Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 September 1882 — SPEECH OF GOV. PALMER [ARTICLE]

SPEECH OF GOV. PALMER

Upon Accepting the Chairmanship of the Illinois Democratic Convention. Gentlemen of the Convention: This is an unexpected result of my presence here to-day—so unexpected, indeed, that I have hail no time to prepare an extemporaneous speech, thanking you for the honor; for until a moment ago I had no intimation that I would l>e selected for this place. You will, therefore, have the satisfaction of escaping an infliction on account of the suddenness of this announcement. There are, however, a few things, gentlemen, that I may be allowed to say to you in connection with my thanks for the honor you have conferred on me. At present, when the conduct of parties and expressions of public men are spread broadcast before the country daily by telegraph and fast railroad mails, we may be assumed to be sufficiently informed as to the opinions of parties; that is to say, it is not necessary now in a Democratic Convention to elaborately discuss or present the principles of Democracy; and, indeed, fellow-citi-zens, the issues between the parties are becoming so narrowed down in the course of the great events this country has witnessed within the twenty-five years that the fonnxi lines of division ‘are exceedingly plain and simple. Senator Harrison, of Indiana, now one of the leaders of the Republican party, and who is as likely at the next election to be the Republican candidate for the Presidency as almost any other gentleman in the country, in a speech' at Indianapolis, a few evenings ago, said that the great questions interesting the people now are not so much those relating to the principles of parties as their practices, and those are matters that are well worth the attefation of any assemblage of the people of the State of Illinois and especially at a Democratic Convention, The gentleman who presided over your preliminary organization stated with great distinctness and clearness what may be regarded as the fundamental doctrines of the Democratic party, and I will not trouble you with a further reference to them, but I hold it becomes material what is, has been and what will be the practice of the Democratic party. For almost a quarter of a century—no, from 1872 until now—the Republican party has been in power, because the Republican party that existed before 1872 accomplished its mission and passed into history, but the organization of that party was seized by bandits that then took possession of the ship and who would now scuttle it if they were allowed to do so. What are the practices of the Republican party? They are extravagance and violation of every sound principle of republican government, until the Republican party leaders are an organized baud of robbers that plunder the grave. Is there anything in the history of a free country like the highwav process now being pursued by Hubbell and his committee? Stand and deliver; your life or your money; addressed to every officer in the country, men women and children. Every one who serves the country is addressed by this crew as a highwayman addresses his victim. That is one of the practices of the Republican party that as Democrats we warn the country of again. We have a treasury overflowing with money taken from the pockets of the people, and this last Congress has scattered this money profusely all over the country for the mere election of members of Congress. They have been extravagant everywhere. I haven’t time to point the instances. Tell me, tell me, tell me what principles of republican government or republican economy have not been violated by this party within the last four or five years. What principles have been preserved. Why, your President, the accidental President of the United States, Arthur. Our Heavenly Father sometimes visits us with serious calamities; He gave us Garfield over Hancock, which was bad enough, but' He cursed us with Arthur in place of Garfield. How long, O, how Jong shall we suffer from the afflictive visitations of Divine Providence in this way? This • President, chosen in the lottery of assassination, as has been very forcibly said, ejected by one single Republican vote, enforced J>y one single Republican bullet, has taken a Government snip, and is now navigating the waters along the Atlantic coast, followed by a horde of snobs and sycophants. What a departure from republican simplicity. It is even said that he has invented a President’s flag. Heretofore wo have had experience only of the stars and stripes floating over our heads, but now we have the flag of the “ruler of the Queen's navees. ” The flag of the President floats over the republican ship, we are told, and this is your republican simplicity. And the Secretary of the Navy has another national ship navigating the seas and Expending your money. All this is the result of Republican practices. It is said we have become a nation—a nation with a big N. Yes, my countrymen, the big Nis directed against you and I. The power of the Government is constantly invoked against well-meaning, public-spirited citizens. The American people at Yorktown salute the British flag, while th%British Government is confining American cWfzcns in its dungeons—while the big N is invoked against you and me for disloyalty to Arthur or his minions. lam told it is a nation with a big N, and after the bombardment of Alexandria an American ship circled about and cheered the victor. That is the sort of big Nit is, God knows nothing could be smaller than th'at, but it is invoked by these men against all that oppose them. Whatever you do against them is disloyalty. No matter if you wore the blue of your country and followed its flag in battle, the big N is invoked against you unless you vote their Republican ticket. The Republican party, In partnership with Mahone, of Virginia, furnishes money wrung from the fears and toil of men and women in the employ of the Government —-money turned over to the Virginia thief that he may compel honest people to follow his commands. And lam told that Gen. Chalmers, of Fort Pillow notoriety, after being turned out of Congress, goes back home and gets down on his knees to J. Hubbell and his crew, and these worthies take him up into their embraces. My Democratic friends, do you know what is necessary to be saved by these men? Do like Chalmers —kiss the rod. Kiss the rod, vote the Republican ticket, and all your sins may be forgiven; and that isn't all, for you, yourself, may sit in company with these miserable sinners. The great point then is, What shall be our practices? Gentlemen of the convention, I said before, platforms are of no great consequence, but we shall have a platform to-day that will declare Democratic principles, and let us have no faltering, no double-dealing, no two words to express the same object. If we mean yes, the English language furnishes no better word than yes; and if you mean no, the old Saxon no is worth all the phrases you can find. When you mean yes, say yes; when you mean no, say no; and let us go before the country upon the yes and no of tliis thing. Gentlemen of the convention, I thank you again for the honor of allowing m< to preside over this convention. In these lew observations I have intended, more than anything else, to indicate to you my belief that if the Democratic party will be true to itself and denounce these abuses in no doubtful terms, but in language plain to the people, the people will be right if they have an opportunity to be right; but when Democratic leaders are found to be faltering and hesitating, and seeking compromising alliances, that the people should be bewildered ought to surprise nobody. God knows, I get scal ed myself when I see it. Gentlemen, I await your pleasure.