Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-07-20
Letter of Senator Doolittle. of
isconsin-The Dufy of Com
l'servaffve HIen-The Position Of
Governors Seymour. 81 -
WASHINGTON, July, Is, 1868.


D. H Ostrander, Esq, Danoi1e, Pa,
DEAR SRI am in receipt of your
letter of the 10th instant, in which,
speaking for, yourself and forty-eight
other Conservative Republicans Of your
town, you express a "sense of disap-
pointment sand regret that no better
names had been offered by the Demo
cratic party to lead the conservative and
patriotic masses of the people to victory,
and the Radical Republican party to
deserving and merited defeat. AS a
gentleman and statesman, Mr.. Sey-
mour holds our respect, but as Peace
Democrat, we are indisposed to vote. for
him." and, you are pleased to say, that
if my name, among others, had been
placed at.sthe. head of the ticket, "all
would have, gone well, and victory
would have'been certain" You desire
my opinion upon the situation nnd "the
prospects of i. third party
l thank you for the confidence thus
reposed in me, and shall not shrink from
the responsibility Of stating frankly my
opinion. 80
do not think the organization of any
third party is wise, or can work any
;, practical good to the great cause in which
we are engaged. In the very nature of
'a things, when great principles are at
stake, there are, and there can be, but
two effective political parties. "He that
is,not for me is against me-" in politics
as well as in religion. is truth on which
s every wise manis compelled to act.
-efSi What, then, is the great and para
~ mount issue7 What is that great and
al sunpardonable wrong for which the Rad
ical party is now arraigned and should
be overthrown?
1t is substantially this:
Ss-@I In violation of the Constitution-in
= violation of pledges made and often re-
psated, from the first battle of Bull
Run to the end of the war; pledges to
the North to get men and money;
pledges especially made to the Democ-
racy to get their support in the field and
in the elections; pledges made to the
South to induce them to lay down their
arms and to renew their allegiance; and
pledges to foreign powers to prevent in
tervention-in violation of all these sol
emn pledges, upon which we invoke the
blessings of Almighty God upon our
cause, and-by which alone we gained
strength to master the rebellion-in vio-
70 vlation of the natural and inalienable
a right of the civilized men of every
State to govern themselves, and in vio-
s5lation of the clear provisions of the
II Constitution which leaves to each State
y for itself the right to regulate suffrage,
this party has, without trial, by ec
u post .Jacto laws, disfanchised hundreds
qsof thousands of the most intelligent of
nlt their citizens, and has forced upon ten
8 States and six millions Of our own
20 Anglo-Saxon race the universal and un-
qualified suffrage of seven hundred
d Thousand ignorant, and, in the main, half
civilized negroes.
"a This is the great wrong for which that
party is arraigned at the bar of public
Judgment, and for which it should be
: overthrown.
swToconsummate that great wrong, they
have abolished all civil government, and
civil liberty, even in these ten States;
'gE They have established five absolute
military despotisms, wherein all rights
: to life, liberty and property are subject
+. to the will of one man; -. a
q They have kept the Union divided;
They have prevented the restoration
2 of industry;
d Thep have kept down the credit of the
q Government, during three years ofpeace,
to point SO low that, to the shame of
every American, the six per cent. bonds
of the United States sell for only seven
ty-three in gold, while the bonds of Bra
iii, bearing only four per cent. interest,
bring over ninety in gold.
They have encroached upon the just
rights of the Executive;
They have threatened the indepen-
dence of the Supreme Court;