Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-06-02
POLITICAL.
Gratz Browns Letter of Acceptance.


fcation of bis nomination as Vice President
by the Cincinnati Convention, Gov. Brown
makes the following response:
Erecutire Office, Jefferson City, Nay
31.-Gentlemen Your letter advising
me ofthe action of the Liberal Republican
Convention at Cincinnati has been received
and l return through you my acknowledg-
ment Of the honor which has been conferred
upon me. l accept the nomination as a
candidate for Vice President and indOrse
most cordially the resolutions setting forth
the principles on which this appeal is made
to the whole people of the United
States. A century is closing upon
our experience of republican gov
eminent and while that lapse of
time has witnessed a great expansion of
our free institutions, yet it has not been
without illustration also of grave dangers
to the stability of such a system. Ofthose
successfully encountered it is needless to
speak. Ofthose which remain to menace
us the most threatening are provided
against, as firmly believe, in the wise and
pacific measures proposed by your plat
form. 1t has come to be the practice of
those elevated to the positions Of national
authority to regard the public
service not as public trust,
but only as a means to retain
power. This results in substituting mere
party organization for the government it.
self, which impairs all Independent thought,
enables the few to rule the many and makes
personal allegiance he road to favor. 1t
requires little forecast to perceive that this
will wreck our liberties unless there be in
terposed a timely reform of the admins
ton from the highest to the lowest station,
which shall not only forbid abuses, but
likewise take away the incentive to their
practice. Wearied with the contentious
that are carried on in the ayarice of spoils,
the country demands TepOse, resents the
effort of officials to dragon it again
into partisan hostilities, and will zeal
ously sustain any movement promising
a sure deliverance. OF the perils which
have been connected with the war it is safe
to say that those are now to be feared
which come of an abuse of victory into
permanent esstrangement. The Union
is fortified by more power than ever before,
and it remains an imperative duty to ce-
ment our nationality by reconciliation. At
the North a widespread sympathy is aroused
in behalf of those States of the South which
long after the termination of resistance to
rightful Federal authority are still plum
dered under the guise of loyalty, and tyr
annized over in the name of freedom.
Along with this feeling is present, too, the
recognition that in complete amnesty alone
can be found the hope of any return to
constitutional government as of old, or any
development of a more enduring unity and
broader national life in the future. Am
nesty, however, to be eficaciOus, must be
real, not nominal, not evasiVe, but must |
carry along with it equal rights as well as
equal protection to all. For the removal |
of disabilities as TO some, with enforce
ment as to others, leaves room for the sus-
picion that pardon is measured by political |
gain, and especially will such preferred !
clemency be futile in the presence of a re- !
neWed attempt at prolonging a suspension |
of the habeas corpus, in the persistent |
resort to martial rather than to civil law,
in upholding those agencies used to alien |
ate the races, where concord is most essen |
tial, and in preparing another elaborate cam |
paign on a basis of dead issues and |
arbitrary intervention. All will rightly |
credit such conduct as but a mOckery of |
amnesty and demand an administration |
which can give better warrant Of honesty |
in the great work of reconstruction and |
reform. The array Of sectional interests |
of public so wide spread as ours is never |
entirely safe from serious conflicts. These !
become still more dangerous when cOmpi- |
Gated with questions of taxation where IN |
equal burthens are believed to lie imposed !
on one part at the expense Of another part.
1t was a bold as well as admirable policy in |
the interest of present as well as future |
tranquility to withdraw the decision of III |
dustrial and revenue matters from the usual |
arbitration of an Electoral College chosen |
with single animating purpose ofparty as |
tendency and refer them for |
more direct popular expression to each |
Congressional District. Instead Of being |
muzzled by some evasiye declaration, the |
country is thereby invited to its frankest |
utterances, and sections which would re-
volt at being denied voice out of Difference |
to other success would be content to acqui- |
esce in a general judgment honestly elected. |
If local government be, as 1t undoubtedly |
is, the most vital principle of our institu-
tiOns, much advance will be made towards
it by enabling the people to /
pass upon questions so nearly affecting their
well being dispassionately through their
local representation. The precipitancy
which would force a controlling declaration
on tax or tariff through Presidential can
didacy in only disguised form of centraliza-
tion involving hazardous reaches ofexecUtive
influence. The conclusion will be much
more impartially determined, and with less
to trade and finance by ap-
pealing to the most truthful and diversified
local expression. Industrial issues can be
thus likewise emancipated from the power
of great monopolies, each canvass made to
determine its own specific instructions, and
each representative held to fidelity toward
his immediate constituents. These
are the most prominent features of
that general concert OF action which
to replace the present Administra-
ton by one more in sympathy with the as
pirations of the masses Of our cOuntrymen.
Of course such concert cannot be attained
by thrusting our minor or past differences
into the foreground, and it will be for the
people to determine whether these objects
are Of such magnitude and present urgency
as to Justify them in deferring other adjust
ments until the country shall be first re-
stored to free suffrage, uninfuenced by
official dictation, and ours become in fact a
free republic, released from apprehension
efa central domination. Without referring
in detail to the various other propositions
in the resolutions of the conveu-
ton, but seeing how these all contemplate
a restoration of power to the people, peace
TO the nation, purity to the Government,
that they condemn the attempt to establish
an ascendancy of military over
civil rule, and affirm with explicitness the
Ofequal freedom to all citizens
of race, previous condition or
pending disabilities, | have only to pledge
again my sincere cooperation.
Yours, B. GRAFT BROWN.
The Philadelphia Convention.
PHILADELPHIA, June but few dele
gates to the National Republican COnven-
lion have arrived, and they are the adj
vance guard of the different delegations.
Among those in town tonight are ex-GoV.
HawleY, of Connecticut, Gov. Noyes, of
Ohio, W. S. Dugan, of Iowa; VIM. VanDe-
yer, of Iowa, B. Harrington, of Mississippi,
Jas. Mcintosh, of Indiana, and S. B An
ireWs, of Washington Territory. A large
number Of newspaper men are already
quartered here.
CINCINNATI, June 1.-AbOut twenty.
i've persons leave here tonight for the
Convention.
Greeley Ratification.
NEw YORE. June 1.-The Committee of