1900 or The Last President - Ingersoll Lockwood

Rediscover the timeless allure of dramatic storytelling with "Classic Drama Audiobooks." This podcast brings full-length classic drama novels to life, immersing listeners in captivating tales of human emotion, conflict, and resolution. Perfect for book lovers and drama enthusiasts, each episode transports you into the heart of celebrated literary masterpieces. Experience the beauty of the written word, beautifully narrated for your listening pleasure.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter one. That was a terrible night for the great
City of New York the night of Tuesday, November third,
eighteen ninety six. The city staggered under the blow, like
a huge ocean liner which plunges full speed with terrific
crash into a mighty iceberg, and recoil shattered and trembling
like an aspen. The people were gathered, light hearted and

(00:22):
confident at the evening meal. When the news burst upon them,
it was like a thunderbolt out of an azure sky.
Altgeld holds Illinois hard and fast in the Democratic line.
This alects Bryan, President of the United States. Strange to say,
the people in the upper portion of the city made

(00:43):
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,

(01:04):
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 oppress them for so many years. Keep within doors,
extinguish all lights. Happily, Governor Morton was in town, and

(01:25):
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

(01:47):
astonishing nerve and steadiness, the mobs pushed the police northward,
and although the force stood, the onslaught with magnificent cortage.
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

(02:10):
the movements of their men. About nine o'clock, with deafening outcries,
the mob like a foreheaded 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

(02:32):
it steadily to the north, while the air quivered and
was rent with mad vociferations of the victors. Brian is elected,
Brian is elected. Our day has come at last, down
with our pressers. Death to the rich man, death to
the gold bugs, death to the capitalists. Give us back

(02:53):
the money you've ground out of us, Give us back
the morrow of our bones, which you've 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

(03:13):
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 long breath,
Women drop upon their knees and strain their eyes. They
can hear something, but they cannot see as yet, for

(03:34):
the gas houses in electric plants had been destroyed by
the mob earlier 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.

(03:55):
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

(04:16):
with the 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 thunderbolts 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.

(04:40):
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,

(05:02):
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 an answer, Aye,

(05:23):
but the Republic Chapter two. Great as has been the
world's wonder at the uprising of mister 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

(05:44):
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
their own people. Noisy rude and boisterous, the natural exultance
of a suddenly enfranchised class, but bent on no other
mischief than glorying over the villainous and self seeking souls

(06:08):
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

(06:29):
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 Pope 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 I King

(06:52):
at last. The world still went wondering why Red eyed anarchy,
as she stood in Haymarket Square with thin arms, along
with wild men in 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

(07:15):
shall know why, white robed peace kept step with its
turbulent band and turned its thoughts from red handed pillage.
He was there, the master spirit to hold them in leash.
He and he alone, had lifted Brian to his great eminence.
Without these twenty four electoral votes, Brian had been doomed,

(07:38):
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 Kingmaker. 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 crew creachs bellowed his

(08:01):
name and shook their hats aloft in mad exultation. You
are our savior. You've cleaned the temple of liberty of
its foul horde of usurers. We salute you, We call
you King Maker. Brian shall call you master too. You
shall have your reward. You shall stand behind the throne.

(08:21):
Your wisdom shall make us whole. You shall purge the
land of this unlawful crowd of money lenderers. You shall
save the Republic. You are greater than Washington. You are
a better friend of ours than Lincoln. You'll do more
for us than Grant. We are your slaves. We salute you,
we thank you, we bless you. Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah. But yet,

(08:44):
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,

(09:04):
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

(09:25):
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 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,

(09:46):
and had 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 lender and undo
the bad business of years of unholy union between barterers
and cellars of human toil and the lawmakers of the land.

(10:09):
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

(10:31):
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,

(10:51):
and the dark skinned grandchild 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 enemy, who had taxed and tied 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.

(11:14):
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.

(11:39):
Chapter three. 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 center,

(12:00):
the deeper, blacker and heavier despair which sank upon them,
after the violent abolitions 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,

(12:24):
and they greeted the perspective loss of their millions with
loud guffaws and indescribable antics of horseplay and unseemly mirth.
As the day were 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

(12:45):
combined vote of the populist and Free Silver men. While
the wild joy with which the entire South welcomed the
election of Brian and Sewell left little doubt in the
minds of the northern people that the Southern senators would,
to a man ranged themselves on the administration side of
the great conflict into which the Republic was soon to

(13:06):
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

(13:30):
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,

(13:54):
even in due and orderly course of events. Why might
their convacancies? 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
ninety seven came hopefully, serenely, almost defiantly in There was

(14:14):
an indescribable something in the air, a spirit of political
devil mey 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 his existence and growth.
In the remote agricultural districts of the south and far west.

(14:38):
They threw aside their working implements, loitered about, gathered in
groups and the words of Washington, the 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, altigeld T, Tillman, Pefer Coxy were whispered in

(15:04):
a mysterious way, with head noddings and pursing up of mouths.
As January woarway 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 Northwest, Coxy armies were forming for

(15:26):
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 brought up to a strange degree of mental
excitement by the extravagant terranes of their leaders, who were

(15:47):
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 diluted people were well named silver pilgrims, for hundreds
of them carried in hempen bags pieces of silverware, in

(16:08):
ninety nine cases of one hundred plated stuff of little value,
which unscrupulous dealers and peddlers had palmed off on them
as Stirling with the promise that once in Washington, the
United States Mint would coin their medal into Brian dollars,
giving two for one in payment for it. While these

(16:29):
motley armies marched upon the capital 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, farmers, sons to seek their fortune under the
reign of the people, healers and hangers on, of ward bosses,

(16:49):
old men who had not tasted office for thirty years,
and more, all inspired by mister 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 a point of offices would open up the public

(17:12):
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 into
his share, since they were the common people who were
so dear to mister Bryan, and who had made him

(17:34):
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 two of the
satanic and truly devilish power of the hell upon earth
known as Wall Street, which had sweated gold in vain
in its desperate efforts to fasten the chains of trusts

(17:55):
and the clause 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
and of section one, chapter four. There had been a
strange prophecy put forth by someone, and it had made

(18:15):
its way into 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
fourth of March eighteen ninety seven would never dawn upon
the American people. There was something very curious and uncanny
about the prediction, and what actually happened was not qualified

(18:37):
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 plaint

(19:00):
of 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

(19:21):
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.

(19:45):
It had been hinted that Brian 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

(20:08):
on the platform of the parties which had raised him
to his proud eminence. And what better proof of this
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. Altigalde of Illinois, Attorney General

(20:33):
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 Life
Pence of Colorado. The first thing that flashed across the

(20:53):
minds of many upon glancing over this list of names,
was the omission, therefrom of Tillmans. What did it mean?
Could the young president have quarreled with his best friend
and most powerful coadjutor. But the wiser ones only shook
their heads and made answer that it was Tilman's hand
that filled the blank for Secretary of the Navy, left

(21:14):
there by the new ruler. After the people's own heart,
Evans was but a creation of this great commander 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,

(21:39):
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

(22:00):
the millions for the enrichment and evelation 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. Then he threw

(22:22):
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 fourth, eighteen ninety seven, Executive Order Number one,
in order that there may be immediate relief in the
terrible financial depression now weighing upon our beloved country, consequent

(22:45):
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 direct the
immediate abandonment of the so called gold Reserve, and that
on and after the promulgation of this order, the gold

(23:08):
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 centers of the country. Its effects in Wall Street
Beggar's description on the floor of the Stock Exchange, men

(23:29):
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

(23:51):
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 in exhausted forms were borne through hushed and

(24:13):
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 five, By
proclamation bearing date the fifth day of March eighteen ninety seven,

(24:36):
the President summoned both Houses of Congress to convene in
an 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
importance to the welfare and happiness of the people, if

(25:00):
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

(25:21):
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

(25:41):
with either purse or script or shoes, and now stood
hungary 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 Cooksey, decoyed from farm
and hamlet and plantation by some nameless longing to go

(26:05):
forth to stand in the presence of this new savior
of society, whose advent of 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 husahs through the various towns

(26:26):
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 honor
of war, and its glory and its refuge in times

(26:47):
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

(27:10):
back to their homes. On Monday, March fifteenth, 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

(27:32):
of eighteen seventy three 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
mens in the cities of Denver, Omaha, Chicago, Kansas City, Spokane,
Los Angeles, Charleston, and Mobile. The announcement that reparation had

(27:54):
thus been made to the people for the crime of
eighteen seventy three 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 attacks upon the incomes,

(28:15):
substantially on the lines laid down by the legislation of
eighteen ninety four. 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

(28:37):
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

(28:59):
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

(29:21):
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

(29:45):
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 jeers and laughter of the Silver and Populist members.
We're in the s saddle at last, exclaimed a Southern member,
and we intend to write on to victory the introduction

(30:06):
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 a fire
at once, and the blaze of party spirit leaped to

(30:28):
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

(30:50):
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 green
leave us and unlawful burdens which preceding congresses have placed
upon them. And so the long session of the fifty
fifth Congress was entered upon, faded to last through the

(31:11):
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 while
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

(31:34):
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 cannot die. There remains much to be done in
the way of building up. Let us take heart and

(31:56):
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 six. 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

(32:18):
the Leader of the House, amid deafening pludits. We are
the servants of the people. Our work is not yet complete.
There must be no play for us. While coal barns
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

(32:41):
press from the pockets of the laboring men six and
eight percent return on thrice watered stalks, 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

(33:04):
lifeblood of the nation, paralyzing its best effort, 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, mister speaker,
we must not adjourn, But by our efforts in these
halls of legislation, let the nation know that we are

(33:27):
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

(33:49):
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 monies of

(34:10):
the United States to farmers and planters without interest. And
Act for establishment of a permanent Department of Public Works,
its head to be styled Secretary of Public Works rank
is a cabinet officer, and supervise the expenditure of all
public monies for the construction of public buildings and the

(34:31):
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,

(34:52):
or to make use of any interstate railroads, waterways, or
canals for the transportation of any food product, a 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

(35:14):
the appointment of Commissioners for the purchase by the Federal
government of all interstate railway and telegraph lines, and in
the meantime, the strict regulation of all fairs and charges
by a government commission from whose established schedules there shall
be no appeal. On Washington's birthday, the President issued an

(35:34):
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

(35:54):
money of the Constitution, yet from every section of our
nation comes the glad tidings of renewed activity and prosperity.
The workman 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

(36:16):
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

(36:36):
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 co operation. The Congress
of our Republic has been in almost continuous sessions since
I took my oath of office, and the administration member

(37:00):
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 ask for no
respite from their labors, until at my earnest request, they
adjourned over to join their fellow citizens in the observance

(37:21):
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

(37:45):
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 sat beneath my name. The single line

(38:07):
here lies a friend of the common people and of
Section two, Chapter seven. 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 parody with gold. It

(38:28):
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

(38:48):
argent waves into every nook and cranny of the Republic,
stimulating human endeavor to most unnatural and harmful vigor mad
speculations 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,

(39:09):
and farmers plowed where they had not drained, and drained
where they were never faded to plow. The small dealer
enlarged his business with more haste than judgment, and the
widow drew her might 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,

(39:30):
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

(39:53):
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 the trusted coin from its parody
with gold, there was a fearful awakening, like the start
and the gasp of the miser who sees his hoarded
treasure melting away from before his eyes, and he not

(40:14):
able to reach out and stay its going protests 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

(40:36):
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 plants patiently listened to, and reparations promised. Bills for
increased revenue were hurriedly introduced, and new taxes were loaded

(40:57):
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 playasnts, Taxes on wills of all property above
five thousand dollars in value, Taxes on all gifts of

(41:19):
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
two of the tariff on all important luxuries. For as

(41:40):
we sat on the floor of the 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 murmurs of the good people of the land,
additional millions were placed to the credit of the Department

(42:02):
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

(42:22):
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 the 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

(42:43):
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 the value
of the people's dollar. By midsummer it had fallen to

(43:03):
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

(43:26):
purchase of the necessaries of life. Huge sacks of the
white metal were flung at the door of the mortgage
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

(43:50):
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 brumbled over the pavement. In the adjustment of
the business balances of the day. The tradesman who called

(44:10):
for his bill was met at the door with a
coal scuttle or a nail keg filled with the needful amount,
And on payday 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

(44:31):
very nature of riches, and lay in heaps, unnoticed and unheeded,
on shel for 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

(44:54):
in and steel, where these treasures had been laid up
on earth, Although the disks 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 in exchange came into
vogue again, the good housewife calling on her neighbor for

(45:14):
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 disks 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 eight. The Fateful Year of

(45:39):
ninety nine, 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

(46:02):
and distrustful in such times, hid itself in safe deposit vaults,
or fled to Europe. Labor, although really hard pressed in
lacking the very necessities of life, was loud mouthed and defiant.
Socialism and anarchism found willing ears into which to pour
their burning words of hatred and malevolence, And the consequence

(46:25):
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 bruted 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

(46:45):
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, O, my country. How
willingly would I give my life for them? If by
such a sacrifice I could restore thee to thy old
time prosperity. For the first he began to realize what

(47:08):
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
and clasped, Hey, dear one, but does my country came

(47:29):
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,

(47:51):
while another brilliant Southern led the administration forces on the floor.
Born as she was for the brilliant exercise of intellectual
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

(48:13):
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

(48:35):
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

(48:56):
suffering brethren, had about it a suppress 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,
mister speaker. For nearly thirty years, our people, although left

(49:19):
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

(49:42):
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 balf 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,

(50:05):
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 we loved liberty better than
the bonds of a confederation laid upon us by our fathers.

(50:26):
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

(50:48):
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 bade
judgment to say that this speech of which the foregoing
is but a brief extract through both Houses of Congress
into most violent disorder, but faintly describes its effect. Cries

(51:12):
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

(51:35):
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

(51:57):
unlawful demand with violence and unwise councils. Besides, what was it, anyway,
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.

(52:20):
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

(52:40):
report that in the short space of a few days,
the lines and 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 open nostrils. He
was under a terrible strain. When he had caught up

(53:03):
the scepter 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. And of

(53:23):
Section three, chapter nine, 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

(53:45):
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 scepter of

(54:05):
power passed from her hand forever? Was not the revolution complete?
Were not the populaces 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

(54:28):
not paternalism rampant, was not socialism on the increase. Were
there not everywhere evidence as 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

(54:51):
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. How could the
magnificent cities of the North content themselves to march at
the tale of Tillman's and Peffer's chariots. Had not the
South a firm hold of the Senate? Where was there

(55:13):
array 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

(55:34):
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 abjects
submission to the chieftains of the new dispensation, and the
complete transformation of that vast social and political system vaguely

(55:57):
called the North. But this revel 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 gain
greened member, no more, no less. Already, this mighty movement

(56:22):
of withdrawals from the wittimage amodes 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,

(56:43):
full voiced, and full hearted. Really, why would it not
be all for the best that this mighty empire, rapidly
growing so vast and unwieldly as to be only with
the greatest difficulty governable from a single center, should be
split into three arts, Eastern, Southern, and Western. Now that
it may be done without dangerous jar or friction, the

(57:06):
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 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

(57:26):
the federal government. Meanwhile, the fateful year ninety nine 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

(57:49):
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 perplexes
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

(58:12):
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
center 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,

(58:32):
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

(58:52):
save those which led to Washington. Chapter ten. 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,

(59:16):
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

(59:36):
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

(59:58):
appointed under se 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

(01:00:21):
or unshaven and unkept politicasters and Bizonians, 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

(01:00:44):
who remembered the capital in Antebellum days smiled at the
old familiar sight, the clean shaven faces, the long hair
thrown carelessly back under broad brim felts, the half unbuttoned
waistcoats and turned down collars, the small feet and neatly
fitting boots, the springy, loping pace, the soft nigeroise intonation,

(01:01:05):
the long fragrant cherut. It was easy to pick out
the man from the Northland, well clad and well groomed,
as careful of as 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,

(01:01:28):
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 degree of nature, came
forth too, in thousands, chatting and laughing gaily, careless of
the why or wherefore of his white brother's deep concern,
and powerless to comprehend it had he so desired. Every

(01:01:51):
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 bed to

(01:02:12):
catch a few hours asleep, 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 thirtieth day of the month. But so fierce was

(01:02:32):
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

(01:02:54):
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

(01:03:16):
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

(01:03:37):
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 rites, freemen
jealous of their liberties, bound together with the steel hooks
of determination that only death might break asunder. Sunday came

(01:04:01):
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

(01:04:22):
of a pall or the scholarly and well rounded periods
of an Apollus. 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 imperfect unison. The voices of the staunch men

(01:04:44):
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, Hallelujah, 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

(01:05:08):
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

(01:05:32):
leader rose to his feet his voice sounded cold and hollow.
Strong men shivered as they listened. Mister 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 free men trampled beneath the feet of

(01:05:53):
the majority. We have striven to prevent the downfall of
the republic, like men sworn to battle again 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

(01:06:15):
unto us, well done, good and faithful servants. If we
do wrong, let them condemn us. We, every man of us,
mister 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,

(01:06:36):
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

(01:06:59):
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

(01:07:20):
stretched forth his great white hands, appealing for silence, while
the dew of mingled, dread and anguish, beat it 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 countryman, Oh, my countryman.

(01:07:44):
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 Tumults set up its deafening roar, while a look
of almost horror overspread the countenance of the Chief magistrate.

(01:08:04):
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,

(01:08:25):
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

(01:08:45):
enough to make the winds obey, and still the temptuous
see 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 this speaker advancing to meet the Vice President. The
spectacle was grand and moving. Tears gathered in eyes long

(01:09:07):
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 the intensest strain upon

(01:09:29):
the face of the President, Gentlemen of the House of Representatives.
This 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

(01:09:54):
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,

(01:10:16):
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 capital to its very foundations, making

(01:10:39):
the stoutest hearts stand still and blanching cheeks that had
never known the coward color. The dome of the capital
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

(01:10:59):
senators and representatives passed slowly out of the disfigured capital.
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

(01:11:20):
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

(01:11:42):
the capital girt round and round end of nineteen hundred
or the last president