CHAPTER XXII.

GOVERNOR SEYMOUR'S COOPER INSTITUTE SPEECH OF 1866.

IN October, 1866, Governor Seymour spoke at New York on the questions which now agitate the public mind. We give the following extracts from his remarks, made at the Cooper Institute in that year, as they could not have in view the action of the National Convention in 1868. He showed the failure of the Republicans to keep the promises made in the election of 1864:

"In the election of 1864 we were told that the war which then raged in our land must be settled by force of arms; that when armed rebellion was put down our Union would be restored; that fraternal relationship between the North and South would be firmly based on mutual respect, wrought out on the battle-field, where both parties had shown courage worthy of the American name.

"We urged that our soldiers had won victories that enabled statesmanship to put an end to the contest that was filling our land with mourning, and loading down our industry with debt and taxation. That prolonged war made new questions, and that it was unsafe to leave the fruits of triumph ungathered.

"In answer it was said that the sword would soonest hew out the road to peace, to union, and concord; that Grant and Sherman were the only negotiators they would trust. When they had done their work there would be no questions left to perplex the public mind. We then warned the people that when every Southern army was driven from the field, and resistance was given up, it would be found that obstacles would be put in the way of the return of the Southern States to their duties. But the people trusted those who said force

alone shou'd be used.

"It is nearly two years since the surrender of the Southern armies. Within that time an European statesman has waged a victorious war against greater numbers, has built up a nation from scattered and jarring principalities, and has settled perplexing problems that disturbed the peace of Europe. And this was done by vigor and use of statesmanship within a period of six months. Nearly six years have rolled away since this Government began the work of putting down resistance to its authority on the part of a minority of the American people, and yet we are vexed to-day with more doubts and difficulties than at any other period since the war broke out.

"During the four years of active warfare, it was the policy of those who wished to throw off from themselves the disgrace of unfitness and imbecility, to say that it was simply a military problem, and thus to cast upon our armies the discredit of a lingering, indecisive struggle between forces so unequal. This was unjust and untrue. The historian will tell of victories won by heroic valor which would have ended the contest, if there had been an honest purpose on the part of those who controlled the administrative and legislative departments of government. But the Southern armies were crushed out two years ago. No longer can those who wield power shield themselves by throwing upon the soldiers the discredit of ur disorganized condition.

"What has been done since our final victory to unite our people, to bind the States together by bonds of common interest, of t. aternal regard, and by measures of wise statesmanship? Nothing, worse than nothing. We have drifted farther than ever from a estored Union. Two years ago we were battling to bring back seceded States to their duties; to-day we are haggling over terms of reunion; and the interests of party and not the safety of the Republic directs the political action. At the end of the battle the people of the North were in favor of a generous use of their victories, and the South was ready to accept results and return to their duties. But now all is changed. Men in power find their advantage in aiscord; hatred of the South is taught by the press, by a class of men in the pulpit whose vindictive piety was never drawn from our Saviour's teachings; by public speakers and by pictorial papers, they strive to stir up malignant passions. The questions growing out of this state of affairs have been discussed mainly with regard to their effects upon the rights, duties, and conditions of the South.

"I ask you now to look at the perils they cause to the rights, the interests, and well-being of the North. The people of the Sout

were divided during the war. Some opposed the rebellion; some were hurried into it without thought, and were glad when it was over; all yielded to the result. They are now settling down into the belief that we are their unrelenting foes, that there can be no hearty Union. Unless there is a change of policy, in a little while they will accept the theory that they are a conquered people, with the rights as well as the liabilities of that condition. A military government will be forced upon us by making a military government necessary for their subjection. They will have every thing to gain and nothing to lose by revolutions. We have more to fear from the South if it accepts the doctrine of subjugation than we ever had to fear from its armed rebellion; we can not enslave them without enslaving ourselves. We can not have a government whose northern face shall smile devotion to the popular will, and whose southern aspect shall frown contempt, defiance, and hate to the people of eleven States.

"The South has comparatively little to fear from misgovernment; its lands already have been laid waste; its system of labor broken up; its homes impoverished; and its families thinned by the sword. It has seen and felt the worst. To-day the power of Great Britain is paralyzed by its harsh, unjust, and contemptuous treatment of Ireland. We are taught that if a people are to be treated as outlaws, they can bide their time; they can wait for domestic strife or foreign invasion. It is not wise or safe to trample upon those who for years, with desperate courage, held their ground against the millions we sent to the field, and the thousands of millions of treasure we spent in the contest-a contest which filled our homes with mourning, loaded us down with debt and taxation, and wrought great and lasting changes in the policy, the maxims, and structure of our Government. A wise settlement of pending questions will do much to build up the prosperity of the South; an unwise policy will do more to break down the wealth and prosperity of the North."

He also set forth the curses brought upon the laboring man by constant interference with the affairs of the South, and the consequent increase of taxation:

"The wisdom of Solomon has admonished the world that 'a wise man seeks peace, but a fool will be meddling.' I approve the purposes of President Johnson, because he seeks peace and concord. I

oppose the policy of Congress, because it is one that is meddling and dangerous.

"I shall show why the policy of meddling and strife is hurtful to the capital, the labor, and the home rights of the people of the North. The debt of the Government is about $3,000,000,000.

"The chief peril to the public faith is the wastefulness of Government,, growing out of the violence of factions. Until the Union is saved, the cost of armies and of hordes of officers must be kept up. Beyond the direct cost of an honest and careful use of public money for these purposes, there is the danger from the growing corruption which always festers, when far-off States are put under the control of agents with unusual and undefined powers, meddling not only with public concerns, but private business and family affairs. These agents, mostly adventurers and men unknown to the people, and beyond the reach of the eye of those who pay the cost of keeping them, are tempted by love of power-lust for money-to act corruptly. This form of government for the South, at once base and debasing, lives only by keeping up the passions and hates of the people of this country. It is an ingenious and costly plan to keep the country in disorder; to unsettle all ideas of law, justice, and rights of persons and property. It is teaching the people of the North that power may rightfully do its will, trampling upon all the written laws and unwritten maxims which have heretofore governed our country and guarded the public faith, the personal safety, and the home-rights of our people.

"The meddling and disorganizing policy of Congress, if carried out, will be hurtful to the working men of the North. It calls for large armies. If the South is to be held in subjection until, in the language of Mr. Phillips, it gravitates toward the ideas of Massachusetts, at least one hundred thousand men must be kept in arms, at a cost of more than one hundred millions each year. The South will have the benefit of the money thus spent, and in time may look with as much satisfaction upon the arrival of troops as is shown by our Canadian friends when regiments are quartered in their towns. Great armies are to be kept up by Congressional legislation-the usual evils will follow.

"Our general and State Governments are fast getting to be corrupt and wasteful. The cost of them must be borne by labor. Government bonds pay no taxes; the disorganized South, instead of helping to bear these burdens, will add to their weight.

"Meetings are now held in all parts of our country to shorten the

hours of toil. Men claim they should have more time for rest and mental culture. All agree that this is right; all promise to support them in their movement, Republicans and Democrats alike. But promises are cheap, and sympathy is of little value if it stops with the mere sentiment. I ask the workingmen to think of this. You must pay your taxes, and you must work to do so. It matters not if these taxes are paid into the hands of the tax-gatherers, or to the merchant, who puts them into the price you pay for his goods, of course. If you could buy your food, fuel, clothes, and other necessaries and comforts of life at the cost of production, adding a reasonable profit, free from the taxation which enter into prices at this time, you could live with your present wages by laboring four hours each day.

"Taxation in its varied forms more than doubles the cost of life in this country. Each man in the shop and field works a part of the day for himself and family, and part of the day to meet the cost of Government.

"Taxation means toil. And more taxation means more hours of

toil.

"The Congressional policy of hate, of discord, of meddling, of large armies, and of corrupt patronage, will lengthen out your hours of labor-for you must pay for these things.

"In a little time you will feel that the questions of the day do not merely concern the South. They are agitated at your cost, and you will find them all in the tax-gatherer's bill. You will then learn that the number of hours you are to work is not a question between you and your employers, but between you and the tax-gatherer."

He also showed at that early day that the Western States were suffering from a want of currency, because their share of banking capital and of bank notes had been given to a few of the Eastern States.

"Another evil to the North growing out of the system of firing the minds of our people with hatred of the South, is that public attention is turned away from great questions of our financial policy which concern every class of our citizens. All admit that our inflated currency and its shifting value is a cause of business confusion, of wild speculation, and of demoralizing waste and extravagance. We have reason to fear these evils will grow until they bring us to financial ruin.