What is a butterfly? At bestHe's but a caterpillar drest,The gaudy fop's his picture just,
What is a butterfly? At bestHe's but a caterpillar drest,The gaudy fop's his picture just,
What is a butterfly? At best
He's but a caterpillar drest,
The gaudy fop's his picture just,
as poor Richard says.
But what madness must it be torun into debtfor these superfluities! We are offered, by the terms of this vendue, six months' credit; and that, perhaps, has induced some of us to attend it, because we cannot spare the ready money, and hope now to be fine without it. But, ah! think what you do when you run in debt:You give to another power over your liberty.If you cannot pay at the time, you will be ashamed to see your creditor; you will be in fear when you speak to him; you will make poor, pitiful, sneaking excuses, and by degrees come to lose our veracity, and sink into base, downright lying; for, as Poor Richard says,The second vice is lying, the first is running into debt; and again, to the same purpose,lying rides upon debt's back; whereas a free-born Englishman ought not to be ashamed or afraid to see or speak to any man living. But poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue.'Tis hard for an empty bag to stand upright!as Poor Richard truly says. What would you think of that prince, or that government who should issue an edict forbidding you to dress like a gentleman or gentlewoman, on pain of imprisonment or servitude? Would you not say that you are free, have a right to dress as you please, and that such an edict would be a breach of your privileges, and such a government tyranical? And yet you are about to put yourself under such tyranny, when you run in debt for such dress! Your creditor has authority, at his pleasure, to deprive you of your liberty, by confining you in jail for life, or to sell you for a servant, if you should not be able to pay him.5When you have got your bargain you may, perhaps, think little of payment; butCreditors(Poor Richard tells us)have better memories than debtors; and in another place says,Creditors are a superstitious set, great observers of set days and times.The day comes round before you are aware, and the demand is made before you are prepared to satisfy it; or, if you will bear your debt in mind, the term which at first seemed so long will, as it lessens, appear extremely short. Time will seem to have added wings to his heels as well as his shoulders.Those have a short Lent, saith Poor Richard,who owe money to be paid at Easter.Then since, as he says,The borrower is a slave to the lender, and the debtor to the creditor, disdain the chain, preserve your freedom, and maintain your independency. Beindustriousandfree; befrugalandfree. At present, perhaps, you may think yourself in thriving circumstances, and that you can bear a little extravagance without injury; but—
For age and want, save while you may,No morning sun lasts a whole day.
For age and want, save while you may,No morning sun lasts a whole day.
For age and want, save while you may,
No morning sun lasts a whole day.
As Poor Richard says, gain may be temporary and uncertain; but ever, while you live, expense is constant and certain; and'Tis easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel, as Poor Richard says; so,Rather go to bed supperless than rise in debt.
Get what you can and what you get hold:'Tis the stone that will turn all your lead in gold,6
Get what you can and what you get hold:'Tis the stone that will turn all your lead in gold,6
Get what you can and what you get hold:
'Tis the stone that will turn all your lead in gold,6
as Poor Richard says; and, while you have got the Philosopher's stone, sure, you will no longer complain of bad times or the difficulty of paying taxes.
This doctrine, my friends, is reason and wisdom; but, after all, do not depend too much upon your own industry and frugality and prudence, though excellent things; for they may all be blasted without the blessing of Heaven; and therefore, ask that blessing humbly, and be not uncharitable to those that at present seem to want it, but comfort and help them. Remember Job suffered, and was afterwards prosperous.
And now, to conclude,Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that; for it is true,We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct, as Poor Richard says. However, remember this,They that won't be counselled, can't be helped, as Poor Richard says; and further, that,If you will not hear reason, she'll surely rap your knuckles.
Thus the old gentleman ended his harangue. The people heard it, and approved the doctrine; and immediately practiced the contrary, just as if it had been a common sermon. For the vendue opened, and they began to buy extravagantly, notwithstanding all his cautions, and their own fear of taxes. I found the good man had thoroughly studied myAlmanacs, and digested all I had dropped on those topics during the course of five-and-twenty-years. The frequent mention he made of me must have tired any one else; but my vanity was wonderfully delighted with it, though I was conscious that not a tenth part of the wisdom was my own which he ascribed to me, but rather the gleanings that I had made of the sense of all ages and nations. However, I resolved to be the better for the echo of it; and, though I had at first determined to buy stuff for a new coat, I went away resolved to wear my old one a little longer. Reader, if thou wilt do the same,thyprofit will be as great as mine. I am, as ever, thine to serve thee.
July 7, 1757.
Richard Saunders.
THE WATER-MILL.Oh! listen to the water-mill, through all the live-long day,As the clicking of the wheels wears hour by hour away;How languidly the autumn wind doth stir the withered leaves,As on the field the reapers sing, while binding up the sheaves!A solemn proverb strikes my mind, and as a spell is cast,"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."The summer winds revive no more leaves strewn o'er earth and main,The sickle never more will reap the yellow garnered grain;The rippling stream flows on, aye tranquil, deep, and still,But never glideth back again to busy water-mill.The solemn proverb speaks to all, with meaning deep and vast,"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."Oh! clasp the proverb to thy soul, dear loving heart and true,For golden years are fleeting by, and youth is passing, too;Ah! learn to make the most of life, nor lose one happy day,For time will ne'er return sweet joys neglected, thrown away;Nor leave one tender word unsaid, thy kindness sow broadcast—"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."Oh! the wasted hours of life, that have swiftly drifted by,Alas! the good we might have done, all gone without a sigh;Love that we might once have saved by a single kindly word,Thoughts conceived but ne'er expressed, perishing unpenned, unheard.Oh! take the lesson to thy soul, forever clasp it fast,"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."Work on while yet the sun doth shine, thou man of strength and will,The streamlet ne'er doth useless glide by clicking watermill;Nor wait until to-morrow's light beams brightly on thy way.For all that thou canst call thine own, lies in the phrase, "to-day;"Possessions, power, and blooming health, must all be lost at last—"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."Oh! love thy God and fellow man, thyself consider last,For come it will when they must scan dark errors of the past;Soon will this fight of life be o'er, and earth recede from view,And heaven in all its glory shine where all is pure and true.Ah! then thou'lt see more clearly still the proverb deep and vast,"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."D. C. McCallum.
THE WATER-MILL.
THE WATER-MILL.
Oh! listen to the water-mill, through all the live-long day,As the clicking of the wheels wears hour by hour away;How languidly the autumn wind doth stir the withered leaves,As on the field the reapers sing, while binding up the sheaves!A solemn proverb strikes my mind, and as a spell is cast,"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."
Oh! listen to the water-mill, through all the live-long day,
As the clicking of the wheels wears hour by hour away;
How languidly the autumn wind doth stir the withered leaves,
As on the field the reapers sing, while binding up the sheaves!
A solemn proverb strikes my mind, and as a spell is cast,
"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."
The summer winds revive no more leaves strewn o'er earth and main,The sickle never more will reap the yellow garnered grain;The rippling stream flows on, aye tranquil, deep, and still,But never glideth back again to busy water-mill.The solemn proverb speaks to all, with meaning deep and vast,"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."
The summer winds revive no more leaves strewn o'er earth and main,
The sickle never more will reap the yellow garnered grain;
The rippling stream flows on, aye tranquil, deep, and still,
But never glideth back again to busy water-mill.
The solemn proverb speaks to all, with meaning deep and vast,
"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."
Oh! clasp the proverb to thy soul, dear loving heart and true,For golden years are fleeting by, and youth is passing, too;Ah! learn to make the most of life, nor lose one happy day,For time will ne'er return sweet joys neglected, thrown away;Nor leave one tender word unsaid, thy kindness sow broadcast—"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."
Oh! clasp the proverb to thy soul, dear loving heart and true,
For golden years are fleeting by, and youth is passing, too;
Ah! learn to make the most of life, nor lose one happy day,
For time will ne'er return sweet joys neglected, thrown away;
Nor leave one tender word unsaid, thy kindness sow broadcast—
"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."
Oh! the wasted hours of life, that have swiftly drifted by,Alas! the good we might have done, all gone without a sigh;Love that we might once have saved by a single kindly word,Thoughts conceived but ne'er expressed, perishing unpenned, unheard.Oh! take the lesson to thy soul, forever clasp it fast,"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."
Oh! the wasted hours of life, that have swiftly drifted by,
Alas! the good we might have done, all gone without a sigh;
Love that we might once have saved by a single kindly word,
Thoughts conceived but ne'er expressed, perishing unpenned, unheard.
Oh! take the lesson to thy soul, forever clasp it fast,
"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."
Work on while yet the sun doth shine, thou man of strength and will,The streamlet ne'er doth useless glide by clicking watermill;Nor wait until to-morrow's light beams brightly on thy way.For all that thou canst call thine own, lies in the phrase, "to-day;"Possessions, power, and blooming health, must all be lost at last—
Work on while yet the sun doth shine, thou man of strength and will,
The streamlet ne'er doth useless glide by clicking watermill;
Nor wait until to-morrow's light beams brightly on thy way.
For all that thou canst call thine own, lies in the phrase, "to-day;"
Possessions, power, and blooming health, must all be lost at last—
"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."
"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."
Oh! love thy God and fellow man, thyself consider last,For come it will when they must scan dark errors of the past;Soon will this fight of life be o'er, and earth recede from view,And heaven in all its glory shine where all is pure and true.Ah! then thou'lt see more clearly still the proverb deep and vast,"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."
Oh! love thy God and fellow man, thyself consider last,
For come it will when they must scan dark errors of the past;
Soon will this fight of life be o'er, and earth recede from view,
And heaven in all its glory shine where all is pure and true.
Ah! then thou'lt see more clearly still the proverb deep and vast,
"The mill will never grind again with water that is past."
D. C. McCallum.
D. C. McCallum.
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but for me, give me liberty or give me death.
Patrick Henry.
The law is a sort of hocus-pocus science, that smiles in yer face while it picks yer pocket; and the glorious uncertainty of it is of mair use to the professors than the justice of it.
Macklin.
OUR MISSION.In calm and stormy weatherOur mission is to grow;To keep the angle paramountAnd bind the brute below.We grow not all in sunshine,But richly in the rain;And what we deem our lossesMay prove our final gain.The snows and frosts of winterA richer fruitage bring;From battling with the anvilThe smith's grand muscles spring.'Tis by the law of contrastThat fine effects are seen;As thus we blend in colorsThe orange with the green.By action and reactionWe reach our perfect growth;Nor by excess of neither,But equipoise of both.The same code binds the human.That governs mother earth;God cradled her in tempestAnd earthquakes from her birth.Our life is but a struggleFor perfect equipoise;Our pains are often jewels,Our pleasures gilded toys.Between the good and evilThe monarch will must stand,To shape the final issueBy God's divine command.Our mission is to battleWith ill in every form—To borrow strength and volumeFrom contact with the storm.In the beautiful hereafterThese blinding mortal tearsShall crystalize in jewelsTo sparkle in the spheres.With weak and moldish visionWe work our way below;But sure our souls are buildingMuch wiser than we know.And when the work is finishedThe scaffolding then falls;And lo! a radiant temple,With pearl and sapphire walls.A temple far transcendingThe grandest piles below,Whose dome shall blaze with splendor,In God's eternal glow.
OUR MISSION.
OUR MISSION.
In calm and stormy weatherOur mission is to grow;To keep the angle paramountAnd bind the brute below.
In calm and stormy weather
Our mission is to grow;
To keep the angle paramount
And bind the brute below.
We grow not all in sunshine,But richly in the rain;And what we deem our lossesMay prove our final gain.
We grow not all in sunshine,
But richly in the rain;
And what we deem our losses
May prove our final gain.
The snows and frosts of winterA richer fruitage bring;From battling with the anvilThe smith's grand muscles spring.
The snows and frosts of winter
A richer fruitage bring;
From battling with the anvil
The smith's grand muscles spring.
'Tis by the law of contrastThat fine effects are seen;As thus we blend in colorsThe orange with the green.
'Tis by the law of contrast
That fine effects are seen;
As thus we blend in colors
The orange with the green.
By action and reactionWe reach our perfect growth;Nor by excess of neither,But equipoise of both.The same code binds the human.
By action and reaction
We reach our perfect growth;
Nor by excess of neither,
But equipoise of both.
The same code binds the human.
That governs mother earth;God cradled her in tempestAnd earthquakes from her birth.
That governs mother earth;
God cradled her in tempest
And earthquakes from her birth.
Our life is but a struggleFor perfect equipoise;Our pains are often jewels,Our pleasures gilded toys.
Our life is but a struggle
For perfect equipoise;
Our pains are often jewels,
Our pleasures gilded toys.
Between the good and evilThe monarch will must stand,To shape the final issueBy God's divine command.
Between the good and evil
The monarch will must stand,
To shape the final issue
By God's divine command.
Our mission is to battleWith ill in every form—To borrow strength and volumeFrom contact with the storm.
Our mission is to battle
With ill in every form—
To borrow strength and volume
From contact with the storm.
In the beautiful hereafterThese blinding mortal tearsShall crystalize in jewelsTo sparkle in the spheres.
In the beautiful hereafter
These blinding mortal tears
Shall crystalize in jewels
To sparkle in the spheres.
With weak and moldish visionWe work our way below;But sure our souls are buildingMuch wiser than we know.
With weak and moldish vision
We work our way below;
But sure our souls are building
Much wiser than we know.
And when the work is finishedThe scaffolding then falls;And lo! a radiant temple,With pearl and sapphire walls.
And when the work is finished
The scaffolding then falls;
And lo! a radiant temple,
With pearl and sapphire walls.
A temple far transcendingThe grandest piles below,Whose dome shall blaze with splendor,In God's eternal glow.
A temple far transcending
The grandest piles below,
Whose dome shall blaze with splendor,
In God's eternal glow.
Wealth is necessary; let us not disclaim against it; every nation needs it to attain the highest achievements in civilization. But it is a blessing only as a servant, and is destructive as a master.
John P. Altgeld.
If I were a young man I should ally myself with some high and at present unpopular cause, and devote my every effort to accomplish its success.
John G. Whittier.
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,Where wealth accumulates and men decay.Princes and lords may flourish and may fade;A breath can make them, as breath has made;But an honest peasantry, a country's pride,When once destroyed, can never be supplied.
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,Where wealth accumulates and men decay.
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay.
Princes and lords may flourish and may fade;A breath can make them, as breath has made;But an honest peasantry, a country's pride,When once destroyed, can never be supplied.
Princes and lords may flourish and may fade;
A breath can make them, as breath has made;
But an honest peasantry, a country's pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.
War preys on two things—life and property: but he preys with a partial appetite. Feasting on life, he licks his jaws and says, "More, by your leave!" Devouring property, he says, between grin and glut, "This is so good that it ought to be paid for!" Into the vacuum of wasted life rush the moaning winds of grief and desolation; in to the vacuum of wasted property rushes the goblin of debt. The wasted life is transformed at length into a reminiscent glory; the wasted property becomes a hideous nightmare. The heroes fallen rise from their bloody cerements into everlasting fame; the property destroyed rises from the red and flame-swept field as a spectral vampire, sucking the still warm blood of the heroic dead and of their posthumous babes to the tenth generation! The name of the vampire is Bond.
John Clark Ridpath.
TO A WATERFOWL.Whither, mid'st falling dew,While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,Far through their rosy depths, dost thou pursueThy solitary way?Vainly the fowler's eyeMight mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,As, darkly seen against the crimson sky,Thy figure floats along.Seek'st thou the plashy brinkOf weedy lake, or marge of river wide,Or where the rocking billows rise and sinkOn the chafed ocean side?There is a Power whose careTeaches thy way along that pathless coast—The desert and illimitable air—Lone wandering, but not lost.All day thy wings have fanned,At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,Though the dark night is near.And soon that toil shall end;Soon shall thou find a summer home, and rest,And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bendSoon, o'er thy sheltered nest.Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heavenHath swallowed up thy form; yet on my heartDeeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast givenAnd shall not soon depart.He who, from zone to zone,Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,In the long way that I must tread aloneWill lead my steps aright.William Cullen Bryant.
TO A WATERFOWL.
TO A WATERFOWL.
Whither, mid'st falling dew,While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,Far through their rosy depths, dost thou pursueThy solitary way?
Whither, mid'st falling dew,
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way?
Vainly the fowler's eyeMight mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,As, darkly seen against the crimson sky,Thy figure floats along.
Vainly the fowler's eye
Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
As, darkly seen against the crimson sky,
Thy figure floats along.
Seek'st thou the plashy brinkOf weedy lake, or marge of river wide,Or where the rocking billows rise and sinkOn the chafed ocean side?
Seek'st thou the plashy brink
Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
On the chafed ocean side?
There is a Power whose careTeaches thy way along that pathless coast—The desert and illimitable air—Lone wandering, but not lost.
There is a Power whose care
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast—
The desert and illimitable air—
Lone wandering, but not lost.
All day thy wings have fanned,At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,Though the dark night is near.
All day thy wings have fanned,
At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,
Though the dark night is near.
And soon that toil shall end;Soon shall thou find a summer home, and rest,And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bendSoon, o'er thy sheltered nest.
And soon that toil shall end;
Soon shall thou find a summer home, and rest,
And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend
Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest.
Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heavenHath swallowed up thy form; yet on my heartDeeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast givenAnd shall not soon depart.
Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form; yet on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given
And shall not soon depart.
He who, from zone to zone,Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,In the long way that I must tread aloneWill lead my steps aright.
He who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone
Will lead my steps aright.
William Cullen Bryant.
William Cullen Bryant.
ROBERT BURNS
(Considered by many the world's greatest Song writer and natural Poet.)
While Burns was yet a plow boy he was challenged by two highly educated gentlemen, who were seated awaiting their dinner to be served at an Inn in the town of Ayr.
The terms of the challenge was for each to write a verse on the event of their first acquaintance, the one writing the best and most appropriate short rhyme was to have his dinner paid for by the other two.
Burns wrote as follows:
I Jonnie Peep,Saw two sheep.Two sheep saw me.Half a crown apieceWill pay for their fleece.And I Jonnie Peep go free.
I Jonnie Peep,Saw two sheep.Two sheep saw me.Half a crown apieceWill pay for their fleece.And I Jonnie Peep go free.
I Jonnie Peep,
Saw two sheep.
Two sheep saw me.
Half a crown apiece
Will pay for their fleece.
And I Jonnie Peep go free.
On another occasion while drinking at a Bar a hanger on who was notorious for his much drinking and was dubbed the Marquis, asked Burns to write an appropriate epitaph for his grave stone.
Burns, quick as flash and without any apparent effort, wrote:
Here lies a faulse Marquis:Whose title is shamedIf ever he risesIt will be to be damned.
Here lies a faulse Marquis:Whose title is shamedIf ever he risesIt will be to be damned.
Here lies a faulse Marquis:
Whose title is shamed
If ever he rises
It will be to be damned.
TO A MOUSE.Wee, sleekit, cowrin' tim'rous beastie.Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie!Thou needna start awa' sae hasty.Wi' bickering brattle!I wad be laith to rin and chase thee,Wi murd'ing prattle!I'm truly sorry man's dominionHas broken nature's social union,And justifies that ill opinionWhich makes thee startleAt me, thy poor earth-born companionAnd fellow-mortal!I doubt na, whiles, but thou may thieve;What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!A daimen icker in a thrave'S a sma' o' requestI'll get a blessin' wi' the lave,And never miss 't!Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!Its silly wa's the win's are strewin'!And naething now to big a new aneO' foggage green!And bleak December's winds ensuin'Baith snell and keen!Thou saw the fields laid bare and wasteAnd weary winter comin' fast.And cozie here, beneath the blast,Thou thought to dwell;Till, crash! the cruel coulter pastOut through thy cell.That wee bit heap o'leaves and stibbleHas cost thee mony a weary nibble!Now thou's turn'd out for a' thy trouble,But house or hauld,To thole the winter's sleety dribbleAnd cranreuch cauld.But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,In proving foresight may be vain;The bes laid schemes o' mice and menGang aft a-gley,And lea 'e us naught but grief and painFor promised joy.Still thou art blest, compared wi' me!The present only toucheth thee,But, och! I backward cast my eeOn prospects drear!And forward, though I canna see,I guess and fear.Robert Burns.
TO A MOUSE.
TO A MOUSE.
Wee, sleekit, cowrin' tim'rous beastie.Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie!Thou needna start awa' sae hasty.Wi' bickering brattle!I wad be laith to rin and chase thee,Wi murd'ing prattle!
Wee, sleekit, cowrin' tim'rous beastie.
Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou needna start awa' sae hasty.
Wi' bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin and chase thee,
Wi murd'ing prattle!
I'm truly sorry man's dominionHas broken nature's social union,And justifies that ill opinionWhich makes thee startleAt me, thy poor earth-born companionAnd fellow-mortal!
I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken nature's social union,
And justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor earth-born companion
And fellow-mortal!
I doubt na, whiles, but thou may thieve;What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!A daimen icker in a thrave'S a sma' o' requestI'll get a blessin' wi' the lave,And never miss 't!
I doubt na, whiles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen icker in a thrave
'S a sma' o' request
I'll get a blessin' wi' the lave,
And never miss 't!
Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!Its silly wa's the win's are strewin'!And naething now to big a new aneO' foggage green!And bleak December's winds ensuin'Baith snell and keen!
Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!
Its silly wa's the win's are strewin'!
And naething now to big a new ane
O' foggage green!
And bleak December's winds ensuin'
Baith snell and keen!
Thou saw the fields laid bare and wasteAnd weary winter comin' fast.And cozie here, beneath the blast,Thou thought to dwell;Till, crash! the cruel coulter pastOut through thy cell.
Thou saw the fields laid bare and waste
And weary winter comin' fast.
And cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell;
Till, crash! the cruel coulter past
Out through thy cell.
That wee bit heap o'leaves and stibbleHas cost thee mony a weary nibble!Now thou's turn'd out for a' thy trouble,But house or hauld,To thole the winter's sleety dribbleAnd cranreuch cauld.
That wee bit heap o'leaves and stibble
Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
Now thou's turn'd out for a' thy trouble,
But house or hauld,
To thole the winter's sleety dribble
And cranreuch cauld.
But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,In proving foresight may be vain;The bes laid schemes o' mice and menGang aft a-gley,And lea 'e us naught but grief and painFor promised joy.
But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The bes laid schemes o' mice and men
Gang aft a-gley,
And lea 'e us naught but grief and pain
For promised joy.
Still thou art blest, compared wi' me!The present only toucheth thee,But, och! I backward cast my eeOn prospects drear!And forward, though I canna see,I guess and fear.
Still thou art blest, compared wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee,
But, och! I backward cast my ee
On prospects drear!
And forward, though I canna see,
I guess and fear.
Robert Burns.
Robert Burns.
CHAPTER XI.
ORATORICAL DEPARTMENT.
The author believes he is here presenting such selections as will be accepted as masterpieces.
Mr. Bryan's speech at New Haven, where he was disturbed by students is taken from his book, the First Battle, and is here offered to show the wonderful composure of the speaker, rather than to present a fine or eloquent speech.
The New York Sun's editorial, and the resolution of the council of Indians will show the difference of opinion that exists between commercial editors and the men of nature. It is obvious that these students were disturbing a public meeting, and to justify them is to wink at crime, scorn at justice, mock at the freedom of speech and excuse ignorance.
Certainly the Indian presents the idea of advancing forward, while the New York Sun man is advancing (?) backward.
PATRICK HENRY'S SPEECH.
VIRGINIA MUST PREPARE FOR WAR.
There is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason toward my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of Hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that Siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes see not, and having ears hear not the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and provide for it.
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British Ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not. It will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed by a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission. Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain an enemy in this quarter of the world to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No; she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British Ministry have been so long forging.
And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? We have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not deceive ourselves longer. We have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the Throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hand of the Ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the Throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free—if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending—if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained—we must fight! I repeat it, we must fight! An appeal to arms, and to the God of Hosts, is all that is left to us.
They tell us that we are weak—unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of Hope until our enemies have bound us hand and foot? We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, are invincible by any force which the enemy can send against us. Besides, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and will raise us friends to fight our battle for us. The battle is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.
Besides, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery. Our chains are forged; their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston. The war is inevitable—and let it come! I repeat it. Let it come! It is in vain to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, peace—but there is no peace. The war is actually begun. The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ear the clash of resounding arms. Our brethren are already in the field! Why are we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!—Speech in Convention, March 25, 1775.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S SPEECH.
SPEECH AT THE DEDICATION OF THE NATIONAL CEMETERY AT GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, NOVEMBER 19, 1863.
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a large sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead have not died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN'S SPEECHES.
YALE COLLEGE INCIDENT.—BRYAN SPEAKS UNDER DIFFICULTIES
I am glad that there are students here, because I want to say a word to students. Your college has helped to add fame to your city, and those who assemble here are supposed to come in order that they may better equip themselves for the duties of life. I am glad to talk to students, because, my friends, we have a cause which appeals to students. If the syndicates and corporations rule this country, then no young man has a fair show unless he is the favorite of a corporation. (Applause—and yells for McKinley by a cordon of the students.) If the people have a right to govern themselves and exercise that right, then every citizen has an equal chance and every man may achieve what he desires. We wish to leave all the avenues open so that the son of the humblest citizen may aspire to the highest position within the gift of the people. (Applause and yells repeated.)
I am not speaking now to the sons who are sent to college on the proceeds of ill-gotten gains. (Enthusiastic applause.) I will wait until these sons have exhausted what their fathers have left them and then appeal to their children who will have to commence life where their grandfathers commenced. (Great applause.) My friends, a just government is best for the great masses of the people. Equal laws and equal opportunities are best for nine out of every ten of us. (Yells again repeated.) Therefore, our cause appeals to every young man who wants to make this Government so good as to deserve the love, confidence and the support of every citizen in this land.
We appeal not only to the students; we appeal to business men who have been terrorized by the financial—what may I call it? (Applause.) People have been tyrannized over by financial institutions until in some instances it is more dangerous to raise your voice against the ruling power than it is in an absolute monarchy. (Great applause and yells.) If there is anybody who loves this sort of thing then I shall offend him by speaking of it, but I shall not offend any man who loves liberty and the right of free speech in this country. (Great applause.)
The business men have been told that the free coinage of silver would ruin them. If it can ruin them with more rapidity than the gold standard has ruined them, then, my friends, it will be bad, indeed, because the gold standard has increased the number of failures among business men, and every step that has been taken has been followed——(Yells from the students.) I have been so used to talking to young men who earn their own living that I do not know——(Great applause and cheering.) I say, I have been so used to talking to young men who earn their own living that I hardly know what language to use to address myself to those who desire to be known, not as creators of wealth, but as the distributors of wealth which somebody else created. (Great applause and cheering.) If you will show me a young man who has been taught to believe——(More yells and cries of "McKinley.")
In all my travels I have not found a crowd that needed talking to so much as this crowd does. (Cries of "That's right.") I came to this city something more than a year ago, and I then learned something of the domination of your financial classes. I have seen it elsewhere, but, my friends, the great mass of the people even of this city, will be better off under bimetallism that permits the nation to grow, than under a gold standard which starves everybody except the money changer and the money owner.
We sometimes out West are instructed by your insurance companies. I carry insurance in old line companies and in what are known as the mutual or assessment companies. I carry insurance in fraternal organizations like the United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen, as well as in the old line companies, and I am glad that my assessment companies are satisfied to take my money and give me insurance without attempting to tell me how I must vote. Your old line companies have seen fit to insult the intelligence of the people by attempting to exercise a guardian care, notwithstanding the fact that we are able to look after ourselves without their instructions.
You have laboring men also in large numbers in this city. I do not know whether the advocates of the gold standard here who employ men in the shops insist upon telling their employes how to vote. I have in other places found employers who would put in envelopes the pay for the day's work or week's work, and then print on the outside of the envelopes some instructions to the employes. If the manufacturer, employer, or railroad president feels that there must be something on the outside of the envelope as well as upon the inside, let him write on the outside: "You will find within your wages. They are to cover your work. We recognize that the men who have sense enough to do the work we want done have sense enough to vote right, without our telling them how to vote."
I notice that in some places they have been organizing sound money clubs, and they have the applicant sign a statement, saying that the free coinage of silver would hurt him in his business as a wage earner. I have wondered why our great financial magnates do not put in their application a statement similar to that. Why don't the heads of these syndicates which have been bleeding the Government make application to sound money clubs and write in their application that the free coinage of silver would hurt them in their business as heads of syndicates? They want people to believe that they are entirely benevolent, that they are philanthropists, and that what they do is done merely because they believe that the people will be benefited by having them run the Government, and they submit to the inconvenience of running the Government in order to help the people, who, they say, will be benefited. (More confusion and applause by the students.)
Why is it that the broker or the bond buyer does not write in his application that he has a personal interest in the gold standard? Why is it that these men want to throw upon the wage earners whatever odium there may be in using his vote to protect his personal interests? I believe the wage earner, and the farmer, and the business man, and the professional man, all of these will be benefited by a volume of money sufficient to do business with. If you make money scarce you make money dear. If you make money dear you drive down the value of everything, and when you have falling prices you have hard times. And who prosper by hard times? There are but few, and those few are not willing to admit that they get any benefit from hard times. No party ever declared in its platform that it was in favor of hard times, and yet the party that declares for a gold standard in substance declares for a continuation of hard times.
Here a band which had been playing for a drill in another part of the square came nearer and made talking more difficult, and my voice not being in good condition I concluded my remarks by saying:
It is hard to talk when all the conditions are favorable, and I must ask you to excuse me from talking any further in the presence of the noises against which we have to contend today.
I have since learned that some misunderstood my closing words, and thought I again referred to the students, but this is an error. They were making no disturbance when I finished speaking. I did not even mean to criticize the band, because I was sure that the interruption was not intentional, but my voice being hoarse and the crowd large, it was difficult to make myself heard even when there was perfect quiet.
The incident gave rise to a good deal of public discussion.
A few papers criticised my language on that occasion and declared that my words provoked the hostile demonstration. As a matter of fact, the hostility was manifested before I began to speak, and it was some minutes before I could obtain a hearing. This is the only speech in which I have inserted the applause, and it is only done here because the interruptions are also quoted. The report is reproduced exactly as it appeared at the time in order that the reader may form his own opinion upon the subject.
The following press dispatch appeared in the morning papers of September 3:
YALE STUDENTS CRITICISED.Muskogee, I.T., Sept. 29.—At a mass meeting of the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws and Seminoles, held here yesterday, the following resolution was unanimously adopted:Resolved, that we contemplate with deep regret the recent insulting treatment of William J. Bryan by students of a college in the land of the boasted white man's civilization, and we admonish all Indians who think of sending their sons to Yale that association with such students could but prove hurtful alike to their morals and their progress toward the higher standard of civilization.
YALE STUDENTS CRITICISED.
Muskogee, I.T., Sept. 29.—At a mass meeting of the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws and Seminoles, held here yesterday, the following resolution was unanimously adopted:
Resolved, that we contemplate with deep regret the recent insulting treatment of William J. Bryan by students of a college in the land of the boasted white man's civilization, and we admonish all Indians who think of sending their sons to Yale that association with such students could but prove hurtful alike to their morals and their progress toward the higher standard of civilization.
THE "SUN" DEFENDS THE YALE STUDENTS.
The New York Sun came to the defense of the boys in an editorial, from which the following is an extract:
What did these students really do? On the day that Yale University opened its new college year, Bryan came to New Haven and prepared to address a great crowd at the green adjacent to which are the college buildings of the center of university life, in a town of which the university is the great and distinguishing feature. The students gathered in strong force, as was natural. Practically they were on their own ground. They expressed their feelings against repudiation with the vigor and vociferousness of youth; and they had a right to do it.They ought to have done it; and the sentiment to which they gave utterance was honorable to them. The boys made a great noise, cheering for McKinley and yelling and jeering at repudiation, so that Mr. Bryan could not be heard for several minutes. If they had applauded him incessantly for even a full half hour, would there have been any complaint of their preventing him from starting out in his speech? Has not a crowd in the open air as much right to hiss as to cheer? At what period in our history was that privilege taken from Americans? These dissenting students, the reports agree, did not offer any personal violence to Mr. Bryan or anybody else. They did not throw rotten eggs at him or otherwise assail his dignity, but merely shouted their college cry and yelled derisively. They did not like the cause the speaker represented. They detested and despised both it and him, and they made known their feelings noisily.
What did these students really do? On the day that Yale University opened its new college year, Bryan came to New Haven and prepared to address a great crowd at the green adjacent to which are the college buildings of the center of university life, in a town of which the university is the great and distinguishing feature. The students gathered in strong force, as was natural. Practically they were on their own ground. They expressed their feelings against repudiation with the vigor and vociferousness of youth; and they had a right to do it.
They ought to have done it; and the sentiment to which they gave utterance was honorable to them. The boys made a great noise, cheering for McKinley and yelling and jeering at repudiation, so that Mr. Bryan could not be heard for several minutes. If they had applauded him incessantly for even a full half hour, would there have been any complaint of their preventing him from starting out in his speech? Has not a crowd in the open air as much right to hiss as to cheer? At what period in our history was that privilege taken from Americans? These dissenting students, the reports agree, did not offer any personal violence to Mr. Bryan or anybody else. They did not throw rotten eggs at him or otherwise assail his dignity, but merely shouted their college cry and yelled derisively. They did not like the cause the speaker represented. They detested and despised both it and him, and they made known their feelings noisily.
Speech Concluding Debate on the Chicago Platform.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention: I would be presumptuous, indeed, to present myself against the distinguished gentlemen to whom you have listened if this were a mere measuring of abilities; but this is not a contest between persons. The humblest citizen of the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error. I come to speak to you in defense of a cause as holy as the cause of liberty—the cause of humanity.
When this debate is concluded, a motion will be made to lay upon the table the resolution offered in commendation of the administration, and also the resolution offered in condemnation of the administration. We object to bringing this question down to the level of persons. The individual is but an atom; he is born, he acts, he dies; but principles are eternal; and this has been a contest over a principle.
Never before in the history of this country has there been witnessed such a contest as that through which we have just passed. Never before in the history of American politics has a great issue been fought out as this issue has been, by the voters of a great party. On the fourth of March, 1895, a few Democrats, most of them members of Congress, issued an address to the Democrats of the nation, asserting that the money question was the paramount issue of the hour; declaring that a majority of the Democratic party had the right to control the action of the party on this paramount issue; and concluding with the request that the believers of free coinage of silver in the Democratic party should organize, take charge of, and control the policy of the Democratic party. Three months later, at Memphis, an organization was perfected and the silver Democrats went forth openly and courageously proclaiming their belief, and declaring that, if successful, they would crystallize into a platform the declaration they had made. Then began the conflict. With a zeal approaching the zeal which inspired the crusaders who followed Peter the Hermit, our silver Democrats went forth from victory unto victory until they are now assembled, not to discuss, not to debate, but to enter up the judgment already rendered by the plain people of this country. In this contest brother has been arrayed against brother, father against son. The warmest ties of love, acquaintance and association have been disregarded; old leaders have been cast aside when they have refused to give expression to the sentiments of those whom they would lead, and new leaders have sprung up to give direction to this cause of truth. Thus has the contest been waged, and we have assembled here under as binding and solemn instructions as were ever imposed upon representatives of the people.
We do not come as individuals. As individuals we might have been glad to compliment the gentleman from New York (Senator Hill,) but we know that the people for whom we speak would never be willing to put him in a position where he could thwart the will of the Democratic party. I say it was not a question of persons; it was a question of principle, and it is not with gladness, my friends, that we find ourselves brought into conflict with those who are now arrayed on the other side.
The gentleman who preceded me (ex-Governor Russell) spoke of the State of Massachusetts; let me assure him that not one present in all this convention entertains the least hostility to the people of the State of Massachusetts, but we stand here representing people who are the equals, before the law, of the greatest citizens in the State of Massachusetts. When you (turning to the gold delegates) come before us and tell us that we are about to disturb your business interests, we reply that you have disturbed our business interests by your course.
We say to you that you have made the definition of a business man too limited in its application. The man who is employed for wages is as much a business man as his employer; the attorney in a country town is as much a business man as the corporation counsel in a great metropolis; the merchant at the cross-roads store is as much a business man as the merchant of New York; the farmer who goes forth in the morning and toils all day—who begins in the spring and toils all summer—and who by the application of brain and muscle to the natural resources of the country creates wealth, is as much a business man as the man who goes upon the board of trade and bets upon the price of grain; the miners who go down a thousand feet into the earth, or climb two thousand feet upon the cliffs, and bring forth from their hiding places the precious metals to be poured into the channels of trade are as much business men as the few financial magnates who, in a back room, corner the money of the world. We come to speak for this broader class of business men.
Ah, my friends, we say not one word against those who live upon the Atlantic coast, but the hardy pioneers who have braved all the dangers of the wilderness, who have made the desert to blossom as the rose—the pioneers away out there (pointing to the West), who rear their children near to Nature's heart, where they can mingle their voices with the voices of the birds—out there where they have erected schoolhouses for the education of their young, churches where they praise their Creator, and cemeteries where rest the ashes of their dead—these people, we say, are as deserving of the consideration of our party as any people in this country. It is for these that we speak. We do not come as aggressors. Our war is not a war of conquest; we are fighting in the defense of our homes, our families, and posterity. We have petitioned, and our petitions have been scorned; we have entreated, and our entreaties have been disregarded; we have begged, and they have mocked when our calamity came. We beg no longer; we entreat no more; we petition no more. We defy them.
The gentleman from Wisconsin has said that he fears a Robespierre. My friends, in this land of the free you need not fear that a tyrant will spring up from among the people. What we need is an Andrew Jackson to stand, as Jackson stood, against the encroachments of organized wealth.
They tell us that this platform was made to catch votes. We reply to them that changing conditions make new issues; that the principles upon which Democracy rests are as everlasting as the hills, but that they must be applied to new conditions as they arise. Conditions have arisen, and we are here to meet those conditions. They tell us that the income tax ought not to be brought in here; that it is a new idea. They criticize us for the criticism of the Supreme Court of the United States. My friends, we have not criticized; we have simply called attention to what you already know. If you want criticisms, read the dissenting opinions of the court. There you will find criticisms. They say that we have passed an unconstitutional law; we deny it. The income tax law was not unconstitutional when it was passed; it was not unconstitutional when it went before the Supreme Court for the first time; it did not become unconstitutional until one of the judges changed his mind, and we cannot be expected to know when a judge will change his mind. The income tax is just. It simply intends to put the burden of government justly upon the backs of the people. I am in favor of an income tax. When I find a man who is not willing to bear his share of the burdens of the government which protects him, I find a man who is unworthy to enjoy the blessings of a government like ours.
They say that we are opposing national bank currency; it is true. If you will read what Thomas Benton said, you will find he said that, in searching history, he could find but one parallel to Andrew Jackson; that was Cicero, who destroyed the conspiracy of Cataline and saved Rome. Benton said that Cicero only did for Rome what Jackson did for us when he destroyed the bank conspiracy and saved America. We say in our platform that we believe that the right to coin and issue money is a function of government. We believe it. We believe that it is a part of sovereignty, and can no more with safety be delegated to private individuals than we could afford to delegate to private individuals the power to make penal statutes or levy taxes. Mr. Jefferson, who was once regarded as good Democratic authority, seems to have differed in opinion from the gentleman who has addressed us on the part of the minority. Those who are opposed to this proposition tell us that the issue of paper money is a function of the bank, and that the Government ought to go out of the banking business. I stand with Jefferson rather than with them, and tell them, as he did, that the banks ought to go out of the governing business.
They complain about the plank which declares against life tenure in office. They have tried to strain it to mean that which is does not mean. What we oppose by that plank is the life tenure which is being built up in Washington, and which excludes from participation in official benefits the humbler members of society.
Let me call your attention to two or three important things. The gentleman from New York says that he will propose an amendment to the platform providing that the proposed change in our monetary system shall not affect contracts already made. Let me remind you that there is no intention of affecting those contracts which according to present laws are made payable in gold; but if he means to say that we cannot change our monetary system without protecting those who have loaned money before the change was made, I desire to ask him where, in law or in morals, he can find justification for not protecting the debtors when the act of 1873 was passed, if he now insists that we must protect the creditors.
He says he will also propose an amendment which will provide for the suspension of free coinage if we fail to maintain the parity within a year. We reply that when we advocate a policy which we believe will be successful, we are not compelled to raise a doubt as to our own sincerity by suggesting what we shall do if we fail. I ask him, if he would apply his logic to us, why he does not apply it to himself. He says he wants the country to try to secure an international agreement. Why does he not tell us what he is going to do if he fails to secure an international agreement? There is more reason for him to do that than there is for us to provide against the failure to maintain the parity. Our opponents have tried for twenty years to secure an international agreement, and those are waiting for it most patiently who do not want it at all.
And now, my friends, let me come to the paramount issue. If they ask us why it is that we say more on the money question than we say upon the tariff question, I reply that, if protection has slain its thousands, the gold standard has slain its tens of thousands. If they ask us why we do not embody in our platform all the things that we believe in, we reply that when we have restored the money of the Constitution all other necessary reforms will be possible; but that until this is done there is no other reform that can be accomplished.
Why is it that within three months such a change has come over the country? Three months ago, when it was confidently asserted that those who believe in the gold standard would frame our platform and nominate our candidates, even the advocates of the gold standard did not think that we could elect a president. And they had good reason for their doubt, because there is scarcely a State here today asking for the gold standard which is not in the absolute control of the Republican party. But note the change. Mr. McKinley was nominated at St. Louis upon a platform which declared for the maintenance of the gold standard until it can be changed into bimetallism by international agreement. Mr. McKinley was the most popular man among the Republicans, and three months ago everybody in the Republican party prophesied his election. How is it today? Why, the man who was once pleased to think that he looked like Napoleon—that man shudders today when he remembers that he was nominated on the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. Not only that, but as he listens he can hear with ever-increasing distinctness the sound of the waves as they beat upon the lonely shores of St. Helena.
Why this change? Ah, my friends, is not the reason for the change evident to any one who will look at the matter? No private character, however pure, no personal popularity, however great, can protect from the avenging wrath of an indignant people a man who will declare that he is in favor of fastening the gold standard upon this country, or who is willing to surrender the right of self-government and place the legislative control of our affairs in the hands of foreign potentates and powers.
We go forth confident that we shall win. Why? Because upon the paramount issue of this campaign there is not a spot of ground upon which the enemy will dare to challenge battle. If they tell us that the gold standard is a good thing, we shall point to their platform and tell them that their platform pledges the party to get rid of the gold standard and substitute bimetallism. If the gold standard is a good thing, why try to get rid of it? I call your attention to the fact that some of the very people who are in this convention today and who tell us that we ought to declare in favor of international bimetallism—thereby declaring that the gold standard is wrong and that the principle of bimetallism is better—these very people four months ago were open and avowed advocates of the gold standard, and were then telling us that we could not legislate two metals together, even with the aid of all the world. If the gold standard is a good thing, we ought to declare in favor of its retention and not in favor of abandoning it; and if the gold standard is a bad thing why should we wait until other nations are willing to help us to let go? Here is the line of battle, and we care not upon which issue they force the fight; we are prepared to meet them on either issue or on both. If they tell us that the gold standard is the standard of civilization, we reply to them that this, the most enlightened of all the nations of the earth, has never declared for a gold standard and that both the great parties this year are declaring against it. If the gold standard is the standard of civilization, why, my friends, should we not have it. If they come to meet us on that issue we can tell them that they will search the pages of history in vain to find a single instance where the common people of any land have ever declared themselves in favor of the gold standard. They can find where the holders of fixed investments have declared for a gold standard, but not where the masses have.
Mr. Carlisle said in 1878 that this was a struggle between "the idle holders of idle capital" and "the struggling masses, who produce the wealth and pay the taxes of the country"; and, my friends, the question we are to decide is: Upon which side will the Democratic party fight; upon the side of "the idle holders of idle capital" or upon the side of "the struggling masses?" That is the question which the party must answer first, and then it must be answered by each individual hereafter. The sympathies of the Democratic party, as shown by the platform, are on the side of the struggling masses who have ever been the foundation of the Democratic party. There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that, if you will only legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea, however has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up through every class which rests upon them.
You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard; we reply that the great cities rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.
My friends, we declare that this nation is able to legislate for its own people on every question, without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation on earth; and upon that issue we expect to carry every State in the Union. I shall not slander the inhabitants of the fair State of Massachusetts nor the inhabitants of the State of New York by saying that, when they are confronted with the proposition, they will declare that this nation is not able to attend to its own business. It is the issue of 1776 over again. Our ancestors, when but three millions in number, had the courage to declare their political independence of every other nation; shall we, their descendants, when we have grown to seventy millions, declare that we are less independent than our forefathers? No, my friends, that will never be the verdict of our people. Therefore, we care not upon what lines the battle is fought. If they say bimetallism is good, but that we cannot have it until other nations help us, we reply that, instead of having a gold standard because England has, we will restore bimetallism, and then let England have bimetallism because the United States has it. If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we will fight them to the uttermost. Having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests, and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.