The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1872-06-25

/
our great country, and Judge whether
that work was approved and ratified by
the mass Of our fellow-citzens. Their
responses from day to dsy reached me
through kilograms, letters, and CON-
mcnts of journalists independent of of
fetal patronage, aud. indifferent to the
smiles or frowns of power The nun.
Der and character of these unconstrain.
ed, unpurchased, unsolicited utterances
satisfy me that the movement which
found expression at Cincinnati has re-
ceived the stamp of public approval,
and been hailed by majority Of our
country as the harbinger of better day
for the Republic, a.rr
do not nisinterpret this approval as
especially complimentary to myself, nor
even to the chiyalrous and justly es-
teemed gentleman with whose name
thank your Convention for associating
mine. l receive aud welcome it as a
spontaneous and deserved tribute to
that admirable platform of principles
wherein your Convention so tersely,
so lucidly, so forcibly, set forth
convictions which impelled and purpo-
ses which guided its course. A. plat
form achich, castjng behind 1T TIE ecreck
and rubbish Of tcOyn-oW contentious and
| by gone feuds, embodies in ut and ,feW
words the needs and aspirations Of to-
day. Though thousands stand ready
to condemn your every act, hardly a
syllable of criticism or cavil has been
aimed at your platform, of which the
substance may be fairly epitomized as
follows:
All political rights and franchises
which have been acquired through our
late bloody convulsion must and shall
be guaranteed, maintained, enjoyed and
respected evermore.
2. All political right and franchises
which have been established through
that convulsion should and must be
promptly restored and 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 re-
unite and fraternize upon the broad ba-
sis of universal amnesty with impartial
suffrage.
3. That, subject to our solemn con-
stitutional obligation to maintain the
equal rights of all citizens, our policy
should aim at local self government, and
not at centratization that the cirI au-
thority should be supreme over the mill
!: tary; hat the ,crit Of habeas corpus
should be jealousy upheld as the safe
guard Of personal. freedom; that the in
dividual citizen should enjoy the largest
liberty consistent with the public order,
and that there shall be no Federal sub
version 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 inhabitants, by such means as the
Judgment of its own people shall pre-
scribe.
4. There shall be real, and not
merely simulated reform, in the civil
service of the Republic; to which end
it is indispensable that the chief dispen-
ser of its vast efIlcial patronage shall
be shielded from the main temptation
to use his power selfshly, by a rule in
exorably forbidding and precluding his
re e-election.
5. That the raising of revenue, wheth-
er by tariff or otherwise, shall be recog-
nized and treated as the peoples imme-
diate business, to be shaped and direct
ed by them through their Representa-
tives 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 withdraw
| ing it from those who do not.
6. That the public lands must 6e sa.
credly reserved for occupation and ac-
QUESTION by cultivators, and not reck,
lessly squandered on projectors of rail
roads for which our people have no
present need, and the premature con-
struction of which are annually plung-
ing us into deeper and deeper abysses
OF foreign mdeDtedneSS.
/ Z. That the achievement of these
grand purposes of universal beneficence
is expected and sought at the hands of
all who approve them, irrespective OF
past affiliations. =. +.
8. That the public faith must at all
hazards be maintained, and the National
credit preserved.
8. That the patriotic devotedness and
inestimable services of our fellow-citi-
zens, who as soldiers or sailors upheld
the flag and maintained the unity Of the
Republic, shall ever be gratefully re-
memhered and honorably requited
These propositions, so ably and for.
cibly presented in the platform of your
Convention, have already fixed the at.
tention and commanded the assent of q
large majority of our countrymen who
joyfully adopt them, as / do, as the ba-
sis of true, benifcent, national recon
struction, of lew departure from the
jealousies and strifes and hates which
have no longer adequate motive, Oh
even plausible pretext, into an atmos
phere of peace, fraternity and mutual
good will.
In vain do the drill sergeants of de-
coying organizations flourish menacing
ly their truncheons, an6 angrily insis
that the files shall be closed and straight
ened. In vain do the whippers in o.
parties-once vital, because rooted il
the vital needs of the hour-protcs
against straying and boiling, denounct
men in nowise their interiors as traitor:
and renegades, and threaten them witt
inlamy and ruin.
] am confident that the American peo
Pile have already made your cause the;l
own, fully resolved that their brave hearts
and strong arms shall bear it on to tri
umpn. In this faith, and with tRe dis
tinct understanding that if elected I shol
be President not IF a party BUT OF
THE WHOLE PEOPLE, I accept you,
aomination. In confident trust that tb,
masses of our conntrymen, North and
South are eager to clasp hands ocr0Ss tht
bloody chasm arhich has too tong dicdec