Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-07-24

| Wnicn Comcb itoh nun - ~
frank and explicit to require predatory
comments
Gen. Geo. w. Morgan. Chairman Of Committee
OF National Democratic Convention;
| GENERAL: | take the earliest opper-
unity of replying to your letter notifying
me Of INV nomination for Vice President
Of the United States by the National
Democratic Convention, recently held in
the city of New York. / accept, without
hesitation. the nomination rendered in a
manner so gratifying, and give you and
the committee my thanks for the kind
and complimentary language in which
Won have conveyed to me the decision
of the Convention. i have carefully
read the resolutions adopted by
the Convention, and most cor.
daily concur in every principle ana
sentiment they announce. My opinion
upon all the questions which discrimi
nate the great contending parties have
been freely expressed upon all suitable
occasions, and do not deem it nccessa'
nv at this time to reiterate them. The
issues upon which the contest turns are
clear. and cannot be obscured or dis
torted by the sophistries of our adverse
ries. They all resolve themselves into
the old and overcoming struggle OF
| fes, men to absorb the political power OF
| the nation. This effort, under every
conceivable name and disguise, has
always characterized the opponents OF
the Democratic party, but at no time has
the attempt assumed so open and daringa
shape as in this contest. The ADVERSE
ries of free constitutional government.
in defiance of the express language OF
the Constitution, have erected military
despotism in ten States Of the Union,
have taken from the Precedent the power
vested in him by the supreme law, and
have deprived the Supreme Court OF its
jurisdiction, and the right of trial by
iury. and the great writ of right-the
habeas corpus-the shield of safety tor
every citizen, and which have descended
10 us from the earliest traditions OF our
ancestors, and which our revolutionary
fathers fought to secure to their posterity
forever in the fundamental charter ofour
liberties, have been ruthlessly trampled
under foot by fragment of a Congress.
Whole States and communities. OF
people of our race have been attained,
convicted, condemned aud deprived OF
their rights as citizens, without present
ment, trial or witness, but by the Con-
gressional enactment of &c post fdcto
laws, and in defsnce of the constitu-
tional prohibition, denying to fnll and
loyal Congress the authority to pass any
bill of attainder or er post tacto law.
The same psurpiDg authority substituted
as electors, In place OF men OF our
own race, thus illegally attained and
DISTINGUISHED, a host of ignorant ne
groes, who are supported in idleness
with the public money, and combined
together 10 strip the white race OF their
birthripht through the management OF
the Freedmen's Bureau and emmissaries
of conspirators in other States; and, to
complete the oppression, tue military
power of the nation has been PLACED at
their disposal. lu order to make this
barbarism supreme, the military leader
under whose preslige this usurping
Congress has taken refuge since the
condemnation Of their schemes by the
free people Of the North in the
elections of last ycar-they have Sc
lected as their candidate, to shield
themselves from the result of their wick
edness and crime-bas announced his
acceptance of the nominations aud his
willingness to maintain their usurpations
over eight millions Of white people at the
South, fixed to the earth with his bay
onets. He exclaims, Let US have
peace T. peace reigns,' was the
announcement which heralded the
doom of the liberties of a nation.
"The empire is peace exclaimed
Bonaparte, when freedom and its de-
tenders expired under the sharp
edge of the sword. The peace TO which
Grant invites us is the peace of despotlsm
and death. Those who seek to restore
the Constitution by executing the will of
the people, condeming the reconstruc-
ton acts, already pronounced in the
elections of last year, and which will, |
am convinced, be still more emphatlcally
expressed by the election of the Demo-
cratic candidate ss President of the
United'St are denounced as rsyolu-
tionisis by the partisans OF this vlndic-
tive Congress.
Negro suffrage, which the popular vote
of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Michigan and Connecticut, and
other States, have condemned as express
" against the letter Of the Constitution,
must stand because their Senators and
REPRESENTATIVES have willed it. If the
people shall again condemn these nea-
sures by an election of a Democratic
candidate for the President, they must not
be disturbed, although decided to be I'm.
constitutional by the Supreme Court, al
though the President is sworn TO maintain
and support the Constitution. The will
of a fraction of Congress must be rein
forced with its partisan emissaries, sent
to the South and supported there by the
soldiers, must stand against the will OF
the people and the decision of the Su-
preme Court, and the solemn oath Of the
President to maintain and support the
Constitution. lift is revolutionary to exc
cute the will Of the people, it is revolution.
ary in the President to maintain inviolate
his oath to sustain the Constitution. This
false construction of thevital principles Of
our Governmental the last resort Of those
who would sway and supercede our time.
honered institutions. The nation would
saw the Constitution must be restored,
and the will Of the people again prevail.
The appeal TO the peaceful ballot to
attain this end is not revolution. They
make war and revolution who attempt TO
arrest this quiet mode Of putting aside
the military despotism aud usurpations
Of q fragment Of Congress asserting
absolute power over the benign system Of
regulated liberty. Let US by our fathers
swear this must not be allowed 10 take
It's course. This is the only road TO
peace, and that will come with the cleo
ton Of Democratic candidate, aud not
with the election Of that mailed warrior.
whose bayonets are nov at the throats OF