Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-10-23
THE DEMOCRACY.
IHE UEmUUhAO1s
---- s4.5l 5000.
Clear the Decks for Action.
Address OF the National DEM
Ocratlc Committee.
Plans ana Purposes Of the
Party in Peace.
No Breakdown in Principle
and No Withdrawal Of
Candidates. ++tI
Clear the Decks for Action
Patriots TO the Breach and
Victory.

4 utIAUtS W tHC DtCOVH Oht
Victory.
tHat $3.50 a. cd
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FELLOW CITIZENS II is great priv
ledge and duty 10 address you op the eve o
the great battle which we are TO fight, and
which is to decide whether the government
of this republic is to remain four year
more in the hands Of the Radical party
OF whether, by an energetic, united, ami
last effort, you will wrest the power from
its grasp, and give to us, under Demo
cratic conservative administration, a gov
ernment based upon principles of Justice,
economy and constitutional liberty.
The Issues of the present campaign are
selfevident. They appeal to the intelli-
gence and patriotism Of every voter in the
most unmistabsble terms They have been
discussed by distinguished orators of our
party since the nomination of our cam
didates. What the Democratic party in-
tends TO do if placed in power BY your suf
frage is to restore peace and union to our
country to heal the wounds and suferings
caused BY the rebellion to give to the peo-
pie of the South the rights which they are
entitled to under the Constitution, and by
which alone we can bring back prosperity
and quiet to that distracted section; to re-
duce materially our military and naval
establishments kept up now on an immense
scale and at an enormous cost to intro.
duce into every department of government
the strictest economy, and to develop, by
an equitable system of taxation the grow
ing resources of our country, and thus
place the Federal finances on a stable and
solid footing, and to pave the way to a
gradual ard safe return to specie payment
We are charged by the Radical party of
violence and usurpation, which for the last
four years, to prolong its existence, has set
at naught the Constitution and the funda-
mental principles of our government, that
we intend revolution and defiance of estab-
lished law. The accusation is unfounded
and absurd. 1t can not be entertained for
a moment by any intelligent voter who has
the most superficial knowledge of the bis
tory of the country. The Democratic party
can proudly point to every page of its his
tory. 1t has never violated single obli-
CATION of the fundamental compact by
which these United States entered into the
family of nations. 1ts watchWord in peace
and in war has been and always will be
the Union, the Constitution and the laws;
they might be placed by the sufrages Of
their fellow-citizens, can ever expect TO re-
cei7e the support of this great Conserva-
tive party in any revolutionary attempt
against established laws.
J The ballot box and the supreme will Of
the American people are the only means
of redress to which we look. Fellow
Democrats you are fighting for righteous
cause. You have for your leader tried
statesman and patriot, who stood by the
Union in its darkest hour, a man equally
beloved for II g purity OF his private char
acter rs honored for his public virtues.
Opposed TO you are the men who have sub
verted the structure of their own system
of representative self-government vindica-
ted to the world by more than half CEN
fury Of prosperity and greatness, the men
who have increased our enormous debt by
prohigacy and corruption unparalleled,
the men who, in two successive Congresses,
have demonstrated their incapacity TO
our burdens by economy or APP
portion them with equity; the men who
have 80 distributed out burdens that they
press with excessive weight upon the labor
and industry of the country, making rich
men richer and poor men poorer
Opposed TO you are the men who have
denied for three years of peace, and who
will continue to deny until your votes ar
rest them, self-government TO the people
of ten States; the men who have taken
away the power of our Chief Magistrate to
insure a faithful execution of the laws or
the army and navy Of the United
States; the men who did their worst to
expel the President from the White House
for obeying faithfully the interests of your
supreme law; the men who, being con-
scious of their twenty-nine crimes, dreaded
to have the Supreme Court declare their
quality, ard therefore abridged its juris.
diction and silenced its voice the men
who have usurped and are graspiDg and
powers not possessed to-day by
any monarch among civilized nations.
Against these men, their crimes in the
past, their nefarious designs for the future,
you are soon to make one final and de-
onslaught. Four years ago We
failed 10 expel them from power, though
we predicted then, as we now predict, their
to give the people peace, de-
claring then, as We now declare, the reto-
iutionary purposes of their most active
leaders, WHO ruled their party as they
would the country, with despotic sway.
But these four years have justified our
warning and our worst predictions.
What we feared they have done. The
revolution has made steady progress, and
Dnce more we call every patriot to join our
ranks. If the people will now rise in
their majesty and might they can save
their institutions and rebuild them. IL
they are regardless of their sacred inter-
ests, SO much in the last four years has been
and so much in the next four
years may easily be accomplished, no OBJ
.tacles then remaining, that the revolution
will become fixed fact. The structure of
Dur government will have been completely
remodeled. 1t may be government still,
but it will no longer be a representative
For this final struggle then, fellow Demo-
Gratis of the United States, let us iuvig-
Orate every muscle and nerve every heart.
The time is short the foe is stubborn and
desperate. Our victory wonld be the
death blow to the Republican party. 1t
could have been held together by no other
it cannot survive your sue.
cess; one victory is enough. Your triumph
in November will finally re-establish the
Union and the Constitution for another
generation of men. 1t will restore peace
and good order to the South, prosperity to
the North, and wise and frugal rule to
both. These great prizes are worthy your
most strenuous endeavors. Our ranks are
nnbroken, our courage undated. Once
more TO the breach, and this time victory.
For the National Committee.
AUG BELMONT, Chairman.
New York, Oct. 20, 1868. q (