CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



157 



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opinion that if tin- ulary of members of 

 Congress was $10, 000, alul of Senators $16,000, 

 <>f tin- riiii-t-.liiMi.-i' $50,000, and of the 

 lent $100,000, and of the associate justices 

 <f the Supreme Court $25,000, and of our for- 

 eign ministers twice or throe times what it was, 

 :u'Milituivs of the Government would be 



0,000, 000 instead of $80,000,000. Sir, no man 

 almost reluctant to say it no man, it 



\\--ll knuwn, who has not a fortune himself, 

 can liope to represent the United States at any 

 foiviu'u court, even with the increased salary, 

 and maintain tho dignity of the Government. 

 I gave that as my opinion then. It is the brain 

 part of the Government that you should nour- 

 ish ; the legislative, judiciary, and executive 

 parts of it form that brain-power that is to con- 

 duct yon sati-ly, if you attain high success in 

 the 1'nture. In the human body the brain is 

 the one-eleventh part of the body, and it is the 

 bruin portion that you should nourish. Sir, if 

 we had spent more upon this department of the 

 Government, statesmanship would have been 

 more studied more a matter of science. 



" Now, I am not going to say what the sala- 

 ry of members ought to be. You have heard 

 my ideas on the principle, and also on the ex- 

 pediency. Certainly I shall not vote for the 

 bill as reported by this committee. What shape 

 this thing may take I do not know ; but my 

 opinion is that the bill of last session, of which 

 you have heard so much complaint, is really a 

 reduction in fact. I know it will be to me, be- 

 cause of the postage on what I anticipated to 

 do in the distribution of knowledge among 

 the constituents that I represent. I think the 

 amount of postage will cover $2,500, -and there- 

 fore, unless gentlemen wish to reduce the pay 

 to below what it was before, they will not re- 

 duce it. My own judgment is, that the un- 

 wisest part of the' legislation of last Congress 

 was the repeal of the franking privilege. One 

 word upon that. Ours is a Government found- 

 ed upon the enlightenment of the people. No 

 representative government can last except 

 where the people understand its nature, are 

 devoted to its principles, and have the patriot- 

 ism to maintain it. Those three elements are 

 essential to the existence of all representative 

 governments ; in other words, they must de- 

 pend upon the virtue, the intelligence, and the 

 patriotism of the people. Light, political light, 

 they must have. The Constitution declares 

 that our public proceedings, our journal, shall 

 be published, or given to the people." 



Mr'. Garfield, of Ohio, said : " Mr. Speaker, 

 there was so much to admire in the speech to 

 which the House has just listened, that it may 

 seem ungracious to say any thing in conflict 

 with the doctrines announced. And yet the 

 distinguished gentleman (Mr. Stephens) has 

 said some things so strikingly different from 

 tho views generally entertained by the Ameri- 

 can people, that I venture to offer a few sug- 

 gestions by way of reply, while the subject is 

 still fresh in the minds of his hearers. 



"All that tho gentleman naid in regard to 

 the relation <>f public opinion to n-prtheiitativo 

 men will, 1 presume, be cordially concurred in 

 by those who heard him. The real |. 

 of the people they who giv. , t he- 



best thoughts or aspirations of their country- 

 men are immeasurably above thoso who con- 

 sult public passion only to cater to its worst 

 tendencies. It is a high and worthy work to 

 study public opinion, for tho purpose of learn- 

 ing how best to serve the public good ; but to 

 study to learn how best to serve ourselves id 

 base. But it is important that we understand 

 what we mean by public opinion. It is not an 

 infallible standard of right; for it is sonx 

 wholly wrong. Its judgments are frequently 

 revised and reversed by its own consent. But 

 it is true that, after a full hearing, public opin- 

 ion finally adjusts itself on a basis which will 

 be practically just and true. He greatly errs 

 who calls all the passing and changing moods 

 of the public mind the fixed and final verdict 

 of public judgment. 



"The public opinion that teaches its most 

 valuable and impressive lessons resembles the 

 ocean not when lashed by the breath of the 

 tempest but when seen in the grandeur of its 

 all-pervading calm. The men who shall take 

 the dash and roar of its wild waves on the 

 rocks as their symbol of public opinion will 

 not only fail to learn its best lessons, but may 

 find themselves wrecked on its breakers. But 

 the sea in its hour of calm, when the forces 

 that play upon it are in equipoise when its 

 depths are unvexed by tempests is the grand 

 level by which all the heights and depths of 

 the world are measured. And so public opin- 

 ion, though it may at times dash itself in fury 

 against events and against men, will at last set- 

 tle down into broad and settled calm, and will 

 mark the level on which we gauge our politi- 

 cal institutions, and measure the strength and 

 wisdom of opinions and men. 



" While recognizing, thus, the general just- 

 ness and the almost omnipotent power of pub- 

 lic opinion in a government like ours, it is equal- 

 ly important that the individual man should not 

 be the servile and unquestioning follower of its 

 behests. We may value it as a guide, we may 

 accept its lessons, but we should never be its 

 slaves. 



" There as a circle of individual right with- 

 in which every man's opinions are sacredly his 

 own, even in defiance of public opinion, and 

 which his manhood and self-respect demand 

 that he shall never surrender. But there are 

 public questions like that which we are to-day 

 considering, on which the voice of public opin- 

 ion has a right to be heard and considered by 

 every Representative in the national legisla- 

 ture. 



" Now, if we were legislating for the ideal 

 republic of Plato, I do not know that a wiser 

 plan of compensation could be found than that 

 proposed by the distinguished gentleman from 

 Georgia (Mr. Stephens). If we lived in a world 



