Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1872-05-23

the mass OF Their TeisOW citizens Their
+ response, from day to DAY, has reached
{ me through kilograms, letters and The
comments Of journalists, Independent of
official patronage and Indifferent to
/ the smiles and frowns Of power. The
number and character of these demon
STATIONS, unpurcbased and unsolicited
satisfy me that the movement which
found expression at Cincinnati has re-
ceiyed the stamp of public approval and
been hailed by a majority of orr coun-
tTymen as a harbinger of a better day
for the Republic / do not misinterpret
this approval, As especially compliment
tary TO myself nor even to the chivalrous
and justly esteemed gentleman with
whose name ! thank your convention
for associating mine. | receive and
welcome it as a spontaneous and desired
tribute to that admirable platform OF
principles, wherein your convention 50
tersely, so lucidly and so forcibly set
forth, the conviction which impelled,
and the purposes which guided its course.
i platform which casting behind it the
wreck and rubbish Of worn out conten-
tions and bygone feuds emb odies in Ct
and few words the needs and aspiration
of to-day.
Thousands stand ready to condemn
your every act, hardly a syllable Of crit
cism or cayil has been aimed at your
platform, Of which the substance may
be fairly epitomized As follows:
First All the political rights ard
franchises which have been acquired
through our late bloody CONFUSION must
and shall be guaranteed, maintained and
enjoyed and respected eyermore.
Second. All the politicUl rights and
franchises which have been lost through
that CONFUSION should and must be
promptly restored and re-established, so
that there should be henceforth no pre-
scribed and no DISTINGUISHED caste with
in the limits of our Union, whose lorg
estranged people shall re-unite and fra
ternize upon the broad basis Of uniYer-
sal amnesty, with impartial suffrage.
Third. That subject to our solemn
constitutional obligation to maintain
equal rights of all citizens, our policy
should aim at local self government and
not at Capitalization. That civil author
ity should be supreme over the military
That the writ Of habeas corpus should
be zealously upheld as the safeguard of
,,y,r-,-,,1 e,ooya1v,, IT,. 49, :,a.~-.,a.-aa
citizen should enjoy the largest liberty
consistent with the public order, and
that there should be no federal subver-
sion of the internal polity of the several
States and municipalities, but that each
shall be left free to enforce the rights
and promote the well being of its inhabi-
tants, by such means as the judgment of
its ownpeople shall prescribe.
Fourth. There shall be a real and not
merely a semulated reform in the civil
service Of the Republic, to which end it
is indispensable that the chief dispenser
of its vast official patronage, shall be
shielded from the main temptation to
use his power selfshly by a rule inexor-
ably forbidding his reelection.
Fifth. That the raising of revenue,
whether by tariff or otherwise, shall be
recognized and treated as the peoples
immediate business, to be shaped and
directed by them, through their repre-
srntatives in Congress, whose action the
President must neither override by his
veto or attempt to dictate nor presume
to punish by bestowing Office only, on
those who agree with him or withdraw
ing it from those who do not.
Sixth. That the public lands must be
sacredly reserved for occupation, and
acquisition by cultivators and not recIz-
Icssly squandered on the projectors Of
railroads, for which our people have no
present need, and the premature con-
struction of which is annually plung-
ing us into deeper and deeper abysses
Of foreign Indebtedness.
Seventh. That the achievement OF
these grand purposes of universal be-
nefcence is expected and sought at the
hands Of all who approve Of them, ire
spectiye Of past affiliations.
Eighth. That the public faith must
at all hazards be maintained and the ma
tional credit preserved.
Ninth That the patriotic devoted
ness and iaeetimable services Of our fel-
low citizens. who IS soldiers or sailors
upheld the fiagand maintained the rights
Of the republic shall ever be gratefully
remembered and honorably acquitted.
These propositions SO ably and forci-
bly, presented in the platform Of your
convention have already fixed the atten-
ton and commanded the assent Of a
large majority Of our countrymen, who
ioyfully adopt them, IS I do, as the ba-
sis Of a true and beneicent national re-
construction, Of a new departure from
ipal0usies. strifes and hates, which have
no longer adequate motives, or even
plausible prctext. into an atmosphere Of
peace prosperity, and mutual good
viii.
In yaindo the drill sergeants of de-
caying organization flourish their truDch-
cons and angrily insist that the files
shall be closed and strengthened. In
vain DO the whippers in Of parties, once
vital. because rooted in the vital needs
Of the hour protest against straying and
boiling and denounce men, no wise their
interiors, as traitors and renegades, and
threaten them with infamy and ruin. !
am confident that the American people
have already made your course their
own, and fully resolved that their brave
hearts and strong arms shall bear it on
to triumph.
In this fact, and with the distinct IN
dcrstanding, that If elected / shall be
President, not Of a party, but Of the