versions of her past history, such reproaches upon her present condition, such an abuse of her previous rulers, such insinuations as to her credit, such imputations upon her integrity, such an impeachment of her honesty! If it had been a stranger who had said these things we could have borne it. No-let me not say so we could not have borne it. If any citizen of another State had uttered such a tirade against old Massachusetts, if a member of Congress from any other part of the country had indulged in such reproaches upon her policy and principles, we should have felt, every one of the Massachusetts members of Congress, (Mr. Parmenter, I am sure, not excepted,) would have felt, — that it must not pass unanswered and unrebuked. Our constituents, of both parties, would not have held us guiltless, for suffering it to go by in silence. But it was no stranger; it was our brother; our fellow-citizen; our chosen Chief Magistrate, with the highest honors of the Commonwealth freshly cast upon him, with the robes of office in their newest gloss upon his back. What a return for honors conferred! And what an inducement, too,- what a consideration, for a renewal of those honors now! Why, fellow-citizens, the citizen of Massachusetts who should now approach Governor Morton to lend him his support, as he presents himself again for our suffragesafter the libels he has uttered on the character of the Commonwealth must approach him, I should imagine, in something of the spirit in which Shakspeare's Shylock represents himself as approaching the Merchant of Venice to lend him moneys: "He should bend low, and in a bondman's key, With 'bated breath, and whispering humbleness, Fair Sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last, You called me dog, and for these courtesies I'll give you my vote. You shall be our Governor." Mr. Chairman, I have no purpose to enter into any detailed analysis of the late Governor's Message, or of the Legislative proceedings by which it was followed. This work has been done, ably, admirably done, already, by those who have had far greater opportunities than myself, by those who have related things which they saw, and part of which they were. But I shall be pardoned for dwelling on one or two of the points in the message of Governor Morton, and in the conduct of his party in the Legislature, which have impressed themselves most deeply on the mind of one who has looked on at a distance. And first, I desire to say a word as to the language of the Governor, in relation to our State credit. Sir, if there has been any thing as to which the people of this Commonwealth have felt, and have had a right to feel, a true and lively satisfaction, a just and generous pride, during the past ten years, it has been the credit of Massachusetts at home and abroad. We have seen the scrip of the Commonwealth, as is well said in these resolutions, first among the foremost in the world; always commending itself to the confidence of capitalists; often selling where no other scrip could find a market; often sought for when it was not to be found; and, in the worst of times, commanding a higher price than that of any other State in the Union. No delay to pay interest, no denial of the obligation to pay principal, elsewhere, - no repudiation, expressed or implied, has sensibly affected its value. The mildewed ears of other States have not been able to blast their wholesome brother here! Let me recount a little incident, which is only one among a hundred within every body's knowledge, to illustrate the estimation in which Massachusetts stock is held. I remember being called from my seat by a distinguished foreigner, of great intel ligence, last winter, to converse with him about the credit of the States; and I remember the pride I felt when he told me, that after a careful examination of the whole subject, he had come to the conclusion that Massachusetts stock was the best State stock in the world, and that, although he had invested his funds heretofore in the stock of a State in which the name of repudiation had never been breathed, and where interest and principal had always been punctually paid, he had determined to sell out this stock at a discount, and buy in Massachusetts stock, even at a premium. There was one other stock, he did, indeed, say that he should have preferred. It was not a State stock, and the mention of it in no degree alloyed my satisfaction or diminished my pride. It was the stock of the good old city of Boston, which, he said, was the very best in the world; but as this could not be procured for love or money, and as he wished to feel perfectly safe and easy in leaving a little money behind him, while he made a visit to his own home, he was resolved to obtain the stock of Massachusetts at any sacrifice which might be necessary. But what was the language of our own Governor in regard to this State stock of ours in his last message? "I cannot refrain from the expression of my apprehension, (says he,) that the investment of it (the School Fund) in the scrip of the Commonwealth, may endanger its ultimate safety." And he then proceeded seriously to submit to the wisdom of the Legislature, whether a different investment of that fund might not be safer. Something safer than the bond of Massachusetts! Something more reliable than the honor and faith of the old Puritan State! And this, too, from one who has had the undeserved distinction of affixing his signature to great numbers of these bonds, as Governor of the Commonwealth! I trust that his wish was not father to this thought! I trust that no willingness, no desire, no determination to have the old forebodings of himself and his party, as to these loans of credit, fulfilled, has led to such an expression. I trust in Heaven, that this idea has not been advanced in this message, to prepare the way for the doctrine of repudiation in the next! Prepare the way, do I say! With grief and shame I pronounce it, the late Message of Governor Morton seems to me not only to have prepared the way, but to have advanced the doctrine outright, certainly to have implied it, with a distinctness which admits of no misinterpretation or mistake. What does he say further, in regard to this School Fund of ours? Let me read the very words, for fear of being thought to misquote or pervert. "Should any of the Corporations (he says) to whom this scrip has been loaned, fail to pay the interest or the principal when due, the only security — mark it, "the only security" - which the School Fund would have, would consist in the will of the Legislature, to impose an annual tax, to be paid to the several towns for the support of the town schools." Not a word here about the solemn obligation of the State to redeem her scrip, her whole scrip, to pay interest and principal, both to the uttermost farthing, whenever and wherever due, without regard to the persons by whom it is held, or the purposes to which it may have been devoted! Not a syllable of all this. Nothing of that manly, honest, high-toned assertion of the inviolability of State Faith, which has been accustomed to be heard, and which always ought to be heard, from the high places of Massachusetts. But, on the contrary, the idea is deliberately held out, that if the Railroads should not pay, the scrip would become worthless, the School Fund would be lost forever, and the only relief for the cause of Education, would rest on the discretion of the Legislature, manifesting itself by annual appropriations in its behalf. Gentlemen, I was about to say that this was repudiation in disguise; but the more I think of it, and the oftener I read it, the more it seems to be repudiation without any disguise whatever-so plain and so palpable, that he who runs may read,-so naked and so unblushing, that he who reads would almost be ready to run! Indeed, there is a refinement on the common and ordinary doctrine of repudiation, in this message of Governor Morton, which has had no precedent, and which I venture to say, will have no parallel, elsewhere. What is the real gist of this suggestion as to the School Fund, when stripped of its specious phraseology, and presented nakedly to the view? It is nothing less than this,-that the State should take measures, without delay, to get rid of any of its own scrip, which it may happen to have on hand, in contemplation of voluntary bankruptcy, in the very view, and almost with the purpose of repudiation; — that the State should put off, as fast as possible, upon others, its own notes of hand, for fear they should become worthless! What an idea is this, for the Governor of Massachusetts to advance. Why, the beauties of modern banking afford nothing richer than this! The raciest annals of modern financiering, furnish nothing more racy! Change the investment of your School Fund, says the Governor, and sell off to others to the ignorant or unwary foreigner, whose friendship to your country and its liberties, may have given him a confidence in its credit-your own stock, which you are afraid to keep yourself! What a recommendation! And this under cover of a most laudable concern for Education and the Public Schools. In Heaven's name let not the holy - cause of Education be associated with such dishonor! Do not let it be heard of, that our common schools, the pride and glory of the State, have been sustained and saved from overthrow,- if indeed their preservation depends at all upon the School Fund,by such an indirection! Let not, above all things, our children hear it even whispered, that the funds by which they are educated, were not only considered unsafe while invested in the solemn obligations of the State, but that the investment was changed in order to shift the losses of State bankruptcy and State repudiation on other shoulders. Rather than such an example of dishonest thrift should be connected with the sacred institutions of education, let the School Fund perish, and I had almost said the schools with it. I would not undervalue the cause of sound scholarship, nor depreciate the importance of any foundation for disseminating it among our children; but if the alternative be whether the fund shall be lost forever, or such an act of dishonor be committed, I cannot hesitate for an instant. The education which should come from a fund so saved, would come, like the knowledge of good and evil to our first parents, clothed with a curse! Sir, the character of our Commonwealth; its ancient reputation and renown; its hitherto unsullied and unsuspected honesty ; its unimpeached and unimpeachable good faith; the examples of its good men and its good deeds; — these are themselves an education to our children! They constitute a part, and no inconsiderable part, of that high moral education, compared with which the best learning of the schools is hardly worth the sweepings of the halls in which it is communicated. Let not the force of these influences and these examples be impaired. Let the School Fund stay where it is, and if there be any danger-which I totally deny — that repudiation could ever become the policy of Massachusetts, this very investment may arrest such a danger. Our interest in education will come in aid of our State pride. Our love for our children will mingle with our love of honor and our obligations of conscience, and will save us from plunging the State into such irretrievable disgrace. And, let me add, that if the School Fund be not safe in the scrip of the State, it is safe nowhere. If our love of honor is once lost, our love of education |