benevolent persons
who would make all equally rich; but it would come to about
the same to make all equally poor. The rich man would not
do the menial work of another rich man, and the rich woman
would not wash and cook for the rich man's wife;-the poor
man will not brush the shoes of another poor man who can
give him no pay, and all the social wheels would be ablock.Equality before the laws we can have; equality of condition
is impossible.
A striking feature in our late development is an intense
individualism, not favorable to the best interests of the
State. The reason is obvious;-for civil services, however great,
the State confers no permanent honors or lasting rewards, and




in ordinary times, the working of our system does not admit
those, who would serve for honor and patriotism, to serve at
all.
We drift away from the economy of former days. During
the early years of Washington's administration the entire
ordinary expenses of the Federal Government were but
$1,877,000 a year; while the taxes of the single city of New
York this year are $39,218,945.79; and the cost of the Federal
Government for the fiscal year, this month ending, as estimated
by the secretary of the treasury. is $319,198,736.82.
A little arithmetic will show that our expenses have increased in far greater ratio than our population and resources;
-an ugly fact,-so ugly that no one seems willing to look it in
the face.
The city of New York will best illustrate how easily great
natural advantages may be destroyed by moral causes.
Better placed for commerce than any other great city on the
globe, New York is losing her trade. A corrupt and imnbecile
government, neglecting the piers, docks, storehouses, elevators
and other facilities for business, has through fraudulent practices so increased the taxes and other exactions upon the
merchant, and thus made his expenses so enormous that other
places can undersell him, and trade, never sentimental or
resthetic, goes where it can buy cheapest.
Money has a closer relation to morals than is generally admitted. In all history, whether of individuals or communities,
I find that laxity in money matters is followed by looseness in
morals; and among other evidences I note a favorite theory,
quite prevalent just now, that there ought to be increased facilities in obtaining divorces, on the ground that facility of divorce
will diminish the temptations to vice,-That is,-legyalize Robbery to prevent Bttrglary?
However great our boasted independence may be, we are
nevertheless, in some respects, facile imitators of older nations.




We are hardly conscious of the increasing influence of England upon this country; —an influence somewhat reciprocal.
She has a glorious history, and you cannot breathe her air and
see the evidences of her perfect order, her progress and her
collossal power without a thrill of reverence for the old fountain of our blood:-But to reach her present greatness England struggled for several centuries through ignorance, tyranny,
wars and corruption of which we have no parallel, and out of
which we draw much consolation for our future.
The reign of Queen Elizabeth is regarded as one of the most
glorious in English history.-It was the time of Walsingham
and Burleigh; of Shakespear, Bacon and Raleigh.
About the court of Elizabeth was a young courtier named
Christopher Hatton; he had never been admitted to the Bar,
and his only qualification for the highest Judicial Office in the
Realm was comeliness of person, skill in dancing and foppery
in dress; and yet, to the amazement and chagrin of all the
great Lawyers of the time, this handsome dandy was made
Lord High Chancellor of England, and held the Office until he
died.
Under all our Presidents the highest judicial places have
been given to able men, and when the great office of Chief
Justice fell vacant by the death of Chief Justice Chase, the
President selected no personal favorite, but bestowed the high
honor upon an eminent lawyer of tried integrity, a native of
your State, a son of old Yale, and I may add with pardonable
pride,-a member of the class of'37.
When James, the successor of Elizabeth, tried to extend his
Royal prerogative against the liberties of England, he found
Coke and other great Lawyers stoutly to resist. When Wentworth, by far the most able, the most eloquent, the most resolute Commoner who had ever appeared in England, entered
Parliament, he took the side of the people against the encroach



40
ments of Charles; but after seven years he became an apostate,
and turned all his vast abilities, his experience, sagacity, determined purpose and his inflexible will, to the establishment
of that thorough systemn of kingly power which should forever
crush the liberties of the people; But he found a legal lion in
his way, and when ruling Ireland with iron hand and adamantine heart, striving with all his might to subject every private
suit in the Courts of Justice to the Royal prerogative, he writes
to Laund: " I know very well that the Common Lawyers will be
passionately against it, who are wont to put such a prejudice
upon all other professions, as if none were to be trusted, or
capable to administer justice but themselves; yet how well this
suits with Jlo'.ctrc/y, when they monopolize all to be governed
by their year books, you iln England have a costly example."
At times, England has had her prostrate judges and a slavish
Bar, but in the main, her Lawyers have fought valiantly for
liberty, and to-day we can point to every Christian Government on earth and be certain that its liberties can be mleasured
by the influence of its Lawyers.
As the price of his apostacy Wentworth was made the Earl
of Stafford, but under the lead of Pym and the resolute Lawyers
of the time, the Earl was arraigned for attempting to subvert
the Laws and the liberties of England. Even his bold spirit
grew alarmed at the tone of the Commons, and he sought the
Kiing. —
Charles gave him the most solemn assurances that "not a
hair of his head should be hurt," and a few days after gave
his royal assent to the Bill of Attainder which brought this
ablest minister, whom the king had used to make himself
absolute, to a bloody and an ignominious death! Few years
passed by,-uneasy years for this perfidious king;-and Charles
walked up the scaffold to die, as he had let his faithful Staffold
die;-and when the beheading axe was seen, we may well be



lieve that the shade of the Earl appeared to the faithless king,
who mournfully exclaimed,
"When we shall meet at comnpt,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven.
And fiends will snatch at it."
Now calmly standing near the vacant throne we see by far
the greatest sovereign that England has ever had.
Literary sycophants have been accustomed to revile' the
character of Cromwell and to represent him as a low born
vulgar hypocrite or bigot. He had not the parlor graces of
Lord Chancellor Hatton, but he would have walked alone,
thro' an army of Hattons as an ox walks through a field of
grasshoppers.
Born of an ancient family, descended from some of the high
nobility, he was related to Thomas Cromwell the Earl of Essex
and sometime minister to Henry VIII. His grandfather was
Sir Henry Cromwell the Lord of Hinchinbrook, known as the
" Golden Knight," on account of his great riches; and his
mother was of the best of English blood, and her relationship
to James I induced that Monarch on his way to take possession of the English Crown to become a guest at the Cromwell
Mansion, where Oliver, then but four years old, saw the King
at the family table;-James little dreaming that the head of
his own son would be cut off by this kindred boy, who should
reign in his stead.
He was educated at the University of Cambridge, and when
but 18 years old he was called home by the death of his father
to be the sole protector of his mother and sisters.
While reading law in London at the age of twenty, he fell
in love with Elizabeth, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of Sir James Bourchier, a wealthy knight.
At the age of 21 he married, and under the same roof with
his mother took his young bride, who afterwards coming to her




exalted station showed a purity and nobleness of character
more beautiful than her personal loveliness. She was the first
and only love of Cromwell, and in the height of his greatness
and near the end of his reign, when necessity had separated
them  for a short time, she, like a true and loving woman,
chided him for not writing oftener; and to her chidings he replied: —" My beloved Wife,-You scold me in your letters
because by my silence I appear to forget you; truly it is I who
ought to complain, for I love you too mnch:-Thou art dearer
to me than all the world."
He was in Parliament at the age of 29 and again at the age
of 40, and when the Civil War broke out he raised two companies of soldiers at his own expense and devoted his entire
estate to the public service:
And, when he came to power, the halughtiest kings and
nobles of Europe sought political and matrimonial alliance. At
his death the court of France went into mourning, tho' he had
required Louis XIV to banish the sons of Charles, whose
widow was Henrietta of France, the daughter of Henry the
Great:-IIe was buried in Westminister Abbey as a legal
monarch beside the annointed kings.
There was a time when all seemed lost of the liberties of
England, and Cromwell thought of leaving his country. But
in those trying times, when all good men began to despair,Cromwell and the just men who  sympathized with him
" sought the Lord in prayer;" and it was " His guidance," as
they believed, to gird on their swords for war and rescue England from her slavery:-and from that hour they never faltered
and they never feared. Prince Rupert, the nephew of Charles,
was accustomed with his gay troopers to carry all before himby his dashing onsets. At the battle of Marston Moor he led
20,000 eager Royalists, and for the first time, he dashed against
the "Ironsides" of Cromwell. It was like the dash of seafoam against a granite mountain! After the battle, Cromwell




43
wrote to his wife:-" God made them  as stubble to our
swords."
When in the plenitude of his power, young Lely, afterwards
the Court painter of the frail beauties of the Second Charles,
wanted to paint him. —"Paint me as I am " said Cromwell;
"If you leave out the scars and wrinkles I will not pay you a
shilling."  Go to the Pitti Palace,-the picture with the scars
and the wrinkles you shall see, but a kinglier head repose(l on
kinglier shoulders you shall never see!
Voltaire, in his history of Louis XIV, says:
" He increased his power by knowing when it was proper to
restrain it: he made no attempt on those privileges of which
the people were jealous: Soldiers were never quartered in the
city of London: he imposed no taxes that might. occasion
murmurs: he did not offend the eyes of the public by appearing with too great pomp and grandeur: he did not indulge
himself in any pleasures: he accumulated no treasures: and
he took care to have justice administered with that strict impartiality, which makes no distinction between the high and
the low, the rich and the poor'' Commerce had never
been so flourishing or so free before: and England had never
been so rich. Her victorious fleets made her name respected
throughout the world."
But England had grown tired of being virtuous and honest,
and thought that she could prosper without these inconvenient
restraints, and with intoxicated joy she hailed home that " imerry monarch" the, second Charles;-and a merry time they
had;-  The dead body of the Great Ruler who had brought
such riches and power to England, was dragged from its coffin
in Westminster Abbey, hanged and mutilated at Tyburn and
thrown into a ditch.
The Court was crowded with men, rival scoffers at every
sacred thing; and with women rivals in the open shamelessness




44
of their vices. Wanton luxury and extravagance appeared in
every form; But retribution came swifter and more terrible
than the people had anticipated.-F-rom the demoralized condition of the kingdom, commerce fell off, trade languished,the spirit of the nation was gone:-England, so powerful under Cromwell, became the scorn of the Nations; her King the
Vassal of France, and her Navy but lately the terror of the
world became too feeble to protect her coast.-The Dutch
sailed up the Thames, and English Merchants saw the flames
of their burning ships from London Bridge. The Goldsmiths
and Bankers of London were accustomed to borrow money of
their dealers at a low rate of interest and lend it to the Government at a higher rate, to be repaid out of the taxes of the
year.-Millions of coin had thus been deposited by the
Bankers in the Royal Exchequer: the King wanted money for
his dissolute Court, and he did not like to face the Commons.
-Clifford suggested that an easy way to raise the means would
be to close the Treasury and rob the Bankers and their clients
of these millions of Coin:-This suited Charles exactly, and he
made Clifford a Peer, gave him part of the stolen money and
squandered the rest. The effect of this perfidious robbery can
well be imagined:-Consternation followed; thousands of
Widows and Orphans, poor Clergymen and men of humble
means, together with the Goldsmiths and Bankers were brought
to poverty in a day, and every honest cheek in England was
blanched or blushed with shame, and, every honest soul prayed
for an hour of stern old Cromwell's rule.
But England remained in vassalage suffering the punishment of her "melrry ma/kinzy " for many long years, nor did she
even begin to recover the prosperity or the rank which Cromwell had given her until after the peace of Ryswick, and not
even until the early years of the 18th century.
Economy is a sterling virtue in the administration of the




State, and without it neither justice or honesty is possible in
Government.
Extravagance is one of the most corrupting vices and leads
by easy grades to numberless crimes. It is the curse of our
day; it came of the issue of irredeemable paper money to carry
on the war; and when the war was ended luxury had produced
an intoxication too dreamy to be voluntarily abandoned.
Our duty was plain; and to any one worthy to be called a
Statesman our interest was as plain as our duty.-We should
have turned all our energies to keep our faith, to redeem our
promises, to stop our luxuries and end the sham which has corrupted the nation.
Like cowards we have shut our eyes to the truth and reveled
in delusions until we can deceive ourselves no longer. The
reconstructed States, eager to prosper with the rest, issued
Bonds which they never hoped to pay, ruined their credit and
their thrift and tumbled into anarehy,-while we of the North
have piled up our debts until our taxes are a burden too grievous to be born.-We wake from the deceiving dream to learn
that the American people are subject to the same laws of
Nature and of Finance as other mortals; that a promise to
pay a dollar is not a dollar;-any more than a promise to deliver a horse, for a load of wheat received, is a horse; that
our industries are paralyzed because confidence has ceased, and
that the issue of a thousand millions of new greenbacks would
not restore the lost confidence for an hour, or revive trade in
the least.
It will dawn upon the popular mind before long, that during
the war the Government printed " leyal tender " and paid it out
for everything which the country produced, and thus gave a
temporary prosperity, but that now the Government do not
pay out a dollar for anything until it has first collected the
money from the people; —when the changed condition is understood it will be seen that a new issue would be a delusion and




46
a fraud. The farce of attempting to create property by legislative enactment was long since played out by older nations,
and always with the same disastrous results.
It is now thirteen years since specie has been our currency:
— For more than twenty years England, through the influence
of the Napoleon wars was in the same condition, and she listened to the same shallow arguments which we now hear; but
her prosperity never returned until under the manly lead of
Sir Robert Peel, she faced the situation, accepted reality and
rejected sham: from that hour her onward progress begun.
We have been as extravagant as England after the restoration
and we are in debt for the revelry: —But some well-to-do Citizen looks up with innocent surprise and says, " I am not in
debt."-But you are, my deluded friend, and your house and
your store and all that you have is heavily mortgaged, and so
are the wages of the humblest laborer, and none can escape.
That our prosperity will revive again I  make no question; it
is the tribulation preceding the revival which we ought to
avoid. A country with a people so active and resources so
boundless will get along; but wise statesmanship might
save us many setbacks and heavy troubles into which the
lack of statesmanship may plunge us.
A Government -which gets money from  its Citizens on a
promise which it never tries to keep does not differ in the least
from the King who took his subjects' money without the pretense that he ever meant to pay. When a Government cheats
its Citizens, its Citizens will cheat each other. The hardest
strain which free government has ever had is close at hand: the
next Presidental election is the turning point; it begins a new
century in our history-the public mind will be awake, and
that will be an eventful day.  It will settle the question
whether our Government will keep its faith, and turn its determined face towards justice, economy and truth, and thus.begin with the new century a new career of prosperity and




grandeur and riches such as the world has not seen, or whether
it will imitate England in her corruptest times and take the
curse which afflicted her so long.
When the conflict comes may every lawyer and every man
whom this great college educates stand for the public faith, for
the honor and the glory of his country, with his face to the
enemy and his trust in Heaven.
















; OF THE
HION. EDWARDS PI ERREPONT,
DELIVERED BEFORE
The Republican Mass Meeting, in the Hall of Cooper
Institute,
NEW Y ORK,,
October  3 1 s t,  1 8 7 8.
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY THE STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE.
1878.








FELLOW CITIZENS:
We have come to talk about money. The subject is not new,
but the substance is always attractive.
If, I could show each one of you how to make a million of
dollars within two years, I suspect that no one would grow irnpatient or drowsy; or if with Aladdin's Lamp I could reveal to
you a vault in the earth piled with heaps of gold, and should
warn vou that in five minutes the door would be shut forever,
but that during those minutes you might all enter and carry
away as mllch treasure as you could, the strife would be immense, and I fear that the magic door would close over many,
who in their eagerness, had forgot the limit of time, and imust
starve to death with plenty of gold in their hands.,
I have not the lamtp of Aladdin, nor can I tell you how to
make a great fortune in a little time; but, I may, perhaps, say
something which shall tend to lighten the laborer of his toil,
through a better understanding of the principles upon which
prosperity rests.
Quite early in the history of civilization, it was found that
men were endowed with very different faculties. Some had
skill in the working of metals; some in rude tools and machinery; some could make a boat, and others could sail it; and
some understood the tillage of' the soil.
Finally, it became apparent that if each would use the peouliar talent which he possessed, the products of the same hours of
labor would be largely increased and the community proportionately enriched. The stone-cutter could not cut a coat, nor could
the farmer made a scytlle; but each could supply his wants by
exchanging the results of' his especial work, and thus by dividing labor according to the faculties and facilities of different individuals the aggregate product would be multiplied many fold.
But the difficulties in making exchanges were great.  The
butcher had a slaughtered ox which he wanted to sell, and fifty
people wanted to buy a small portion of the beef. The wheelwright had a cart which the butcher wished to buy, but the
owner of the cart wanted no beef, and least of all enough to
pay for the cart. Such, and other inconveniencies in making ex



changes led to the invention of MONEY. But money would not
answer the purpose of exchanging products of value, unless the
money had also value; could be easily divided without loss;
would not perish with the use and could be carried from place
to place.
The beef could be divided; but it would soon decay, and was
not convenient to carry in the pocket.  Many other things
could be divided and not perish, but the division would destroy
the use, and the bulk or weight would prevent them from being
carried about.
In the ruder ages and in the newer colonies,-beads, shells,
bright plumage and skins were used as money; and to-day,
sheep are the currency among the great tribes of Central Asia;
and a human life is valued at more than a hundred head of
sheep. By the Statutes of New York its extreme limit of value
is five thousand dollars.
Beads, made of polished shells, with much skill and labor by
the Indians, were a legal tender in the colony of Massachusetts,
and the red men received them as money in exchange for furs;
but the white man soon showed his superiority in finance by inflating the currency with counterfeit beads made of colored wood,
land caused a collapse. If the first settlers of Massachusetts had
been as advanced in political science as one of her descendants,
they might have turned the counterfeit beads into " fiat money "
and got along for awhile.
A Dutchman who had imigrated to Manhattan Island about this
time, hearing of the wooden beads, and learning that the English colonists of Massachusetts were very intelligent, refused to
let his son go to school at all lest he should become a counterfeiter.
Holner speaks of oxen as the greenbacks of his time, and gives
the number of oxen which the armor ot Diomede and the more
splendid trappings of Glaucus cost.
But quite early, gold and silver were regarded as precious
metals; and long before kings or emperors were ever invented,
"Abrahamr, weighed to Ephron for the cave of Machpelah four
6' hundred shekels of silver current money with the merchant.'"
The love of gold seems implanted in the nature of man, and it
will not be eradicated by Legislative enactment. The civilized man
who does not love gold, is extremely rare; I have not seen one.
A substance of universal desire has, of course, great commercial value, and when you add uniformity everywhere, divisibility without loss, incorruptibility, density, portability, and quarltity sufficient, you have the best substance out of which to make
money wherewith to facilitate the exchange of products, save labor and waste, and advance the civilization of man, which has
ever been discovered,




The desire for gold and its value as money, does not depend
alone upon its scarcity.
Its endless uses and its alluring beauty, make it more desired
than other metals of greater costliness. There are twenty known
metals, a pound of which will buy more silver dollars than a
pound of gold will buy, but these metals have no beauty and
their uses are few.
I hold in my hand some paper money, issued by a once powerful government. I know it to be genuine; while General Dix
and I were trying the Prisoners of State, we took it from, a
Rebel Spy.
I will read the stamped inscription:
0000000000000000000OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
O                                                        O
O      Six months after the ratification of a Treaty of  O
O  Peace between the Confederate States and the United  O
O  States                                                O
O oooooooooo      THE CONFEDERATE STATES                 O
O O Receivable O                                    50  O
O o Payment o          OF AMERICA             A          O
O   of exall dues                  No.         000000000ooooooooo 0
O oExport Dues.o                              OFundableinO O0
Ooooooooooo  Will pay Fifty Dollars to bearer. otfderate o
0~~~~~~~~~~~~~O 0bearing 800
per cent.
O                    RICHMOND VA.             o interest  00
0                                              000000000 0
O                                                L       0
OOOOOOOOOO000000000OOOOOOOO 00000000000000()OOOO()O
You cannot buy an apple with it.
It is just as worthless as the paper without the stamp.
I hold another piece of stamped paper which reads thus:
"T.HE UNITED STATES.                   $50.
Will pay to bearer
FIFTY DOLLARS.
TVacshin gtouo, D. CU
This note is a legal tender for fifty dollars."
With this you can buy anything you need.  Why?  Is it
on account of the paper?  Not at all. As paper it is scarce
better than the Confederate rag. But the faith in the stamped
promise to redeem  the paper in coin gives the,purchasing
power.
I present you here a piece of fine gold, upon which there is
no stamp whatever.  Its weight is equal to 552k dollars of
coined gold.
Any banker in Wall street will gladly give me six hundred
and sixty coined silver dollars for it. Its value then does not
depend upon the stamp, while the value of the paper depends




entirely upon the faith reposed in the promise of the stamp to
redeem the paper.
If an insane delusion shall seize this people, and they shall
decree that the Government must issue ten thousand millions of
paper money, and distrust, confusion and anarchy follow, the
stamped paper will not buy bread to feed a starving child, while
this unstamped gold will be eagerly received in exchange for
any of the needs of man.
It has a value then, quite outside of any stamp of the Government, or of any Legislative enactment.
FELLOWS CITIZENS: —YOU may be deluded by ignorant {or rnisgulided men about thie Legislative powers of the Nation; you
may be impiously told that Congress by if s fiat can' make money,
as the Omnipotent God, by his fiat, made the light; but all such
attempts will perish in confusion.
The Congress can no more make fiat money, than they can
make fiat potatoes.
But the greenback orators point you to the time when paper
money was issued by the G;,vernment; when laborers were emrnployed at high wages and when all scemed prosperous; and they
tell you, that the same prosperity would return if the Government would again issue new Greenbacks.  This is a plausible
suggestion; it is rather taking r; and if it cannot be fully met
and clearly refuted, then the inflationists have the-argument.
FACTS, dependent upon truthful figures will be useful in this
discussion; and they will prove that when confidence vanished,
the crash came, and labor ceased to be in demand, a greater
amount of paper currency was afloat-far greater than in the
seeming prosperous days of 1869.
Surely then, it was not the lack o:f paper currency which
caused the collapse and deprived the laborer of his hire.
But let us go back to what are called the prosperous days of
the war, and see how  it was.
The G(overirnment, then less than a hundred years old, sent more
than a million of able-hodied men to the field' These were all
diverted from  productive industry and actively engaged in
waste. The rebel States had vast armies also employed in destruction. It was not the property of a foreign foe that these
armies were eating up and destroying, but the property of' our
own people. The Government needed food and clothes, arms
and ammunition, horses and harness, ships and wagons, and
blankets and saddles, and all the thousand nameless things needed in the movement of great armies; labor was in demand, and
made scarcer by galling so many soldiers to the field. To pay
for all these things the Government issued Greenbacks, made
them a legal tender, and promised to redeem them in coin. This
was simply a forced loan, tolerated by the exigences and perils
of the W ar, AND IT WAS RIGHT.




After four years, war was conquered by the valor of our
troops, and the soldier who had not gone down to death to save
his country, returned to peaceful life and increased the supply,
while the demand for labor was diminished.
Now commenced the change; scarce perceptible at first, but
soon too palpable to be unheeded. The Government, no longer
a buyer, cancelled vast contracts for arllls and other supplies,
and ceased to pay out any money except that which it had first
collected from the people in some kind of tax.
Three thousand million of national debt had been created,
much of it bearing a high rate of interest, and enormous State
and County debts had been created in addition. Sagacious men
saw that unless the public could be brought to face the real situation a crash must come.
It grew evident that the seeming prosperity was purely delusive, the Government had been l;ving upon its debts, not upon
its income.  As the young heir to a great estate may, through
his credit, spend ten times his income for years, and fancy that
all is prosperous; so we, when the nation was lavishly spending
its borrowed money called this prosperity, and shut our ears to
the warnings of those who said that the day of reckoning murst
come.
Statesmen saw thatwe must gradually contract the paper currency; in order to return to a healthy condition; and between the
close of the war and 1.868, laws were passed to that end; but so
many preferred false appearances to honest truth, that.contraction was stopped by law, and the paper currency was expanded
until in 1873, it reached the enormus sum of 750 million of dollars; thus the currency in 1873, was fifty-six millions more than
in 1869.
But did this vast volume of currency, afloat in 1873, bring
prosperity?  You all know that then came the collapse, from
which we are suffering at this hour. But what did we do to lift
the country from its prostration, when its paper currency was so
immense?  Will it b:e believed fifty years hence, that we added
over thirty one million to the inflated volume?  We did; and
thereby added largely to our distress. The severity of the distress brought the dawn of reason to a deluded people, and we began to see that we must return to the currency, which the experience of ages has proved to be the only one under which a commercial nation can lon(g prosper.
The Resumption Act has not hastened that return one hour;
it would have come before this from a higher law, and without
the Act, if the President's veto of the Silver Bill had not been
trampled under.
I labor so long upon this question of an inflated, irredeemable
currency, because I regard it as the turning point in the




great issue. If our people become satisfied that more Greenbacks will not bring even the apparent prosperity which we had
before, but increased disaster instead, then the Greenback delusion will vanish as did the dream of our paper riches.
But suppose the Congress should pass a law directing the Secretary of the Tireasury to print two thousand millions of greenbacks, and the President should sign the bill;-tell me, how
would that help you;-how  would you get the greenbacks?
The Secretary would not present them to you;-have you anything to sell which the Government wants to buy; does the Government owe you anything?  If no, then you cannot get the
Greenbacks froln the Secretary, and if you have anything to sell
you can get a full price for it now without any new issue. But
would you part with houses, or lands, or goods for part of these
two thousand mlillions of new Greenbacks? Not if you reflected
over night. But no such law can ever go into operation.
Let us see how the new project is to be worked. First, the
bill must pass Congress, and then the President, who shows
great judgment, patriotism  and firmness upon this question will
veto it; and it cannot pass over the veto. There is many an
honest, intelligent patriot in the Democratic party who will never
let such wrong be done to his country, even if the Republicans
are not strong enough to arrest it.  But even if such a law passed
the veto, then the. Supremre Court would stand as a granite
mountain to resist the enormity.
You will ask then what is the harm of the agitation? The
harm  is great. It breeds distrust; it leaves mncn of business
uncertain about the future; it prevents any new enterprise; paralyzes industries, and destroys much of the demand for labor.
Capital is always timid, and when it distrusts the honesty or
intelligence of the Government, it conceals its means and remains inactive. Capital and labor must always prosper or suf'er
together. Capital which is inactive brings Ino income, and when
the action of the Government is such that capital feels insecure,
it will not embark in any industry.
In a country like ours every class of the commnnunity is dependent for his income upon some other class. The owner of houses
cannot get rent unless the tenant can get money; the merchant
cannot get pay for his goods unless his customer can get something with which to pay. The owner of money, even, can get
only a very low rate of interest when distrust prevents enterprise,
and lie must then, as a rule, spend upon his capital to live.
If favored by Divine Providence in abundant crops and other
products, as we have been, we shall very early start upon a career of' prosperity surpassing anything which the world has ever
seen, unless it is destroyed by the unwise action of the Government.




If the specie basis is our settled policy, and a real, honest
resumption takes place in January, we shall have restored confidence, and in due time a healthy expansion fiom liberated coin
and convertible paper, leaving the gold of the commercial world
to flow in as it may be needed.
This will, before long, bring similar, if not greater, stimulus
than that which occurred in England on her return to specie
payments after a suspension of more than twenty years.
I speak of an honest resumption, such as the Act contemplated.
But I understand that some of our advanced statesmen propose to have paper money which does not purport to be redeemable in anything. "Fiat money;" that is money made
out of nothing, and to be redeemed in nothing. It is a good
name, " Fiat money;" we can understand that. Pieces of paper
are to be stamped $5, $10, $20 and $100; and by the fiat of
Congress they are to be as many dollars as the stamp indicates.
The Almighty alone can mnake something out of nothing;
the Congress can make nothing out of nothing, and nothing
will buy nothing.
The stamp of a horse upon a piece of paper is not a horse,
and no government can make it one; and the farmer who found
himself compelled by the law to take the pictured animal instead of the live one which he had paid for in labor or in
wheat, would rightly conclude that his government was a
fraud.
You will ask if I would banish paper money from  use?
By no means; any more than I would banish bank checks.
Paper money is convenient, and saves much labor and risk. I
would allow anybody to bank and pay out any amount of paper
money, the convertibility of which he had secured under the
law. No government can determine in advance the limit of
needed currrency, that can only be settled by the laws of trade.
You cannot have too much paper money which is convertible
into the standard coin of the commercial world. The moment
it becomes redundant the surplusage will return for redemption. That will be regulated by a law unerring as the motion
of the spheres. We have had for many years a striking illustration of this principle.  The law authorized the; issue of
$50,000,000 of fractional currency, convertible into legal tender
on demand. It was found that only about $40,000,000 of this
paper could be kept in circulation, it being all that the country
needed. To the paper issues of the Bank of England there is no
legal restriction whatever, except that which springs firom certain
conditions. It may issue ~15,000.000 of paper money without
having any coin behind it; and upon coin or uncoined gold in
any form of bullion it may issue notes without limit'; not only




that, but it is compelled by law to buy any amount of uncoined
gold of 22 carats fine which may be presented, and to pay for it
in paper at the rate of ~3, 17s. 9d per Troy ounce, and the seller
of the bullion who has received the notes can forthwith convert
the paper into sovereigns without leaving the Bank. If the
holder of the bullion chooses to wait to have it coined, the Mint
will do it without charge and give him at the rate of ~3, 17s.
10ld. per ounce, but as a penny-hapenny would- only be saved
upon some $19 the interest and inconvenience of' delay is of
course much greater than the small difference, and Bank notes
are invariably received. For the privilege of issuing this ~15,000,000 of paper without gold behind it, the Bank pay the Government about ~200,000 per annum; but the redemption in
c6in of this fifteen million of paper issue is secured in this way
— eleven millions of'it is actually owed to the Bank by the
Government, and the other lour millions is secured by investment in Exchequer Bills, bearing three per cent. interest or other
safe interest-bearing securities, saleable at all times, In case of
a run upon the Bank, long before the gold lying behind its notes
could be exhausted, the four million of the securities above-named
could be converted into cash and the eleven million which the
Government owe the Bank could be converted into three per
cent. Goverrnment Stock by the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
with which the Bank could buy up its outstanding notes or redeem them with the proceeds of the National stock.
Thus thet15,000,000 of paper issued by the Bank with no
gold behind it is invested in safe securities bearing 3 per cent.
interest which the Batlk gets and these are a security for the redemption of the paper, Inuchl as our Government Bonds are a
security for the currency issued to the National Banks. Hence
there is absolutely no limit imposed by parliamentary law, to the
amount of coin and Bank of England notes which may be put in
circulation, except as before mentioned —but it is all regulated
by the higher law of trade.
On the first of next January, the Secretary of the Treasury
will have abundance of gol'd with which to resume and maintain specie payments, unless prevented by the Silver Bill. Very
little gold would have been needed for actual use, and no more
would have been drawn. Now, the danger is imminent, that the
alarm caused by making a depreciated Silver dollar a legal tender, will make a run upon the Treasury and clear it of gold.
There is no question, that the Secretary desires faithfully to
execute the law as expressed in the Resuinption Act and in the
Silver Bill, and to hlave gold and silver dollars circulate on a par,
but of course, he sees that no such equal circulation is possible.
Avowed enemies of resumption with consummate tact, helped
the Silver Bill through, forseeing, as they did, what a powerful
hindrance it would be to any real resumption.




The principles of that Bill will slowly mature their fruits.
For a while, the mischievous influences may not be very
apparent, but as the silver coin accumulates, and long before it
reaches two hundred million of dollars, as it may do in less than
four years, disturbances must arise in our currency which will
be serious.
The present value of pure silver to pure gold is about as 1 to
18. Silver has falien largely since the beginning of the year,
and promises a further decline. The present silver dollar is 15
to 18 cents less in value than the gold dollar, and the difference
may increase. Gold being the standard currency of all the
great commercial nations with whom we most deal, we cannot
ignore the general standard of commerce.
It may have escaped your notice that great changes have occurred in the monetary standard of Europe.
It is now some sixty years since England commenced to coin
the gold sovereign and abandoned the coinage of silver except
for subsidiary use. By the Act of 1816, passed in the reign of
George III., gold was made the sole legal-tender for sums above
40 shillings. The States comprising the Great German Empire
demonetized silver in 1873.
The Latin Union, composed of the two great States of France
and Italy, adding the three smaller States of Belgium, Switzerland and Greece, by treaty of January 1874, limited their silver
coinage in efifect to subsidiary coins.
In Holland, silver coinage for general circulation ceased in
1875, and by law, it ceased in Spain, except on Government account, in 1876.
In D)enmark, Sweden and Norway silver ceased to be the
standard in 1873, and gold is the standard in Portugal, Turkey,
Brazil and the Argentine Republic.
Thus silver, ceasing to be coined as a monetary standard in all
the great commercial nations of Europe, and the annual product
being large, we can see why it has diminished iin value, and
why it will decline still more.
The Silver Conference invited by the United States for the
purpose of trying to establish some fixed ratio value between
gold and silver, met in Paris last August, but the object was
soon found to be utterly impracticable.
If you get a dollar of gold and find that you can sell it to a
broker for a dollar and twenty cents in silver, knowing that
under our law you can discharge any debt by silver, you will of
course sell the gold, and everybody will do the same, and gold
will disappear from circulation.
From the beginning of our coinage in 1793 up to 1878, a
period of 85 years, we had coined of legal tender silver only
eight millions of dollars, while during the same period we coined




above nine hundred and eighty-three millions of gold. In practical fact. gold has always been our standard, and silver, which
had already demonetised itself by fluctuations in value and inconvenient bulk, was after an exhaustive discussion, running
through three years, demonetised by the law of 1873, and so remained until the present vear.
Down to 1853 the total amount of coined silver dollars which
remained as a legal tender for amounts not exceeding five dollars, was only two and a half million. Between 1806 and 1836,
a period of thirty years, not a legal tender silver dollar was
coined. It was never used as the standard of value; no appreciable amount of it ever remained in circulation; and after
1834 up to this year the money of commerce as well as the
standard of value was gold. Indeed, the standard silver dollar
has not been found a necessity, or even a convenience, in our
currency, during a single year of the present century. A silver
dollar occupies twenty-seven times the space of a gold dollar.
A purse which twenty silver dollars will fill can carry five hundred and forty gold dollars, and if you pack two hundred millions of silver in the usual boxes, it will take eight hundred railroad cars to take them from Philadelphia to New York.
It has been supposed by some men that we must have silver
currency over and above the subsidiary coin, " because there is
not gold enough in the world to do the business."  If that is
true, then surely we ought to have a double standard, or a quadruple, if need be. But if I show that for more than twenty
years last past, gold has in fact been quite the chief coin
used in the great business of the Christian world, we must conelude that with the large annual product of that metal we can get
along in the future.
On the 12th of September, 1877, before the convention of
bankers, held in the City of New York, the Hon. Win. S. Groesbeck, of Cincinnati, read an able and elaborate argument strongly condeming an inconvertible paper currency. He expressed himself in favor of having gold and silver coins to circulate
on a par, and mutually aid each other. He said: " The production of gold throughout the world is greater than that of silver;
so also, is its production in the United States; and the stock of
gold in Europe and the West, is more than twice as large as their
stock of silver;" and he cites reliable tables to prove, that the
product of gold for the twenty-four years next preceeding 1876,
was far more than twice the product of silver.
During the period above named the productionof gold, in round
numbers, was three thousand millions of dollars, and the product of silver, was twelve hundred and nine millions. Of this
silver, one thousand million was shipped to India and China, and
once divided amongst that innumerable throng of the populous




East, into currency, personal ornaments and other artistic work,
very little ever returned. This left of the entire production of
twenty.four years, only two hundred and nine million for subsidiarv coins, plate, ornament and use in the various arts, hence
we have conclusive proof that there has been gold enough to
do all the business of Christendom.
But England, the great commercial nation of the world, and
who for the last sixty years has done more business with the silver standard countries, India and China, than all the European
nations beside, has during these sixty years, coined no standard
silver whatever; and England after long experience shows not
the smallest disposition to return to the double standard.
But let us see whether the United States does not produce
more gold from her own mines than she needs for her currency.
Since the discoveries in Calif'ornia, we have produced in round
numbers, fourteen hundred millions of dollars in gold, and the
rest of the world has produced more than we.  Thus vanishes
the fallacy that there is not gold enough with which to make the
only commercial standard of value.
There is no greater misapprehension, than that which leads
men to suppose a necessity for a large amount of coin or other
legal curnency in order to conduct, even the most varied and collossal transactions.
I am favored, by a most, reliable banker, long experienced in
finance, with a table showing how fallacious is the idea.
The daily transactions in the City of New York, alone,
amount to more than sixty million of dollars, while the actual
cash which is used in all these transaction is less than three million.
You sell a house in New York, or a shipment of flour in Liverpool, for $20,000, and as a rule, no coin or currency is used in
the transaction. It is extremely rare that any considerable sum
of money passes from hand to hand.
The great merchant in New York may buy and sell in the
the course of six months goods valued at fifty million of dollars, and close the business without having received or paid in
actual cash a single dollar. Very little currency is needed in the
great transactions of commerce.
We need no silver coins except for fractional use, any more
than we needed them in the years gone by, and if the silver dollar coinage continues, and its weight is not increased, before the
amount of two hundred millions is reached, it is likely that a
million of gold dollars will buy at least one million two hundred
thousand of silver dollars, Such difference in the value of the
two standards must finally bring confusion and drive all the gold
from the country, or lock it, as a useless hoard, in the Treasury.
To the laborer, to those who have a litt'.e in the savings bank,




and to those men and women who have small incomes from
mortgages or cheap houses, and to all who, live on salaries or other
fixed incomes, and to every emnploy6 of the Government; or of
any public or private establishment whatever, I have a word to
say touching the future action of the Silver Bill, so far as you
are personally concerned.  The rich  can far better protect
themselves against bad legislation than you possibly can. You
agree to work for $40 a month; at the end of the quarter you
call for your wages, and you are paid in silver, no matter that
it is 20 per cent. below par, and will only buy you 80 cents
worth of food; it is a legal tender, and you cannot refuse itthe same will be true of every person who lives upon a salary or
other fixed income, and it will work a greivous wrong, and oppress those whom the Government should most carefully protect.
It is amazing to see with what romantic honor our Government has protected every Foreigner who has sought to make
money by investment in our bonds, and with what scorn of
justice it proposes to trample upon the plainest rights of our
own citizens.
The earlier bonds were issued at'the highest interest and at the
lowest cost to the purchaser, and all have been paid in gold, and
gold at enormous premium-even though the bonds did not purport to be payable in any coin.
The Texas Indemnity Bonds matured in 1865, the six per
cent. bonds in 1868, the five per cent. bonds in 1871, and
others in  1874; all were paid in  gold coin; the  coin
ranging from  234 to  110; and yet there was no obligation expressed upon one of these Bonds or in the Acts
under which they were created  to pay them  in coin, and
when they were paid in gold, at this ruinous prefnium, Greenbacks were a legal tender for all debts public and private, except
customs, duties, and mere interest on the public debt. The world
can but admire the sacrifices which we rmade to preserve our
faith by paying in gold every one of our obligations as they'natured, no matter at what cost of premium, and no matter what
nation held them, or at what low price they were obtained. But
this year, when it was discovered that nearly all of the Government Bonds had returned from Europe and were held by our
own citizens and the premium on gold had substantially disappeared, and when it was known that every one of these Bonds
had been paid for in gold at par or above, the Congress passed a
law over the President's veto, which comnpels American citizens
to accept depreciated silver both for the principal and interest of
the. Bonds, even though the silver may fall 20 per cent. below
the gold which they paid for the Bonds. It will be an interesting page in history for our children to read, that after the Amer




ican Government had paid off (mostly to Foreigners) one-third
of its war debt in gold, at enormous premium, and the greater
part of the remainder of the Bonds having been paid for by the
people of the United States in gold, the Government turned
upon its trusting citizens and compelled them to take silver for
their Bonds, worth less by many cents on the dollarl than the
gold which the Government had actually received from its own
people for the self-same Bonds!
Two years from this, there will be a Presidential election, and
before that time our people will discover whether they have
been treated iWith justice.
We are slow to perceive the results of causes which are silent
and gradual in their action; we did not realize that the gradual
inflation of the currency between 1869 and'73 must surely
bring disaster; and we did not see that the still further inflation
of 1874 would only intensify the suffering; and I question
whether we are now awake to the fact that we have turned the
tide and are on the rising wave of prosperity, likely to increase
and continue if we will resolutely insist that the Silver Bill shall
be amended and that no new issue of paper money shall be made
by the Government.
I cannot think that we are blind to our glorious heritage, or
forgetful of what we have achieved, or ignorant of the boundless resources which we possess! Can we forget, that, after the
great war, when the Government, in funded and unfunded debt,
owed 3,000 million of dollars, we went bravely to work, and
within this short time have paid off one thousand million of the
debt, and that we have so reduced the interest as to make it fiftysix million a year less than it was?
There is no parallel in the history of nations! Well may _T/e
London Tirmes say, as it lately did in commencing a leading
article. " The United States are the richest nation on the face
of the earth."  And with a little patience and wise statemanship, every citizen of THE GREAT REPUBLIC can feel as proudly
as did the subject of old Rome, when in any part of the world
he deemed it protection to say: " I AM A ROMAN CITIZEN."
No class of the community suffer half so much by an inflated,
irredeemable, and hence fluctuating currency as the laboring
class.
The broker, the banker, the man of watchful skill in finance
— the rich men can take care of themselves; yea,-and make
money by the flctuationss; the laborer has no chance under such
a system but to be kept in grinding poverty.
Tell me, laborer;-during these years of paper expansion and
high wages, did you save anything for the days of darkness
which began in 1873? Of course you did not, you could not,
and I will presently show you why.




By an inexorable rule, as paper money increases, its purchasing power growsless, and as the inflation steadily advanced, the
wages for which you contracted at the beginning of the year
would buy not near so much at the end, and you were the loser,
which you could not afford.
Your wife and children needed the same food and clothing as
they did when the same wages would purchase twice as much.
By the courtesy of the President of the Produce Exchange,
and by the kindness of a great merchant of New York-one of
the greatest in the world-I have obtained tables showing the
prices of food and, clothing through all the so called prosperous
years up to this date. These voiceless figures tell a tale with
more eloquence than any words of mine, and they tell what you
may have forgotten.
in 1864 when the Government was issuing Greenbacks, and
wages were high, the average price of mess pork for the entire
year was $33.19 a barrel, and of flour, $8.63 a barrel. Such has
been the action of the Republican Party upon the finances that
we are at specie payments, and the dollar which you get for
your wages is a dollar, and the pork which would then have cost
you $33.19, you can now buy for $10; and the flour which
would then cost you $8.63, you can now get for $4.63.
Brown sheetings which sold at 771 cents a yard, now sell
at 7$. Bleached sheetings which sold at 77 to to 80 cents per
yard, can now be had for 10~ cents.
The best calicoes, which sold at 50 to 51 cents a yard, now
sell at 5~ to 6 cents.
From these tables I might multiply examples, but I will not
detain you. You see why you could not support your families
and save a dollar from your wages in the flush times of paper
expansion. Irredeemable paper money long forced upon a nation will reduce the free laborer to a serf.
No truer remark of a great Statesman was ever made than
that of Daniel Webster, who said; " Of all contrivances for
cheating the laboring classes, none has been more effectual than
that which deludes them with paper money." Be not deceived;
the laws of nature, the laws of justice and the laws of God will
not be violated without retribution..It would seem strange that in this year of the world it is necessary to argue that the passage of laws could be other than a
crime, which compels the citizen to receive instead of food, which
was agreed to be delivered for work done, the promise of food
which was not to  be kept, or that money, any more than a ship,
can never be made by a fiat of Congress.
This idea about irredeemable paper money is not new. It prevailed in China seven hundred years ago; it has at some time
appeared in nearly every commercial country of Europe; it ex



isted in the continental days of our history; it has brought
every nation to the verge of ruin who adopted it, and they only
have been saved who abandoned the pernicious fallacy.
This great people, intelligent and enterprising, favored with
blessings never before vouchsafed to any nation has set its face
in the right direction, and after all the depression and suffering
through which it has passed, and now on the very edge of the
rising wave which will lift it upon the rock of safety, surely will
not sink back into the returning tide of ruin and distress.
The " Ohio-idea —irredeelnable-greenback-fiat-money-Party,"
will soon disappear, leaving only the embodiment of its principles well expressed in the negro refrain:
"Beetsteaks when I'ze hungry,
Whisky when I'ze dry;
Greenbacks when I'ze hard up,
Yes-allerz'till I die."
















SPEECHIOF TIHE
HON. EDWARDS PIERREPONT,
DELIVERED BEFOBE
The Republican Mass Meeting, at the Hall of Cooper Institute,
NEW YORK,
October 15th, 1879.
L. W. LAWRENCE,
89 Liberty Street.








S P E  01 IOF THE
HON. EDWARDS PIERREPONT.
fellow Citizen-s:
I propose, to night, to take a brief survey of the situation,to see what are the perils of the hour,-by what stealthy steps
they have approached, and how they may be averted.  The
causes which lead to convulsions in Nations, however slow in
development, are more uniform than is generally supposed.
The Presidential contest opens with this canvass; and when
the vote of New York is counted on the 4th of November, we
can pretty surely know whether a Republican or a Confederate
will be the next President of the United States.
Momentous issues hang on this result,-perhaps the issues of
peace or war!
To judge wisely of the future we must know the past; and
with our intense and busy people the past is soon forgotten.
Read the future in the record of the past.
Remember, that the love of power, of riches, of dominion;lhuman passions, and human nature are enduring forces, upon
which we can depend.
What has been,-may be again.
Thomas Hart Benton was born in a Slave State. He was for
thirty years a Senator of the United States from another Slave
State;-he, like all the able men of the Demnocratic party in the
days of its purity, was earnest in favor of hard money. He
was called " Old Bullion."
In the winter of 1857-8, I met in the City of Washington,
the Ilon. Benjamin F. Butler, an eminent citizen of New York,
once a member of President Van Buren's Cabinet, a true patriot
and a charming man. He proposed to take me to see his friend
Benton, then an old man, that I might listen to his forecast of our




political future. I met the venerable Senator by appointment
the next morning. He immediately launched into politics. As
I wrote to a class-mate and friend on the same day the substance
of his conversation, I am able to reproduce it.  " The South,
sir," said ie, " means to break up the Union: it has been the
plan of their leading men for years. For a long time I was in
their confidence, and I know their purpose: they do not confide in
me now; they know, sir, that I denounce their treason. No matter what you of the North concede, the more you yield the
more they will exact; they are determined to have a separate
government in which laborers shall be slaves, where an oligarchy
may rule and a middle class form an army. They know that
the increasing population of the free States will so outnumber
tlemn before long that their rule over the Union must cease.
They will dissolve the Union, sir, and you will live to see it. 1
shall not. Nothing will satisfy them which the free States can
do. Concessions will make no difference."
iMr. Benton died in the following April. His prophecies,
though true, like those of Cassandra, were disbelieved at the
time.
On the 18th of May, 1860, M/Ir. Lincoln was nominated for
President by the Republican Party.
The South saw  their opportunity.  They broke up  their
Democratic Convention at Charleston, divided the Party into
factions, had two candidates in the field, and thus, purposely
aided in the election of Lincoln, whose success, by Northern
votes alone, they desired, in order to make the South solid for
Secession. They thought that Lincoln was ignorant and vulgar,
without prestige or power; and that his election by the North
4would unite the South in the formation of a new government,
" whose corner stone," as their Vice-President said in a public
speech, was " The stone of slavery!"
For fifty years before the war the slaveholders had ruled the
Union. Neither their wealth nor their intelligence, nor their
numbers entitled them to this rule.
In Congress, their strongest arguments were the pistol, the
Bowie knifes and the bludgeon, aided by frequent threats that
they would dissolve the Union. They knew that the North




hated duelling, violence and blood:-they thought that no Outrage would provoke the North to fight. But their wiser men
saw that there was a deep religious sentiment sat the North hostile to slavery:-they called this "Fanaticismn."   They saw
that it was increasing, that it was earnest, and that scoffs and
persecutions only multiplied its votaries. They saw also, that
Northern thrift, intelligence and skill were increasing the riches
and the population of the Free,Stotes, and that the day was
near, when the ideas engendered by freedom and education
would uproot their accursed system of human bondage.  They
saw that the oligarchy was doomed, and that their barbarous institution itself must fall, unless they could establish the doctrine of the supremnecy of the States, that slavery was the normal condition of all in whomn there was negro blood, and that it
should be extended over newly acquired territory upon which no
slave had ever trod!
So soon as Southern leaders perceived that the Northern conscience would revolt at such monstrous propositions, they set
about the destruction of the Union, and planned the formation
of a Confederate Government.
No concessions, no Union saving conventions, no sermons
from whey-faced preachers of the North, " Clothing their naked
villany with old odd ends, stol'n forth of Holy Writ" could
satisfy the South; they made war; and on the 12th of April,
1861, they commenced the bombardment of Ft. Sumpter!
You know the rest! We pass over the horrors of that war;
four years of carnage, and of bloody death! Five hundred million of treasure was wasted. Five hundred thousand American
citizens were hastened to their graves!
Who broke up this peaceful, happy, benign government and
draped the land in mourning?
Not the North, surely.
Well; Lee surrendered at Appomattox in April, 1865; the
rebel armies were dispersed; Jefferson Davis was a fugitive,
and then a prisoner about to be tried for his life, and President
Lincoln was murdered.
The nation had had enough of war, and all re-echoed the
phrase, "' Let uts have peace."'




The South was vanquished, prostrate, and exhausted; ready
to accept any terms which the victorious North might impose.
Suppose that some prophetic Benton, had then said to the
North,-" On the 4th of March 1879, these whom  you now
call "prostrate rebels" will dominate both houses of Congress
in your Capitol at Washington; The Eleven Confederate
States will have on that day, in the Senate and House, ninety
three Representatives!  Of these, eighty five will be of those
who were soldiers in the rebel armnies, and three more who held
high office in the rebel States.-On that day, twenty Rebels
will sit in your Senate, who fought to destroy the Union; with
three more who held high office in the Confederacy: In the
IHouse, Sixty-Five Confederate Soldiers will proudly take their
places to legislate for their conquerors, and block the wheels of
government by withholding supplies, unless at their bidding, the
wholesome laws are repealed which loyal men passed to preserve the purity of Elections"!
Would you not have laughed to scorn, such a prophet?
Would you not have read to him the XIV amendment to the
Constitution, showing how impossible was the fulfillment of'
such prophecy? Would you not also have shown the madness of
the prediction by reading the XV amendment in these words:
AMENDMENT XV.
1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not
be denied or abridyed by the United States or by any State, on
account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.
2. The Congress shall have power to " enforce this article by
appropriate legislation."
And if he had answered you, that terror, torture, the shot-gun
and the halter would drive every loyal voter from the polls, in
the entire Confederacy, and that the disabilities imposed by the
third division of the XIV amendment would all be removed,
would you not have thought such prophecies the ravings of a
lunatic?-t
And yet the number of Confederates which I have named,
rule both houses of Congress to-day; and of the two hundred
thousand colored soldiers who, in the crisis of our fate, and at




the Presidents' call, bravely fought to save the Nation, none
dare vote in all the Confederacy!
The Vice President of the Rebels is in the House, Wade
Hampton is in the Senate, and Jeff. Davis is likely to be there
soon!
Both legislative branchdies of the government are ruled by the
Confederates, and they boast that next year they will have the
Executive also.
This is no idle boast.
It seems idle, to those who contemplate only the superior
intelligence, wealth, and the vastly preponderating numbers of
the North, and who do not understand how a President is
elected,
I dare say that some of you fancy that you have voted directly
for a particular man to be President of the United States. You
have done nothing of the kind. You have only voted for
Electors to choose a President for you.
The framers of our Constitution did not think that the people
could be trusted to express their direct will, and they contrived
that the people might select a few men called "Electors" to
choose a President for them.
The system is most vicious. Under it Presidents have been,
and will be chosen in opposition to the direct vote of the people.
Let me show you how it works. You vote once in four years
for Presidential Electors. Each State has just as many Electors
as it has SenatOrs and Representatives together. Each State
prescribes its own mode of choosing its Electors.
In this State you vote for thirty-five Presidential Electors, and
every other State chooses Electors in the same proportion. These
electors meet in what is called "Electoral College," and choose
the President. They may choose a man whom not a voter ever
thought of, and he would be the President. In the practice of
later years the electors have chosen the one whom  their party
nominated in convention, but that is not necessary, and in an
emergency it may not be done. But a covert and grosser fraud
upon the people grows out of the system in another way.
Take the State of New York, which is called a " doubtful




State;." and Wisconsin, Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont
which are considered Republican States.
A fair estimate of the vote for next year is, 1,100,000 for New
York, and for Wisconsin, Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont
ogether, 800,000.
New York has the same electoral vote and counts exactly the
same in electoral collece as the four States last named. Now,
if Now York goes Democratic by 1,000 majority, she leaves
549,000 votes of the State unrepresented in choosing a President; and if in the four Republican States mentioned, the Democratic vote should be only 4,000, then you would have one
million three hundred and forty-five (1,3t15,000) thousand Republican votes exactly balanced in a Presidential election by 551,000
Democratic votes!
But let us go South and see how elections go there.
South Carolina has the samle electoral vote as Maine;  her
citizens are largely Republican.  In the late contest Gen. Hayes
received 91,786 votes and carried the State. Last fall the vote
for Governor Wade Hampton was counted, one hundred and
nineteen thousand five hundred and forty-five (119,545)! And
how many Republican votes were cast? Not one!!
In Alabama Gen. Hayes received for President 66,230 votes;
but at the election for Governor last fall not a Republican vote
was reported!
In Mississippi Gen. Hayes received 52,605 votes. But in one
year after, Governor Stone was counted in by 96,382 votes! The
Republican vote had disappeared, and under the head of " seattering" was returned 1,168! And yet, in Electoral College,
meeting to choose a President, Mississippi exactly equals New
Hampshire and Nebraska combined.
Louisiana, in the year of Gen. Hayes' election, had a registered colored vote of 115,268, and a registered white vote of but
88,179. Mr. Hayes received a vote of 77,154; and yet Louisiana has but a single white Republican in Congress and not a
colored member.
What means this sudden disappearance of 317,346 Republican
votes from these four States!




We are told that the Southern climate is unhealthy for
Republican voters, and that they have all died out!
Before the war five sleeves added three votes to the whiteman's count:  Now, five negroes add five votes to the whiteman's count in the election of President. Emancipation increased the Southern Electoral vote by 35, but the whiteman
allows no negro to vote a Republican ticket; the white electors
cast the entire electoral vote which is not diminished by the exclusion, of the colored voters.
Remember that if two States have each 400,000 voters, and
each is entitled to 14 electors; the electors chosen in one State
by two hundred thousand and one votes, will have the same
voice in choosing a President as the 14 Electors in the other
State chosen by 400,000 voters. You see that the South have
gained 35 electoral votes by Emancipation, and that under our
unequal system, if the South drive every freedman from the
polls, the South will have precisely the same Electoral vote as
tho' every colored man voted the Confederate ticket. Hence
you see, why, by violence, by terror, and by atrocities unnumbered the freedmen are disfranchised.
Turn to the Census of 1870; make any reasonable calculation
for the changes since, and you shall see, that the population of
New York is just about the same as the white population of the
eleven Confederate States, and that her wealth is just about
three times the wealth of all these eleven States tcgether.
Against the 35 electoral votes of the State of New York, with
her intelligence and her wealth so many times larger, and with a
population nearly equal to the white population, (which alone casts
the Electoral vote) of these States, how many Electoral votes do
you think these same States cast 
NINETY-FIVE (95)!
FELLOW CITIZENS; how do you like the working of this
electoral system, since the slaves are freed and our Southern
brethren have come back into the Union?
You perceive there is some danger. By large majority the
popular will may express itself in favor of' your candidate, and
yet, the Electoral vote may give the Presidency to another; and




this mockery, we call, "free electiom by all the votes of a free
people."
How then can we escape the danger?  Not by sentimental
emotion, not by throwing up our hands and exclaiming what
tremendous majorities Massachusetts or Vermont, Pennsylvania
or Iowa will give. In a Presidential contest it matters not
whether their majorities are five or five hundred thousand; it is
all the same. Our only way is to secure the electors; and to do
that we.-must face the situation.
The South is solid; made so by fraud and violence. She has
138 electoral votes. It requires only 47 from all the North to
give the Government to the Confederates!
New York has 35, and Indiana has 15; both given for the
South, transfers the power, with three votes to spare. Morton
is dead; and Indiana is fairly claimed by the South; that leaves
New York alone for the great battle; and here the last battle
against the enemies of tile Union will be fought. Next year we
take the census; after that, there will be a readjustment of the
electoral vote. The increased population of the North will then
settle the future: the South know this, and hence their last mad
struggle to seize the Government at the next election.
Without New York the Confederates have no chance of victory: without New York the Republicans have no better chance.
Elect your ticket this fall and the Presidential contest will be
easy. The prestige of success, and the possession of the government of this great State steadies the wavering and assures the
rest.
A BETTER TICIKET was never presented for your votes. I have
but time to speak of him who is nominated for Governor. I
dare say that some of yoa may have'preferred another. It is
always so. But no fair-minded man will say that Mr. Cornell will
not make an excellent Governor; and when we go to war, we ask
who can lead us to victory, not who in do we like best a
No man has a more honorable record than Mr. Cornell.
He has been long before the public. He has been a member
of the Assembly and one year he was the Speaker. He served
as one of the Commissioners for the erection of the Capitol at




Albany. He was Surveyor of the Port of New York, during
a period of four years, and Naval Officer for a year and a half.
He has discharged the duties of all these great trusts with
eminent good judgment, ability and success, and upon his fidelity, honor or iutegrity there is not a stain. He is the son of a
sire who earned a fortune, of which he largely gave to endow a
great Institution of Learning to benefit the people. He will be
an honor to the name he bears, and to the State of which he
will be Governor.
Let us explore the consequences of neglecting to carry the
State this Autumn. If we do not carry it this year, it is pretty
certain that we cannot carry it next; and if the enemy carry it,
we can sately predict soime things that will happen. If our 35
Electoral votes are given to the Southern candidate, —-by every
reasonable calculation, the executive government of the Nation
will be transferred to the rule of the Confederates.
Swiftly following the transfer of power, you will find, that
distrust about the financial question returns, that Northern
capital timidly retires, that labor ceases to be in demand, that
new enterprises are abandoned, and that the bright confidence
and auspicious dawn of prosperity, but lately begun, will grow
dark with gloomy apprehension.
A demand will be made that the freed slaves shall be paid
for, that Southern damage-claims shall be settled, that the
Emancipation Proclamation, the new amendments to the Constitution and the Re-construction -Acts shall be declared void;
that the Union and Confederate soldiers shall be alike pensioned; and that each State shall be declared sovereign, with
full power to create Banks of issue without let or hindrance from
the Federal government!
Do you doubt this? of course many of you do.  You would
not believe that the sacred pledge of freedom, called "the
Missouri Compromise,' could be shamelessly violated until the
infamous deed was done.  You would not believe that the
South meant war until Ft. Sumpter fell.
Now, the South boldly tell you what they are going to do;
and again you will not believe them. They do not propose to
secede and leave you in possession of the Army, the Navy, the




Treasury, the Federal Courts, the Capital, the Archives, and all
the machinery of an established government, in full and friendly
recognition by all the powers of the earth!
They propose to leave you no such advantage: They propose
to take your government into their own hands. They have
grown wiser.
If they can once get control of the Government they will rule
with relentless hand, and malke you pay back, with interest, all
that they lost by the war.
How are you to help it? Do you point to the constitutional
amendments? They proclaim them " void."
It is well known that each man has kept a list of the number
and value of his slaves.
With President and Congress in their interest, they can pass
a law for the payment of their claims. The Secretary of the
Treasury pays it in obedience to law (I do not mean Secretary
Sherman).
What could you do about it?  Bring it before the Supreme
Court? But where would the money go meanwhile?
And who would enforce the mandate of the Court, if you get
one? Armed  governments never trouble themselves about
mandates of a Court, if they don't like the mnandate. A pair of
Confederate soldiers would take care of the Court if it stood in
the way. But perhaps you say that you would resist such
wrong by force. Would youn? We should find ourselves at a
disadvantage in such a contest with the organized power of this
great govemnmnent, and many a pillaged city would smoke, and
many a brave soldier bite the dust before we could gain the victory.
The South has commendable traits; it rattles before it strikes.
It has told you from the beginning that it repudiated the Emancipation Proclamation; that the new amendments to the constitution and the Re-construction Acts were'" null and void," and
that they meant to elect a President who would "trample them
into dust."
When the Constitutional Amendment abolishing slavery,
came before the House of Representatives in 1864. Mr
Pendleton in his place said: " But neither three-fourths of the




States, nor all the States, save one, can abolish slavery in that
dissenting State, because it lies within the domain reserved to
each State for itself, and upon it the other States cannot enter."
More than three years after the war, Gen. Wade Hampton,
now a Senator of the United States, in the National Convention
of his party held in New York, inserted in the platform this:
" And we declare that the Re-construction Acts are revolutionary, unconstitutional and void," which was unanimously adopted.
At the same Convention, Gen. Blair was nominated for VicePresident, he having but a short time before published his declaration of principles, in which he said, " We must have a President who will execute the will of the people, by trampling into
dust the usurpations of Congress known as the Reconstruction Acts."  And Col. Herndon, complimenting Blair in a speech
at Mobile, exclaimed, "Who but a brave, true, generous heart
could utter such a sentiment as this?' And Senator Pugh, in
a public speech, said, "I would not give a three-cent postage
stamp for their Fourteenth Amendment. It is no part of the
Constitution, and it never will be. It is a base fraud."
All the leading men of the South, from Blair to Blackburn,
and their Northern allies, have uttered similar sentiments.
But the sagacious and philosophic statesman, Alex. H.
Stephens, the ex-Vice-President of the Confederacy, in a speech
before the Georgia Legislature, after the war had failed, proposed
a plan to got possession of the government, which the South have
persistently followed.  He said, " We are not without an encouraging example on this line, in the history of the mother
country.  *  *  *  The truest friends of liberty in England,
once in 1642, abandoned the forum of reason, and appealed, as
we did, to the sword as the surest means of advancing their
cause. * * *  But they retraced their steps. *  *  *  lhe
Rouse of lords and the Rotuse of Commons were henceforth
the theaters of their operations.  "'~  The result was, that
in less than thirty years all their ancient rights and privileges,
which had been lost in the civil wars, with new securities, were
re-established."
The South have accordingly transferred " the theater of their
operations," from their lost battle-fields'to the Senate and the




House, hoping in this way to "'re-establish all tChetr ancient
rights and privileges, with new securities."  And we must concede, that so far, their success has been encourafging.
The audacity of the Confederates may well excite our wonder! Civilized paople have supposed that intelligence, the payment of honest debts, the possession of property, and numbers
of population, with the raising of taxes to support the government, gave such people the right to govern.
The states so clamorous for power have repudiated their debts,
they pay but little tax, they have but little property, their
numbers are comparatively few, and the masses of their people
are very ignorant.
The Confederacy was formed of eleven states. In several of
these States there are more colored people than whites. The
entire white population is scarce five million and a half, and
terror now keeps the colored men from the polls. Since the
war, and from 1866 to 1878, there has been raised from interntal
revenue to support the government and pay its obligations, $2,055,397,816.18! Of this sum the eleven Confederate States have
paid only $201,906,096.15!
The single State of Ohio alone paid $13,104,524.39 more than
all the Confederete States combined; and New York alone has
paid very nearly twice as much as all the Confederate States
together.
From official reports it appears that of the taxes to support
this government about 89 per ct. are paid at the North, and but
11 per ct. by the entire South; and that of imports 96 per cent.
come to Northern Ports; and that of our vast internal commerce
only 8 per ct. is in the South.
President Hayes received in the Eleven Confederate States
785,000 Republican votes. IHe was not suspected of being over
harsh towards that rebellious people. On the contrary, his great
desire for brotherhood and peace led him to many acts of generous conciliation which elicited sharp criticism from his party.
Before two years of his gentle administration were passed, those
who voted for him in the South, were by intimidation or violence
driven from the polls.
Mr. Hays has learned what every Northern President and




every Northern Statesman, who went before him learned, that
no conciliation, no soft words, no generous deeds will ever
pacify the South. Mr. Hays has evidently had enough of the
experiment: his robust, patriotic speech at Youngstown shows
that he understands the situation, and that the same good sense
which prompted his admirable vetoes will wisely guide him
through his administration.
There are many able, patriotic Statesmen of the Democratic
Party in the North, any one of whom would make an admirable
President; if elected by lVorthernruotes; but such an one, has no
chance of nomination by the dominant South. They will take
no man from the North unpledged to do their bidding:
And if to their 138 Electoral votes, they add 47 or 50 gleaned
from the North, and thus elect their President, may they not
Iwith reason demand that the thing created shall be subject to its
Creator?
I am glad that Mr. Hayes adopted the policy of conciliation
towards the South. I think it was greatly wise. It was a
necessity; considering the state of the public mind. Had it not
been done, the Northern sentimentality would never have been
satisfied.
Had the plan succeeded, it would have been well; having failed
utterly, it proves that endless conciliation is not the remedy for
Southern troubles. It proves what had been proved before,
that Northern magnanimity, Northern sentiment, and Northern
character are wholly unappreciated by the South. They stand
upon a lower plain. They breathe an atmosphere of demni-barbarism; they cannot understand the larger humanity and the
more enlightened conscience of the North. Slavery blunts the:moral sense and brutalizes the passions. It stamps its curse too
deep to be wiped out in a single generation.
Before Rebellion it met every concession with new and more
arrogant demands. It met u'nanswerable arguments in Congress
with threats and violence and challenge to mortal combat. A
Northern Senator was stricken down and nearly murdered in the
Senate House for words spoken in debate! Then they made war.
HtIaving had their fill of: that, they were met by a lagnanimity unparalleled in the annals of time; since the war not a rebel estate has




been confiscated; not a rebel has been punished. Not a Confederate in all the Confederate States is now deprived of the rights of
suffrage, and Jefferson Davis is as free to vote as President
Hayes. None but Union men  are deprived of this sacred
privilege in all the Confederacy!
When late,-DEATH spread his dusky wing over a portion of
the South, and there was scarce a house in which there was
not one dead, the North hastened to their relief with a liberality unknown.  True charity asks no gratitude.   But even
charity demands that her innocent friends shall not be treated
with outrage.
They seem to regard every act of concession or kindness fromn
the North as born of cowardice or as a just tribute to their personal superiority.
It were better for all, that we administer temperate justice
instead of maudlin generosity.
We have a clear forecast of what the enemy will do, by looking at what they have done.
So soon as was possible, the new Congress forced an extra
session, and organized their committees through which all business is done.
In the Senate, the Demrnocratic party count forty-two; only
twelve of these are from the North.  The Confederates have
the Chairmanship of seventeen of the most important committees of the Senate; and in constituting all the committees they
have so contrived that every committee is controlled by the
Confederates. In each case the majority of the Committee is
Democratic; and in every case a majority of that majority is
Confederate.
All important measures are determined in caucu3, and the
Confederates are a majority in every caucus.
Virginia has the Committee on Pensions; Georgia the Commnittee on Commerce; little Delaware, so little, that she has but
one lone Representative, takes the imnportant Committee on Finance. And what do you think the great commercial State of
New York, with a population more than 35 times larger than
Delaware, and with wealth five hundred titnes greater, gets in tile
Senate Committee. The Commnittee on PATEJNTs.




Gentlemen of the South; you over-play this little game; you
show an unfair adroitness for which we were not prepared. You
liave so contrived every committee as to give the control to the
Confederates-and the legislation in Congress is all shaped by
the committees. We concede that you are solid, and that we
of the North are slow to wake up. But do you mean to wake
us again to to the drum call?
The South have always had some pretended grievance, with
which to reproach the North. In 1824 it was because trade
was pretty free and the North grew rich on comme'ce. Under
the lead of Clay they forced a high protective tariff, against
the protest of Webster. The North diverted much of its capital and prospered on manufactures. Then  the South clamored for "free trade," and threatened nullification.
In 1850 they made vague charges of " Aggressions" by the
North; and when Mr. Webster demanded of Senator Berrien,
and other Southern statesmen, to know what these "aggressions"
were-they proved to be: "that the growing religious sentiment of the North disapproved of the right of one man to sell
another's children into slavery!"
The resistance of the North to the destruction of the Union
was another grievance. And after the war they were aggrieved
at the re-construction of the rebel States.
Re-construction was a difficult problem with which our
statesmen had to deal, and the North differed widely as to the
best mode. I never believed that " universal amnesty, and
universal suffcage " was the specific solvent for this difficult
question. I did not believe that the African race, just passing
from generations of slavery, could legislate wisely. But Southern leaders would not come forward to aid in re-construction,
resume their loyalty, and honestly try to help an indulgent government to restore the impoverished States to harmonious prosperity. They stood aloof; and in sullen conceit refused to assist. Had they returned to a sincere allegiance they would have
had every possible aid from the over-generous North.
They have only themselves to blame. They are not prosperous, they are not happy; they do not miarch abreast with
the advancing civilization of the age. They mire in a dismal




swamp and refuse to be lifted out. They neglect education
and the teachings of Christian humanities; and they trample
down justice, and thus banish their most useful population.
They must face about or they are doomed.
Their present grievance is that the North will still remember
some of the atrocities of the war. In derision, they call this
"The Bloody Shirt," with small piping voice the doulihfaced,
knock-kneed idiots of the North, cry feebly, " Bloody Shirt."
But while massacres like that of the Chislome family, murders like that of Dixon and of Bryce, horrors like those on the
Southern Mississippi, recently made public by the Memorial of
Judge Dillon, the Mayor of St. Louis, Senator Henderson and
others; atrocities which have lately driven thousands from their
homes, to brave cold and hunger, nakedness and death, rather
than remain in that abode of cruelty continue, you will not bury
in oblivion the memories of the past through fear of mockery
from your foes.
WhenWilliam, the great Conqueror, the Bastard son of the
Duke of Normandy by'Arletta, the handsome daughter of a
tanner, (whom, from a window of his Castle, the Duke first saw
washing clothes in thle brook,) held his army before the revolted
town of AlenXon, the besieged hung raw hides along the walls of
the town with the jeering c(ry, " WORK FOR THE TANNER."  The
young hero remembered his mother with love' He was not
ashamed of a hide for his banner, and the revilers of his mother
perished bef)re his fiery onset as stubble before the flames?
WOE, BE THE DAY! when for battle-banner, the " Bloody
Shroud" shall be unfurled, and earnest men tread ounward to the
fray! The bloody corpse of Lucretia drove the last Tarquin
from Rome, and the "crimsoned garment" now nocked at by
fools, may yet rouse a people more wildly than did the beat upon
the human skin, which formed the head of Ziska's drum.
The son of a tanner has just landed on our shores; I hope that
he will not be called to do the kind of work which the Norman
Tanner did. But if he is so called, he will do it, thorouglhly.
I have seen him where Sovereign, and Princes, Ambassadors
and Nobles rose up to do him reverence, —calm, —self-poised, —
unruffled as a sphinx.




I-e is wiser than when he went away; of broader intelligence;
loftier in tone; mnore exalted in his moral nature. But he will
retire to his Lome in Galena, the same single-minded, unpretending, brave and honest man; a fitting product of our noble
institutions.
Pardon me for detaining you so long. But a word more and
I have done.,
I have spoken of the future as it unrolls to the eye of the
mind; of tlhe present and of the past, as truthful history will
record them.
I have not spoken with the least feeling of personal hostility
towards any individual in all the Confederacy. I, like all the
North, would gladly treat them  with generosity, if they would
manifest any si(n of loyalty, justice or duty. But I abhor their
preposterous assumption,ktheir cruelty to the fieedmen and to all
who differ with them in opinion; and I will resist to the uttermost their audacious and insatiate desire to gain by violence
and fraud the control of this government, which Northern
valor preserved, and which Southern treason aimed to destroy.
We endured four years of terrible war.  We have passed
througoh five vears of heavy depression and much suffering,
consequent upon that war. By patience, by self-denial, by
persistent effort, against foes, even of our own household, we
have restored the credit anw1 financial stability of our country.
Confidence has returned, labor is in demand. wages are advancing. The tide of emigration again sets in. We have sold within
a year $500,000,00  of our products abroad, and every week
brings heavy shipments of gold to our ports. The most auspicious dawn of a prosperous future opens before us! Shall it be
turned to sudden night? I caill upon the people of this great
State to come up once more to the battle for freedom and
human rights.  Carry the State this fall, and the strife is
nearly over. Then the prosperity which has so happil'y begun
may continue, and we may fairly count upon long years of peace,
and brotherhood with our recent foes, and see the South, "sitting, clothed, and in her right mind," devoutly thanking God
that he did not " leave her to eat of the fruit of her own ways,
and to be filled with her own devices!"








S PEECH
Ilox, EDWARDS PIERREPONT,
1)ELI.AVEIEI1)   E1I' )FOI'E
THE REPUBLICAN  MEETING,
AT I' HE
1EALL OF COOP1AzR INSTITUTE,
OCTOBER 6TH, 1880 a
N Ew YoX1K
C(ORNWELL PRESS, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS, AND LITHOGRAPHERS,
243, 245 & 247 Pearl and 18 & 20 Cliff Streets.
4~~~~~~~~.So








SPEECH
OF THE
HON EDWARDS PIERREPONT,
DELIVERED BEFORE
THE  REPUBLICAN  MEETING,
AT THE
I-ALL OF COOPER INSTITUTE,
OCTOBER 6TH, 1880.
NEW YORK:
COREWELL PRESS, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS, AND LITHOGRAPHERS,
243, 245 & 247 Pearl and 18 & 20 Cliff Streets.
1 880.








M;Y FELLOW-CITIZENS:.
The Democratic orators and the Democratic press boastfully
tell you that the South is solid for Hancock.  WellIt was solid for secession;-solid for Jeff. Davis!
There is not a loy/al State solid for Hancock.  Every Northern State is either very doubtful, or else certain for Garfield.
If there is a free vote and a fair count every Northern State
will declare for Garfield.  What does it mean, that the South are
solid for Hancock, and that not many at the North are for him;
except those who sympathized with secession?  It bodes evil to
the Republic if you let him be elected.
Believing, as I do, that General Hancock is a loyal man, I
was puzzled to know why the South nominated him  for President.
General Toombs excuses it, by saying:
" We cannot put one of our own men in this time and have to takle a Yank."
But J. B. McClures life of Hancock, containing the speeches
of the Southern gentlemen who nominated him throw calcium
light upon the motive.
Governor Hubbard of Texas said:
" I rise by request, a request which meets the impulses of any own bosom, to
second the nomination of the soldier satesman WVinfield S. Hancock.
"Sir, he is not only a soldier-that is something in the contest that is to be
waged, as the gallant Hampton has told you. The South will be united, whoever
you may nominate. But failing in principle, failing upon every issue upon finance
or of reform or of good government, to attack the record of the Democratic party,
mark it, the slogan will be' The bloody South; the old haven of rebellion still lives.'
" If you nominate Hancock, where is the argument? We can say everywhere.
Here is a man whom one hundred thousand Northern soldiers, if they are like
Southern soldiers, will rally around his standard. Gentlemen, I believe him to be
to-day the most available candidate of all the great names that have been presented.
And, as I said awhile ago, what we want is votes, more of them, in God's name,
whether they come from Republican soldiers or otherwise!!"
Judge Daniel of Virginia, arose and said among other things;
"The nomination  of General Hancock  means instantaneous
and continuou,s aggression."   And  General Wade  Hampton
said;  "Mr. President and Gentlemren of the Convention.  On
behalf of the  " Solid  South,"  that South, which  oncel  was:
arrayed against the great soldier of Pennsylvania, I stand here
to pledge you.its: sold:kote."




On page 91 we read that "Hancock was superb,"' and on
page 92 that " General Hancock was grand and magnificent,
and the very incarnation of war!"  That is good:MARS himself, the GoD of War, couldn't beat that in his best
days. In these prosperous times of peace, we do not want the
"very incarnation of War" for President. Wle would rather
have a Statesman.
Wrhen the General telegraphed to the Greenback-lRepublican
fusion candidate for Governor of Maine, " Accept my congratulations on the glorious result,of your canpaign;''   he
evidently felt with Gov. Hubbard, ready to exclaim what we
want is votes, in God's name give us votes, even tho' they come
from Greenback-Republicans or otherwise.
Up to the time of that dispatch, as General Hancock had no
experience whatever in civil affairs, the public did not know
whether he was for Greenbacks or Gold, or how sound his mind
or steady his judgment. They now have an inkling of both.
A revolution in the eminently successful policy of our Government is attempted, and the question is whether you will
allow it. A great war was fought out, costing much treasure,
blood and sorrow, to save the Union, and, it is now proposed
that those who conspired to destroy it, SHALL RULE. This is a
fair statement of the case, and no false pretences about "running
a Union Soldier " will change it. If the South get New York
and Indiana they take the Government with three electoral votes
to spare. It is conceded on all hands that the country was
never so prosperous. Shall we take the insane risk of a change
in the Governmental policy under which we are doing so well?
To-night I propose to speak of General Garfield and General
Hancock and of the parties which they represent.  On another
occasion I shall say something of our fellow citizen General
Arthur, whose life and well. earned reputation is known to you
all, and whose letter of acceptance, in style, in strength of
view, in clear and masterly handling of the questions upon which
he touches, is one of the best State Papers which we have ever
read. In every walk of private life and in every public trust
his honor and integrity are without reproach.
We take exception to the intense sectionalism of the South;
to their perpetual boasting that they are " Solid;" to their
incessant efforts to keep alive and inflame sectional hate;
to their constant avowal that their cause was just, and hence
that the North was wrong in suppressing rebellion. They say:
" We believe as firmly as in the eternal word of God, that We were in the right."




A stranger reading Southern journals and Southern speeches
would suppose that the North were rebels, and that the South
had not forgiven them.  The speeches of public men and the
utterances of public journals are an index of the sentiment in
their locality.
(From   the Meemphis Avalanche.)
"White men who dare to avow themselves here as Republicans should be
promptly branded as the bitter and malignant enemies of the South. The name of
every Northern man who presumes in this community to aspire to office through
Republican votes should be saturated with stench. As for the negroes, let them
amuse themselves; if they will, by voting the Radical ticket.  We have the count.
We have a thousand good and true men whose brave ballots will be found equal to
those of five t7ousand vile Radicals."
This threat about the count was lately carried out in Alabama,
a State which gave 66,230 votes for Hayes, now counts no Republicans, and a Democratic majority  larger, I believe, than
the lawful vote of the entire State.
Mr. Field,  Attorney-General of Virginia, Sept. 15th, 1880.
" We killed, a great many Yankees during the war, and I wish we had killed
twice as many more, enough to have given us the victory and our cause success."
General Fitzhugh Lee, at Portsmouth, Va., Sept. 2d, 1880.
"If you desire that those heroes buried yonder (pointing to the Confederate
monument) shall not have died in vain, vote the Democratic ticket and vindicate the
principles for which they sacrificed their lives."
Batavia, O., Sept. 23d.-Congressman Blackburn, of Kentucky,
said in his speech here, on the evening of the 20th inst.:
"' Let the Radicals cease their brawl about a "Solid South." She is solid, thank
God! She was solid for Jeff. Davis in 1860, and we will be solid for Hancock in 1880."
When  General Grant arrived in Chicago last November, it
was deemed a fit time to  send friendly messages to the prominent men of the South.  Governor Wade HUampton declined to
reply: General Toombs sent this;
"Your telegram received. I decline to answer, except to present my personal
congratulations to General Grant on his safe arrival to his country. He fought for
his country honorably, and won; I fought for mine, and lost. I am ready to try it
over again. DEATH TO THE UNION.                            R. TOOMBS."
In January following, the Southern journals said;
"General Toombs has been selected to deliver the annual oration before the
literary societies of the University of Mississippi in June next, by the unanimous
vote of the students."
These fairly express the prevailing sentiments of the South.
The only Union  which they wish, is annexation of the North
under such  conditions that they can rule the whole.  Toombs,
always outspoken, says;




"W' e cannot put in one of our own men this time, and have to take a'Yank.
That being the case, let us take one who is less'blue bellied' than the most of them.
You may depend upon it, sir, that' Yank' or no'Yank,' if elected, the old boys of
the South will see that Hancock does the fair thing by them; in other words, he will
run the machine to suit them or they will run the thing themselves."
This effort to create sectional bitterness is an old trick  and
ante-dates the war.  It was the prelude to secession, and the
same precise game was played, as now, charging the North with
" aggressions," and with " irritating " the South.
Stephen A.. Douglas who knew  their plans; in his dying
speech to his countrymen thus exposes them:
"The election of Mr. Lincoln is a mere pretext. The present secession movement is the result of an enormous conspiracy formed more than a year since."
"They desired a Northern Republican to be elected by a purely Northern vote, and
then assign this fact as a reason why the sections cannot live together.' Every man
must be for the United States or against it. There can be no neutrals in this war;
only patriots or traitors!"
W~hen Abraham Lincoln died, the work of destroying slavery
was finished:-a martyr's blood sealed the doom of that abomination forever!
We take a new departure.
Great issues of vital moment will be pressing for solution.
Whether having two legal standards of coin, we shall clip 12
to 15 per cent. from one, and declare by law that its value in
payment of debts, shall be equal to the other:
Whether we shall place resumption upon a solid basis, which
can stand the shock of commercial crises, and make the two
standards so nearly equal that the bill-holder may itake his
choice."
Whether every good citizen, who pays taxes, without regard
to race or color, shall have the same right to vote, and whether
every citizen who has a right to vote shall be protected in that
right:
How shall the laborer be protected in his wages, how shall we
deal with Chinese immigration and how  shall we restore our
ruined commerce?
How shall the sectional prejudices and hostilities, the growth
of years and remaining'from the war, be uprooted and absolute
harmony be restored between the States?
These and other issues will soon demand attention.
We stand in the very presence of the question, which party
is the fittest to lead in the settlement of these grave issues, and
which of the two Presidential Candidates is the more likely to
guide us to a happy result?




lWe shall not advance one step in this discussion until we have
settled the Supreme question whether secession was right;
whether the war to coerce the seceding States was an act of
patriotic duty, or whether the Northern idea about the preservation of the Union,was born of cant,-a wicked and insane
delusion, -creating a Moloch. — an infernal Deity, -before whose
altars we burnied millions of our property, and in whose
bloody sacrifices we offered more than three hundred thousand
of our sons!
First settle this question in your minds;-was the Rebellion
a terrible crime, for which its authors deserved condign punishment, and. was the war for the Union a deed of lofty virtue'
As you decide, you will have answered the question, "which
party can be most safely trusted for the next four years 2.
The chief concernment of Government is to protect life, liberty,
and property.
Property is the base of modern society.  Its accumulation is
the primal stimulus to every industrial enterprise:-Its influence
has increased with Christian civilization, which protects the
possession and regulates the pursuit by just laws.
He who has not studied the science of National Wealth and
long habituated his mind to the consideration of the questions
involved in it, is not fitted to be President of the United States
or to be a cabinet adviser of the President, however eminent he
may be as an Astronomer, Engineer or Sculptor, or however
"superb " he may have shown himself on the battle field.
Forty Eight years ago last November, in a log-cabin, some
fifteen miles from Cleveland Ohio, James Abraham Garfield was
born. When less than two years old his father died, leaving a
widow with four little children, and naught else but a small,
uncleared farm.
As the youngest boy grew up he showed a love of reading
which he seems to have inherited from his mother; But from
yery early years he was obliged to work all day upon the farm
in Summer and at carpenter-work in Winter.
When sixteen years old he became a driver on the tow-path
of the Canal which ran near his home; but the frequent
wettings in the canal., the exposure to the sun and the chill
malarious air of night gave him a terrible fever of which he lay
ill in his mother's house five months. When he recovered, his
desire for learning was so great that his mother, with her scanty
savings determined1 to send him to the Geanga Academy. IHe




hired a little room and with the simple utensils which his mother
gave him he cooked his own food, which cost him less than
fifty cents a week. By laboring at carpenter-work morning and
evening and in the vacation, and at haying and harvesting in
summer, and by teaching school in winter, he was able to study
at the Academy during the Spring and Autumn terms and to
save a little every year with which in time he hoped to be able
to go through College, if he could so prepare as to enter the
junior year.
At the end of his first twelve weeks he went home to Orange,
helped his brother build a barn for their mother, and then
worked at day wages in haying and harvesting:-With the
money thus earned he paid off the arrears of his Doctor's bills
left from his long illness.
When he returned to the Academy he had but a single sixpence:-Going to church the next day he dropped it into the
contribution box!
Think you that the casting of the poor boy's mite was not
recorded above,-or that all the vile slanders which envy can
invent will keep him from that place for which the Lord has
raised him up?
Having spent his last penny in charity on Sunday, he went
with a brave and trusting heart, to study and to work on
Monday. Thus he toiled on, until he was twenty-three years
old, when with all his self-denial he had only half enough
saved for two years of the most frugal College life. His prospects were gloomy enough, but his heart never failed and hope
did not forsake him. He found a man who was willing to advance the needed balance, provided he would get his life insured
and assign the policy, which to the great joy of the young man
was done, and in the fall of 1854 at the age of twenty-three he
entered the junior class of Williams College, where he graduated in 1856 with honors. Soon after he was' made professor of
Greek and Latin, and two years later President of Hiram College.
In 1859 he was elected to the Ohio Senate. Early in 1861 he
was made Colonel of the 42d Ohio Regiment, and soon he had
command of a Brigade. By forced marches he surprised and
routed the rebel forces under Humphrey Marshall in Kentucky,
and continued in active service until after the battle of Chickamauga; for gallant conduct in that battle he was made a Major
General. While in the field he was elected to Congress but
remained in the service some fifteen months after. He has been




returned  to  Congress from  his District at every subsequent
election.  In January last he was elected to the Senate of the
United States, receiving every vote of his party, a compliment
never before paid to any Senator from the State.
After such a life,- -after such a record of twenty years in the
public service,-after such long continued and never faltering
confidence, on the part of his especially intelligent District and
the people of his state, it wouldc seem superfluous to notice the,attacks made by hostile partisans upon his integrity.
To the honest, to the just, to all the fair-minded no vindication of General Garfield is needed; his manly life; the testimony
of all who have known him  from his youth up; the frank statement of every eminent Democrat of his acquaintance vouching
for his incorruptable integrity.  The public speech of Governor
Fish in which he says;
"Of General Garfield I can speak with the confidence which an intimate acquaintance of very many years, and close official relations during eight years, of
that time, have given to me. No purer, no nobler man ever left the council chamber
of the Nation. In private life an affectionate son, a kind father, a careful parent,
good neighbor and honest citizen; in public life able, far-seeing, truthful. None
doubt his ability, none doubt his integrity, although the necessities of parties and
of politics have led to the circulation of several petty slanders against him. No
better and purer man ever lived."
The published letter of that distinguished Democrat, Judge
Black, written on the nomination of General Garfield saying;
"I have been General Garfield's devoted friend for many years.
If he would carry  the principles which regulate his private
life into  his public  conduct he would make the best Chief
Magistrate we have ever had,'9 should be enough.  But nothing
is enough  for those in  whose malignant breasts are hidden
caves, where loathsome envy, (like the fabled Ghoul feasting
on corpses of the dead) gloats over the defamed and mangled
reputations of good men!  But General Gariield is a candidate
for the Presidency.  Go to the great Library in Philadelphia
and among the pamphlets and journals of the time you shall find
viler calumnies upon VVashington, than upon any Presidential
candidate of our day; and John Quincey Adams during  his
canvass, wrote;
"The bitterness and violence of Presidential Electioneering increases as the
time advances. It seems as if every liar in the country was at work day and night
to destroy my character. It does not surprise me, because I have seen the same
species of ribaldry year after year heaped upon my father, and for a long time upon
Washington."




10
It is a strange fact that in a free Rlepublic, the man who rises
to greatness by his own unaided merits is more envied and reviled
than he who is lifted by family influence and hereditary
wealth.
The life of General Garfield is known from boy to eminent
manhood; it is the earnest, honest, religious life of a good and able
man. Have no fear that calumny will obscure his fame or embitter
his temper, tho' it may sadden his heart.
-lis rival for the Presidency is General Winfield Scott Hancock;-born in easier life, who never soiled his hand with toil
and never paid a doctors' or a talilors'- bill, except with money
furnished by the Government, since he entered West Point at
the age of sixteen; precisely the age at which Garfield, barefooted and half-clad commenced driving on the tow-path of the
canal.
The handsome, unsunned Hancock in his comely uniform and
spotless gloves on the campus at West Point, and the shoeless
Garfield along the muddy canal, do not look much. alike, -and,
their future hopes would be equally unlike in any other country than this, where alone, liberty and fair chance have ever
been permitted. But in the race of life, the tow-path boy,younger by many years, has overtaken the fortunate cadet,
though poverty and illness, with none to help, retarded the one
and powerful friends and the Government of the United States
paid every debt and supplied every want of the other.
They are both men of stainless life. But the one is a noble representative of the principle of equal rights and the Christian
civilization of the North;-the other fairly represents the privileged class of the old slave-holding South, to which is added a
small exclusive element of secession sympathizers in the Northern States.
General Garfield is a statesman of enlarged views and varied
experience. Ie has risen from the people; he feels their sympathies and knows their wants; unless they are cheated, they
will lift him to the Chief Magistracy of the Nation.
If we were at war, there is not a Military man or a civilian in
the country who would not think it preposterous to place Senator Thurman in command of a great army, tho' no unprejudiced
man doubts that he is one of the ablest statesmen of his party,
and no Democrat would make a better President.
The accomplished soldier Hancock would be as unsuited to
the Presidency, as the accomplished statesman Thurman would
be unsuited to the command of an army.




The American people have a keen sense of the fitness of
things.
There is no more exalted station than that of President of the
United States!
What has General Hancock done to merit this high place?
Wthat civil experience has he had, what studies has he pursued
to fit him for the great office 
The sole thing which entitles him to public favor is, that he
fought well for the Union against the Rebels.
Do the Solid South wish to make him President for that?
Have they suddenly turned loyal to the Union and repented of
secession  Not even a maudlin doughface of the North believes
it, and there is not a Southern Rebel who would not scorn to
pretend it. The South have never concealed their purposes and
they have never mistaken their man. They take General Hancock because they know that the party is stronger than he, and
they know that they can force him to their use. They hope
that the Union soldier may win a few votes from the credulous
North,-enough to transfer the Government.
If the South had 185 Electoral votes instead of 138, do you
for one moment suppose that they would have nominated
Hancock?
The Solid South makes chiefly the Hancock party; they call
it the Democratic Party. W~ithout the South the Democratic
Party would be nowhere. At the Extra Session last year, commenced the " aggressions" which Judge Daniels told us should
be "continuous" if Hancock was nominated. They took possession of both Houses of Congress. In the Senate were 42
Democrats: Twelve only from the populous North, and seventeen Confederates were made chairmen of the seventeen most
important committees.
To this party General Hancock addressed his long-delayed
and carefully prepared letter of acceptance.  He announces
that tilhe war was over long ago, and that "the time has come
to elnjoy the substatia1 benefits of reconciliation!"  The white
Republican and the freedmen of the South have been " enjoying" these substantial benefits for some time, —and the North
will begin to taste of that e;joymnent soon after they surrender the government!  Ite says, that the "' bayonet is not a fit
instrument for collecting the votes of freemen:9 but lie does
not say, whether he thinks the shot-gun, the halter, tissue
ballots and torture, fit instruments with which to disperse and
destroy the votes of freemen! 




12
In that letter he is silent about the millions of Southern
damage claims against the payment of which the Constitution
makes no provision; but he now frankly says that he would
veto them. It is amazing to hear men, supposed to be intelligent
tell you that the 4th Section of the XIV Amendment forbids the
payment of these claims: The words are
"But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or
obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or
any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but such debts, obligations and
claims shall be null, illegal and void."
You would suppose that the wayfaring man, however great
a fool could understand this.  There is no Constitutional
provision against the payment of damage done or against giving
a pension to every Confederate Soldier; and General Hancock
is too manly to make any such false statement.
I read from the journals of the day that when he was nominated at Cincinnati,'The band was playing DIXIE!" "The
nomination was then made unanimous, amid great cheering,'and
the band played DIxiEfirs't."
This was all consistent, and if YHancock is elected, "Dixie,
will be " played first "' again.
The Union soldier crippled in the war, will be turned out of
his little place to make way for the Confederate who helped to
cripple him; and when the limping one-armed " boy in blue "7
is begging for employment to give his children bread, point him
to your sons, and tell them, "this is the outcome for ruined
health and maimed limbs sacrificed in battles for the Union!
Let' "Dixie " be played again, and become the National air!"
General Hancock is the selection of the South, and a sectional
candidate. I know him to be a courtley gentleman; if President, I believe that he would feel in honor bound to do all that
he could for-his party,-and that he would insist that no
President could resist the will of that party whose principles
he had espoused, and by whose power he had been exalted.
Whoever gains the Presidency will find himself powerless
unless supported by his Party. The President cannot make a
village Post Master without the consent of the Senate, or get
his own salary without the consent of the house. He is powerful while backed by his party-powerless when he breaks with
it. Even the Queen of England is subject to the party in
power.




13
On the recent change the Queen did not wish Mr. Gladstone
for her Prime Minister, but the party forced her to send for
him.
Few consider how  absolutely the value of our property depends upon an able and just Government.  You may own a
richer mine than ever tempted the cruelties of Cortez in Mexico,
but if the Government does not protect you in its development
a thousand million of the unmined gold is not worth a two
dollar greenback.
The action of the Government may decrease or destroy the
value of your property in many ways.  We are apt to forget
that when the Government issues bonds or incurs debts for any
purpose these obligations must be paid by  those  who have
property, and who earn property, by the laborer and the
man  of substance.  If by  sectional legislation  extravagant
expenditures are made by the Government in the  South, lNorthern capital and Northern labor have to pay the chief part.
Let those who tell you that State Sovereignty and the right
of secession was given up with the surrender at Appomattox,
read the following:
OFFICE OF STATE SUP'T PUBLIC EDUCATION,)
STATE OF LOUISIANA,
NEW-ORLEANs, Aug. 21, 1880.
Messrs. CLARK, & MAYNARD.-GENTLEMEN: Please accept many thanks for the
"Government Class Book " sent this office.  I have examined it with much care,
and while there is much to admire in its beautiful and attractive dress, and typographical neatness and accuracy, in its clear and perspicuous as well as condensed
statements, yet it contains many statements which are not borne out by a strict
construction of the Constitution of the United States; and the heresy now so
popular in some sections that this is a Nation, is one that I, at least, am
unwilling to be taught the children of Louisiana, for it is not true, if the early
Fathers of the Constitution knew whereof they affirmed. I regret that any such
sectional'idea (perhaps I should say "National" idea) should pervade the book.
I regret I cannot introduce it into the schools of Louisiana, for with this exception I like it. Very respectfully,
EDWIN H. FAY, A. M.,
State Superintendent of Public Education.
Do you think that Superintendent Fay will lose his place?
Tell me candidly, Fellow  Citizens, which of the two parties
can you most safely trust for the next four years?
The party which saved to the Nation the only hope of Union,
and freed a fettered race; under whose lead peace and confidence
and unexampled prosperity have come; the party of the enlightened, progressive civilization of the free North, or the party
trained in the sentiments, traditions and tardy civilization of the




slave power?-which when the war was near success, declared
in National Convention, that it was a failure and. ought to be
abandoned; which pronounced the emancipation Proclamation,
the re-construction acts and the Constitutional  amendments
" revolutionary  and void;"  which  committed  the enormous
election frauds of 1868, and the tissue ballot crimes of a more
recent date; which when resumption of specie payment was
near, proclaimed  it impossible  and wanted  to  repeal the
resumption law; which, last year threatened to put out your
light houses, stop your commerce and block the wheels of Government by withholding supplies unless the wholesome laws
were repealed which loyal men had  passed to preserve the
purity of elections; which opposed every plan to restore the
National Credit, and which coming into the Legislative power
this  Government at  the  Extra-Session,  commenced  these
"aggressions " which justly alarmed the North.
General HIancock  says that he will veto the rebel claims;
But Wade Hampton speaking for the " Solid South " says;
"V/e believe as firmly as in the eternal Word of God, that we were in the right;
and we have a settled faith, which no trials can shake, that in his own good time
the right will be made manifest."
~What is the inevitable logic of this'" settled faith."'Faith
without iworks is dead!"  To what works will not this settled
faith lead 9
Governor Vance,, now  Senator from  North Carolina tells in
his recent speech to what it leads;
" The South asks no bold and unfair thing when she demands her rightful compensation for homes destroyed, farms laid waste and pillaged, property stolen, and
slaves released by the Yankee plunderers who lived upon us and then refused us
bounty. And it is time that the whole North should understand this. It is time
that the North should understand that it must atone, as far as it can, for all the
South has suffered in body, pocket and soul. Our time is coming, boys, and the
long purgatory that we have gone through will only make our paradise the brighter
when we get there."
They  honestly  believe  that they  had  a  right to  secede; that the war to, keep them  in the Union was a wrong;
and that the damage to their property caused by armed forces
coercing the States back ought to be paid by those who caused
the damage: —they have proclaimed the doctrine from the first.
They insisted that under the  Constitution  the  States were
Sovereign; that Slavery w asa State institution inviolable by the
Fed:eral Power.




By arms the South was vanquished, but not a man, woman or'
child in the Slave-States was convinced by this rude argument.
They believed then, and they believe now, that might prevailed
over right; that depriving them of their property in Slaves, and
damaging their estates by an invading' army was a grievous
wrong for which the  Northern  Government ought to make
reparation!
As I have shown, that W Tade Hampton speaking for the South
says:
W" Ae believe as firmly as in the Eternal VWord of God, that we were right."
General Gai~feld, speaking for the North on the 3d of October
last said;
"It was part of the policy of the Confederate authorities from Jefferson Davis
down to make Union prisoners idiots and skeletons, and to exchange broken and
shattered bodies and dethroned minds for strong, robust well-fed rebel prisoners.
* * * Finally, and in conclusion, I am willing, and I think that I speak for
thousands of others-I am willing to see all the bitterness of the late war buried in
the grave of our dead. I would be willing that we should imitate the condescending,
loving kindness of Him who planted the green grass on the battle-fields, and let the
fresh flowers bloom on all the graves alike. I would clasp hands with those who fought
against us, make them my brethern and forgive all the past, only on one supreme
condition: that it be admitted in practice, acknowledged in theory, that the cause
for which we fought and you suffered, was and is and forever more will be right,
eternally right. That the cause for which they fought was and forever will be the
cause of treason and wrong. Until that is acknowledged, my hand shall never grasp
any rebel's hand across any chasm, however small."
I have asked many of my Democratic friends, whether in case
of the accession of the South to power they did not apprehend
such action as would impair public confidence?
And the answer has been uniform; "6 Oh-No;-the Jorth would
never stand that: why,-it would destroy the Democratic Party
forthwith, and not a Northern Democrat would be left in Congress two years."
My friends,-are you quite sure that the enforcement of
Southern doctrines would destroy what you call the  "Democratic Party'"  It would not destroy the Southern wing of that
party, the only qwing with which it can soar to power.
Give the South the control of the vast power of the Federal
Government, with  a hundred  thousand  official places, the
annual disbursement of untold millions, the handling of Government loans, with the authority over Banks, and do you think
that:they cannot continue to' get the 47 votes needed from  the
North l..t is childish folly-to imagine otherwise.  If- you cannot: keep: the: power which you have, you  cannot' getVit back
when it is lost.




16
It was said of old; "The warrior's strong bow to him who can
bend it, and the heavy sword to, him who can wield it."  If we
have not the manhood and the will to maintain our sovereignty,
be quite sure that the mass of the people will turn to those who
have.  Lose the control of the Government now and you lose it
for a generation.
We may boast of our education,%our culture and our wealth,
but if we are subtle Greeks instead of valiant Romans, if we
lack the persistent courage which makes great rulers of a
Nation, we heap up riches for the bolder Spoiler and Empire
passes to those who can handle it.  The Nations of the world
look on, and they will rightly judge by the result, whether we
of the North were born to command, or whether we are of
meaner race, fit only for industries, trade and inventions; destined by the laws of Nature and of God to take inferior place
among the great powers of the earth.  MIay it be possible that
our valor and our virtues are spasmodic and wilt away before
the sterner will of more heroic souls!
Wade ltampton the leader of Democratic leaders has lately
in a public speech proclaimed the Democratic doctrine thus;
" With a united South casting one hundred and thirty-eight electoral votes, we
need only New York and Indiana, and I believe we shall have them. If we elect
the Democratic nominee the Republican party will go to pieces like a rope of sand."
"Consider what Lee and Jackson would do were they alive. These are the
same principles for which they fought for four years. Remember the men who
poured forth their life bl6od on Virginia's soil, and do not abandon them now.
Remember' that upon your votes depend the success of the Democratic ticket"
MEN AND WOMEN OF THE NORTH:-So nobly brave and selfsacrificing in the war, so broad and generous in your charities,
who pay most of the  taxes, produce most of the wealth,
have nearly all the commerce and manufactures of the United
States, do we lack some of the loftier aspirations which make
an exalted people'? When we reach the highest field of the
human intellect and character,-the wise Government of a great
Nation, —shall we show indifference to honor, and infirmity of
will, by which we throw  away an Empire and submit to the
aggressive rule of bolder men, who never "'let I dare not wait
upon I would?"
A strange fatuity blinds the Northern mind to public dangers
which are at all distant, and no experience seems to awaken our
apprehension.  We would not believe that the sacred pledge to
freedom, known as the  ".Missouri Compromise" could be




17
trampled with infamy! When on the'election of Lincoln the
long-threatened secession began, I heard our most eminent
statesman tell the believing merchants of New York that in
sixty days it would all be over. When the South made war
and General Sherman said it would require 250 thousand
men to put down the rebellion, the Northern press and the
Northern people declared that he was insane:
After the ballot was given to the freedmen none of us would
believe that the large Electoral vote thus added to the South
would all be counted for the Confederates, precisely the same
as tho' every freed negro had voted for the Southern white
man; nor would we believe that in the spring of 1879, that
twenty-three would sit in the Senate who conspired to destroy
the Union; or that Wade Hampton would proclaim in public
speech on the 26th of July in this year, that the principles for
which Lee and Jackson fought were the same as those which
the Democratic Party, with Hancock at its head, now advocates.
5We have cherished pleasant delusions about the Census,
which prove to be as false as our dreams about the increased
power which negro suffrage was to give us: -It turns out that
the South is reported to have increased much faster than the
North, and that Southern representation will be relatively larger,
intead of greatly less, as we boastfully predicted! W~e look
bewildered, -and wonder how it can be! Will we never have
done wondering? Is it a marvel that the Party which made
the false count in 1868 and committed the tissue ballot crimes
quite lately, should return a fraudulent Census.
The Enemy have us at disadvantage in this Contest. They
have no scrup]les: —They can stuff the ballot, falsify the count,
and fire the shot-gun; rwhile we hesitate to use even the lawful
means of victory.
The Presidential Canvass opened last autumn-the issues
were presented.-we knew then, as well as now, that all would
depend upon New York. We won Governor and both branches
of the Legislature, and thus obtained the certainty of gaining
the Electoral vote of the State if we chose. N/ot by fraued but
by lawt. Until the time of Van Buren we always chose Electors
by the Legislature. He opposed the change, but it finally
came. All we had to do last winter was to put the law back
and thus secure the State. Do you suppose that any Southern
State would have thrown away the certainty and taken the
chance of a;Presidential defeat? WTe did clearly right, if we




think it of no importance which party wins. It is not so clear, if
we believe what we profess. Chinese gongs are poor weapons
of war against shot-guns and Winchester Rifles. If we are
counted out' next November we shall realize our danger, and
find, perhaps, too late, that what the people demand is good
Government, and that canting flattery of the people, which
they see through and despise, is not Government. Millionaires,
rich men, respectable conservatives of New York, you will get
waked up some day! It only wants a resolute leader of the
populace with courage in his heart, and brains under his hat,
to make you very uncomfortable. We are prosperous just now,
and all is quiet-it will not be so alwagays-and then you wyill
want a Government, such as you will not find, if you shirk
political duties. We would most gladly see complete harmony
restored between the two sections of our country, but upon
terms which are not humiliating; and when I daily read the
boastful speeches about the " Solid South," and recall the
wrongs by which it has been made solid, I know full well that
some day, somehow, there will be a Solid North. There can be
no lasting peace which is not founded on justice.  When Wade
Hampton told the Virginians the other day, that they only
needed 47 votes and that New York and Indiana would give
them, he expressed no union sentiment, but the purest Sectionalism; and when he added, "If we elect the Democ;cratic nominees
the Republican Party will go to pieces like a rope of sand,'" he
made no idle boast. Power attracts votaries, and especially a
new and resolute power. I have no hatred towards the South;
I respect their courage, their frank avowal,of their prinlciples,
their persistent and unfaltering purpose to rule within or
without the Union; but I do not wish them  to reign over the
North-it would be a grievous rule-humiliating, degrading,
and for us, shameful in the extreme. It would prove that
every word of scorn which they formerly heaped upon us was
deserved.
The party of H-Iancock is the party of State rights-the party
of secession-it has never recanted its heresy or repented of the
Rebellion. It caused the war from which came the burden of our
National debt. It has opposed every measure for the restoration of the Public Credit, or for the return to specie payments.
Senator Blaine, than whom, no man is better informed, has
shown in a recent speech that, " Against every one of these
measures the Democratic Party offered a stern resistance.




Mr. Thurman and Mr. Bayard, as usual, in the lead. Mr.
Bayard further advocated the substitution of the old State bank
system for the Nlational bank system-a measure fraught with
merciless disaster to the whole financial and commercial community.'"
I ask the merchants, mantfacturers, operatives and laborers
of the North, are you willing to see your reviving trade diminished, your busy wheels stand still, your furnaces go out,
foreign iron and foreign goods flooding the market, wages fall
and crowds of willing men seeking in vain for work? So sure
as night follows day, this you will see if you turn  over
the Government to those who hate the Union and tried to
destroy it 
Tell me; are you ready to admit that we made a wicked
blunder when we went to war for the Union, and to confess
with shame that secessi6n was right and that coercion was a
crime 
If the Democratic South elect their Candidate, no sudden
convulsion will follow,- and scoffers will say, "where is the
promise of its coming 29."  They will slowly consolidate their
plans;-they will know that the same defects of character which
made the North surrender, may be relied upon to keep the
North in subjection. They will give us no excuse for war;
*they will not secede and leave us in possession of the vast
power of this great Government; they will keep it in their
own hands: W~ith its places, the collossal disbursements of
the public funds, and the favors they can grant, this will be an
easy work for courageous men who make politics the business
of life, and whose pride would make them " rather reign in Hell
than serve in Heaven."9
iWe shall never change their determined purpose by yielding
or soft words: They are bold and persistent in the game for
Power: But I pray that we may never see Union Soldiers
begging their bread, and Rebel Soldiers in revelry on the spoils
of the out-witted, befooled, emasculated North.
In the words of that true patriot General Grant, in his letter
to Senator Logan, "IT WILL NOT DO TO BE BEATEN NOW."
















REMARKS
OF
THE HON. EDWARDS PIERREPONT,
At a meeting of the New York Bar, held on the 13th of January, 1882, to
take notice of the decease of the late
EDWIN VW. STOUGHTON.
Mr. Chairman  and Gentlemen of the Bar:-We are told,
that " it is better to go to the house of mourning than to
the house of feasting.'' —
The funeral brings out the nobler generosities of our
nature, and lifts the soul far higher than the feast.
In the heated race of life the better impulses are often
suppressed;-but when a fellow laborer falls by the way,
we pause, and would gladly lift him up.
In the sepulchre, we bury every unkind thought or feeling which strife or rivalry may have engendered, and
sorrowing, we plant flowers upon the grave and water them
with our tears.
"It is apointed unto men once to die." —" If it be now,'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it
be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all."
At the age of sixty-three years and nine months, Mr.
Stoughton died.




There still lingers in the world a belief that when a man
has completed the multiple of years which the mystic
numbers 7 into 9 make, the chances are, that his constitution will break up before the year is over, and 63 is called
the "GRAND CLIMACTERIC" of man's life.-Burk mentions
this with respect, and even Sir James Clarke, the late
eminent physician to the Queen, in his very interesting
book upon the preservation of health, speaks of what he
calls, " CLIMACTERIC Disease," and shows how all implortant
it is to guard against the dangers of the "c.limacteric age."
Our brother of the Bar;-at whose grave we mourn, and
to whose memory we would do honor, made his reputation
as a LAWYER;The full merit of what he accomplished in a difficult and
learned profession will not be justly estimated without
reference to the obstacles which he had to overcome.
To his youth, fortune did not come smiling, and she gave
him no golden key to the chambers of success;-At each
door his right to enter was challenged, and he had to make
good that right, —and lhe did it, VALIANTLY.
He came down to New York from his native Vermont,
at the age of 18:-he had ro advantages of collegiate or
university education, and commenced the weary drudgery
of a lawyer's boy in a lawyer's office: By industry he
earned his frugal support, and by diligent reading in spare
hours, he was able, at the end of five years, to be admitted
to the Bar.
The protracted time of toil which he spent before any
conmmanding position was reached, but tells the story of
every man who has attained eminence at this Bar:- -whoever imagines that such eminence can be reached without
great labor, diligence and native ability combined, does not
reason wisely. Within its inner temple, the LAW tolerates
no idler, or man of ordinary faculties,-and the lawyer
who reaches it, enters by right of his own good brain and
force of character.
When he opened an office in this great city,-without
mneans, without any powerful friends, —with no family connections to aid him,-his prospects, to the ordinary mind,




were gloomy enough;-but then, as now,-the young man
who has that "audacity of faith," which comes of youth,
and the conscious possession of great native gifts, and determined purpose, casts out fear;"' And with ambitious feet, secure and proud,
Ascends the ladder leaning on the cloud."
As his income increased he lived with profuse hospitality,
and at his luxurious table he was fond of quoting the saying
of a great barrister, that " Lawyers worked hard, lived well,
and died poor."  He certainly "worked hard and lived
well," but the latter part of the quotation, I think, will not
apply.  He was alwayvs liberal with his household and
equally liberal with all who were dependent upon him. He
was successful in life, regretted and honored at its timely
close. He had reached the full measure of professional
eminence, and after the mid-autumn of life no lawyer can
reasonably hope to add fresh laurels to his fame. He was
able in the general practice, but especially distinguished in
the department of Patent Law. I believe that he left no
one to suffer who had any just claim to his aid, except'
to suffer that deep sorrow which many in no wise related
sincerely feel.  "His dust shall return to the earth as it
was, and his spirit has returned to God who gave it."
Modern science, nothwithstanding its manifold benefits,
has, in its narrow bigotry, cast some shadow over a happy
faith in the immortality of the soul and the consolations of
religious belief. But this will not last very long; it will
by and bye dawn upon the minds of intelligent men that
the scientists study only the material part of man, and
finding no evidence of soul in the dead man's brain which!
they dissect; they rashly conclude that St. Paul was mistaken when he said "There is a natural body and there is
a spiritual body."
This one-sided view will pass away when the soul of man
is studied with the same earnest fidelity as material substance is investigated. During the temporary obscuration
of faith it may be that chastisemlent and perplexity of
nations will arise. Past history shows that when a people
forget God and disbelieve in the immortal soul it is near the




time when the right of government is disputed and anarchy
ensues. There is no record of a people with any degree of
civilization which has not a religion, and which does not
pray to a Supreme Being in the day of trouble, and no revelations of science will ever eradicate this deep religious
conviction from  the human heart.  We shall miss our
departed brother from the daily walks of life and after a
little while we shall follow him.
In an honored grave, " after life's fitful fever, he sleeps
well." Peace, to his ashes,-and to his undying soul a GLORIOUS IMMORTALITY.




LETTER OF JUDGE PIERREPONTl
ON THE
CREDIT MOBILIER CHARGES.
To t7he Editor of the J2Vev Yorkc Sun:
The New York Sun of the 15th instant has an editorial headed
"LET US REASON TOGETHER,  and calls upon me to meet the
Credit lobitlier charges against General Garfield with a
"lawyer's calm logic," and offers the columns of the Sun,
and through it " an audience of half a million."
I like the proposition, " Let us reason together;" if the South
would but make the same to the North, the over-generous
North would hasten to yield the most liberal concessions
for peace and brotherhood.
The reason given by the Sun for its call upon me is in these
words:
"Mr. EDWARDS PIERREPONT, Republican, Grant's AttorneyGeneral and Minister to England, made a speech the other
evening at the Cooper Institute, and in that speech lie gave
utterance to the following language:'Although the necessities
of parties and politics have lead to the circulution of several
petty slanders against him (Garfield), no better nor purer man
ever lived.' "
The words quoted are not mine; they were credited by me
to Gov. Fish, but I may be fairly held responsible as indorser.
I am sincerely obliged to the Sun for its vast audience,




On the 14th of January, 1873, Gen. Garfield, before a committee of Congress, swore:
"I never owned, received, or agreed to receive, any stock of
the Credit Mobilier or of the Union Pacific Railroad, nor any
dividends or profits arising from either of them."
It is charged that "this was a perjured sttatement."  It was
deliberately made, and in the course of the testimony it was
reiterated, with emphasis. If it was false, no honest man ought
to vote for Gen. Garfield.
At the outset, it must strike every thoughtful man with
amazement that one " convicted of legislative bribery and perjury" seven years ago should have retained the unfaltering
confidence of his district, should have been continued in Congress, should have been chosen to the Senate of the United
States last winter by every vote of his party, should have been
nominated at Chicago last June for the most exalted place on
earth, and should have received on the 12th of this month such
overwhelming evidence of the love and confidence of his great
State.
All this is quite contrary to human experience, if the charges
are true.
But let us look at the evidence. It is all printed in Congressional documents and lies before me. I shall cite from its
pages verbatim.
So early as 1859, the " Credit Mobilier" Company was
chartered under the Laws of Pennsylvainia.'In the winter of 1857-8, [Mr. George Francis Train told Mr.
Garfield that the company proposed to buy lands along the
line of the Pacific Road where towns aud cities were likely to
spring up, and asked him to take $1,000 of the stock. Gen.
Garfield had no money, and declined the proposition. Sorne
time later Mr. Oakes Ames  made a similar proposition, and
MIr. Garfield told him that, however tempting the enterprise,




he had not a thousand dollars to invest, but that, on the' contrary, he was in pressing need of even $300, which he owed;
that he had been to Europe the past summer, and had to
pledge his salary in advance. Mr. Ames said that he would
loan him $300, remarking that if Mr. Garfield finally concluded
to take the stock, this loan could be acdjusted in that way.
Several months later the loan was repaid, and that is the
only business transaction ever had between the two men.
As Gen. Garfield swears, and as aMr. Ames' testimony hereinafter cited proves, not a share of stock was ever transferred
to Mr. Garfield or ever stood in his name, and not a dividend
was ever received by him on any shaie or stock whatever, and
not a dollar from  the sale of any interest therein. In the
Presidential contest of 1872, it was charged that sixteen members of Congress had received shares in the " Credit Mobilier,"
and Mr. Garfield's name swas mentioned as one. He was then
away in the Rocky M[ountains.
On the 15th of September he reached Washington, long before Congress met, and forthwith he caused to be published in
the Cincinnati Gazette a statement denying that he had ever
held, subscribed. for, owned or seen a bond or share of the
stock. When Congress met in the following December, Mr.
Speaker Blaine, whose name was also mentioned, moved a
committee of investigation, of which Mr. Poland, of Yermont,
was chairimian.
Investigation revealed that Mr. Oakes Ames held one hundred and eighty shares of this stock as trustee for the purpose,
as the phrase was, "Qf placiicy it where it woovtd do the'most
good."  On the 13th of July, 1867, Gen. Garfield sailed for
Europe, and on the 9th of November following returned to
New'York. In the winter of 18G7-8 the conversation between
Garfield and Ames and the loan of the $300 is said by General
Garfield to have occurred.  Whatever sum was loaned or




paid to Garfield, whether it was $300 or $329, it was loaned or
paid before June 22, 1868, or on that day, as all admit, and that
not a dollar passed after that date. On the 17th of December,
1872, Mr. Ames gave his testimony (pp. 15-58), and said:
" Q. In reference to Mr. Garfield, you say that you agreed
to get ten shares for him, and to hold them till he could pay
for them, and that he never did pay for them nor receive
them?  A. Yes, sir.
Q. He never paid any money on that stock, nor received any
money from it?  A. Not on account of it.
Q. He received no dividends? A. No, sir; I think not; he
says he did not; my own recollection is not very clear.
Q. So that, as you understand, Mr. Garfield never parted
with any money, nor received any money on that transaction?
A. No, sir; he had some money from me once, some throee or
four hundred dollars, and called it a loan; he says that is all he
ever received from me, and that he considered it a loan; he
never took his.stocol aCnd never paidfor it.
Q. Did you understand it so? A. Yes; I am willing to so
understand it; I do not recollect paying him any dividend, and
have forgotten that I paid him any money (p. 28).
Q. Who received the dividends?  A. Mr. Patterson, Mr.
Bingham, James F. Wilson did, and I think Mr. Colfax received a part of them; I do not know whether he received
them all or not; I think Mr. Scofield received a part of them;
Messrs. Kelley and Garfield never paid for their stock, and
never received their dividends " (p. 40).
On pp. 19-21 he mentions by name eleven who bought
stock, but (p. 21) he says: "He (Garfield) did not pay for it or
receive it."
On pp. 23-41 he mentions having paid dividends to eight
members of Congress, and he says that to several of them he
paid all the dividends that accrued. He says, p. 28: "I do
not recollect paying him (Garfield) any dividend and have forgotten that I paid him  any money."  Page 40: "Messrs.
Kelley and Garfield never paid for their stock, and never received any dividends."
This completely sustains Gen. Garfield.




This testimony of Mr. Ames was given (be it remembered)
December 17, 1872. It was published January 6, 1873.
On the 15th of January, Mr. T. C. Durant, a heavy stockholder, and long president of the company, was examined (p.
173) and said:
"The stock that stands in the name of Mr. Ames, as Trustee, I claim belongs to the company yet, and I have a summons in a suit in my pocket waiting to catch him in New
York to serve the papers."
After this testimony of Mr. Durant, and on the 22d of January, 1873, Mr. Ames took the stand again, and testified (pp.
267-290) that he gave certificates of stock to others, but that
he never gave any to Mr. Garfield, and that none were ever
spoken of (pp. 295-6). In the case of others he took regular
receipts, but none were ever pretended to have been taken by
or given to AMr. Garfield (pp. 21, 113, 191, 204, 337, 456, 458).
To five members he gave checks payable to them by name on
the Sergeantat- at-[rms, which were produced (pp. 333, 334,
449), also three others bearing the initials of the parties; but
no check with name or mark or letter relating to Gen. Garfield, or writing or receipt with his name, initials or mark, was
it pretended ever had existed.
Mir. Ames swears that he paid to various persons the dividlends which accrued, and that one purchaser sold his ten
shares at a profit of $3,000, and that dividends went on for
some foyer years after the time when he says he gave $329 to
Mr. G;arfield, in June, 1868 (pp. 191, 337, 217, 461, 454), but
that he never paid Mr. Garfield a dollar cfter that date, and
never spoke to him about it (pp. 40, 296, 356).
At p. 296 he says:
"Q. Was this the only dealing you had with him  in reference to any stock?  A. I think so.
Q. Was it the only transaction of any kind? A. The only
transaction.




Q. Has that $329 ever been paid to you? A. I have no recollection of it.
Q. Have you any belief that it ever has? A. No, sir.
Q. Did you ever loan Gen. Garfield $300? A. Not to my
knowledge; except that he calls this a loan.
Q. There were dividends of Union Pacific Railroad stock
on these ten shares? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did Gen. Garfield ever receive these? A. No, siir; he
never received but $329.
Q. Has there been any conversation between you and him
in reference to the Pacific stock he was entitled to? A. No,
sir.
Q. Has he ever called for it? A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever offered it to him? A. TNo, sir.
Q. Has there been any conversation in relation to it? A.
No, sir."
It is simply preposterous to suppose that during these'four years, from 1868 to 1872, Mr. Garfield owned stock paying large dividends and never received a dollar, and never sold
the stock, while he was in debt, building a house, in urgent
want of money, giving mortgages to raise it, and has never received anything, either by way of dividend or sale, to this
hour.
There is not a pretence that he ever received but $329, whicl
sole suin it is admitted was paid, if at all, so early as Junle 22,
1868. In discussing this question, we are to presume that a
sane man will act with ordinary common sense.
Mr. Ames admitted that after December, 1867, the various
dividends amounted to more than 800 per cent., but reiterated
that Mr. Garfield never had a dollar of stock or bonds, and
never any dividend save the $329.
Mr. Ames produced his diary of 1868 containing a statement
of an account with twelve Members of Congress relating to
these shares (pp. 450-461). All but three are crossed off (pp.
451, 458, 459). At pp. 459, 460, Mr. Ames admitted that the
account with Garfield's name had sever been adjusted.




"GARFIELD.
"10 shares Credit M..............                $1,000 00
7 mos. 10 days.............................. 43 36
$1,043 36
80 per ct. bd. div., at 97.............   776 00
267 36
Int'st to June 20th...........................     3 64
$271 00
1,000 C. M.
1,000 U. P.
Q. This statement of Mr. Garfield's account is not crossed
off, which indicates, does it, that the mnatter has never been settled
or ad'justed? A. No, sir; it never has.
" Q. Can you state whether you have any other entry in relation to Mr. Garfield?  A. No, SIR."
Here note that Mr. Ames swears that he has no other entry
in relation to.Alr. Garfield.  But subsequently, on the 22d of
January, 1873, lie presented the following (p. 597):
"J. A. G.                                Dr.
1868.   To ten shares stock Credit Mobilier of A.. $1,000 00
Interest...............    47 00
June 19. To Cash.........................    329 00
$1,376 00
1868.    By dividend, bonds Union Pacific Railroad, $1,000, at 80 per cent., less 3 per
cent..... $776   00
June 17. By dividend, collected for your account..... 600 00
$1,376 00"
It will be seen that these accounts do not agree; and it was
found that this last account was not in his memorandumn-book at
all. The celebrated $329 is here added, for the first time.
Every lawyer of much experience knows that accounts made




up to suit a purpose are apt to carry within themselves some
evidence by which their falsity can be detected.
This one is no exception. It says:
"June 19, to cash.................$329
June 17, by dividend, collected for you. 600"
Ames admits that the dividends continued, and that he
never paid Garfield another dollar. But he is asked how he
paid the $329, June 19, 1868; and (at p. 295) we have it:
" Q. How was that paid? A. Paid in Ioney, I believe."
But he could show no voucher, or even a memorandum  of
his own; and he swears (p. 297):
"Q. You say that $329 was paid him; how was that paid?
A. I presume, by at checkh on the Seryeat-at-A rqns; I find there
are checks filed, without indicating who they were for."
Now we are comining to something not dependent on memory.
The check was found, and, one week after, it was produced
(p. 353):
"JUNE 22, 1868.
Pay O. A., or bearer, three hundred and twenty-nine dollars,
and charge to my account.
OAKES AlMEs."
The other checks showed, by name or initials, to whom they
were given; but " O. A." did not look much like Garfield, but
more like Oakces Ames. The truth was, that Oakes Amnes kept
the stock himself and drew the dividends, and he never attempted to show that he had transferred themn to anyone, and
it was natural that he should fear the law-suits which were to
make him account; but hear his testimony (p. 353):
" Q. This check seenls to have been paid to somebody, and
taken up by the Sergeant-at-Arms; those initials are your
own?  A. Yes, sir. Q. I)o you know who had the benefit of
this check? A. I cannot tell you. Q. Do you think you received the money on it yourself? A. I have no idea; I may
have drawn the money and handed it to another person; it
was paid ill that transaction. It may have been paid to Mr.




Garfield. There were several sums of that amount. Q. Have
you any memory in reference to this check? A. I have no
memory as to that particular check."
But there is another little trouble about this $329.  He
says: "It may have been paid to Mr. Garfield."  But the
check was not made until the 22d of June, and was paid the
same day, as the teller proves; whereas Ames brings a written
account to prove that he paid Garfield on the 19th, three days
before the check  existed.  But he was still further examined (p. 354.):
" Q. In regard to Mr. Garfield, do you know whether you
gave himn a check, or paid him the money? A. I think I did
not pay him the money; he got it from the Sergeant-at-Arms,
upon a check."
Still later, in the same examination, occurs the following
(p. 355):
" Q. You think the check on which you wrote nothing to
indicate the payee must have been Mr. Garfield's?  A. Yes,
sir; that is my judgment."
On the 11th of February, twelve days later still, the subject
came up again, and Mr. Ames said (p. 460):
"A. I am not sure how I paid Mr. Garfield."
Still later (p. 471):
"Q. In testifying in Mr. Garfield's case, you say you may
have drawn the money on the check and paid him; is not
your answer equally applicable to the case of Mr. Colfax?
A. No, sir. Q. Why not?  A. I put Mr. Colfax's initials on
the check, while I put no initials on Mr. Garfield's, and I may
have drawn the money myself.  Q. Did not Mr. Garfield's
check belong to him?  A. Mr. Garfield had not paid for his
stock; he was entitled to $329 balance; but Mr. Colfax paid
for his, and I had no business with his $1,200."
"Q. Is your recollection in regard to this payment to Mr.
Colfax any more clear than your recollection as to the payment to Mr. Garfield? A. Yes, sir; I think it is.
" Q. Is it your habit, as a matter of business, in conducting various transactions with different persons, to do it with



out making any memoranda?  A. This was my habit; nntil
within a year or two I have had no bookkeeper, and I used to
keep all my own matters in my own way, and very carelessly, I
admit."
Mr. Ames says in his testimony (p. 281):
" Q. What was the character of the book in which the memoranda were made? A. It was made in a small pocket memorandum, and some of it on slips qof paper."
In the examination of Mr. Dillion, cashier of the Sergeantat-Arms (p. 479):
" Q. There is a check payable to Oakes Ames or bearer;
have you any recollection of that? A. That was paid to himself; I have no doubt myself that I paid that to Mr. Ames (p.
53.)
Mr. Ames continued:
Q. You may state whether in conversation with you Mr
Garfield claims, as he claims before us, that the only transaction between you was borrowing $300? A. No, sir; he did
not claim that with me.
Q. State how he did claim it with you; what was said?
A. I cannot remember half of it; he (Mr. Garfield) stated that
when he came back from Europe, being in want of funds, he
called on me to loan him a sum of money; he thought he had
repaid it; I do not know; I do not remember.
Q. How long after that transaction (the offer to sell Credit
Mobilier stock) did he go to Europe?  A. I believe it was a
year or two.
Q. Do you know  that  he'did not go to Europe for
nearly two years afterward?  A. No, I do not; it is my impression it was two years afterward, but I cannot remember
dates."
Such is Mr. Ames' defect of memory. He complains of it
in his testimony, and says:
"People ask me about things that happened a year ago, and
I cannot tell whether it was ten years ago or one."
The proof is clear that Gen. Garfield sailed July 13, 1867,
the year before June, 1868, instead of two years after.




It is worthy of note that Mr. Ames testified five years after
the transaction.
On page 356, he said he " considered Mr. Garfield the purchaser of the stock, unless it was borrowed money," and on
page 461, at the conclusion of his testimony, he said:
" Mr. Garfield understands this matter as a loan; he says
he did not explain it to him.
Q. You need not say what Mr. Garfield says; tell us what
you think? A. Mr. Garfield might have misunderstood me;
I supposed it was like all the rest, but when Mr. Garfield says
he mistook it for a loan; that he always understood it to be a
loan; that I did not make any explanation to him, and did not
make any statement to him; I may be mistaken; I am a man of
few words, and I may not have made myself understood to
him."
If Mr. Ames had not been sued by Mr. McComb and been
threatened by Mr. Darant with another suit to make him account for the stock, no such charges would have been made
againt Gen. Garfield. Gon. Garfieid's testimony is positive
and explicit.
Every circumstance confirms its truth and there is nothing
in the evidence which shakes it. The report is not evidence,
nor is there evidence to sustain the report.
The report says:
"He (Garfield) agreed with Mr. Ames to take ten shares of
Credit Mobilier stock, but did not pay for the same. Mr.
Ames received the SO0 per cent. dividend in bonds, and sold
them for 97 per cent., and also received the 0Gper cent. cash
dividend, which, together with the price of the stock and interest, loft a balance of $32J. This sum was paid over to Mr.
Garfield by a check on the Sargeant-at-zArms."
This is in direct conflict with Gen. Garfield's sworn statement, and it is fairly argued that if the report is accurate, Gen.
Garfield's testimony is false. The report was signed by Judge
Poland, Chairman, by Judge McCrary and by Gen. Banks, all
of them Republicans and men of character and honor, and




12
each of them has since publicly announced his fullest confidence in the integrity, truth, purity and honor of Gen. Garfield,
thereby admitting the inaccuracy of this part of the report.
Judge Poland says:
"I only desire to have an opportunity to express to the Convention and to Republicans everywhere my entire approval of
the nomination made at Chicago. Probcably no man in Vermont knows General Garfield mnore intimately than myself.
He was in Congress during the whole of my ten years' service,
and for eight years we stood together in the House, and ever
on terms of friendship and intimacy. But our political opponents affect to question his personal integrity andl purity of
character, and to base their accusations upon the evidence
taken before, and the report of a committee of Congress, of
which I was chairman, known as the Credit Mobilier Committee. I believe him to be a thoroughly upright and honest
man, and one who would be so under all circumstances and
against any temptation.  The use that is being made of my
name and of the report of the committee which was drawn
by me, in my opinion, makes it proper for me to express my
personal judgment as to the character of the man."
Judge McCrary, one of the committee, in a public letter of
July last, says:
"With respect, however, to this transaction, I must say that
subsequent developiments and tfurther consideration qf tire matter
long ago led me to the conclusion that the memorandum of Mr.
Ames was very unreliable, and I have for years felt assured ()f
the correctness of General Gaufield's recollection of the facts in
dispute."
Senator HIoar says:
"I was one of the committee who investigated the Credit
Mobilier, and wrote the greater part of the report of the committee known as the Wilson Committee. There was nothing
in the transaction which in the least gave me reason to distrust General Garfield's absolute inteyrity.  I expressed my
opinion of the absolute honor and integrity of General Garfield
in this matter years ago. No man, Democrat or Republican,
who ever served with Garfield does, I think, doubt that he is
absolutely incorrztptible."




And Judge Black, who investigated the whole matter at the
time of the report., wrote a letter to the Speaker of the House
acquitting General Garfield of any wrong; and last June, when
General Garfield was nominated, the judge again wrote, saying: "I have been General Garfield's devoted friend for many
years. If he would carry the principles which regulate his
private life into his public conduct, he would make the best
Chief Magistrate we ever had." Such men do not publicly
commend one " who has been convicted of taking bribes or
swearing falsely."  That part of the report reflecting upon
General Garfield was wholly wrong, unsupported by the evidence, made in haste from a mass of testimony disjointed and
running through a long period, and at a time when Congresswas frantic at the revelations made, and too ready to find
scapegoats for the multitude of sins.
Macaulay says:
" We know no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in
one of its periodical fits of morality  *  *  *  But once in
six or seven years our virtue becomes outrageous. We must
make a stand against vice.
Accordingly some unfortunate man, in no respect more
depraved than hundreds whose offences have been treated
with lenity, is singled out as an expiatory sacrifice.  *    
He is, in truth, a sort of whipping-boy, by whose vicarious
agonies all the other transgressors of the same class are, it is
supposed, sufficiently chastised. We reflect very complacently
on our own severity, and compare with great pride the high
standard of morals established in England with the Parisian
laxity. At length our anger is satiated. Our victim is ruined
and heart-broken. And our virtue goes quietly to sleep for
seven years more.
It is barely possible that some touch of these ancestral traits
unconsciously hurried honorable Congressmen to inconsiderate
and unjust conclusions.
EDWARDS PIERREPONT.
NEw YORI, October 19, 1880.
















THE
IMPENDING CRISIS IN OUR FINANCES.
A PLAN TO MAKE GOLD AND SILVER
CIRCULATE EOUALLY.
— BYEDWARDS PIERREPONT.








THE IMPENDING  CRISIS IN OUR FINANCES,
The Secretary of the Treasury in his able and
very suggestive report shows that of gold, including coin and bullion, the Government owns but
$134,670,790; that of this sum $95,500,000 was obtained by the sale of bonds under the Resumption
act of 1875, to be applied to the redemption of the
legal-tender notes; that by the 12th section of
the act of July 12th, 1882, the Congress implied
that at least $100,000,000 of gold must be held in
the Treasury for the redemption of these notes as
presented, and that the late Secretary, Mr. Sherman, under whose administration of the Treasury
specie payments were resumed, held that gold
equal to forty per cent. of the outstanding legaltender notes should be held in reserve for their
protection; and further, that of those notes there
are now outstanding $346,681,016.
The Secretary says: " Many persons regard the
legal-tender notes as money; that this is a delusion
will be proven whenever there is a large demand
for gold for export. They are not money, but
merely promises to pay it; and the Government




must be prepared to redeem all that may be presented or forfeit its character for solvency."  Referring to the table showing the small amount of
gold in the Treasury, the Secretary says:
"From this statement it is seen that there is no surplus
gold in the Treasury, and that the reserve has been trenched
upon; that there is no plethora of any kind except of silver
dollars, for which there is no demand.
"After giving the subject careful consideration, I have
been forced to the conclusion that unless both the coinage
of silver dollars and the issue of silver certificates are suspended, there is danger that silver, and not gold, may become our inetalile standard. This danger may not be imminent, but it is of so serious a character that there ought
not to be delay in providing against it. Not only would the
national credit be seriously impaired if the Government should
be under the necessity of using silver dollars or certificates
in payment of gold obligations, but business of all kinds would
be greatly disturbed; not only so, but gold would at once
cease to be a circulating medium, and severe contraction
would be the result."
A simple computation shows that all the gold in
the Treasury is less than the forty per cent. reserve
to protect the legal-tender notes by over $4, 000, 000.
It is estimated that there is now in the country
at least $610,000,000 of gold.  Demonetize  this
large sum, and turn the gold into merchandise,
then the "severe contraction" mentioned by the
Secretary would be inevitable.  He speaks, in the
above extract, of the serious injury to the national
credit which must follow from  paying " gold obligations in silver dollars," and he several times, in
the course of his report, speaks of our "gold obligations. "




He evidently, and as we shall show, justly, considers the $346,681,016 of legal-tender notes and
all the coin-bonds of the Government, with their
coupons, "gold obligations."
Take a legal-tender one dollar note of March 3,
1863 —it reads: "The United States will pay to
bearer one dollar."  At that time the silver dollar
of 412- grains was worth considerably more than
the gold dollar.
By the act of March 18, 1869, " The faith of
the United States is solemnly pledged to the payment IN COIN or its equivalent of all the obligations of the United States not bearing interest,
known as United States notes, cand of all the interest-bearing obligations of the United States,
except in cases where the law  acuthorizing the issue of any such obligations has expressly provided that the same may be paid in lawful money or
other currency than gold and silver.        *'
The faith of the United States is also solemnly
pledged to make provisions, at the earliest practicable period, for the redemption of the Uniited
States notes in coin."
At this time also the silver dollar of 412k grains
was worth two and a-half per cent. more than the
gold dollar.
The act of July 14, 1870, authorized the issue of
$200,000,000 of five per cent. bonds.
$300,000,000 four and a-half per cent.
$1,000,000,000 million at four per cent., " principal and interest payable in coin of the present
standard value."




This agreement as to payment was printed on
all of these bonds. At this time also the standard
silver dollar was worth considerably more than
the gold dollar. Indeed, for 20 years next prior to
1873 the silver dollar bore a premium ranging from
2 to 5.22 per cent., in consequence of which, added
to its inconvenient bulk, it had ceased to circulate
as coin, and had become merchandise, and was by
law demonetized in 1873. The " coin of the [then]
present standard value," in which the bonds and
interest were made payable was evidently gold
coin, and so understood by every one at the time.
Such, clearly, was the Government contract. There
was no other standard coin in circulation at that
date; the Government exacted, in gold, the duties
on imports, which by the act of Feb. 25th, 1862,
were set aside to pay interest on the coin bonds; the
Government uniformly paid interest on its bonds in
gold, and in gold up to the present time it has always
paid its coupons and called bonds; and placing this
question beyond debate the Congress by the act of
Feb. 12th, 1873, demonetized the silver dollar and
left no standard coin but gold in which the bonds,
coupons and legal-tefider notes could possibly be
paid, and when the Resumption act of January
14th, 1875, was passed there was not such a coin
of the United States as a standard silver dollar.
The uniform custom of the Government was to
exact all its duties in gold, and to make all its payments relating to the coin bonds in gold; and upon
every precedent in the fair interpretation of contracts and of good faith the Government were
bound to pay these obligations in gold coin of the




then " Standard value," and the bondholders were
bound to receive the same for their bonds and
coupons, and could not exact payment from  the
Government in standard silver dollars of 412-2
grains, whether the same dollar was at a premium
of 5 per cent., or at a discount of 15. Suppose the
silver dollar had not been demonetized, and to-day
bore its former premium, will any one maintain
that the bondholder could claim the right to be
paid in the more valuable silver instead of the gold
coin? Surely not, for the reason that every surrounding and attending circumstance proves that
the "coin" mentioned was understood by all parties at the date of the contract to be gold coin, and
no other.
From the foundation of this Government only
eight million of standard silver dollars were coined
until after the recent Silver bill of Feb. 28, 1878,
went into operation, and the act of Feb. 12, 1873,
declared that silver -should be a legal-tender for
only $5 in any one payment.
The Resumption act of 1875 contemplated the
redemption of the legal-tender notes in ygold, and
in the 12th section of the act of July 12, 1882, the
redemption of the United States notes in gyold was
recognized, and it was therein clearly implied that
-the gold reserve held for such redemption should
at no timefcal below $100,000, 000.
On the 14th of January, 1875, the Resumption
act was approved. In sec. 3, it provides that,
"On and after the first day of January, 1879, the Secretary
of the Treasury shall redeem, in coin, the United States legal



tender notes [then outstanding, on their presentation for redemption, at the office of the assistant Treasurer of the United
States, in the City of New York, in sums of not less than fifty
dollars. And to enable the Secretary to prepare and provide
for the redemption in this act required, he is authorized to use
any surplus revenues from time to time in the Treasury not
otherwise appropriated, and to issue, sell and dispose of, at
not less than par, in coin, either of the descriptions of bonds of
the United States described in the act of Congress approved
July 14, 1870, entitled' An act to authorize the refunding of
the National debt,' with like qualities, privileges and exemptions, to the extent necessary to carry this act into full effect,
and to use the proceeds thereof for the purposes aforesaid. "
Under the authority of this act the Secretary
issued and sold bonds, for which he received, in
gold coin, $95,500,000 to be held for redemption of
legal-tender notes.
Be it remembered, that when the Resumption
act was passed, the silver dollar of 412k grains wcas
not a coin of the United States, and that no silver
was a legal-tender for more than  $5, and that
the $95,500,000 in gold which was obtained by the
sale of bonds under this act, was always regarded
as a part of a gold reserve to be sacredly held towards the redemption of the legal-tender notes.
On the 1st of November, 1884, the Treasury held
of coin and bullion, all told, but $134, 670,790, with
which to redeem $346,681,016 of legal-tender notes, 
pay interest on a bond debt of $1,206,475,600, and
principal of the called bonds.
From this it appears that the redemption reserve
of gold has been trenched upon, and that upon
gold  obligations the  Government must default
when a panic or a large shipment of gold occurs.




On the 28th of February, 1878, an act was
passed, entitled "An act to authorize the coinage of
the Standard Silver dollar, and to retain its legal
tender character."  The President vetoed the bill,
but it was passed over his veto. This act required
the coinage of a silver dollar of 412- grains of
standard fineness, made it a legal-tender for all
debts public and private (except where otherwise
exprsssly stipulated in the contract), and compelled
the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase silver,
not less than two million dollars a month, and have
it coined.  Section 3 of the act reads:  "That
any holder of the coin authorized by this act may
deposit the same with the Treasurer or any assistant Treasurer of the United States, in sums not less
than ten dollars, and receive therefor certificates of
not less than ten dollars each, corresponding with
the denominations of the United States notes. The
coin deposited for or representing the certificates
shall be retained in the Treasury for the payment
of the same on demand. Said certificates shall be
receivable for custonms, taxes, and all public dues,
and when so received may be reissued."
Up to this time nothing but gold had been
received for customs, which under the act before cited, was set apart; first of all to pay interest on the public debt, and even legal-tender
notes were not receivable for duties, but silver
certificates, not a legal tender, are made receivable for duties by the act.  At this date
silver had fallen largely in value, and those interested in keeping up the price expected that this




compulsory coinage of silver, would raise the value;
but it has beeni falling ever since.
Section 2 of this act provides for an international
conference to adopt a common ratio between gold
and silver, and "internationally to establish the
use of bimetallic money," &c.  Three Commissioners were appointed by the President and proceeded to Europe on their mission.  The writer of
this article was in England at the time, and having
every facility for the investigation took much pains
to ascertain the views of the Ministry and of the
more prominent financial men in London, and he became satisfied that so far as England was concerned,
the mission of the Commissioners would be fruitless
-that England having then had the gold standard
ever since 1816, desired no change and would listen
to none in the direction proposed.  This Commission entirely failed.  In 1881 another Commission
was sent out and failed equally.
We can send out another Commission at equal
cost, and be courteously snubbed for a third time
if we will, but since it is conceded that we are by
far the richest nation in the world and claim to be
the most intelligent, and are large producers of
gold and silver and of nearly everything else which
minister to the wants of man, we shall consult
our dignity and our interest better by attending to
our own financial system and go a begging to
Europe no more. So far as England is to be considered we might as well send out a commission to
persuade her to dethrone the Queen and elect a
President every four years.  Suppose the chief




nations of Europe should agree with the United
States upon a ratio, say 15 to 1, and soon after new
discovery of silver mines should reduce the price of
silver in London to half its present cost, does any
sane man think that silver coined on the international ratio could circulate at its face value for a
single day?
As easy would it be to make, by international
treaty a quartz crystal, equal in value to a Golconda diamond. Coin does not make the only use
for gold and silver, nor does it chiefly determine
their relative value.
In July, 1882, Congress passed a law forbidding
any bank from being a member of any clearinghouse in which silver certificates are not receivable
for clearing-house balances; the Treasury is a
member of the New York Clearing-house, where
by far the greater part of its business is done, and
yet not a single silver certificate or silver dollar has
been received for clearing-house balances, and the
Treasurer reports that, being obliged to use gold,
his available gold ran down from $155,429,600 on
the first of January, 1884, to $116,479,979 on the
12th of August following.
All this shows that the laws of trade, supply
and demand, values established in the great marts
of commerce, and the convenience and will of the
people combined, can defeat any treaty or legislative
enactment relating to trade.
Until the Silver bill of 1878, we could hardly have
been considered in practice a bi-metallic nation. Up
to that time we had coined of the standard silver dol



lars only eight million, while during the same period
we had coined of gold close to a thousand million
dollars-to be exact, $983,159,695.  The silver dollar had not generally circulated as currency for
many years prior to 1873, when it ceased to be a
coin.
Fractional silver coin was in free circulation,
and, long years b)efore, foreign silver coins passed
current.
By the act of Feb. 21, 1853, the fractional silver
coin was so reduced that a dollar in fractional coin
weighed but 384 grains. This was done to keep
them in the country, because a silver dollar of
4121 grains was then worth more than wa gold dollar.
A dollar in fractional coin, since the Coinage act
of Feb. 12, 1873, weighs only 385k- grains.
By the Coinage act of 12th Feb., 1873, the silver
dollar of 412A grains was demonetized and the gold
dollar of 25180 grains was made the standard of
value.
In the words of the Act: "A one dollar piece
which, at the standard weight of 250T% grains, shall
be the unit of value."
The act further says:  "The standard of both
gold and silver coins of the United States shall be
such that of one thousand parts by weight, nine
hundred shall be of pure metal and 100 of alloy.
This is the standard of purity, not of value.
By the same act, the gold dollar of the standard
fineness, and weighing 25-18 grains was made the
unit OF VALUE.




The English sovereign has 917 parts of pure
gold in a thousand.
In other civilized nations, as well as our own, gold
is the standard by which all values are measured,
and all exchanges between us and the European
nations are settled on the gold basis. When we
say that prior to 1872 the silver dollar was above
par, we all understand the par of gold.
Thus it is seen that for 86 years we got along
pretty well by coining about a thousand million
dollars in gold, and but eight million of standard
silver.
Many sensible men, familiar with affairs, think
that "there is not gold and silver enough in the
world with which to do the business."
Such are generally old men, who have but a
drowsy idea of the changes in the modes of business which swift steamers, the cable, the telegraph,
the telephone, bank checks and clearing-houses
have wrought since fifty years ago.
The transactions of the London Clearing-house
are over thirty thousand million dollars a year;
the differences are all settled by checks on the
Bank of England, so that not a coin or bank note
passes from hand to hand in all these immense
transactions.
The business of the New York Clearing-house is
now about the same, but as the balances are not
settled by checks on any one bank, a comparatively
small amount of money passes in their settlements.
In a country like England, small in area, dense




in population, with unparalleled rapidity of communication, and having all the modern facilities
for exchanges, a gold currency, with subsidiary
silver and bank notes based on gold are all that is
needed. But in a country like ours, vast in extent, thinly peopled, and in many parts, lacking
the means of rapid transit, a much larger currency
is required than gold can supply.
France, considerably smaller than the State of
Texas, and thickly populated, has an active circulation of $43 per capita, while the United States
has less than $24 per capita.
But it is useless just now to discuss the question
whether a single gold currency or a bi-metallic
currency is the better. The judgment of the country is decidedly in favor of a gold and silver currency, and considering what large producers we
are of both metals, this settled judgment is probably right, and the real question is, how can the two
metals be made to circulate so that one shall not
demonetize and drive out the other?
The silver advocates in their inconsiderate eagerness to benefit their patrons have unwittingly reduced the value of silver, and if there is not a
change in the coinage law it will be reduced still
more.
Secretary McCulloch foreseeing  the coming
trouble, proposes, as some measure of relief, a withdrawal of one and two-dollar notes, and thus force
silver dollars into circulation, which dollar he distinctly says is worth but 85 cents, and that a dol



13
lar in our fractional coin is worth  but about 78
cents.
The Secretary further says:
"The amount of one-dollar notes in circulation is $26,763,097.80; the amount of two-dollar notes in circulation is
$26,778,738.20. Congress, would, I think, act wisely in putting an end to their circulation. Nor do I hesitate to express
the opinion that the country would be benefited if all five-dollar
notes should be gradually retired and the coinage of half and
quarter eagles should be increased. If this should be done,
the circulating medium of the United States below ten dollars
would be silver and gold, and we should be following the example of France, in which there is an immense circulation of
silver coin, which in all domestic transactions maintains a
parity with gold."
The example of France is not a happy illustration to apply to our country. It is true. that in
France there is a considerable circulation of silver
coin, but France is a thickly populated and compact country.  A  single State of the 38 United
States contains 26,324 square miles more than the
whole of France, and one Territory of the United
States is twice as large as France, with 157,757
square miles besides.
France has, of legal-tender silver coin, about
$540,000,000, and she coins no  more, but most
of this lies dormant in vaults; she has, of
gold coin, about $870,000,000, and notes of the
Bank  of  France,  in  circulation,  $568,727,469.
By far the larger part of her actual circulation
is gold and bills of the Bank of France.  There
is no very large amount of silver in active
circulation. Everywhere in France, in settlement




of the balance of your bill at the hotel, the railway,
the restaurant, the factory, the shop or the marketplace, you will receive in exchange for a Bank of
France note, gold, or gold and bills with a dollar or
two of silver-never as many as ten. No large
amount of silver is carried about in France or
kept in shops of trade.
The habits of a people come of their conditions,
necessities and convenience. Our habits require
paper mtoney and small bills. We travel over vast
distances, and in going from  New York to New
Mexico, and from  thence to Alaska and back, a
considerable amount of small money is required —
exchange offices are not thick along the way. To
carry sufficient silver is impossible and unsafe; the
bearer would be relieved of his burden by " roadagents and missionaries," as they call them, before
half over his journey.
Silver, in proportion to value, is about 28A times
as bulky and 152 times as heavy as gold. Paper
money is convenient and safe to carry, and we are
not going to bear about us many silver dollars.
We want a paper currency convertible into coin
on demand. That suits our conditions and necessities.
The Secretary says: " It is estimated that there
are in the country at this time some $75,000,000 of
fractional silver coins, and that nearly $30, 000, 000
are in the Treasury unavailable as assets."
And he suggests a recoinage so as to bring them
up to the standard of the silver dollar.
The suggestion is a good one, and the reason




given, namely, that this debased coin "is not an
available asset," appeals equally for the recoinage
of the silver dollar.
The Secretary shows that silver has been falling
ever since the passage of the Silver bill, and " that
it is now lower than at any time since the summer
of 1879."
By Government estimate, there is now about
$610,000,000 of gold in the country. Every one
knows that a considerable demand for shipment
and a distrust which would cause hoarding must
turn this gold into merchandise, withdraw it from
circulation and force the Government to default
on its gold obligations, or pay them in silver worth
not more'than 85 cents to the dollar.
When that happens, the "severe contraction"
wvhich the Secretary foretells will be upon us.
Now, what is the remedy? To force out silver
dollars by withdrawing the one and two-dollar
bills would avail but little, and to stop all coinage
of silver surely will not meet the difficulty.
The Bank of England is by law obliged to take
any amount of standard gold offered at the rate of
~3 T1s. 9d. per ounce, and give for the same its
notes at that rate, payable on demand in gold
coin.
A Bank of England note is simply a gold certificate. The coinage is free, and if the holder of
gold bullion wishes to have the coin instead of a
Bank of England note, he can wait the coinage
and have the advantage of receiving ~3 17s. 10d.
coin for his ounce of standard bullion.




The Secretary of the Treasury has not been able
to put in circulation but $41,000,000 of coin out of
the $184, 730,829 of silver dollars already coined,
and it seems well settled that not more than $50000,000 of silver dollar coin can be kept out.
Laws more powerful than legislative enactments
have changed the relative value between silver and
gold-a fact which those dealing with finance must
recognize.
THE TRADE DOLLAR.
As the legislative department of the Government
in the Silver bill seemed disposed to slight its gold
obligations, so in its treatment of the trade dollar
it seems inclined to ignore its obligations regarding
that coin entirely.
THE TRADE DOLLAR holds an anomalous place
among our coins. By the act of Feb. 12th, 1873,
it was made a coin of the.United States, and made
a legal-tender for $5 in any one payment. By the
same act the silver dollar of 4121 grains was demonetized, as was the silver dollar of 416 grains.
The trade dollar weighs 420 grains, and retained its
limited legal-tender character until July 22, 1876,
when by joint resolutions of Congress the legaltender quality was taken away.
When this resolution was approved there had
been coined of the trade dollar $9,256,400, and
after the beginning of 1876 up to the end of 1878
there were coined $26,672,960 when the coinage
ceased, but of this sum $11,378,010 were coined in
the last year of the coinage.




17
The trade dollar is now, and always has been, by
the Act of Congress, "a coin of the United States."
Its intrinsic value is greater than the standard dollar; its circulation has never been prohibited, nor
is there a suggestion in the law authorizing the
coinage against its general circulation; on the contrary, the people were led to believe, and they were
right in believing, that when the law expressly
says, " the silver coins of the United States shall
be a trade dollar, a half dollar, a quarter dollar
and a dime," it meant what it so plainly said, and
meant that a trade dollar was just as much "a
coin of the United States " and had the same right
of circulation as any of the other coins issued.
And Secretary Sherman, in his circular of Sept.
3, 1878, says: "There could be no objection for
"the owner to put the coins into circulation."
Before the legal-tender quality was taken away,
the Government had issued of these dollars between nine and  ten millions, and an eminent
banker in New  York now has over eighty thousand of these dollars, every one of which were
issued before they were deprived of their legaltender character.
Secretary Folger, in his last report, dated Dec.
3, 1883, presents this subject in its true light, and
reveals the discreditable reason for "the  hue
and cry" against the calling in of this coin.  The
Secretary says:
" The act of 1873 made the silver coins of the United States
and hence the trade dollars, a legal tender at their nominal
value for any amount not over five dollars. Thus the reading
of the laws taught the people that the trade dollar was a coin of




18
their Sovereignty, and for the redemption of which, at an unabated value, their Government was bound. * * * It is plain
that a busy people, finding this coin afloat in the channels of
business, syled a coin of the United States, would readily
believe that it was an authentic issue of the Government, and
to be redeemed by the Government, the same as other money
put out by it. From time to time, however, as it suits scheming men and the occasion fits, a hue and cry is raised against it,
it is discredited in the marts, and unwary holders suffer loss or
inconvenience.
As it is a coin of the United States, having the image and
superscription thereof, sanctioned as such by penalties upon
the counterfeiting of it, and once dignified as a legal tender in
payment of debts and dues, it should be restored to its first
state, or called in at its nominal value and melted. In the
judgment of this Department it should be thus called in and
melted."
Some six or seven millions of these Coins are
now held in various parts of this country, awaiting the action of Congress. They are owned
chiefly by banks, bankers, trust companies, charitable societies, traders, and men of varied business, who took them in the regular way and at
their face value, and they repose in confidence upon
the rather tardy justice of the Government.
The crisis, of which Secretary McCulloch lately
warned us, seems unpleasantly near.
The customs, which were collected in gold and
set apart by law to pay the interest on the public
debt, are now, under the Silver bill, chiefly paid
in silver certificates, not even a legal tender, and
worth but 85 cents on the dollar.




19
The Assistant Treasurer of New  York reports
for custolns received during the last week of December, 1884, as follows:
Dec. 23, silver certificates..$254,000. Gold.. $26, 000.
" 24,  "    ".. 211,000.   "   31,000.
" 26,  "      ".. 161,000.   "   39,000.
27,  "      ".. 93,000.   "   25,000.
" 29,  "       ".. 167,000.   "   38,000.
" 30,  "       ".. 202,000.   "  126,000.
Apparently we are near the time  when the
Treasury will be obliged to pay its Clearing-house
balances in silver certificates. A quiet hoarding
of gold has already commenced, and it attracts
notice that the gold certificates, so freely paid out
by the banks a month ago, are no more seen.
So soon as the $610,000,000 of gold, estimated to
be in the country, rises to a premium  and ceases
to circulate as currency, we shall discover that our
financial system is not very sound.
It seems to be well ascertained that fifty millions of silver dollars will meet the extremest
demand which is likely to be made for that coin.
What, then, is proposed?
THE PLAN.
Keeping in mind that by the act of February 12,
1873, a fixed weight of gold was made "the unit of
value," and that the gold dollar of 25s  grains is
the sole standard; this is the plan.




Repeal the Silver bill.
It is not easy to estimate the mischief of that
law, which, in its execution, forced the Secretary
of the Treasury to buy and coin foreign silver, and
thus, to our harm, aid the German Empire. We
have been coining largely of German silver since
the Coinage act of 1878.
Let the Treasury buy no more silver.
Let coinage be free for American silver, and coin
no other, and receive no other on deposit.
Make the silver dollar of 480 grains, and coin
fifty million of them.
Prepare silver certificates, payable in dollars of
480 grains, or in stamped bullion, as the holder of
the certificate may prefer. Make them exchangable for the silver certificates already out, and for
the silver dollars already in circulation, and also
for American silver bullion of standard fineness,
at the rate of 480 grains to the dollar. Make the
certificates a legal-tender, Bank of England notes
-mere certificates-are a legal tender.
The silver already coined is of standard fineness
and can be held as bullion, to be put into bars or
coin as convenience requires; and since the silver
certificates and the silver coin outstanding (within
some given time) may be exchanged for the new
silver certificates calling for a dollar of 480 grains,
no disturbance in the currency could possibly arise
while the new certificates were being prepared, or
while the 50,000,000 of the new dollars were being
coined.
Pay off the gold certificates in gold, and issue
no more. Let gold coinage be entirely free.




During the year 1883, the mines of the United
States yielded of gold $30,000,000, and of silver
$46,200,000; in all, $76,200,000, and it is estimated
that the yield in 1884 will be about the same.
With $872, 000,000 of coin and bullion available
for coinage on the 1st of October last, $346,681,016
of legal-tender, and with an annual product of
$76,200,000 from the mines, we are in no danger
of a lack of currency, without resorting to the
expedient of borrowing money which we do
not want, and paying interest upon bonds issued
for nothing but to make a basis for National Bank
circulation.
THE NATIONAL BANKS.
The National Banks were of inestimable value
to the country in its days of need, and the late
Secretary Chase deserves enduring renown for the
priceless services which he rendered in establishing his system of finance against collossal difficulties.
But now, as the bonds, which secure the bank
notes are paid off, the notes will, of course, be
gradually retired, but the yield- of the mines will
more than supply the vacancy, with silver certificates; and instead of bank notes secured by
paper promises, on which the people pay interest,
we shall have a currency in their stead secured by
the actual deposit of the precious metal without
interest.
As the gold and silver increases in the country,
the "greenbacks " can be paid off in gold when



ever the paper currency becomes redundant, and
the silver certificates may take their place; thus'the Government will, in due tirme, become divorced
from  every function as a banker, and give the
people the best and safest currency in the world;
made up of gold coin and paper certificates backed
by silver deposits.
The banks would go on with their business as
now, obtaining their currency in gold and silver
or silver certificates in whatever way they found
it most for their interest, and no one need fear lest
banking facilities would cease.
The Government vaults would hold the metal
securities for the paper circulation, just as they
now hold the ppaper securities for the bank paper
circulation.
If the silver men cannot see their own and the
country's gain in this plan they must be blind indeed.
It will be asked whether the new dollar may not
also fluctuate in value?
It may fluctuate as often as the tide, but like
the tide, it will maintain its general level for a long
time, as we think; and since we can but darkly
see into the distant future, we act as best we may,
upon probabilities gathered from past experience,
and leave the coming generation to deal with new
conditions as they arise.
The silver, for economic reasons, would seldom
be shipped to settle balances, but gold would more
naturally perform that function, and at home the
silver certificate would pass current in parity with




gold and, until the returning tide would level up
any temporary depression caused by the export.
Free coinage would increase the demand for silver
and stop its downward tendency, and the refusal
to allow the coinage of foreign silver would prevent
a flood of it from abroad.
To escape the danger which is apprehended, it is
now proposed to stop the coinage of silver entirely.
The inevitable effect must be to lower the price
of silver, bring gold to a premium, and withdraw
it from circulation. Those of us who lived in the
war-time well remember how all the coin vanished
in a night, even to the copper cent, and that for
a considerable time we paid stage fare with postage
stamps and transacted other business with " shinplasters;" and that the premium on gold ran up
until on the 11th of January, 1864, it reached from
1523 to 152k, and on the 11th of July, of the same
year, it sold at from 2T76 to 285.
The complaint that silver is not " treated well"
by the Secretary is a childish cry. This is not
a sentimental question.  The treatment, both of
gold and silver is determind by the demand for,
and the supply of the two metals.  Defects
in this plan, which present discussion or future
experience may reveal, can be remedied by Congress.
When this central fact, that all the trade balances of Christendom are settled by the gold standard, and by no other, shall have been comprehended, and also that every scheme through




statutory law, to force silver much above its intrinsic value must come to naught, then the way to
prosperous legislation upon the finances will be
plain.
It may be said that the execution of this plan
will be attended with expense to the Treasury.
When the false idea is exploded, that the Treasury is a money-making corporation, and the true
idea prevails, that the Treasury was made for the
people, and not the people for the Treasury, we
shall have advanced considerably. The Treasury
now shows that it has already made more than
twenty-two millions of profit on the purchase and
coinage of silver. This profit all came from the
people; let some of it be returned to the people in
a dollar worth what it claims to be.
It is the duty of the Government to furnish the
people with a safe and convenient currency, and
to make a question about the small expense to provide a safe.deposit for the securities of that currency is preposterous.
If the silver advocates would destroy themselves
let them stop all silver coinage under the delusion
that they will thus force England and the other
nations of Europe to come to our assistance.
The price of silver depends upon the demand for
it. There will be no very large demand if it can.
not circulate as coin. If coinage is free and confined to American silver, and the coin is of the
weight above indicated, and the certificates issued
upon it are of the same denominations, large and
small as the " Greenbacks," silver will in that form




circulate without driving out gold, and when gold
is needed for shipment, no panic would be caused
or harm done or hoarding take place, and the Secretary of the Treasury might be empowered to use
any but reserved assets in the Treasury to provide
for the gold obligations of the Government.
It is conceded that the Congress of the United
States in the plenitude of its power, overriding
the veto of the President, did by the act of Feb.
28, 1878, make it possible for the Goverment,
LAVWFULLY, to discharge all its gold obligations by
payment in silver dollars worth but 85 cents of
their face value. Perhaps it -will do so; but in so
doing, it will violate the plighted faith, injure the
prosperity, and degrade the honor of the country.
EDWARDS PIERREPONT.
NEw YORK, January 5, 1885.
























The  p8eech of EdWlrdS PM~i?
IN
The Alumni Hall of Yale Un!u~rsiX
UPON
The Presentation of a Portrait of one of its  -
ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF
THE GRADUATING CLASS OF
And the Reply of President Dwij,'~








The   ipeech  o!  EdWardi  pierep lon,
IN
The Alumni Hall of Yale Univorsity,
UPON
The Presentation of a Portrait of one of its Founders,
ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF
THE GRADUATING CLASS OF 1837;
And the Reply of President Dwight.




On the 28th of June, I887, at a meeting of the Alumni of Yale
University in Alumni Hall, there was a crowded assembly over
which Senator Evarts presided and made the opening address:
He was followed by the Hon. Edwards Pierrepont and others.
In closing his address, Mr. Pierrepont turned around, and
addressing President Dwight, who arose-presented a portrait
of the Rev. James Pierrepont, one of the original founders of
the University.
President I)wight, in reply, said:  "In behalf of the Uni" versity, allow me, sir, to accept this valuable and interesting
"gift at your hands,  It is most of all interesting that it comes
"from you, sir-you, an honored representative of the University
"and one whose affection for the College has lasted through
"these fifty years.
"We number you, sir, as one of the illustrious men whom
" Yale has given to the world. It is a privilege, sir, to you and
"to me, that we are descended from this Honorable Man.
"I had not intended to have addressed the Alumni to-day;
"but we have heard from Mr. Pierrepont the criticism that we
"do not graduate the students early enough. The truth is,
"that the years of our boyhood are wasted; from two to four
"years wasted;-were it not for this, we could enter the Uni"versity as early as those distinguished men whom Mr. Pierre"pont has named."
NOTE. —The foregoing and the following is from  the New
Haven Morning News.




ADDRESS OF EDWARDS PIERREPONT.
SUGGESTIONS FOR YALE UNIVERSITY-THE ENTRANCE
EXAMINATIONS-AN  ANECDOTE OF THE LATE
SAMUEL J. TILDEN-WHAT HE SAID ABOUT
THE PRESIDENCY AND HIS CLASS AT YALE.
At the Yale alumni meeting to-day Hon. Edwards Pierrepont
followed Senator Evarts, the presiding officer, and spoke as
follows;
Mr. Chairman-The warning horologue of time strikes the halfcentury for the class of I837:
We now stand where old Yale and all its cherished memories
are fast receding into night,-and we soon shall see the widening
dawn of the eternal day, and with increasing joy as the morning
comes, if our life has been a good one.
This great university has so long been accustomed to hear
only praise from its graduates that a few words of friendly suggestion may usefully break the monotony of admiration.
I open the catalogue of this year and read from page 27,
eighteen closely printed sections, with a statement, that, "all
candidates for admission to the freshman class are examined in
all those books and subjects." The boy of 13 who commences
his preparation must have a stout heart, or be appalled at the
task before hlim; but there is an encouraging note at the bottom
stating that next year more will be required.
I venture to say that not a member of the class of i837 could
pass an examination for the freshman class to-day; and that
there never was a time when he could have passed such examination. If there is any member of the class present who




thinks that I underrate his accomplishments, he will, of course,
correct me.
The requirements for graduating are in harmonious severity
with the requirements of admission. Would it not be well to
have many of these exactions for a degree postponed over to
the resident graduate?
This is a university:-Encourage resident graduates, and all
who wishe to become teachers, professors or eminent scholars,
to remain here; but nine-tenths of Yale graduates propose a
widely different career in life, and for them I fear that you are
going to make the entrance and the honorable exit quite too
difficult, and thus prevent them from commencing the real
work of life until too late.
Education at a large university is of priceless value. If the
noble men who so generously endow various colleges about the
country would bestow the same amount to increase facilities in
universities already established they would largely enhance the
value of their gifts. You cannot make a great university to
order, by the expenditure of any amount of money or the employment of any number of professors:-you may cite any
quantity of logic against this proposition, but the fact will remain.
A university requires age; it must grow up. If the rich
merchants of London should contribute ever so liberally to
make another Westminster Abbey, and should copy every turret
and tower and statue they could not make a Westminster
Abbey.
In a large university one professor can teach 200 students as
easily as twenty, and thus the expenses in this way, as in many
other ways, are greatly diminished.




Besides, that subtle influence, that magnetic force equally
necessary for the development of a healthy body and a healthy
mind, can only come of the congregation of numbers.  Not
only contact of mind with mind, but contact with many minds,
is absolutely essential to a perfect growth. But academical
plodding should cease for those who are to be men of affairs, at
the age of 20, and those studies and observations of the world,
should begin which are suited to the career proposed.
Eton college is one of the oldest foundations in Christendom.
It is 447 years old. No college has sent out so many who have
become eminent. No one can enter there who is not under 14.
The science of physiology has demonstrated that knowledge
acquired and impressions made upon the brain in early life are
deeper, far more lasting and at readier command than those of
later life, and that the young man who proposes to himself a
career on the great stage of the world as a leader of men, must
quite early enter the crowded arena where aspiring youth contest
for the supremacy.
The strong man who has not made his mark before he is 45,
will never make it; and the young man who has not set his
ambitious foot upon the "ladder leaning on a cloud," before he
is 25, will never ascend it. It should not be difficult for the
student of fair ability to obtain his degree, without injury to
his elasticity of mind or bodily health, by the time he is 20; but
if you impose burdens too heavy for this, the years draw nigh in
which the numbers of'illustrious names on your roll of graduates
will be few.
Look back three hundred years and more, and see what history teaches upon this subject, and you shall not find a single
instance of a man, illustrious in great affairs, who did not very
early begin his great career.




Gustave Adolphus ascended the throne of Sweden at I6; before he was 34 he was one of the great rulers of Europe.
Conde conducted a memorable campaign at 17, and at 22 he
and Turenne also were of the most illustrious men of their
time.
Maurice of Saxony died at 32, conceded to have been one of
the profoundest statesmen, and one of the ablest generals which
Christendom had seen.
The great Leo X was pope at 38; having finished his academic training he took the office of cardinal at i8-only I2
months younger than was Charles James Fox when he entered
parliament.
Martin Luther had become largely distinguished at 24,
and at 36 had reached the topmost round of his world-wide
fame.
Of Napoleon it is superfluous to say, that at 25 he commanded the army of Italy. At 3o he was not only one of the
most illustrious generals of all time, but one of the great lawgivers of the world. At 46 he saw Waterloo.
Wellington, be it remembered, was born the same year.
From the earliest years of Queen Elizabeth, to the latest of
Queen Victoria, England has had scarce an able statesman who
did not leave the university by the time he was 20, and many of
them left at an earlier age.
Lord Bacon graduated at Cambridge when i6, and was called
to the bar at 2I.
The great Cromwell, by all measure the ablest ruler that England ever had, left the University of Cambridge at I8, was a
student at law in London at 20, and in parliament at 29.
John Hampton, after graduating at Oxford, was a student at
law in The Inner Temple at I9.




7
William Pitt entered the university at 14, was chancellor of
the exchequer at 22, prime minister at 24, and so continued for
twenty years, and when 25 he was the most powerful uncrowned
head in Europe; and like his great father, Lord Chatham, he
was charged with "the atrocious crime of being a young man."
Charles James Fox was in parliament at 19.
Peel was in parliament at 21, and Palmerston was lord of the
admiralty at 23.
Gladstone was in parliament at 22, and at 24 was lord of the
treasury.
John Bright, the best orator and one of the ablest statesmen
of England, wrote me on the 28th of July, 1879, that he never
was at any school a day after he was 15 years old; that he
commenced thus early the affairs of life; and his letter explained how he had acquired his unparalleled style of oratory.
The late Lord Beaconsfield left the cloister and entered the
great world early-as did John Bright-and commenced his
political career by writing a book at ig, in which he predicted
that he would be prime minister.
He was the original of Tennyson's
* * * Divinely gifted man.
Whose life in low estate began,
Who breaks his birth's invidious bar,
And grasps the skirts of happy chance,
And breasts the blows of circumstance,
And grapples with his evil star.
Who makes by force his merit known,
And lives to clutch the golden keys,
To mould a mighty state's decrees,
And shape the whisper of the throne.
The only statesman now thought of in England, who, if alive,
could solve the Irish question.




But let us learn from our own country:
Washington was a distinguished colonel in the army at 22,
early in public affairs, commander of the forces at 43, and president at 57.
Hamilton was in Kings college at i6, when I7 he made a
notable address on public affairs to the citizens of New York;
at 20 he was intrusted with a most important negotiation with
General Gates: was in Congress at 25, and Secretary of the
Treasury at 32.
Webster was in college at I5, gave earnest of his great future
before he was 25, and at 30 was the peer of the ablest man in
Congress.
Henry Clay was in the Senate of the United States at 29, contrary to the Constitution.
Chief Justice Marshall was a member of the house of delegates at 27. At 42 he was special ambassador to France; at
45 Secretary of State, and at 46 Chief Justice of the United
States.
Judge Story was in Harvard at I5, in Congress at 29, and
Judge of the Sulpreme Court of the United States at 32.
William H. Seward commenced the practice of law at 21; at
27 was president of a State convention, and at 37 Governor of
the great State of New York.
John Quincy Adams, at the age of I4, was secretary to Mr.
Dana, then minister at the Russian court; at 30 he was himself
minister to Prussia; at 35 he was minister to Russia; at 48 he
was minister to England; at 50 he was Secretary of State, and
President at 57.
There have been twenty-two Presidents of the United States.
Five of them were elected at 57, and six attained that great




office before the age of 50. Three military men, past 60, have
been elected: two died very soon, and the other was General
Jackson, and he was but 6i when elected.
Only one civilian out of the whole number gained his first
election after he was 60, and that one was James Buchanan.
The chance for the Presidency after 6o is small, and growing
less.
General Grant was elected President at 46. But when a very
young man, in the Mexican war, he so distinguished himself at
the battle of Molino del Rey that General Scott named him for
promotion on the field, and at the storming of Chapultepec his
courage and ability caused him to be specially commended by
General Worth, and for these young acts of skill and valor he
was made captain in the regular army. He was but 39 when he
gained his victory at Fort Donelson, and only 4I when he took
Vicksburg-a victory, which in its grandeur and its consequences, was not surpassed by Ulm or Austerlitz.
Jonathan Edwards acquired early renown as the greatest
metaphysician in America, and as unsurpassed by any one in
Europe. He commenced the reading of Latin when 6 years
old. At ten he wrote a remarkable paper upon the immortality
of the soul. At the age of thirteen he entered Yale College,
where he graduated four years later.
Before he was seventeen he had completely reasoned out his
great doctrine concerning the freedom of the will. Before he
was nineteen he commenced preaching at one of the first
churches in the city of New York. At twenty-four he was installed over the church in Northampton.
From Leo the Tenth down to Gen. Grant and Prince Bismark, I find not one name of large renown'in war, church or




state, whose career of greatness did not conspicuously begin in
very early manhood.
The late Governor Tilden, of New York, was for a short
time a member of our class, and was always proud of it; but
he left us very soon to study law and engage in public affairs.
After he failed to be declared President he called upon me in
London, and conversing familiarly, he said: " The class of'37
is a great class. It has furnished a Chief Justice of the United
States, two Attorney Generals, the Minister to England, the
Secretary of State, and a President; out of the President the
class has been cheated, and ought to resent it." I replied:
"But you deserted us.  If you had remained and graduated,
perhaps you would have held the White House."  "No," he
rejoined, "I should not have amounted to much.  My health
was not very firm, and I found that I was considerably older
than the better part of the class and I left. That was the turning point of my life. Those four years gave me a start which would
have been lost in college." Mr. Tilden was a sagacious man.
Inventors, discoverers, poets, are proverbially young; though
Longfellow says that Goethe finished Faust when past 8o0-yet
in the next breath he says:
" Whatever poet, orator or sage
" May say of it, old age is still old age,
" It is the waning, not the crescent moon,
"The dusk of evening, not the blaze of noon;
"It is not strength, but weakness; not desire,
"But its surcease; not the fierce heat of fire,
"The burning and consuming element,' But that of ashes and of embers spent."
But Goethe was a marvel of precocity; when but 6 years and
2 months old, the terrible earthquake which destroyed Lisbon




occurred, and he amazed the people of his native town by his
discourse upon the event as against the goodness of Providence.
Before he was nine years old, he could write in several languages,
including French, Latin and Greek. He was in the university
at sixteen and was made a Doctor of Laws before he was twentytwo. At twenty-five, he projected the writing of Faust and
published the first part of it twenty-seven years before he finished the play.
A thousand pities that he ever did finish it.
To ruin an innocent young girl, in humble life-lured by the
jewels and flattery, and wicked love of Faust-with the Devil to
help him-was not a grand achievement; and the compact with
Satin, followed by crimes, and sorrows and woes unnumbered,
without a single ray of hope, but in death, to light her repent-.ant soul from its dark entanglement, is not a healthy presentation
of human life, or of the abounding mercy of God.
Mr. President, I have now to present to the University,
through you, the portrait of one of its original founders. He
lies buried in the crypt of Center church, over which he
ministered with so much fidelity and success from early life until he died; of whom in Hollister's History of Connecticut it is
said:  " Descended from  an illustrious family, and gifted to a
high degree with intellectual endowments, eloquent speech, a
graceful person, handsome features and manners, the most,courtly and winning, he appears to have been from early youth
too intently occupied with the mission of saving the souls of his
fellow-men ever to think of himself. I suppose of all the clergymen whose names belong to the early history of New England, Pierrepont was the most lofty, and pure in his aspirations
and of the most spiritual temper. With none of the sterness




of Davenport, without the despondency of Wareham, and free
from the impetuous moods that proved such thorns in the pillow
of Hooker, his words like the live coals from the altar in the
hand of the angel, touched and purified the lips of those who
listened to his teachings."
And of whom Dr. Leonard Bacon, in his " Historical Discourses" —speaking of the call to the Center church-says:
" He had graduated less than three years before at Harvard
College; but it is evident that, notwithstanding his youth, he
was regarded as competent to do the work of the ministry in
any of the churches of New England."
It seems fit that I should present this portrait through you.
From him whom it represents, you are directly descended in
the female line, and I in the male line; you direct from his
beautiful daughter Sarah, and I from his son Joseph, her
brother; this daughter became the distinguished wife of that
eminent divine, President Jonathan Edwards. If from the
viewless heights of unimagined bliss his spirit can look down to
earth, we may believe that it adds something to his happiness to
know that two eminently gifted presidents of this collegeWoolsey and Dwight-are of the blood of its founder.
I present the portrait that it may hang in this hall or wherever
else in the University you may wish to place it.