The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1868-06-12
GENERAL GRANTS SPEECH OF AC.
CEPTANCE.

The speech made by General GRANT
in reply to the address of the President
of the Chicago Convention giving him
ceremonious notice of his nomination,
is very brief, as was to have been ex-
pected and it is as fiat and common
place as it is short. 1t contains but
one thought beyond thanks and a
promise to do his duty; and that
thought is discreditable to him. We
copy it as follows: You haze truly
said, in the course of your address,
that I shall haze no policy Of my O'C1 to
interfere against the will of the peo-
ple."
Such a servile utterance is self-pro-
nounced satire on General Grants in
tellect and his moral independence
He is told by General Hawley that he
is expected to be the political thrall of
the party that has nominated him,
and he responds by saying that the ex-
pectation is well-founded, and that he
will have no policy of his own. Hav-
ing deserted the Democratic faith in
which he was educated and given
up the ideas on reconstruction and ne
gro suffrage which he was known to
hold two years ago, he naturally finds
no difficulty in promising to have no
political opinions in the future. The
surrender of his mental independence
is the price General Grant is willing
to pay for an election to the Presiden-
cy. He avows his willingness to go
into that office as a puppet, and let the
Radicals pull the strings.
This abject pledge probably affords
a correct measure of General Grants
capacity as a statesman. He does not
propose to be "a pillar of state, but a
weathercock to show which way the
wind blows, veering as the popular
breath changes and having no direc-
ton of his own. But the Presidency
! is no place for a man without ideas
and destitute of a policy; who knows
no rule of conduct but the serVile one
of doing as he is bid; and because it
is hidden thinking it right. Such de-
bility of understanding and servility
! of will cannot take shelter under the
! truism that, in a republican govern
ment, the will of the people ought to
prevail Certainly it ought; but their
deliberate, settled will as expressed in
the Constitution ought to prevail over
their fitful impulses on some f1eeting
occasion. The Constitution is their
permanent mandate. If by the will OF
the people be meant the caprice OF
transient majority, it is not at all
binding on the President. Unless we
adopt the tyrannical principle that in
a republican government the minority
have no rights which the majority
are bound to respect, it may be a base
desertiOn of his duty for President to
have no policy of his own in Oppo-
sition to the will of a majority. If one
part of the community undertakes tC
Oppress the other, it is the clear duty
of the President to use all the influence
of his great office to protect the weak
The danger that majOrities may be,
come tyrannical is the reason for hav-
inc settled constitution and as con-
stitutiOnS do not execute themselves,
ours is so framed as to make the PreSl-
dent the chief bulwark against the
tyranny and oppression of domineer-
ing majorities. By swearing him, in
a peculiar manner, to preserve, protect
and defend the Constitution, and max
ing his single will equal in Legislative
efficiency to the combined wills Of
nearly tWO-third5 Of the members 0l
both Houses of Congress, it has clothed
him with a power which is pretectiy
idle and nugatOry if it be his duty &c
have no policy Of his own and never tt
resist the majority. If General Grants
servile view be the true theory of oul
government, why was authority given
to the President to thwart the majority
of Congress, and to hold that body
completely in check unless the MAORI
tv against him is fully two-thirds in
both Houses? Our Constitution is
built on the broad basis of human
rights it recognizes the rights of the
minority as being as sacred as those o
the majority and it makes the Presl
dent their defender by clothing hin
with the veto power for their protec
ton. But General Grant declares, in
substance, that if he is elected Presi
dent there will be no more vetoeS; thai
he will never have a policy in oppo
sition to the will of the majority; tha
when a majority tyrannize he will b'
its subservient and willing tool. W.
are proud to say that no candidate TO
President ever before debased himsel
bv such a servile abdicatiOn of all th'
sentiments that beft a patriot and
statesman.-N ~ Y. World.
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A PIGGISH ILLUSTRATION.-Ac cOun
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