Decatur Democrat, Volume 24, Number 21, Decatur, Adams County, 26 August 1880 — Page 9

2. gowß «5? 2 S • i sr government, which go to maw CU« Btaucoman. It is well that our people should be reminded again of the struggle he made for an idea in the past. It is but a promise, an earnest of what tin* man will do in the future. ♦ ♦ * English and His Detractors. [lrish Citizen, Cincinnati, Aug. 7,1880.] The Republican press, since the Cincinnati Convention, has concentrated most of its artillery upon Mr. English, and for the reason that he has become wealthy through strict attention to his business. In most other men, this would be deemed evidence of capacity and trustworthiness, for it is to be presumed that he who attends diligently to his own affairs is not likely to be indifferent or remiss, when invested by his fellow countrymen with an office second only to that of the highest in their gift. In epithets which they have hurled at him ? they have not scrupled to falsify facts, with the most unblushing effrontery. The story of his donation of one dollar to the Chicago sutlers ran the round of the Republican press with characteristic comments, and when it was fairly proven by those who had received the subscription that he had donated SIOO, there was not one of them who had the candor or manliness to contradict the calumny. They have not touched upon his congressional record, for they know too well that no representative in Congress was more assiduous in attending to his duty and the interests of his constituents; no contracts in the nature of the De Golyer transaction or Credit Mobilier fraud can be urged against him; the wealth he has acquired has been gained in legitimate business pursuits, whereby, in the natural course of trade, others as well as himself have been benefitted. Had he been so minded, he could have represented his District in Congress to this day, and the charge of unpopularity which they have urged is as unfounded as the most baseless of their inventions. Iso man in Indiana could have been named who could more surely carry a large majority, and we may add that, so far as that state is concerned, almost any other candidate would have been infinitely more acceptable to the Republican leaders. There is a proverb that “no man is a prophet in his own country,” but we venture the prediction that when the time comes Mr. English, if not a prophet, will prove a tower of strength to the Democracy. To be sure there is work to be done in securing the State, for even now the wire workers ofGarfield are busily engaged in colonizing illegal negro voters; but under the watchful eye of so sagacious an opponent as the Vice President, we have no fear but that their nefarious schemes will be frustrated. If only in this regard the choice of the Cincinnati Convention was most fortunate. In response to a letter of inquiry as to the situation in Indiana, Hon. W. H. English wrote as follows to a Pennsylvania Democrat: Indianapolis, Ind., August 7, 1880. Mt Dear Sir: —Never mind the claims and boasts of the Republicans about Indiana. It is all bosh. The Democrats are thoroughly united here, are gaining by conversions, and are only in danger by reason of the importation of negro voters, frauds and the use of great sums of money, which the Republicans are raising with a view to overwhelming the State. But with God's help, we Intend to hold the fort. Yours respectfully, W. m. Kwoltsh.

-5 E.S'S £ SjTf successful the Democrats would seek the public offices. And why may they not share the ' honors and profits of public employment? 1 Are they not citizens, and do they not help to i support public authority? Are they not , taxed to pay the salaries and other expenses of government, and do they not go forth in war? Are they not patriots? and have they not children whose welfare Is Identified with the public welfare? But hls argument went further, and reached the proposition that the public service is improved by retaining experienced officers. The conclusion is that changes, except for cause, should not be made. 1 think he would not make that argument if he and his party were out and another partv 1 in. Hls argument does not rest upon Amerl- ; can idea and habit. Our sentiment has been rotation in office: first, because it takes the public service out of ruts and grooves and promotes its purity; and second, Because it is fair play. In all countries it is esteemed an honor to be employed in the public service. It Is an honor that should be open to all: 1 qualifications and merit should be the test. I would not displace all. Faithful and efficient , officers who attend to duty and not to politics , might be retained. But the sentiment once in office always in office is to be repudiated. , Would you say t the young men you need i not hope? There are no ositlons for you?, , When those who are now n shall die their. , sons are ready to take their places? It is politic . as it is just, to say to all,merit shall be rewarded It is well that sometimes fresh blood shall flow into the veins and arteries of the public service. We now have the hope and prospect of good times again. The Republican leaders claim i the credit for it. I will close my address by i reading the devout and reverential acknowledgement of God s blessing upon our country made by the late Democratic Convention of ’ this State: During the past few years our country lias been blessed in a high degree with favorable seasons, and tne production of our valuable staples has been enormously in excess of our own consumption. We have sold to foreign countries many hundred millions more than we have purchased from them; gold and silver has come to us; business confidence has been restored, and we have the hope and promise of good times again. In all this we recognize the blessing of God upon our country, and we denounce It as false and blasphem - ous when partisan leaders claim that this is i he work of their hands, and that the people should be thankful to them and not, grateful to Heaven for our returning prosperity. The Indianapolis correspondent of the Cincinnati Enquirer says: “The records of the Justices of the Peace are being ransacked for the lists of ejectments brought by William H. English against non-paying tenants.’’ And he might have added that Republicans are visiting or writing to all persons with whom Mr. English has had business relations for the last forty years, hoping to fish up something against him. In some in--1 stances ignorant parties have been told that money could be made out of Mr. English by the proceedings, the Republican attorney ' offering to undertake it on the shares, all of which is very contemptible, and will not lese Mr. English a single vote. He was born in the State, has lived i dianapolis nearly twenty years, and everybody knows that any just claim could have ’ been made off of him at any time. It is i known he pays his debts promptly, and ex- ■ acts payment of others, just as all men must i do who are largely engaged in business. ■ As for the rent business and ejectment ■ suits, he has not collected a cent of rent, or J brought an ejectment suit for five years, i His agent, a very worthy Republican, has ’ exclMive charge of that business, and is en--1 tirely responsible for whatever is done. —Ini dianapolis People.

' 1 e. e. accomplishments and his exalted patriotism | But in these times, when principles and habits to which the country has long been accus tomed are pushed aside, and things new and striking are substituted; and when grandeui and power are the qualities of government specially admired. I would not support for any important office any man whoso opinions and conduct arc likely tc come under the influence of tho political principles of the great leader of the Federal party. 1 had not looked for it, that so careful a student as General Garfield should ronK Alexander Hamilton as the statesman of hie. day —the great leader ’o: thought, and the author of every germ of the Constitution of the United L tales. A very hasty examination of the plan of a constitution prepared by Mr. Hamilton in 1787, will discover the many important and leading features n.rosented by rim, which wore rejected from the Constitution. He proposed that the President and Senate’s should hold their offices for life, unless removed upon impeachment. He proposed to subordinate and subjugate the States to fire United State:: by this remarkable provision. Article 8, section 1, says: “Tho Governor or President of each State claall ba appointed unuer the authority of the United Stales, and shall have a right to negative all laws about to be passed in the State of which he shall be Governor or President, subject to meh cualiflcati one and regulations as the Legislature of the United dates shall prescribe.” He proposed to define the legislative power of the United States by these words: “The Legislature of the United States shall have powei to pass all laws which they ohall judge necessary to the common defense and safety, and to the general welfare of the Union?- Under such a provision the limit of power would be the judgment and pleasure of the Legislators. Tne preamble to the constitution, as adopted, declares one ■ of its objects to be to “provide for the com- ■ mon defense,’ and to “promote the general ' welfare;” but it is not made a definition of 1 power; and section 8 of article 1 confers 1 upon Congress the power to raise revenue for ■ the purpose of providing “for the common defense and general welfare of the Unite ! 1 States. ’ Then follows an express enumerv ’ tion of the powers conferred upon Congress. > Under Hamilton’s plan the powers would ' have been general, and almost without limit ■ or restriction. In the constitution, as adopted 1 and amended, the powers are delegated, el-e 1 they are reserved to the States and tiie fieople. I can not now go further n this com parison. 1 have said enough to 1 show the important respects in which Hamilton's plan was not the plan adopted, and to show also, as 1 think, that he favored a system in which the States would have become insignificant, almost contemptible, whilst the Federal Government would nave been aristo- ' ciatic in its structure and dangerous in its powers, /'.was not hls thought under winch the States retained the rights and prerogatives essential to tho domestic safety and welfare of the people. To other great statesmen of that period are we indebted for that system of Government which has proved to ■ be the best possible lor a large population oc • ’ copying a country c£ vast extent and having diversified interests and great varieties of productions. For suchapeople it was essential ' to good government to preserve the idea of - the regulation of domestic interests and the management of domestic matters by domestic authority— loot's government for local interests. The contest of that day is renewed in our day. It is now, ae then, uhe struggle between the aristocratic and the democratic idea of government. Now, as then, they tell us we 1 must have a strong government. We agree to that: it must be the strongest in the world—--1 not in standing armies and in the pomp and ' ceremony of an aristocratic establishment, but strong in the support and devotion of a great people Whose allegiance is intensified by love and gratitude for a just and carelul protection and preservation of their rights. Have we degenerated, and are we harder to goveux than our fathers were, that stern and extraordinary cowers must be invoked for our control? ' Why now must the voting places be surrounded by the military? Why shall the partisan official lay in stealth ' for the voter? It was not so heretofore. The people of all opinions and parties came together, and with mutual respect and kindness preserved the peace and maintained the purls ty of the elections. We will go back again to | the ways of the good old times. Why is it that under Federal laws the people

of the candidates. What does General war- i field’s nomination signify ? Above and beyond all else it means theln dorsemen t ana approval, In the most positive and offensive manner possible, of the Presidential fraud of 1876-7. He had more to do with it than any other man. He is the only man who occupied toward it and in it a double relation. Immediately after the election he went to New Orleans— not by virtue of any law or rightful public authority, but as a party man. General Grant’s request was without authority of law. He went to assist his party in maslng up the case. I say he went for that purpose, because when there he did that work. When his work was compl ted in New Orleans he and his associates returned to Washington, and he alone, of all the men engaged in making up the case, took his seat upon the commission to decide It. What think you, gentlemen, of a man who has formed his opinion, who has indeed helped to prepare the case for trial; who has sought and prepared the evidence, taking his seat as a juror? By the laws of the United States, by the laws of every State, such a man s excluded from the Jury box. By every sentiment of justice ana fair play such a man is excluded. That he did this work at New Orleans no man can question. There was a pretense that he and his associates went to see hat the canvass of the votes was fairly made. For that pretense all respect disappeared after they refused to join the Democrats from the North In seeing that the count was In fact fair. He has made a sworn statement of his conduct at New Orleans, and by that he must be judged. His testimony commences at page 789 of Doc. 31, accompanying report No. 140, House Representatives, 3d sess., 46th Congress. Bomewnat by designation and somewhat by choice, the Parish of West Feliciana came into the charge ol General Garfield for examination. He received copies of all the official papers, which had been delivered to the Returning Board, touching the election in that Parish. For his work one of Packard’s inner rooms in the Custom House was assigned to him. This room he occupied alone. On page 801 he says: “Occasionally some of the men, who were getting up statements about other Parishes, came in there, but the room was assigned to mv use.” In that room he examined the affidavits that had been taken, and made out a list of half or three-fourths of the witnesses, and procured interviews with them. When the affidavits were not, as he supposed sufficiently full, he prepared, or had prepared, additional Interrogatories, so as to bring the evidence In better shape before the Returning Board. The most remarkable testimony which General Garfield assisted in preparing was that of Amy Mitchell, a colored woman whose husband was killed in West Feliciana Parish. He prepared the interrogatories alter a private interview with her, and her testimony went before the Returning Board In answers to the interrogatories. She had before then made an affidavit, but bethought it was not sufficiently full. Her account of the murder was shocking indeed, almost as horrible as the story told by Eliza Pinkston. But it turned out afterward that the greater part of it was untrue; and before a Committee of Congress, when examined and cross examined, she herself withdrew it, de daring the greater part to be untrue. Her testimony is found on page 471, Document 31, part 3. In that inner room of the Custom House he spent days examining the election papers of West Feliciana, holding interviews with the witnesses and draughting, as he says, “interrogatories to draw out more fully from some of the witnesses the testimony whlcn they had given either in brief, and some of the interrogatories which subsequently were appended to the testimony of these witnesses were of my draughting.” The testimony so revised by Garfield went back to the Returning Board, and the result was that West Feliciana, with its Democratic majority, was rejected. All t his preceded and was to control the returns. That was his work down there, but at Washington his vote was that Congfess could not go behind the returns so made. As agent for his party he helped to make the returns by manipulating ti e evidence; and as juryman for the Nation, held such returns conclusive and binding. His associates were occupied upon the other Parishes, for he testifies that the work was distributed among them. After spending eighteen days in such labors he and his associates left for the North “in great anxiety as to what the result would be. as he says. Under oath he conceded that

V lUuv-., — any kind of investments; and, by the remone- < tlzatlon of the ell ver dollar, gave the manu- < facturer and the capitalist an assurance that 1 there would be more money, encouraged In- 1 vestments, restored confidence In future values < and relieved the country of the paralyzation 1 and bankruptcy which had been brought on 1 by Republican policy. Bill English’s Religion. Our Republican neighbors have made grave i charges against Hon. William H. English ’ upon almost every conceivable subject. They J charge that he pays his debts, which has not j been very fashionable in business circles for ’ some years under Republican rule, and ex- j acts payment when he can honestly. They even say that he is not religious. j Professor Wayland, of Trigg County, a , graduate of Hanover College, in Indiana, was i asked what were Mr. English’s religious con- 1 victions. He replied that he did not know. , All he knew about his religion was gathered : from a little incident that occurred in college ' life. An old man who lived in the vicinity 1 of the college had incurred the displeasure of a number of the students, and one night, to the number of about thirty, they assembled and proceeded to the man’s cabin to wreak their vengeance upon him. Wayland, hear- > ing of the affair, repaired to the scene to see what he might see. It appears that Bill English had also heard of the affair; for when Wayland got there he saw English standing in the doorway in front of the old man in his shirt-sleevesand the sleeves rolled up, exposing his brawny arms. In front of him were about thirty of his fellow-students, whom he defied with oaths and expletives more expressive than polite, and dared them to cross the threshold of the cabin. The Professor said that was all he knew of Mr. English’s religious views. Republican Opinions of Mr. EngHktl. [lndianapolis Sentinel.] It has not been a year since the Republican papers of Indiana were speaking of Hon. Wm. H. English as one of the strongest men in the State. The Terre Haute Courier (Rep.) said: “We warn our Republican friends now, that if the Democratic party puts Mr. English in the position to make a leader of him in this State next year, there are breakers ahead for us. He is one of the strongest men in that party.” The Indianapolis Journal, the recognized organ of the Republican party in Indiana, said only a few months ago : "There is not in the Democratic party in Indiana a better politician, a better organizer or a man possessing more of the qualif ies of real statesmanship than William H. English.'’' It will be observed that since this was said there has been no change in the proprietorship of the Journal. Now in view i of these declarations and the fact that Mr. J English has never been defeated before the , people, the present gabble of these same Re- . publican papers about Mr. English being a weak man and unpopular, is contemptible in the extreme. They know it is not true and 1' say it only for effect abroad. Hancock and English will receive the cordial support of all the Democrats in Indiana, and many others who have not heretofore belonged to that party.

tnat there was some favorable action .such atfili. 1 am somewhat astonished that he should refer to It. Ts such a bill was Introduced araci no action taken thereon, there Is no evidence that It embraced the views of more than one man. In a body of 300 memBers.ifont of them should introduce such a bill, why should there be any fear expressed, and why should the attempt be made to raise unnecessary alarm ? ANOTHER WAVE OF THE BLOODY SHIRT. Mr. Porter and other of our Republican friends still appear to have great aread of the , Brigadier! of the South. I mean the Demo■.cratlc Brigadiers from the South. Republican administrations, ever since the war, have never failed to take Into their embrace and their confidence a Brigadier from the South who was willing to support the policy of the Republican party. Whenever such a man expresses a willingness to support it, he is immediately reconstructed, and becomes at onee a new man. And Republican administrations have taken Into their embrace and given lucrative appointments to Southern Brigadiers who were not engaged in honorable warfare. I refer particularly to one Mosby, who was engaged in a guerrilla warfare against unarmed persons. They brought Mr. Keys Into the (Cabinet, where he was the commander of about 24,060 postmasters; and General Dongstreet, who was placed in a lucrative position in New Orleans, has recently been appointed to a profitable foreign mission. All but one or two of Ihe seventy odd conspirators who figured in the manufacture of forged testimony, upon which the Inauguration of Mr. Hayes whs consummated, have been placed in profitable positions by the fraud that they carried out— I mean the fraudulent President they inaugurated. Hearing Republicans express dread and fear of Brigadiers who are Democrats, and knowing their course, as I do, in immediately placing in profitable official positions Rebel Brigadiers who are Republicans, my curiosity has been somewhat excited as was the Irishman’s I once heard of. A chemist had invented and was showing a liquid that would consume not only glass and iron, but anything that was put in it, when an Irishman standing by remarked very earnestly: “Faith and bejabers, sir, I would be pleased to know what It is made of.” I, too, would be pleased to know what this Republican party is composed of, that it has such alchemistio power as to completely and Instantaneously reform everybody who comes within its organization. INDIANA AFFAIRS —DEMOCRATIC ECONOMY. As the Democratic canfiidatefor Governor of your State you may expect me to give you some reasons why the Democratic party should be retained in power in this Commonwealth, especially. For nearly eight years past the State of Indiana has had the benefit es a wise, economical and conservative administration under Governor Hendricks and Governor Williams, while in the legislative departm ent we have had but little power. Two years ago, in our State platform, we promised the people a reduction of interest. We were successful in electing a majority of the members of the last General Assembly, and that pledge was promptly redeemed by that legislature. A reduction of 2 per cent, was made in the legal interest ot the State. I was again somewhat surprised at the claim set up by Mr. Porter for the Republican party that it nad reduced the rate of interest In thia State, in the face of the fact I have j ust stated. We also promised the people an economical expenditure of their money. By comparing the expenses incurred under the management of the Republican party in maintaining the Btcate Benevolent Institutions and for public printing, to say nothing about the reduction of expe ises in the management of other departments (which have been great), it will be found that there has been saved to the people during last year in the Insane Hospital alone the sum of 841,466.68; in the Deaf and Dumb Asylum 88.257.60, and in the Blind Asylum 88,160.42. We have had exclusive control of the Afiylums for but one year. While we have had exclusive control of the State printing for six years. The books show that the saving to the taxpayers of the State in that simple item of expenditure, as compared with the eight previous years under Republican control, amounts to the enormous sum of 136,909.35 per annum. The Democratic; partv in the last six years has saved the tax-