People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 August 1895 — BY PATRICK HENRY. [ARTICLE]

BY PATRICK HENRY.

HIS SPIRIT MANIFESTED AT A POPULIST PICNIC. Delivers a Speech and Hurls Fierce Invectives at the Enemies of His Coun--5 try, the Despoilers of Her Honor — The Traitois Within. It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope—and even the spirits of the departed long to see how their cherished hopes on earth have been fulfilled. I once hoped that America was free —with such a delusion I went rejoicing to my grave. And mid all the celestial splendors of the beyond, my thoughts have often fondly turned back to wonder what strides in progress humanity had made under the beneficent conditions which, like the caressing hand of God, lay lovingly upon the heads of the American people at the time I was called away. Finally I have been permitted to spend a few days on earth, so that, as the Father assured me, I should be forever content to dwell in heaven, after seeing the lamentable failure that humanity had made of governing itself. I confess that for a moment I felt offended at Almighty God for insinuating that government in America was a failure. So sure was I of the ultimate triumph in America, that God Almighty himself could not have convinced me what a scene of carnage I should behold where the cradle of liberty was once rocked by the hand of love that rules heaven arid forever seeks to clasp all earth. I have been here for months wandering up and down the land like a lost spirit with no single feature of the surroundings recognizable. First, I went to the capital of your country—once my country—where words of patriotism and love of humanity once fired the hearts of men to noble deeds of valor.

Almighty God! what a change! But I shall not dwell here! You know too well the story. But you can not know the feeling of pity and anger that crushed my soul as I beheld the den of thieves that now control your government and levy tribute on your people. But, thank God, I find many patriot hearts yet among the common people of America. And I have asked of Almighty God the favor of pleading with you who are still striving for liberty, that you do not give up the fight, nor allow yourselves to be led away by the siren song that would lull you to sleep and crush the manhood within you. There is no time to sleep and dream while the whole structure of your earthly salvation is undermined, and men and women are being driven to hell like cattle to the slaughter. You must know the truth and be for--ever vigilant and active in spreading that truth to the world, that you may together provide for it. You have fallen into the hands of a despotism ten million times more cruel than your forefathers ever believed that man was capable of creating. I need not look to the past to judge the present wrongs. They are too glaring to be hidden. They would pale the forked flames of hell, and stand out as a glaring monstrosity even on the turbulent surges of the lake of fire and brimstone, making that place appear as a quiet summer pond by contrast. The future depends entirely upon the action of the people. You know from the past what you can expect from the money power of England and the tories and traitors of New York. I have studied your history, seeing the whole panorama instantly, as only a disembodied spirit can, and I see no hope of relief from your oppressors and the two great political parties which both represent the oppressors. There has been no act upon the pa:U of these parties for thirty years that justifies any hope of relief from thai source.

Their smiles are venomous, and their promises are basest hypocrisy. Trust them not. Do not be betrayed by politicians who have already shown themselves to be enemies. Ask yourselves how their promises compare with their past performances and with the acts which they are at this moment engaged in committing. Are guns, warships and military for-

tresses necessary to govern a peopie who are to be given the right of free 3peech, homes and opportunity to earn an honest living at peaceful toil? Have the people resisted the authority of government that they should be shot down, or is it not rather that they have protested against the tyranny of corporations and been answered by ’“God’s whistling messengers of peace”? I quote this last expression from one of your modern military hirelings. Peace, indeed —peace in the face of bullets and bayonets—it means peace for big property holders and death to men, women and children whose labor produced the property. Can force restore patriotism? Can men be forced to love tyrants? The money power is getting ready to fall back upon the last resort of kings. Gentlemen, what means this martial array, these new military tactics, if it be not to force American workingmen into submission? Can you assign any other possible reason for building forts and garrisoning them with rich men's sons; for changing the entire tactics of the army and training soldiers specially for bombarding houses and street fighting, for drilling college students and Sunday school children in the arts of warfare? Has America any outside enemies to fear? Did not onetwentieth as many men as are now in America whip the strongest military nation on the globe? And docs she now fear armed invasion from that quarter? Does she contemplate wasting the cities of some foreign country? Or is it not rather her own cities that are to he .the scene of corporate villainy shooting down American men, women and children who dare to protest against a system of monopoly and speculation that is depriving them of homes and of the common necessaries of life? What means this strengthening qf the army and massing of troops near the great cities? It is meant for you, workingmen, and for nobody else. They mean to bind and rivet upon you the system of wage slavery that enables the money power to appropriate the product of your labor without even the responsibility of giving you a sufficient share to prevent starvation. What are you doing to oppose them? Have> you not tried argument? You have been trying that for twenty years. Will you continue to depend upon strikes? Have not all strikes failed, because the money power controlled the federal army? Y r ou have held the subject up in every light—but it has all been in vain.

Shall petition be tried? Has not every source of petition been exhausted? Do not deceive yourselves. Everything has been done that could be done. Your petitions have been slighted; your strikes have led to blacklisting and further oppression; your leaders have been imprisoned without due process of law; your vote has not been fairly counted in many states; you have been ridiculed, abused and discharged from employment on account of your political opinions. In vain can you hope for consideration at the hands of the money power. If you mean to be free; if you want the rights for which you have been so long contending; if you mean to continue the struggle and to maintain the principles of the jiew Declaration of Independence, you must prepare to fight. I repeat, you must prepare for the worst.

The force of arms and the power of Almighty God on the side of right is nearly all that is left you. Let kings and tyrants rage. They say that you are weak and have no arms. But when shall you be stronger if you continue to submit? Others have captured arms from the enemy, and so can you. The longer you submit the weaker will you become, and the stronger will grow the intrenchments of the enemy that is robbing you and rapidly gaining control of the guns and ammunition. You are not weak if you make proper use of the means you have already, and I say it as one who sees into the hearts of men, that there are millions ready to join you just as soon as you show yourselves men and mean business. You will not stand alone. People need something to arouse them from the lethargy and cowardice bred by the system of slavery under which they live, and once aroused by your aggressive action all the powers, of hell shall not