Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-07-23
Gen. HAIRS letter Accepting an Isetil
oerafle EousunfFnat =

cen. HAIRS letter Accepting the Tsetia
OeratIe Nominntioas.
WASHINGTON, July 1.-THE bHowins
is copy Of Gen. BIair's letter OF accept
ance Of the Democratic nomination foi
Vice President, which hiss Just been re-
ceived
Gen Geo. W. Morgan, Chairman CouBat
tec Nati0aal Democratic C0RueHfiOB. Itak,
the earliest opportunity OF replying 4
your letter notifying me OF nay nom.
ination for Vice President Of the ,United
States by The National Democratic Con.
yention, recently held in the city Of New
York. ---rt 81. 4. -. p r..
accept, without hesitation, the nomina.
tion rendered IN a manner so gratifying.
and give you and the COMMITTEES my thsnks
for the very kind and complimentary Ian.
guage in which you have conveyed 20 me
the decision Of the. convention. I have
carefully read the resolutions adopted by
the convention, and most cordially concur
in every principle and sentiment. they an
nounce. My opinion upon all questions
which discriminate the great contending
parties have been freely expressed on all
suitable occasions, and do not deem it
necessary this time to reierate them.
The issue upon which the contest turns
IL clear, and cannot be obscured or distort-
ed by the sophistries of our adversaries.
They all resolve themselves into the old
and ever recurring struggle of a few men
TO absorb the political power of the nation.
This effort under every conceivable named
disguise, has always characterized the oppo-
nents Of the Democratic party, but at no
time has the attempt assumed so open and
daring a shape as in this contest.
The adversaries Of free constitutional
government in defiance of the express Ian
guage Of the Constitution have erected q
military despotism in ten States of the
Union; have taken from the President the
power vested in him by the supreme law,
and have deprived the Supreme Court OF
its jurisdiction, and the people Of She right
Of trial by jury, and the great writ of Aa6sas
corpus, which shonld be the right of every
citizen, and which have descended to us
from the earliest traditions of our ancestors,
and which our revolutionary fathers fought
TO secure to their posterity forever.
The fundamental charter of our liberties
have been ruthlessly trampled under foot
by a fragment of a Congress. Whole
States and communities of people of our
race have been attainted, convicted, con-
demned and deprived of their rights as
citizens without presentment, trial or wit
nesses, but by Congressional enactment Of
en- post fdctO law, and in defiance of the
constitutional revision denying to a full
and loyal Congress the authority to pass
any bill of attainder er post tactO law.
The same usurping authority has sub
stituted electors in place of men of your
own race. Their allegiance attained and
enfrancbise a host of ignorant negroes,
who are supported in idleness with the
public money and combined together TO
strip their white race of their birth-Tight
through the management of the Freedmen's
Bureau and emissaries of the conspiratOrs
in other States, and to complete the appre-
hension, the military power of the nation
has been placed at their disposal. In or
der to make this barbarism supreme, the
military leader under whose prestige this
usurping Congress has taken refuge since
the condemnation Of the free people of the
North, iR tho elections of last year; and
they have selected as their candidate, 10
shield themselves from lhe resHlt of their
wicledness and crimes, one who has an-
nounced his acceptance Of the nomination
and his willingness to maintain their usur-
pations over the eight millions Of white
people in the South, who are fixed TO the
earth with his bsyonets.
He exclaims Let as have peace y
"Peace reigns ia Warsaw" was the an.
nouncement which heralded the doom Of
the liberties Of a nation. "Peacep ex-
claimed Bonaparie, when freedom and it's
defenders expired under the sharp edge of
the sword. The peace 10 which Grant in
vites Us is the peace of despotism and
death. Those who seek TO restore the Com
stitution by executing the will Of the peo-
pie, condemning the reconstruction acts al
ready pronounced in the elections Of last
year, and which viii, am convinced, be
still more emphatically expressed by the
election of the Democratic candidate as
President Of the United States. The Demo-
Gratis are denounced as revolutionists by
the partisans of this vindictiye Congress.
Negro suffrage which the popular vote Of
New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Connec-
ticut, and other States have emphatically
condemned as expressly against the letter
of the Constitution must stand, because
their Senators and Representatives have
willed it. If the people shall again con-
denim these measures by the election of a
Democratic President they must not be
disturbed, although decided TO be uncon.
stitutional by the Supreme Court, and al!
though the President is sworn TO protect
and maintain the Constitution, the will of
a fraction Of Congress will be REINFORCED
with its partisan emissaries sent to the South,
and supported there by the soldiery must
stand against the will Of the people, the
decision of the Supreme Court, and the
solemn oath Of the President to maintain
the Constitution, 1t is revolutionary to
execute the will of the people. 1t is revo-
lutionary In the President 70 keep inviolatt
his oath 10 support the Constitution. This
false construction OF the best principles Of
our government is the last resort of those
who would sway aud supersede our time
honored institutions. The nation will say
that the Constitution must be preserved
and the will of the people again prevail
The appeal TO the peaceful ballot 10 obtaiI
this end is not revolution. They make wal
and revolution who attempt 10 arrest thu
quiet mode Of putting aside military despot
ism anu the usurpatiOns of fragment Of 1
Congress in asserting absolute power ovel
that benign system of regulated liberty lief
as by our fathers. This must be allowed
10 take It's course. This lie the only road t.
peace. Ii will come with the election o
the Democratic candidate, and not will
the election Of that mailed warrior, Whose
bayonets are now at the threats Of eigh
millions Of people in the South, to compe
them TO support him as a candidate for tn
Presidency, and to submit TO the determin
alton Of an alien race Of semi-barbarou
men. No perversion of the truth o
audacity Of misrepresentation can excee'
that which halls this candidate In srms A
an angel of peace.
am, very respectfully, your most obedi
| ent servant, FRANK j. BLAIR,
| NOTWITHSTANDING the war ended u