The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1868-10-29
Democratic National Committee to the
Conservative Voters of the u. S.

Fellow Citizens 1T is a privilege and
duty to address you on the eve Of the great
battle which we are to fight, and which is
to decide whether. the government Of this
republic is to remain four years more in the
hands Of. the Radical party, or whether by
an energetic, united and last effort you will
wrest the power from its grasp, and give to
u.s.. under a Democratic Conservative admin
istration, government based upon princi.
pies of justice, economy and constitutional
liberty. = i3lia =
The issues of the present campaign are
plain and selfevident. They appeal to the
intelligence and patriotism of every voter in
the most unn,istakable terms. They have
been ably discussed by distinguished orators
and leaders of our party since the nomlina-
tion. of our candidates. 4ii io
3 What the Democratic party intends to do,
if placed in power by your sufrages, is to
restore peace and union to our country
to heal the wounds and sufferings caused by
the rebellion; to give to the people of the
South the rights to which they are entitled
under the constitution, and by which alone
we can bring back prosperity and quiet to
that distracted section; to reduce materially
our military and naval establishments, kept
up now on an immense scale and at an enor,
nous cost; !; to introduce into every depart.
ment of government the strictest economy,
and to develop, by an equitable. system of
imposts and taxation, the growing resources
of our country, and thus to place the federal
finances on a solid and stable footing and to
pave the way to gradual and safe return to
specie payments. We are charged by the
Radical party, the party of violence and
usurpation, which, for the last four years, to
prolong its existence, has set at nought the
constitution and tae fundamental principles
of our government, that we intend re volui
ton and defiance of established laws. The
accusation is unfcunded and absurd it
cannot be entertained for moment by any
intelligent voter, who has even the most
superficial knowledge of the history of his
untry The Derr ocratic party can proudly
point to every page of its record. 1t has
never violated single obligation of the
fundamental compact by which these United
States entered into the family of nations.
Its watchword, in peace as in war, has been
and will always be, the Union, the Consti-
tuition. and the Laws. And no man nor
any set of.men, however high hey might be
placed by the suffrages of their fellow citi-
zens, can never expect to receive the sup
port of this great conservativepart in any
revolutionary attempt against established
laws. The ballot-box and the supreme will
of the Amerir an people are the only means
of redress to which we look. t
Fellow Democrats, you are fighting for a
good and righteous cause. You have for
your. leader tried statesman apatriot who
stood by the Union In its darkest hour a
man equally beloved for the purity of his
private character as honOred tor his public
virtues. .f fe.- vatfft
Opposed to you are the men who have
subverted the structure of our system OF
representative elfgovernment, yindi.ated
to the world by more than half century OF
prosperity and greatness; the men who have
increased our enormous debt by proflgacy
and corruption unparalleled the men who
in two successive Congresses have demon
strated their incompetency to diminish our
burdens by economy or apportion them with
equity; the men who have SO distributed
our burdens as that they press with exces-
sive weight upon the labor and industry OF
the country, making the rich men richer by
making poor pen poorer. =
Opposed to you are the men who have
denied for three years of peace, and will
continue to deny until your votes arrest
them, self government to the people OF ten
States; the men who have taken away the
power of our Chief Magistrate to insure
faithful execution of the laws, or to command
the army and navy of the United States !;
the men who did their worst to expel the
President from the White House for obey
ing faithfully the behests of your supreme
law; the men who, being conscious Of their
crimes, dreaded to have the Supreme Court
declare their quality, and therefore abridged
it's Jurisdiction and silenced its voice the
men who have usurped and are grasping
ard welding powers not possessed to day
by any monarch among civiiize nations.
Against these men and all their despotic
purposes. which General Grant would be as
powerless to hinder as he whom they elected
four years ago has been; against these men,
their crimes in the past, their fast aceomp-
fishing designs in the future, you are soon
to make one final and determined onslaught.
-Four years ago we failed to expel them
from power, though we predicted then, as
we now predict. their incompetency to give
to the people peace; declaring then, as we
now declare, the revolutionary purposes OF
their most active leaders, who rule their
party as they would rule the country, with
a despotic sway. But these four years have
justified our warning. Our worst predlc-
tions then are their enactments now. What
we feared they have done. The revolution
has made steady progress. Once mere we
call every patriot to join our ranks i
If the people will now rise in their majesty
and might, they can save their institutions,
and rebuild them. If they are supine and
REGARDLESS of their sacred interests; so much
in the last four years has been accomplished,
and so much in the next four years may
ca sily be accomplished, no obstacle then
remaining, that the revolution will become
a fixed fact; the structure of our government
will have been, completely remodeled. 1t
NAV be government; still, it will no longer
be your representative selfa0vernment e
For this final struggle, then. fellow Dem
ocrats of the United States, let us invigorate
every muscle and nerve. every heart. The
time is short. The foe is stubborn and des.
nerate, for our victory would be the death
blow to the Republican party. It could
have been held together by no other nomi-
nation. It cannot survive your successful
assault. One victory is enough. Your
triumph in November will finally re-estab-
lishthe Union and the Constitution foranoth-
er generation of men; it will restore peace and
good order to the South, prosperity to the
North, and wise and frugal rule to both.
The great prize is worthy your most stren-