Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 September 1885 — SENATOR JOHN SHERMAN. [ARTICLE]

SENATOR JOHN SHERMAN.

He Opens the Ohio Campaign in a Ringing Speech at y Mt Gilead. The Work of the Republican Party as Compared with That of the Opposition. Democratic Pretenses of Reform Shown to Be a Sham Since Cleveland Came In. Senator John Sherman addressed a large and enthusiastic mass meeting at Mount Gilead, Ohio., on the 26th of August It was the opening speech of the campaign. Mr. Sherman spoke as follows: Fellow Citizens: It is a long time since I had the pleasure of addressing the Republicans of Morrow County, bat I have not forgotten, nor will I ever forget, the great obligations lam under to them for their friendship and partiality when, more than thirty years ago, 1 first appeared before them as a candidate for Congress. Those were important and stirring times. The Republican party was then formed as an active and effective organization to resist the extension of slavery. Many of the actors in those soenes have passed away, and now a new generation, the sons and even the grandsons of the old Republicans of Morrow County, are charged with the duty of completing and advancing the worK of the Republican party. You need not be ashamed of the record of that party. Our adversaries now concede the wisdom and success of all prominent Republican measures, as wqjl as the merits of the great leaders of the Republican party. Only a few days since I heard my colleague. Senator Payne, in addressing old soldiers at Fremont, extol Lincoln and Grant in the highest terms of praise, and say the war was worth all it cost, and he thanked God that slavery had been abolished. Only recently, when the great procession conveyed the mortal remains of Grant to their resting-place, I heard active Confederates extol him in the highest terms of praise, and some of them frankly gloried in the success of Republican measures, and especially in the abolition of slavery.

It may be nnkind, but it is natural, fog us to recall what these same men said of Lincoln and Grant and the war, and the abolition of slavery within thirty years past. The Republican party was a “black abolition party.” Lincoln was an “ape.” Grant was a “butcher,” and Union soldiers were "Lincoln hirelings. ” The war was the sum of all crimes. Yet these same men now seek to hide their opposition to the war and their abuse of Lincoln and Grant by fulsome enlogy and praise. Surely a party that, Within six y6ars from its organization overthrew the powerful, dominant Democratic party, and for twenty-four years afterward conducted the operations of a great government, in peace and in war, with such success as to win the support and acquiescence even of its enemies, can fairly claim to be worthy of the confidence and support of the great body of the people. Yet, strange to say, by the defection of a comparatively few men in three Republican States, our old adversaries have been raised to power again in the National Government. Some of the ve y men who boastfully threatened to break uprthe Union, and with the oath of office in support of the Constitution fresh upon their lips conspired and confederated to overthrow it, waged war against it. and were the causa oi the loss of half a million of lives and thousands of millions of treasure, have been placed in high office again, in the very seats of power which they abandoned with scorn and defiance. Two members of the Confederate Congress and one man who sympathized with them are at the head of great departments of the Government. I saw the Union flag at half-mast floating over the Interior Department in sign of honor and mourning for the death of Jacob Thompson, whom we regarded as a defaulter and a conspirator. This country is now represented abroad by men who within twenty five years were in arms to overthrow it, and the governing power in the Executive i ranch of the Government is in sympathy with the ideas of, and selects the chief officers of the Government fiom, the men who were in war against it. This strange turn in events has but one example in history, and that was the restoration of Churles li. as ter the brilliant but brief Protector..te of Cromwell, and, like that restoration, is a reproach to the civilizat.on of the age.

Why was this? What measure of Republican policy is condemned? What measure of good policy is proposed or advocated by our adversaries that would not be better accomplished by the Republican party? What hope or aspiration of good government can the mugwumps of the East expect so accomplish by Democratic success? We were told that the Republican party had been in power for twenty-four years, that great frauds had been committed, that they wished to examine the books, that they wished to clean out.the “Augean stable,” that bad nominations had been made, and that the Republican party did not execute in good faith the civil - Service law. Upon pretexts like these the electoral votes of three or four Northern States, added to the solid South, secured the election of Mr. Cleveland. Let us examine these pretenses. They have examined the books and the vaults, and they find every dollar of public money on hand or accounted for. It was feared for a while that there was a deficiency of two cents in the count, but these were found to have been dropped upon the floor by the counters, so that the money is all on hand. The “Augean stable” is now found by onr adversaries to be the most perfect piece of administrative machinery in the world, for I ventureto say that in no Government in our own or in any country, or in any time, are the receipts and disbursements of the Government so faithfully and honestly accounted for as in the Treasury of the United States. The “Augean stable” was cleanly swept and kept by the Republican party, and now, after a full examination by Manning and Jordan and other New York Democrats, they do not find a speck or blemish, or a fault in the magnificent machinery placed in their hands by the folly of the American people. They find it the best conducted business workshop in the world. The civil-service law, a measure adopted by the Republican party, aided by a few Democrats, was being gradually put in force by the Republican party, and now is the only restraint against the wholesale removal of worthy Officers by a Demos atio administration. They copmenoed the cry of “turn the rascals out.” They fonnd none, but they did find “offensive partisans,” and turned them ont and put rascals In. I acknowledge the good intentions of Mr. Cleveland, but he knows as well as I do that the hungry and thirsty crowd who are howling for the removal ot every Republican offioehdlder must in a short time prevail, and all pretense of the observance of the law will be abandoned. Every Republican now in office is an “offensive partisan,” and the most noisy and blatant of partisan Democrats will be the chosen candidates lor all offices, from,the smallest Postmaster of the Nashy school to the rebel Generals who represent ns in foreign lands. We must admit, fellow-citizens, that we were not beaten by the Democrats, but by the disgruntled Republicans of three Important Btates, who opposed the nominee of the Republican party, and, in the great State of New York, by a narrow majority of but little more than a thousand, defeated Blaine and Logan. It was not tee want of merit in these two great leaders of our party, but the disappointments, personal contests, and controversies incident to a long lease of power.

But even this defection among Republicans wonld have been ineffective but for the solid South, held together in political fellowship by crimes, violence, and fraud wbich, if continued, •will as surely renew all the strife's of the civil war as that the sun rolls around in its course. The Republican party was certainly liberal and just to the rebels lately in arms against the country. We d prived them of no political power; no blood was shed; no confiscation was had; and more generous terms were conceded to them than ever before had been extended to an nnsnoceesfqj party in a civil war. Their leaders emphasized that tit.tfie burial of our great commander, Gen. Grant. The result of the settlement l>y the constitutional amendments at the close ot the war w. s to give them increased politloil power upon condition that the Slav- s should be free and should be allowed to vote, and that all political distinctions growing out of raoe, rolor, or previous condition of servitude ehonld be abolished; and yet to-day, the Republican party is faced by a solid South, In which the negro is deprived, substantially, of all his political rights by open vi •- lence or by fr. uds as mean as any that have been committed by penitentiary convicts, and as openly and boldly doje as any highway robbery. By this system and by the acquiescence ot a few Northern States, the men who led in the civil war have been resto ed to power, and hop *, practically, to reverse all the results Of the war. This is the specter that now haunts Amerl an.politics, and may mak - it jest as vital and necessary to appeal to the Northern States to Bnite again against this evil, not so open and ai. ogant as slavery, bnt more.dangerous and equally un.,ust. Ihe question then was the slavery of ihe bla h man. Now the question is the equality of the white man; whether a Southern man in Mi-sissippl may, by depriving a maj rity of the legal voters in the Btae of their right to- vote, exercise twloe the political power of. a white man in the North, where tne franchise is free and open and equal to all. When this subject is pressed we are sometimes mot with denial; bnt in the face of proofs

so conclusive, spread upon the public records and in the public journals, and substantially admitted over and over again in the South, denial will not answer.' The actual returns of the elections show that in all the southern States where the negroes are in the majority, they are either not permitted to vote or the returns are changed. Now thirty-eight white Democratic Presidential electors and thirty-eight white Democratic members of the House of Representatives, based upon more than six million colored people living in the Southern States, are returned from those States, and scarcely a single representative of the colored race, or one elected by the colored people, votes in the Electoral College or in the House of Representatives. It is said that this is a matter for each State to regulate. That doctrine, we hoped, was overthrown by the civil war. The right of representation is a right not given to the State, but to the people of the State, part of the people of the United States, and we in Ohio are as much interested that the people of South Carolina should be fairly represented, for the vote of every Representative in Congress, and of every Presidential Elector, affects ns alike, from whatever place elected. When we point out these offenses committed in the Sonth it is said that we are raising the bloody shirt, that we are reviving the issues of the war—that the war is over. . 1 hope the war is over, and that the animosities of the war will pass away and be dead and buried. Anjger and hate and prejudice are not wise councilors in peace or in war. Generosity, forgiveness, and charity are great qualities of the human heart, but, like everything else that is good, they may be carried into excess, and may degenerate into faults. They must not lead ns to forget the obligations of duty and honor.* While we waive the animosities of the war, we must never fail to hold on, with courage and fortitude, to all the results of the war. Our soldiers fought in no holiday contest, not merely to test the manly qualities of the men of the North and the South, not for power, or plunder, or wealth, or title; they fought to secure to themselves and their posterity the blessings of a strong National Government. it was for the preservation of the Union; a Union not of States, but of the people of the United States; not a Confederate Government, but a National Government. The preservation of the Union was the central idea of the war. The Confederate soldier fought for what he was led to think was the right of a State to secede from the Union at its pleasure. The Union soldiers triumphed. The Confederate soldiers were compelled to an unconditional surrender. The sacrifices, wounds, and deaths of hundreds of thousands of brave men were suffered to save the Union and strengthen its foundations. We may forgive without qualification what the rebels did in the war, but we ean not, with honor, surrender what our soldiers won in the war; nor can we yield an iota of the benefits they have conferred upon tke country, greater far than all the cost of the war. Sometimes I fear that onr moderation is verging on indifference; that while our minds are distracted by local politics, the old doctrines are being revived again. We forget sometimes that it was the Union cause that won, and not the rebel cause. I have recently heard Jefferson Davis, in the Senale qf the United States, extolled as a patriot, and I have been called in question for denouncing him as a consj irator and a traitor.

I have seen many signs of a disposition to waive all the glorious results of the war, to’ make no difference between the bine and the gray, to revive again the doctrines of secession and State rights taught before the war. The tendency of the Demociatic party is all that way. I do not question the patriotism of my Demociatic neighbors here in Ohio, but we know by old experience they follow the leaders of their party. The governing force of that party is with the South, as in the days of Buchanan. We have no sign of protest from Democratic orators or journals of the wholesale deprivation of the colored people in the South of their right to vote, nothing of the crimes by which the South is made Bolid. The only hopeful sign waß that Cleveland would not appoint a man as Postmaster in Copiah County, Mississippi, who indorsed the murder ot Matthews; but, as a rule, in all the North no preference is given to a Union soldier over any other applicant? The Union soldiers appointed by this administration are: few and far between, while in every.case"tt was not the record of tne soldier that; Was in his favor, but his services as a Democratic i.artisan. In the South it may be said that no Union man has been appointed to office. The offices are filled from the rebel ranks. No man who acquiesces in the results of the war, who honorably demands a fair ballot and a fair count can be appointed to office in the South. The rebels are in as absolute mastery in the South as they would have been had the Confederacy succeeded. Fellow oitizens. the line drawn between the two parties is now as distinct as it was during the war, but we occupy a different field of battle. —: Then we fought for the preservation of the Union, and, as a means to that end, for the abolition of slavery. Now, the Union saved and slavery abolished, we fight for the equal political rights of all men and the faithful observance of the constitutional amendments. We are for the exercise of national authority, for the preservation of rights conferred by the Constitution, and upon this broad issue we invite cooperation from the South as well as the North. Upon this issue wo intend to make our appeal to the honest and honorable people of the Southern States. We think they are bound in honor to faithfully observe the conditions of peace granted to them by Gen. Grant and prescribed by the constitutional amendments. If they do this we will have peace, union, and fraternity. Without it we have agitation, contests. and complaints. Upon this issue I will go before the people of the South, and, turning my bacioupon aH .the animosities of the war, appeal c-hly to their sense of honor and justice. If they continue under their Democratic rulers the present system of ostracism and oppression and injustice, a.party can be formed among them who will demand justice to all, and thus break down the solid South, based as it is upon crime and fraud. If not, it is the duty of the people of the Northern States, without distinction.of party, to unite the North in the execution of the constitutional amendments, and, under the fourteenth amendment, to deny the Stares that do rot protect their citizens in the elective franchise, representation based upon the number so disfranchised. In another respect the lines between the Democratic and the Republican parties a,re marked and distinct. They still look upjpi this Government as a Confederate Government, with power so limited that it cannot enforce its laws or the decrees of its courts except by local agencies. They have learned nothing by the war, and forgotten nothing. All their theories, inherited from the school of slavery, tend to cripple and belittle the National Government, while, on the other hand, the Republican party regards the National Government as complete and supreme, to the extent of the powers granted, with full authority to enforce its laws, and to compel the people of each State to obey them. We believe we have power under the Constitution to protect every citizen in the full enjoyment of every right conferred by the Constitution, and that no State authority, legislative or judicial, can In any way interfere with the enforcement of these rights. This power ought to be exercised to secure free and fair elections for electors of JhrqsidßntsUnd for members of Congress and Senators of the United States. If the Republican party is true to its principle, it will enforce this doctrine, j ;

We also believe that It is the right and duty of the Government by its commercial laws and regulations to foster and protect American industry, to diversify the employments of its people, and build up its manufactures, to aid its ships and shipping, and,, generally, by its commercial and tax laws, to develop new forms of Industry, and give new employments to labor. This line of demarcation between the two parties is constantly shown ifi the action of their members in Congress. This Republican policy has led to the great development of our miners, manufactories, and agriculture. It is now in great danger of overthrow by the ascendency of free-trade ideaß in the Democratic party, which now threaten the disturbance of our Industries, You may rely upon it that the Republican party is the progressive, affirmative - party of the country, proposing and accomplishing measures, while the Democratic party is thenega-, Live, resjstiqg party in the county, generally in * the opposition and proposing nothing. Among the results of Republican policy I can point you to the preservation of tde Union, the abolition of slavery, the constitutional amendments, the homestead laws, a sound national currency, the maintenance of the public credit, the lefundiugof the public debt at the lowest rates of interest, the se rarity of the rights of naturalized citizens, a wise and fruitful system of taxes, the protection of American industry bjr our tariff laws, the resumption of specie payments, and, indeed, every wise law of Congress for a period of more than twenty yeafs. Let us contrast these great measures with what has been done by the Democratic partv, and that, after all, is the'best test of parties as of men It steadily resisted, with violence and rancor, all the measures 1 have stated, although they now profess to acquiesce in them. The last House of Representatives was strongly Democratic. What useful measures did it prop se or adopt ? None whatever. Hopelessly divided, they kept the business Of the country in constant unrest by a contest as to the tariff, between free trade by Morrison and quasi protection by ’ llandall. But it may.be said that the Senate was Republican and 1 would not agree to their ac s. You maybe thankful for that, and that is yonr safeguard for the future. Let us take Cleveland's administration, and test it Dy its acts thus far. as they affect great public lnteyefla. The greatest danger to the country now is found in fraud at elections. As I have said, the Democratic party now Jiolds the solid South by the meanest frauds, but Mr: Cleveland may say that is for Congress and for the law to deal with. But he had before

! Mm recently an application for the pardon of i Lieut. Mullen, of Cincinnati, a police officer convicted of the greatest oppression and wrong. Here was an apportunity for him to emphasize his view of violence at elections. Mullen arrested more than 100 colored men the night before tlje last October election and held them in the Hammond Street Prison until alter 6 o'clock on election i day, so that they conld not vote, and without j an opportunity to. appeal for the benefit of 1 habeas corpus, and by gross wrOne he deprived j th"m of their franchise. He.was arrested, in- ! dieted, tried, and pleaded guilty in the United States Court of the offense charged. Judge Baxter, of the Circuit Court of the United States, in his sentence pays ; “The testimony demonstrated that yon know some of them to have been citizens of Cincinnati for several years preceding their arrest; and yet proceeded vUthout inquiry, complaint, or proof to arrest and hold themi In durance vile, as alleged in the indictment, under pretense of official duty, bu.t in fact to prevent them from exercising their constitutional right to vote for a Representative in Congress. The evidence of your guilt was so convincing that vour zealons and able counsel voluntarily yielded to its irresistible lorce, and with your acquiescence manifested in open court consented to the finding made by the jury. This finding thus obtained is a virtual confession by you that the arrest and imprisonment of the persons named were for the wrongful purpose alleged in the indictment." Here was the case of an offense so gross and scandalous that no circumstance conld be added to make it more criminal. Mullen was sentenced to serve one year in the County Jail, and yet, long before his term expired he was pardoned by the President of the United States. It does not help the matter tb say that this pardon was based upon the petition of Gov. Hoadly, Of Ohio, and other Democratic partisans, for such a petition, under the circums; ances, only condemns those who signed it. If such an offense as this can be condoned in this way, there is no protection against violence or fraud at an election, and the Mississippi murders, the Danville riots, and the manipulating of ballot-boxes can hardly be classified as crimes. Here was an officer of the law, charged with the duty of protecting citizens in their rights, arresting by wholesale more than one hundred citizens, confining them where they could not be reached until after the election was over, and then discharged them without accusation or trial. This pardon we may 1 airly regard as evidence of the view taken by the Presi- • dent of the United States of frauds against the elective franchise. If such wrongs can be thus condoned, and there is no protection to the citizen against similar occurrences, the time will soon come when eleciions will cease by the general confession of the people that free government by elections has failed, and the “man on horseback" will be called upon to repeat again his role of history. With my kindly feelings toward President Cleveland, I believe that in this act he has done more to lower his administration in the opinion of conservative men than by any other or all the acts of his life. Take another act of this administration. Both parties are pledged to adopt all suitable measures to restore our foreign commerce, destroyed by the operation of rebel cruisers during the war. Many efforts have been made by Congress and by American ship-builders to secure this great national object. One of the most successful of these was John Boach, an uneducated Irishman, but whose native genius and energy enabled him to establish great ship-yards, where he built many ships for private parties and some for the United States. He had nearly completed the Dolphin, a Government vessel, and was constructing, under contracts, other Government vessels. Every part of the work had been done and all the material fnrnished under the direct supervision of naval officers, according to plans prescribed by them. The Dolphin, nearly completed, went out on a trial trip to test her speed. It is alleged by Mr. Roach that she fully met all the requirements of his contract. The Secretary of the Navy, however, claimed that the vessel did hot attain the speed fixed by the law. The Attorney General decided that although Roach had built the vessel in precise comformity with the plans of v the naval engineers, and of materials approved by them, yet, if their joint handiwoik did not secure the speed required by the jaw the vessel costing $500,000 might be refused and thrown on the hands of Roach. The decision made Roach a guarantor of the intelligence and skill of the Government officers, and yet required him without question to follow their plans and speciiications as to model, work, and material. It is sufficient to say that with such a rule none but a fool or a madman would take a contract of the Government to build a ship or anything else. The rate of speed fixed by the law was directory to the naval engineer. If their plans and models, properly executed bv the contractor, did not secure a vessel of the proper speed, it was the fault of the Government and its agents, and not of the contractor; and yet, upon such a decision, they forced Roach to stop his works, to make an assignment, to throw otit of employment thousands of workmen, and arrest for the time the construction not only of Government vessels, but of many commercial vessels for private parties, and greatly add also to the gener.il depression of business Another case of d.sregard of American interests by this administration was the practical nullification of the law ot the last session of Congress appropriating $400,u00 to enable the Postmaster General to contract, after legal advertisement, with the lowest bidder among American .(Steamship companies for the transportation ot foreign mails. This act of Congress, intended to foster and build up American commerce, was by the Postmaster General disregarded, and contracts were let mainly to English steamship companies. I have not, as a rule, supported any system of subsidies, but this proposition did receive the support of members of both political parties, and was believed to be very important for American interests in building up commerce, especially with the South American States. The subject had been fully and fairly debated in Congress. The law was plain and directory, and shoul'd have been executed by the Postmaster General, with a view to carry out the will of Congress. I have carefully read the papers In respect to this matter, and it does seem to me that by refusing to make arrangements for carrying the foreign mail in American steamships, he has violated the spirit, if not the language, of the law, and shown an utter disregard of the intent of Cungrees, as well as the rights and interests of American ships, and acted solely in the interests of foreign steamship companies. No act of the administration has tended in the slightest degree to revive the business of the country. It was the hope that a change would make times easier that led many persons to vote the Democratic ticket. What has been the result? What suggestion, even, has been made by any member of the administration that will brighten in the least the industry of the country? None whatever. The Secretary of the Treasury changed the form of the monthly debt statement, and made obscure what was formerly clear. He excluded from the moneys on hand the entire body of the fractional silver coin, thus tending to lessen the stated balance in the Treasury below the real amount, and at the same time tending to depreqiate the value of this silver ctfereney. One good effect of this pretended reform is to show how foolish Mr. Hendricks was in the last campaign in stating that there was $400,000,000 belonging to the United States lying idle in the Treasury, kept there by the Republican party. Where is this surplus? How many barrels of flour will it buy for each citizen of the United States? How shallow was the hypocrisy and demagogism by which the party came into power? The arrangement by the Secretary with the national banks in New York to get, as a matter of favor, some gold in exchange for silver coin seems to me a violation of the snb-treas my act which clearly forbids all exchange of money. It only tended to emphasize the depreciation of silver and to lower it more and in public confidence. The expedient of his predecessors of is--suing silver certificates in exchange for gold coin was a much more effective way to strengthen the gold balances. It is sufficient to say that no act of the administration \ affecting the currency dr finances has tended to restore confidence, to enconrage industry, or to furnish employment. The business ot all the departments seems to be confined to turning out experienced employes, against whom no fault is found except their fealty to the Republican party, and to patting in Democrats mainly of the rebel hue. Even the ordinary collection of the revenue is obstructed by the demagog am that preceded the election. Hlicit distilleries in the Booth, moonshiners as they,are called, were led to believe that Democratic success meant free whisky, no lnterhal Revenue Collectors, no United States Marshals. One hundred Illicit distilleries are now in operation hi Middle Tenneese-, and make it imposs bis for legitimate distillers to conduct their .brytmess. The first fruits of Demi.cratic'success are contempt for the law, harder times, a want ot confidence In the future, and a widening of the conflicts between capital and labor. What folly it is for any man who has been a Republican to expect of a Democratic administration the honest observance of the civilservice law, which the great mass of them have openly opposed Irom the beginning. It is denounced bv nearly all their leaders, scoffed at and condemned, and openly evaded. It was the Democratic party that first invented in American politics the doctrine that “to the victors belong the spoils." To expect them to be even moderate in sharing the STtoils would be to expect m ercy of jhe wolf who has seized the lamb. Sometimes kings have asses far advisers, but it has often occurred that a bucking broncho was the power behind the thrown. “Some men are always in luck," observed a tramp, upon reading t£at a man waa ‘■drowned in a vat Of whisky.” • *