The democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-08-05
MR. onEELEY,s AccEprANcE.


GENTLEMEN: Upon mature dellber-
alton, II seems III that should give Ia
your letter Of the l0.h Inst. some fur.
ther and fuller response than the hast
unprecedented words In which nc.
knowledged and accepted your nomi.
nation ut our meeting on the 10Th.
That your Convention saw tit To
accord its highest honor to ore who
had been prominently md pointedly
opposed to your party In tile earnest
ant sometimes angry controversies OF
the last forty years, Is essentially note
worthy. That many Of you originally
preferred that the Liberal Republicans
should present. another candidate for
President, md would more readily
have united with us In the support OF
Adams or Trumbull, Davis or Brown,
Is well known. owe my adoption ut
Baltimore wholly to the fact that |
had already been nominated at Gin
clnnnti, and that o concentration Of
forces upon any new ticket had been
proved lmpracticable. dntlfled as |
am ut your concurrence In the Cinein
natl nominations, certain Rs | ain TINT
YOU would not have thus conGurred
had you not deemed me upright and
capable, I find nothing In the clrcum'
stance calculated TO lnilame vanity or
nourlsh self.conceit.
But that your Convention saw 1T, ir
adopting the Cincinnati ticket, 10 re-Rf-
firm the Cincinnati platform, Is, to mc
n source OF the profonndest satisfaction.
That body was constrained TO take this
important step By no party necessity,
real or supposed. 1t might have nc.
cepted the candidates OF the Liberal
Republicans upon grounds entirely Its
own, or II might lnve presented them
las the first Wing National Conven.
tIon did Harrison mud Tyler without
adopting any platform whatever. That
II chose to plant Itself deliberately, by
q vote nearly unanimous, upon the
fullest md elearest enunclRtiOn ofprln.
ciples which are at once incontestably
Republican and emphatlcally Demo.
crntic, gives trustworthy ASSURANCE
that now and more ausplcious era
Ia dawnlng upon our long distracted
country.
Some Of the best years and best efforts
OF my life were devoted to struggle
against chnttel slAvory-a struggle none
the less earnest or aFluous because re-
spect for constitutional obligations con.
strained me TO act for the most part on
the deiensive-in resistance TO the dtlIu.
sion rather than In direct efforts for the
extinction Of human bondage. Through
out most Of those years, my vision was
uucheered, my exertions were rarely an.
mated, by even 40 much ms hope that
l should live to see my country peopled
by ireemen alone. The afllrmance by
your Convention OF the Cincinnati plat
form is most conclusive proof that not
merely slavery is abolished, but that its
spirit Is extinct-that, despite the pro-
tests Of respectable but isolated few,
there remains among us no party and no
formidable interests which regrets the
overthrow or desires the re-establishment
oil human bondage, whether in letter or
in spirit. I am thereby justified in my
hope and trust that tile first century Of
American independence will not close
before the grand elemental truths on
which its rightiulness was based by JEFF
ferson and the Continental Congress OF
177G will no longer be regarded MS "glit-
tering generalities," but will have be.
come tile universally accepted and hon.
ored foundations Of our political fabric.
Ilemand the piompt application Of
those principles 10 our existing coudi.
ton. Having done what I could for the
complete emancipation OF blacks, ] now
insist on the full eniranchisement Of all
my white countrymen. Let none soy
TINT the ban has just been removed from
all but few hundred elderly gentlemen,
to whom eligibility to Office can be OF
little consequence. My view contem,
plates not the hundreds prescribed, but
the millions who are denied the right to
be ruled and represented by the men
Of their nniettered choice. Prescription
we're absurd II these did not wish to elect
tile very men whom they are forbidden
TO choose.
I have u profound regard for the peo.
pie Of that New England wherein / WI,
born, lin whose common schools wiz
taught. ] rank no other people above
them in intelligence, capacity and mora
worth. But, while they do many thing
well, and some admirably, there is ont
thing which / am sure they cannot wise
ly or safely undertake, and that is th,
selection, for States remote from nd un
like their own, Of tho persons by whom
those States shall be represented In Con
gress. II they could do this, TO goOt
purpose then Republican institution
were unfit aud ahstocmCy The only TN,
political system,