The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-07-23
o,a, Frank plair's Letter Accept
Gcne.s Nonssnasfon for Vtce.Prest-


dent v,uA, NEBRASKA, July Is, 1868.
-, Gso-oe ". Morgan, Chairman Com
' ,:Fss Nationa! Democratic Convention:
n,,o~s,-I take the earliest opportunity
oS" ",r;nc TO your letter notifying me Of
Of rep .s.,;nation for Vice-President of the
NJ ~. ms" States by the National Democratic
In' ,s~ recently held in the city OF
Ne" .n.ent without hesitation the nomina-
"..o,1nrcd in n manner so gratifying,
"oa u;,n Won and the committee my thanks
ana - - yerv kind and complimentary lam
~ ,,-e in which you have conveyed tonne
Ea's decision of the Convention.
"'T have carefully read the resolutions
,a,nted by the Convention, and most cor
S H,,Iy concur in every principle and senti-
r,snt they announce. 49,,
nS Nv opinion upon all of the questions
,::b discriminate the great contendine
los have been freely expressed on all
E.ob,c occasions, and do not deem it ne
S .~ at this time to reiterate them.
The issues upon which the contest turns
80 Lear, and cannot be obscurcd or dis
,ar,cd hv the sophistries of our adversaries.
Thsv iii resolve themselves into the old and
',r,rr.renewing struggle Of few men to alb
,orh The political power of the nation. This
.Tort under every conceivable name and
S;sruise, has always characterized the OPP
,onents ofthe Democratic party, but at no
lime has the attempt assumed shape so
anon and daring as in this contest. The
.drersaries Of free and constitutional 60
yrrpment, in defiance Of the express lam
rDage of the Constitution, have erected
Hillary despotism in ten of the States of
,bc Union, have taken from the President
The powers vested in him by the supreme
law. and have deprived the Supreme Court
n its jurisdiction. The right of trial by
;qrv, and the great writ of right, the habeas
r,-DLs-shields of safety for every citi-
ION. and which have descended to us from
tho earliest traditions Of our ancestors,
and which our Revolutionary fathers sought
- ,ecnre 10 their posterity forever in the
s,naouental charter Of our liberties-have
ho"n rnthlessly trampled under foot by the
sracmcnt Of Congress. Whole States ana
communities Of people of our own race have
lncr o,tainted, convicted, condemned, ana
Jonr;vel Of their rights as citizens, without
rpasa,,t-pnnt, or trial, or witnesses, but by
li',,e,rnssional enactment of err post tdcto
" Nc and in defiance of the constitutional
rrob;bition denying even to a full and legal
congress the authority to pass any bill of
ot,oinder or er post facto law. The same
nsurping authority has substituted as elect
mrs in place of the men Of our own race,
rims illegally attainted and disfranchised,
. host of ignorant negroes, who are sup
rorted in idleness with the public money,
and combined together to strip the white
race of their birthright, through the man
ocement of Freedmen's Bureaus and the
em;ssaries of conspirators III other States !;
and, to complete the oppression, the mill
,ary power of the nation has been placed at
their DISPOSAL in order to make this barba-
rism supreme.
The military leader under whose pres
tre this usurping Congress has taken re-
f1re since the condemnation Of their
schemes by the free people Of the North In
the elections of the last year, and whom
they have selected as their candidate to
shield themselves from the result OF their
own wickedness and crime, has announced
his acceptance Of the nomination, and MS
willingness to maintain their usurpatlons
over eight millions of white people at the
South fixed to the earth with his bayonets.
He cxclaims: "Let us have peace"
Peace reigns in Warsaw was the an.
nouncement which heralded the doom of
the liberties of a nation. "The Empire is
peacc," exclaimed Bonaparte, when free
dom and it's defenders expired under the
sharp edge of his sword. The peace to
which Grant invites us is the peace OF
lespotism and death.
Those who seek to restore the Constitu-
ton by executing the will of the people con-
demning the reconstruction acts, already
pronounced in the elections of last year,
and which will, l am convinced, be still
more emphatically expressed by the cleo
ton Of the Democratic candidate as the Pre-
sident of the United States, are denounced
as revolutionists by the partisans Of this
yindctive Congress. Negro suffrage, which
the popular.yote Of New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Connecticut,
and other States, have condemned as ex-
pressly against the letter Of the Constltu-
ton, must stand, because their senators and
representatives have willed it. If the peo-
pie shall again condemn these atroclous
measures by the election of the Democratic
candidate for President they must not be
disturbed, although decided to be uncon-
stitut;onal by the Supreme Court, and
although the President is sworn to main
tain and support the Constitution. The
will of a fraction Of Congress, reinforced
with its partisan emissaries sent to the
South, and supported there by the soldiery,
must stand against the will of the people
and the decision Of the Supreme Court and
the solemn cath of the President to main
tain and support the Constitution.
Ii is revolutionary to execute the will of
the people 1t is revolutionary to execute
the Judgment of the Supreme Court! 1t is
revolutionary in the President to keep in
violate his oath to sustain the Constltu-
ton This false construction Of the vital
principle of our Government is the last
resort of those who would have their arbi-
trary reconstruction. sway and supersede
our time honored institutions. The nation
will say the Constitution must be restored,
and the will Of the people again prevail.
The appeal to the peaceful ballot to attain
this end is not war-is not revolution.
They make war and revolution who attempt
10 arrest this quiet mode of putting aside
military despotism and the usurpatlons OF
fragment of Congress, asserting abso-
lutte power over that benign system of regu-
lated liberty left US by our fathers. This
must be allowed to take its course. This is
the only road to peace. 1t will come with
the election of the Democratic candidate,
and not with the election Of that mailed
warrior whose bayonets are now at the
taroats Of eight millions Of people IN the
south to compel them to support him as
candidate for the Presidency, and to submit
70 the QOmin of an alien race of semi