The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-05-30
MIR. GREELEY's REPLY.

fablneQ Dy the mass OF our felioW-c1tl-
zens. Their responses from day to
day reached me through kilograms,
letters, and comments of journalists
independent of official patronage, and
Indifferent to the smiles or frowns of
power. The number and character of
these unconstrained, Impoverished, un-
solicited utterances satisfy me that the
movement which found expression at
Cincinnati has received the stamp of
public approval, and been hailed by q
majority of our country as the har-
binger of a better day for the Republic.
Z / do not misinterpret this approval
as especially complimentary to my
self. nor even to +the ebivalFeusA and
justly esteemed gentleman with whose
associating mine. / reeeiye and well
tribute to that admirable platform of
principles wherein your Convention
so tersely, so lucidly, so forcibly, set
forth convictions which impeHed and
purposes which guided its course. "A
platform which, casting behind it the
wreck and rubbish of worn-out con-
tentions and by-gone feuds, sembodies
in fit and few words the needs and
o5RAi eAtAOhSOA t0-06ySt 4 AO0ktA 41fQu-
sands stand ready to condemn your
every act, hardly syllable of, criti.s
cism or cavil has been aimed. at your
platform, of which the substance may
be fairly epitomized as follows: III ..
I. All political rights and franchises
which have been acquired through
our late bloody conyulsion must and
shall be guaranteed, maintained, en-.
joyed and respected eVermore,dt 10 8
2. All political rights and franchises
which have been established through
that convulsion should and must be
promptly restored and re-establlshed,
so that there shall be henceforth ne
prescribed class, and no disfranchised
caste within the limits of our Union.
whose ug-estranged people shall re-
unite and fraternize upon the broad
basis of universal amnesty with inn
partial suffrage. III iaodJiW VII
8. That, subject to our solemn COM
stitutional obligation to main tain the
equal rights of all citizens, our policy
should aim at local self-government,
and not at centrallZation; that the
tcivil authority should be supreme
over the military that the writ of
habeds corpus should be jealously up
held as the safeguard of personal free
dom /; that the individual citizen should
enjoy the largest liberty consistent
with the public order, and that there
shall be no Federal subversion of the
internal policy of the several States
and Municipalities, but that each shall
| be left free to enforce the rights and
promote the we'll being of its inhabit-
ants, by such means as the Judgment
of its own people shall prescribe. /
4. There shall be zeal, and not
merely simulated reform, in the civil
service of the Republic to which end
it is indispensable that the chief dis
penser of its vast official patronage
shall be shielded from the main tempt-
alton to use his power selfishly, by a
rule inexorably forbidding and pre-
Guiding his reelection.
5. That the raising of revenue,
whether, by tariff or otherwise, shall
be recognized and treated as the peo-
pies immediate business, to be shaped
and directed by them through their
| Representatives in Congress, whose
action thereon the President must
neither overrule by his veto, attempt
to dictate, nor presume to punish by
bestowing Office only on those who
agree with him, or withdrawing ii
from those who do not.
6. That the public lands mnst be sa-
credly reserved for occupation and
acquisition by cultivators, and not
recklessly squandered on projectors
of railroads for which our people
have no present need. and the prema.
ture construction of which are annu.
ally plunging US into deeper and
deeper abysses of foreign indebted
ness. 9jts8 r2L
Z. That the achievement of these
grand purposes of universal benefi-
cence is expected and sought at the
hands of all who approve them, irre-
spective of past affiliations.
s. That the public faith must at all
hazards be maintained, and the Ma.
tional credit preserved. aE4 e 5h
9. That the patriotic devotedness
and inestimable services of our fellow
citizens, who as soldiers or sailors
upheld the flag and maintained the
unity of the Republic, shall ever be
gratefully remembered and honorably
requited. s
These propositions, so ably and
forcibly presented in the platform OF
your Convention, have already fixed
the attention and commanded the as
sent of a large majority of our coun-
trymen, who joyfully adopt them, as
L do, as the basis of true, beneficent,
national reconstruction, OF a new de-
parture from the jealousies and strifes
and hates which have no longer ade-
quate motive, or even plausible pre-
text, into an atmosphere of peace, fra
ternity and mutual good will.
In vain do the drill-sergeants of de-
caying organizations flourish mena-
cingly their truncheons, and angrily
insist that the files shall be closed and
Strengthened. In vain do the whip
pers-in of parties-once vital, because
| rooted in the vital needs of the hour
I-protest against straying and bolt
ing, denounce men in nowise their in
feriors as traitors and renegades, and
threaten them with infamy and ruin.
i | am confident that the American
people have already made your cahse
their own, fully resolved that their
brave hearts and strong arms shall
bear it on to triumph. In this faith,
and with the distinct understanding
that if elected / shall be President not
of a party, but of the whole people, l
accept your nomination. In confident
trust that the masses of our country
men, North and South, are eager to
clasp hands across the bloody chasm
which has too long divided them, for.
getting that they have been enemies
IN the joyful consciousness that they
are and must henceforth remain
brethren. Yours gratefully,
Signed HORACE UREELEY.
To Hon. Carl Schurz, President
Hon. Geo. w. Julian, Vice-Prcsident
and Messrs. VIM. E. Mclean, Jno g.
Davidson, j. Ii. Rhodes, Secretaries
National Convention of Liberal Re