Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1868-05-29
8aers 0i@ss,
BELLOWS FALLS, MAY 80, 1868.
The Platform.


w. Thompson of Indiana, and adopted
unanimously, as follows:
THE RESOLUTIONS.
The National republican party of the
United States, assembled in National
Convention in the city of Chicago On the
goth day of May, 1868, make the fol-
lowing declaration of principles:
l. We congratulate the country on
the assured success of the reconstruction
policy of Congress, as evinced by the
adoption of majority of the states late
ly in rebellion of constitutions securing
equal, civil and political rights to all.
1t is the duty of the Government to sus-
tain these institutions, and to prevent the
people of such states from being remitted
to a state of anarchy. (Cheers.)
2. The guarantee by Congress of
equal suffrage to all loyal men of the
south was demanded by every considera-
ton of public safety, of gratitude and of
Justice, and must be maintained. The
whole question of suffrage in all the 10y
al states properly belongs to the people
of those states. (Cheers.)
3. We denounce all forms of repudi-
alton as national crime, (prolonged
cheers, and the national honor requires
the payment of the public Indebtedness
in the utmost good faith, to all creditors
at home and abroad, not only according
to the letter, but to the spirit of the law
under which it was contracted. Gap
plause.)
a. 1t is due to the labor of the nation,
that taxation should be equalized and re-
duced as rapidly as the national faith
shall permit.
6. The national debt, contracted as it
has been for the preservation of the
Union for all time to come, should be
extended over fair period for redemp-
ton, and it is the duty of Congress to
reduce the rate of interest thereon when
ever it can be honestly done.
6. That the best policy to diminish
our burden of debt is to so improve our
credit, that capitalists will seek to luan
us money at lower rates of interest than
we now pay, and must continue to pay,
so long as reputation, partial or total,
4 ,a+
ed.
7. The Government of the United
States should be administered with the
strictest economy, and the corruptions
which have been SO shamefully nursed
and fostered by Andrew johnson, call
loudly for radical reform.
8. We profoundly deplore the un-
timely, but tragic death of Abraham
Lincoln, and regret the accession of An
drew johnson to the Presidency; who
has acted treacherously to the people who
elected him and the cause he was pledged
to support who has usurped high legis
lative and judicial functions; who has
refused to execute the laws; who has
used his high Office to induce other off
GERS to ignore and violate the laws; who
has employed his executive powers tt
render insecure the property, the peace
the liberty and life of the citizen who
has abused the pardoning power; who
has denounced the national legislature al
unconstitutional who has persistently
and corruptly resisted, by every measure
in his power, every proper attempt at th'
reconstruction of the states lately in re
bellion; who has perverted the public
patronage into an engine of wholesal
corruption, and who has justly been i'm
peached for high crimes and misdemean
ors, and properly pronounced guilt.
thereof by vote of thirty-five Senators
8. The doctrines of Great Britain
and other European powers-that be
cause man is once a subject he is al
ways so-must be resisted at every ha7
ard by the United States as a relic of tn
feudal times, not authorized by the lay
of nations, and at war with our nationa
honor and independence. Naturalize,
citizens are entitled to be protected in al
their rights of citizenship as though the
were native born, and no citizens of tn
United States, native or naturalized, mus
be liable to arrest or imprisonment b
any foreign power for acts done, or word
spoken, in this country; and if they ar
so arrested and imprisoned, it is the du
ty of the Government to interfere in hi
behalf.
10. OF all who were faithful in tn
trials of the late war there were non
) more entitled to especial honor than tn
brave soldiers and seamen who endure
the hardships of campaign and cruis'
and imperilled their lives in the servic
of the country. The bounties and per
sions provided by the laws for these BRAY
defenders of the nation, are obligation
+, never to be forgotten. The widows an
= orphans of the gallant dead are tn
wards of the people-a sacred legac
, bequeathed to the nations protectin