The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-07-10
THE NATIONAL CONVENTION.
Speech Of Hon. Horatio Seymour.


"Gentlemen of the Convention:
al thank you for the honor you have done ms
| IN making me your presiding officer. (Cheers
This convention is made up Of large number Of
delegates from all parts Of our broad land. To a
great degree we are strangers to each other. and
view the subjects which agitate our country from
different sand.points. We can not at once learn
each others mode of thought, or grasp ali rbe
facts which bear upon the minds of Others Yet
our session must be brief, and we are forced 10
act without delay upon questions Of an exciting
character and Of deep import to our country.
To maintain order, TO restrain all exhibition OF
passion, to drive out OF our minds all unknd sus.
| plclons, Is at this time great duty. (Cheers1
rely upon your sense of this duty, and not
upon my own ability, to sustain me in the station
IN which l am placed by your kind partiality.
Men never met under greater responsibilities
| plause.) "
alt is not mere party triumph we seek. We
are trying to save our country from the dangers
which oyerhang It, We wish 20 lift of the per-
plexltles and the shackles which, in the shapa of
bad laws and of crushing taxation, now para.
cheers) '-~
We hope, too, that we can give order, pros.
perry and happiness TO those sections of oar
country which suffer so deeply to-day in their
homes and in all the fields of their Industry from
| the unhappy events of the last eight years. /
trust our actions will chow that we are governed
| by earnest purposes TO help all classes of onr
| citizens. Avoiding harsh invectives against men.
we should keep the public mind fixed upon the
| questions which must now be met and solved.
| (Cheers.)
| "Let US leave the past to the calm Judgment Of
the future, and confront the perils Of the day.
| (Cheers.) We are forced to meet the assertions
| IN the resolutions put forth by the late Republi.
can conVenuon. l aver there is not in this body
one man who has 1t in his heart to excite so much
OF angry feeling against the Republican party as
must be stirred no in the minds of those who
read these declarations in the light of recent
events, ana IN view OF the condition of our coun-
try In the first place, they congratulate the per.
picked man OF business, the burdened tax payer
the laborer, whose hours Of toll are heightened
out by the growing costs of the necessaries of
me, upon me success OF that reconstruction
policy which has brought all these evils upon
them by the cost of its military despotism and the
corruption of its bureau agencies. In one reso.
lunon they denounce all forms of reputation as
= national CRIME. Then why did they put upon
the statute books OF the nation the laws which |
invite the citizens who borrow coin to force their
creators TO take debased paper, and thus wrong
him out OF large shsre of his claim in viola, |
uon OF the most solemn compact? loud |
"If population is a national crime. il ia crima
10 invite the citizens Of this country thus to repu
date their individual promises. (Applause) Was |
II noI crime TO force the creditors of this aud /
other States 10 tske currency, at times worth no
more than forty cents on the dollar, in repayment
for the sterling coin they gave to build roads and |
canals, which yield such ample returns of wealth
and prosperity! (Applause) Again, they say 1t
IS due the laborer Of the nation that taxation
should be equaized; then why did they make the
taxation unequal?
Beyond the injustice of making one class Of
clzens pay ior another the shares of the costs of
schools, OF roads, of the local laws which pro- |
tected Their lives and property, it was an uuwise
ana hurtiul thing. CHEERS IL sunk the credit |
OF the country, as unusual terms always are hurt.
full TO the credit Of the borrower
They also declare the best policy TO diminish
our burden of debt ia to improve our credit thar
capitalists will seek to loan us money AT lower
rates OF interest than we now pay, and must con-
or suspected.
Then why have they used full five hundred
nnlnons OF the taxes drawn from the people of
TINS country TO uphold despotic military author
lty, and 10 crush out the life Of States when IL
this money had been used to pay our debts. cant. |
tsllsts would now seek 10 lend US money at ger |
rates OF interest +! But for this covert repudia.
!. uoh our nauonsl credit would not be tainted in | !
the markets Of the world. (Applause)
"a Again, they declare that of an who were faith.
inl IN me Trials OF the late war there were none
entitled to more especial honor than the brave
soldiers and seamen who endured the hardships of
campaign and cruise and imperiled their lives in !
the service OF the country. The bounties and /;
tensions provided by the laws for these brave de-
lenders OF the nation are obligations never to be
forgotten. The widows and orphans of the gal. !
ant dead are the wards of the people-a sacred | r
rust bequeaihed to the nations care Have thase !
sacred trusts been performed? They paw To the | n
named man, 10 the widow or TO the orphan A | !
.urrency which they have sunk one quarter below
Is rig htful value by their policy Of hate of waste
md OF military despotsm, the pittance 10 the
wounded soldiers Is pressed down twenty five per
ent; below the value of that coin which he had ss
nght 10 expect. loud cheering.) Is there no
overt Reputation In this (Applausel
Again, they say foreign immigration which in
re past mas added so much to the wealth, devel.
pment, and resources and increase Of power to
us Iepupnc, me asylum for the oppressed of all
ATOMS. SlOQld n and |
beral and just policy. Is this foreign immiSra. =,
ION iostered by policy which, in mockerY of
Avs just passed declaring eight hours to be a .s
gsI Gay LABOR, by the cost of government aud on
sWarms OF officials, so swels the costs of living "a
lat men must toll on to meet these exactions? u.
Cheers) b
The time was when we could not only invite -
70 europeans 10 share with us the material
esslDgs OF our great country, but, more than
us, we could tell those who fed from oppression
lat we lived under government of laws. ad A
mustered by the judiciary which kept the bayo-
y ana tne SWORD IN due subordnation. (Cheers)
e could point TO written Constitution, which
u only marked out the powers Of government
~ win anxious care secured TO the humblest
an The rights of property, Of person and of con
leI C Is Immigration encouraged by trampling
AT constitution IN the DUST treating with con.
mpt and Stacking the judiciary insulting the a,
'ecnuVe and giving all The world to understand :
at the great guarantees of political aud civil
ghts are destroyed? (Great applause.) -
. But the crowning indictment against the
lies and crimes Of those in power Is in these
Ords: S
mat TIVE recognize the great principles handed
Wn in The Declaration OF Independence as the age
le foundation of democratic government. aud M.
, han With gladness every effort toward making III
Csc principles living reality on every inch of Of
nerican soil.' snC
If within the limits Of ten States OF this Union "a
American citizen, stung by a sense Of his sll
longs, should publicly and truthfully denouuce ssl
men IN power, because, in the very language $50
this Declaration Of Independence, they shaYe 4Oi
ected multitude of Offices and sent hitber 456
arms of officers to harsss our people and eat s2Z
their substance he would, in all human nro 6s6
blGty, be dragged to prison. Or, if in the in S7Z
ynant language of our fathers he should ex- 729
I'm They hove afected.to render he military 7
ependent or superior to the civil power thew the
se aoohshed the free system of English laws
established here an arbitrary government
the onense Of asserting these principles he Ne'
uid 6e tired and punished by a military tribu.
. Great cheering.)
Having declared that the principles of TIE
claratlQn nd II |