Show STATE OF THE COUNTRY speech of governor parker of mew mem kersey apsey at the tammany tig wig 1 imam foutt Fourt fourteenth centA street yem xem york oct fellow citizens you have met to consider the state of public affairs and to hear political questions discussed with a view of de elding how you should vote at the 7 approaching election in tho remarks 1 I 1 shall submit for your con I 1 will not discuss at length the merits or qualifications t of bf the candidates presented for ybur your frages suf raes nor will I 1 enlarge upon local issues but will wil speak of national topics which interest futera A all tho people pf af all the states the result of the election in november will go far toward determining the political complexion of the next national administration and hence its vital importance three questions naturally present themselves first what is the present con of the country second who are responsible for that condition third if the condition be found unsatisfactory how low can prosperity be lie restored upon the solution of these ques eions should depend our action and qun gun our pur vote to the first question I 1 answer that no nation pretend pretending in to civil civila is in so sad a condition co as ours in many respects in one third of the states the masses of the people aro are reduce reduced ct to abject the educated and refined aj well weli as the humble and lowly ur ar i suffering bring for want of the comforts of ilfe ilae ie the state govern ments are exee so deeply in debt that it seems almost impossible kortbein fort for heln hein toe to extricate themselves the public debt incurred at the soth since the war has been estimated at nearly learly much of this is doubtless fraudulent but most of it seems to have been contracted by y the constituted authorities and is ia a lien on tho the resources of the aple uple pie this vast debt is not bompensa ted by corresponding benefits nor mor most of the money has been squandered or stolen the state and local taxes are so enormous that in some sections the land laud at the present depressed prices will not bring an amount sufficient to pay the assessment upon it even with such sacrifices some of the states cannot raise enough money to pay the tho interest accruing on the th e public debt men of property education and culture are as a general rule excluded from office and take no part in directing public c affairs the state and local gov ern orn emmetts ments are in the hands of the corrupt and ign ignorant strangers without character or capital who after the war settled down on the south like a s warm of locusts seek ing what they could devour and cunningly operating on the minds of the credulous blacks have with the aid of the general government taken possession of that country and hold the white people i there in bondage worse in some of its features than tho the slavery that existed before benore the war not only are the white people there ruined in estate but through terrorism exercised by those in power aided by federal troops they have pr practically no voice in tile the govern iff ment it iu in the strength of des operation e bration they attempt with the ea ballot bailot ilot to throw oft the yoke of despotic power the men they elect are not suffered to hold their offices but usurpers usurp ers lord it over them with tenfold ten fold more rigor the result la Is that in a country of vast resources and fertility there is an impoverished I 1 people eople not only broken in estate rut gut but almost broken in heart and with no hope unless we of the north Worth apply the remedy which I 1 shall presently recommend the truth Is that in no part of the globe js s there a government so cal as is that at present r besent exercised over some of th the states of this boasted land of freedom and if I 1 mistake not this tyranny and mis tule tuie will in after years be stigma iced throughout the world as the great political crime of the nine te eiith elith century we now turn from this sad picture to look for a moment at the condition of other sections of the ic auntry As a paralyzed limb impairs the general health and vigor so where we find one portion of the country prostrate we must expect jo to find the whole body politic affected commerce which has heretofore been our boast and which in a grgat ginat degree determines the pro prosperity of a nation is declining the tho he number of american vessels has within afew a few years been reduced to less than one third of the former number and the tonnage to less than one half laif naif half while the tonnage of great britain that was formerly less than thail ours oura has more than doubled in the north the goods of the mer merchant chant remain in store for want of custon customers lers lets man are closed or running on half time laborers are out of employment m and cannot find work even at starving prices taxes have increased and real esta estate has bas diminished in value to huch an extent that where the owner i is id d in debt and his property is ia forced into inn ina market arket one half the tile price paid for it a few years since cannot be realized iced and the mau who thought himself in comfortable circum stances finds that he is a bankrupt and is obliged in his old age perhaps with a family around him to commence the world anew the prostration of the south and the poverty of her people have deprie ed the north of a vast market for our goods and manufactures the city of new york and the state of 1 tew rew jersey are perhaps the greatest zt sufferers from thin cause but while all sections feel the effects of the great stagnation of business nearly ten years have passed since the war closed and tha the condition of the country is daily growing worse pestilence has not visited the and the crops during that time have been abundant and yet the farmer merchant manufacturer mechanic and laborer are alike feeling the ruinous grip of what is called hard times tim e we now come to the bhe second in viz what has produced this condition of things who luto luro are responsible for ther the hard times in in my opinion the chief cause is the rl radical cal cai policy of reconstruction of the southern states adopted and enforced at the point of the bayonet by the dominant party at the close of the war two distinct lines of policy we were reopen roopen open to the national administration one founded on amnesty and fillo reconciliation rec recognized wog the fact that the acts of secession were null and vold void that the states baates had never been out of the union but their relations with tre tle tr e national gov government emment had been only temporarily interrupted and that when loyal citizens in any considerable number desired to renew those relations it could be accomplished ace under the constitution ution ah and cl daivs laws that existed in tile the state when the war commenced on condition that slavery should bho who fio no longer be lawful and fur further that they who were legal voters according ta the lawa of the state at the presidential election in 1860 1660 with a few exceptions should enjoy the right of suffrage upon taking the oath loath of allegiance this was tyas in substance the plan proposed by mr lincoln in the proclamation appended to his annual message of ism 1863 ilfe iffe and he adhered to it through life ilfe after the tile death of mr lincoln president johnsoni John soun sori endeavored to carry out the same policy and before the next session of congress commenced hearly nearly all the states had hau elected state officers and members of congress notwithstanding the people of lor the south bouth llad done all that was asked of them had abolished slavery and repudiated the rebel reuel debt notwithstanding general grant before he joined coined the radicals had ad rep reported th that at he believed relieved t those chose ose lately in rebellion were sincere in their desi desire reto fo have their relations to th the union rest restored dred their members bens bers of congress were rofu refu refused ed seats aad nad then was wa inaugurated inadi u rated by the rodical party that fatal policy of bate and vengeance ven caned which has bealh been beon bhe the cause of all our woes boes I 1 charge that the radical administration at washington re regardless ardless of the public welfare sustained and encouraged the vagabond carpet in ia robbing the people of the south of their property and liberties in consideration that they in turn would control the states in the interest of the radical party the evidence in proof of this is full ful and cumulative in respect to all the reconstructed states but time will permit reference only to toa ton a few facts in the case case cafe of louisiana in the fall of 1872 an f r lection action for president governor rate ravo tat o and county officers was held lu ia louisiana the conservatives carried the state by a large majority As soon as the result was known the radicals determined ter mined that the official returns should be disregarded and the defeated candidates installed into officio and an d in this stupendous on outrage t thoy they were aided by the national administration A returning board that had bad no legal existence without any official returns before it upon estimates newspaper reports orts and affidavits admitted to enve tave have been loeen forged declared the radical candidate elected in the meantime the legal return returning lna ina board upon a count of the official returns submitted to it by the governor declared the conservative serva tive candidates elected but b afore doro dore the time appointed for the thea meeting of the legislature and the inauguration of the governor Governo rj a federal judge pre gre presiding siding in the district of louisiana on his own motion without notice not in court but in his own house at midnight issued an order directing the united states marshal immediately to take possession of the state house and prevent the assembling therein of the legislature which had bad been declared legally elected by proclamation of the then adov lov iov governor this order admitted by all candid men to have been issued without authority of law in a matter over federal courts court shad had no jurisdiction was actually enforced by the national ad ministration administration at the point of the bayonet the evidence proves conclusively that the tho order of durell was made upon advises advices from washington in advance and that the seizure of the state house and the consequent expulsion of the legitimate government of a sovereign state was tile the result of a conspiracy between the authorities at washington and their tools in louisiana to do the very thing 0 that was done anever kever in tile the history of our country has so gross an outrage been perpetrated upon pou dou state sovereignty the speaker Vi recounted counted all the well known facts regarding the louisiana usurpation claiming that they proved conclusively that the pa panty party r ty in 11 p power powen ower was deliberately responsible for the wrong and violence all the circumstances go to prove that the case was from the first prejudged and that no amount of representation of facts or argument could hid induce tice the administration to recognize the officers chosen by the people of loui Loul blana hinna it is true that the president afterwards called the attention or of congress to the subject but congress failed to do anything but talk and hild the usurping govern ment of louisiana is after the I 1 lapse e of two years still occupying the places to which others were undoubtedly elected and at this moment is engaged in projects to cheat the people of that state out of a fair election by means of a false registration and preventing naturalized citizens from voting having first depicted the thu condition of the country and secondly proved who are responsible for it I 1 now comedo come to the third inquiry bizz what is the remedy and how are we to restore to the downtrodden people of the south their rights and give prosperity to the whole country the answer is plain and we need not dwell upon it iti we must have a change of rulers the party in power in this country after a series of years has failed to give us good government and the people raye have llave lost confidence in its ability to do so even if it had the disposition the signs of the times indicate indi cate cata the success of the demoe racy and that they will control all branches of the government at att no distant day am I 1 asked what they propose to do when they get in p power owera siy lly my sly answer is that we propose to give self government to the people we propose to withdraw aw the army and liberate the white people of the south from a bondage which has hns has haa well nigh ruined them we propose to ilfe lift up the south from the depths of poverty to a development of progress she has never yet known W we propose to abide abida by the constitutional amendments of the organic law in their letter dna and spirit we propose to protect the colored man as well as aa the white man in the enjoyment of freedom and of all the rights he be eow KOW po has hias but we do not propose to give to ill lii him m M more gre are rights than to the white man we will administer the government not in a partisan tisa n spirit but with a yiew aview to advancing the best interests of the whole count country rk the general and state governments will ili be administered within their respective constitutional spheres of action and centralization of power be at an end colossal fortunes will not pass p s away in a night under tinder demo cal cratie cratic t lc government we will give to the country such sueh a currency that capital will come out of the vaults and hldi hidi hiding g pl places ces and em embark larli iii in enterprises that will glye employment to the mechanic and laborer A market as in informer former times will bo be to the inere llant ilant and manufacturer where the customers will ba able to pay for what they buy the value af pf real estate will again be advanced advance dj so that the man of moderate mod prate means mean need not noi fear the coming of tho abe sheriff the tires fires of our forges and furnaces will again burn brightly the cheerful hum af busy industry wili wiil again be heard throughout the land labor will find employment with good wages paid in stable cun euey eucy and commerce will wilk again dot oot the ocean with her white winged messengers and the tho american nag bag as of yore float proudly in every liar nan bor of the civilized world when the word is gi glyen giyen venton venlon to advance all hll along the line new newt york rork in the centennial year should be e where she was in the american revolution in the front ra rank and in the thickest of the fmay fray contending as then for constitutional liberty the freedom of speech the freedom of the tha press tho thi the right of petition and home rule lyew Y herald |