Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-07-22

Ii Ge
The following letter from General francis
P. Blair is addressed to General Morgan, the
Chairman Of the Committee Of the National
Democratic Conservative Convention:
accept without hesitation, the nomination,
tendered in a manner so gratifying, and give
YOU and the committee my thanks 1or Inc very
kind and complimentary language IN when
YOU have conveyed to me the decision OF tne
convention.
/ have fully read the resolutions adopted by
the Convention and most cordially concur IN
every principle and sentiment they announce.
NV Opinion upon all Of the questions which dis
criminate the great contendlng parties, have
been expressed upon all suitable occasions, and
I do not deem it necessary at THIS time TO relt-
crate them. The issues upon which the con-
test turns are clear, and cannot be obscured or
distorted BY the sophlstres Of our adVersarles.
They all resolve themselves into the old and
ever recurring struggle OF Jew men to ABSORB
the political power of the nation: This effort
under every conceivable name ana disguise mas
always characterized the opponents OF the Dem
ocratic party, but at no time has the attempt
assumed shape so open and daring as IN this
contest The adversaries of free and constltu-
tional Government in defiance of the express
language of the Constitution have erected
military despotism in ten of the States of the
Union. have taken from the President the pow
ers vested in him by the supreme law, and have
denrived the Supreme Court of its Jurisdiction
The right of trial by jury, and the great Wrlt OF
right, the habeas corpus-shields or safety Tor
every citizen which have descended to us from
the earliest traditions OF our ancestors, anu
which our revolutionary fathers sought to Sc
cure to their pcsterity foreverin the fundamen-
III charter of our liberties, have been ruthlessly
trampled under foot by the fragment of Con-
gress Whole States and communities OF peo-
pie Of our OWL race have been atsainted, con
nd. San Of OF rights
as citizens without presentment or trial or wit
nesses, but by Congressional enactment Of ex
post facto laws, and in defiance of the consltu-
tional prohibition, denying even to full and
legal Congress the authority to pass any bill OF
attainder or ex post facto law,
The same usurping authority has substituted
as electors, in place of the men of our own race
thus illegally attainted and disfranchised, host
of ignorant negroes, who are supported IN Idle
ness with the public money, and combined TO-
gether to strip the white race of their blrthrlght
through the management of tho Freedmen 8
Bureau and the emissaries of consplrators IN
other States, and, to complete the oppression
the military power Of the nation has been placed
at their disposal in order to make this barbar-
ism supreme. .- .
The military leader under whose prestige this
usurping Congress has taken refuge since the
condemnation of their schemes by the free peo-
pie of the North in the elections OF the last
year and whom they have selected rs their
candidate to shield themselves from tho result
of their own wickcdness and crimo, has an
nounccd his acceptance Of tho nomination and
his Willingness to maintain their usurpations
over eight millions OF white people at the South,
fixed to the earth with his bayonets He ex-
claims LET us havo peace Peace relgns
in Warsaw" was the announcement which her
aided the loom of the liberties of a nation
The Empire is peace exclaimed Bonaparte,
when freedom and It's defenders expired under
the sharp edge of his sword ..... iii
The peace TO which Grant invites us is tho
peace of dcspotism and death. Those who seek
10 restore the Constitution by executing the will
of the people condemning the Reconstruction
acts, already pronounced in the elections OF last
year. and which WILL l am convinced, be still
more emphatically expressed by the election OF
the Democratic candidate as the President of
the United States, are denounced as revolution
lists by the partisans of this vindiCtive Congress
Negro suffrage, which the popular vote OF New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Mich-
gan, Connecticut and other States, has con-
demncd as expressly against the letter of the
Constitution, must stand because their Senators
and Representatives have Willed it. If the peo-
pic shall again condemn these atrociouS meas
ures by the election of the Democratic candi-
date for President, they must not be- disturbed,
although decided to be unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court, and although the President is
sworn to maintain and support the Constitu-
ton. The will Of fraction Of Congress rein
forced with It's partisan cmissaries sent to tho
South, and supported by the soldiers, must
stand against the will Of the people, and the de-
cision of the Supreme Court and the solemn
oath of the President to maintain and support
the Constitution. 1t is revolutionary to execute
tho will of the people. 1t Is revolutionary to
execute the judgment of the Supreme Court -
1t is revolutionary in the President to keep in
violate his oath to sustain the Constitution
This false construction Of the vital principle Of
our Government is the last result Of those who
would have their arbitrary reconstruction sway,
and supersede our time honored Institutions
The nation will say the Constitution must be
restored and the will Of the people again pre-
vail. The appeal to the peaceful ballot to at
tain this end is not warts not revolutlon.-
They make war and revolution who attempt to
arrest this quiet mode Of putting aside military
despotism and the usurpations of fragment Of
Cougr, SIS, asserting absolute power over the be-
nign system of regulated liberty left US by our
fathers This must be allowed to take its
course This is the only road to peace It will
come with the election Of the Democratic can
didate and not with the election Of that mailed
warrior whose bayonets are now at the throats
of eight millions of people in the South to com
pei them to support him as q candidate for the
Presidency, and to compel them to submit to
the domination of an alien race of semi-bar-
barous men. No perversion of truth, or auda-
city Of misrepresentation can excel that which
halls this candidate in arms as an angel Of peace.
am, very respectfully, your most obedient
servant, FRANK /. BLAIR. /.