The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-05-22
GREELEY, New York city.


NEW iohh, May 1917
GENTLEMEN--I have chosen not to acknowledge
your letter OF the "a inst. until could learn how
the work of your Convention was received in all
parts of great country, and Judge whether that
work was approved and ratified by the mass of our
fellow citizens Their response has from day to
day reached me through kilograms, letters and
the comments of journalists independent of official
patronage and Indifferent to the smiles or frOwns
OF power The number and character of these
unconstrained unpurchased, unsolicited utterances
satisfy me that the movement which found express
sion Cincinnati has received the stamp OF public
approval and been hailed by majority OF our coun
trymen as the larbnger OF better day for the
public.
do not misinterpret this approval as especially
complimentary to myself, nor even to the chival-
rous and Justly esteemed gentleman with whose
name l thank your Convention for assocating
taneous and deserved tribute to that ad-
mlrable platform OF principles wherein
chilly set forth the convictions which impelled
and the purposes which guided its course-a plat
form which, casting behind it the wreck and rub
bish of wornout contentious ana bygone fends, EN-
bodies in fit and few words the needs and aspira-
tons Of to-day. Though thousands stand ready to
condemn your every act, hardly syllable OF criti-
cism or cav has been aimed at your platform, of
winch the substance may be fairly epitomized as
iollows:-
1. All the political rights and franchises which
have been acquired through our late bloody convul-
sion must and shall be guaranteed, maintained, en-
eyed respected, cvermoTe.
2. N the political rights ana franchises which
have been lost through That conyulsion should and
must be promptly restored and Established, so
that there shall be hencciorth no prescribed class
and no disranchised caste within the limits OF our
Union, whose l0ng-estranged people shall reunite
and iraternize upon the broad basis OF universal
amnesty with impartial suffrage.
3. That, subject 70 our solemn constitutional oh-
CATION to maintain the equal rights OF all citizens
policy should aim at local self-government ana
not at Capitalization; that the cvl authority should
be supreme over the military, that the writ OF
habeas corpus should be jealousy upheld as the safe
guard of personal freedom: that the individual cit
should enjoy the largest liberty consistent with
public order, and that there shall be no federal
sUbverson OF the internal nolity of the several
States and municipalities, but that each snail he
left free to enforce the rights and promote the well
being OF its inhabitants by such means as the
Judgment oft own people shall prescribe.
4. There shall be a real and not merely simua-
ted reform i'll the civil service of the republic; to
which end it is Indispensable that the chief dis
from the main temptation to use his power seishy
by rule ineXorabiy iofbidding and precluding his
reelection.
5. That the raising of revenue, whether by tariff
or otherwise, shall be recognized and treated as
the peoples immediate business to he shaped and
directed by them through their Representatives in
Congress, whose action thereon the President
must neither overrue by his veto attempt to
dictate, nor presume to punish BY bestowmg
drawing 1t from those who 90 not.
G. That the public lands must lie sacredly re-
served for occupation and acquisition NY Guilt
vators, and not recklessly sGuandercd on the pro-
jectors of railroads, for which our people have no
present need, AMI the premature construction of
which is annually plnneing ns into deeper and
deeper abysses OF foreign indebtedness.
7. That the achievement OF these grand purposes
OF universal benefcence is expected ami sought at
the hands OF al! who approve them irrespective Of
past Affiliations.
g. That the public faith must at all hazards be
maintained and the national credit preserved
o. That the patriotic devotedness and nestimable
services OF our fellow citizens who, as soldiers
sailors upheld the Nag and maintained the unity Of
the republic shall ever be gratefully remembered
and honoraby requitcd.
These propositions, ably Bnd forcihly pre-
scDted In the platform Of your Convention have
already fixed the attention and commanded the
assent OF large majority OF our conntrymen,
who joyfuly adopt them, as ! do, as
the basis of q true, bcnehcicnt national recon
struction-of new departure from jeal-
adequate motive or even plausible prctcXt, into
atmosphere OF peace, fraternity and mutual
good VIII. In vain do the drili-sergeants of decay
ing organizations flourish menacingly their trunch-
cons and angriy insist that the files shall be closed
and straightened in vain do the whippers-in of
parties once VITAL because rooted III the vital
needs OF the hour protest against straying ana
boiling, denounce men nowse their interiors az
traitors and rcnegades, and threaten them with
mfamy and ruin. l am confident that the Ameri-
can people have already made your cause their
shall bear it on to triumph. In this faith and
with die distinct understanding that, II elected,
] shall he the President, not OF party, but OF the
whole people, accept your nomination. in the con-
fdebt trust that the masses OF our coun-
trymen, North and South, are eager to
clasp hands across the bloody chasm viii ch
they have been enemies IN the joyful consciousness
that they are and must henceoith remain brethren.
louls, gratefully, HORACE GREELEY.
TO Hon. CARL SCHrRz President: Hon. GEORGE w.
JULIAN Vice President, and Messrs. WILLIAM f.
MCLEAN, JOHN G. DAVIDSON, J. ii. RHODES, Secre-
taries of the National Convention OF The Liberal
ttf. ..r a.. Ga.