The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1871-07-13
Aolticrarl.
PENNsYLYANIA MANIFESTO.

l
cratic Exeeutiue Committee OF the
keystone State-POlitIeaI Issues OF
the Day Clearly and Strongly Stated.
% The following are the material portions
of the address to the Democracy ofPenn-
sylvania by the Democratic Executive
Committee of that State. The paper was
prepared by ex-Secretary jeremiah S.
Black:
The Executive Committee of the Demo-
craey of this State, to whom-the following
address was referred by the recent State
Convention, now present the same to you
as embodying some of tine reasons which
actuate and control the organization they
represent We here solennly renew our
often repeated declaration of fidelity to
the great principles upon which our party
has acted from the time of its first organi-
Zation. Our ultimate objects are those of
our fathers when they adopted the Feder-
al Constitution, viz ''Io form a more per-
feet union, to establish Justice, to iusme
domestic tranquility, TO promote the gen
eral welfare, to provide for the common
defense, and secure the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and our posterity." We sin
cerely believe that the government of the
United States, administered as it was in
former days, with a direct view to the ad-
vancement of these principles, would do
for us and our children all that any people
can reasonably desire from the political
system under which they live. We are
equally sure that if not carried out in the
spirit of those by whom it was framed, it
must become curse instead ofa blessing.
Situated as we are, obedience to the funda
mental law means not only the honest
perform ance of sworn obligations, but
freedom, peace, and prosperity to all clas-
ses of the people. On the other hand, the
usurpation of interdicted or undelegated
power Is not only crime in itself, but the
fruitful parent of other crimes, and will
lead, as it has already led, to indefinite
misgovernment, corruption, and tyranny,
subvertlng all liberty, and rendering the
rights of all men insecure. When We
speak Of the Federal Constitution, we mean
the whole instrument with all its amend
ments, and acknowledge the equal obliga-
ton of every part. Several of those
amendments were carried by brute force and
are frauds upon the public will so glaring
as to take from their authors all claim
upon our respect. But we cannot deny
that they have actually become a part of
the Constitution nor can we avoid that
corrupt misconduct of the men who at that
time controlled Congress and mastered the
State Legislatures. Whosoever swears to
support the Constitution must perform all
that is Nominated IN the bond" Any
change which experience and reason shall
prove to be desirable must be made in the
prescribed way, and not by revolutionary
and disorderly means.
THE DECLARATION OF 1871.
I No candid person will deny that the
leading men in power at Washington have
broken the pledges they made to the pee-
pie, and, IN reckless disregard of their
oaths, they have violated the plainest pro-
visions of the Constitution. They have
deprived the States of their sacred right Of
self-goVernment in matters purely local,
and dlsarmed them of the power TO enforce
their own laws for the preservation of or
der within their own boundaries They
have passed bills of pains and penalties,
operating on millions at once without re-
gard to the guilt or innocence of the par
ties. They have trampled on all the Sc
curities of life, liberty and property. They
have treated the hGbeGS corpus law with
contempt, and denied the right of trial by
jury. They have sent out swarms of their
nap, imprison and kill free citizens for DO
litical ofIenses, without Judicial accusa-
ton, warrant, or trial. They have not
only trodden upon the great principles,
embodied in the original constitution as it
came from the hands of its trainers, but
even the amendments, which they them
selves Interpolated, have been broken
without remorse whenever 1t suited their
interests In defiance of the XIIIth
amendment, they have doomed many per-
sons to the worst kind OF Slavery or in
voluntary ssrvitude" in the public prisons,
without the pcetense of any "crime where
Of the party was legally convicted" In
the face of the XIVth they have abridged
the equal rights" of whole masses Of
white citizens. Without the least respect
for the right of universal suffrage, guaran-
teed by the XVIII, they have interfered
both foreibly and fraudulently to prevent
fair elections, and to set them aside after
they were held These outrages upon
justice, liberty and law have been per-
petrated, not during the conflict of a civil
war-not In moments of wild passion or
heated exeitement-but in cold blood,
upon deliberate reflection, in time of pro-
found peace, in full view of the conse-
quences, and their authors have followed
out this line of policy, step by step, with
persistency which shows their fixed de-
termination for the future, as in the past,
to be bound by no oath and held by no
promise. The two last and most impor-
tant of their antI-constitutional measures
show more distinctly than others their
settled design to strangle the liberties of
the nation, and take perpetual power into
their own hands. The force bill authori-
zes the President not only to invade the
States at his pleasure, but by declaring
martial law to subYert all government, ex-
cept what consists of his mere will I'm
der the election law his cannon is planted
directly against the freedom of State cleo
tions. Already the bayonets of the Ex-
ecutive have cleaned around the polling
places in the cities of New York and Phil
adelphla. Who can mistake the meaning
of these preparations for the next Presi- |
Dental election2 Who doubts that warn
ing and rebuke are needed now to prevent |
the Administration from carrying out its !
purposes by force? If the warning be not |
given by the people, or fail of Its proper |
effect, can we hope for peace? 1t seems to |
US an error to suppose the American peo-
pie tame enough to be kicked under the |
yoke of a despotism, or ignorant enough |
to he juggled out of the great inheritance |
of free government which the fathers left |
them
RoTTENNEss OF THE ADMINISTRATION.
We complain of our present rulers for |
lawless usurpation of power Power not
is always abused In this, as
in other cases, usurpation has been accom-
panied and followed by corruption, Frauds |
without number, and almost without limit,
have been committed on hepnblic Men
Of the worst character for common honesty
are permitted to occupy the highest places.
Of the money collected from the people,
and not stolen before it reaches the Treas
nry, large portion is sqandered by Con-
gress on party favorites or. corrupt rings,
aRd on base combinations of public plum
lerers. The enormous extent to which
This financial corruption has been carried,
will become manifest to any one who COM
pares the expenditures of the Government
Turing the six years which proceeded and
followed the war Both were periods of
peace, and there can be no excuse for more
han a small increase corresponding to the
alto in which the DoDulation has ady yanced |