The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1868-06-06

The following is a complete copy of
the platform adopted by the Radical
Convention at Chicago:
The National Republican party of the
United States, assembled i'll National
Convention in the city of Chicago, on
the goth day of May, 1868, make the
following declaration of principles:
l. We congratulate the couu'ry or
the assured success of the reconstruction
of Congress, as evinced by the adoption
in a majority of the States lately in re-
bellion of their own Constitutions, and
securing equal, civil and political rights
to all and We regard it as the duty of
government to sustain those institutions
and to preven- the people of such States
from being RENTED to a state of anarchy
2. The guarantee by Congress of equal
suffrage to all loyal men in the South,
was demanded by every consideration
of public safety, of gratitude and justice,
and must be maintained, while the ques-
ton of suffrage in the loyal States pro-
perly belongs to the people Of those
States.
9. We denounce all forms of repudia-
ton as a national crime, and national
honor requires the payment of public
indebtedness in the Utmost good faith to
all conditions at home and abroad, not
only according to the letter, but the
spirit of the laws under which it was
contracted.
4. 1t is due to the labor of the nation
that taxation should b. equalized and
reduced as rapidly as the national faith
will permit.
5. The national debt, contracted as it
has been, for the preservation of the
Union, for all time to come should be
extended owe a fair period for redemp-
ton, and it is the duty of Congress to
reduce the rate Of interest thereon when
ever it eau honestly be done.
6. That the best policy to diminish
our burden OF debt is SO to improve our
credit that capitalists will seek to loan
us money at lower rates of interest than
we now pay, and must continue to pay
as long as repudistion, partial or local,
open or covert, is threatened or suspect
ed.
T.. The Government of the United
States should BE- administered with the
s~trictest economy, and the corruplions
which have been so shamefully nursed
and fostered by Andrew johnson call
loudly for Radical reform.
s. We profoundly deplore the untime-
ly and tragic death of Abraham Lincoln.
and regret the accession of Andrew
Johnson to the Presidency, who has
acted treach-rously to the people who
elected him and the cause he was pledged
to support ; usurped high Legislative and
judicial functions has refused to exc
cute the laws; has used his high Office
to induce other officers to ignore ana
violate the laws; has employed his ex-
ecutive powers to render insecure the
property, peace, liberty and life of the
citizens has abused the %pardoning pow
er has denounced the National Legisla,
ture as unconstitutional ; has persistent
ly resisted, by every measure in his
power, every proper attempt at the re-
construction Of the States lately in re-
bellion ; has perverted the public patron
age into an engine of wholesale corrup-
ton, and has been justly impeached for
high crimes aid misdemeanors, and
properly guilty thereof by the votes of
thirty-fve Senators.
80. The doctrine of Great Britain and
l1bther European powers that because a
mau is once a subject be is always so,
must be rcasakd At every hazard by the
United S esmA-a feuasik time
mott pc law of nations,
AM In national honor and
III Naturalized citizens
10 be protected in all thajr rights
citizenship p, as ~ were nat
lral b~ornx Azen Of the United
So I'D or naturalized, must be
la j arrest and imprisonment by any
foreign power for acts done or words
spoken in this country, and if SO ar
rested and irnprF@sd, it is the duty Of
| the Government to Interfere IN his be-
half. ....
10. Of all who were faithful in the
| trials of the late civil war there were
none entitled to more especial hJnor than
the brave soldiers and seamen who en-
dured the hardships of campaign and
cruise. and imperilled their lives in the
services Of the country. The bounties
and pensions provided by law for those
brave defenders of the nation are obi
cations never 10 be forgotten. The
widows and orpsQps of the gallant dead
are the wards of the psople-a sacred
legacy bequeathed to the nations pro-