Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1868-07-15
Speech of Hon. Horatio Seymour.

oh1hOGh3 VIC OcuOSEoIiS dSLAldSC Ava tCoi0
dent of the United States, was unanimously
elected permanent President of the Demo-
cratic National Convention chen in session in
New York, and on taking the Chair, amid
the greatest enthusiasm, delivered the follow
ing speech:
Gentlemen of the Convention IL thank
you for the honor you have done me in ma,
king me your presiding officer. Cheers.
Der oe delegates from AL parts of our broad
land. To a great degree we arc strangers to
each other, and view the subjects which agi-
tate our country from different standpoiuts.
We cannot at once learn each other, mode
Of thought, or grasp all the facts which beat
upon the minds of others; yet our session
must be brief, and We are forced to act with
out delay upon questions of an exciting char.
acter, and OF deep import to our Country. To
maintain order; to restrain all exhibition of
passion, to dri5e out of our minds all unllind
suspicions. is at this time great duty.
Cheers | rely upon ycur sense of this duty
aud not upon my own ability to sustain me
in tue station in which am placed by your
kiud partiality. Men never met under greater
responsibilities than those Which now weigh
upon US. Appiause.l 1t is not q mere par
ty triumph We seek. We are trying to save
our country from the dangers which overhaug
it. We wish to lift off the perplexities and
The shacilcs which in the Shape of bad laws
and crushing taxation now paralyze the busi-
ness and labor Of our land Loud cheers
We hope, too, that we can give order, pros
perty aud happiness 20 those sections Of our
country which suifer SO deeply to day in their
homes and in all the fields of their industry
from tie unhappy events Of the last eight
wears. trust actions will show that we are
governed by earnest purposes to help all c!as,
SIS O: cur cit;z:ns. Avoiding harsh invec-
tive against men we should keep the public
minG 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 pcrils Of the day.
Cheers.
We are forced to meet the assertion in the
resolution 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 must be stirred up in the minds oi
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 con.
yrltulate the perplcXed man Of business, the
bnrdened taxpayer, the laborer, whose hours
Of toll are heightened ont by the growing
costs OF the necesSares of life. upon the sue
cess of that reconstruction policy which has
brought Ill these trials upon them By the
cos: Of the military despotism ans! the cor
rap,ion of its Bureau agencies.
In one resolution they denounce I'll forms
oc reputation as q nationa! 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
deoased paper, anl thus wrong him out Of g
large share Of his claim. in violation OF the
most solemn compact? Loud cheering. II
yepudation is national crime, it is q crime
10 invite all the citizens OF this country thus
10 repudate taeir individual promises. lap
plau-- Was it not crime to force the
cre, ibis and other States 10 take a
currency n. times worth no lnore than forty
cents on the dollar, in repayment for the
sterling coin they gave to bnild roads and
canals. which yield such ample returns OF
wealth and prosperity? Applause Again
they say it is due to the Iaborers OF tie na
iion tha. taxation should be cqualized, then
why did they make taxation unequal? 3? BE.
yond the injustice Of making one class OF
citizens pay for another the shares Of the
costs Of schools, OF roads and Of the local
laws, which protected their lives and property,
it was an nnwse and hnrtful thing. Cheers.
1t sunk the credit of the country, as unusual
terms always hurtful to the credit of the bor-
row.r do. They also declare the best policy
TO diminish our burden OF debt is so to i'm.
prove our credit that capitalists will seek to
loan us money at lower rates of interest than
we now pay, aud must continue to pay 80
long as Reputation, partial, total open or
covert, is threatened or suspected. Then
why have they used full $500, $1,000 Of the
taxes drawn from the people Of this country
to uphold despotic military authority 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 US money
at lower rates Of interest? But for this coz.
ert repudiation our national credit would not
be tainted in the markets Of the world. APP
pause. Again hey declare of all who were
faithful in the trials Of the late war there
were none entitled to more especial honor
than the brave soldiers and seamen who en-
dured the hardships of campaigl and cruise
and imperlled their lives in the service of
the country. The bounties and 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 people
"a sacred trust bequeathed to the nations
care. How have these sacred trusts been
performed? They pay to the married man,
to the widow or to the orphan currency
which they have sunk one quarter below its
rightful value by their policy Of hate, of waste
ani Of military despotism the pittances paid
to the wounded soldiers, and pnched down
coin which he had a right to expect. Loud
cheering.l
Is there no covert reputation in this
[Applause. Again, they say foreign emigra
ton, which in the past has added so much
to the wealth, development, and resources
and increase OF power to this Republic-the
asylum of the oppressed of all nations
should be foStered and encouraged by liber-
a! and Just policy. Is this foreign i,-migra-
ton fostered by a policy which, in cruel
mockery of laws just passed declaring eigh,
hours to be legal days labor. But the cost
of Government and of swarms of officials so
swcls the cost of living that men must toll
on to meet these exactlons. [Cheers.
The time was when we could not only in.
vite Europeans to share with Us the material
blessings Of our great country, but more than
that we could tell those who fled from op-
preston that we lived under government
of laws administered by the judiciary which
kept the bayonct and the sword in due su-
bordination. Cheers. We conld point 10
written Constitution which not only marked
ont the powers Of government, but with anx
ious care secured TO the humblest man the