The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-07-10
Cove governor = r jseymour's Addrsas.

WovcfAOr SeymOur's Auureas. 4
On taking his seat as. Chairman of
the National Democratic Convention,
Governor: Seymour delivered the
following address. which was re-!
ceived with grounds of applause:'s i
GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION:
I thank you for the honor You have
done me in making me your presid-
ing officer. This Convention is
made up Of q large number Of dele
gates from all parts of our broad
land. To q great degree we are
strangers to each other, and view the
subjects which agitate our country
from different stand-points. We
cannot at once learn each others
mode of thought, or grasp all the
facts which bear upon the minds of
Others; yet our session must be brief,
and we are forced to act without
delay upon questions Of an exciting
character and of deep import to our
country. To maintain order, to re-
strain all exhibition of passion, to
drive out of our minds unkind
suspicious, is at this time great
duty. I rely upon your sense of
this duty, and not upon my own
ability, &c sustain me in the station
in which I ana placed by your kind
rrpartiality. Men never met under
greater responsibilities than those
which now weigh upon us. It is not
mere party triumph we seek. We
are trying to save our country from
the dangers which overhang it. We
wish to lift off the perplexities and
the shackles, which, in the shape of
bad. laws and of crushing taxation,
now paralyze the business and labor
"of our land. We hope, too. that we
can give order, prosperity and hap
piness to those sections of our coun-
try which suffer 80 deeply to-day in
their homes and in all the fields of
their industry, from the unhappy
events of the last eight years. I
trust actions will show that we are
governed by earnest purposes to
help all classes of our citizens.
Avoiding harsh invective against
. men, we should keep the public
mind fixed upon the questions which
must now be met and solved. Let
us leave the past to the calm judg-
ment of the future, and confront the
perils Of the day. We are forced to
meet the assertions in the resolutions
put forth by the late Republican
Convention. / aver there is not in
this body one man who has it in his
heart to excite SO much of angry
feeling against the Republican party,
as mus. BE- stirred up in the minds
,of those who read these declarations
in the light of recent events and in
view of the condition of our country.
: In the first place, they congratulate
the perplexed man of business, the
burdened taxpayer, the laborer,
whose hours of toll are heightened
"out by the growing costs of the ne
~cessities of life, upon the success of
that reconstruction policy which has
t, brought all these evils upon them by
the cost of its military despotism
;and the corruption of its Bureau
In one resolution they
denounce all forms of reputation as
a 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 creditors to take debased pa
per, and thus wrong him out Of
large share Of his claim, in violation
of the most solemn compact. If
Reputation is national crime, it is
crime to invite all the citizens of
this country thus to repudiate their
individual promises. Was it not
crime to force the creditors of this
and other States to take currency
at times worth no more than fifty
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 prospe-
-rity? Again, they say, it is due to
the ]aborers of the nation that taxa
>tion should be equalized, then why
did they make taxation unequal?
Beyond the injustice of making one
'class of citizens pay for another the
sshares of the costs of schools, of
roads and of the local laws which
protected their lives and property, it
was an unwise and hurtful thing.
1T sunk the credit of the country, as
unusual terms always hurtfnl to the
credit of the borrower do. They
also declare the best policy to
diminish our burden of debt is so to
improve our credit that capitalists
will seek to loan us money at lower
rates of interest than wa now nov