The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1872-05-28
LlKEsvEsE OF GRATZ BROWN.
OFFICIAL NOTICE TO MIR. GREELEY OF TIE
LIBERAL REPUBLICAN NOMINATION.

! NiHSiNhii' Wy o't A'ld lOi
Hon. Horace Greeley, New York City:
DEAR SIR: The National Convention
of Liberal Republicans Of the United
States have instructed the undersigned,
President, Vice President and Secrcta.
ries of the Convention, to inform you
that You have been nominated as the
candidate Of the Liberal Republicans
for the Presidency of the United States.
We also submit to YOU the address
and resolutions unanimously adopted by
the Convention. Be pleased to, signify
to us your acceptance of the platform
and nomination, and believe us, very
truly yours,
c. SCHURz, President. 80 s.
GEO. w. JULIAN, Vice President.
WA. f. MCLEAN, JOHN G. DAVIDSON,
j. Ii. RHODES, Secretaries.
MIR. GREELEY's REPLY
New York, May 90, 1872.
GENTLEMEN have chosen not to
answer your letter of the Sd inst. until
l could learn how the work of your
Convention was received in all parts of
our great country, and Judge whether
that work was approved and ratified by
the mass of our fellow,c citizens. Their
responses from day to day reached me
through kilograms, letters, and com
ments of journalists Independent of of
fetal patronage, and Indifferent to the
smiles or frowns of power. The. mum
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.
l do not misinterpret this approval as
especially complimentary to myself, nor
even to the chivalrous and justly esteem
ed gentleman with whose name / thank
your Convention for associating mine I
receive and welcome it as 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 purposes which guided its
course. A platform which, casting be-
hind it the wreck and rubbish of worn
out contentious and by-gone feuds, en-
bodies in fit and few words the needs
and aspirations of to-day. Though
thousands stand ready to condemn your
every act, hardly o SYLLABLE of criticism
or cavil has been aimed at your plat
form, of which the substance may be
fairly epitomized as follows:
l. All political rights and franchises
which have been acquired through our
late bloody convulsion must and shall
be guaranteed, maintained, enjoyed and
respected evermore.
=. All political right and franchises
which have been established through
that convulsion should and must be
promptly restored and re-established
so that there shall be henceforth nc
prescribed class, and no disfranchised
caste within the limits of our Union
whose long g-estranged people shall re-
unite and fraternze 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 Capitalization; that the civil au
thority should be supreme over the
military; that the writ of habeas corpu:
should be jealously upheld as the safe
guard of personal freedom that the in
dividuaf citizen should enjoy the larges
liberty consistent with the public order
; and that there shall be no Federal sub
version of the internal policy of th'
several States and municipalities, bu
: that each shall be left free to enforce th,
rights and promote the well-being of it
inhabitants, by such means as the judg
ment of its own people shall prescribe
4. There shall be a real, and no
I merely simulated reform, in the civi
service of the Republic; to which ent
: it is indispensable that the chief dispen
e ser Of its vast eflicial patronage sllal
J, be shielded from the main temptation
v to use his power selfshly, by rule in
: exorably forbidding and precluding hi
n re election.
5. That the raising of revenue, ,wheth
/ er by tariff or otherwise, shall herecog
q nized and treated as the peoples i'm
! mediate business, to be shaped and di
S rected by them through their Represen
$ tatives in Congress, whose action there
on the President must neither overrul
n by his veto, attempt to dictate, nor pre-
sumo to punish by bestowing Office onl
/ On those who agree with him, or with
g drawing it from those who do not.
g. That the public lands must be sa
:. credly reserved for occupation and az
It QUESTION by cultivators, and not recb
u lessly squandered on projectors of raj
n roads for which our people have n
y present need, and the premature cor
IS struction of which are annually plune
e ing us into deeper and deeper abysse
of foreign indebtedness. g..
n 7. That the achievement of thes
IS grand purposes Of universal beneficenc
Il is expected and sought at the hands c
all who approve them, irrespective c
past affiliations.
8. That the public faith must at all la;
y ards be maintained, and the Nationi
a. credit preserved. en-
d 0. That the patriotic dcvotedness an
n, inestimable services of our fellow-cit
in zens, who as soldiers or sailors uphel
the flag and maintained the unity of tn
ID Republic, shall ever be gratefully II
membered and honorably requited.
These propositions, so ably and tol
n 'cibly presented in the platform of you
Ii Convention, have already fixed the al
TX tention and commanded the assent of
lie large majority Of our countrymen VIII
y joyfully adopt them, as do, as the b;
II sis of true, benefcent, national recor
,e struction, of new departure from th
s. jealousies and strifes and hates wh;e
I'd have no longer adequate motive, c
re even plausible pretext, into an atmo
he phere of peace, fraternity and mutu