Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1872-05-28
Formal N Notification and Acceptance of
Horace Greeley.

New YoRk, May 2l.-The following is
the notification to Mr.. Greeleyof his nomina-'
ton by the Liberal Republican Convention
It bears date Cincinnati, May 3:
stHon. Horace Greeley Dear Sir: The ns
t,onal convention of liberal republicans of the,
United States have instructed the undersigned:
to inform you that you have been nominated
as the candidate OF the liberal republicans for
the presidency of the United St5tes.3
eve also submit to you the address and
resolutions unanimously adopted by the con-
vention. Be pleased to signify to US your ac-
ceptsnce of the platform and nomination, and
believe us, very truly yours. O. Schnrz,
president; Geo. w. Julian, vice. pre- sident j;
WIN. e. Mclean, John g. Davidson, j. b.
Rhodes, secretaries"
Mr. Greeley's reply accepting the nomina.
ton, dated New York, Mayo. is :ss follows /:
s.Gentiemen 81 have chosen not to ac>
knowledge your letter of the Sd instant until
could learn how the work of your conven-'
ton was recei in all parts of our great
country, and judge whether that work was ap,
proved and ratified by the mass of our fellow.
citizens. Their response has from day to day
reached me through telegi 9, letters and
comment. of journalists independent of official
patronage, and Indifferent to the smiles or
frowns of power ~, =
"'rhe number and character of these un-
constrained, unpurchased, unsolicited utter>
ances satisfy me that the movement VIII ch
found expression at Cincinnati has received
the stamp of public approval and has been
hailed by the majority of our countrymen as
the harbinger of better days for the republic
l do not misinterpret this approval, as especi
ally complimentary to myself, nor even to the
chvalrous and justly esteemed gentleman
with whose name l thank your convention
for associating mine.
81 receive and welcome it as spontaneous
and deserved tribute to that admirable plat
form of principles wherein your convention
so tersely, so Iucidly and so forcibly set forth
the convictions which impeled and the pur-
poses which. guided its course-a platform
which, casting behind it the wreck and rub
bish OF WORKOUT contentious and bygone
feuds, embodies in fit and few words the needs
and aspirations of to-day. Though thousands
stand ready to condemn your every act. hardly
syllable of criticism cavil has been aimed
at your platform. of which the substance may
be fairly epitomized as follows:
81. All the political rights and franchises
which have been acquired through our late
bloody convulsion must and shall be guaran,
teed, maintained, enjoyed and respected ever
more.
'2. All the political rights and franchises
which have been lost through that convulsion
shonld and must be promptly restored and re
established. SO that there shall be henceforth
no prescribed class and no disfranchised caste
within the limits of our Union, whose long
estranged people shall reunite and fraternize
upon the broad basis of universal amnesty
with IMPARTIAL suffrage.
'.3. That subject to our solemn constitu-
t'onal obligation to maintain the equal rights
of all citizens, our policy should aim at local
self>governmeut and not ut Capitalization :;
that the civil authority sholld be supreme
over the military; that the writ of habeas
corpus should be jealously upheld as the sa fe.
guard of personal freedom that the individ
ual citizen should enjoy the largest liberty
consistent with public order. and that there
shall be no federal snbversion of the internal
politv of the several States and municipalities
but thafeach shall be left free to enforce the
rights and promote the we'll being of its in
habitants by such means the Judgment of
its own neople shall prescribe
F4. There shall be real and not merely
simulated reform IN the civil service of the
republic, to which end it is indispensable the
chief dispenser of it's vast official patronage
shall be shielded from the main temptation to
forhidding and precludine his re- election.
"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 ac-
ton thereon the President must neither over
rule by his veto, attempt to dictate, nor pre
sumo to punish bv bestowing office onlv on
those who agree with him, or withdrawing it
from those who do not
"6 That the public lands must be sacredlv
reserved for acquisition and occupation by
cultivators and no. recklesslv souandered on
the projectors OF railroads. for which our peo
pie have no present need, and the premature
construction of which is annually rluneing us
into deeper and deeper abysses of foreign in
debtedness
~. That the achievement of these grand
purposes of universal beneficence is respected
and sought at the hands of all who approve
them, irrespective of past affiliations.
49, That the public faith must at all hazards
he maintained, and the national credit be nre
served.
| 80. That the patriotic devotedness and ip>
estimable services of our fellow citizens who.
as soldiers or sailors, upheld the flag and main
tanned the unity of the republic, shall ever be
gratefully remembered and honorablv renuted
'Ihese propositions, ably and forciblv
presented in the platform of your convention.
have already fixed the attention and command.
ed the assent of large majority Of our coun-
trymen, who joyfully adopt them, as do, as
the basis of a true. beneGcent. national recon
struction; of a new departure from jealousies.
strifes and hates which have no longer an adj
equate motive or even plausible pretext into
an atmosphere of peace fraternity and mutual
good will In vain do the drill serseants of
decaying organizations flourish menacinsly
their trunchcous, and angrlv insist that the
files shall be closed and Strengthened Tn vain
do the whippers-in of parties once vital, be-
cause roosed in the vital needs of the honr.
protest against straying and boiling. denouuce
men nowise their interiors as traitors and rene