The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1868-09-03


The National Republican party of the
United States, assembled in National Con-
ventiOn, in the city of Chicago, on the 10th
( day of May, 1868, make the following de-
claratiOn Of principles:
| 1. We congratulate the country on the
/ assured success Ofthe reconstruction policy
/ Of Congress, as evinced by the adoption, in
a majority Of the States lately in rebellion,
Of constitutions securing equal civil and
/ political rights TO all, and regard it as the
/ duty of the Government to sustain those
| constitutions, and to prevent the people of
such States from being remitted to a state
Of anarchy.
2. The guarantee by Congress of equal
suffrage to all loyal men in the South, was
| demanded by every consideration ofpublic
safety, of gratitude and of justice, and must
/ be maintained, while the question of
suffrage in the loyal States properly be-
longs Co the people Of those States.
! 3. We denounce all forms of repudia-
/ ton as a national crime, and the national
honor requires the payment Of the public
indebtedness, in the utmost good faith, to
all creditors, at home and abroad, not only
according to the letter, but the spirit of the
laws, under which it was contracted.
4. It is due to the labor of the nation
that taxation should be equalized and
reduced as rapidly as the national faith
will permit.
5. The national debt, contracted, as it
has been, for the preservation Ofthe Union
for all time to come, should be extended
over a fair period for redemption, and it is
the duty Of Congress to reduce the rate of
interest thereon, whenever it can honestly
be done.
6. That the best policy to diminish our
burden of debt is to so improve our credit
that capitalists will seek to loan US money
at lower rates Of interest than we DOW pay,
and must continue to pay so long as re-
pudiation, partial or total, open or covert,
is threatened or suspected.
z. The Government of the United States
should be administered with the stTiCtest
economy, and the corruptions which have
/ been SO shamefully nursed and fostered by
Andrew johnson call loudly for radical
reform.
s. We profoundly deplore the untimely
land tragic death Of Abraham Lincoln, and
regret the accession of Andrew johnson to
the Presidency, who has acted so treacher-
Ously to the people who elected him, and
the cause he was pledged to support; has
usurped high legislative and judicial
/ functions has refused to execute the laws;
has used his high office to induce other
,
employed his executive powers to render
insecure the property, peace, liberty and
/ life of the citizen has abused the pardon
ling power; has denounced the National
! Legislature as unconstitutional; has per-
sistently and corruptly resisted, by every
measure in his power, every proper attempt
| at the reconstruction of the States lately in
rebellion has perverted the public patron
age into an engine of wholesale corruption,
and has been justly impeaChed for high
crimes and misdemeaHOrs, and properly
pronounced guilty thereof by the vote of
thirty-five Senators.
9. The doctrine of Great Britain and
other European powers, that because man
is once a subject he is always so, must be
resisted at every hazard by the United
States, as a relic of the feudal time not
authorized by the law of nations, and at
war with our national honor and indepen-
dence Naturalized citizens are entitled to
be protected in all their rights of citizen
ship, as though they were natural born,
and no citizen of the United States, natural
or naturalized, must be liable TO arrest and
! Imprisonment by any foreign power for
acts done, or words spoken, in this coun-
try, and if so arrested and imprisoned, it
is the duty of the Government to interfere
in his behalf.
10. Of all who were faithful in the trials
of the late war, there were none entitled to
more especial honor than the brave SOL
diers and seamen who endured the hard
ships of the campaign, and cruise, and i'm
periled their lives in the service of the
country. The bounties and pensions pro-
vided by law for these brave defenders of
/ the nation, are obligations never to be for
gotten. The widows and orphans of the
gallant dead are the wards of the people, a
sacred legacy bequeathed to the nations
protecting care.
! II. Foreign emigration, which, in the
past, has added so much to the wealth, de-
velOpment of resources, and increase of
power of this nation, the asylum of the OPP
! pressed of all nations, should be fostered
and encouraged by liberal and just pol
icy.
u. This Convention declares its sympa-
thy with all the people who are struggling
for their rights.
ResoyUed, That we highly commend the
spirit of magnanimity and fOrbearance
with which men who have served in the
rebellion, but who now frankly cooperate
with Us in restoring the peace of the cOun-
! try, and reconstructing the Southern State
! Governments upon the basis of Impartial
Justice and Equal Rights, are received
i back into the communion OF the loyal peO-
pie; and we favor the removal of the dis
qualifications and restrictions imposed up
on the late rebels in the same measure as
their spirit of loyalty will direct, and as
may be consistent with the safety OF the
loyal people.
ResoLUed, That we recognize the great
principles laid down in the immortal Dec
! laration of Independent, as the true foun-
/ daffOn Of Danoooratio trOvprn nents and we
hail with gladness every effort toward
making these principles living reality on
every inch of American soil.