Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1860-05-25
Republican National C0nvcn-
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sPeoouy ia t0elE WOgA VI sOlocSsuk oeAnu4A
bearer Of that great party whose lot it is
preserve and carry forward, unimpaired, Il
National liberties Of this people.
81 We will point you to one or two sligl
contrasts, which will show both the progre'
Of public sentiment and the relative position
Of the parties new about to contend befcl
the American nation for the supremacy I
this government.
! 1st Not quite four years ago, on the 1T
day Of June, 1866, the first National Reput
lican Convention met in Philadelphia. ]
was small in numbers, and no large outsid
attendance attestsd much interest in the pop
ular mind with reference to its proceedings
It rspresented minority party scarcely ye
organized, forrAed BY the sudden, unpremed
itated, but generous and high-minded uprising
Of the people. The band Of men who com
posed the Convention were going into th'
conflict without reasonable prospect Of sue
cess, and with no motive to urge them on bu
the vindication of the principles Of Liberty
Equality and Justice to all men-principles
dear to every freeman, from whatever cline
or shore, or race, or kindred, he may have
come.
Thus sprang into being one Of the purest
most high.minded and liberal parties that
this country, or any other country, has ever
seen. Their platform was like tho men who
planned it-liberal, just, and loyal to the
principles Of freedom and truth. It started
out with sentiment from the immortal Dec
laration of Independence which some degen.
crate sons of America were beginning to
sneer at, ''that ALL MEN are endowed
with the inalienable rights to life, liberty and
the pursuit Of happiness" s
Armed thus, with the right, firmly trusting
in the great truth, that "thrice armed is he
who hath his quarrel just" !" and with one Of the
most sterling, Independent, Jscksonian men
Of his age, the noble. Fremont, At their head,
they plunged into the fight with courage
that astonished their adversaries, and wrung
from them reluctant tributes to their courage
and fidelity. They cared hardly anything
for victory. It was the protest against
tyranny and crime in high places which they
were making that filled them with enthu-
siasm, and when the battle was over, and
black defeat came with its close, it found
them as calm, assured, and aglow with enthu-
siasm as though they were the victorious, and
not the beaten, party. The Republicans of
SO felt after their defeat, greater satisfaction
and delight than the triumphant democracy.
The reason was that they had lost nothing.
They had fought not for the spoils, but for
the satisfaction Of standing up for their prin-
ciples, boldly and openly, and they had now
this satisfaction and the pleasure of finding
that the hosts of the freenen Of the North
were with them in heart and stood right at
their backs. We venture to say that the
quiet elation of soul from the consciousness
of having taken the right side, that filled
every Republican breast after the contest of
SO, was superior to the proudest e1ultation
of the haughtiest Democrat in the hour Of
their triumph. They knew that the right
was bound to win in the long run.
Now notice the result. Today that same
free party meets in Convention on the banks
of the great Lakes in the heart of the free
North. A monster hall is erected for their
welcome, and Thousands upon thousands of
free men, from all parts Of the Union, pour
onward by river, lake and railroad to Chicago
to greet them. All along their journey the
people throng around them to congratulate
them. Peal on peal Of artillery and minute
guns and strains of martial music salute the
delegates Of the people, as though they were
soldiers returning from war. Even the slave
States catch the contagious enthusiasm, and
the Old Dominion, herself, heads procession
in which Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Delaware, North Carolina and
Arkansas proudly follow. There they have
boldly proclaimed their principles, taken
their side openly and manfully On the great
great questions OF the day, and when they
shall have chosen their leader from the
numerous bright and illustrious names before
them, we predict that such shout will roll
up from the old wigwam at Chicago as will
make the Lake City, herself, tremble to her
lowest found atoms, andwhose reverberations
will roar across the land from Maine to Cali
fornia, like peals Of thunder.
As the second contrast, look at the Con-
ventions Of the two other parties who entered
the lists of 1850. A majority of one Cat
Chsrleston) were so cowardly and corrupt
that they dared not avow their principles,
and their more manly comrades openly rose
up and left them in disgust, leaving the
craven remnant Of the Convention SO con-
science smitten that they dared neither