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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #60479 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60479)
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-Project Gutenberg's 1900 or, The last President, by Ingersoll Lockwood
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: 1900 or, The last President
-
-Author: Ingersoll Lockwood
-
-Release Date: October 12, 2019 [EBook #60479]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1900 OR, THE LAST PRESIDENT ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
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-
-
-                                 —1900—
-                                  OR,
-                           THE LAST PRESIDENT
-
-
-                                   BY
-
-                          INGERSOLL LOCKWOOD,
-
-                          Of the New York Bar.
-
-
-                Copyright, 1896, by INGERSOLL LOCKWOOD.
-
-
-                         The Trade Supplied by
-                       THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY,
-                               New York.
-
-
-
-
-    The Chicago Platform assumes, in fact, the form of a
-    revolutionary propaganda. It embodies a menace of national
-    disintegration and destruction.
-
-                                                   GARRET A. HOBART.
-
-
-
-
-                               CHAPTER I.
-
-
-That was a terrible night for the great City of New York—the night of
-Tuesday, November 3rd, 1896. The city staggered under the blow like a
-huge ocean liner which plunges, full speed, with terrific crash into a
-mighty iceberg, and recoils shattered and trembling like an aspen.
-
-The people were gathered, light-hearted and confident, at the evening
-meal, when the news burst upon them. It was like a thunder bolt out of
-an azure sky: “Altgeld holds Illinois hard and fast in the Democratic
-line. This elects Bryan President of the United States!”
-
-Strange to say, the people in the upper portion of the city made no
-movement to rush out of their houses and collect in the public squares,
-although the night was clear and beautiful. They sat as if paralyzed
-with a nameless dread, and when they conversed it was with bated breath
-and throbbing hearts.
-
-In less than half an hour, mounted policemen dashed through the streets
-calling out: “Keep within your houses; close your doors and barricade
-them. The entire East side is in a state of uproar. Mobs of vast size
-are organizing under the lead of Anarchists and Socialists, and threaten
-to plunder and despoil the houses of the rich who have wronged and
-oppressed them for so many years. Keep within doors. Extinguish all
-lights.”
-
-Happily, Governor Morton was in town, and although a deeper pallor
-overcame the ashen hue of age as he spoke, yet there was no tremor in
-his voice: “Let the Seventh, Twenty-second and Seventy-first regiments
-be ordered under arms.” In a few moments hundreds of messengers could be
-heard racing through the silent streets, summoning the members of these
-regiments to their Armories.
-
-Slowly, but with astonishing nerve and steadiness, the mobs pushed the
-police northward, and although the force stood the onslaught with
-magnificent courage, yet beaten back, the dark masses of infuriated
-beings surged up again with renewed fury and strength. Will the troops
-be in time to save the city? was the whispered inquiry among the knots
-of police officials who were directing the movements of their men.
-
-About nine o’clock, with deafening outcries, the mob, like a four-headed
-monster breathing fire and flame, raced, tore, burst, raged into Union
-Square.
-
-The police force was exhausted, but their front was still like a wall of
-stone, save that it was movable. The mob crowded it steadily to the
-north, while the air quivered and was rent with mad vociferations of the
-victors: “Bryan is elected! Bryan is elected! Our day has come at last.
-Down with our oppressors! Death to the rich man! Death to the gold bugs!
-Death to the capitalists! Give us back the money you have ground out of
-us. Give us back the marrow of our bones which you have used to grease
-the wheels of your chariots.”
-
-The police force was now almost helpless. The men still used their
-sticks, but the blows were ineffectual, and only served to increase the
-rage of the vast hordes now advancing upon Madison Square.
-
-The Fifth Avenue Hotel will be the first to feel the fury of the mob.
-Would the troops be in time to save it?
-
-A half cheer, a half cry of joy goes up. It is inarticulate. Men draw a
-long breath; women drop upon their knees and strain their eyes; they can
-hear something, but they cannot see as yet, for the gas houses and
-electric plants had been destroyed by the mob early in the evening. They
-preferred to fight in the dark, or by the flames of rich men’s abodes.
-
-Again a cheer goes up, louder and clearer this time, followed by cries
-of “They’re coming, they’re coming.”
-
-Yes, they were coming—the Twenty-second down Broadway, the Seventh down
-Madison avenue, both on the double quick.
-
-In a moment or so there were a few bugle calls, and a few spoken
-commands rang out clear and sharp; and then the two regiments stretched
-across the entire square, literally from wall to wall, in line of
-battle. The mob was upon them. Would this slender line of troops, could
-it hold such a mighty mass of men in check?
-
-The answer was a deafening discharge of firearms, a terrific crack, such
-as some thunder bolts make when they explode. A wall of fire blazed
-across the Square. Again and again it blazed forth. The mob halted,
-stood fast, wavered, fell back, advanced again. At that moment there
-came a rattle as of huge knives in the distance. It was the gallant
-Seventy-first charging up Twenty-third street, and taking the mob on the
-flank. They came on like a wall of iron, bristling with blades of steel.
-
-There were no outcries, no cheers from the regiment. It dealt out death
-in silence, save when two bayonets crossed and clashed in bearing down
-some doubly-vigorous foe.
-
-As the bells rang out midnight, the last remnants of the mob were driven
-to cover, but the wheels of the dead wagons rattled till daybreak.
-
-And then the aged Governor, in response to the Mayor’s “Thank God, we’ve
-saved the city!” made answer:
-
-“Aye, but the Republic——.”
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER II.
-
-
-Great as has been the world’s wonder at the uprising of Mr. Bryan’s
-“struggling masses” in the city by the sea, and the narrow escape of its
-magnificent homes from fire and brand, yet greater still was the
-wonderment when the news was flashed across the land that Chicago did
-not stand in need of a single Federal soldier.
-
-“Chicago is mad, but it is the madness of joy. Chicago is in the hands
-of a mob, but it is a mob made up of her own people—noisy, rude and
-boisterous, the natural exultation of a suddenly enfranchised class; but
-bent on no other mischief than glorying over the villainous and
-self-seeking souls who have ground the faces of the poor and turned the
-pitiless screw of social and political power into the hearts of the
-‘common people’ until its last thread had been reached, and despair
-pressed its lupine visage hard against the door of the laboring man.”
-
-And yet, at this moment when the night air quivered with the mad
-vociferations of the “common people,” that the Lord had been good to
-them; that the wicked money-changers had been driven from the temple,
-that the stony-hearted usurers were beaten at last, that the “People’s
-William” was at the helm now, that peace and plenty would in a few moons
-come back to the poor man’s cottage, that Silver was King, aye, King at
-last, the world still went wondering why red-eyed anarchy, as she stood
-in Haymarket Square, with thin arms aloft, with wild mien and wilder
-gesticulation, drew no bomb of dynamite from her bosom, to hurl at the
-hated minions of the law who were silent spectators of this delirium of
-popular joy.
-
-Why was it thus? Look and you shall know why white robed peace kept step
-with this turbulent band and turned its thought from red handed pillage.
-He was there. The master spirit to hold them in leash. He, and he alone,
-had lifted Bryan to his great eminence. Without these twenty-four
-electoral votes, Bryan had been doomed, hopelessly doomed. He, and he
-alone, held the great Commonwealth of the West hard and fast in the
-Democratic line; hence he came as conqueror, as King-maker, and the very
-walls of the sky-touching edifices trembled as he was dragged through
-the crowded streets by this orderly mob, and ten times ten thousand of
-his creatures bellowed his name and shook their hats aloft in mad
-exultation:
-
-“You’re our Saviour, you’ve cleaned the Temple of Liberty of its foul
-horde of usurers. We salute you. We call you King-maker. Bryan shall
-call you Master too. You shall have your reward. You shall stand behind
-the throne. Your wisdom shall make us whole. You shall purge the land of
-this unlawful crowd of money-lenders. You shall save the Republic. You
-are greater than Washington. You’re a better friend of ours than
-Lincoln. You’ll do more for us than Grant. We’re your slaves. We salute
-you. We thank you. We bless you. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!”
-
-But yet this vast throng of tamed monsters, this mighty mob of
-momentarily good-natured haters of established order, broke away from
-the master’s control for a few brief moments, and dipped their hands in
-the enemy’s blood. The deed was swift as it was terrible. There were but
-four of them, unarmed, on pleasure bent. At sight of these men, a
-thousand throats belched out a deep and awful growl of hatred. They were
-brave men, and backed against the wall to die like brave men, stricken
-down, beaten, torn, trampled, dragged, it was quick work. They had faced
-howling savages in the far West, painted monsters in human form, but
-never had they heard such yells leave the throats of men; and so they
-died, four brave men, clad in the blue livery of the Republic, whose
-only crime was that some months back, against the solemn protest of the
-Master, their comrades had set foot on the soil of the commonwealth, and
-saved the Metropolis of the West from the hands of this same mob.
-
-And so Chicago celebrated the election of the new President who was to
-free the land from the grasp of the money-lenders, and undo the bad
-business of years of unholy union between barterers and sellers of human
-toil and the law makers of the land.
-
-Throughout the length and breadth of the South, and beyond the Great
-Divide, the news struck hamlet and village like the glad tidings of a
-new evangel, almost as potent for human happiness as the heavenly
-message of two thousand years ago. Bells rang out in joyful acclaim, and
-the very stars trembled at the telling, and the telling over and over of
-what had been done for the poor man by his brethren of the North, and
-around the blazing pine knots of the Southern cabin and in front of the
-mining camp fires of the Far West, the cry went up: “Silver is King!
-Silver is King!” Black palms and white were clasped in this strange
-love-feast, and the dark skinned grand child no longer felt the sting of
-the lash on his sire’s shoulder. All was peace and good will, for the
-people were at last victorious over their enemies who had taxed and
-tithed them into a very living death. Now the laborer would not only be
-worthy of his hire, but it would be paid to him in a people’s dollar,
-for the people’s good, and now the rich man’s coffers would be made to
-yield up their ill-gotten gain, and the sun would look upon this broad
-and fair land, and find no man without a market for the product of his
-labors. Henceforth, the rich man should, as was right and proper, pay a
-royal sum for the privilege of his happiness, and take the nation’s
-taxes on his broad shoulders, where they belong.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER III.
-
-
-The pens of many writers would not suffice to describe with anything
-like historical fullness and precision, the wild scenes of excitement
-which, on the morning after election day, burst forth on the floors of
-the various exchanges throughout the Union. The larger and more
-important the money centre, the deeper, blacker and heavier the despair
-which sank upon them after the violent ebullitions of protest, defiance
-and execration had subsided. With some, it seemed that visions of their
-swift but sure impoverishment only served to transform the dark and
-dismal drama of revolution and disintegration into a side-splitting
-farce, and they greeted the prospective loss of their millions with loud
-guffaws and indescribable antics of horseplay and unseemly mirth.
-
-As the day wore on, the news became worse and worse. It was only too
-apparent that the House of Representatives of the Fifty-fifth Congress
-would be controlled by the combined vote of the Populists and Free
-Silver men, while the wild joy with which the entire South welcomed the
-election of Bryan and Sewall left little doubt in the minds of the
-Northern people that the Southern Senators would, to a man, range
-themselves on the Administration side of the great conflict into which
-the Republic was soon to be precipitated. Add to these the twenty
-Senators of the Free Silver States of the North, and the new President
-would have the Congress of the Republic at his back. There would be
-nothing to stand between him and the realization of those schemes which
-an exuberant fancy, untamed by the hand of experience, and scornful of
-the leading-strings of wisdom, can conjure up.
-
-Did we say nothing? Nay, not so; for the Supreme Court was still there.
-And yet Justice Field had come fully up to the eightieth milestone in
-the journey of life and Justice Gray was nearly seventy, while one or
-two other members of this High Court of Judicature held to their lives
-with feeble grasp. Even in due and orderly course of events, why might
-there not come vacancies and then?...
-
-In spite of the nameless dread that rested upon so many of our people,
-and chilled the very blood of the country’s industries, the new year ’97
-came hopefully, serenely, almost defiantly in. There was an
-indescribable something in the air, a spirit of political devil-me-care,
-a feeling that the old order had passed away and that the Republic had
-entered into the womb of Time and been born again. This sentiment began
-to give outward and visible signs of its existence and growth in the
-remote agricultural districts of the South and Far West. They threw
-aside their working implements, loitered about, gathered in groups and
-the words Washington, White House, Silver, Bryan, Offices, Two for One,
-the South’s Day, Reign of the Common People, Taxes, Incomes, Year of
-Jubilee, Free Coinage, Wall Street, Altgeld, Tillman, Peffer, Coxey,
-were whispered in a mysterious way with head noddings and pursing up of
-mouths.
-
-As January wore away and February, slipping by, brought Bryan’s
-Inauguration nearer and nearer, the groups melted into groups, and it
-was only too apparent that from a dozen different points in the South
-and North West “Coxey Armies” were forming for an advance on Washington.
-In some instances they were well clad and well provisioned; in others,
-they were little better than great bands of hungry and restless men,
-demoralized by idleness and wrought up to a strange degree of mental
-excitement by the extravagant harangues of their leaders, who were
-animated with but one thought, namely, to make use of these vast crowds
-of Silver Pilgrims, as they called themselves, to back up their claims
-for public office.
-
-These crowds of deluded people were well named “Silver Pilgrims,” for
-hundreds of them carried in hempen bags, pieces of silverware, in
-ninety-nine cases of a hundred, plated stuff of little value, which
-unscrupulous dealers and peddlers had palmed off upon them as sterling,
-with the promises that once in Washington, the United States Mint would
-coin their metal into “Bryan Dollars” giving “two for one” in payment
-for it.
-
-While these motley “armies” marched upon the capitol of the Republic,
-the railway trains night and day brought vast crowds of “new men,”
-politicians of low degree, men out of employment, drunken and
-disgruntled mechanics, farmer’s sons, to seek their fortunes under the
-Reign of the People, heelers and hangers-on of ward bosses, old men who
-had not tasted office for thirty years and more, all inspired by Mr.
-Bryan’s declaration that “The American people are not in favor of life
-tenure in the Civil Service, that a permanent office holding class is
-not in harmony with our institutions, that a fixed term in appointive
-offices would open the public service to a larger number of citizens,
-without impairing its efficiency,” all bearing new besoms in their hands
-or across their shoulders, each and every one of them supremely
-confident that in the distribution of the spoils something would surely
-fall to his share, since they were the “Common People” who were so dear
-to Mr. Bryan, and who had made him President in the very face of the
-prodigious opposition of the rich men, whose coffers had been thrown
-wide open all to no purpose, and in spite too of the satanic and truly
-devilish power of that hell upon earth known as Wall Street, which had
-sweated gold in vain in its desperate efforts to fasten the chains of
-trusts and the claws of soulless monsters known as corporations upon
-these very “Common People,” soon to march in triumph before the silver
-chariot of the young Conqueror from the West.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER IV.
-
-
-There had been a strange prophecy put forth by some one, and it had made
-its way into the daily journals, and had been laughingly or seriously
-commented upon, according to the political tone of the paper, or the
-passing humor of the writer, that the 4th of March, 1897, would never
-dawn upon the American people. There was something very curious and
-uncanny about the prediction, and what actually happened was not
-qualified to loosen the fearful tension of public anxiety, for the day
-literally and truly never dawned upon the City of Washington, and well
-deserves its historical name, the “Dawnless Day.” At six o’clock, the
-hour of daybreak, such an impenetrable pall of clouds overhung the city
-that there came no signs of day. The gathering crowds could plainly hear
-the plaintive cries and lamentations put up in the negro quarters of the
-city. Not until nearly nine o’clock did the light cease to “shine in
-darkness” and the darkness begin to comprehend it.
-
-But although it was a cheerless gray day, even at high noon, its
-heaviness set no weight upon the spirits of the jubilant tens of
-thousands which completely filled the city and its public parks, and ran
-over into camps and hastily improvised shelters outside the city limits.
-
-Not until the day previous had the President announced the names of
-those selected for his Cabinet. The South and Far West were fairly
-beside themselves with joy, for there had been from their standpoint
-ugly rumors abroad for several days. It had even been hinted that Bryan
-had surrendered to the “money-changers,” and that the selection of his
-constitutional advisers would prove him recreant to the glorious cause
-of popular government, and that the Reign of the Common People would
-remain but a dream of the “struggling masses.”
-
-But these apprehensions were short lived. The young President stood firm
-and fast on the platform of the parties which had raised him to his
-proud eminence. And what better proof of his thorough belief in himself
-and in his mission could he have given than the following:
-
-Secretary of State—William M. Stewart, of Nevada.
-
-Secretary of Treasury—Richard P. Bland, of Missouri.
-
-Secretary of War—John P. Altgeld, of Illinois.
-
-Attorney General—Roger Q. Mills, of Texas.
-
-Postmaster General—Henry George, of New York.
-
-Secretary Navy—John Gary Evans, of South Carolina.
-
-Secretary Interior—William A. Peffer, of Kansas.
-
-Secretary Agriculture—Lafe Pence, of Colorado.
-
-The first thing that flashed across the minds of many upon glancing over
-this list of names was the omission therefrom of Tillman’s. What did it
-mean? Could the young President have quarreled with his best friend, his
-most powerful coadjutor? But the wiser ones only shook their heads and
-made answer that it was Tillman’s hand that filled the blank for
-Secretary of the Navy, left there by the new ruler after the people’s
-own heart. Evans was but a creation of this great Commoner of the South,
-an image graven with his hands.
-
-The inaugural address was not a disappointment to those who had come to
-hear it. It was like the man who delivered it—bold, outspoken,
-unmistakable in its terms, promising much, impatient of precedent,
-reckless of result; a double confirmation that this was to be the Reign
-of the Common People, that much should be unmade and much made over, and
-no matter how the rich man might cry out in anger or amazement, the
-nation must march on to the fulfillment of a higher and nobler mission
-than the impoverishment and degradation of the millions for the
-enrichment and elevation of the few.
-
-Scarcely had the young President—his large eyes filled with a strange
-light, and his smooth, hairless visage radiant as a cloudless sky, his
-wife’s arm twined around his, and their hands linked in those of their
-children—passed within the lofty portal of the White House, than he
-threw himself into a chair, and seizing a sheet of official paper penned
-the following order, and directed its immediate promulgation:
-
-
-         EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., March 4th, 1897.
-
- Executive Order No. 1.
-
-In order that there may be immediate relief in the terrible financial
-depression now weighing upon our beloved country, consequent upon and
-resulting from the unlawful combination of capitalists and money-lenders
-both in this Republic and in England, and that the ruinous and
-inevitable progress toward a universal gold standard may be stayed, the
-President orders and directs the immediate abandonment of the so-called
-“gold reserve,” and that on and after the promulgation of this order,
-the gold and silver standard of the Constitution be resumed and strictly
-maintained in all the business transactions of the Government.
-
-
-It was two o’clock in the afternoon when news of this now world-famous
-Executive Order was flashed into the great banking centres of the
-country. Its effect in Wall street beggars description. On the floor of
-the Stock Exchange men yelled and shrieked like painted savages, and, in
-their mad struggles, tore and trampled each other. Many dropped in
-fainting fits, or fell exhausted from their wild and senseless efforts
-to say what none would listen to. Ashen pallor crept over the faces of
-some, while the blood threatened to burst the swollen arteries that
-spread in purple network over the brows of others. When silence came at
-last, it was a silence broken by sobs and groans. Some wept, while
-others stood dumb-stricken as if it was all a bad dream, and they were
-awaiting the return of their poor distraught senses to set them right
-again. Ambulances were hastily summoned and fainting and exhausted forms
-were borne through hushed and whispering masses wedged into Wall street,
-to be whirled away uptown to their residences, there to come into full
-possession of their senses only to cry out in their anguish that ruin,
-black ruin, stared them in the face if this news from Washington should
-prove true.
-
-
-
-
-                               CHAPTER V.
-
-
-By proclamation bearing date the 5th day of March 1897, the President
-summoned both houses of Congress to convene in extraordinary session
-“for the consideration of the general welfare of the United States, and
-to take such action as might seem necessary and expedient to them on
-certain measures which he should recommend to their consideration,
-measures of vital import to the welfare and happiness of the people, if
-not to the very existence of the Union and the continuance of their
-enjoyment of the liberties achieved by the fathers of the Republic.”
-
-While awaiting the day set for the coming together of the Congress, the
-“Great Friend of the Common People” came suddenly face to face with the
-first serious business of his Administration. Fifty thousand people
-tramped the streets of Washington without bread or shelter. Many had
-come in quest of office, lured on by the solemn pronouncement of their
-candidate that there should be at once a clean sweep of these barnacles
-of the ship of State and so complete had been their confidence in their
-glorious young captain, that they had literally failed to provide
-themselves with either “purse or script or shoes,” and now stood hungry
-and footsore at his gate, begging for a crust of bread. But most of
-those making up this vast multitude were “the unarmed warriors of
-peaceful armies” like the one once led by the redoubtable Coxey, decoyed
-from farm and hamlet and plantation by some nameless longing to “go
-forth” to stand in the presence of this new Savior of Society, whose
-advent to power was to bring them “double pay” for all their toil. While
-on the march all had gone well, for their brethren had opened their
-hearts and their houses as these “unarmed warriors” had marched with
-flying banners and loud huzzas through the various towns on the route.
-
-But now the holiday was over, they were far from their homes, they were
-in danger of perishing from hunger. What was to be done? “They are our
-people,” said the President, “their love of country has undone them; the
-nation must not let them suffer, for they are its hope and its shield in
-the hour of war, and its glory and its refuge in times of peace. They
-are the common people for whose benefit this Republic was established.
-The Kings of the earth may desert them; I never shall.” The Secretary of
-War was directed to establish camps in the parks and suburbs of the city
-and to issue rations and blankets to these luckless wanderers until the
-Government could provide for their transportation back to their homes.
-
-On Monday, March 15th, the President received the usual notification
-from both houses of Congress, that they had organized and were ready for
-the consideration of such measures as he might choose to recommend for
-their action.
-
-The first act to pass both houses and receive the signature of the
-President, was an Act repealing the Act of 1873, and opening the mints
-of the United States to the free coinage of silver at the ratio of
-sixteen to one, with gold, and establishing branch mints in the cities
-of Denver, Omaha, Chicago, Kansas City, Spokane, Los Angeles, Charleston
-and Mobile.
-
-The announcement that reparation had thus been made to the people for
-the “Crime of 1873” was received with loud cheering on the floors and in
-the galleries of both houses.
-
-And the Great North heard these cheers and trembled.
-
-The next measure of great public import brought before the House was an
-act to provide additional revenue by levying a tax upon the incomes,
-substantially on the lines laid down by the legislation of 1894. The
-Republican Senators strove to make some show of resistance to this
-measure, but so solid were the administration ranks, that they only
-succeeded in delaying it for a few weeks. This first skirmish with the
-enemy, however, brought the President and his followers to a realizing
-sense that not only must the Senate be shorn of its power to block the
-“new movement of regeneration and reform” by the adoption of rules
-cutting off prolonged debate, but that the “new dispensation” must at
-once proceed to increase its senatorial representation, for who could
-tell what moment some one of the Northern Silver States might not slip
-away from its allegiance to the “Friend of the Common People.”
-
-The introduction of a bill repealing the various Civil Service acts
-passed for the alleged purpose of “regulating and improving the Civil
-Service of the United States,” and of another repealing the various acts
-establishing National Banks, and substituting United States notes for
-all national bank notes based upon interest bearing bonds, opened the
-eyes of the Republican opposition to the fact that the President and his
-party were possessed of the courage of their convictions, and were
-determined, come good report or evil report, to wipe all conflicting
-legislation from the statute books. The battle in the Senate now took on
-a spirit of extreme acrimony; scenes not witnessed since the days of
-Slavery, were of daily occurrence on the floors of both the House and
-the Senate. Threats of secession came openly from the North only to be
-met with the jeers and laughter of the silver and populist members.
-“We’re in the saddle at last,” exclaimed a Southern member, “and we
-intend to ride on to victory!”
-
-The introduction of bills for the admission of New Mexico and Arizona,
-and for the division of Texas into two States to be called East Texas
-and West Texas, although each of these measures was strictly within the
-letter of the Constitution, fell among the members of the Republican
-opposition like a torch in a house of tinder. There was fire at once,
-and the blaze of party spirit leapt to such dangerous heights that the
-whole nation looked on in consternation. Was the Union about to go up in
-a great conflagration and leave behind it but the ashes and charred
-pedestals of its greatness?
-
-“We are the people” wrote the President in lines of dignity and
-calmness. “We are the people and what we do, we do under the holy
-sanction of law, and there is no one so powerful or so bold as to dare
-to say we do not do well in lifting off the nation’s shoulders the
-grievous and unlawful burdens which preceding Congresses have placed
-upon them.”
-
-And so the “Long Session” of the fifty-fifth Congress was entered upon,
-fated to last through summer heat and autumn chill, and until winter
-came again and the Constitution itself set limits to its lasting. And
-when that day came, and its speaker, amid a wild tumult of cheers, arose
-to declare it ended not by their will, but by the law of the land, he
-said: “The glorious revolution is in its brightest bud. Since the
-President called upon us to convene in last March, we have with the
-strong blade of public indignation, and with a full sense of our
-responsibility, erased from the statute books the marks of our country’s
-shame and our people’s subjugation. Liberty can not die. There remains
-much to be done in the way of building up. Let us take heart and push
-on. On Monday, the regular session of this Congress will begin. We must
-greet our loved ones from the distance. We have no time to go home and
-embrace them.”
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER VI.
-
-
-When a Republican member of the House arose to move the usual
-adjournment for the holidays, there was a storm of hisses and cries of
-“No, no!”
-
-Said the leader of the House, amid deafening plaudits: “We are the
-servants of the people. Our work is not yet complete. There must be no
-play for us while coal barons stand with their feet on the ashes of the
-poor man’s hearthstone, and weeds and thorns cumber the fields of the
-farmer for lack of money to buy seed and implements. There must be no
-play for us while railway magnates press from the pockets of the
-laboring man six and eight per cent. return on thrice watered stocks,
-and rapacious landlords, enriched by inheritance, grind the faces of the
-poor. There must be no play for us while enemies of the human kind are,
-by means of trust and combination and ‘corners,’ engaged in drawing
-their unholy millions from the very life-blood of the nation, paralyzing
-its best efforts and setting the blight of intemperance and indifference
-upon it, by making life but one long struggle for existence, without a
-gleam of rest and comfort in old age. No, Mr. Speaker, we must not
-adjourn, but by our efforts in these halls of legislation let the nation
-know that we are at work for its emancipation, and by these means let
-the monopolists and money-changers be brought to a realizing sense that
-the Reign of the Common People has really been entered upon, and then
-the bells will ring out a happier, gladder New Year than has ever dawned
-upon this Republic.”
-
-The opposition fairly quailed before the vigor and earnestness of the
-“new dispensation.” There were soon before the House and pressed well on
-toward final passage a number of important measures calculated to awaken
-an intense feeling of enthusiasm among the working classes. Among these
-was an Act establishing a Loan Commission for the loaning of certain
-moneys of the United States to Farmers and Planters without interest; an
-Act for the establishment of a permanent Department of Public Works, its
-head to be styled Secretary of Public Works, rank as a cabinet officer,
-and supervise the expenditure of all public moneys for the construction
-of public buildings and the improvement of rivers and harbors; an Act
-making it a felony, punishable with imprisonment for life, for any
-citizen or combination of citizens to enter into any trust or agreement
-to stifle, suppress or in any way interfere with full, open and fair
-competition in trade and manufacture among the States, or to make use of
-any inter-State railroads, waterways or canals for the transportation of
-any food products or goods, wares or merchandise which may have been
-“cornered,” stored or withheld with a view to enhance the value thereof;
-and, most important of all, a preliminary Act having for its object the
-appointment of Commissioners for the purchase by the Federal Government
-of all inter-State railway and telegraph lines, and in the meantime the
-strict regulation of all fares and charges by a Government Commission,
-from whose established schedules there shall be no appeal.
-
-On Washington’s Birthday the President issued an Address of
-Congratulation to the People of the United States, from which the
-following is extracted:
-
-“The malicious prognostications of our political opponents have proven
-themselves to be but empty sound and fury. Although not quite one year
-has elapsed since I, agreeable to your mandate, restored to you the
-money of the Constitution, yet from every section of our Union comes the
-glad tidings of renewed activity and prosperity. The workingman no
-longer sits cold and hungry beside a cheerless hearthstone; the farmer
-has taken heart and resumed work; the wheels of the factory are in
-motion again; the shops and stores of the legitimate dealer and trader
-are full of bustle and action. There is content everywhere, save in the
-counting-room of the money-changer, for which thank God and the common
-people of this Republic. The free coinage of that metal which the
-Creator, in His wisdom, stored with so lavish a hand in the subterranean
-vaults of our glorious mountain ranges, has proven a rich and manifold
-blessing for our people. It is in every sense of the word the ‘people’s
-money,’ and already the envious world looks on in amazement that we have
-shown our ability to do without ‘foreign cooperation.’ The Congress of
-our Republic has been in almost continuous session since I took my oath
-of office, and the administration members deserve your deepest and most
-heartfelt gratitude. They are rearing for themselves a monument more
-lasting than chiseled bronze or polished monolith. They knew no rest,
-they asked for no respite from their labors until, at my earnest
-request, they adjourned over to join their fellow citizens in the
-observance of this sacred anniversary.
-
-“Fellow citizens, remember the bonds which a wicked and selfish class of
-usurers and speculators fastened upon you, and on this anniversary of
-the birth of the Father of our Country, let us renew our pledges to undo
-completely and absolutely their infamous work, and in public assembly
-and family circle, let us by new vows confirm our love of right and
-justice, so that the great gain may not slip away from us, but go on
-increasing so long as the statute books contain a single trace of the
-record of our enslavement. As for me, I have but one ambition, and that
-is to deserve so well of you that when you come to write my epitaph, you
-set beneath my name the single line:
-
-               “Here lies a Friend of the Common People.”
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER VII.
-
-
-This first year of the Silver Administration was scarcely rounded up,
-ere there began to be ugly rumors that the Government was no longer able
-to hold the white metal at a parity with gold. “It is the work of Wall
-Street,” cried the friends of the President, but wiser heads were shaken
-in contradiction, for they had watched the sowing of the wind of
-unreason, and knew only too well that the whirlwind of folly must be
-reaped in due season.
-
-The country had been literally submerged by a silver flood which had
-poured its argent waves into every nook and cranny of the Republic,
-stimulating human endeavor to most unnatural and harmful vigor. Mad
-speculation stalked over the land. People sold what they should have
-clung to, and bought what they did not need. Manufacturers heaped up
-goods for which there was no demand, and farmers ploughed where they had
-not drained and drained, where they were never fated to plough. The
-small dealer enlarged his business with more haste than judgment, and
-the widow drew her mite from the bank of savings to buy land on which
-she was destined never to set foot. The spirit of greed and gain lodged
-in every mind, and the “Common People” with a mad eagerness loosened the
-strings of their leather purses to cast their hard-earned savings into
-wild schemes of profit. Every scrap and bit of the white metal that they
-could lay their hands upon, spoons hallowed by the touch of lips long
-since closed in death, and cups and tankards from which grand sires had
-drunken were bundled away to the mints to be coined into “people’s
-dollars.”
-
-At the very first rumor of the slipping away of this trusted coin from
-its parity with gold, there was a fearful awakening, like the start and
-the gasp of the miser who sees his horded treasure melting away from
-before his eyes, and he not able to reach out and stay its going.
-
-Protest and expostulation first, then came groans and prayers, from
-which there was an easy road to curses. The working man threw off his
-cap and apron to rush upon the public square, and demand his rights.
-Mobs ran together, processions formed, deputations hurried off to
-Washington, not on foot like the Coxey Army, but on the swift wings of
-the Limited Express.
-
-The “common people” were admitted to the bar of the house, their plaints
-patiently listened to, and reparation promised. Bills for increased
-revenue were hurriedly introduced, and new taxes were loaded upon the
-broad shoulders of the millionaires of the nation;—taxes on checks,
-taxes on certificates of incorporation, taxes on deeds and mortgages,
-taxes on pleasure yachts, taxes on private parks and plaisances, taxes
-on wills of all property above $5,000 in value, taxes on all gifts of
-realty for and in consideration of natural love and affection, taxes on
-all passage tickets to foreign lands, and double taxes on the estates of
-all absentees on and after the lapse of six months.
-
-There was a doubling up too of the tariff on all important luxuries, for
-as was said on the floor of Congress, “if the silks and satins of
-American looms and the wines and tobacco of native growth, are not good
-enough for ‘my Lord of Wall Street,’ let him pay the difference and
-thank heaven that he can get them at that price.”
-
-To quiet the murmurs of the good people of the land, additional millions
-were placed to the credit of the Department of Public Works, and harbors
-were dredged out in one month only to fill up in the next, and new
-systems of improvement of interstate waterways were entered upon on a
-scale of magnitude hitherto undreamt of. The Commissioners for the
-distribution of public moneys to farmers so impoverished as to be unable
-to work their lands, were kept busy in placing “Peffer Loans” where the
-need of them seemed to be the greatest, and to put a stop to the
-“nefarious doings of money-changers and traders in the misfortunes of
-the people,” a statute was enacted making it a felony punishable with
-imprisonment for life, for any person or corporate body to buy and sell
-government bonds or public funds, or deal in them with a view to draw
-gain or profit from their rise and fall in value.
-
-But try never so hard, the Government found itself powerless to check
-the slow but steady decline in value of the people’s dollar. By
-midsummer, it had fallen to forty-three cents, and ere the fair
-Northland had wrapped itself, like a scornful beauty, in its Autumn
-mantle of gold, the fondly trusted coin had sunk to exactly one-third of
-the value of a standard gold dollar. People carried baskets in their
-arms, filled with the now discredited coin, when they went abroad to pay
-a debt or make purchase of the necessaries of life. Huge sacks of the
-white metal were flung at the door of the mortgagee when discharge was
-sought for a few thousand dollars. Men servants accompanied their
-mistresses upon shopping tours to carry the necessary funds, and leather
-pockets took the place of the old time muslin ones in male habiliments,
-least the weight of the fifteen coins required to make up a five dollar
-gold piece should tear the thin stuff and spill a dollar at every step.
-
-All day long in the large cities, huge trucks loaded with sacks of the
-coin rolled and rumbled over the pavement in the adjustment of the
-business balances of the day. The tradesman who called for his bill was
-met at the door with a coal scuttle or a nail keg filled with the
-needful amount, and on pay day, the working man took his eldest boy with
-him to “tote the stuff home” while he carried the usual bundle of
-firewood. And strange to say, this dollar, once so beloved by the
-“common people,” parted with its very nature of riches and lay in heaps
-unnoticed and unheeded on shelf or table, until occasion arose to pay it
-out which was done with a careless and contemptuous toss as if it were
-the iron money of the ancient Spartans, and Holy Writ for once at least,
-was disproven and discredited for the thief showed not the slightest
-inclination to “break in and steal” where these treasures had been laid
-up on earth, although the discs of white metal might lie in full view on
-the table, like so many pewter platters or pieces of tinware. Men let
-debts run, rather than call for them, and barter and exchange came into
-vogue again, the good housewife calling on her neighbor for a loan of
-flour or meal, promising to return the same in sugar or dried fruit
-whenever the need might arise.
-
-And still the once magic discs of silver slipped slowly and silently
-downward, and ever downward in value and good name, until it almost
-seemed as if the people hated the very name of silver.
-
-
-
-
-                             CHAPTER VIII.
-
-
-The “Fateful year of ’99” upon its coming in, found the Republic of
-Washington in dire and dangerous straits. The commercial and industrial
-boom had spent its force, and now the frightful evils of a debased
-currency, coupled with demoralizing effects of rampant paternalism, were
-gradually strangling the land to death. Capital, ever timid and
-distrustful in such times, hid itself in safe deposit vaults, or fled to
-Europe. Labor, although really hard pressed and lacking the very
-necessities of life, was loudmouthed and defiant. Socialism and
-Anarchism found willing ears into which to pour their burning words of
-hatred and malevolence, and the consequence was that serious rioting
-broke out in the larger cities of the North, often taxing the capacities
-of the local authorities to the utmost.
-
-It was bruited abroad that violent dissensions had arisen in the
-Cabinet, the young President giving signs of a marked change of mind,
-and like many a man who has appealed to the darker passions of the human
-heart, he seemed almost ready to exclaim: “I stand alone. The spirits I
-have called up are no longer obedient to me. My country, oh, my country,
-how willingly would I give my life for thee, if by such a sacrifice I
-could restore thee to thy old time prosperity.”
-
-For the first he began to realize what an intense spirit of sectionalism
-had entered into this “revolutionary propaganda.” He spoke of his fears
-to none save to his wise and prudent helpmate.
-
-“I trust you, beloved,” she whispered, as she pressed the broad, strong
-hands that held her enclasped.
-
-“Ay, dear one, but does my country?” came in almost a groan from the
-lips of the youthful ruler.
-
-Most evident was it, that thus far the South had been the great gainer
-in this struggle for power. She had increased her strength in the Senate
-by six votes; she had regained her old time prestige in the House; one
-of her most trusted sons was in the Speaker’s chair, while another
-brilliant Southron led the administration forces on the floor. Born as
-she was for the brilliant exercise of intellectual vigor, the South was
-of that strain of blood which knows how to wear the kingly graces of
-power so as best to impress the “common people.” Many of the men of the
-North had been charmed and fascinated by this natural pomp and inborn
-demeanor of greatness and had yielded to it.
-
-Not a month had gone by that this now dominant section had not made some
-new demand upon the country at large. Early in the session, at its
-request, the internal revenue tax which had rested so long upon the
-tobacco crop of the South, and poured so many millions of revenue into
-the national treasury, was wiped from the statute books with but a
-feeble protest from the North.
-
-But now the country was thrown into a state bordering upon frenzy by a
-new demand, which, although couched in calm and decorous terms, nay,
-almost in the guise of a petition for long-delayed justice to
-hard-pressed and suffering brethren, had about it a suppressed, yet
-unmistakable tone of conscious power and imperiousness which well became
-the leader who spoke for “that glorious Southland to which this Union
-owes so much of its greatness and its prestige.”
-
-Said he: “Mr. Speaker, for nearly thirty years our people, although left
-impoverished by the conflict of the states, have given of their
-substance to salve the wounds and make green the old age of the men who
-conquered us. We have paid this heavy tax, this fearful blood money
-unmurmuringly. You have forgiven us for our bold strike for liberty that
-God willed should not succeed. You have given us back our rights, opened
-the doors of these sacred halls to us, called us your brothers, but
-unlike noble Germany who was content to exact a lump sum from “la belle
-France,” and then bid her go in peace and freedom from all further
-exactions, you have for nearly thirty years laid this humiliating war
-tax upon us, and thus forced us year in and year out to kiss the very
-hand that smote us. Are we human that we now cry out against it? Are we
-men that we feel no tingle in our veins after these long years of
-punishment for no greater crime than that we loved liberty better than
-the bonds of a confederation laid upon us by our fathers? We appeal to
-you as our brothers and our countrymen. Lift this infamous tax from our
-land, than which your great North is ten thousand times richer. Do one
-of two things: Either take our aged and decrepit soldiers by the hand
-and bless their last days with pensions from the treasury of our common
-country, for they were only wrong in that their cause failed, or remove
-this hated tax and make such restitution of this blood money as shall
-seem just and equitable to your soberer and better judgment.”
-
-To say that this speech, of which the foregoing is but a brief extract,
-threw both Houses of Congress into most violent disorder, but faintly
-describes its effect. Cries of treason! treason! went up; blows were
-exchanged and hand to hand struggles took place in the galleries,
-followed by the flash of the dread bowie and the crack of the ready
-pistol. The Republic was shaken to its very foundations. Throughout the
-North there was but a repetition of the scenes that followed the firing
-upon Sumter. Public meetings were held, and resolutions passed calling
-upon the Government to concentrate troops in and about Washington, and
-prepare for the suppression of a second Rebellion.
-
-But gradually this outbreak of popular indignation lost some of its
-strength and virulence, for it was easy to comprehend that nothing would
-be gained at this stage of the matter by meeting a violent and unlawful
-demand with violence and unwise counsels. Besides, what was it any way
-but the idle threat of a certain clique of unscrupulous politicians?
-
-The Republic stood upon too firm a foundation to be shaken by mere
-appeals to the passions of the hour. To commit treason against our
-country called for an overt act. What had it to dread from the mere
-oratorical flash of a passing storm of feeling?
-
-It is hard to say what the young President thought of these scenes in
-Congress. So pale had he grown of late that a little more of pallor
-would pass unnoted, but those who were wont to look upon his face in
-these troublous times report that in the short space of a few days the
-lines in his countenance deepened perceptibly, and that a firmer and
-stronger expression of will-power lurked in the corners of his wide
-mouth, overhung his square and massive chin, and accentuated the
-vibrations of his wide-opened nostrils. He was under a terrible strain.
-When he had caught up the sceptre of power, it seemed a mere bauble in
-his strong grasp, but now it had grown strangely heavy, and there was a
-mysterious pricking at his brow, as if that crown of thorns which he had
-not willed should be set upon the heads of others, were being pressed
-down with cruel hands upon his own.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER IX.
-
-
-When the last embers of the great conflagration of the Rebellion had
-been smothered out with tears for the Lost Cause, a prophecy had gone up
-that the mighty North, rich with a hundred great cities, and strong in
-the conscious power of its wide empire, would be the next to raise the
-standard of rebellion against the Federal Government. But that prophet
-was without honor in his own land, and none had paid heed to his
-seemingly wild words.
-
-Yet now, this same mighty North sat there in her grief and anxiety, with
-her face turned Southward, and her ear strained to catch the whispers
-that were in the air. Had not the sceptre of power passed from her hand
-forever? Was not the Revolution complete? Were not the Populists and
-their allies firmly seated in the Halls of Congress? Had not the Supreme
-Court been rendered powerless for good by packing it with the most
-uncompromising adherents of the new political faith? Had not the very
-nature of the Federal Government undergone a change: Was not Paternalism
-rampant? Was not Socialism on the increase? Were there not everywhere
-evidences of an intense hatred of the North and a firm determination to
-throw the whole burden of taxation upon the shoulders of the rich man,
-in order that the surplus revenues of the Government might be
-distributed among those who constitute the “common people?” How could
-this section of the Union ever hope to make head against the South,
-united, as it now was, with the rapidly growing States of the Northwest?
-Could the magnificent cities of the North content themselves to march at
-the tail of Tillman’s and Peffer’s chariots? Had not the South a firm
-hold of the Senate? Where was there a ray of hope that the North could
-ever again regain its lost power, and could it for a single moment think
-of entrusting its vast interests to the hands of a people differing with
-them on every important question of statecraft, pledged to a policy that
-could not be otherwise than ruinous to the welfare of the grand
-commonwealths of the Middle and Eastern sections of the Union and their
-sister States this side of the Mississippi? It were madness to think of
-it. The plunge must be taken, the declaration must be made. There was no
-other alternative, save abject submission to the chieftains of the new
-dispensation, and the complete transformation of that vast social and
-political system vaguely called the North.
-
-But this revolution within a revolution would be a bloodless one, for
-there could be no thought of coercion, no serious notion of checking
-such a mighty movement. It would be in reality the true Republic purging
-itself of a dangerous malady, sloughing off a diseased and gangrened
-member; no more, no less.
-
-Already this mighty movement of withdrawals from the Witenagemote of the
-Union was in the air. People spoke of it in a whisper, or with bated
-breath; but as they turned it over and over in their minds, it took on
-shape and form and force, till at last it burst into life and action
-like Minerva from Jupiter’s brain—full-fledged, full-armed, full-voiced
-and full-hearted.
-
-Really, why would it not be all for the best that this mighty empire,
-rapidly growing so vast and unwieldy as to be only with the greatest
-difficulty governable from a single centre, should be split into three
-parts, Eastern, Southern and Western, now that it may be done without
-dangerous jar or friction? The three republics could be federated for
-purposes offensive and defensive, and until these great and radical
-changes could be brought about there would be no great difficulty in
-devising “living terms,” for immediately upon the Declaration of
-Dissolution, each State would become repossessed of the sovereign powers
-which it had delegated to the Federal Government.
-
-Meanwhile the “Fateful year ’99” went onward toward its close. The whole
-land seemed stricken with paralysis, so far as the various industries
-were concerned, but, as it is wont to be in such times, men’s minds were
-supernaturally active. The days were passed in the reading of public
-prints, or in passing in review the weighty events of the hour. The
-North was only waiting for an opportunity to act.
-
-But the question that perplexed the wisest heads was: How and when shall
-the Declaration of Dissolution be made, and how soon thereafter shall
-the North and the States in sympathy with her withdraw from the Union,
-and declare to the world their intention to set up a republic of their
-own, with the mighty metropolis of New York as its social, political and
-commercial centre and capital?
-
-As it came to pass, the North had not long to wait. The Fifty-sixth
-Congress soon to convene in regular session in the city of Washington,
-was even more Populistic and Socialistic than its famous predecessor,
-which had wrought such wonderful changes in the law of the land, showing
-no respect for precedent, no reverence for the old order of things.
-Hence all eyes were fixed upon the capital of the nation, all roads were
-untrodden, save those which led to Washington.
-
-
-
-
-                               CHAPTER X.
-
-
-Again Congress had refused to adjourn over for the holidays. The leaders
-of the Administration forces were unwilling to close their eyes, even
-for needful sleep, and went about pale and haggard, startled at every
-word and gesture of the opposition, like true conspirators, as they
-were, for the Federal troops had been almost to a man quietly removed
-from the Capital and its vicinage, lest the President in a moment of
-weakness, might do or suffer to be done some act unfriendly to the Reign
-of the Common People.
-
-Strange as it may seem, there had been very little note taken by the
-country at large of the introduction at the opening of the session of an
-Act to extend the Pension System of the United States to the Soldiers of
-the Confederate Armies, and for covering back into the various
-treasuries of certain States of the Union, such portions of internal
-revenue taxes collected since the readmission of said states to the
-Federal Congress, as may be determined by Commissioners duly appointed
-under said Act.
-
-Was it the calm of despair, the stolidity of desperation, or the cool
-and restrained energy of a noble and refined courage?
-
-The introduction of the Act, however, had one effect; it set in motion
-toward the National capital, mighty streams of humanity—not of wild-eyed
-fanatics or unshaven and unkempt politicasters and bezonians—but of
-soberly-clad citizens with a business-like air about them, evidently men
-who knew how to earn more than enough for a living, men who paid their
-taxes and had a right to take a look at the public servants, if desire
-so moved them. But very plain was it that the mightier stream flowed in
-from the South, and those who remembered the Capital in antebellum days,
-smiled at the old familiar sight, the clean-shaven faces, the long hair
-thrown carelessly back under the broad brim felts, the half unbuttoned
-waistcoats and turn down collars, the small feet and neatly fitting
-boots, the springy loping pace, the soft negroese intonation, the long
-fragrant cheroot.
-
-It was easy to pick out the man from the Northland, well clad and
-well-groomed, as careful of his linen as a woman, prim and trim,
-disdainful of the picturesque felts, ever crowned with the ceremonious
-derby, the man of affairs, taking a business-like view of life, but
-wearing for the nonce a worried look and drawing ever and anon a deep
-breath.
-
-The black man, ever at the heels of his white brother, set to rule over
-him by an inscrutable decree of nature, came forth too in thousands,
-chatting and laughing gayly, careless of the why or wherefore of his
-white brother’s deep concern, and powerless to comprehend it had he so
-desired. Every hour now added to the throng. The broad avenues were none
-too broad. The excitement increased. Men talked louder and louder, women
-and children disappeared almost completely from the streets. The
-“Southern element” drew more and more apart in knots and groups by
-itself. Men threw themselves upon their beds to catch a few hours sleep,
-but without undressing, as if they were expecting the happening of some
-portentous event at any moment, the event of their lives, and dreaded
-the thought of being a moment late.
-
-If all went well, the bill would come up for final passage on Saturday,
-the 30th day of the month, but so fierce was the battle raged against
-it, and so frequent the interruptions by the contumacy both of members
-and of the various cliques crowding the galleries to suffocation, that
-little or no progress could be made.
-
-The leaders of the administration forces saw midnight drawing near with
-no prospect of attaining their object before the coming in of Sunday on
-which the House had never been known to sit. An adjournment over to
-Monday of the New Year might be fatal, for who could tell what
-unforeseen force might not break up their solid ranks and throw them
-into confusion. They must rise equal to the occasion. A motion was made
-to suspend the rules, and to remain in continuous session until the
-business before the House was completed. Cries of “Unprecedented!”
-“Revolutionary!” “Monstrous!” came from the opposition, but all to no
-purpose; the House settled down to its work with such a grim
-determination to conquer that the Republican minority fairly quailed
-before it. Food and drink were brought to the members in their seats;
-they ate, drank and slept at their posts, like soldiers determined not
-to be ambushed or stampeded.
-
-It was a strange sight, and yet an impressive one withal—a great party
-struggling for long deferred rights—freemen jealous of their liberties,
-bound together with the steel hooks of determination that only death
-might break asunder.
-
-Sunday came in at last, and still the struggle went on. “The people know
-no days when their liberties are at stake,” cried the leader of the
-House. “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.”
-
-Many of the speeches delivered on that famous Sunday sounded more like
-the lamentations of a Jeremiah, the earnest and burning utterances of a
-Paul, or the scholarly and well-rounded periods of an Apollos. The weary
-hours were lightened by the singing of hymns by the Southern members,
-most of them good methodists, in which their friends and sympathizers in
-the galleries joined full throated and fuller hearted; while at times,
-clear, resonant and in perfect unison, the voices of the staunch men of
-the North broke in and drowned out the religious song with the majestic
-and soul-stirring measures of “John Brown’s Body,” the “Glory, Glory
-Halleluiah” of which seemed to hush the tumult of the Chamber like a
-weird chant of some invisible chorus breaking in upon the fierce rioting
-of a Belshazzar’s feast.
-
-Somewhat after eleven o’clock, an ominous silence sank upon the opposing
-camps, the Republican leaders could be seen conferring together
-nervously. It was a sacred hour of night, thrice sacred for the great
-Republic. Not only a New Year, but a New Century was about to break upon
-the world. A strange hush crept over the turbulent House, and its still
-more turbulent galleries.
-
-The Republican leader rose to his feet. His voice sounded cold and
-hollow. Strong men shivered as they listened. “Mr. Speaker: We have done
-our duty to our country; we have nothing more to say, no more blows to
-strike. We cannot stand here within the sacred precincts of this
-Chamber, and see our rights as freemen trampled beneath the feet of the
-majority. We have striven to prevent the downfall of the Republic, like
-men sworn to battle against wrong and tyranny, but there comes a time
-when blank despair seizes upon the hearts of those who struggle against
-overwhelming odds. That hour has sounded for us. We believe our people,
-the great and generous people of the North, will cry unto us: Well done,
-good and faithful servants. If we do wrong, let them condemn us. We,
-every man of us, Mr. Speaker, have but this moment sworn not to stand
-within this Chamber and witness the passage of this act. Therefore we
-go——”
-
-“Not so, my countrymen,” cried a clear metallic far-reaching voice that
-sounded through the Chamber with an almost supernatural ring in it. In
-an instant, every head was turned and a thousand voices burst out with
-suppressed force:
-
-“The President! The President!”
-
-In truth, it was he, standing at the bar of the House, wearing the
-visage of death rather than of life. The next instant the House and
-galleries burst into a deafening clamor which rolled up and back in
-mighty waves that shook the very walls. There was no stilling it. Again
-and again it burst forth, the mingling of ten thousand words, howling,
-rumbling and groaning like the warring elements of nature. Several times
-the President stretched forth his great white hands appealing for
-silence, while the dew of mingled dread and anguish beaded on his brow
-and trickled down his cheeks in liquid supplication that his people
-might either slay him or listen to him. The tumult stilled its fury for
-a moment, and he could be heard saying brokenly:
-
-“My countrymen, oh, my countrymen——”
-
-But the quick sharp sound of the gavel cut him short.
-
-“The President must withdraw,” said the Speaker, calmly and coldly, “his
-presence here is a menace to our free deliberation.”
-
-Again the tumult set up its deafening roar, while a look of almost
-horror overspread the countenance of the Chief Magistrate.
-
-Once more his great white hands went heavenward, pleading for silence
-with such a mute majesty of supplication, that silence fell upon the
-immense assemblage, and his lips moved not in vain.
-
-“Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, I stand here upon my just
-and lawful right as President of the Republic, to give you ‘information
-of the state of the Union.’ I have summoned the Honorable the Senate, to
-meet me in this Chamber. I call upon you to calm your passions, and give
-ear to me as your oath of office sets the sacred obligation upon you.”
-
-There was a tone of godlike authority in these few words, almost divine
-enough to make the winds obey and still the tempestuous sea. In deepest
-silence, and with a certain show of rude and native grandeur of bearing,
-the Senators made their entrance into the Chamber, the members of the
-House rising, and the Speaker advancing to meet the Vice-President.
-
-The spectacle was grand and moving. Tears gathered in eyes long unused
-to them, and at an almost imperceptible nod of the President’s head, the
-Chaplain raised his voice in prayer. He prayed in accents that were so
-gentle and so persuasive, they must have turned the hardest heart to
-blessed thoughts of peace and love and fraternity and union. And then
-again all eyes were fixed with intensest strain upon the face of the
-President.
-
-“Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, this measure upon which you
-are now deliberating”——
-
-With a sudden blow that startled every living soul within its hearing,
-the Speaker’s gavel fell. “The President,” said he with a superb dignity
-that called down from the galleries a burst of deafening applause, “must
-not make reference to pending legislation. The Constitution guarantees
-him the right ‘from time to time to give to the Congress information of
-the Union.’ He must keep himself strictly within the lines of this
-Constitutional limit, or withdraw from the bar of the House.”
-
-A deadly pallor overspread the face of the Chief Magistrate till it
-seemed he must sink then and there into that sleep which knows no
-awakening, but he gasped, he leaned forward, he raised his hand again
-imploringly, and as he did so, the bells of the city began to toll the
-hour of midnight.
-
-The New Year, the New Century was born, but with the last stroke, a
-fearful and thunderous discharge as of a thousand monster pieces of
-artillery, shook the Capitol to its very foundations, making the
-stoutest hearts stand still, and blanching cheeks that had never known
-the coward color. The dome of the Capitol had been destroyed by
-dynamite.
-
-In a few moments, when it was seen that the Chamber had suffered no
-harm, the leader of the House moved the final passage of the Act. The
-President was led away, and the Republican Senators and Representatives
-passed slowly out of the disfigured Capitol, while the tellers prepared
-to take the vote of the House. The bells were ringing a glad welcome to
-the New Century, but a solemn tolling would have been a fitter thing,
-for the Republic of Washington was no more. It had died so peacefully,
-that the world could not believe the tidings of its passing away. As the
-dawn broke cold and gray, and its first dim light fell upon that
-shattered dome, glorious even in its ruins, a single human eye, filled
-with a gleam of devilish joy, looked up at it long and steadily, and
-then its owner was caught up and lost in the surging mass of humanity
-that held the Capitol girt round and round.
-
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-
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-
-
-                          TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
-
-
- 1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
- 2. Anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as
-      printed.
-
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-
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-Project Gutenberg's 1900 or, The last President, by Ingersoll Lockwood
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-Title: 1900 or, The last President
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-Author: Ingersoll Lockwood
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-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1900 OR, THE LAST PRESIDENT ***
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-
-
-<div class='tnotes covernote'>
-
-<p class='c000'><b>Transcriber’s Note:</b></p>
-
-<p class='c000'>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='titlepage'>
-
-<div>
-  <h1 class='c001'>—1900—<br /> <span class='large'>OR,</span><br /> THE LAST PRESIDENT</h1>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
-    <div>BY</div>
-    <div class='c003'><span class='xlarge'>INGERSOLL LOCKWOOD,</span></div>
-    <div class='c003'>Of the New York Bar.</div>
-    <div class='c002'>Copyright, 1896, by <span class='sc'>Ingersoll Lockwood</span>.</div>
-    <div class='c002'>The Trade Supplied by</div>
-    <div>THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY,</div>
-    <div>New York.</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='c004'>The Chicago Platform assumes, in fact, the
-form of a revolutionary propaganda. It embodies
-a menace of national disintegration
-and destruction.</p>
-
-<div class='lg-container-r c005'>
-  <div class='linegroup'>
-    <div class='group'>
-      <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Garret A. Hobart.</span></div>
-    </div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
-  <span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>
-  <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER I.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'>That was a terrible night for the great City of
-New York—the night of Tuesday, November 3rd,
-1896. The city staggered under the blow like a huge
-ocean liner which plunges, full speed, with terrific
-crash into a mighty iceberg, and recoils shattered
-and trembling like an aspen.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The people were gathered, light-hearted and confident,
-at the evening meal, when the news burst
-upon them. It was like a thunder bolt out of an
-azure sky: “Altgeld holds Illinois hard and fast in
-the Democratic line. This elects Bryan President of
-the United States!”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Strange to say, the people in the upper portion of
-the city made no movement to rush out of their
-houses and collect in the public squares, although the
-night was clear and beautiful. They sat as if paralyzed
-with a nameless dread, and when they conversed
-it was with bated breath and throbbing
-hearts.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>In less than half an hour, mounted policemen
-dashed through the streets calling out: “Keep
-within your houses; close your doors and barricade
-them. The entire East side is in a state of uproar.
-Mobs of vast size are organizing under the lead of
-Anarchists and Socialists, and threaten to plunder
-and despoil the houses of the rich who have wronged
-and oppressed them for so many years. Keep within
-doors. Extinguish all lights.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>Happily, Governor Morton was in town, and although
-a deeper pallor overcame the ashen hue of
-age as he spoke, yet there was no tremor in his voice:
-“Let the Seventh, Twenty-second and Seventy-first
-regiments be ordered under arms.” In a few moments
-hundreds of messengers could be heard racing
-through the silent streets, summoning the members
-of these regiments to their Armories.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Slowly, but with astonishing nerve and steadiness,
-the mobs pushed the police northward, and although
-the force stood the onslaught with magnificent courage,
-yet beaten back, the dark masses of infuriated
-beings surged up again with renewed fury and
-strength. Will the troops be in time to save the
-city? was the whispered inquiry among the knots of
-police officials who were directing the movements of
-their men.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>About nine o’clock, with deafening outcries, the
-mob, like a four-headed monster breathing fire and
-flame, raced, tore, burst, raged into Union Square.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The police force was exhausted, but their front was
-still like a wall of stone, save that it was movable.
-The mob crowded it steadily to the north, while the
-air quivered and was rent with mad vociferations of
-the victors: “Bryan is elected! Bryan is elected!
-Our day has come at last. Down with our oppressors!
-Death to the rich man! Death to the gold
-bugs! Death to the capitalists! Give us back the
-money you have ground out of us. Give us back the
-marrow of our bones which you have used to grease
-the wheels of your chariots.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The police force was now almost helpless. The
-men still used their sticks, but the blows were ineffectual,
-and only served to increase the rage of the
-vast hordes now advancing upon Madison Square.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>The Fifth Avenue Hotel will be the first to feel
-the fury of the mob. Would the troops be in time to
-save it?</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>A half cheer, a half cry of joy goes up. It is inarticulate.
-Men draw a long breath; women drop
-upon their knees and strain their eyes; they can hear
-something, but they cannot see as yet, for the gas
-houses and electric plants had been destroyed by the
-mob early in the evening. They preferred to fight
-in the dark, or by the flames of rich men’s abodes.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Again a cheer goes up, louder and clearer this
-time, followed by cries of “They’re coming, they’re
-coming.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Yes, they were coming—the Twenty-second down
-Broadway, the Seventh down Madison avenue, both
-on the double quick.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>In a moment or so there were a few bugle calls,
-and a few spoken commands rang out clear and
-sharp; and then the two regiments stretched across
-the entire square, literally from wall to wall, in line
-of battle. The mob was upon them. Would this
-slender line of troops, could it hold such a mighty
-mass of men in check?</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The answer was a deafening discharge of firearms,
-a terrific crack, such as some thunder bolts make
-when they explode. A wall of fire blazed across the
-Square. Again and again it blazed forth. The mob
-halted, stood fast, wavered, fell back, advanced again.
-At that moment there came a rattle as of huge
-knives in the distance. It was the gallant Seventy-first
-charging up Twenty-third street, and taking the
-mob on the flank. They came on like a wall of iron,
-bristling with blades of steel.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>There were no outcries, no cheers from the regiment.
-It dealt out death in silence, save when two
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>bayonets crossed and clashed in bearing down
-some doubly-vigorous foe.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>As the bells rang out midnight, the last remnants
-of the mob were driven to cover, but the wheels of
-the dead wagons rattled till daybreak.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>And then the aged Governor, in response to the
-Mayor’s “Thank God, we’ve saved the city!” made
-answer:</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>“Aye, but the Republic——.”</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
-  <span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>
-  <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER II.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'>Great as has been the world’s wonder at the uprising
-of Mr. Bryan’s “struggling masses” in the city
-by the sea, and the narrow escape of its magnificent
-homes from fire and brand, yet greater still was the
-wonderment when the news was flashed across the
-land that Chicago did not stand in need of a single
-Federal soldier.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>“Chicago is mad, but it is the madness of joy.
-Chicago is in the hands of a mob, but it is a mob
-made up of her own people—noisy, rude and
-boisterous, the natural exultation of a suddenly enfranchised
-class; but bent on no other mischief than
-glorying over the villainous and self-seeking souls
-who have ground the faces of the poor and turned
-the pitiless screw of social and political power into
-the hearts of the ‘common people’ until its last
-thread had been reached, and despair pressed its
-lupine visage hard against the door of the laboring
-man.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>And yet, at this moment when the night air quivered
-with the mad vociferations of the “common
-people,” that the Lord had been good to them; that
-the wicked money-changers had been driven from
-the temple, that the stony-hearted usurers were
-beaten at last, that the “People’s William” was at
-the helm now, that peace and plenty would in a few
-moons come back to the poor man’s cottage, that
-Silver was King, aye, King at last, the world still went
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>wondering why red-eyed anarchy, as she stood in
-Haymarket Square, with thin arms aloft, with wild
-mien and wilder gesticulation, drew no bomb of
-dynamite from her bosom, to hurl at the hated
-minions of the law who were silent spectators of this
-delirium of popular joy.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Why was it thus? Look and you shall know why
-white robed peace kept step with this turbulent band
-and turned its thought from red handed pillage. He
-was there. The master spirit to hold them in leash.
-He, and he alone, had lifted Bryan to his great eminence.
-Without these twenty-four electoral votes,
-Bryan had been doomed, hopelessly doomed. He,
-and he alone, held the great Commonwealth of the
-West hard and fast in the Democratic line; hence he
-came as conqueror, as King-maker, and the very walls
-of the sky-touching edifices trembled as he was
-dragged through the crowded streets by this orderly
-mob, and ten times ten thousand of his creatures
-bellowed his name and shook their hats aloft in mad
-exultation:</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>“You’re our Saviour, you’ve cleaned the Temple
-of Liberty of its foul horde of usurers. We salute
-you. We call you King-maker. Bryan shall call
-you Master too. You shall have your reward. You
-shall stand behind the throne. Your wisdom shall
-make us whole. You shall purge the land of this unlawful
-crowd of money-lenders. You shall save the
-Republic. You are greater than Washington. You’re
-a better friend of ours than Lincoln. You’ll do more
-for us than Grant. We’re your slaves. We salute
-you. We thank you. We bless you. Hurrah!
-Hurrah! Hurrah!”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>But yet this vast throng of tamed monsters, this
-mighty mob of momentarily good-natured haters of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>established order, broke away from the master’s control
-for a few brief moments, and dipped their hands
-in the enemy’s blood. The deed was swift as it was
-terrible. There were but four of them, unarmed, on
-pleasure bent. At sight of these men, a thousand
-throats belched out a deep and awful growl of hatred.
-They were brave men, and backed against the wall
-to die like brave men, stricken down, beaten, torn,
-trampled, dragged, it was quick work. They had
-faced howling savages in the far West, painted monsters
-in human form, but never had they heard such
-yells leave the throats of men; and so they died, four
-brave men, clad in the blue livery of the Republic,
-whose only crime was that some months back, against
-the solemn protest of the Master, their comrades had
-set foot on the soil of the commonwealth, and saved
-the Metropolis of the West from the hands of this
-same mob.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>And so Chicago celebrated the election of the new
-President who was to free the land from the grasp of
-the money-lenders, and undo the bad business of
-years of unholy union between barterers and sellers
-of human toil and the law makers of the land.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Throughout the length and breadth of the South,
-and beyond the Great Divide, the news struck hamlet
-and village like the glad tidings of a new evangel,
-almost as potent for human happiness as the heavenly
-message of two thousand years ago. Bells rang out
-in joyful acclaim, and the very stars trembled at the
-telling, and the telling over and over of what had
-been done for the poor man by his brethren of the
-North, and around the blazing pine knots of the
-Southern cabin and in front of the mining camp fires
-of the Far West, the cry went up: “Silver is King!
-Silver is King!” Black palms and white were
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>clasped in this strange love-feast, and the dark
-skinned grand child no longer felt the sting of the
-lash on his sire’s shoulder. All was peace and good
-will, for the people were at last victorious over their
-enemies who had taxed and tithed them into a very
-living death. Now the laborer would not only be
-worthy of his hire, but it would be paid to him in a
-people’s dollar, for the people’s good, and now the
-rich man’s coffers would be made to yield up their
-ill-gotten gain, and the sun would look upon this
-broad and fair land, and find no man without a market
-for the product of his labors. Henceforth, the
-rich man should, as was right and proper, pay a royal
-sum for the privilege of his happiness, and take the
-nation’s taxes on his broad shoulders, where they
-belong.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
-  <span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>
-  <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER III.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'>The pens of many writers would not suffice to
-describe with anything like historical fullness and
-precision, the wild scenes of excitement which, on
-the morning after election day, burst forth on the
-floors of the various exchanges throughout the Union.
-The larger and more important the money centre,
-the deeper, blacker and heavier the despair which
-sank upon them after the violent ebullitions of protest,
-defiance and execration had subsided. With
-some, it seemed that visions of their swift but sure
-impoverishment only served to transform the dark
-and dismal drama of revolution and disintegration
-into a side-splitting farce, and they greeted the prospective
-loss of their millions with loud guffaws and
-indescribable antics of horseplay and unseemly mirth.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>As the day wore on, the news became worse and
-worse. It was only too apparent that the House of
-Representatives of the Fifty-fifth Congress would be
-controlled by the combined vote of the Populists and
-Free Silver men, while the wild joy with which the
-entire South welcomed the election of Bryan and
-Sewall left little doubt in the minds of the Northern
-people that the Southern Senators would, to a man,
-range themselves on the Administration side of the
-great conflict into which the Republic was soon to be
-precipitated. Add to these the twenty Senators of
-the Free Silver States of the North, and the new
-President would have the Congress of the Republic
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>at his back. There would be nothing to stand between
-him and the realization of those schemes which
-an exuberant fancy, untamed by the hand of experience,
-and scornful of the leading-strings of
-wisdom, can conjure up.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Did we say nothing? Nay, not so; for the
-Supreme Court was still there. And yet Justice Field
-had come fully up to the eightieth milestone in the
-journey of life and Justice Gray was nearly seventy,
-while one or two other members of this High Court
-of Judicature held to their lives with feeble grasp.
-Even in due and orderly course of events, why might
-there not come vacancies and then?...</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>In spite of the nameless dread that rested upon so
-many of our people, and chilled the very blood of the
-country’s industries, the new year ’97 came hopefully,
-serenely, almost defiantly in. There was an indescribable
-something in the air, a spirit of political
-devil-me-care, a feeling that the old order had passed
-away and that the Republic had entered into the
-womb of Time and been born again. This sentiment
-began to give outward and visible signs of its
-existence and growth in the remote agricultural districts
-of the South and Far West. They threw aside
-their working implements, loitered about, gathered
-in groups and the words Washington, White House,
-Silver, Bryan, Offices, Two for One, the South’s Day,
-Reign of the Common People, Taxes, Incomes, Year
-of Jubilee, Free Coinage, Wall Street, Altgeld, Tillman,
-Peffer, Coxey, were whispered in a mysterious
-way with head noddings and pursing up of mouths.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>As January wore away and February, slipping by,
-brought Bryan’s Inauguration nearer and nearer, the
-groups melted into groups, and it was only too apparent
-that from a dozen different points in the South
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>and North West “Coxey Armies” were forming for
-an advance on Washington. In some instances they
-were well clad and well provisioned; in others, they
-were little better than great bands of hungry and
-restless men, demoralized by idleness and wrought
-up to a strange degree of mental excitement by the
-extravagant harangues of their leaders, who were
-animated with but one thought, namely, to make use
-of these vast crowds of Silver Pilgrims, as they
-called themselves, to back up their claims for public
-office.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>These crowds of deluded people were well named
-“Silver Pilgrims,” for hundreds of them carried in
-hempen bags, pieces of silverware, in ninety-nine
-cases of a hundred, plated stuff of little value, which
-unscrupulous dealers and peddlers had palmed off
-upon them as sterling, with the promises that once in
-Washington, the United States Mint would coin their
-metal into “Bryan Dollars” giving “two for one”
-in payment for it.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>While these motley “armies” marched upon the
-capitol of the Republic, the railway trains night and
-day brought vast crowds of “new men,” politicians
-of low degree, men out of employment, drunken and
-disgruntled mechanics, farmer’s sons, to seek their
-fortunes under the Reign of the People, heelers and
-hangers-on of ward bosses, old men who had not
-tasted office for thirty years and more, all inspired by
-Mr. Bryan’s declaration that “The American people
-are not in favor of life tenure in the Civil Service,
-that a permanent office holding class is not in harmony
-with our institutions, that a fixed term in appointive
-offices would open the public service to a larger
-number of citizens, without impairing its efficiency,”
-all bearing new besoms in their hands or across their
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>shoulders, each and every one of them supremely
-confident that in the distribution of the spoils something
-would surely fall to his share, since they were
-the “Common People” who were so dear to Mr.
-Bryan, and who had made him President in the very
-face of the prodigious opposition of the rich men,
-whose coffers had been thrown wide open all to no
-purpose, and in spite too of the satanic and truly
-devilish power of that hell upon earth known as Wall
-Street, which had sweated gold in vain in its desperate
-efforts to fasten the chains of trusts and the
-claws of soulless monsters known as corporations
-upon these very “Common People,” soon to march
-in triumph before the silver chariot of the young
-Conqueror from the West.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
-  <span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>
-  <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'>There had been a strange prophecy put forth by
-some one, and it had made its way into the daily journals,
-and had been laughingly or seriously commented
-upon, according to the political tone of the
-paper, or the passing humor of the writer, that the
-4th of March, 1897, would never dawn upon the
-American people. There was something very curious
-and uncanny about the prediction, and what actually
-happened was not qualified to loosen the fearful
-tension of public anxiety, for the day literally and
-truly never dawned upon the City of Washington,
-and well deserves its historical name, the “Dawnless
-Day.” At six o’clock, the hour of daybreak, such an
-impenetrable pall of clouds overhung the city that
-there came no signs of day. The gathering crowds
-could plainly hear the plaintive cries and lamentations
-put up in the negro quarters of the city. Not
-until nearly nine o’clock did the light cease to “shine
-in darkness” and the darkness begin to comprehend
-it.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>But although it was a cheerless gray day, even at
-high noon, its heaviness set no weight upon the spirits
-of the jubilant tens of thousands which completely
-filled the city and its public parks, and ran over into
-camps and hastily improvised shelters outside the
-city limits.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Not until the day previous had the President announced
-the names of those selected for his Cabinet.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>The South and Far West were fairly beside themselves
-with joy, for there had been from their standpoint
-ugly rumors abroad for several days. It had
-even been hinted that Bryan had surrendered to the
-“money-changers,” and that the selection of his constitutional
-advisers would prove him recreant to the
-glorious cause of popular government, and that the
-Reign of the Common People would remain but a
-dream of the “struggling masses.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>But these apprehensions were short lived. The
-young President stood firm and fast on the platform
-of the parties which had raised him to his proud eminence.
-And what better proof of his thorough belief
-in himself and in his mission could he have given
-than the following:</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Secretary of State—William M. Stewart, of Nevada.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Secretary of Treasury—Richard P. Bland, of Missouri.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Secretary of War—John P. Altgeld, of Illinois.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Attorney General—Roger Q. Mills, of Texas.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Postmaster General—Henry George, of New
-York.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Secretary Navy—John Gary Evans, of South
-Carolina.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Secretary Interior—William A. Peffer, of Kansas.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Secretary Agriculture—Lafe Pence, of Colorado.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The first thing that flashed across the minds of
-many upon glancing over this list of names was the
-omission therefrom of Tillman’s. What did it mean?
-Could the young President have quarreled with his
-best friend, his most powerful coadjutor? But the
-wiser ones only shook their heads and made answer
-that it was Tillman’s hand that filled the blank for
-Secretary of the Navy, left there by the new ruler
-after the people’s own heart. Evans was but a creation
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>of this great Commoner of the South, an image
-graven with his hands.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The inaugural address was not a disappointment
-to those who had come to hear it. It was like the
-man who delivered it—bold, outspoken, unmistakable
-in its terms, promising much, impatient of precedent,
-reckless of result; a double confirmation that this
-was to be the Reign of the Common People, that
-much should be unmade and much made over, and
-no matter how the rich man might cry out in anger
-or amazement, the nation must march on to the fulfillment
-of a higher and nobler mission than the impoverishment
-and degradation of the millions for the
-enrichment and elevation of the few.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Scarcely had the young President—his large eyes
-filled with a strange light, and his smooth, hairless
-visage radiant as a cloudless sky, his wife’s arm
-twined around his, and their hands linked in those of
-their children—passed within the lofty portal of the
-White House, than he threw himself into a chair,
-and seizing a sheet of official paper penned the following
-order, and directed its immediate promulgation:</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
-    <div><span class='sc'>Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C.</span>, March 4th, 1897.</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lg-container-l'>
-  <div class='linegroup'>
-    <div class='group'>
-      <div class='line'>Executive Order No. 1.</div>
-    </div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c008'>In order that there may be immediate relief in the
-terrible financial depression now weighing upon our
-beloved country, consequent upon and resulting
-from the unlawful combination of capitalists and
-money-lenders both in this Republic and in England,
-and that the ruinous and inevitable progress
-toward a universal gold standard may be stayed, the
-President orders and directs the immediate abandonment
-of the so-called “gold reserve,” and that on
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>and after the promulgation of this order, the gold
-and silver standard of the Constitution be resumed
-and strictly maintained in all the business transactions
-of the Government.</p>
-
-<p class='c007'>It was two o’clock in the afternoon when news of
-this now world-famous Executive Order was flashed
-into the great banking centres of the country. Its
-effect in Wall street beggars description. On the
-floor of the Stock Exchange men yelled and shrieked
-like painted savages, and, in their mad struggles,
-tore and trampled each other. Many dropped in
-fainting fits, or fell exhausted from their wild and
-senseless efforts to say what none would listen to.
-Ashen pallor crept over the faces of some, while the
-blood threatened to burst the swollen arteries that
-spread in purple network over the brows of others.
-When silence came at last, it was a silence broken
-by sobs and groans. Some wept, while others stood
-dumb-stricken as if it was all a bad dream, and they
-were awaiting the return of their poor distraught
-senses to set them right again. Ambulances were
-hastily summoned and fainting and exhausted forms
-were borne through hushed and whispering masses
-wedged into Wall street, to be whirled away uptown
-to their residences, there to come into full possession
-of their senses only to cry out in their anguish that
-ruin, black ruin, stared them in the face if this news
-from Washington should prove true.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
-  <span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>
-  <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER V.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'>By proclamation bearing date the 5th day of March
-1897, the President summoned both houses of Congress
-to convene in extraordinary session “for the
-consideration of the general welfare of the United
-States, and to take such action as might seem necessary
-and expedient to them on certain measures
-which he should recommend to their consideration,
-measures of vital import to the welfare and happiness
-of the people, if not to the very existence of the
-Union and the continuance of their enjoyment of the
-liberties achieved by the fathers of the Republic.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>While awaiting the day set for the coming together
-of the Congress, the “Great Friend of the Common
-People” came suddenly face to face with the first
-serious business of his Administration. Fifty thousand
-people tramped the streets of Washington
-without bread or shelter. Many had come in quest
-of office, lured on by the solemn pronouncement of
-their candidate that there should be at once a clean
-sweep of these barnacles of the ship of State and so
-complete had been their confidence in their glorious
-young captain, that they had literally failed to provide
-themselves with either “purse or script or shoes,”
-and now stood hungry and footsore at his gate, begging
-for a crust of bread. But most of those making
-up this vast multitude were “the unarmed warriors
-of peaceful armies” like the one once led by the redoubtable
-Coxey, decoyed from farm and hamlet and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>plantation by some nameless longing to “go forth”
-to stand in the presence of this new Savior of Society,
-whose advent to power was to bring them “double
-pay” for all their toil. While on the march all had
-gone well, for their brethren had opened their hearts
-and their houses as these “unarmed warriors” had
-marched with flying banners and loud huzzas through
-the various towns on the route.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>But now the holiday was over, they were far from
-their homes, they were in danger of perishing from
-hunger. What was to be done? “They are our
-people,” said the President, “their love of country
-has undone them; the nation must not let them suffer,
-for they are its hope and its shield in the hour of
-war, and its glory and its refuge in times of peace.
-They are the common people for whose benefit this
-Republic was established. The Kings of the earth
-may desert them; I never shall.” The Secretary of
-War was directed to establish camps in the parks and
-suburbs of the city and to issue rations and blankets
-to these luckless wanderers until the Government
-could provide for their transportation back to their
-homes.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>On Monday, March 15th, the President received
-the usual notification from both houses of Congress,
-that they had organized and were ready for the consideration
-of such measures as he might choose to
-recommend for their action.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The first act to pass both houses and receive the
-signature of the President, was an Act repealing the
-Act of 1873, and opening the mints of the United
-States to the free coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen
-to one, with gold, and establishing branch mints
-in the cities of Denver, Omaha, Chicago, Kansas City,
-Spokane, Los Angeles, Charleston and Mobile.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>The announcement that reparation had thus been
-made to the people for the “Crime of 1873” was received
-with loud cheering on the floors and in the
-galleries of both houses.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>And the Great North heard these cheers and
-trembled.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The next measure of great public import brought
-before the House was an act to provide additional
-revenue by levying a tax upon the incomes, substantially
-on the lines laid down by the legislation of
-1894. The Republican Senators strove to make some
-show of resistance to this measure, but so solid were
-the administration ranks, that they only succeeded in
-delaying it for a few weeks. This first skirmish with
-the enemy, however, brought the President and his
-followers to a realizing sense that not only must the
-Senate be shorn of its power to block the “new
-movement of regeneration and reform” by the adoption
-of rules cutting off prolonged debate, but that
-the “new dispensation” must at once proceed to increase
-its senatorial representation, for who could
-tell what moment some one of the Northern Silver
-States might not slip away from its allegiance to the
-“Friend of the Common People.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The introduction of a bill repealing the various
-Civil Service acts passed for the alleged purpose of
-“regulating and improving the Civil Service of the
-United States,” and of another repealing the various
-acts establishing National Banks, and substituting
-United States notes for all national bank notes based
-upon interest bearing bonds, opened the eyes of the
-Republican opposition to the fact that the President
-and his party were possessed of the courage of their
-convictions, and were determined, come good report
-or evil report, to wipe all conflicting legislation from
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>the statute books. The battle in the Senate now
-took on a spirit of extreme acrimony; scenes not
-witnessed since the days of Slavery, were of daily
-occurrence on the floors of both the House and the
-Senate. Threats of secession came openly from the
-North only to be met with the jeers and laughter of
-the silver and populist members. “We’re in the saddle
-at last,” exclaimed a Southern member, “and we
-intend to ride on to victory!”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The introduction of bills for the admission of New
-Mexico and Arizona, and for the division of Texas
-into two States to be called East Texas and West
-Texas, although each of these measures was strictly
-within the letter of the Constitution, fell among the
-members of the Republican opposition like a torch
-in a house of tinder. There was fire at once, and the
-blaze of party spirit leapt to such dangerous heights
-that the whole nation looked on in consternation.
-Was the Union about to go up in a great conflagration
-and leave behind it but the ashes and charred
-pedestals of its greatness?</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>“We are the people” wrote the President in lines
-of dignity and calmness. “We are the people and
-what we do, we do under the holy sanction of law,
-and there is no one so powerful or so bold as to dare
-to say we do not do well in lifting off the nation’s
-shoulders the grievous and unlawful burdens which
-preceding Congresses have placed upon them.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>And so the “Long Session” of the fifty-fifth Congress
-was entered upon, fated to last through summer
-heat and autumn chill, and until winter came again
-and the Constitution itself set limits to its lasting.
-And when that day came, and its speaker, amid a
-wild tumult of cheers, arose to declare it ended not
-by their will, but by the law of the land, he said:
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>“The glorious revolution is in its brightest bud.
-Since the President called upon us to convene in last
-March, we have with the strong blade of public indignation,
-and with a full sense of our responsibility,
-erased from the statute books the marks of our country’s
-shame and our people’s subjugation. Liberty
-can not die. There remains much to be done in the
-way of building up. Let us take heart and push on.
-On Monday, the regular session of this Congress will
-begin. We must greet our loved ones from the distance.
-We have no time to go home and embrace
-them.”</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
-  <span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>
-  <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'>When a Republican member of the House arose
-to move the usual adjournment for the holidays,
-there was a storm of hisses and cries of “No, no!”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Said the leader of the House, amid deafening
-plaudits: “We are the servants of the people. Our
-work is not yet complete. There must be no play
-for us while coal barons stand with their feet on the
-ashes of the poor man’s hearthstone, and weeds and
-thorns cumber the fields of the farmer for lack of
-money to buy seed and implements. There must be
-no play for us while railway magnates press from the
-pockets of the laboring man six and eight per cent.
-return on thrice watered stocks, and rapacious landlords,
-enriched by inheritance, grind the faces of the
-poor. There must be no play for us while enemies
-of the human kind are, by means of trust and combination
-and ‘corners,’ engaged in drawing their unholy
-millions from the very life-blood of the nation,
-paralyzing its best efforts and setting the blight of
-intemperance and indifference upon it, by making
-life but one long struggle for existence, without a
-gleam of rest and comfort in old age. No, Mr.
-Speaker, we must not adjourn, but by our efforts in
-these halls of legislation let the nation know that we
-are at work for its emancipation, and by these means
-let the monopolists and money-changers be brought
-to a realizing sense that the Reign of the Common
-People has really been entered upon, and then the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>bells will ring out a happier, gladder New Year than
-has ever dawned upon this Republic.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The opposition fairly quailed before the vigor and
-earnestness of the “new dispensation.” There were
-soon before the House and pressed well on toward
-final passage a number of important measures calculated
-to awaken an intense feeling of enthusiasm
-among the working classes. Among these was an
-Act establishing a Loan Commission for the loaning
-of certain moneys of the United States to Farmers
-and Planters without interest; an Act for the establishment
-of a permanent Department of Public
-Works, its head to be styled Secretary of Public
-Works, rank as a cabinet officer, and supervise the
-expenditure of all public moneys for the construction
-of public buildings and the improvement of rivers
-and harbors; an Act making it a felony, punishable
-with imprisonment for life, for any citizen or combination
-of citizens to enter into any trust or agreement
-to stifle, suppress or in any way interfere with
-full, open and fair competition in trade and manufacture
-among the States, or to make use of any
-inter-State railroads, waterways or canals for the
-transportation of any food products or goods, wares
-or merchandise which may have been “cornered,”
-stored or withheld with a view to enhance the value
-thereof; and, most important of all, a preliminary
-Act having for its object the appointment of Commissioners
-for the purchase by the Federal Government
-of all inter-State railway and telegraph lines,
-and in the meantime the strict regulation of all fares
-and charges by a Government Commission, from
-whose established schedules there shall be no
-appeal.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>On Washington’s Birthday the President issued an
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>Address of Congratulation to the People of the
-United States, from which the following is extracted:</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>“The malicious prognostications of our political
-opponents have proven themselves to be but empty
-sound and fury. Although not quite one year has
-elapsed since I, agreeable to your mandate, restored
-to you the money of the Constitution, yet from every
-section of our Union comes the glad tidings of renewed
-activity and prosperity. The workingman no
-longer sits cold and hungry beside a cheerless
-hearthstone; the farmer has taken heart and resumed
-work; the wheels of the factory are in motion
-again; the shops and stores of the legitimate dealer
-and trader are full of bustle and action. There is
-content everywhere, save in the counting-room of the
-money-changer, for which thank God and the common
-people of this Republic. The free coinage of
-that metal which the Creator, in His wisdom, stored
-with so lavish a hand in the subterranean vaults of
-our glorious mountain ranges, has proven a rich and
-manifold blessing for our people. It is in every
-sense of the word the ‘people’s money,’ and already
-the envious world looks on in amazement that we
-have shown our ability to do without ‘foreign cooperation.’
-The Congress of our Republic has been
-in almost continuous session since I took my oath of
-office, and the administration members deserve your
-deepest and most heartfelt gratitude. They are
-rearing for themselves a monument more lasting
-than chiseled bronze or polished monolith. They
-knew no rest, they asked for no respite from their
-labors until, at my earnest request, they adjourned
-over to join their fellow citizens in the observance of
-this sacred anniversary.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>“Fellow citizens, remember the bonds which a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>wicked and selfish class of usurers and speculators
-fastened upon you, and on this anniversary of the
-birth of the Father of our Country, let us renew our
-pledges to undo completely and absolutely their infamous
-work, and in public assembly and family
-circle, let us by new vows confirm our love of right
-and justice, so that the great gain may not slip away
-from us, but go on increasing so long as the statute
-books contain a single trace of the record of our enslavement.
-As for me, I have but one ambition, and
-that is to deserve so well of you that when you come
-to write my epitaph, you set beneath my name the
-single line:</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-  <div class='nf-center'>
-    <div>“Here lies a Friend of the Common People.”</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
-  <span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>
-  <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'>This first year of the Silver Administration was
-scarcely rounded up, ere there began to be ugly
-rumors that the Government was no longer able to
-hold the white metal at a parity with gold. “It is
-the work of Wall Street,” cried the friends of the
-President, but wiser heads were shaken in contradiction,
-for they had watched the sowing of the wind
-of unreason, and knew only too well that the whirlwind
-of folly must be reaped in due season.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The country had been literally submerged by a
-silver flood which had poured its argent waves into
-every nook and cranny of the Republic, stimulating
-human endeavor to most unnatural and harmful
-vigor. Mad speculation stalked over the land. People
-sold what they should have clung to, and bought
-what they did not need. Manufacturers heaped up
-goods for which there was no demand, and farmers
-ploughed where they had not drained and drained,
-where they were never fated to plough. The small
-dealer enlarged his business with more haste than
-judgment, and the widow drew her mite from the
-bank of savings to buy land on which she was destined
-never to set foot. The spirit of greed and gain
-lodged in every mind, and the “Common People”
-with a mad eagerness loosened the strings of their
-leather purses to cast their hard-earned savings into
-wild schemes of profit. Every scrap and bit of the
-white metal that they could lay their hands upon,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>spoons hallowed by the touch of lips long since closed
-in death, and cups and tankards from which grand
-sires had drunken were bundled away to the mints
-to be coined into “people’s dollars.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>At the very first rumor of the slipping away of
-this trusted coin from its parity with gold, there was
-a fearful awakening, like the start and the gasp of
-the miser who sees his horded treasure melting away
-from before his eyes, and he not able to reach out
-and stay its going.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Protest and expostulation first, then came groans
-and prayers, from which there was an easy road to
-curses. The working man threw off his cap and
-apron to rush upon the public square, and demand
-his rights. Mobs ran together, processions formed,
-deputations hurried off to Washington, not on foot
-like the Coxey Army, but on the swift wings of the
-Limited Express.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The “common people” were admitted to the bar
-of the house, their plaints patiently listened to, and
-reparation promised. Bills for increased revenue
-were hurriedly introduced, and new taxes were loaded
-upon the broad shoulders of the millionaires of the
-nation;—taxes on checks, taxes on certificates of incorporation,
-taxes on deeds and mortgages, taxes
-on pleasure yachts, taxes on private parks and
-plaisances, taxes on wills of all property above
-$5,000 in value, taxes on all gifts of realty for and
-in consideration of natural love and affection, taxes
-on all passage tickets to foreign lands, and double
-taxes on the estates of all absentees on and after the
-lapse of six months.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>There was a doubling up too of the tariff on all important
-luxuries, for as was said on the floor of Congress,
-“if the silks and satins of American looms and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>the wines and tobacco of native growth, are not good
-enough for ‘my Lord of Wall Street,’ let him pay the
-difference and thank heaven that he can get them at
-that price.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>To quiet the murmurs of the good people of the
-land, additional millions were placed to the credit of
-the Department of Public Works, and harbors were
-dredged out in one month only to fill up in the next,
-and new systems of improvement of interstate waterways
-were entered upon on a scale of magnitude
-hitherto undreamt of. The Commissioners for the
-distribution of public moneys to farmers so impoverished
-as to be unable to work their lands, were kept
-busy in placing “Peffer Loans” where the need of
-them seemed to be the greatest, and to put a stop to
-the “nefarious doings of money-changers and traders
-in the misfortunes of the people,” a statute was
-enacted making it a felony punishable with imprisonment
-for life, for any person or corporate body to
-buy and sell government bonds or public funds, or
-deal in them with a view to draw gain or profit from
-their rise and fall in value.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>But try never so hard, the Government found itself
-powerless to check the slow but steady decline in
-value of the people’s dollar. By midsummer, it had
-fallen to forty-three cents, and ere the fair Northland
-had wrapped itself, like a scornful beauty, in its
-Autumn mantle of gold, the fondly trusted coin had
-sunk to exactly one-third of the value of a standard
-gold dollar. People carried baskets in their arms,
-filled with the now discredited coin, when they went
-abroad to pay a debt or make purchase of the necessaries
-of life. Huge sacks of the white metal were
-flung at the door of the mortgagee when discharge
-was sought for a few thousand dollars. Men servants
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>accompanied their mistresses upon shopping
-tours to carry the necessary funds, and leather pockets
-took the place of the old time muslin ones in male
-habiliments, least the weight of the fifteen coins required
-to make up a five dollar gold piece should
-tear the thin stuff and spill a dollar at every step.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>All day long in the large cities, huge trucks loaded
-with sacks of the coin rolled and rumbled over the
-pavement in the adjustment of the business balances
-of the day. The tradesman who called for his bill
-was met at the door with a coal scuttle or a nail keg
-filled with the needful amount, and on pay day, the
-working man took his eldest boy with him to “tote
-the stuff home” while he carried the usual bundle of
-firewood. And strange to say, this dollar, once so
-beloved by the “common people,” parted with its
-very nature of riches and lay in heaps unnoticed and
-unheeded on shelf or table, until occasion arose to pay
-it out which was done with a careless and contemptuous
-toss as if it were the iron money of the ancient
-Spartans, and Holy Writ for once at least, was disproven
-and discredited for the thief showed not the
-slightest inclination to “break in and steal” where
-these treasures had been laid up on earth, although
-the discs of white metal might lie in full view on the
-table, like so many pewter platters or pieces of tinware.
-Men let debts run, rather than call for them,
-and barter and exchange came into vogue again, the
-good housewife calling on her neighbor for a loan
-of flour or meal, promising to return the same in
-sugar or dried fruit whenever the need might arise.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>And still the once magic discs of silver slipped
-slowly and silently downward, and ever downward in
-value and good name, until it almost seemed as if
-the people hated the very name of silver.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
-  <span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>
-  <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'>The “Fateful year of ’99” upon its coming in,
-found the Republic of Washington in dire and dangerous
-straits. The commercial and industrial boom
-had spent its force, and now the frightful evils of a
-debased currency, coupled with demoralizing effects
-of rampant paternalism, were gradually strangling
-the land to death. Capital, ever timid and distrustful
-in such times, hid itself in safe deposit vaults, or
-fled to Europe. Labor, although really hard pressed
-and lacking the very necessities of life, was loudmouthed
-and defiant. Socialism and Anarchism
-found willing ears into which to pour their burning
-words of hatred and malevolence, and the consequence
-was that serious rioting broke out in the
-larger cities of the North, often taxing the capacities
-of the local authorities to the utmost.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>It was bruited abroad that violent dissensions had
-arisen in the Cabinet, the young President giving
-signs of a marked change of mind, and like many a
-man who has appealed to the darker passions of the
-human heart, he seemed almost ready to exclaim:
-“I stand alone. The spirits I have called up are no
-longer obedient to me. My country, oh, my country,
-how willingly would I give my life for thee, if by
-such a sacrifice I could restore thee to thy old time
-prosperity.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>For the first he began to realize what an intense
-spirit of sectionalism had entered into this “revolutionary
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>propaganda.” He spoke of his fears to none
-save to his wise and prudent helpmate.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>“I trust you, beloved,” she whispered, as she
-pressed the broad, strong hands that held her enclasped.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>“Ay, dear one, but does my country?” came in
-almost a groan from the lips of the youthful ruler.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Most evident was it, that thus far the South had
-been the great gainer in this struggle for power.
-She had increased her strength in the Senate by six
-votes; she had regained her old time prestige in the
-House; one of her most trusted sons was in the
-Speaker’s chair, while another brilliant Southron led
-the administration forces on the floor. Born as she
-was for the brilliant exercise of intellectual vigor,
-the South was of that strain of blood which knows
-how to wear the kingly graces of power so as best to
-impress the “common people.” Many of the men of
-the North had been charmed and fascinated by this
-natural pomp and inborn demeanor of greatness and
-had yielded to it.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Not a month had gone by that this now dominant
-section had not made some new demand upon the
-country at large. Early in the session, at its request,
-the internal revenue tax which had rested so long
-upon the tobacco crop of the South, and poured so
-many millions of revenue into the national treasury,
-was wiped from the statute books with but a feeble
-protest from the North.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>But now the country was thrown into a state bordering
-upon frenzy by a new demand, which, although
-couched in calm and decorous terms, nay, almost in
-the guise of a petition for long-delayed justice to
-hard-pressed and suffering brethren, had about it a
-suppressed, yet unmistakable tone of conscious power
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>and imperiousness which well became the leader who
-spoke for “that glorious Southland to which this
-Union owes so much of its greatness and its prestige.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Said he: “Mr. Speaker, for nearly thirty years our
-people, although left impoverished by the conflict of
-the states, have given of their substance to salve the
-wounds and make green the old age of the men who
-conquered us. We have paid this heavy tax, this
-fearful blood money unmurmuringly. You have forgiven
-us for our bold strike for liberty that God
-willed should not succeed. You have given us back
-our rights, opened the doors of these sacred halls to
-us, called us your brothers, but unlike noble Germany
-who was content to exact a lump sum from “la belle
-France,” and then bid her go in peace and freedom
-from all further exactions, you have for nearly thirty
-years laid this humiliating war tax upon us, and thus
-forced us year in and year out to kiss the very hand
-that smote us. Are we human that we now cry out
-against it? Are we men that we feel no tingle in our
-veins after these long years of punishment for no
-greater crime than that we loved liberty better than the
-bonds of a confederation laid upon us by our fathers?
-We appeal to you as our brothers and our countrymen.
-Lift this infamous tax from our land, than
-which your great North is ten thousand times richer.
-Do one of two things: Either take our aged and decrepit
-soldiers by the hand and bless their last days
-with pensions from the treasury of our common
-country, for they were only wrong in that their cause
-failed, or remove this hated tax and make such restitution
-of this blood money as shall seem just and
-equitable to your soberer and better judgment.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>To say that this speech, of which the foregoing is
-but a brief extract, threw both Houses of Congress
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>into most violent disorder, but faintly describes its
-effect. Cries of treason! treason! went up; blows
-were exchanged and hand to hand struggles took
-place in the galleries, followed by the flash of the
-dread bowie and the crack of the ready pistol. The
-Republic was shaken to its very foundations.
-Throughout the North there was but a repetition of
-the scenes that followed the firing upon Sumter.
-Public meetings were held, and resolutions passed
-calling upon the Government to concentrate troops
-in and about Washington, and prepare for the suppression
-of a second Rebellion.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>But gradually this outbreak of popular indignation
-lost some of its strength and virulence, for it was easy
-to comprehend that nothing would be gained at this
-stage of the matter by meeting a violent and unlawful
-demand with violence and unwise counsels. Besides,
-what was it any way but the idle threat of a
-certain clique of unscrupulous politicians?</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The Republic stood upon too firm a foundation to
-be shaken by mere appeals to the passions of the
-hour. To commit treason against our country called
-for an overt act. What had it to dread from the mere
-oratorical flash of a passing storm of feeling?</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>It is hard to say what the young President thought
-of these scenes in Congress. So pale had he grown
-of late that a little more of pallor would pass unnoted,
-but those who were wont to look upon his face
-in these troublous times report that in the short
-space of a few days the lines in his countenance
-deepened perceptibly, and that a firmer and stronger
-expression of will-power lurked in the corners of his
-wide mouth, overhung his square and massive chin,
-and accentuated the vibrations of his wide-opened
-nostrils. He was under a terrible strain. When he
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>had caught up the sceptre of power, it seemed a mere
-bauble in his strong grasp, but now it had grown
-strangely heavy, and there was a mysterious pricking
-at his brow, as if that crown of thorns which he
-had not willed should be set upon the heads of others,
-were being pressed down with cruel hands upon
-his own.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
-  <span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>
-  <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'>When the last embers of the great conflagration of
-the Rebellion had been smothered out with tears for
-the Lost Cause, a prophecy had gone up that the
-mighty North, rich with a hundred great cities, and
-strong in the conscious power of its wide empire,
-would be the next to raise the standard of rebellion
-against the Federal Government. But that prophet
-was without honor in his own land, and none had
-paid heed to his seemingly wild words.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Yet now, this same mighty North sat there in her
-grief and anxiety, with her face turned Southward,
-and her ear strained to catch the whispers that were
-in the air. Had not the sceptre of power passed from
-her hand forever? Was not the Revolution complete?
-Were not the Populists and their allies firmly
-seated in the Halls of Congress? Had not the Supreme
-Court been rendered powerless for good by
-packing it with the most uncompromising adherents
-of the new political faith? Had not the very nature
-of the Federal Government undergone a change:
-Was not Paternalism rampant? Was not Socialism
-on the increase? Were there not everywhere evidences
-of an intense hatred of the North and a firm
-determination to throw the whole burden of taxation
-upon the shoulders of the rich man, in order that the
-surplus revenues of the Government might be distributed
-among those who constitute the “common
-people?” How could this section of the Union ever
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>hope to make head against the South, united, as it
-now was, with the rapidly growing States of the
-Northwest? Could the magnificent cities of the
-North content themselves to march at the tail of
-Tillman’s and Peffer’s chariots? Had not the South
-a firm hold of the Senate? Where was there a ray of
-hope that the North could ever again regain its lost
-power, and could it for a single moment think of entrusting
-its vast interests to the hands of a people
-differing with them on every important question of
-statecraft, pledged to a policy that could not be otherwise
-than ruinous to the welfare of the grand commonwealths
-of the Middle and Eastern sections of
-the Union and their sister States this side of the Mississippi?
-It were madness to think of it. The
-plunge must be taken, the declaration must be made.
-There was no other alternative, save abject submission
-to the chieftains of the new dispensation, and
-the complete transformation of that vast social and
-political system vaguely called the North.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>But this revolution within a revolution would be a
-bloodless one, for there could be no thought of coercion,
-no serious notion of checking such a mighty
-movement. It would be in reality the true Republic
-purging itself of a dangerous malady, sloughing off
-a diseased and gangrened member; no more, no less.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Already this mighty movement of withdrawals
-from the Witenagemote of the Union was in the air.
-People spoke of it in a whisper, or with bated breath;
-but as they turned it over and over in their minds, it
-took on shape and form and force, till at last it burst
-into life and action like Minerva from Jupiter’s
-brain—full-fledged, full-armed, full-voiced and full-hearted.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Really, why would it not be all for the best that
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>this mighty empire, rapidly growing so vast and unwieldy
-as to be only with the greatest difficulty governable
-from a single centre, should be split into
-three parts, Eastern, Southern and Western, now
-that it may be done without dangerous jar or friction?
-The three republics could be federated for purposes
-offensive and defensive, and until these great and
-radical changes could be brought about there would
-be no great difficulty in devising “living terms,” for
-immediately upon the Declaration of Dissolution,
-each State would become repossessed of the sovereign
-powers which it had delegated to the Federal
-Government.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Meanwhile the “Fateful year ’99” went onward
-toward its close. The whole land seemed stricken
-with paralysis, so far as the various industries were
-concerned, but, as it is wont to be in such times,
-men’s minds were supernaturally active. The days
-were passed in the reading of public prints, or in
-passing in review the weighty events of the hour.
-The North was only waiting for an opportunity to act.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>But the question that perplexed the wisest heads
-was: How and when shall the Declaration of Dissolution
-be made, and how soon thereafter shall the
-North and the States in sympathy with her withdraw
-from the Union, and declare to the world their
-intention to set up a republic of their own, with the
-mighty metropolis of New York as its social, political
-and commercial centre and capital?</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>As it came to pass, the North had not long to wait.
-The Fifty-sixth Congress soon to convene in regular
-session in the city of Washington, was even more
-Populistic and Socialistic than its famous predecessor,
-which had wrought such wonderful changes in
-the law of the land, showing no respect for precedent,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>no reverence for the old order of things. Hence all
-eyes were fixed upon the capital of the nation, all
-roads were untrodden, save those which led to Washington.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
-  <span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>
-  <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER X.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c007'>Again Congress had refused to adjourn over for
-the holidays. The leaders of the Administration
-forces were unwilling to close their eyes, even for
-needful sleep, and went about pale and haggard,
-startled at every word and gesture of the opposition,
-like true conspirators, as they were, for the Federal
-troops had been almost to a man quietly removed
-from the Capital and its vicinage, lest the President
-in a moment of weakness, might do or suffer to be
-done some act unfriendly to the Reign of the Common
-People.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Strange as it may seem, there had been very little
-note taken by the country at large of the introduction
-at the opening of the session of an Act to extend
-the Pension System of the United States to the
-Soldiers of the Confederate Armies, and for covering
-back into the various treasuries of certain States of
-the Union, such portions of internal revenue taxes
-collected since the readmission of said states to the
-Federal Congress, as may be determined by Commissioners
-duly appointed under said Act.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Was it the calm of despair, the stolidity of desperation,
-or the cool and restrained energy of a noble and
-refined courage?</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The introduction of the Act, however, had one
-effect; it set in motion toward the National capital,
-mighty streams of humanity—not of wild-eyed
-fanatics or unshaven and unkempt politicasters and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>bezonians—but of soberly-clad citizens with a business-like
-air about them, evidently men who knew
-how to earn more than enough for a living, men who
-paid their taxes and had a right to take a look at the
-public servants, if desire so moved them. But very
-plain was it that the mightier stream flowed in from
-the South, and those who remembered the Capital in
-antebellum days, smiled at the old familiar sight, the
-clean-shaven faces, the long hair thrown carelessly
-back under the broad brim felts, the half unbuttoned
-waistcoats and turn down collars, the small feet and
-neatly fitting boots, the springy loping pace, the soft
-negroese intonation, the long fragrant cheroot.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>It was easy to pick out the man from the Northland,
-well clad and well-groomed, as careful of his
-linen as a woman, prim and trim, disdainful of the
-picturesque felts, ever crowned with the ceremonious
-derby, the man of affairs, taking a business-like view
-of life, but wearing for the nonce a worried look and
-drawing ever and anon a deep breath.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The black man, ever at the heels of his white
-brother, set to rule over him by an inscrutable decree
-of nature, came forth too in thousands, chatting and
-laughing gayly, careless of the why or wherefore of
-his white brother’s deep concern, and powerless to
-comprehend it had he so desired. Every hour now
-added to the throng. The broad avenues were none
-too broad. The excitement increased. Men talked
-louder and louder, women and children disappeared
-almost completely from the streets. The “Southern
-element” drew more and more apart in knots and
-groups by itself. Men threw themselves upon their
-beds to catch a few hours sleep, but without undressing,
-as if they were expecting the happening of some
-portentous event at any moment, the event of their
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>lives, and dreaded the thought of being a moment
-late.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>If all went well, the bill would come up for final
-passage on Saturday, the 30th day of the month, but
-so fierce was the battle raged against it, and so frequent
-the interruptions by the contumacy both of
-members and of the various cliques crowding the
-galleries to suffocation, that little or no progress
-could be made.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The leaders of the administration forces saw midnight
-drawing near with no prospect of attaining
-their object before the coming in of Sunday on which
-the House had never been known to sit. An adjournment
-over to Monday of the New Year might be
-fatal, for who could tell what unforeseen force might
-not break up their solid ranks and throw them into
-confusion. They must rise equal to the occasion.
-A motion was made to suspend the rules, and to remain
-in continuous session until the business before
-the House was completed. Cries of “Unprecedented!”
-“Revolutionary!” “Monstrous!” came
-from the opposition, but all to no purpose; the House
-settled down to its work with such a grim determination
-to conquer that the Republican minority fairly
-quailed before it. Food and drink were brought to
-the members in their seats; they ate, drank and
-slept at their posts, like soldiers determined not to be
-ambushed or stampeded.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>It was a strange sight, and yet an impressive one
-withal—a great party struggling for long deferred
-rights—freemen jealous of their liberties, bound together
-with the steel hooks of determination that
-only death might break asunder.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Sunday came in at last, and still the struggle went
-on. “The people know no days when their liberties
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>are at stake,” cried the leader of the House. “The
-Sabbath was made for man and not man for the
-Sabbath.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Many of the speeches delivered on that famous
-Sunday sounded more like the lamentations of a
-Jeremiah, the earnest and burning utterances of a
-Paul, or the scholarly and well-rounded periods of
-an Apollos. The weary hours were lightened by
-the singing of hymns by the Southern members,
-most of them good methodists, in which their friends
-and sympathizers in the galleries joined full throated
-and fuller hearted; while at times, clear, resonant
-and in perfect unison, the voices of the staunch men
-of the North broke in and drowned out the religious
-song with the majestic and soul-stirring measures of
-“John Brown’s Body,” the “Glory, Glory Halleluiah”
-of which seemed to hush the tumult of the Chamber
-like a weird chant of some invisible chorus breaking
-in upon the fierce rioting of a Belshazzar’s feast.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Somewhat after eleven o’clock, an ominous silence
-sank upon the opposing camps, the Republican
-leaders could be seen conferring together nervously.
-It was a sacred hour of night, thrice sacred for the
-great Republic. Not only a New Year, but a New
-Century was about to break upon the world. A
-strange hush crept over the turbulent House, and its
-still more turbulent galleries.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The Republican leader rose to his feet. His voice
-sounded cold and hollow. Strong men shivered as
-they listened. “Mr. Speaker: We have done our
-duty to our country; we have nothing more to say,
-no more blows to strike. We cannot stand here within
-the sacred precincts of this Chamber, and see our
-rights as freemen trampled beneath the feet of the
-majority. We have striven to prevent the downfall
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>of the Republic, like men sworn to battle against
-wrong and tyranny, but there comes a time when
-blank despair seizes upon the hearts of those who
-struggle against overwhelming odds. That hour has
-sounded for us. We believe our people, the great
-and generous people of the North, will cry unto us:
-Well done, good and faithful servants. If we do
-wrong, let them condemn us. We, every man of us,
-Mr. Speaker, have but this moment sworn not to
-stand within this Chamber and witness the passage
-of this act. Therefore we go——”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>“Not so, my countrymen,” cried a clear metallic
-far-reaching voice that sounded through the Chamber
-with an almost supernatural ring in it. In an instant,
-every head was turned and a thousand voices burst
-out with suppressed force:</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>“The President! The President!”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>In truth, it was he, standing at the bar of the House,
-wearing the visage of death rather than of life. The
-next instant the House and galleries burst into a
-deafening clamor which rolled up and back in mighty
-waves that shook the very walls. There was no stilling
-it. Again and again it burst forth, the mingling
-of ten thousand words, howling, rumbling and
-groaning like the warring elements of nature. Several
-times the President stretched forth his great
-white hands appealing for silence, while the dew of
-mingled dread and anguish beaded on his brow and
-trickled down his cheeks in liquid supplication that
-his people might either slay him or listen to him.
-The tumult stilled its fury for a moment, and he
-could be heard saying brokenly:</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>“My countrymen, oh, my countrymen——”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>But the quick sharp sound of the gavel cut him
-short.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>“The President must withdraw,” said the Speaker,
-calmly and coldly, “his presence here is a menace to
-our free deliberation.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Again the tumult set up its deafening roar, while
-a look of almost horror overspread the countenance
-of the Chief Magistrate.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>Once more his great white hands went heavenward,
-pleading for silence with such a mute majesty of supplication,
-that silence fell upon the immense assemblage,
-and his lips moved not in vain.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>“Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, I
-stand here upon my just and lawful right as President
-of the Republic, to give you ‘information of the
-state of the Union.’ I have summoned the Honorable
-the Senate, to meet me in this Chamber.
-I call upon you to calm your passions, and give ear
-to me as your oath of office sets the sacred obligation
-upon you.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>There was a tone of godlike authority in these few
-words, almost divine enough to make the winds obey
-and still the tempestuous sea. In deepest silence,
-and with a certain show of rude and native grandeur
-of bearing, the Senators made their entrance into the
-Chamber, the members of the House rising, and the
-Speaker advancing to meet the Vice-President.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The spectacle was grand and moving. Tears
-gathered in eyes long unused to them, and at an
-almost imperceptible nod of the President’s head,
-the Chaplain raised his voice in prayer. He prayed
-in accents that were so gentle and so persuasive, they
-must have turned the hardest heart to blessed
-thoughts of peace and love and fraternity and union.
-And then again all eyes were fixed with intensest
-strain upon the face of the President.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>“Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, this
-measure upon which you are now deliberating”——</p>
-
-<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>With a sudden blow that startled every living soul
-within its hearing, the Speaker’s gavel fell. “The
-President,” said he with a superb dignity that called
-down from the galleries a burst of deafening applause,
-“must not make reference to pending legislation.
-The Constitution guarantees him the right ‘from
-time to time to give to the Congress information of
-the Union.’ He must keep himself strictly within
-the lines of this Constitutional limit, or withdraw
-from the bar of the House.”</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>A deadly pallor overspread the face of the Chief
-Magistrate till it seemed he must sink then and there
-into that sleep which knows no awakening, but he
-gasped, he leaned forward, he raised his hand again
-imploringly, and as he did so, the bells of the city
-began to toll the hour of midnight.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>The New Year, the New Century was born, but
-with the last stroke, a fearful and thunderous discharge
-as of a thousand monster pieces of artillery,
-shook the Capitol to its very foundations, making the
-stoutest hearts stand still, and blanching cheeks that
-had never known the coward color. The dome of
-the Capitol had been destroyed by dynamite.</p>
-
-<p class='c008'>In a few moments, when it was seen that the
-Chamber had suffered no harm, the leader of the
-House moved the final passage of the Act. The
-President was led away, and the Republican Senators
-and Representatives passed slowly out of the disfigured
-Capitol, while the tellers prepared to take
-the vote of the House. The bells were ringing a
-glad welcome to the New Century, but a solemn tolling
-would have been a fitter thing, for the Republic
-of Washington was no more. It had died so peacefully,
-that the world could not believe the tidings of
-its passing away. As the dawn broke cold and gray,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>and its first dim light fell upon that shattered dome,
-glorious even in its ruins, a single human eye, filled
-with a gleam of devilish joy, looked up at it long and
-steadily, and then its owner was caught up and lost
-in the surging mass of humanity that held the Capitol
-girt round and round.</p>
-
-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c003' />
-</div>
-<div class='tnotes'>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
-  <h2 class='c006'>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</h2>
-</div>
- <ol class='ol_1 c002'>
-    <li>Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
-
-    </li>
-    <li>Anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
-    </li>
-  </ol>
-
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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