Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-07-10
HORAFIO SEYMOUR.
The Duties ana Responsibilities OF
the Democratic PaTty-HOw the
Radicals have SubVeFted the Gov


Now that Gov. Seymour has been nomi-
mated for the Presidency, his speech on
taking the chair Of The Democratic Ma
tional Convention Possesses an interest that
did not heretofore attach to IT, We, there
fore, reproduce the main portion Of il, as
follows ..t...
Men never met under greater response
bilities than those which nov. weigh upon
M. Applause. It ia not mere party
Triumph which we seek, We are trying to
save our country from the dangers which
overhang it, We wish to life off the per-
plexities and the shackIes which, in the
shape of bad laws and of crushing taxation,
now paralyze the business and labor Of our
land Loud cheers We hope, too, that
we can give order, prosperity aud happi-
ness to those sections of our country which
suffer 80 deeply to day in their homes, and
10 all the fields Of their industry, from the
unhappy events Of the last eight years l
trust actions will show that we are gov
erned by earnest purposes TO help all
classes of our citizens. Avoiding harsh in
yecdves 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 Republican. Convention.
aver there is not in this body one man
who has il ia his heart TO excite 80 much
of angry feeling against the Republican
party as must 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 frat
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 necessarie5
Of life, upon the success of that reconstruc-
ton 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 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 10 force their
| creditors to take debased paper aud thus
wrong him out of a large share of his claim
| in violation of the most solemn compact
| Loud cheeringl Ii Reputation is ma
| tionai crime, it is crime 10 invite all the
citizens of this country thus to repudiate
their individual promises. Applause
Was it not crime TO force the creditors OF
| this and other States to take 4 currency at
times worth no more than forty cents on
the dollar in repayment for the sterling
coin they gave to build roads ana canals,
which yield such ample returns of wealth
and prosperity? Applause. Again,
l they say, il is due 10 the labOreTs OF the
nation that taxation should be equalized,
then why did they make taxation unequal ?
/ Beyond the injustice of making one class OF
citizens pay for another the shares Of the
cost Of schools, of roads and of the local
laws which protected their lives and
property, it was an unwiae aud huniul
thing, Cheers 1t sunk the credit OF
the country las unusual terms always hurt
ful to the credit of the borrower do.) They
also declare the best policy to diminish our
burden of debt is to 80 improve our credit
| that capitalists will seek to loau US money
at lower rates of interest than we
now pay, and must continue TO pay
80 long as reputation, partial, total, open
or covert, is threatened or suspected. Then
/ Why have they used full 100000 600 OF
the taxes drawn from the people of this
country to uphold despotic military au-
/ thoTity, and to crush out the life of The
States, when, if this money had been used
to pay our debts, capitalists would now
seek to lend as money at lover rates OF in
| terest. But for this covert repndiation our
/ national credit would not be tainted in the
market of the world. Applause Again,
they declare of all who were faithful in the
trials of the late war, there were none en-
1 titled to more especial honor than the brave
soldiers and seamen, who endured the
hardships of campaign and cruise, and i'm d.
/ periled their lives in the service of the
country. The bounties aud pensions pro-
vided by the laws are obligations never to
be forgotten. The widows and orphans of
the gallant dead are the wards of the peo-
plea sacred trust bequeated 10 the ma
tons care. How have these sacred trusts
been performed They pay to the married
man, to the widow, or to the orphan, cur
rency which they have sunk one quarter
below its rightful value by their policy of
hate, of waste aud of military despotism,
the pittances paid 10 the wounded soldiers,
and pinched down twenty-five per cent. be-
low the value Of that coin which he had a
right to expect, Loud cheering Is there
no covert reputation in this ? APP
plause Again they say, foreign im.
migration, which in the past has added
so much 10 the wealth, development
and resources, and increase Of power of
this republic-the asylum of the oppressed
Of all nations-should be iostered and en
couraged by liberal aud just policy. Is
this foreign immigration, fostered by pol
icy which, in cruel mOCkery of laws Just
passed, declaring eight hours TO be legal
days labor? But the cost of government,
and of swarms of officials go swells the cost
of living, that men must toll on to meet
these actions. Cheersl The time was
when we could not only invite Europeans
to share with as the material blessings Of
our great country, but, more than that we
could tell those who fed from oppression
that we lived under a government of laws
administered by the Judiciary, which kept
the bayonet and the sword in due subordi-
nation. [Cheers.l We could point to a
written Constitution which not only marked
out the powers OF government, bat with
anxious care secured 10 the humble-t man
the rights OF property, Of person and Of
conscience. Is immigration encouraged by
trampling that Constitution in the dusi,
treating it with contempt, shackling the
Judiciary, insulting the Executive, aud
giving all the world TO understand that
great guarantees of political and local
rights are destroyed? [Ctreat applause
But the crowning indictment against the
follies and crimes Of those in power a. ia
these words: That We recognize the great
principles laid down in the immortal De-
claralion of independence as the true foun-
dation Of Democratic government, and We
hail with glsdness every effort toward
making these principles living reality on
every inch of American soil" II, within
the limits of ten States of this Union,
an American citizen, stuug by a sense
Of his wrongs, should publicly aud
truthfuliy deBOunce the men ia power
because, 10 the very language OF this
Declaration OF Independence, they have
erected a multitude Of new Offices and
sent hither a swarm OF officers to harrass
our people aud eat out their substance, he
would, in all human probability, be drag
ged TO prison or it. ia the indignant Ian
gusge Of our fathers, he should exclaim,
ssphav hava affected IN randar the mill