Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1868-06-06
Gen. Grants Letter Of Acceptance.

7 indorse their resolutions, and, If elected
IN the office of President of the United
I States, it will be my endeavor to admins
! ter all the laws in good faith, with economy
and with the view of giving peace, quiet
and protection everywhere. In times like
the present it is impossible, or at least emf
| nently improper to lay down a policy to be
adhered to, right or wrong, through an adj
ministration of four years. O a'l er7
New political issues not foreseen are con-
atantly arising, the views of the public in
old ones are constantly changing, and o
purely administrative officer should always
be left free to execute the will of the people
always have respected that will, and always
shall Peace, and universal prosperity its
sequence, with economy of administration,
will tighten the burden of taxation while ii
constantly reduces the national debt Let
us have peace. With great respect, your
obedient servant, u. 8. GRANT
Hon. Schuyler Colfhx's Letter Of
Acceptance.
WASHINGTON, May so, 1865 Hon ]. R.
Hawley, President of the National Union
Republican Convention Dear Sir: : The
platform adopted by the patriotic Conven-
tion over which you presided, and the reso-
lutions which so happily supplement it, so
entirely. agree with my views as to just
national policy, that my thanks are due to
the delegates as much for this clear and
suspicious declaration of principles as for
the nomination with which / have been
honored, and which gratefully accept
When great rebellion which imperilled
the national existence was at last over
thrown, the duties of all Others, devolving
on those intrusted with the responsibilities
of legislation, evidently was, to require that
| the rcvolted States should be admitted to
participation in the government against
which they had warred, only on such a basis
Us to increase and fortify, not TO weaken or
endanger the strength and power of the
nation.
Certainly no one ought to have claimed
that they should be reaGmitted under such
rule; that their organization as States could
ever again be used, as nt the opening OF the
war, to defy the national authority or to
destroy the national unity. This principle
has been the polar star of those who have
infexibly insisted on the Congressional po-
| licy your Convention so cordially indorsed.
Batfied by Executive opposition and persis-
tent refusas to accept any plan of recon
struction proffcred by Congress, justice and
| public safety at last combined to teach us
that only by an enlargement of suffrage in
| tanned and that it was even more safe to
give the ballot to those who loved the Union
than those who had sought Intellectually to
destroy it. The assured success of this lcgis-
lation is being written in the adamant of
history, and will be our triumphant Yirdi-
cation.
More clearly, too, than ever before, does
the nation recognize that the greatest glory
of republic is, that it throws the shield of
| its protection over the humblcst and the
weakest of its people, and yindicates the
rights of the poor and the powerless rs
faithfully as those Of the rich and the pow
erful. / rejoice, too, in this connection, TO
find in your platform the frank and fearless
avowal that naturalized citizens must be
protected abroad at every hazard, as though
they were native born.
Our whole people are Foreigners, or de.
scendants of foreigners. Our fathers estab-
lshed by arms their right to be called ma
ton, 1t remains for us to establish the
right to welcome to our shores all who are
willing, by oaths of allegiance, to become
American citizens. Perpetual allegiance, MS
claimed abroad, is only another name for
perpetual bondage, and would make all
slaves to the soil where first they saw the
light. ..,...-..
Our national cemeteries prove how faith
fully these oaths of fidelity, to their adopt
cd land, have been sealed in the life blood
of thousands upon thousands Should we
not then be faithless to the dead if we did
not protect their living brethren in the full
enjoyment Of that nationality for which,
side by side with the. native born, our sol.
diers of foreign birth laid down their lives.
1t was fitting too, that the representatives
of party which had proved so true to ma
tional duty in time of war should speak SO
clearly in time of peace for the maintenance,
untarnished, of the national honor, national
credit and good faith as regards its debt
the cost of our national existence. / do not
need to extend this reply by further com
inent on a platform which has elected such
hearty approval throughout the land The
debt of gratitude it acknowledges to the
brave men who saved the Union from de.
struction; The frank approval of amnesty
based on repentance and loyal.
The demand for the most thorough econo.
my and honesty in the government tho
sympathy of the party of liberty"we here
enjoy, and the recognition of the sublimest
principles os the Declaration of Independ-
encc, are worthy of the organization on
whose banners they are to be written in the
coming contest. Its past record cannot be
blotted out or forgotten. II there had been
no Republican party, slavery would to-day
cast its baleful shadow over the Republic
If there had been no Republican party, q
. free press and free speech would be as un.
known from the Potomac to the Rio Grande
as ten years ago If the Republican party
could have been stricken from existence
when the banner of Rebellion was unfurled
and when the response of no coercion was
heard at the North, we would have had nc
nation to-day. But for the Republican par
ty daring to risk the odium of tax and draft
laws, our flag could not have been kept fly.
ing in the field till the long'hoped for vic
tory came. T i-s.
Without Republican party the Civi
Rights bill, the guarantee of equality under
: the law to the humble and the defenseless
as well as to the strong, would not be to- day
upon our national statute book. With in
spirations from the past, and following the
example of the founders of the Republic
who called the victorious General of tn,
Revolution to preside over the land his tri
umpbs had saved from its enemies, cannot