The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-06-04
WASHINGTON, June l

quiet and protectIon everywhere.
In times like the present it is
impossible, or at least eminently
improper, to lay down policy to
be adhered to, right or wrong,
through an administration OF four
years. New political issues, not
foreseen, are constantly arising.
The views of the public on old ones
are constantly changing and a
purely administrative officer should
be left free to execute the will of
the people. I have always respected
that will and always shall.
Peace and universal prosperity,
its sequence, with economy of adj
ministration, will tighten the burden
of taxation, while it constantly re-
-duces the national debt. Let us
have peace. With great respect,
Your obedient servant,
u. S. GRANT. i.
WASHINGTON, May 80, 1868.
To Hon. j. r. Hawley, President Of
the National Union Republican
Convention.
DEAR SIR: The platform adopted
by the patriotic Convention over
which you presided, and the reso-
lutions which SO happily supple
ment it, so entirely agree with my
views as to just national policy,
that my thanks are due to the dele
gates as much for this clear and
auspicious declaration principles,
as for the nomination with which l
have been honored, and which /
gratefully accept.
When great rebellion which i'm
perrilled the national existence was
at last overthrown, the duty Of all
others devolving on those intrust-
ed with the responsibilities Of legis
lation evidently was to require that
the revolted States should be re-
admitted into participation in the
Government. against which they
erred only on such basis as to
increase and fortify, not to weaken
Or endanger the strength and power
Of the nation. Certainly no one
ought to have claimed that they
should be readmitted under such
rule that their organization as States
could ever again be used at the
opening Of war to defy the ma
tional authority or to destroy ma
tional unity. This principle has
been the pole star Of those who have
infexibly insisted on the Congress
sional policy your Convention so
cordially indorsed. Baffled by Ex-
ecutive opposition and by persist
ent refusals to accept any plan of
reconstruction proposed by Con
gress, justice and public safety, at
last combined to teach us that only
by an enlargement of suffrage in
those States could the desired end
be attained, and that it was even
more safe to give the ballot to those
who loved the Union than to those
who had sought Intellectually to de
stroy it. The assured success of
this legislation is being written on
the adamant of history, and will be
our triumphant vindication.
More clearly, too, than ever be-
fore does the nation now recognize
that the greatest glory of republic
is that it throws the shield of its
protection over the humblest ana
weakest of its people, and vindi-
Gates the rights of the poor and the
powerless as faithfully as those of
the mighty and the powerful.
rejoice, too, in this connection,
to find in your platform the frank
and fearless avowal that naturalized
citizens must be protected abroad
at every hazard as though they were
native born. Our whole people are
foreigners or descendants of for
eigners. Our fathers established by
arms their right to be called a ma
ton. It remains for us to estab-
lish the right, and welcome to our
shores all who desire, by oaths of
allegiance, to become American citi-
zens. Perpetual allegiance, as
claimed abroad, is only another
name for perpetual bondage, and
would make all slaves to the soil
where first they saw the light Our
national cemeteries prove how
faithfully these oaths of fidelity to
the adopted land have been sealed
in the life blood Of thousands upon
thousands. Should we not then be
faithless to the dead if we did not
protect their living brethren in full
enjoyment Of that nationality for
which, side by side with the native
born, our soldiers of foreign birth
laid down their lives?
1t was fitting, too, that the repre-
sentatives of party which had
proved so true to national duty in
time of war, should speak so clearly
in time of peace Of the maintenance
untarnished of the national honor
and the national credit and good
faith as regards it's debt, the cost
of our national existence.
do not need to extend this re-
ply by further comment on plat
form which has elected such hea rty
approval throughout the land; the
debt of gratitude it acknowledges to
the brave men who saved the Union
from destruction the frank appro-
val of amnesty, based on repentance
and loyalty; the demand for the
most rigid economy and honesty in
the government the sympathy of
the party ofliberty with all through
out the world who long for the lib
srty We here enjoy, and the recog-