Wyoming democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Wyoming Co., Pa.) 1867-1940, 1868-03-11
The Democratic State Convention.
Five Thousand Persons Present--Great
Enthusiasm---The Speeches, NOmina-
tiOns, and Resolutions, &C., &c.
Harrisburgh. Pa. March 4.

harrlSDurgn, IA, Marcn r,
Long before the hour of II o'clock the
hall of the House of Representatives was
crowded with enthusiastic delegates, called
together from every district in the Com
monwealth. The attendance is the largest
ever witnessed at State Convention IL
PENNSYLVANIA The number of persons
present being not less than 5000.
At II NJ. the Convention was called tC
order by Hon. William Wallace, Chair
man of State Committee The list of del.
egates having been called, Mr.. Wallace
proceeded to address the Convention as
follows: .t
GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION The
political events of the last year are fnll OF
reasons for pride in your strength and con-
fidence in your future. Success has
crowned your efforts, and the great princi
Piles of civil liberty and constitutional gov
ernment have asserted their power over
the minds of the people. These great doc
trines gave birth to our organization, and
when we are defeated in their support, like
the fablcd Anteus when hurried to his
mother earth, we gather thcrefrom new
vigor to rise again stronger and more
determined. The war and its attendant
train of horrors are remembered in sad
ness. Reason resumes its throne, and de-
signing men can no longer attain their self
ish ends by appeals to passion. Christian
charity now fills the place that rancor had
usurped, and hate and bitterness are slow
ly passing away. The Radical party have
shown their incapacity to govern the re-
public, and the mass of their own adher-
cuts recognize the fact. Famine and
crime, military rule. insecurity of life and
property, the negro dominant, the white
race oppressed, are the proofs of this IN
one section; while grinding taxation, un-
certainty'in business, and financial distress
pervade the other. The Radical party has
given us broken and discovered union,
corruption, extravaganza in the use OF the
public money, confusion in monetary af-
fairs, mismanagement of the immense rev
enues it has wrung from the people. 1t
can unite upon no policy but the perpetu-
alton of its own power. In the mad spirit
Of faction it seeks to strip the executive of
his prerogative, to ignore the sacred funr-
tions of the Judiciary. 1t tramples upon
the organic law reverses our traditions,
and brands As criminal every attempt TO
stay ITS wild career. Our form of govern
merit is the external evidence of our ca
pacity for -governmcnt-fo govern
ments are what the people make them. Ii
we can govern ourselves we can sustain
the government we love, and can safely
trust TO the force of ideas, to the march Of
mind, to pubic opinion, to crush with the
ballot those who through the forms OF law
attack the vital spirit of our Institutions
The people have ordained free system
of laws, and a complex yet simple organ
ism-the people, the State, and the Union.
The preservation of the rights of each OF
these is essential to the. existence of the
whole. To maintain these they have ere
atcd the three great coordinate branches
of the GOvernment-the executive, the leg
islative, and the judicial. The public good
and private rights demand the preservation
of the integrity of each. Sovereignty is
in the people. The Government is their
creature, sworn to protect their liberties.
Its division into independent branches was
Of the very essence OF the system the de-
struction of either is a stride towards tyr
amy, The organic law defines the power
of each, and to that law each must be con-
formed. The Constitution is the supreme
law. 1t is the ouly evidence OF, powers
granted by the States and the people. 1t
mnst be strictly pursued and implicitly
obeyed. To sustain these truths more than
100000 men, in conscious strength and
quiet dignity, await your call, and this day
speak through you for obedience to law,
for the government of the Constitution,
and for the Federal Union of the States.
On motion of Hon. S. f. Ancona, of
Berks, the Hon. William NJ. Randall, of
Schuylkill county, was chosen temporary
chairman Of the Convention.
Mr.. Randall, upon taking the chair, was
greeted with tremendous applause. He
addressed the Convention in substance as
follows:
We are on the eve of opening the Pres
ldentlal campaign, ana II we ueslre success
in our deliberations they must be conduct
ej with wisdom and judgment. We must
bury all past differences and animosities,
and unite in one solid phalanx to defeat
our ancient enemy who is arrayed before US,
and whose only name really is opposition
to the Democratic party. The success of
that party is imperatively demanded, not
on account of the advancement of individ-
uals, but that not only the welfare of the
people, but the very essence Of the govern
ment itself may be saved. Look into the
national councils, that should be the repre-
of the people, and find the exec
utive branch of the government enslaved,
the judiciary Of the nation curtailed of lis
prerogatives, and the legislature, which
under our form of government was but
coordinate branch, assuming the entire
power and control of the national trinity in
a way that has been deemed by all the
great legal minds Of the country lnlmlcal
to the unity of the nation if not vlolatlve
of the organic law.
Il Al r.