Corporations of tremendous power have grown up, which already exercise an almost uncontrollable influence in our public concerns. That influence ought to be guarded against with all the means within the power of the people, and in the first line the donation of public lands to such monopolies, to the disadvantage of the laboring people, ought to be stopped.
These views of the condition of public affairs, and the problems to be solved, are shared by millions of people at the North, especially the political school to which I belong, called the “Liberal Republican,” and, if I mistake not, by this assembly. I shall endeavor to show, in the course of my remarks, that some of the measures proposed are of special interest to the people of the South.
And now I desire to impress upon your minds, a truth of which you of the South should never lose sight. The North possesses in this country the preponderance of population, and of political power, and yet it is equally certain that the chances of a liberal, progressive, reformatory policy among the Northern people depend in a great measure, if not altogether, upon the attitude of the South, especially that part of the Southern population which was, in the war, arrayed on the Confederate side; and their intentions, their aspirations, their movements, are the object of anxious observation. As long as disorders prevail in the Southern States, or as long as dangers seem to threaten from that quarter, the Northern mind, however much inclined to yield to its liberal and progressive impulses, will always be disturbed and clogged by the apprehension that every bold reformatory venture might, in some way, jeopardize that which was accomplished by the civil war.
You will permit me, therefore, as a sincere and faithful advocate of a liberal and progressive policy, to speak to you, men of the South, on the very important part you
