Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1872-08-01
The CHAMPION OF PEACE.
HORACE GEEtEY TO THE NATIONAL
DEMOCRACY.
He Accepts fhe Nomination upon Plat.
form "Incontestably Republican and
Emphatically Democratic"

Gentlemen Upon mature delibera"
ton it seen 8 fit that l should give 70
your letter of the 10th instant some
further and fuller response than the
hasty, unpIemeditated words IN which
I acknowledged and accepted your
nomination at our meeting on the 18th
instant.
That your convention saw fit to ac-
cord it's highest honor to one who had
been prominently and pointediy op,,
posed toyour party IN the earnest ana
somes angry controversies OF the last
forty years is essentially noteworthy.
That many OF you would have prefer
red that the liberal Republicans should
present another candidate for Pres
ident and would more rapidly have
united with US in the support OF Adams
or Trumbull, Davis or Brown, is we'll
| known. l owe my adoption at Balti-
more wholly to the tact that l had al
ready been nominated at Cincinnati,
and that concentration Of forces upon
any new man had been proved imprac-
tlCable.
Gratifed as / am at your concur
renee in the Cincinnati nomination,
and certain as am that you would
not have thus concurred had you not
deemed me upright and capable, l
found nothing IN the circumstance CAL
culated to intiame vanity or nourlsh
self. couceiL. But that your convention
saw (it to reaffirm the Cincinnati plat
form is to me source Of the profound
est satisfaction. That body was con.
strained to take this step by no party
ue cessity, real or supposed. 1t might
have accepted the candidates OF the
liberal Republicans upon grounds en-
tlrely its own, or it might have pre-
sept.d them' as the first Whig conven-
tiun did Harrison and Ty Ter, without
adopting any platform whatever.
That IL chose to plant itself deliber-
ately, by a vote nearly unanimous,
upon the fullest and cIesrest enuncia-
tiun of principles which are at once
incontestably Republican aud emphat-
icaly Democratic, gives trustworthy
assurance that new and more auspl-
clous era is dawning upon our long
distracted country. Some OF the best
! wears and best efforts OF my life were
devoted TO struggle against chatlle
! slavery, a struggle none the less eai-
nest and arduous because respect for
constitutional objections constrained
me to act for the most part on the de-
| fensive in resistance to the diffusion,
rather than in direct efforts for the
| ,F ln,pan honAaup
Throughout most of these years my
vision was uncheered, my exertipns
were rarely animated by even So much
as hope that should live To see my
country peopled by fleemen alone.
The affirmance by your convention OF
the Cincinnati platform is most con.
elusive proof that not merely is slavery
abolished, but that irs spirit is extinct;
that spite the 'protests o! respe CT
able, but isolated, few, there remaius
among us no party and no formidable
Interest which regrets the overthrow
Or d, sires the re.esia ablishment OF hu-
man bondage, whether in letter or In
spirit. am thereby justified in my
hope and trust that The hlst century Ut
American independence will not close
before the grand elemental truths on
which its rlghLtulness was based by
Jefferson aud the Continental Cong
less OF l776 will no longer be regarded
as glittering generaIities, but Will have
b, come the universally aces pied AID
| hOnUred foundations vi our poiltlcal ia
brlc. | demand the prompt application
OF those principles 10 our existing con-
ditlOn.
Having done what I could for the
complete emancipation ot the blacks,
now insist on the full enfranchisement
OF all my white couutryme Let none
say that the ban has usL been removed
from all but "a lew hundred elderly
gentlemen, 10 whom eligibility to flee
can be of little cons, queuce. My view
contcmplates not the huudr, DIS pro-
scribed. but the millions VINO are de-
MED the right to be luled aid repre-
sented by men OF their own uutettered
choice. Prescription were absurd If
these did not wish to elect the very
men whom they are forbidden to
choose.
have a profound regard for the
people Of that part OF New England
wherein | was BORN, III whose common
schools | was taught. | rank no peo-
ple above them ID intelligence, capaci-
ty and moral worth; but while they no
many things well, aud some admir-
ably, there is oGe thing they cannot
safely or wisely undertake, aud that is
the selection for States remote from
and unlike their own, OF the persons
by whom these States shall be repre-
sented in Congress. 1t they could do
this to good purpose, then Republican
institutions are unfit and arlstOt lacy
The only true political system. Yet,
what have we recently witnessed! Il.
B. Vance, the upquestioDed choice Ut
a large majority OF the present Legis-
lature OF North Carolina, majority
backed by majority of the people
who voted at its election, refused the
seat in the +, deral Senate to which he
was chosen, and the Legislature thus
constrained to choose another in bis
place or leave the State unrepresented
fur years.
The votes Of New England thus de-
prlved North Carolina of the Senator
of her choice, and compelled her to
send another in her stead-anotber
who 10 our late contest was, like
Vance. rebel, and fighting rebel,
but bad not served in Congress before
the war as Vance had, though the
latter remained faithful to the Union
till after the close of his term. | pro-